MK11 SHANG TSUNG Discussion

[MKF30]

He looks like a solid zoner which is good enough for me, not combo heavy at all, good keep away game in that oldman variation. Though, they said 3 variations but the Ermac and Reptile one were kustoms right? Which kind of bums me out a little since those are awesome I thought. Ehh in "non kompetitive mode" online I guess I'll use that kustom one for sure. That one switch move he has reminded me of Dairou a little, except this move hurts you slightly though I think/assuming it can be blocked.

In the trailer we see him use Smoke, and then do the combo with Rain, Ermac, and Reptile respectively in one shot. However, from the kombat kast, each of those moves are locked in a variation. This confirms that Shang Tsung gets to use 4 variations!

Yes, I too was wondering about that. Perhaps he has more variations? I like the one with Ermac and I like the one from MK 1 oldman Shang.

 

[Juggs]

Nobody gonna mention he's forced into a fully punishable animation every time he transforms back, and it happens EVEN AFTER HE GETS COMBO'D? It's literally a free combo reset for his opponent every time he transforms and gets hit. Even Jade is gonna get 400+ unbreakable damage on him.

Welcome to Shang Tsung. This has always been a drawback to Shang’s morph. It was like that in UMK3, MKT, MK9, etc.

 

[Pterodactyl]

Hell Sparks are in tournament variation, but they are unsafe, seems like they can’t be amp on block.
Soul steal is universal, we get all the KBs, but they do 1/2 damage. Seems like there is no damage boost on Soul Steal this time.

You get a damage boost.

After he morphs into sub one of the first times, he grabs his opponent and it hits for 220-230 damage instead of the usual 140

 

[MKF30]

Couldn't they just either give him a few frames of armor when morphing back or make it safe all together? Seemed faster recovery than UMk3 morphing.

Surprised nobody is talking about that crazy 37% damage on just a second Smoke parry KB...

 

[SaSSolino]

Holy damn that was good!

I wanted a zoner and I got one. His range seems very good, and his stings staggerable enough.

His zoning tools also looks extremely strong, expecially that fire torrnado thing that I just can't wait to lab.

The groundskulls I also like and they seem to behave very hellsparks-y, which is a plus for me since I'm a Shinnok player.

I'm a little sad that his fastest mid is a i13, but he's a spacing character so it makes sense I guess. Plus he already seems super strong, not sure why you guys don't think so.

Also I love how they explained how Kronika didn't trust him and she confined him, but never said anything about how he came back from his MK9 death.

EDIT: edited the OP.

 

[SaSSolino]

Uh and I almost forgot that teleportish move! That thing is hilarious!

If I can end combos in it and knock down myself I'll legit laugh out loud.

 

[ogrimtitan]

I love how Shang's looking. Like seriously considering maining him. But the fact that he looks so great also kind of bums me out, because I just KNOW most of his coolest stuff won't be in tourney variations. Like my ideal loadout would have Smoke and Reptile transformations plus either ground skulls or Ermac transformation for combos, but I know that's probably got zero chance of happening. It sucks to see a character with so much synergy to play around with (zoning with the up skulls, corpse drop, and smoke parry, or pressure with fire tornado, rain kick cancels, and reptile slide, or etc.) and know that we won't have the freedom to play them in tournament mode.

 

[SaSSolino]

I love how Shang's looking. Like seriously considering maining him. But the fact that he looks so great also kind of bums me out, because I just KNOW most of his coolest stuff won't be in tourney variations. Like my ideal loadout would have Smoke and Reptile transformations plus either ground skulls or Ermac transformation for combos, but I know that's probably got zero chance of happening. It sucks to see a character with so much synergy to play around with (zoning with the up skulls, corpse drop, and smoke parry, or pressure with fire tornado, rain kick cancels, and reptile slide, or etc.) and know that we won't have the freedom to play them in tournament mode.

Man if only there was a way to customize your own variations...

 

[ogrimtitan]

Man if only there was a way to customize your own variations...

I find this critique a bit disingenuous. I obviously know about the game's modes, so my original statement was made taking that into account. And it's not like I'm making a unique complaint. If anything, it's possibly the most common gripe from the serious player base of this game. Unless you're suggesting that every one of the players and tournament pros who've griped about this issue is just wrong, which is a pretty unsupportable position for one person to take, calling me out for highlighting how this same issue applies to this new character is just meaningless sass.

 

[SaSSolino]

I find this critique a bit disingenuous. I obviously know about the game's modes, so my original statement was made taking that into account. And it's not like I'm making a unique complaint. If anything, it's possibly the most common gripe from the serious player base of this game. Unless you're suggesting that every one of the players and tournament pros who've griped about this issue is just wrong, which is a pretty unsupportable position for one person to take, calling me out for highlighting how this same issue applies to this new character is just meaningless sass.

