MK9 Potential Patch Character Balancing and Discussion

[RunwayMafia]

As in my response to Joker's post, I don't think Kenshi's spirit moves should be projectiles. If that just happens to be a tough match then so be it. That's not to say that she doesn't deserve buffs in general, which may help Jade in other ways in this MU. Does the EX flash kick for Jade (if that's the name) have full screen armour or is it like Cage's? In any case making armour last for the whole duration of the move might help her get in.

Yeah I believe the EX flash kick has armor all the way, which is how I actually get in on Kenshi. Could you imagine if she could flash through his moves....the MU would be seriously reversed.

 

[NKZero]

Yeah I believe the EX flash kick has armor all the way, which is how I actually get in on Kenshi. Could you imagine if she could flash through his moves....the MU would be seriously reversed.

Yeah so take that and combine it with the proposed buffs and who knows, maybe Jade wins 9-1 instead (flash would make it 10-0). You sir are really the worst type of downplayer .

 

[NKZero]

anything you should be punshing can already be done by the standing 2, what do you want to punish that cant be done by standing 2 already. the standing 1 should be for interrupting point blank pressure.

standing 1 can punish things that are -8, -7 or -6 whereas standing 2 cannot. that's the difference. So what if Sektor has great punishment. Just be more careful when you have to play him, it wouldn't make him broken. Lao has a 7 frame punish (only one frame slower), and it's more consistent and has longer reach. Come on now.

 

[RunwayMafia]

Yeah so take that and combine it with the proposed buffs and who knows, maybe Jade wins 9-1 instead (flash would make it 10-0). You sir are really the worst type of downplayer .

Lol...this patch could be Jade's revenge...Jade top 3?

 

[Scoot Magee]

Scorpion suggestions

Just some things to choose from. Safe b2, faster walk speed, advantage on d4/d3 and fix ex spear whiff bullshit. Maybe make ex spear hit crouch on all.

Advantage on d+4 combined with a safe b2 and a fix on ex spear would be awesome.

 

[Lord Beef]

I only dabble with some top tier characters so I can not really speak on them, but for my mains I suggest the following(as futile as it may be)
Sub Zero -
2 needs to hit mid on everyone.
Slide goes under all duckable projectile, and from the first frame of the slide.
Vanilla Damage

Scorpion -
d3 should be +1 on hit. (getting spun on hit by kung lao is just ridiculous)
Give some + frames to d4 on hit. Not mileena status, but enough to help get in without trapping into hellfire or anything dumb like that.
Decrease recovery on whiffed spear, more inline with a blocked spear.
Fix EX-Spear to where it will no longer go through someone his is in your face.
b2 start up 3-4 frames faster in exchange for getting rid of the phantom hit box in front of it.

 

[NKZero]

Scorpion suggestions

Just some things to choose from. Safe b2, faster walk speed, advantage on d4/d3 and fix ex spear whiff bullshit. Maybe make ex spear hit crouch on all.

yeah i think those are reasonable.

although i would ask exactly what advantage you want on those pokes, bearing in mind the potential Scorpion may have regarding hell fires and guaranteed 50/50's if the advantage on hit is too much (d+4 specifically).

 

[Scoot Magee]

yeah i think those are reasonable.

although i would ask exactly what advantage you want on those pokes, bearing in mind the potential Scorpion may have regarding hell fires and guaranteed 50/50's if the advantage on hit is too much (d+4 specifically).

Yeah that's why they have it at 0. Maybe something like +7 so he can follow up with a string would be reasonable. If they aren't going to give him plus on d+4 they should increase his walk speed and make b2 safe.

 

[NKZero]

I only dabble with some top tier characters so I can not really speak on them, but for my mains I suggest the following(as futile as it may be)
Sub Zero -
2 needs to hit mid on everyone.
Slide goes under all duckable projectile, and from the first frame of the slide.
Vanilla Damage

Scorpion -
d3 should be +1 on hit. (getting spun on hit by kung lao is just ridiculous)
Give some + frames to d4 on hit. Not mileena status, but enough to help get in without trapping into hellfire or anything dumb like that.
Decrease recovery on whiffed spear, more inline with a blocked spear.
Fix EX-Spear to where it will no longer go through someone his is in your face.
b2 start up 3-4 frames faster in exchange for getting rid of the phantom hit box in front of it.

Forgot the slide that's a good suggestion. Agree with other SZ suggestions since I myself mentioned them too. As for Scorpion, d+4 and d+3 I wholly agree with. I think whiffed spear should stay the same though. EX spear should be fixed yes. Not sure about b+2. Scoot suggested making it safer. You suggested making it quicker.

 

[Big Pampering]

standing 1 can punish things that are -8, -7 or -6 whereas standing 2 cannot. that's the difference. So what if Sektor has great punishment. Just be more careful when you have to play him, it wouldn't make him broken. Lao has a 7 frame punish (only one frame slower), and it's more consistent and has longer reach. Come on now.

