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Shang Tsung General Discussion

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Kiss the Missile

Red Messiah
I was trying to come up with some ultimate sauce but there seems to be some sort of "combo limiter" system in place. From what I've been testing, there is no way at all to continue a grounded combo after Young Triple Skulls. No matter what you do with your Kameo, it will instantly turn into reset. Sektor Rocket, Motaro teleport, Cyrax Hori-blades, Goro U2, even as a last resort I tried Kano Knives, nothing. Its heartbreaking really
 

Agilaz

It has begun
I was trying to come up with some ultimate sauce but there seems to be some sort of "combo limiter" system in place. From what I've been testing, there is no way at all to continue a grounded combo after Young Triple Skulls. No matter what you do with your Kameo, it will instantly turn into reset. Sektor Rocket, Motaro teleport, Cyrax Hori-blades, Goro U2, even as a last resort I tried Kano Knives, nothing. Its heartbreaking really
Skulls are pretty decent on their own, I feel between young/old, kameos and morph he has more than enough combo potential
 
Am I the only one struggle to open people up? He has no mix, average buttons, even his zoning is not that impressive. Can people share their gameplan with Shang?
 
F12, spike has allowed be to start opening people up a little more. Maybe because the game is early, but it helps me condition the other player.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
He feels a little honest for this game. He has no real mixups, however it does help to switch between young and old and condition people with f3. His b1 is just a little bit short on range to be a great neutral button.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
Fun fact, Goro's omelette throw can connect on most strings on hit. It also connects on crouch blockers and neutral crouchers.

Meaning Shang can get a mixup off of B223. B22 is in itself hitconfirmable, b223 is safe on block and is +44 on hit (setup for meaty f3, young or old), b22 omelette toss can lead to about 25% for a bar (toss, dash f3 xx ex close up skull, far up skull, mid up skull, close up skull, f4 xx inject)

Of course if they make the read they can just jump and kill you, but i think it's a neat tool for him. I only got the 245-ish of a "raw" toss, im sure people with better execution can eke out a bit more
 

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
Shang Basics Guide

Besides being able to morph into the opponent's character, Shang's character gimmick is that he has two morphs(kind of like 3D MK stances), young and old Shang. You may switch in between them by pressing Down+Stance Switch. Shang's special moves change and some of his normals/strings change. He can also morph into the opponent's character for a short period.

Move List: (Bolded moves indicate that they differ between forms, color means form exclusive)

Universal:


1
12
124
B1
D1
2
B22
B223
D2
3
F3 (This is the only solo normal that changes)
D3
4
F4
B4
D4

(Unlike in game, I'll only list moves that are unique in each form)

Young Form

B12 (Unsafe launcher)
24 (Mid that launches away)
F3 (Overhead)
F434


Old Form

B12 (Safe ender)
24 (Low that launches away)
F3 (Low)
F32
F41
F412
F4121
F41214 (Every hit of this string is special cancellable except the final button)


Air Kombat: (No differences between forms)

J1
J12
J122
J2
J22
J3 or J4


Special Moves

Universal:


Down+StanceSwitch - Age Morph (Can be done in air)
FDB4 - Form Stealer (Change into opponent's character, Lasts about 12 seconds, EX for damage buff)
BF4 - Perfect Form - (Change back into Shang from Form Stealer morph after a few seconds, Lol @ the name)

Young Form:

DF3(Air)
- Air Skull (EX)
DF3 - Straight Skull (EX)
DB3 - Double Skull (EX)
DBF3 - Triple Skull (EX)
DF2 - Spinning Strikes (EX has Armor)
DB3 - Bed of Spikes (EX)

Old Form:

DF3 (Air)
- Down Skull (This move tracks the opponent, Has EX)
DF3, hold B (Air Close) - Down Skull (This move tracks the opponent, Has EX)
DF3, hold F (Air Far) - Down Skull (This move tracks the opponent, Has EX)
DF3 - Ground Skull (EX)
DB3 - (Close) Ground Skull (EX)
DBF3 - (Far) Ground Skull (EX)
DF2 - Vicinity Slash (EX has Armor, similar to other DF2 but has one hit, less range)
DB3 - Injection (EX version restands and activates EX Form Stealer automatically, but costs 2 bars! It's listed as one bar)

