SkatanMilla
Noob
Through my short time with this game, since the release, I have explored many different characters. Mileena however strikes me as one of the better and more interesting to play out of them, she is definitely an underrated character in my book.
Playstyle:
Mileena has everything you need to succeed in this game, both on the offense and on the defense. She has tools to zone people, and tools to keep herself from getting zoned out. Mixups is nothing she is lacking, she has several overheads, :en roll being one of the fastest in the game and leading into a big damage combo. While she is a bit lacking when it comes to pressuring with moves that have frame advantage, she can still manage with what she has. To me she is a very free character, she doesn't have to restrict herself to a certain playstyle to be successful.
Key moves:
d+3 - A very fast move, that I believe is + on block, to get the most out of this move you need to be dash canceling it. It is good for interrupting people and for keeping some pressure on your opponent since Mileena doesn't have any other strings that fills that purpose (I think).
d+4 - Arguably the best poke in the game, has incredible reach and goes extremely low so will avoid most of the moves in the game, including plenty of x-rays. Has good advantage on block, and on hit you are allowed to do another d+4 that cannot be jumped over. Cancels into sai for good chip damage, this is your main move for getting in and safely chipping away at someone.
2,3 - Your go-to safe string that cannot be crouched under, easily confirmable into roll or :en roll for easy damage. Unfortunately does not have good frames on block, so if they block it you are forced to either stop, cancel it into sai or do 2,3,4. Your goal with this is to keep people from wanting to press a button after 2,3 so that in the end you can stop there and go into something else to keep the pressure going.
1,1,2 - While it can be punished with things like an uppercut, abusing 2,3 enough will keep people from wanting to press buttons during your string. 1,1,2 might have slight frame advantage on block or be close to neutral. You can get away with pressing d+3 or d+4 very often after 1,1,2 has been blocked. It's also a good idea to cancel it into some safe special like Sai. The confirm into roll has to be done at 1,1, because it doesn't combo after 1,1,2.
b+3,3 - One of the very few double low strings in the game, and definitely the best one out of them. Not only is it a knockdown string and a natural combo, but b+3 combos into :en roll for high damage and becomes a really strong mixup due to how fast :en roll actually comes out, and being an overhead. This is -the- mixup that you want to abuse on people when you manage to land a jumpin on block or when you have them on knockdown.
u+4 - A relatively fast overhead with a great hitbox and seemingly plus on block. Has really good range and will jump over many moves that you don't expect it to. Leads into a high damaging combo on hit, becomes a scary option to deal with when mixed in correctly with her d+4 and b+3.
Roll - One of the best specials in the game, in my opinion, extremely fast, extremely low and travels a long distance AND leads into a combo. This move can be done as a reactive whiff punish to almost anything in this game that isn't extremely quick like a jab or a d+3 (though you can punish slow jabs with it).
Stops most characters projectile zoning against Mileena since she can roll them on reaction, the risk quickly outweighs the reward they get through throwing projectiles.
The biggest downside to this move is that it is extremely punishable on block, I think you can get an NJP on it into combo if you're on point. However, when used correctly there really is no reason why this move should ever get blocked.
Not to mention that this is one of the best anti-airs in the game, will punish people from trying xups, jumpins, straight jumps and jumpbacks. However, it can be dealt with by doing a low jump kick, however if they do this you can instead switch it up by using and early jump kick yourself canceled into teleport kick~air sai into her combo.
Teleport kick - Certain projectiles or specials cannot be countered on reaction with the ball, in those cases you can instead use the teleport kick to punish them on reaction. This makes it so that Mileena literally cannot get zoned by other characters, she always has a solid answer to what they're throwing at you. If you catch them in the air with it you even get a combo from it by following up with sai, then d+4~roll. The only reliable punish most characters have on this move on block is an uppercut, because even on block you can followup with air sai, so you can either mess up their punishment timing, or you can do it low enough that they have to block it standing. Therefore teleport kick is pretty low risk/low reward against most characters.
Sai/Air Sai - Mileena's strongest tool for zoning her opponents, air sai can be done low enough to have to be blocked when standing. Mixing it up with low and high air sais is annoying for characters that don't have a built in answer to it like a teleport.
For people that jump over your sais from long range you can punish them with roll.
Very useful in matchups against characters that aren't strong against projectiles, but still not a necessity for her to deal with characters that can't get zoned by projectiles due to the rest of her moveset.
