Match-up Discussion The Blood Baroness: Skarlet Matchup Thread

[TheW1tchDoctor]

Skarlets Official Matchup Thread!
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Lets get some matchup discussion going for skarlet right now! Take what you know, post it up here, and hopefully in due time we will have a compendium of advice, techniques, and flat out trickery that will help us take this bloody beauty all the way to the top! STARTING OFF WITH 3 TOP TIER CHARACTERS! RAIDEN, KUNG LAO, AND MILEENA! GOOOOO!

RAIDEN

KUNG LAO

MILEENA
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[PANDEMlC]

She's good against Sub for sure. I think she'd be bad against Cyber Sub, Reptile and really any character that can get in on her easily and do faster block strings.

 

[Kakimori]

If it helps, I've played her with Baraka and she absolutely destroyed me. I have no way to get around her shuriken spam.

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

Please try to stay focused yall. Though your input is appreciated.

 

[Kakimori]

Please try to stay focused yall. Though your input is appreciated.

lol, I'm sorry. I forgot that the matchup thread has to go in precisely the order you dictate and that we shouldn't talk about any characters other than the ones you tell us to.

Oh wait...

 

[Kakimori]

Double post.

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

Alright how about this. You telling me that you've lost to skarlet with baraka tells me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING important about skarlet, baraka, or skarlet vs. baraka. It sounds like you just haven't figured out how to fight skarlet, and therefore don't have the knowledge or experience to comment on the match-up in the first place.

Now, how about we stay focused on particular characters, because sifting through a bunch comments from 10 different characters is going to be a pain in my ass, and furthermore, will make it more difficult for people to really discuss certain characters.

Alright.

My thoughts on kung lao
Obviously vs kung lao you will want to try and keep some distance. Skarlet operates fairly well at mid range with her daggers, which will put you at a good range to not only punish KL for his projectiles, but allows you room to react when he tries to close the space on you. Be aware of his teleport options, when you manage to block one, you should be able to throw a u3, 1, 1, df2- into whatever combo you want. The u3 should definitely be fast enough to launch. I wouldn't recommend df2, or db2, as they are fairly slow in general. Keep him at bay with dagger mix ups when he's rushing you down. Pausing the second dagger against aggressive players can be quite risky. Believe it or not, you will actually have some good success if you can use your blood ball intelligently with your daggers. The ball does massive chip damage, even larger hit damage, and, provided you aren't lower on health, will generally be an overall good option. Your best bet at punishing the spin on block right now is probably dash, b2, db2, dash, b2, db2, dash, 1, df2, 3, df3, ~4, though I would probably go learn a different combo to punish with cause I doubt they will leave the damage scaling even close to the same. KL players who get risky with spin will often try to throw it in between block stirings. If you see the habit develop, I THINK that db2 after your block string will scoot you back far enough to wiff the spin, and will give you a free combo. I'll go see what else I can come up with that might be more relevant.

 

[Kwon]

If it helps, I've played her with Baraka and she absolutely destroyed me. I have no way to get around her focused shuriken spam.

 

[Kakimori]

I think a lot of people haven't figured out how to fight Skarlet, or how to fight other characters using her. A general matchup thread (which is what you've created here) should be a free forum for both the knowledgeable and for those seeking knowledge. In Reptile's matchup thread, for example, we have a lot of people coming in and puzzling about how to get around this matchup or that matchup, and while certain people who post there have more knowledge about Reptile than most (THTB comes to mind), they post what they think and try to help those who know less, instead of trying to stifle discussion of characters they don't care about. Your post above on the Kung Lao matchup shows that you are eager to contribute to the development of a discussion on Skarlet's matchups, but I would encourage you to do it in a way that is respectful of others, WHATEVER they should choose to contribute.

By creating this thread, you've taken on a responsibility to discuss or gather information on ALL her matchups, not only a certain few. If you want to talk only about Kung Lao, for example, you could make a thread for Kung Lao. Discussions on forums are usually a bit chaotic and disjointed...if your goal is to have 10 people in a row posting only about Kung Lao (or your other chosen few) in the general matchups thread, I think that life is going to disappoint you.



EDIT: I will qualify my earlier post with some more detailed information in the interest of contributing to the discussion. Skarlet's shuriken spam from full screen is dangerous to Baraka. Constantly resetting the first shuriken does no chip damage, but keeps him locked down to the point that even dash blocking is dangerous. The shuriken cannot be jumped against a savvy Skarlet, and the second shuriken can always be thrown in now and then to keep Baraka honest and do a point of chip damage. The greater danger for the Baraka player, however, is the huge amount of meter that Skarlet is likely to build on blocked shuriken. He can use an EX Blade Charge to go through her shuriken, but not from full screen, and if he times it poorly a well-placed second shuriken will go through the armor and stuff it, not to mention that it will put him even farther behind in terms of having meter for breakers. If he builds a reliable life lead, he can force her to come to him, but that is not a reliable strategy. Once inside, the matchup may be slightly more even, but it will always be a difficulty for Baraka to get close to Skarlet from full screen. I consider this a 7:3 matchup in Skarlet's favor.

