MK11 SHANG TSUNG Discussion

[LawAbidingCitizen]

That's true lol there are usually a lot of kneejerk reactions/hot takes about characters being busted and I don't think I have seen much of that concerning Shang Tsung yet. Like I said I love that I am doing well with him since I love the character but when I compare him to my main (Kotal), I feel like I don't have to work quite as hard for my wins. Idk if that says more about Kotal or Shang but we will see lol

I imagine the second we see a known player use him at CEO he will start being OP

ITs because Kotal is trash even HoneyBee and Biohazard say he is terrible everywhere. If his hotbox issues where fixed he would be solid Like D'Vorah after learning

But I think Shang is easily A tier or above slot of his stuff us punishable but he can condition it his strings are on the slower side(mids) but he has good buttons and his zoning is up there with the best unless he is up against cetrion or Cassie but I think he can handle them. Geras is a problem though for sure and if jax or jacqui get in its pretty hard to get them off.

 

[Ricky Prouty]

Is anybody else having trouble getting 2,1,U2,D2 to work? I can never get the third hit of the combo to come out

 

[Blade4693]

Is anybody else having trouble getting 2,1,U2,D2 to work? I can never get the third hit of the combo to come out

The timing is really weird, you have to really commit and like mash it out. I am pretty sure I am inputting the u2 d2 before 1 even hits, its awkward.

 

[KingKhrystopher]

Which characters would you guys say are best to learn for Shang? I've learned Scorpion, Sonya, and Geras, and I'm trying to learn Jade and Sub-Zero. Any pointers or characters y'all see a lot in KL?

 

[M.D.]

The best way to play Shang is to learn the top tiers, then morph in them and play literally exactly how they played that round.
Do that constantly until they ragequit.

So this clasic df4 scorpion clueless thing kept doing d4 chain spin, so I just bf2 amplify directly and did the exact thing to him until he ragequit.

Fills the soul.

 

[Johnny Based Cage]

Which characters would you guys say are best to learn for Shang? I've learned Scorpion, Sonya, and Geras, and I'm trying to learn Jade and Sub-Zero. Any pointers or characters y'all see a lot in KL?

Best answer besides the ones you like and already want to learn is probably the ones you run into the most.

Me personally though, I’m gonna go for all the characters I can do swaggy morph-back shit with, like Geras’ amp time freeze, Scorp’s amp spear, Sub’s ice ball, etc. Any stuns that let you morph back into throw set-ups or recombos or what have you.

 

[KingKhrystopher]

Best answer besides the ones you like and already want to learn is probably the ones you run into the most.

Me personally though, I’m gonna go for all the characters I can do swaggy morph-back shit with, like Geras’ amp time freeze, Scorp’s amp spear, Sub’s ice ball, etc. Any stuns that let you morph back into throw set-ups or recombos or what have you.

Fair. What kinda irks me is that it seems that if you overextend your time in a morph because of a combo animation, you still lose the damage buff during those hits. Found this out playing Geras morphed

 

[AK Harold]

I wanna know what Sonya full combo looks like after soul steal lol. That's be some sweet revenge.

 

[legion666]

In my opinion you should be Soul Stealing to get them to respect the move in neutral. The actual move is godlike and it's like it's balanced around the idea that you have to morph(preferably with a bar of meter) to be able to use it.

So it seems like the damage buff actually lasts through the round, I have a clip here where I finish the round with a normal soul steal, and then immediately do a S3U2 combo which gets buffed damage. Perhaps the the amplified version lasts the full 9 seconds?

That is actually awesome! It was like that in mk9. You stay Shang but the damage buff carries over. All Shang mains were fishing for that Soul Steal to end a round.

 

[Hor_PeT]

Hi, I am labbing Shang Tsung and see that the frame data in the menu is way different than in the reality (frame data in practice room).
D1/D3 is better in reality.
But Ground Eruption is worse.

What the hell?

 

[Evil Canadian]

I imagine the second we see a known player use him at CEO he will start being OP

Shang isn't allowed at CEO, he's too new

 

[Blade4693]

Shang isn't allowed at CEO, he's too new

Well damn, I was looking forward to seeing some high level play of him there :/

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

Which characters would you guys say are best to learn for Shang? I've learned Scorpion, Sonya, and Geras, and I'm trying to learn Jade and Sub-Zero. Any pointers or characters y'all see a lot in KL?

Noble Raptor has many videos on shang. You should at minimum know 1 combo for every character for every variation if you want to use him to his full potential. I say get down corner combos, midscreen, wiff punishers, punishers, anti airs, universal os for all wakeup options with all of Shangs bad matchups:
Cassie
Geras
Sonya
Jacqui
Scorpion
Sub

So that way you can turn the MU in your favor having more damage and same tools.

But I'm currently working on all of that for every character.
I'm also using his Frame traps 112 into Soulsteal which forces them to respect it and allows me to enforce other pressure like F2 stagger, F242 frame trap etc. So I'm required to know the characters I use that tech on.

I'm so happy we have Shang that fact he can Soulsteal is a game changer. Its hitbox is unreal catches jump INS and all.

 

[KingKhrystopher]

Noble Raptor has many videos on shang. You should at minimum know 1 combo for every character for every variation if you want to use him to his full potential. I say get down corner combos, midscreen, wiff punishers, punishers, anti airs, universal os for all wakeup options with all of Shangs bad matchups:
Cassie
Geras
Sonya
Jacqui
Scorpion
Sub

So that way you can turn the MU in your favor having more damage and same tools.

