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Guide - Mileena "The Empress of Outworld", Mileena Strategy Guide

JDE

Pick up & kill it & kill it & kill it!
As I noted before, I've been sharing notes with fellow Mileena players. I decided to fully devote my time to Mileena as a main & play other characters that I enjoy as main focus (Kitana & Scorpion). The decision came because while Mileena has always been one of my all-time favorite characters in the series, I never picked her up as a main character of focus. She looks really sick in this game also. This time, it was different. At 1st, I thought I was picking her up to think she wasn't "for" me, but no. I stuck it out & found out she's a lot better than what I 1st thought she was.

Enough about that. Another fellow Mileena & I have been working on a document (Shin Ryujin, a very good 3D fighting competitor). He'll be making an account here, soon. We may as well call it a guide. I went ahead & made a thread to post some of the info in here. The document isn't finished, but the purpose of posting is to get you guys to chime in & lets make this Mileena community a lovely one. I will include all of the other threads in here later once we get the main part finished.

Overall Pros:
+Good mixups
+Good damage
+Good pokes
+Good punisher
+Decent zoning
+Good oki

Overall Cons:
-Highly Unsafe
-Very High Risk/Reward
- Have to turtle a bit
-Requires patience in order to be effective
-Learning curve can be somewhat difficult
-Very slow overhead starter in f3 which is 33 frames (but still has some use)
-Some moves have issues (d1 is a major example)

Piecring: The overall gameplan with her in this variation is to play off footsies with b12, d3, d4 along with other pokes, & zone with the sais. It is a good idea to hold onto a bar of meter for mixups, mainly for overhead purposes. The damage in this variation is decent. She gains more of a mixup game with the low sais being in existence. With this variation, she also gains a standing reset that eliminates the wake up game entirely with b12, 1+3, dd2 as a combo ender. If you choose to play this type of game & then want some distance in between you & your opponent, then this may be the variation for you. Some examples of how she can use them are f12 xxlow saixx, b12 xxlow saixx, & f21 xxlow saixx. These are mixups to keep them guessing. Overall, it's a balance of offense & a bit of footsies/zoning.

Normals/Strings:
1: Good Standing jab
2: Decent standing slap with little more reach than 1
3: Knockdown +24, very unsafe on block
f2: second longest reaching mid attack (15f.)
f2,3 is -7 with push back and also has a low ender so you can mix up with MB roll. Characters with 6 frame moves can punish it.
f3: is a slow overhead that "can" be interrupted if the opponent is looking for it, but it's safe on block at 0 & if you know to run cancel at a certain range, it can be used to hop over certain normals (pokes, projectiles, etc).

b1: Longest range and fastest mid she has (11f and active for 9f,) so easy to meaty this.
b12: -5 on block but a risk to try to punish it due to follow up and cancel ability. Can also be option selected.

d2: Good counter poke due to the damage speed (9f), and push back on block.
d3: Good low to keep opponent off balanced, safe on block
d4: Good low to push opponent back on hit, safe on block. On the hit advantage, it forces the opponent to respect your follow up. She can use jump ins, pokes, & strings on this move. If they're not blocking, then these options will win out.

Anti airs:
d2 – Must be input very early to be reliable, seems to work best from midrange but works close and far. Mileenas has good start up and ok horizontal range but not the best vertical range. Can combo from if opponent is in the corner. Can combo for at least 35%.
u+3 – 13% damage. Must be done very early from afar but seems to work at all ranges quite reliably, barring possibly a far empty jump. Can combo for at least 35% from an enhanced u+3. B+22 xx roll
b3 - Can be comboed with telekick xxair saixx with either b12, 1+3, dd2, or b21, 2+4 (+7 knockdown)

Ball roll – It can be difficult to use this to anti air without going under your opponent from close, but from afar it is a reliable anti air option with high damage potential. Roll (walk in), ender (20%) (Reoptimize)

Air to airs:
nj2 – If used on the way up it can be used as a reaction anti air though it limits your time to combo out of it.
nj2 (reaction), b+3 xx tele stomp, air knife throw, roll, ender (33%)
nj2 (pre-emptive), tele stomp, air knife throw, f+2 xx roll, ender (34%)
fj2 – If jumping in you react faster than they do with your jumping punch, you can convert it to high damage by cancelling into air teleport stomp or air knife throw.
fj2, tele stomp, air knife, f+2, roll, xx, ender (33%)

Anti fireball:

Duck
Low Sai
Ball roll
Ex Ball Roll
Telekick
Ex Telekick
D4
D3

Reversals/Invincibility: Roll/Ex Roll into a combo for any kind
(best combo from invincibility):

Punishes:
12 xxball rollxx *bnb*
21 xxball rollxx *bnb*
123 xxball rollxx njp, b21, 2+4 *Important, bnb punish if the other one is harder to time* 31% (meterless)
b12 xxball rollxx njp, b21, 2+4 *Important, bnb punish, whiff punisher if the one is harder* 31% (meterless)
b21 xxball rollxx into combo
b22 xxball rollxx into combo

Max damage punish:
Starter (123 *preferred*, b12, b22, b21 etc) xxball rollxx b34 xxair saixx run cancel, b21, 2+4 usually gets to 35%


Fast punish
ranged punish

Combo starters:
Roll
Ex Roll
Ex Telekick
123 xxrollxx
B12 xxrollxx
B22 xxrollxx
B21 xxrollxx
F23 xxrollxx
F12B4 xxrollxx
F4 xxrollxx
123 xxExRollxx
B12 xxExRollxx
B22 xxExRollxx
B21 xxExRollxx

Combo enders:
b12, 1+3, dd2
b21, 2+4
21,u4
f143


Confirm combos:

Important Juggles:
Anything with b21, 2+4 enders (oki, tech situation) or anything ending with b12, 1+3, dd2 (dash or run in after combo)

Corner:
d2 anti air, f2, roll, n.j 2,(walk in), ender (35%...)

X-ray uses:
anti air ball, x-ray (38%)

Ravenous: This variation is her strongest in terms of damage. With a meterless combo, she gets past 36% with a BNB opposed to the 35% meterless combo that she has for a BNB in Piercing. Her general gameplan in this variation use her sais to zone, build meter, & then pressure. This is more of a hit & run variation. Her pokes to use in this variation are d3, d4, f2, & b12. You lose her low sais (sai tools in general), which is one of the best attributes to her mixup game in piercing, but you're gaining biting tools & command grabs. You will still need to hold onto meter for your overhead mixups.


Ethereal: This variation gains the fading sais, but is even more meter-dependent than the other 2 as well as sacrifice damage for less damage. Ex fade makes some of her normals that are unsafe safe on block, such as her f4 & 21. You also can do a lot of baiting & trapping within this variation. Within a string, if they attempt to armor, you can use fade to force a whiff & then blow them up for it. This also applies to her knockdowns. You will still be using d3, d4, f2, & b12. ed to do a little zoning with her sais to build meter & then hold onto meter for overhead mixup purposes.

Normals/Strings:
1: Good Standing jab
2: Decent standing slap with little more reach than 1
3: Knockdown +24, very unsafe on block
f2: second longest reaching mid attack (15f.)
f2,3 is -7 with push back and also has a low ender so you can mix up with MB roll. Characters with 6 frame moves can punish it.
f3: is a slow overhead that "can" be interrupted if the opponent is looking for it, but it's safe on block at 0 & if you know to run cancel at a certain range, it can be used to hop over certain normals (pokes, projectiles, etc).
f4: with f4, unlike other variations, ex fade makes it safe on block. If the opponent tries to attack afterwards, when read according (mainly by blocking), you get a guaranteed combo punish. It's very character specific if you opt to force a whiff. Some characters like Kung Lao whiffs a reversal that doesn't auto correct which means if her uses his ex spin & whiffs, then Mileena will get either a guaranteed ball roll combo, or an ex telekick combo.
21: Much like f4 (-19), 21 itself is -7 on block, but with ex fade, this changes. It possesses the same properties as f4 xxex fadexx.

b1: Longest range and fastest mid she has (11f and active for 9f,) so easy to meaty this.
b12: -5 on block but a risk to try to punish it due to follow up and cancel ability. Can also be option selected.

d2: Good counter poke due to the damage speed (9f), and push back on block.
d3: Good low to keep opponent off balanced, safe on block
d4: Good low to push opponent back on hit, safe on block. On the hit advantage, it forces the opponent to respect your follow up. She can use jump ins, pokes, & strings on this move. If they're not blocking, then these options will win out.

Air to airs:
njp (close): Not as good as her piercing njp (due to more range of the sais), but still can be used if you time the punch correctly, also less damage.
njp (far): This is for when someone attempts to jump in on you & if you time the ji correctly
ji3/4 (close): Jump in kick that begins a combo for anyone who wants to jump in.
jbp: Mostly used for anyone who tries to close in on you with either a jump in or a whiffed move
ji3/4 (far): Mostly used for anyone who tries to close in on you with either a jump in or a whiffed move

Anti fireball:
Duck
Fade
Ex Fade
Ball roll
Ex Ball Roll
Telekick
Ex Telekick
D4
D3

Fast punish
ranged punish

Note: Ex Fade will work for just about all of her starters, but some of them aren't worth using to burn meter. I listed the ones that truly are worth using Ex Fade with.