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More to come when I get the time...
Playstyle:
Mileena has everything you need to succeed in this game, both on the offense and on the defense. She has tools to zone people, and tools to keep herself from getting zoned out. Mixups is nothing she is lacking, she has several overheads, :en roll being one of the fastest in the game and leading into a big damage combo. While she is a bit lacking when it comes to pressuring with moves that have frame advantage, she can still manage with what she has. To me she is a very free character, she doesn't have to restrict herself to a certain playstyle to be successful.
Key moves:
d+3 - A very fast move, that I believe is + on block, to get the most out of this move you need to be dash canceling it. It is good for interrupting people and for keeping some pressure on your opponent since Mileena doesn't have any other strings that fills that purpose (I think).
d+4 - Arguably the best poke in the game, has incredible reach and goes extremely low so will avoid most of the moves in the game, including plenty of x-rays. Has good advantage on block, and on hit you are allowed to do another d+4 that cannot be jumped over. Cancels into sai for good chip damage, this is your main move for getting in and safely chipping away at someone.
2,3 - Your go-to safe string that cannot be crouched under, easily confirmable into roll or :en roll for easy damage. Unfortunately does not have good frames on block, so if they block it you are forced to either stop, cancel it into sai or do 2,3,4. Your goal with this is to keep people from wanting to press a button after 2,3 so that in the end you can stop there and go into something else to keep the pressure going.
1,1,2 - While it can be punished with things like an uppercut, abusing 2,3 enough will keep people from wanting to press buttons during your string. 1,1,2 might have slight frame advantage on block or be close to neutral. You can get away with pressing d+3 or d+4 very often after 1,1,2 has been blocked. It's also a good idea to cancel it into some safe special like Sai. The confirm into roll has to be done at 1,1, because it doesn't combo after 1,1,2.
b+3,3 - One of the very few double low strings in the game, and definitely the best one out of them. Not only is it a knockdown string and a natural combo, but b+3 combos into :en roll for high damage and becomes a really strong mixup due to how fast :en roll actually comes out, and being an overhead. This is -the- mixup that you want to abuse on people when you manage to land a jumpin on block or when you have them on knockdown.
u+4 - A relatively fast overhead with a great hitbox and seemingly plus on block. Has really good range and will jump over many moves that you don't expect it to. Leads into a high damaging combo on hit, becomes a scary option to deal with when mixed in correctly with her d+4 and b+3.
Roll - One of the best specials in the game, in my opinion, extremely fast, extremely low and travels a long distance AND leads into a combo. This move can be done as a reactive whiff punish to almost anything in this game that isn't extremely quick like a jab or a d+3 (though you can punish slow jabs with it).
Stops most characters projectile zoning against Mileena since she can roll them on reaction, the risk quickly outweighs the reward they get through throwing projectiles.
The biggest downside to this move is that it is extremely punishable on block, I think you can get an NJP on it into combo if you're on point. However, when used correctly there really is no reason why this move should ever get blocked.
Not to mention that this is one of the best anti-airs in the game, will punish people from trying xups, jumpins, straight jumps and jumpbacks. However, it can be dealt with by doing a low jump kick, however if they do this you can instead switch it up by using and early jump kick yourself canceled into teleport kick~air sai into her combo.
Teleport kick - Certain projectiles or specials cannot be countered on reaction with the ball, in those cases you can instead use the teleport kick to punish them on reaction. This makes it so that Mileena literally cannot get zoned by other characters, she always has a solid answer to what they're throwing at you. If you catch them in the air with it you even get a combo from it by following up with sai, then d+4~roll. The only reliable punish most characters have on this move on block is an uppercut, because even on block you can followup with air sai, so you can either mess up their punishment timing, or you can do it low enough that they have to block it standing. Therefore teleport kick is pretty low risk/low reward against most characters.
Sai/Air Sai - Mileena's strongest tool for zoning her opponents, air sai can be done low enough to have to be blocked when standing. Mixing it up with low and high air sais is annoying for characters that don't have a built in answer to it like a teleport.
For people that jump over your sais from long range you can punish them with roll.
Very useful in matchups against characters that aren't strong against projectiles, but still not a necessity for her to deal with characters that can't get zoned by projectiles due to the rest of her moveset.
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More to come when I get the time...
