Possible New Tech

[The-Sky-Cries]

Hey guys, I need help on what to do with Scorpion when he's pressured in general. I find that against good pressurer's like Jonny Cage or Kung Lao, or Milleena, Scorpion really has nothing that will consistently, or effetely get him out or end the pressure. As of right now, I mostly depend on EX tele, which can be easily stopped at the beginning of the teleport. Or if your against someone who's experienced against Scorpion, He will just duck the first punch, then weave in a upper-cut before the second one comes out.

 

[OutworldKeith]

EX Spear is great against pressure

 

[ELC]

D1, D3, D4, can quickly create enough space for you to use EX Spear. EX Spear is a great counter to everything except Armored EX specials and X-Rays. If you don't have enough meter, try Demon Fire. Even though it's -1 on hit, I've had good luck with this for starting my own pressure.

 

[eyehaveyou17]

D1 into 11 is usually a good counter to pressure. This is because both 11 and d1 is a combo starting atni air and are very quick.

 

[Bluez]

Def agree with these guys, d1 and ex spear all day. ex tele can work too but like you said if you get predictable with it its easily punished.

 

[Verstande]

The worst thing you can do against a Kitana is tele, that's for sure, don't even bother.
I was fighting one of my toughest matches yesterday (player wise, not character wise) and he was using scorpion, almost everytime he did a tele, I blocked it and he ate a 42% combo. My suggestion is, if you are going to use tele, only use EN, as it's safe. One thing I find hard about Scorpion is avoiding his spear when I am doing iAF, any character in general, if they jump, I would suggest pulling out that spear, extremely effective at mid-long range.

 

[The-Sky-Cries]

EX Spear is great against pressure

Uhh..... It can be, but most of the times, my opponents just unintentionally jump over it because they are trying to start their combo with a jump in punch., Then I get punished even more.

 

[ELC]

Have you tried dashing backward (or in the case of crossover, forward) then spear? I've gotten a lot better at AA spears by starting with a backdash, so I imagine the same could be used when under pressure.

 

[truendymion]

Learn to block, learn to use pokes. Don't rely on TP to get you out of every situation or else opp will start baiting and punishing. A really solid defense can throw your opp off and make them feel like they can't hurt you.

 

[GrandMasterson]

3, 3, 4 is a very good string. Those fist two kicks are very fast and will beat out a lot of other strings.

If you're feeling brave, you could try to link a spear after 3, 3 but I will find that sometimes only one of the kicks will connect, so the safest option is just to go through with the last 4 to create some space between the both of you.

 

[ryublaze]

Not sure if people know abuot this but is whiffing an air throw to build meter a good idea? We all know that Scorpion's specials aren't safe so he could use this to build meter. While doing a whiffed air-throw it slows you down upon landing, but if you press the throw button right before you land there is no slowdown time.

Of course, you shouldn't do this constantly because jumping a lot isn't safe but whenever you do jump you can do this to build meter.

 

[OutworldKeith]

Anyway we can build extra meter w/ a meter dependent character is always good in my book

I'll see if I can develop a strategy and post my findings

 

[Flagg]

Some people jump straight up and down to avoid a projectile and will activate a neutral jump kick to stay in the air, that split second longer. Does a neutral jump throw mean a character stays in the air a fraction longer, because it would be a relatively safe way of building meter without being punished?

 

[ELC]

@ Red: How is the recovery for low-whiff? That was the big thing for me when dealing with whiffed Air Throws since it seemed as though it took forever for Scorpion to recover.

@ Flagg: Normals don't build meter, only specials, chip damage, and taking damage do.

Anyhow, Scorpion has plenty of opportunities to build meter, it's just that he builds it so slowly.

 

[ryublaze]

@ Red: How is the recovery for low-whiff? That was the big thing for me when dealing with whiffed Air Throws since it seemed as though it took forever for Scorpion to recover.

@ Flagg: Normals don't build meter, only specials, chip damage, and taking damage do.

Anyhow, Scorpion has plenty of opportunities to build meter, it's just that he builds it so slowly.

I haven't noticed too much recovery time. If you throw right before you hit the ground you should be able to recover quickly.

 

[Kedra]

Imma try this out even though the meter build is very minimal.

 

[Ravox]

Yes, it worth it. Keep jumping.

 

[Kedra]

I've a record/playback file that uses a whiffed air throw.

I'll try to make vid of it sooner or later.

 

[ryublaze]

I think I found 3 (not very good) uses for it.

1. You can use it after a NJP in a combo but it is very hard timing.

2. After throwing the opponent, you can jump and whiff an air throw and use Hellfire (if you're expecting them to jump to avoid Hellfire).

3. Your opponent has a breaker and you spear your opponent. Jump over and whiff an air throw.

Another thing to note is that you can't block right away after whiffing an air throw when jumping forward or backward but you can still move right after you land. If you just jump straight up and whiff an air throw, you can block right away.

 

[Kedra]

Setups with whiffed air throw
#1

#2

 

[Bildslash]

Every Air-Throw builds roughly 2% of meter (i.e. 17 Air-Throws build 1 bar of meter). That is kind of good; I honestly though, prior to checking, that it would only build 1.23% of meter. However, I'm particularly concerned about is the opportunity to do it continously throughout the match to have a noticeable impact on meter building. In other words, what bothers me is not being able to whiff 2 of them back-to-back.

 

[Bildslash]

I think I found 3 (not very good) uses for it.

1. You can use it after a NJP in a combo but it is very hard timing.

Wanna see some funky stuff?

Whiff an Air-throw after a NJP and inmediately do a standing attack or special move, and relish in watching Scorpion do ground-based attacks in mid-air. Fun stuff, lol!

 

[Kedra]

I used to whiff air throw on combos and well, it saved me every time when I'm getting punished on different circumstances.

One combo into vortex with whiffed air throw and blockstrings. = 0.86/1 meter.
I know it's not accurate lol.

 

[ryublaze]

Thanks Kedra. Your setups seem to be the most useful. I added them to this video:

 

[Big Pampering]

The best way for scorpion to build meter is by inflicting block damage, especially since scorpion is better up close. whiffing air throws is something smoke does better, he builds way more meter compared to scorpion, and even some smoke players arent really fond of this way of building meter for some reason.