Strategy - Scorpion Slips' Scorpion Assesement

[Scoot Magee]

Honestly I think Ninjitsu really is his best variation in most match ups. Scorpion struggles when dealing with pressure outside of his 6 frame d1 due to lack of good armor. Ninjistu imo helps negate that weakness with the great range of f2, b2, NJP and d4 together. His space control becomes a lot more threatening and it's really not so easy for people to get in on him.

As for opening people up, you can only eat so many throws before you have to do something. Throws do decent damage so after 2 or 3 land it really adds up. If you manage to land a few grabs and then counter hit with a f2 that's going to add up to 70% damage. Landing grabs really isn't that hard either because people will respect f2. The fact that his combos end with a standing reset is huge as well. People will not want to eat that extra 12% at the end of a combo and Scorpion has a ton of ways to exploit that. You can follow up a teleport with 114, st1, st4, grab and b121. If you mix that up with for example st1 walk back and f2, st 1 grab, st 1 b121, st4 f2 and etc it becomes pretty hard to deal with. Not to mention after a block b121 you have the threat of a yolo EX teleport that will punish them if they try to retaliate.

I really try to go in too much detail when explaining the mixup situation after a teleport lol. Honestly though I think Ninjitsu is very good after they gave it the damage buff. I think it really outclasses hellfire in most situations. Hellfire can build some good meter, can be tricky with FBC shenanigans, flame and deal nice damage but I think the neutral game is more important for Scorpion and Ninjitsu takes that department.

 

[Matix218]

@Slips
@Scoot Magee @STRYKIE @YOMI MITYEAP @IROCmySCORPION @Perfect Legend

Just want to stir up some more scorpion forum chat and discussion.

Here is my question:

What specific characters (and variations) give your scorpion the most problems (and why)?

I want to explore some of scorpions bad matchups (or what we perceive to be bad matchups currently) to get some discussion going on ways around some of the issues that make them tough for scorp. Ill start with one:

Kung Lao:

This matchup is one I have struggled with when using scorpion (I mainly use Ninjutsu). Specifically in tempest I find that laos pressure game is very difficult for scorpion to deal with. Scorp lacks any reliable armor option to get out of lao pressure like other characters have and iit is very hard for scorp to maintain any kind of pressure on lao. I know scorp tends to struggle in general against hi pressure rushdown type characters in this game (like cassie tanya, lao) in general so this may just be one of those matches that due to scorpion not having good armor options and not being able to consistently maintain his own pressure, just ends up being an uphill battle. I main scorpion but I tend to have more success against good tempest players using my secondary characters (kano and sub zero) due to their reliable armor. Let me know your experience, tips, thoughts, etc.

Thanks guys

 

[Scoot Magee]

Honestly I have like 0 Tempest Lao experience so I can't really comment on that.

This isn't match up specific but dealing with pressure can be tough but we have to make the best use of his options. In some cases where armor would be the logical answer ex and normal teleport actually can work. It depends on frame advantage and the range of the follow up but it does work and nets more reward than take down. I would explore and see where it actually works and try to figure out how viable it really is.

His 6 frame d1 is also a great tool in situations where there's a great enough gap. D1 grab or d1 into f2 and etc are a great way to turn things around and potentially deal out big damage.

Take down isnt the best armor move but imo it's not that bad. People often complain about the positioning after it hits but I've been trying to use it to my advantage in the best way that I can. If they don't wake up you're +5 and can go for pressure or a grab immediately. Obviously you have to read if they're going to wake up or not but characters with a weak wake up game suffer in this situation.

I just try my best to keep good pressure characters away from me. Good footsies are important. A lot of characters can't punish far range f2 so you can abuse it somewhat. Depending on the match they have to be careful about trying to press the advantage after blocking f2 due to options like yolo teleport, back dash and njp.

Imo right now ninjitsu is the best way to go but I'm still learning and nrs is still patching so it's all in the air still.

 

[STRYKIE]

@Slips
@Scoot Magee @STRYKIE @YOMI MITYEAP @IROCmySCORPION @Perfect Legend

Just want to stir up some more scorpion forum chat and discussion.

Here is my question:

What specific characters (and variations) give your scorpion the most problems (and why)?

I want to explore some of scorpions bad matchups (or what we perceive to be bad matchups currently) to get some discussion going on ways around some of the issues that make them tough for scorp. Ill start with one:

Kung Lao:

This matchup is one I have struggled with when using scorpion (I mainly use Ninjutsu). Specifically in tempest I find that laos pressure game is very difficult for scorpion to deal with. Scorp lacks any reliable armor option to get out of lao pressure like other characters have and iit is very hard for scorp to maintain any kind of pressure on lao. I know scorp tends to struggle in general against hi pressure rushdown type characters in this game (like cassie tanya, lao) in general so this may just be one of those matches that due to scorpion not having good armor options and not being able to consistently maintain his own pressure, just ends up being an uphill battle. I main scorpion but I tend to have more success against good tempest players using my secondary characters (kano and sub zero) due to their reliable armor. Let me know your experience, tips, thoughts, etc.