 

[x BruteWolf x]

I also played her on Baraka and couldn't get around her kunai spam......anyone figure a way in yet?

 

[Evil_Gotenks]

About her projectile spam, i am guessin its the kunai to back dash cancel to kunai to back dash cancel to kunai etc... She's not just doin the full version all the time, right?
Well some characters for now r gonna have that problem of gettin around it, i no Subby is one of those (he can't slide under the first one). Anywho, dash blocking doesn't work that well against it because of the push back, and there's still no chip dmg so even if u try the dash block route at least u won't lose much health. What my friend has been doin is just a tiny walk, duck, tiny walk, duck, tiny walk, duck... its not a great strategy since Skarlet can change the timin of her projectiles but its a very slow advance with no push back... If he sees a small openin or gap, he'll risk a forward jump and risk eatin the dmg of the projectile in return for closing space. I've suggested that instead of dash blockin or his slow advance to try dash to d3, since the d3 will go under her projectile, but he hasn't really tried it yet.

So for now, Skarlet versus non teleporters, just get the full screen distance and abuse that projectile dash cancel. Of course, only do that once u have the life lead. The opp will have to come to u and will more than likely take a good bit of dmg before gettin in, cos lets face it, we skarlets ain't gonna be able to keep up that rythym for too long without a few mistakes Just be careful of a trading war, since skarlet can't block from her dash cancel. U can still tele from it, but u'll lose all that distance obvs.

I play skarlet, but i've only used her against a decent Sub so far and an average smoke, so i can't help with the three characters suggested at the top.

 

[THTB]

Well some characters for now r gonna have that problem of gettin around it, i no Subby is one of those (he can't slide under the first one). Anywho, dash blocking doesn't work that well against it because of the push back, and there's still no chip dmg so even if u try the dash block route at least u won't lose much health. What my friend has been doin is just a tiny walk, duck, tiny walk, duck, tiny walk, duck... its not a great strategy since Skarlet can change the timin of her projectiles but its a very slow advance with no push back... If he sees a small openin or gap, he'll risk a forward jump and risk eatin the dmg of the projectile in return for closing space. I've suggested that instead of dash blockin or his slow advance to try dash to d3, since the d3 will go under her projectile, but he hasn't really tried it yet.

Good stuff on the duck walk strategy. I figured that'd be something that'd work after playing Bone's Skarlet a bit. It's not 100% effective, but it's a method, nonetheless.

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

I think a lot of people haven't figured out how to fight Skarlet, or how to fight other characters using her. A general matchup thread (which is what you've created here) should be a free forum for both the knowledgeable and for those seeking knowledge. In Reptile's matchup thread, for example, we have a lot of people coming in and puzzling about how to get around this matchup or that matchup, and while certain people who post there have more knowledge about Reptile than most (THTB comes to mind), they post what they think and try to help those who know less, instead of trying to stifle discussion of characters they don't care about. Your post above on the Kung Lao matchup shows that you are eager to contribute to the development of a discussion on Skarlet's matchups, but I would encourage you to do it in a way that is respectful of others, WHATEVER they should choose to contribute.

By creating this thread, you've taken on a responsibility to discuss or gather information on ALL her matchups, not only a certain few. If you want to talk only about Kung Lao, for example, you could make a thread for Kung Lao. Discussions on forums are usually a bit chaotic and disjointed...if your goal is to have 10 people in a row posting only about Kung Lao (or your other chosen few) in the general matchups thread, I think that life is going to disappoint you.



EDIT: I will qualify my earlier post with some more detailed information in the interest of contributing to the discussion. Skarlet's shuriken spam from full screen is dangerous to Baraka. Constantly resetting the first shuriken does no chip damage, but keeps him locked down to the point that even dash blocking is dangerous. The shuriken cannot be jumped against a savvy Skarlet, and the second shuriken can always be thrown in now and then to keep Baraka honest and do a point of chip damage. The greater danger for the Baraka player, however, is the huge amount of meter that Skarlet is likely to build on blocked shuriken. He can use an EX Blade Charge to go through her shuriken, but not from full screen, and if he times it poorly a well-placed second shuriken will go through the armor and stuff it, not to mention that it will put him even farther behind in terms of having meter for breakers. If he builds a reliable life lead, he can force her to come to him, but that is not a reliable strategy. Once inside, the matchup may be slightly more even, but it will always be a difficulty for Baraka to get close to Skarlet from full screen. I consider this a 7:3 matchup in Skarlet's favor.

I like how you guys are trolling me for trying to keep the thread focused. If you remember correctly, this started with my politely asking you to stay focused, and you sracastically agreeing with me because you didn't feel like contributing in the area I was asking. Regardless, I'm glad any of you at least have something worth putting down.

Anywho, as far as the kunai spam or whatever they are, jumping really isn't that bad of an idea. I know that if they predict your jump, they are entirely capable of adjusting their dagger timing, but in general, I believe a jump will close enough distance to make it worth it. Furthermore, and I may be wrong on this one, but because the dagger damage is so low, doesn't that make counter-spam a viable option? I haven't delt with a shameless spamming skarlet before so it's difficult for me to empathize.

