NKZero
Warrior
Ok guys so this is fairly self-explanatory. I really want people to feel comfortable in using Sektor in as many MU's as possible, including those that are fairly disadvantaged. Even though I am not a true Sektor main, I have used him extensively in all but one MU, that one being Skarlet.
With that being said I am happy to take requests on full write-ups for any MU people are inquisitive about.
As soon as I get a request I will refresh my memory, start hammering out the MU if I'm a little rusty so I can provide you guys with as much accurate info as possible. That's why for now I will leave the names of the characters blank until I get a request.
This is effectively replacing the bad MU thread I did a few months back since info was lost on that thread and also rather than just worrying about the disadvantage MU's, I thought I'd dive deep (BALLZ DEEP) into all other MU's as well.
If anyone is comfortable doing a detailed write up on Sektor vs Skarlet please let me know.
Note: MU's will be analysed more from Sektor's perspective and what he can do to overcome certain issues and whatnot although strategies of the two characters in question will be evaluated.
Note II: This is the MU breakdown...
SEKTOR vs BARAKA
SEKTOR vs CYBER SUB ZERO
SEKTOR vs CYRAX/HUMAN CYRAX
SEKTOR vs ERMAC
With that being said I am happy to take requests on full write-ups for any MU people are inquisitive about.
As soon as I get a request I will refresh my memory, start hammering out the MU if I'm a little rusty so I can provide you guys with as much accurate info as possible. That's why for now I will leave the names of the characters blank until I get a request.
This is effectively replacing the bad MU thread I did a few months back since info was lost on that thread and also rather than just worrying about the disadvantage MU's, I thought I'd dive deep (BALLZ DEEP) into all other MU's as well.
If anyone is comfortable doing a detailed write up on Sektor vs Skarlet please let me know.
Note: MU's will be analysed more from Sektor's perspective and what he can do to overcome certain issues and whatnot although strategies of the two characters in question will be evaluated.
Note II: This is the MU breakdown...
- Up close game
- Footsies
- Zoning/Turtling
- Corner game
- Wake-up game
- Meter management
SEKTOR vs BARAKA
SEKTOR vs CYBER SUB ZERO
SEKTOR vs CYRAX/HUMAN CYRAX
SEKTOR vs ERMAC
Up close game: advantage Sektor
This is the one area that Sektor can really exploit in this MU, and the area that gives Sektor the best (and perhaps only) chance to win.
Freddy has one of the large hit-boxes in the game, which translates to great danger if Sektor manages to get in. Sektor has all pressure tools available to him such as 122, 12B1, 214, B34, B21 etc. Freddy’s only real escape options (other than generic D1 and D3 pokes) are to burn meter in the form of EX sweet dreams or EX teleport. His high hit-box in addition to his slow normals is what makes it difficult for him to find a reliable escape route when locked down.
Sektor may get away with linking block strings into up missiles on the odd occasion to maintain pressure and gain the upper hand on chip damage for as long as possible because the further the distance between both characters, the more favourable a position Freddy is in.
On the other side of the coin, Freddy is not really known for his ability to rush down. Though he has 10 frame normals in 1 and 2, they both whiff against a crouching Sektor (who has one of the game’s lowest hit-boxes). His next best option is the mid-hitting F4, which comes out in 12 frames. Freddy can stagger the strings to some extent between F4/F42/F421 but if Sektor makes the right read he can interrupt with 12B1 for big damage.
Freddy’s best bet is to cancel F421 into teleport away. His hell spike is -13 on block so at touching distance (when linked off a string) is full combo punishable by Sektor.
Sektor clearly has the advantage here by having all pressure options open to him while Freddy has slower normals and limited at that.
Zoning/Turtling: advantage Freddy
If rushdown was convincingly in Sektor’s favour, the reverse applies here. Freddy is widely regarded as one of, if not, the best zoners in the game.
From Sektor’s perspective, he can ill afford getting comfortable in throwing out missiles. His straight missile is slower travelling and has greater recovery than Freddy’s glove toss, so he’ll lose that battle easily. His up missile is far too slow and Freddy can either knock him out of it with a faster projectile, or make use of his 3-ranged hell spikes to knock Sektor out of the animation.
