Meter Management

[Ruuku1012]

Before I get on with this topic, I'd like to say that I've only been playing this game for about 2 weeks.

Something I've notice from watching various levels of game-play is that meter management often is a deciding factor for the victor. However, it really seems to me that only some of the top players demonstrate effective use of meter. Now, I've played mainstream games competitively for many years so I understand how most of them work but it is my opinion that MK9's meter management doesn't function quite like any of those mainstream games.

The thing is that I've also played some more obscure fighting games that have similar meter systems so I'm fully aware of the importance of meter management. Basically I would like for all of you to contribute some tips relating to meter management whether in the general or match-up specific sense. This hopefully may be useful to beginners and advanced players alike.

 

[Shady]

I find meter management to be very important for this game, more so than any other fighting title I've played. It's not even about how you build it, but more so how you use it effectively. The obvious use of course is something like breakers if you don't want to get caught in the combo. A lot of conservative players will hold on to the two meter while only using one EX for specials in case they need it for defensive purposes. I see that with almost every level of play where you basically just sit on your meter to bail you out if you fuck up.

Some characters though are very meter dependent. Shang Tsung, Cyrax, Kitana, Quan Chi for example all rely on meter to be particularly effective. If they don't have meter the opponent is a little more liberal in their attack as the punish will not necessarily have the weight that it would if say Shang had enough to EX Ground Skull you across the screen, or Kitana the luxury of EX Fan to continue the combo. With those characters the choice is fairly difficult, do you squeeze for maximum damage and try to take the match, or you do best possible damage without the meter and save it. A good Shang player always has to be sitting on at least one meter to be a legitimate threat, that's just how the character works, same with Kitana (even at full screen as her EX fan offers you the ability to close the distance for more combo damage.

There are characters who it's easier for, like Kabal. The usual use of meter for Kabal is EX Dash and Breaker, never X-Ray, never anything else unless it's to win the round. And here comes the second part of MK is watching your opponent's meter. In case for most games it's usually to see if they got that ultra stocked up and be more cautious in MK it's soo much more. If you're zoning Kabal at about half screen and he has meter you have to adjust because you know any good Kabal will use EX Dash to close you out on a combo. Similarly, you can use this to bait breakers. Say your opponent has two meter and you get him in a stun move (Subby's freeze, Kabal's Dash, Etc.) you bait breaker with some attack so you can set it up later or say they break when they're still in the corner. For example, EVO 16Bit vs. Online Tony, Tony was close to winning the game, but as he combo'ed 16 Bit built up enough for breaker. Tony needed a hit to win after B1,2,1 pop up, most intermediate players would go for it, get breakered and lose the round potentially, Tony saw how the breaker built up and instead of any reset or any attack he simply went with buzzsaw. I think that's a great example of how meter management has an effect on gameplay on both sides.

In MK, it's not just about deciding whether or not you want extra 6% damage or save it for defensive purposes, it's also about watching what your opponent does, how much meter he has and reacting to that as well, which is why I really like as an on the fly adjustment. Like, in SFIV, if someone has ultra at the end of the round, they're guaranteed to use it because they will lose it if they don't in MK, there is always this guessing game as well. Do I breaker and try to take the round but risk being out of meter if I fail? Do I stock up and go for it next round? Should I X-Ray? Can he breaker what I'm about to do, and if yes, who's in a winning position out of that? There are a lot of questions that come to mind when you're playing regarding meter, but it's what makes MK exciting for me as well.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

MK9's meter building system and the mind games involving them is great.

Only thing I find unfortunate is that a lot EN specials are shit and completely useless (not practical in combos, armor properties that get stuffed by some normals) and a lot of X-rays are either too risky or only deal 30%. So that's basically the main reason why you see 90% of players only use breakers and nothing else.

Being able to prevent 40-50% damage is just too good. So there's very little reason to use something else except in a few matchups where sometimes enhanced moves are the key to win.

Only a few characters like Sektor, Quan Chi, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Nightwolf and Mileena have really good EN moves that are worth the meter.

 

[SilverKeyMan]

As a Sub-Zero player I use my breaker only in the following instances:
(1) X-Ray - Only if I'm about to lose the match, and this could win it for me.
(2) EX Slide - Only if I'm pinned in the corner, and it'll reverse the situation for me.
(3) Breaker - All other situations.