I think you read too much into it mate, but yeah I think it's stupid too.

 

[legion666]

You get a damage boost.

After he morphs into sub one of the first times, he grabs his opponent and it hits for 220-230 damage instead of the usual 140

Just looked at it again. He didn’t do a single grab when morphed into sub. He did around 230 when he hit JiKxxSlide Amplified morphed into sub. I think that is just as much as sub does himself.

 

[legion666]

Uh and I almost forgot that teleportish move! That thing is hilarious!

If I can end combos in it and knock down myself I'll legit laugh out loud.

It will probably restand) still funny

 

[legion666]

Holy damn that was good!

I wanted a zoner and I got one. His range seems very good, and his stings staggerable enough.

His zoning tools also looks extremely strong, expecially that fire torrnado thing that I just can't wait to lab.

The groundskulls I also like and they seem to behave very hellsparks-y, which is a plus for me since I'm a Shinnok player.

I'm a little sad that his fastest mid is a i13, but he's a spacing character so it makes sense I guess. Plus he already seems super strong, not sure why you guys don't think so.

Also I love how they explained how Kronika didn't trust him and she confined him, but never said anything about how he came back from his MK9 death.

EDIT: edited the OP.

They said that he came back when she reset time. So the same moment and for the same reason that Shao and his gang came back.

 

[SaSSolino]

They said that he came back when she reset time. So the same moment and for the same reason that Shao and his gang came back.

Didn't hear it. So present day Shang is still dead, this is past Shang. Got it, thanks mate!

 

[DivineImpalerX]

Hm they should remove the stagger from his Morph after it runs out... here is why (or add a Slot Variation Option which removes the Stagger):

a) His Morph only lasts 6sec we can amp it for additional Time but we dont know if it will deal more damage and add time or anything so its unlikely that we will amp it in real games.
b) You are playing the Character your Enemy knows best + the Transformation itself seems to not buff your damage (they even reduced the KB damage to 50%) so the Transformation itself does favor the enemy imo.
c) It would be fun to see some crazy mixed combos of shang starting a combo as the enemy and with proper timing end it with shang tsung moves.

Edit: or a more balanced Solution (Morph will not stagger at the end if you amped it).

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

Kinda bummed the ninja specials are looking like their gonna be locked in casual mode. Rip.

At least his mk9 variation looks awesome!

 

[GothamInGray]

Kinda bummed the ninja specials are looking like their gonna be locked in casual mode. Rip.

At least his mk9 variation looks awesome!

We only saw one of the tournament variations. I feel fairly confident that the other one will have at least a couple of the ninja moves.

At least, I hope so.

 

[xenogorgeous]

that fire tornado move seems hella cool already !

 

[Kiss the Missile]

I don't really get their explanation. They said he appeared because Kronika was defeated, but in every story ending, Kronika is defeated after the universe is reset to the dawn of time.

You can see the same type of stuff in some intros were they mention Kronika being defeated, which should also mean that they don't currently exist. All noncanon I know, but it still bugs

 

[DixieFlatline78]

He excites me actually. I've been looking for a second to KL and he may be what I'm looking for.

The thing that most impressed me was his corner carry in the Klassic Variation. Those Hellspark Combos put them half screen away for you to dash up and start the juggle. Then his weird little Braniac Slide looks like it throws them pretty far away. It reminds me of how far EX Spin takes them.

His damage also looks decent. Idk how optimized 16's combos were but they were already approaching 30% so maybe there are even better routes. I also hope there's a corner launcher besides the plus frame string, since Hellspark apparently whiffs. That EX Corpse Drop looks very annoying too, and the Comet Skulls seem really strong. I'm hoping the other variation has ninja moves. I imagine the other variation will be Reptile Slide, Shake, and Flame Pillar, somewhat like how Raiden and Kano have a no-combo variation

He looks weak in the KB department and throw game, but the latter isnt really his gameplan to begin with. I also just don't see how useful Soul Steal will be against good players, especially character specialists.

 

[cavemold]

LOL

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

Hellspark

SMH
Be gone with thee!

 

[arrakur]

He looks weak in the KB department and throw game, but the latter isnt really his gameplan to begin with. I also just don't see how useful Soul Steal will be against good players, especially character specialists.

and especially without damage buff and the easy punishable re-morph

 

[legion666]

What no one noticed is that his u3 is a projectile (or at least the fireball part of it) because when @16bit woke up with it in the beginning of their 1 st match Derek had the glow on and didn’t block, so the u3 just went through him.

 

[arrakur]

I dont think its a fireball, Derek just standing out of range.