If Sektor’s straight missile does manage to hit or trade successfully then he can use the advantage of the knockdown to advance (which is beneficial considering his quick dash speed).
Flame burner is pretty much useless considering Freddy will never want to be anywhere else in this MU other than full screen, and if flame burner whiffs it is easily punished by Freddy. Freddy even has his nightmare stance (NMS) to avoid the straight missile and counter-launch himself.
As for Freddy, well he can pursue his regular zoning patterns with a relative amount of ease and comfort. His projectiles are known to be faster so he’ll win trades and get more projectiles out on screen. Not only is his hell spike good for evading/punishing missiles, but they can also knock Sektor out of his teleport uppercut (TU) if he tries to anti-zone.
So not only does Sektor lose in zoning but also he cannot anti-zone thanks to the hell spikes. Even without the ground spikes, Sektor cannot iaTU on reaction to Freddy’s projectiles. He must make a read, and one wrong read equals big damage for Freddy to capitalize on. Even if Sektor tries to slow down Freddy’s zoning with homing missile, if Freddy makes a read on Sektor throwing one out, he can punish with EX hell spike and since it has massive frame advantage on hit, Sektor won’t recover in time to capitalize on the homing missile launch.
It is clear that in the zoning/turtling area of this MU, Freddy is very dominant, both in winning the pure zoning war and effectively preventing Sektor from using iaTU as an anti-zoning measure.
Footsies: even
This part of the MU is very delicately balanced in the sense that both characters have many tools to counter one another, which makes for an interesting medium between one end of the stage and another.
Sektor has a variety of good footsie tools, both offensive and defensive. While his B1 is notoriously known for being safe on block and giving good push back, hitting Freddy with B1 only sends him back further, playing right into Freddy’s hands. His best chance of approaching in this MU is using F2. Once he gets in with being neutral on block, all pressure options are available and he can abuse Freddy’s high hit-box.
Freddy however does have a counter to Sektor’s advancing normals and that is his NMS. NMS lowers Freddy’s hit-box allowing him to evade F2 and B1 and then potentially whiff punish for full combo with NMS-1. NMS is also useful in that once Freddy can get the Sektor player to respect NMS follow-ups, he can cancel NMS into teleport away to create distance and start the zoning game.
Sektor’s counters to NMS are B3 and B21. B21 is better because it has better range and can be used to punish Freddy players who are too predictable with NMS. However B21 also pushes Freddy far back, which is a concept Freddy greatly embraces, so there’s always the option to link B2-TU for a full combo, but that is not hit-confirmable.
Freddy and Sektor both have roughly equal range and start-up frames on their down pokes so there’s not much to analyse there.
From Freddy’s perspective he has some nice range on tools such B3/B2 but they are a few frames slower than Sektor’s distanced footsie options so they aren’t abusable by any stretch.
Sektor has the better footsie tools, farther-reaching and quicker but Freddy’s NMS serves as a great counter, not to mention that anything that gives pushback will suit Freddy. Freddy needs to play the role of the counter-attacker in this part of the MU rather than trying to throw something slower out and risk getting punished big time.
Corner game: even
Both characters have excellent corner games because they do big damage in the corner and can still sustain pressure or go for safe 50/50 mix-ups.
Sektor’s rushdown of Freddy suddenly becomes increasingly more dangerous in the corner. Freddy has no space to move backwards so his option is either to burn meter on EX sweet dreams or EX teleport or run the risk of getting punished for using a standard teleport if Sektor reads it.
With the aid of up missiles/homing missile, Sektor can keep Freddy locked down, and providing he uses the right set-ups (such as 21-up missile) to end combos, he is safe against any Freddy wake-up. This then gives him options to go for the U3 stance 50/50 or just continue general rushdown.
From Freddy’s side of things, he has a devastating corner game, made stronger by Sektor’s weak ability to escape tricky corner set-ups. If Freddy were to end combos in 221+2 or F421 in the corner he can link in sweet dreams and still be safe against Sektor’s wake-ups.
When Freddy gains frame advantage off sweet dreams, he can go for his B2/B3 50/50, which could potentially land him in another combo. He basically has a safe vortex so even if he guesses wrong he won’t bear any consequences.
