Learning New Characters Without Getting Rusty With Your Main(s)

[True]

After spending much time learning a new character and then going back to my main I get super rusty. Things that were easy for me to execute is now complicated again.

Is it because I'm not playing enough with my main or is because my memory is washed by another character? How do you guys remain a proficient player of more than 1 character?

 

[shmatka]

Maybe it's simply the way my memory works, but I link one key move to each character in my head. Then, when I think about the character and move, I can discern the normal strings and other moves. The only thing that I've had issues with is timing, but that's usually just a matter of muscle memory.

 

[TackyHaddock]

I agree with this. I'm amazed by players that can seamlessly switch between so many different characters one after the other and seemingly have no difficulty recalling the muscle memory of each character's strings. When I switch characters, I sometimes find myself inputting strings of another character without even thinking about it, typically resulting in severe punishment lol

 

[HanSolo]

I'd be interested to hear some general tips for learning new characters. Like where do you start? Just start in the lab looking at normals, strings, and specials, then eventually come to tym and start practicing full BnBs? Should you play against the computer to get a hang of basics before lab bing full combos? I'm interested in you guys process when you decide to learn a new variation or char

 

[infamy23]

This is an issue for me as well.

I have to make a conscious effort to spend at least 30 minutes with Raiden every day even though sometimes I don't want to.

There are some people who literally never practice their main, and they can just switch to him and play at a high level without skipping a beat. It's kind of amazing.

 

[Odyessus]

Nobody quite adds up to sub but I do switch between 7 characters. Sub, Lao, Jax, Reptile, Kiatana (just picked her up), Erron (still scrub status) and Ermac.

Have never really thought about this before maybe I have a good memory, but one thing I do that I know helps is when I'm not playing sub I'll still watch videos of him.

I think you should be able to know all the inputs that somebody uses when your watching them use the same main. If you don't know them you haven't used the character enough.

 

[Odyessus]

Oh on a side note when I looked up character history I was amazed to see that I've used sub over 2000 times as opposed to 400 times for all my other characters.

 

[I GOT HANDS]

I struggle with this too. I'm a kind of perfectionist in that I'd rather get really comfortable with one character, I don't mean just knowing the combos, there is much more than buttons to playing a character right, it's like remembering the move speed and the threat range and just having your character play fluidly with the style you have developed... I mean I could switch over from Lao right now to Mileena again Im sure I'd pick her combos back up within a couple of minutes practice... But my gameplay, fundamentals and decision making would be rusty as hell!

However, Sub-Zero on the other hand is kinda ingrained into my brain, so I'm sure I could pick him up at a moments notice.., the only difficult thing would be using the Clone right and remembering my mix-ups after a Clone to catch my opponent off guard... But he isn't held back by movespeed or normals in anyway... So I guess the answer is pick one of the more balanced (fundamentally, not power level wise) characters, if that makes any sense...

 

[ienjoywinning]

Always when you start playing mkx practice your main for a straigh 10 mins atleast then switch to w/e character u play as secondary

 

[Matix218]

I do have limited mental capacity when it comes to playing multiple characters at a very high level. In mk9 I was able to use five characters at what I feel was a tournament caliber level and 2 at a high casual level. This is because I played mk9 from day 1 all the way through now. In injustice I only had two characters I felt solid with and whenever I would learn or attempt to learn a new one I would feel rusty with my mains. In mkx I have three characters (mainly a single variation for each) that I feel I play at a high level. Even when switching between these characters I feel I need a game or two to get my timing/punishment/execution where it should be. Guys who can literally switch from character to character in a tournament environment and still be razor sharp with them immediately are impressive to me. Im more of a focus on one character and learn all of their ins and outs type of player in general.

 

[Name v.5.0]

When I switch gears from one character to the next, I usually do a quick run down in my head of their specials, and strings. For some reason that works for me. It's like taking a CD out of your computer, and putting a new one in.