But what punishable move do you have in mind that a 9 frame move cannot punish but a 6 frame move can? I can't think of any moves at the moment that cages f3 doesnt punish but kung lao's 21 does. if there are a few I don't see that as a legit reason to make sektor a rushdown monster.

The difference is that the standing 2 is what makes kung lao good and he doesnt have a mid. sektor has other things that make him good.

 

[NKZero]

Yeah that's why they have it at 0. Maybe something like +7 so he can follow up with a string would be reasonable. If they aren't going to give him plus on d+4 they should increase his walk speed and make b2 safe.

ok yeah that definitely sounds fair. i think you can add making b+2 safe it doesn't have to be either or.

on the subject of d+4 and 50/50's I believe Freddy has the standard hit advantage of d+4 which gives him his guaranteed 50/50 (which he can make safe with meter). that probably needs to be toned down. d+4 needs to be on Scorpion's level.

 

[NKZero]

But what punishable move do you have in mind that a 9 frame move cannot punish but a 6 frame move can? I can't think of any moves at the moment that cages f3 doesnt punish but kung lao's 21 does. if there are a few I don't see that as a legit reason to make sektor a rushdown monster.

The difference is that the standing 2 is what makes kung lao good and he doesnt have a mid. sektor has other things that make him good.

Smoke bomb is -9 which means it would be pretty hard to punish. Sektor should get a full punish because that MU is pretty heavily in Smoke's favour as it is. Part of the reason why is because Sektor doesn't get a consistent punish on Smoke bomb. Also if you can't find many moves, then it shouldn't be that big of a deal. His string should be consistent. That's what I'm arguing for.

 

[bloodsport]

ground skulls (both ex and normal) still come out of the floor when shang is hit

it would be great if ground skull startup time was shorter (around 5 frames less), but in order for that to work, cancel advantage for all of his strings would have to be adjusted and the rest of his specials would need to be sped up to avoid losing some of his block traps, so meh

 

[Badboy Takuma]

http://testyourmight.com/threads/regarding-to-next-mk9-patch.35663/

 

[Vulcan Hades]

Stryker reasonable buffs:

-b2 should hit mid.
-Standing 3 needs to inflict more stagger frames on hit.
-b3 should be 22f startup instead of 26f.
-b32 needs to have a smaller gap between hits.
-2nd hit of b122 should hit overhead.
-Last hit of 232 should hit overhead and be -11 on block instead of -28 OR remain -28 but be special cancellable.
-Standing 4 should have a better hitbox (to be a more reliable AA).
-Roll Toss should be -1 on block instead of -11.
-Baton Sweep should be 23f startup instead of 27f OR be safer on block.
-Low Grenade needs to hit crouchers from midscreen.

Normalize:

-EX Baton Sweep needs to always have 3 hits of armor instead of random armor.
-Gun Shot is impossible to normalize. If you make it hit mid it's gonna be broke.

And even with all that I bet he would still be low mid-tier lol.

I guess some of his normals and specials could use a slight damage buff but that's pretty much it I think.

 

[Briggs8417]

Sonya: Not that she needs it but make EX kiss either faster or with longer stun.
Also, bring her ms1 to kiss back, I liked that a lot.
Sheeva: Make some of her normals (like b1, b2 or f3) faster. Give armor on the EX tele stomp's way down as well.
Sindel: Armor on EX yell (scream), EX hair whip should do 15% instead of 13%.
4 into specials brought back, would make her top 10 as well.

Sonya buffs? HELL NO!

 

[keo-bas]

Im not tournament level player so maybe my suggest are bad but heres mines

Sheeva
Ex-teleport ability to choose which side she jumps off .
Ex-stomp dash cancel ( only if raw, if amour is absorbed or use than she's locked in finish stomped)
X-ray attack- Have ability to choose side of where to throw opponent. like EX toss (B,F 4)

my reason. MK9 is footsie heavy game Sheeva does this pretty well its just that she not versatile so i think these changes offset that.

Baraka
Blade Spark absorbes one projetile or Baraka has Lower legs invcibiity.
EX version Does Knock down.
Chop chop has bigger hit-box but gives more meter or Have first chop chop restand/ but any loops will result in knockdown.

Blade spark in general is weak compensattion for baraka poor long range game. While Blade park is not useless its just has very little payoff and too easily counter. By allow blade spark to void projectiles it allows Baraka some breathing room to close in or counter turtle heavy strategy. If that's too much than allow blade spark to ab an additional reversal tool that specifically keep his lower hitbox safe from low profile attacks.

 

[ryublaze]

Can you put the stuff that's agreed on in the OP? Makes it a lot easier than surfing through this thread.

Sub-Zero I agree with slide going under (almost) all projectiles. Dunno about his old resets...