Fatal Blow - Shang turns into Young Form automatically


Morphing:

Switch between old Shang and young Shang by pressing down+Stance Switch. You can't switch morphs while blocking, and doing it in neutral will cause a very very short recovery animation. But you can switch any time you want while jumping or doing basically any attack or string. There's a second or two long cooldown where you can't morph back. If you switch your form in time between strings and specials, the appropriate version will come out. The most immediate difference between the two form's moveset is that young Shang has straight skulls which are nice solid projectiles, and old Shang has ground/down skulls which start combos.

Shang can Form Steal into your character which lasts about 12 seconds, EX gives you a 16.666% damage buff, repeating of course. You won't morph back while blocking even when times up, but you will immediately change back on your next frame of neutral. If you get knocked down as the opponent's character, you can always still wakeup attack as that character. But I believe you will be punishable on wakeup other wise if the morph is incoming. If you play against Shang in the mirror, the normal version of this move does nothing but the animation, it won't cause you to morph back. You will still get the damage buff for the EX version.

The question you should be asking is, 'can you afford not to'?
 
Last edited:

Kiss the Missile

Red Messiah
Shang's ability to morph without hitting his opponent has brought back the classic tradition of doing your opponent's fatalities against them. Also if you morph, then do your Kameo's fatality, then Shang will do the opponent's win pose. Its pretty great lol
 

Agilaz

It has begun
EX Inject costing 2 bars is kinda meh, he needs meter for other things. How + is the restand?
 

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
I've been running Stryker IDK if it's anything special but he's nice to add a little mix, his overhead goes well with B223 which has a very long knockdown btw. You can cross up JK people. Stryker's bombs are a good little neutral addition with fireballs and the restand is useful too.

EX Injection is pretty hype you just end your normal combo against Sub-Zero and hit him with his own overhead, good times. Actually being able to morph back at will is a very nice too.

But look out Shang Mains that Sub Zero Kameo might be a problem, that arctic armor makes opponent's projectile immune for a few seconds or until hit, including our ground skulls.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
Some more Shang/Goro finds:

Young Shang B12 can be made + on block by calling in Goro's Raise The Roof. Advantage goes anywhere from +2 to + double digits depending on timing - the later you do it, the more + on block it is.

If the string hits, you can just do your combo as the Kameo will miss completely. If they block you're hella plus and you can go for whatever you want. Depending on timing, Goro R1 is also gonna hit most reversal attempts, although this needs further testing with armoured reversals. I can already tell you it beats Reptile's 10f dash, even if you input the R1 kinda late after B12. If they get hit airborne by kameo, you get another juggle. If they're hit by it standing, you're like +25ish on hit, so go for whatever.

Gotta say, I'm glad I'm finding stuff like this cause initially it seemed like Goro wasn't offering much for Shang.
 

SixPathsOfHate

Make triple skulls input BDF or DF Hold F
Playing around with shang and I must be doing something wrong cause LK is just shitting all over me. If he hits me with sweep and then does another one on block, he is +1 so he can go for his mid or another sweep. I havent found a way to actually deal with it besides armoring out. You can hit him with a high cause sweep and you cant use a mid/low because none of them are fast enough with the fastest being D3 at 9 frames.
 

Malec

Apprentice
Anyone else thinks young and old should swap moveset? Old Shang is the clear winner and pretty much on for the majority of the time, but only young Shang uses skins and has the better look overall.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
Anyone else thinks young and old should swap moveset? Old Shang is the clear winner and pretty much on for the majority of the time, but only young Shang uses skins and has the better look overall.
He's a clear winner until they just start blocking low and you're in need of half decent zoning. I get that old Shang is generally where the damage is at, but Shang's strength is his flexibility between keepout and opening people up with lows. Upskulls aren't the keepout tool they once were imho