MK:A character discussion

[Tom Brady]

this is to discuss the FACTS around characters and their strenghths, weaknesses, etc etc etc..

so far the characters that have made an BIG impression on me r:
hsu hao, scropion, drahmin, tayna, kung lao, quan chi, chamelon, brc, liu kang, and sonya . pleae keep in mind that i am speaking in terms of OFFLINE ONLY!

scorpions wepon stance is 100% safe which makes for a dumb mixup. wepon f1 then spear then hellfire. then mixup with another SAFE f1 or 20% throw or cs~f3b3 for a 16% low.

hsu hao is HORRIBLY unsafe buy very damaging. sumo b3 is a 12% low 18% with power . sumo b1 b1 123 does 36% and 51% with powerup. he has a standard 13% throw. very simple VERY effective but u need to be SUPER turtle, very hard to win with him but it WILL win.

tayna has GOD LIKE damage nuff said.

drahmin is VERY safe in iron club. iron club b3 is unsafe but is a good 8% low. b2 is a safe launch for 25%+ as is ff2. 11b2 is safe and because MKDA interrupt is gone it cant be interrupted and becomes very abuseable for a 34% juggle. his projectile has been slowed as has his pound but its still useful at times.

liu kang is still a solid character. very unsafe especially if someone uses what i disovered to be block cancelling. anway, jun fan f2 11 1134cs for 39%. 11 still hits mid but is unsafe as is 113 etc etc. d1 is safe UNLESS block cancelled. d3 is semi-safe if u stay in crouch block unless block cancelled.

chamelons crane stance is an MKDA players dream!! d3 for a good low poke that keeps opponant guessing. d4 for the crane sweep. 332 and 2 TOTALLY safe for a free 30%+ juggle. 332 cant be interrupted so its totally abuseable. hes got decent specials as well.

quan chi is a great punisher with his escrema 231b2 string and its great after a parry as well. 231b2 cs~jump 112 1134 for 41%. b1 is also a good punisher and solid mid. b1 2344cs for 33% so not bad damage but its very unsafe. escrima d1 is his only safe low poke. broad swoards d4 is a decent 10% low.

sonya tkd 2 is GREAT but unsafe, on hit its 34% in a juggle. tkd 3 is high now but still safe and still good damage. tkd b3 is a safe 11% low poke that keeps opponant guessing. b4 is still in but no more cs when it hits. damage isnt scaled when kiss hits either.

brc is like a scaled MKDA brc with a fast drunk fist stance. d4 is still good and 32 is safe unless block cancelled or by a corner. puke is active for less time and puddle looks smaller lol. overall brc a pretty good.

 

[Tom Brady]

hmmm shangs wepon b4f4 may be safe. i have no one to test this on right now so can anyone confirm?

 

[DAVE101]

Two things

Does Chameleon's back+2 do damage? (doesn't for me on PS2)

And the bosses. It's common knowledge that if you make bosses selectable characters, you are going to need to balance them. Actually, I think Boon said that in one of his interviews a few months ago. It doesn't look to me like they did.

They:
-can not be thrown but can throw others
-can't be air komboed
-aren't affected by certain specials
-are knocked away further after popups, and some popups don't even put them in the air. This cuts off juggeling and a lot of damage.

If you ask me it looks like they beefed them up. What else can be said about these large characters.

 

[RayRokka]

I've gotten 50% with Noob...if opponent has weapon, 43-44% without

I think sub can be pretty good if played right, but you have to work hard for it. The best Sub Player I saw online always did Shoto combos with 3 into a throw. Very turtle style and trap oriented. It was good...since I try to play my Sub like that. I don't know if the throw was guaranteed but I couldnt get out of it.

Liu Kang - his combo is more reliable as f2 1,1, bicycle kick at 34%, 37% if you b2 in nunchuck cs 1,1, bicycle kick. Easy and very reliable.

41% f2 1,1 jump punch w/o flipping 1,1,2_1,1,4

kung Lao seems great with his combo that goes to the high crushing sword. Even if you know its coming, it's hard to get away from.

Mileena is very good, her mid mixup is insane. I lose to Mileena players all the time.

What is your crane combo that does big damage?

I can do about 75% with a KAK

 

[Tom Brady]

liu kang f2 11 11 qcf3 41% very easy to do.

right now i thing sub is the best in the game. if i were to make an offline top 10 it would be:

1. Sub-Zero
2. quan chi
3. noob
4. sareena
5. shang tsung
6. scorpion
7. drahmin
8. sonya
9. tanya
10. johnny cage


characters who r also top and may end up in the top 10 r liu kang, jax, mavado, and mileena.


btw ray, what mixup r u losing too, maybe i can help. is mileena 4~throw and roll~throw still guaranteed?