But I'm currently working on all of that for every character.
I'm also using his Frame traps 112 into Soulsteal which forces them to respect it and allows me to enforce other pressure like F2 stagger, F242 frame trap etc. So I'm required to know the characters I use that tech on.

I'm so happy we have Shang that fact he can Soulsteal is a game changer. Its hitbox is unreal catches jump INS and all.

Yeah, sometimes I'll literally just use Soul Steal as an anti-air if they're kinda far lol. Too fun.

 

[legion666]

I have played a set against a pretty good Cassie and... I think Shang outzones her)

 

[Marinjuana]

Found something cool and useful. Someone mentioned that Krushing Blow requirements that require multiple hits(namely Sub Zero's slide) to activate will stack between soul steal morphs. But I haven't seen anyone mention that the "twice in a row" requirement can be satisfied even if Shang does attacks when he morphs back. The moves I'm aware of that have this requirement are Jade's Shadow Kick, Raiden's B2, Skarlet's B2 and Kung Lao's divekick. So against Jade you end a combo in shadow kick and then morph back and when you do another soul steal, you will have that Krushing Blow available. Here's an example with Skarlet.

Imagine loading up a B2 KB against Thunder Wave Raiden and being able to whip out a straight 50/50 that does 300 damage both ways with your super plus knockdown from soul steal.

 

[Marinjuana]

Very situational, but Soultaker can actually combo into a Soul Steal from non amplified DB1 if the second fireball hits the opponent independently and out of the air. You have to be at the right range, but it's a good range for throwing out DB1. Not going to see this much but it may actually be something that a well practiced Shang player could land in a match. You don't need to be in the corner but it makes it easier.

 

[legion666]

Found something cool and useful. Someone mentioned that Krushing Blow requirements that require multiple hits(namely Sub Zero's slide) to activate will stack between soul steal morphs. But I haven't seen anyone mention that the "twice in a row" requirement can be satisfied even if Shang does attacks when he morphs back. The moves I'm aware of that have this requirement are Jade's Shadow Kick, Raiden's B2, Skarlet's B2 and Kung Lao's divekick. So against Jade you end a combo in shadow kick and then morph back and when you do another soul steal, you will have that Krushing Blow available. Here's an example with Skarlet.

Imagine loading up a B2 KB against Thunder Wave Raiden and being able to whip out a straight 50/50 that does 300 damage both ways with your super plus knockdown from soul steal.

God! This is great! So many possibilities here, glad it works!

I was testing morphing into Jax , and whatever charge level you have heated your arms to when morphed does NOT come back to you when you morph again. You have to charge again. And most of his KB depend on that.
But between that and his damage buff from the Soul Steal staying between the rounds, I am seeing so much potential!

 

[legion666]

Found something cool and useful. Someone mentioned that Krushing Blow requirements that require multiple hits(namely Sub Zero's slide) to activate will stack between soul steal morphs. But I haven't seen anyone mention that the "twice in a row" requirement can be satisfied even if Shang does attacks when he morphs back. The moves I'm aware of that have this requirement are Jade's Shadow Kick, Raiden's B2, Skarlet's B2 and Kung Lao's divekick. So against Jade you end a combo in shadow kick and then morph back and when you do another soul steal, you will have that Krushing Blow available. Here's an example with Skarlet.

Imagine loading up a B2 KB against Thunder Wave Raiden and being able to whip out a straight 50/50 that does 300 damage both ways with your super plus knockdown from soul steal.

Also, if opponent techs your throw wrong when you are Shang, that doesn’t count as a requirement for a throw KB when you turn into a kharacter that has one.
But your find makes me think that if they tech wrong against me while I am morphed, I can turn into Shang and do whatever and even throw them. And when I morph into them again I will have that KB loaded)

 

[SaSSolino]

Also, if opponent techs your throw wrong when you are Shang, that doesn’t count as a requirement for a throw KB when you turn into a kharacter that has one.
But your find makes me think that if they tech wrong against me while I am morphed, I can turn into Shang and do whatever and even throw them. And when I morph into them again I will have that KB loaded)

Good thinking man, I'll test it later today if nobody else does it first.

 

[1man3letters]

Also, if opponent techs your throw wrong when you are Shang, that doesn’t count as a requirement for a throw KB when you turn into a kharacter that has one.
But your find makes me think that if they tech wrong against me while I am morphed, I can turn into Shang and do whatever and even throw them. And when I morph into them again I will have that KB loaded)

Good thinking man, I'll test it later today if nobody else does it first.

Yea you can only store the wrong tech throw for the KB while morphed.
But works other way around aswell, if you do get a escape failed when morphed when your back to being shang and they tech a throw correctly it wont get rid of the "morphed charge" you will still have the kb ready to go when morph again

 

[SaSSolino]

Do you guys know how to unlock Shang's brutalities?

I have his d2, backwards and forward throws, Ermac's lift, Reptile's slide and Rain's kick. What am I missing?

 

[KingKhrystopher]

Do you guys know how to unlock Shang's brutalities?

I have his d2, backwards and forward throws, Ermac's lift, Reptile's slide and Rain's kick. What am I missing?

Nope, that's all I have too.

 

[KingKhrystopher]

I'm guessing that they're in some Shang Tower they haven't released yet.

 

[SaltShaker]

Alright so like, how do I beat low poke on block into ground skulls?

If I do anything when it's supposed to be my turn, I get full combo'd into high damage. If I do nothing I risk him doing low poke into free pressure strings while I'm holding block like a dummy.

What am I missing here?