Thanks guys

Right now, as far as who stops Scorpion from being Scorpion the most, I do think Cassie and Lao tick the most boxes. As a Hellfire guy I'd like a bit more hands on with Ninjutsu for the matchups before I feel confident enough to give out advice though.

As a general note that may apply to those two though, whenever I've been forced to go for hard knockdown instead of re-stand, I find 212 to be a far superior hard knockdown to B32F2, gives you a lot more breathing space to scout armor and stuff with F2 accordingly.

Tanya however, no two ways about it, Hellfire or bust. The armored Tonfa with 2 hits of resistance and teleport simply suck too much strength out of Ninjutsu's utility, Hellfire and Flame Aura regulate her approach more comfortably and you get the Erron-tier grab game up close to add another layer of yomi to the pressure in the variation.

A lot of Scorp's current problems do come down to how far behind he is almost everybody else in the armor metagame though, which may yet change, and it'll all depend on what he's given armor on before we can really say.

 

[Slips]

@Slips
@Scoot Magee @STRYKIE @YOMI MITYEAP @IROCmySCORPION @Perfect Legend

Just want to stir up some more scorpion forum chat and discussion.

Here is my question:

What specific characters (and variations) give your scorpion the most problems (and why)?

I want to explore some of scorpions bad matchups (or what we perceive to be bad matchups currently) to get some discussion going on ways around some of the issues that make them tough for scorp. Ill start with one:

Kung Lao:

This matchup is one I have struggled with when using scorpion (I mainly use Ninjutsu). Specifically in tempest I find that laos pressure game is very difficult for scorpion to deal with. Scorp lacks any reliable armor option to get out of lao pressure like other characters have and iit is very hard for scorp to maintain any kind of pressure on lao. I know scorp tends to struggle in general against hi pressure rushdown type characters in this game (like cassie tanya, lao) in general so this may just be one of those matches that due to scorpion not having good armor options and not being able to consistently maintain his own pressure, just ends up being an uphill battle. I main scorpion but I tend to have more success against good tempest players using my secondary characters (kano and sub zero) due to their reliable armor. Let me know your experience, tips, thoughts, etc.

Thanks guys

I'm not sure what you mean by 'reliable' armor. Scorpion's takedown isn't unreliable for armor, it functions fine, it's just nothing great. 15% with a knockdown is sufficient and still a productive use of meter. I think KL is tough just because he's really good, but nothing specific towards Scorpion besides EX spin being great for AA and also covers if he jumps into tele.

 

[YOMI MITYEAP]

Good analysis, honestly I got hellfire over ninjutsu scorpion still but ninjutsu is close

 

[Matix218]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'reliable' armor. Scorpion's takedown isn't unreliable for armor, it functions fine, it's just nothing great. 15% with a knockdown is sufficient and still a productive use of meter. I think KL is tough just because he's really good, but nothing specific towards Scorpion besides EX spin being great for AA and also covers if he jumps into tele.

I guess thats true, I just have trouble getting ex takedown to come out in the midst of lao pressure wheras I have a really easy time getting subs ex ground pound and kanos ex ball to come out and interrupt laos ex hat pressure. I 100% think that scorpion really relies on how good his jump 3 is and lao really is one of the few characters that can aa any jump attack with ease so maybe that is a part of my problems against lao as well. Also many characters have armor moves that are safe or if not safe very hard to punish but if lao scouts scorp trying to ex takedown to get out of pressure it will be 40% damage. Other characters their armor launches and does a combo worth of damage so there is a risk reward of using that armor that is more even but with scorp you are using a bar to hopefully best case (if you time it correctly) take like 15% but if lao baits it he gets another 40% on top of the chip he was already doing. Essentially I think that any character without either safe armor or launching armor probably are going to struggle against lao. Maybe I just suck at the matchup though.

 

[Slips]

I guess thats true, I just have trouble getting ex takedown to come out in the midst of lao pressure wheras I have a really easy time getting subs ex ground pound and kanos ex ball to come out and interrupt laos ex hat pressure. I 100% think that scorpion really relies on how good his jump 3 is and lao really is one of the few characters that can aa any jump attack with ease so maybe that is a part of my problems against lao as well. Also many characters have armor moves that are safe or if not safe very hard to punish but if lao scouts scorp trying to ex takedown to get out of pressure it will be 40% damage. Other characters their armor launches and does a combo worth of damage so there is a risk reward of using that armor that is more even but with scorp you are using a bar to hopefully best case (if you time it correctly) take like 15% but if lao baits it he gets another 40% on top of the chip he was already doing. Essentially I think that any character without either safe armor or launching armor probably are going to struggle against lao. Maybe I just suck at the matchup though.

It just might be a bad mu cause Lao is better in general. Better air control, more reliable AA, better armor, better pressure, better 50/50, better damage and probably even in footsies.

Scorp's biggest advantage is momentum. If you can guess right after your combos, your 30% combos become 40% combos or more and then you'll match him in damage and then some. Just make every hit count and don't get too cute is my best advice.

 

[wa_black]

I can't test it at the moment, but can someone f2 a delay wake up opponent, and the jump to see if and how much disadvantage we have when opponents short delay. I just want to know if it's negative (most likely), punishable (doubt it), or neutral/plus (would be god like).