 

[RayRokka]

I'm a little surprised that you have Sub seeded in 1st...I think he's good, but I didn't think he was THAT good. What are you doing that is setting him apart?

What combo are you using? Strats? Traps?

I think Noob is very good, but he is very unsafe to play and mostly wins by turtle and capitalize.

What have you got for Sareena? I don't have any big combos, but her game is more about the throwing knives anyway...

Meh, I guess I lose to unfamiliar matchups mostly...I didn't play Deception ecept when I worked at Midway so I am out of the loop with those characters.

Alot of the new guys seem pretty good, Rain seems good, Daegon seems good with the drakeswords although his low game is shit.

I'm primarily interested in seeing what you are doing with Sub to rate him so high.

 

[Sullen]

I agree with Tom, Mavado is awesome. Long Fist 1,1,3 will end with a mid hit pop-up, and you can mix it up with Long Fist 1,1,CS for the annoying low/high hooksword hit. Quickly CS back to Long Fist and repeat. Hookswords 2,1,4 .. 1,1,4 .. 1,1,4 .. b,f +4 is a great combo. Mix-ups with U+2 and 4 get annoying really quick. U+3 is a sidestep/trip move which is also great to throw in your gameplan. His trip (b,f +4) is pretty quick and has huge range. He also has his sidestep move which is really great to confuse other players or totally avoid their attack. All around a great, quick player that is really annoying to play against.

Kabal is also good, with basically the same hooksword moveset, the main difference is that 4 plants the opponent which in my opinion is worse than Mavado's where you can just continue the mix-ups. The plant move was awesome in MK, but now you can tech roll, or do other options after you are planted. He also has a pop-up combo in his first stance (I forget it off-hand) that switches to hookswords and pops them up, allowing you a 1,1,4 or a 1,1,1, b+1 (which does a tad more damage). What makes me switch back to Kabal after using Mavado is his spin. It is still fast and sets you up for a combo of your choice. He also has a projectile (although not a very good one) that can keep your opponents at a distance.

I have a few questions about Smoke. It seems like his infamous d+1 poke from MK has changed. I'm not sure why, but it doesn't push the opponent backwards, and it can be blocked high *sometimes* (maybe when the opponent is in the corner???). I'm not sure what the deal is but if someone else can experiment that would be cool. Either way, d+1, d+1, d+1, d+1, d+1, u+4, is a good way to frustrate someone because the poke is so fast you can continuously do it and when your opponent finally decides to block low hit them with a mid launcher and into a combo. The other problem I'm having is after a smokey-cut, trying to do a u+4 results in him going up for an air throw and missing. Anyways .. I think he can be good, but I'd like some input from other people, mostly about his poke. His throw is still good, smokey-cut is still good, and stink cloud is still pretty good. Not nearly as good as Noob/Smoke though.

Noob is great and I love playing with him. Invisibility is just great, use it to play a little hide-and-seek, or a rushdown where the player doesn't know whats about to hit him. The combo to use is 4, d,f +3, 1,1,CS. Yea, there is 2,4, d,f +3, 2,1,1,CS but it doesn't start of as the mid launcher and is a little more difficult to pull off for only a little more damage. Either way, 2 of those combos and you're pretty much done. Invisibility + Teleport throw is great, no need to explain that one. D+4 is a great quick low poke, mixed up with 4 or a throw and you can get into your opponents head. I'm not impressed with Troll Hammer, but maybe I'm missing something. Overall, a great player.

Tanya was one of my favorites in MK and she still is in this game. Her damage is unusually huge, and thats fine with me. Invisibility is one of my favorites, and drill kick (although unsafe) can catch people off-guard when used correctly. I posted about Tanya in the MK tier list thread and almost everything I said there still applies. Good player.

Sareena is great from what I've seen. Quickest projectile ever??? Probably ... that freakin knife is a little rediculous. F,F +1 is great, very fast, mid pop up move. She doesn't have the greatest combos (from what I've found anyways) but she can catch you off guard very easily and it only takes a few times to do it before you're dead. 2,1, CS is pretty good after the pop-up, but an air combo also does decent damage. In weapon, d+1 seems like a pretty safe poke to keep your opponent away from you, kinda like Scorpions d+1 in his weapon. There's also a mid pop-up in weapon (can't recall offhand) which can obviously lead to a combo. Overall she's pretty quick, but her specials are what makes her good, because they are rediculousy fast.

It seems like the boss characters have proporties that puts them rediculously high above other people (not able to throw, not affected by projectiles, etc.) I choose not to play with them but I realize that they can be very effective.