Every character is different, and how much importance a player puts on their EX specials will determine what their priority is. For example, I don't think I've ever used Sub's EX Freeze intentionally, nor his EX Clone. Not saying they aren't good, just that my priorities lay elsewhere.

 

[TheChad_87]

Shady pretty much hit the nail on the head.

One mistake I see friends of mine make enough that I feel I should point it out even if it is a little situational is this:
Round 2 and you've won round 1. You have 1.5 bar of meter and you get caught in a combo. You build to the 2 bars, but you are probably 2 hits away from losing and the opponent has a significant life advantage. 9 times out of 10, it's better to just take the loss here and go into round 3 with 2+ bars.
Now round 3, the opposite is true. If you have meter left at the end of the round, you've wasted it.

Also, meter management is a little different for each character. As Cyrax, I almost exclusively use meter for Breaker and Sticky Bomb set-ups, or the occasional Unbreakable Sticky Bomb Combo to end a round. I VERY rarely use Cyrax' X-Ray.
Jade, I play similarly using Meter for EN Glow more than anything else. Actually, I am more reluctant to even use Breaker with Jade. That's how good EN Glow is. I'll also, rarely use EN Boomerang for resets, but this is, again, very rare. I have used Jade's X-Ray 9 times. I just checked in the Nekropolis. Also, probably 6 of those were during Hyper Kombat games with a friend. So, that shows how often I think it pays off.
With Mileena, I tend to use X-Ray quite a bit as a punishment tactic or as a round ender because of the armor it provides. I would even use it with Mileena in round 2 and start round 3 with no meter because she builds it SO quickly with iAS, Roll, Teleport Srop, etc. Even still, I think Breaker is the best use of meter for her. I tend to use her EN Specials quite a bit as well. I guess she kind of allows for this because of her meter-building.

Some characters, like Kano and Johnny Cage, completely change the way the game is played when they have full meter. I think, overall, proper meter management is pretty character specific.

 

[Altaire]

Meter management is too character-specific to really elaborate on, so I'll just summarize the key points:

- EX moves with armor are a great way to get a reversal.

- Certain characters can use EX moves to access combos for much higher damage, a la Sektor or Cyrax. These characters will want to have at least one bar available at all times.

- X-rays can be a great way to control the match, though some are more useful than others. If Sub Zero has a full meter, you can't throw a projectile without risk of eating an X-ray punish. If Kano has full meter, you can't get close to him on the ground without risking 41% damage. If Cage, Ermac or Stryker have full meter, you can risk jumping in on them at all. Simply having your X-ray can change the way your opponent plays and often times, it'll severely limit his options.

- Breakers are best kept for when you need to break a combo over 30% (we'll say 25% at the bare minimum), you're in danger of losing a set or if you don't want to lose a considerable life lead (discretionary). If you break against an opponent with two or three bars while you have one or less, you will still be at a serious disadvantage unless you have the life lead. Often times, people break when it'd be more beneficial to use EX moves/X-ray to make a comeback. This is very character-specific, and even matchup-specific at times.

That's really all there is to it. Personally, I think most players are too wasteful with their meter. They're too quick to break, and they're too quick to throw out random EX moves (Cage players are the absolute worst for this, from my experience). I try not to be stingy with my meter, but I know when it's valuable to be sitting on a full three bars as well. As I stated above, just having your X-ray can remove some of your opponent's options, and in some cases, this can be enough to even out a bad matchup.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Loot]

Character specific really. Raiden uses his solely for breaker as his EX moves aren't worth it, Sektor uses his for the comboing ability off EXTU, when Cage has full meter it can completely reverse the flow of a match and his EX Shadow Kick counters zoning instantly, KL can use his for extended juggles both wall and midscreen, etc...

 

[Ruuku1012]

One interesting thing about breakers is that I'm less likely to breaker against some characters. Against Jax for example, I'd rather breaker if he starts a combo in the corner or if he starts one that would put me there. Another thing I've noticed is that very few players actually spend time trying to build meter or at least do it in an effective fashion. My mix-ups are likely to change depending on my need for meter and I might purposely get into a projectile battle for that purpose. Knowing about how much meter your moves build and how much they give can be important.

 

[Lyuben]

Depends on the character. For someone like Shang he lives for meter. He needs it to do his most basic BnB.

Noob Saibot? Not so much. All his meter does is add damage. Woohey.

Some characters have godly x-rays with good properties or good scaling.

Reptiles x-ray goes through projectiles. Knowing this changes the game if you see that a reptile has full meter.