Sektor must try and find the space and timing to launch an up missile/homing missile in order to plan his escape but it can be tough especially if Freddy makes a successful read on Sektor’s intentions.
Wake-up game: advantage Freddy
Much of what was said in the corner game applies to the wake-up game, since most of both characters’ set-ups stem from knockdown situations.
Sektor has a notoriously weak wake-up game, and against a character like Freddy that is dangerous. Freddy can safely incorporate sweet dream set-ups into his game (especially in the corner) and still be safe to block EX TU, TU or flame burner. In fact, sweet dreams will stuff flame burner and Freddy can potentially get a full combo punish. It can also stuff TU sometimes but that is situational.
When Sektor is afraid to wake-up using wake-up attacks, Freddy can go for his 50/50 options and really press home some up close advantage for once.
Freddy’s wake-up attacks include hell spikes (and EX), sweet dreams (and EX) and teleport (and EX). With all the safe options at his disposal it can be tricky for Sektor to not only bait certain wake-ups but also to maintain pressure with up missile set-ups. While F4/12/21-up missile is safe against any wake-up of Freddy’s, Freddy can avoid these set-ups altogether by teleporting away.
Generally though, if Freddy uses EX sweet dreams from anywhere but touching distance, Sektor can just avoid it by F2 and still get into Freddy’s grill to press the advantage up close. Hell spikes can be crossed-up on read and teleport can be punished on read. Freddy’s only surefire way to be safe and far away is to use EX teleport.
Sektor may be better off forgoing the up missile set-ups on wake-up and just settling for ending combos in B2-flame burner. This keeps Freddy standing and in footsie range rather than allowing Freddy to escape on wake-up using teleport/EX teleport.
While Sektor may give Freddy problems on wake-up, Freddy has many options and many of his downfalls will only occur if Sektor makes the right read. On the other hand, Freddy can easily continue pressing Sektor and abusing his weak wake-ups so Freddy has the advantage here.
Meter management: advantage Freddy
Sektor like in almost every MU, will only need to burn meter for EX TU or EX up missile (homing missile). But it’s the speed at which he builds meter in this MU that is worrying. He cannot zone that much and it is hard to get in on Freddy, so once he’s in he needs to build as much meter as possible via. chip damage from up close pressure. His meter is best spent on breakers since Freddy’s combos can send him full screen and they do considerable damage.
For Freddy, he can use meter more liberally and he builds it a lot quicker as well, but still is advise to save for breaker in order to stop Sektor from getting large chunks of damage in combos, or if he is struggling with Sektor’s rushdown abilities.
The impact of Human Sektor in this MU
It is said that human Sektor actually makes this MU even, as opposed to Sektor losing 4-6 in his robot form. The one difference in this MU is the fact that Freddy is unable to hell spike human Sektor’s straight missile meaning that Sektor may be able to zone more freely. Whether it impacts the MU number I’m not sure but it helps somewhat.
How can Sektor win?
For Sektor to win this MU, it’s simple. He needs to remain as close as possible at all times since he wins the MU up close.
He needs to be patient against Freddy’s powerful zoning, and use meter wisely in the form of breakers or the occasional homing missile to keep Freddy locked down at optimal distance.
This is the one area that Sektor can really exploit in this MU, and the area that gives Sektor the best (and perhaps only) chance to win.
Freddy has one of the large hit-boxes in the game, which translates to great danger if Sektor manages to get in. Sektor has all pressure tools available to him such as 122, 12B1, 214, B34, B21 etc. Freddy’s only real escape options (other than generic D1 and D3 pokes) are to burn meter in the form of EX sweet dreams or EX teleport. His high hit-box in addition to his slow normals is what makes it difficult for him to find a reliable escape route when locked down.
Sektor may get away with linking block strings into up missiles on the odd occasion to maintain pressure and gain the upper hand on chip damage for as long as possible because the further the distance between both characters, the more favourable a position Freddy is in.
On the other side of the coin, Freddy is not really known for his ability to rush down. Though he has 10 frame normals in 1 and 2, they both whiff against a crouching Sektor (who has one of the game’s lowest hit-boxes). His next best option is the mid-hitting F4, which comes out in 12 frames. Freddy can stagger the strings to some extent between F4/F42/F421 but if Sektor makes the right read he can interrupt with 12B1 for big damage.