I agree Scorpion's pokes should be "normalized". EX Spear whiffing randomly is kinda dumb so I agree with fixing that too. Idk about safe B2, I guess that would be ok.

I don't think there's really anything to change for Sektor and Skarlet...they seem pretty balanced.

 

[Big Pampering]

Smoke bomb is -9 which means it would be pretty hard to punish. Sektor should get a full punish because that MU is pretty heavily in Smoke's favour as it is. Part of the reason why is because Sektor doesn't get a consistent punish on Smoke bomb. Also if you can't find many moves, then it shouldn't be that big of a deal. His string should be consistent. That's what I'm arguing for.

nobody really punishes smokebomb. The reason it is inconsistent is because it is for interrupting opponents pressure point blank which never whiffs. if you buff the range on that standing 1 he will be able to use it for rushdown purposes which is just OP and probably everyone will say so. The buffs I mentioned are already big:

- buzzsaw doesnt make teleport whiff which changes the whole kabal matchup
- all strings get hitbox buff except for standing 1 string
- wakeup flamethrower is a true wakeup attack.
-b34 ex teleport is a safe low launcher

you know these buffs will probably make him a guaranteed top 8 character and the majority of people might not even agree with them especially the safe low launcher is od imo. also isnt there already a range where b34 doesnt whiff on second hit? his f2 string not whiffing on second hit is crazy as well, he might have better normals than kitana even with these buffs.

 

[Lord Beef]

Can you put the stuff that's agreed on in the OP? Makes it a lot easier than surfing through this thread.

Sub-Zero I agree with slide going under (almost) all projectiles. Dunno about his old resets...

I agree Scorpion's pokes should be "normalized". EX Spear whiffing randomly is kinda dumb so I agree with fixing that too. Idk about safe B2, I guess that would be ok.

I don't think there's really anything to change for Sektor and Skarlet...they seem pretty balanced.

See, I don't think I agree with b2 being safe. Maybe safER...perhaps more pushback or something. But I would gladly let it still be punishable if my pokes granted frames and b2 was like 4 frames faster.

Scoot Magee
NKZero

 

[NKZero]

Can you put the stuff that's agreed on in the OP? Makes it a lot easier than surfing through this thread.

Sub-Zero I agree with slide going under (almost) all projectiles. Dunno about his old resets...

I agree Scorpion's pokes should be "normalized". EX Spear whiffing randomly is kinda dumb so I agree with fixing that too. Idk about safe B2, I guess that would be ok.

I don't think there's really anything to change for Sektor and Skarlet...they seem pretty balanced.

we're changing the format of this whole thing. this thread might not be needed soon.

 

[ryublaze]

See, I don't think I agree with b2 being safe. Maybe safER...perhaps more pushback or something. But I would gladly let it still be punishable if my pokes granted frames and b2 was like 4 frames faster.

Scoot Magee
NKZero

Yeah he is meant to be a high risk/high reward character. I think giving him better pokes and fixing ex spear would help him deal with up close pressure. If other characters are normalized like Cyrax then that'd also help Scorpion because he won't be punished as hard for guessing wrong. so idk about b2, I think Slips would know the answer.

 

[Scoot Magee]

See, I don't think I agree with b2 being safe. Maybe safER...perhaps more pushback or something. But I would gladly let it still be punishable if my pokes granted frames and b2 was like 4 frames faster.

Scoot Magee
NKZero

Dude I'd be happy with some advantage on d4 and a fixed ex spear. Honestly though I don't think a safe b2 would be that crazy considering his low option would still be unsafe when used with spear. Still though just a d4 and even a d3 advantage buff would be good. The idea of b2 being safe mainly comes from being forced to use it as a footsie tool. With a d4 buff he won't need to do that so b2 won't really need to be safe.

 

[Mikemetroid]

There should be no armored moves that grant a full combo.

 

[STRYKIE]

You and Ketchup should be able to handle any changes Sektor would get fine, I don't feel I need to chime in.

As for Scorp, the only real no brainer is fixing his pokes (maybe +6 from D4 because I've already explained how controversial +12 would be)

I'm sitting on a few ideas, I think he should still be a vortex character but with more low risk, low reward options.

- Standing 2 active on the 8th frame, true mid. He could still get a launching mixup from 2,1+2 or feinting and using F4~Spear instead.
- Maybe make B2 high, I think it's better used as a whiff punisher than an overhead.
- I'd be okay with them getting rid of the void OTG because judging from the weird scaling I don't think it was even intended.
- 2,1,2 -6 on block together with 2,1 takedown for the low risk mixup.
- EX spear only whiffs if jumped.
- The instant teleport is something else I'm not sure was intended or not, but I'd like to see a few more frames opened up to do it.
- EX hellfire +10 on hit, doesn't OTG anymore.