Someone like Sub-Zero relies on the x-ray to finish off opponents as it scales very well and gets him easy 40-50%+ combos.

But someone like Kabal have poopy x-rays that scale horribly and have terrible armor.

So to manage your meter, you need to look at your character as there is no universal strategy, except of course for breakers. Always try to have one ready.

 

[evansgambit]

Breakers offer the best use of Meter per bar.

If you get caught in an opponent's potentially 40%+ combo and you break early. Each bar of meter used saved you 20%+ damage. And as we all know, damage saved is like damage earned. Compare that to X-Rays, where all three bars, net you 30 to 40%, and you'll see that on a per meter basis. X-Ray's isn't that great. It gets worst when an X-Ray is added to the end of the combo, scaling horribly, that on a per meter basis, it's not a wise choice. This is without considering strategy, positioning and opportunities that an uncomboed X-Ray provides. X-Ray's in combos not worth it, mathematically, unless you close out the round or match, which is priceless.

I'm in the opinion that, enhanced moves, are only worthwhile if they give you a strategic advantage such as armour, invincibility, positioning. Those that give increased damage aren't really worth it, unless they can tact on 20%+ damage, which is the value of ONE bar, or half a breaker. If your character has "useful" enhanced moves that fits those descriptions, then that's where some of the meter will go.

Then there's the issue of staying on a full bar, which is losing you meter. You lose potential meter by not gaining any meter from chip, special move usage or getting hit. Remember, you gain one bar of meter when you lose exactly 50% of your health. So mathematically you don't want to stay on 3 bars for too long. Again your game strategy may dictate otherwise.

Now finally, you should only use meter, if you think you still have a good chance at winning the round. You don't want to burn meter and still lose. Meter that if you had carried to the next round, may have been the deciding factor in the match. Obviously in the final round, its do or die.

 

[leek]

and they're too quick to throw out random EX moves (Cage players are the absolute worst for this, from my experience). I try not to be stingy with my meter, but I know when it's valuable to be sitting on a full three bars as well. As I stated above, just having your X-ray can remove some of your opponent's options, and in some cases, this can be enough to even out a bad matchup.

Just some food for thought.

No kidding, I think the reasoning for this though is because the red shadow kick is SO GOOD, it can completely stuff any attempts at keep away. I'm one of the players who uses it too much, too, trust me I recognize. It's just that you see the opportunity to use it, and it's so much easier than being patient with moving forward on the opponent via dash blocking and dashing into crouch.

It's the main issue with my style of gameplay is that I throw out that red shadow kick whenever I have any meter at all, and I never build any because of it, causing me to lose. Just one of those things that you have to work on you know? Marvas has a great cage and is extremely patient with moving in, and even saves it up for X-Ray and turning it around.

One thing that I've found though is people tend to break really early against cage, as to not start up frame trap shenanigans and the such. It helps a lot especially even if, say I wasn't going for a full combo but rather closing in towards the corner, and cage can simply walk right back up after.

 

[GGA soonk]

Scorpion has his 50/50 reset vortex he can keep you in, not sure if other characters have something similar. What I tell people is if you get caught with a ground spear, you're probably getting a full combo(~40%) and if you get caught with an air spear you're going in the vortex. If you get caught with the ground spear, might as well break early to avoid the high damage combo, but if you're going in the vortex you might want to wait until Scorpion starts his next combo attempt. Since it's a mixup, you could guess wrong and stay in the vortex or eat full combo, or you could guess right and get a full punish. Might as well wait and see if you guess right, saving the 2 bars and getting a full punish.

Like others said before, it might be wiser to save the meter for the 3rd round as opposed to losing 2 bars and the round and going into the final round with no meter.

Another thing is if you know your opponent tends to use meter in their combos, you can wait until they burn it to break out.

 

[Ruuku1012]

I think I'll try to put some of what was said in the opening post. There's some good stuff.

 

[HGTV Soapboxfan]

One thing that I think should be noted is that some of the do nots of meter, breaking late in a losing round for example, are not strict rules. While it is true for the most part, sometimes you could breaker late and it can catch ur opponent off guard, put yourself in a good pressure situation, get a 50 50 and win. Meter use is never black and white, and sometimes the best decision is the least expected 1.

 

[KanoSlayedYou]

Meter management: over-rated.​

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[Ruuku1012]

Meter management: over-rated.​

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What makes you say that?

 

[STORMS]

What makes you say that?

Ignore that name/account, they're banned.