Freddy’s best bet is to cancel F421 into teleport away. His hell spike is -13 on block so at touching distance (when linked off a string) is full combo punishable by Sektor.
Sektor clearly has the advantage here by having all pressure options open to him while Freddy has slower normals and limited at that.
Zoning/Turtling: advantage Freddy
If rushdown was convincingly in Sektor’s favour, the reverse applies here. Freddy is widely regarded as one of, if not, the best zoners in the game.
From Sektor’s perspective, he can ill afford getting comfortable in throwing out missiles. His straight missile is slower travelling and has greater recovery than Freddy’s glove toss, so he’ll lose that battle easily. His up missile is far too slow and Freddy can either knock him out of it with a faster projectile, or make use of his 3-ranged hell spikes to knock Sektor out of the animation.
If Sektor’s straight missile does manage to hit or trade successfully then he can use the advantage of the knockdown to advance (which is beneficial considering his quick dash speed).
Flame burner is pretty much useless considering Freddy will never want to be anywhere else in this MU other than full screen, and if flame burner whiffs it is easily punished by Freddy. Freddy even has his nightmare stance (NMS) to avoid the straight missile and counter-launch himself.
As for Freddy, well he can pursue his regular zoning patterns with a relative amount of ease and comfort. His projectiles are known to be faster so he’ll win trades and get more projectiles out on screen. Not only is his hell spike good for evading/punishing missiles, but they can also knock Sektor out of his teleport uppercut (TU) if he tries to anti-zone.
So not only does Sektor lose in zoning but also he cannot anti-zone thanks to the hell spikes. Even without the ground spikes, Sektor cannot iaTU on reaction to Freddy’s projectiles. He must make a read, and one wrong read equals big damage for Freddy to capitalize on. Even if Sektor tries to slow down Freddy’s zoning with homing missile, if Freddy makes a read on Sektor throwing one out, he can punish with EX hell spike and since it has massive frame advantage on hit, Sektor won’t recover in time to capitalize on the homing missile launch.
It is clear that in the zoning/turtling area of this MU, Freddy is very dominant, both in winning the pure zoning war and effectively preventing Sektor from using iaTU as an anti-zoning measure.
Footsies: even
This part of the MU is very delicately balanced in the sense that both characters have many tools to counter one another, which makes for an interesting medium between one end of the stage and another.
Sektor has a variety of good footsie tools, both offensive and defensive. While his B1 is notoriously known for being safe on block and giving good push back, hitting Freddy with B1 only sends him back further, playing right into Freddy’s hands. His best chance of approaching in this MU is using F2. Once he gets in with being neutral on block, all pressure options are available and he can abuse Freddy’s high hit-box.
Freddy however does have a counter to Sektor’s advancing normals and that is his NMS. NMS lowers Freddy’s hit-box allowing him to evade F2 and B1 and then potentially whiff punish for full combo with NMS-1. NMS is also useful in that once Freddy can get the Sektor player to respect NMS follow-ups, he can cancel NMS into teleport away to create distance and start the zoning game.
Sektor’s counters to NMS are B3 and B21. B21 is better because it has better range and can be used to punish Freddy players who are too predictable with NMS. However B21 also pushes Freddy far back, which is a concept Freddy greatly embraces, so there’s always the option to link B2-TU for a full combo, but that is not hit-confirmable.
Freddy and Sektor both have roughly equal range and start-up frames on their down pokes so there’s not much to analyse there.
From Freddy’s perspective he has some nice range on tools such B3/B2 but they are a few frames slower than Sektor’s distanced footsie options so they aren’t abusable by any stretch.
Sektor has the better footsie tools, farther-reaching and quicker but Freddy’s NMS serves as a great counter, not to mention that anything that gives pushback will suit Freddy. Freddy needs to play the role of the counter-attacker in this part of the MU rather than trying to throw something slower out and risk getting punished big time.
Corner game: even
Both characters have excellent corner games because they do big damage in the corner and can still sustain pressure or go for safe 50/50 mix-ups.
