Neutral crouching in throw/poke range... how and when?

[scrubjesus111]

How do you know when is a good time to release block up close to avoid throws? I noticed some people on Kombat League never do this, and some seem to know when and when not to do it. Personally I feel like I'm going to get blown up if I'm not blocking so I'm in the former camp, I don't even attempt. Do you condition first somehow, or do it following specific sequences, do it only against certain characters, or just make a read?

 

[Braindead]

It's just a read. I do it often.

After a couple of matches I can start reading my opponent's throw habits and neutral duck accordingly.

On ranked you most of them just go for a throw when you have around 10% health left so you can show them your giant cojones at that point and let go of block.

 

[Dayvon]

Micro ducking works great after being slightly negative. It's a easier read against characters that have slower mids.
You can condition the opponent to go for a grab if you have a move that is slightly negative and a poke fast enough to either beat out their mid or at least trade with them. Your opponent can kounter your poke with a reversal grab but that's where the micro duck comes into play.

 

[Baconlord]

It's mostly just a read. I recommend micro ducking since it's a much safer option. You just neutral duck for like an 8th of a second then quickly stand up and hit your fastest jab. This will beat throws, most highs, and it let's you put a hitbox on the screen instead of just holding crouch

 

[Arqwart]

Micro ducking is a really powerful tactic once you've gotten used to how your opponent is playing. As said above, you simply micro duck then immediately use your fastest high. If they're tossing out throw, you'll duck it and punish. If they are throwing out most any high-starter string, you'll duck the high and (usually) hit them before the second hit of the string. If they poke, oh well you just took a single poke and neutral is slightly in their favor now. Note that this tactic has a generally higher risk level when used against characters with super speedy mids that entirely dictate the character's offense. Be wary of the Jax, Jacqui, Geras, and Cassie players with this as they may just resort to their mids instead.

If you're not interested in taking the risk with the micro duck, another thing you can do if you're already crouch blocking is simply let go of block for a moment when the opponent dashes into close range then begin blocking again. If they dash into an immediate grab, it should whiff as you weren't blocking at the time and you should have plenty of opportunity to blow them up with a punish. If they dash into a string, you're generally already blocking by the time a non-high attack would be hitting you.

 

[Archgamer]

How about just block their string/poke and just walk back as they are negative? If they go for the grab they will be out of range and you get to full punish them. If they resort to mashing d1 or d3 those will also whiff and you can also punish them with a mid starter if they remain foolish.

 

[Error404]

I started micro ducking a lot recently. It's super good. I wouldn't even call it a read . If you microduck into a jab , vs a character with slow mids , at most you're taking a poke. It's super good.

 

[Nevan_PTF]

This is really good! I was relying too much on letting go of block and was getting blown up lol

Will use micro duck -> jab deffo.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Although these things are true, though, I also can’t overstate the importance of keeping track of your opponent’s patterns in general.

I used to play again my opponent’s character — and after getting better, I am playing against my opponent instead. When they move, when they jump, how they end strings, what they stagger and what they do after, how they wake up in diff. situations, how they respond when they block my strings, when they block a poke, after their poke hits, when they choose to throw, etc. I am keeping track of all of this from the very first moments, as that’s how you beat a player at their own game.

So whether you choose to duck, microduck, whatever, I’d recommend getting in this habit if you haven’t already. It leads to becoming a much better player, and it will benefit you in far more areas than just throw reads.

 

[Trevor]

Could someone create a video tutorial of this microducking tech? I have a hard time dealing with someon like kung lao because you can't really anti air him as he has the dumb dive kick so he gets a lot of free jump ins and then it's the stupid 50/50 of a throw or a combo starter.

 

[MKF30]

lol the throws and crouch blocking, poking is so broken in this game it's hilarious. It should work like MK 9 where if you go for a throw and your opponent crouch pokes you get poked out of it, the way it works in MK 11 is so stupid. If you crouch and attack you get thrown. Also lots of times I've crouched and wait to uppercut and still get thrown. I miss the days when everything was universal, were simple yet effective.

 

[Rodney Quillz]

Could someone create a video tutorial of this microducking tech? I have a hard time dealing with someon like kung lao because you can't really anti air him as he has the dumb dive kick so he gets a lot of free jump ins and then it's the stupid 50/50 of a throw or a combo starter.

Lao doesn’t exactly have a slow mid either definitely a situation you could microduck and get hit for big dammy.

 

[scrubjesus111]

lol the throws and crouch blocking, poking is so broken in this game it's hilarious. It should work like MK 9 where if you go for a throw and your opponent crouch pokes you get poked out of it, the way it works in MK 11 is so stupid. If you crouch and attack you get thrown. Also lots of times I've crouched and wait to uppercut and still get thrown. I miss the days when everything was universal, were simple yet effective.

I just wish they would remove throw kounters so you can still break the throw if you get thrown while poking. Or maybe only have throw kounter against the spammable pokes d1 and d3. Then again maybe the risk of using throw warrants the reward of a guaranteed throw if u catch ur opponent pressing any buttons... lol idk how to fix this. All I know is throw kounter is super irritating