 

[Somberness]

no chip damage

no chip dmg

The first one actually does about 0.4% damage when blocked. And about 15% of one bar of meter (special + block total) is gained each time.

 

[Evil_Gotenks]

The first one actually does about 0.4% damage when blocked. And about 15% of one bar of meter (special + block total) is gained each time.

I no it actually does some chip dmg, MK is not a game where anything does 0%, but i didn't have a proper number and i knew it was less than 1

@W1tchDoctor
Jumpin could be a way of closing the gap since u don't take much dmg from one kunai, but thats only if they keep up the projectile spam... and if ur close enough and skarlet expects it, she can always do a front dash cancel instead and go for a combo. Besides, i wouldn't call it shameless spammin. Sure she's doin the same thing over and over, but its to keep u out and some characters just can't at all get around it. Attemptin that strat against some who can and will get out of it though is another thing

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

I no it actually does some chip dmg, MK is not a game where anything does 0%, but i didn't have a proper number and i knew it was less than 1

@W1tchDoctor
Jumpin could be a way of closing the gap since u don't take much dmg from one kunai, but thats only if they keep up the projectile spam... and if ur close enough and skarlet expects it, she can always do a front dash cancel instead and go for a combo. Besides, i wouldn't call it shameless spammin. Sure she's doin the same thing over and over, but its to keep u out and some characters just can't at all get around it. Attemptin that strat against some who can and will get out of it though is another thing

I know what you're saying, I'm just a little unaware as to what they are trying to deal with. Obviously you can't just JUMPJUMPJUMPJUMP and then expect not to get punished. But it will certainly help close the gap. The kunai do so little damage, that even after getting hit by like 10 of them, it only takes a small combo to make up the gap.

 

[Evil_Gotenks]

That's around 30% of health ur better off having... But still, better off only risking that if ur from full screen. Mid screen or more, a badly timed jump can lead to a combo punishment and ur back to where u started of tryin to get in.

 

[Kakimori]

A good example of what we're talking about is in the first match of the following video. If you jump at that point, they can just release the second shuriken and knock you back down again, so I don't think jumping is the right answer. Ducking and inching forward without blocking is pretty much the best strategy I've heard against this, but you have to be careful of her teleport or just of her dashing up and starting something. If you play Skarlet, it seems like a pretty good strategy to use against characters with no teleport.

http://www.justin.tv/kombatnetwork/b/288712947

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

Looks like the video is messed up.

 

[Evil_Gotenks]

Wow, that is so much smoother and faster of what i can do, lol. Child has got the rythym goin ON! I dunno if the walk and duck would work against that speed... I have a feeling it'll get nerfed some day soon and all of this discussion on it will have been in vain...

But hopefully not, if a soltion exists and it is found, we skarleters get to keep that trick

 

[salvificblood]

A good example of what we're talking about is in the first match of the following video. If you jump at that point, they can just release the second shuriken and knock you back down again, so I don't think jumping is the right answer. Ducking and inching forward without blocking is pretty much the best strategy I've heard against this, but you have to be careful of her teleport or just of her dashing up and starting something. If you play Skarlet, it seems like a pretty good strategy to use against characters with no teleport.

http://www.justin.tv/kombatnetwork/b/288712947

That is the most braindead thing I have ever seen...

Reptile, Sub, etc, just get destroyed by Skarlet, then. No problem for Kung Lao or Raiden, though. :grr:

 

[THTB]

The issue with Skarlet's daggers are the pushback on block. It 100% makes dashblock useless. You can release them so fast that duck then walk is the only viable method to advance, and she can simply alter the timing. Skarlet is always in control unless you can manage to get a projectile on the screen or if you can nullify knives completely.

 

[Kwon]

Neither Reptile nor Sub have any chance whatsoever getting through that Dagger-spam w pushback!
WTB a Teleport! lol

REO with Skarlet is just plain godly!

 

[TheW1tchDoctor]

I wouldn't say so. Gravity ball goes through projectiles, and if you can get a trade with subzero then you have a free combo. Keep in mind, after dash cancelling a dagger, skarlet cannot block for a few frames, which means that even your opponent cancels the dagger to avoid your ice ball or grav ball, they can't block it and are left with the option of jumping, leaving time for both a 22 string with subzero, and a dash with reptile. Not that I'm disagreeing, I'm sure getting that projectile out in the first place will be an issue.

 

[salvificblood]

I wouldn't say so. Gravity ball goes through projectiles, and if you can get a trade with subzero then you have a free combo. Keep in mind, after dash cancelling a dagger, skarlet cannot block for a few frames, which means that even your opponent cancels the dagger to avoid your ice ball or grav ball, they can't block it and are left with the option of jumping, leaving time for both a 22 string with subzero, and a dash with reptile. Not that I'm disagreeing, I'm sure getting that projectile out in the first place will be an issue.

Dude, the startup on Sub-Zero's iceball is just nowhere near fast enough to get a projectile trade against dagger spam like that.

They need to take out the pushback on Skarlet's daggers. You can't have a character who simply destroys so much of the roster... even if she gets destroyed by a smaller percentage of it herself. That's just a very poorly balanced character.