Sektor’s rushdown of Freddy suddenly becomes increasingly more dangerous in the corner. Freddy has no space to move backwards so his option is either to burn meter on EX sweet dreams or EX teleport or run the risk of getting punished for using a standard teleport if Sektor reads it.
With the aid of up missiles/homing missile, Sektor can keep Freddy locked down, and providing he uses the right set-ups (such as 21-up missile) to end combos, he is safe against any Freddy wake-up. This then gives him options to go for the U3 stance 50/50 or just continue general rushdown.
From Freddy’s side of things, he has a devastating corner game, made stronger by Sektor’s weak ability to escape tricky corner set-ups. If Freddy were to end combos in 221+2 or F421 in the corner he can link in sweet dreams and still be safe against Sektor’s wake-ups.
When Freddy gains frame advantage off sweet dreams, he can go for his B2/B3 50/50, which could potentially land him in another combo. He basically has a safe vortex so even if he guesses wrong he won’t bear any consequences.
Sektor must try and find the space and timing to launch an up missile/homing missile in order to plan his escape but it can be tough especially if Freddy makes a successful read on Sektor’s intentions.
Wake-up game: advantage Freddy
Much of what was said in the corner game applies to the wake-up game, since most of both characters’ set-ups stem from knockdown situations.
Sektor has a notoriously weak wake-up game, and against a character like Freddy that is dangerous. Freddy can safely incorporate sweet dream set-ups into his game (especially in the corner) and still be safe to block EX TU, TU or flame burner. In fact, sweet dreams will stuff flame burner and Freddy can potentially get a full combo punish. It can also stuff TU sometimes but that is situational.
When Sektor is afraid to wake-up using wake-up attacks, Freddy can go for his 50/50 options and really press home some up close advantage for once.
Freddy’s wake-up attacks include hell spikes (and EX), sweet dreams (and EX) and teleport (and EX). With all the safe options at his disposal it can be tricky for Sektor to not only bait certain wake-ups but also to maintain pressure with up missile set-ups. While F4/12/21-up missile is safe against any wake-up of Freddy’s, Freddy can avoid these set-ups altogether by teleporting away.
Generally though, if Freddy uses EX sweet dreams from anywhere but touching distance, Sektor can just avoid it by F2 and still get into Freddy’s grill to press the advantage up close. Hell spikes can be crossed-up on read and teleport can be punished on read. Freddy’s only surefire way to be safe and far away is to use EX teleport.
Sektor may be better off forgoing the up missile set-ups on wake-up and just settling for ending combos in B2-flame burner. This keeps Freddy standing and in footsie range rather than allowing Freddy to escape on wake-up using teleport/EX teleport.
While Sektor may give Freddy problems on wake-up, Freddy has many options and many of his downfalls will only occur if Sektor makes the right read. On the other hand, Freddy can easily continue pressing Sektor and abusing his weak wake-ups so Freddy has the advantage here.
Meter management: advantage Freddy
Sektor like in almost every MU, will only need to burn meter for EX TU or EX up missile (homing missile). But it’s the speed at which he builds meter in this MU that is worrying. He cannot zone that much and it is hard to get in on Freddy, so once he’s in he needs to build as much meter as possible via. chip damage from up close pressure. His meter is best spent on breakers since Freddy’s combos can send him full screen and they do considerable damage.
For Freddy, he can use meter more liberally and he builds it a lot quicker as well, but still is advise to save for breaker in order to stop Sektor from getting large chunks of damage in combos, or if he is struggling with Sektor’s rushdown abilities.
The impact of Human Sektor in this MU
It is said that human Sektor actually makes this MU even, as opposed to Sektor losing 4-6 in his robot form. The one difference in this MU is the fact that Freddy is unable to hell spike human Sektor’s straight missile meaning that Sektor may be able to zone more freely. Whether it impacts the MU number I’m not sure but it helps somewhat.
How can Sektor win?
For Sektor to win this MU, it’s simple. He needs to remain as close as possible at all times since he wins the MU up close.
He needs to be patient against Freddy’s powerful zoning, and use meter wisely in the form of breakers or the occasional homing missile to keep Freddy locked down at optimal distance.