I'm interested to see some Sub-Zero strategies/combos. I haven't played with him yet but a lot of people seem to be giving him high praise.

Thats all I got for now.

 

[MikeJonesJaxson]

Before I got rid of this game, I found Kabal to be hella decent. Just because of his standing 4 is very safe, and he can get to the opponent on knockdown and create 50/50 mixup's with either up+2, or back+2.

But I really did'nt play this game too much either, so when I played, it was pretty basic, but it got me wins! heh

 

[MrSchpfmut]

Well you've touched on 3 of my current best, but if i may add...

Scorp - There's not a whole lot i can say that wouldnt be repeating you. But after catching any spear, i'll use sword 221 ~ hellfire. As far as i know it causes the most damage while still giving you a hellfire + 50/50. If they're gonna waste breakers against it, fine by me. Of course in certain situations i'll go right to a hellfire if they do still have breakers.

Am i on the wrong end of trading off roughly 10% & positioning : forcing a breaker out of them early on?

Tanya - Does have godlike damage. But she also has jump db2, which can give you a free throw or 50/50... 3,2 provides the same. d4, 2cs etc is a great setup w/ options. Get them to duck and the 2cs will hit

Chameleon - One of my favs by far! ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDDNXYNI3nw... These aren't all possible online, but some of the smaller 50%ers are for sure! Cham's gotta have two of the most well rounded stances in the game. Great options, great movement, good specials. (shoulda had rep's invisibility & ermac's tk slam instead hahaha...)

 

[RayRokka]

Did you like Gandalf the Grey

I made Legolas today....making Yun from 3S next.

Yeah sweet Chameleon combos...unfortunately I was the recipient of some of those last night. Man, you killed my rating, I was in the top 200 until we played last night. Ahh well I'll get it back. I figure if we keep playing I'll get some of the rust out. I usually beat everyone I play and I actually prefer the comp. Most people run away if they win or lose. If they lose it's because I'm too good, if they win they leave cuz they want an easy win and I make them have to work for it.

MKA online is like how we used to play back in the day, but now you're the better player. You must have played a ton of MKD.

Get a headset damnit!

 

[M2Dave]

liu kang f2 11 11 qcf3 41% very easy to do.

right now i thing sub is the best in the game. if i were to make an offline top 10 it would be:

1. Sub-Zero
2. quan chi
3. noob
4. sareena
5. shang tsung
6. scorpion
7. drahmin
8. sonya
9. tanya
10. johnny cage


characters who r also top and may end up in the top 10 r liu kang, jax, mavado, and mileena.


btw ray, what mixup r u losing too, maybe i can help. is mileena 4~throw and roll~throw still guaranteed?

I mostly play online,but how is Shang Tsung so good?He has Snake and a shitty weapon stance.I know that he isn't a combo character since he only has about maybe 2 juggle starters at the most.

And Scorp isn't top 3?3 in Hapkido is safe.So is 2.I know he has other safe BS.Wep. f+1 isn't safe like it is online,but for a quick mid pop up,it's very safe especially at maximum distance.

Sareena is a complete turtle character.She's too good.

 

[secondgen]

btw ray, what mixup r u losing too, maybe i can help. is mileena 4~throw and roll~throw still guaranteed?

4~throw is still guaranteed, but nothing is guaranteed after the roll anymore.

 

[Sullen]

Did you like Gandalf the Grey

I made Legolas today....making Yun from 3S next.

Yeah sweet Chameleon combos...unfortunately I was the recipient of some of those last night. Man, you killed my rating, I was in the top 200 until we played last night. Ahh well I'll get it back. I figure if we keep playing I'll get some of the rust out. I usually beat everyone I play and I actually prefer the comp. Most people run away if they win or lose. If they lose it's because I'm too good, if they win they leave cuz they want an easy win and I make them have to work for it.

MKA online is like how we used to play back in the day, but now you're the better player. You must have played a ton of MKD.

Get a headset damnit!

Good games last night Ray, I got ya 7-4, played as Jooce. You're KAK definitely has some annoying shit, very frustrating and good. I still need to make my own character. That mind-warp teleport + low punch trip move got me almost every time, haha.

 

[RayRokka]

Yeah GG's

you got the jump on me and it was hard to catch up.

I don't play against the hookswords guys much so it's hard to figure them out at first.

Also I was experimenting with specials with my KAK. Not sure the fireball thingy is very good. Didn't seem to usefull. I've been using spear for Strider but I have had a tough time connecting when I launch people.

Anyways I'm trying to get away from KAK since when I pick KAK, it tends to summojn Onaga or Blaze by some jackass pretending to play Noob or Smoke.

Problem is that KAK is like the only thing I like playing...