Combo starters:
Roll
Ex Roll
Ex Telekick
123 xxrollxx
B12 xxrollxx
B22 xxrollxx
B21 xxrollxx
F23 xxrollxx
F12B4 xxrollxx
F4 xxrollxx
123 xxExRollxx
B12 xxExRollxx
B22 xxExRollxx
B21 xxExRollxx
F4 xxExFadexx xxRollxx
F4 xxExFadexx 123 xxRollxx
F4 xxExFadexx F12B4 xxRollxx
21 xxExFadexx xxRollxx
21 xxExFadexx 123 xxRollxx
21 xxExFadexx F12B4 xxRollxx
F14xxExFadexx 123

I'll do my best to try to keep up with the updates. It wouldn't let me post the word doc as a file where I could share it with you all & so that you could edit it too :(. If any of you would like, I could email it to you. Just submit me your Facebook, Email, or whatever & I can get it to you that way. I'm a little busy also, but when I get on, I'll update each time. Help out, fellow Milly players!

@Mr. Mileena
@theGabStandard
@Arkayne
@Baconlord
@Pig Of The Hut
@TakeAChance
@ExpiredTrapLord
@Flow
@Sultani
@Premonitionist
@Ninjaguy446
@MajinBerserker
@Johnny San
@PerezzGomeZ


Any Mileena players who've been here.
 
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TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
Very nice for you to share this and has the potential to become a very good interactive living guide for the community :). Two things:
1. B12 has been stated by other players to be -4 or -5 at worst so is actually safe.
2. Would you want a similar format for the other variations? I can probably contribute to Ethereal the most
 

JDE

Pick up & kill it & kill it & kill it!
Yes. A lot of the combos that I've found the other day also goes with all 3 so I'll post them there (the important ones). But the overall format would probably be fairly simpler for people to read if we did it that way. It's up to you, though.
 

Flow

Bound by the Blood Kode
Good stuff man. Thanks for sharing!

"fj2, tele stomp, air knife, f+2, roll, xx, ender" - Sometimes I like to use her fj3 as well, since it has better range than fj2.
 

PerezzGomeZ

I saw your girl staring homie
It'd be nice to be tagged,I play her offline every weekend at the Vegas locals :( Lol good stuff dude
 
Reactions: JDE

Ninjaguy446

all I have is the Green
Wow, this shows a lot of promise, great work so far! I hope that I'll be able to contribute sometime down the line. Our Kahnum is going places, we just have to help her get there.
 
Reactions: JDE
So what variation do you guys think is the best variation? I like mileena and might pick her up as a secondary? So far I like how ethereal looks but is the variation any good?
 

TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
So what variation do you guys think is the best variation? I like mileena and might pick her up as a secondary? So far I like how ethereal looks but is the variation any good?
The general consensus is that Piercing is the best variation with Ravenous a very good second, although some might say it's the other way around. Unfortunately Ethereal compared to those two cannot compete but I still like the variation and play it.
 

JDE

Pick up & kill it & kill it & kill it!
Piercing to me is the more "traditional" Mileena with extra tools. It feels like the most "balanced" variation. Ravenous is where she gets the most damage. Ethereal is fine, but you lose more tools than you gain. Still, you get over about 28% or above in damage, but you'll need meter a lot more often even more than the other 2 variations. It's not to say that it's bad.

If you like the fade to evade attacks & then an extra tool to mix up with after a knockdown with the fading, then go for it.

Also, FUCK! I left my notebook full of combos & important combos (bnbs) that we need at my mother's house. I can still post some of them, but I wouldn't know the damage percentages off the top of my head.
 
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Yeh i really like the fade teleport and b12 or b21? It is a better string in ethereal. She gets a different string in piercing which isnt nearly as good.
 

stamatis

Όσα δε φτάνει η αλεπού. ........
great guide man,really,but i have problems working out with the empress,tough combo connections!
 

TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
Yeh i really like the fade teleport and b12 or b21? It is a better string in ethereal. She gets a different string in piercing which isnt nearly as good.
I forgot to mention that B12 in Piercing is really good though. Good range, decent start up and safe on block (frame data is wrong, its more around -5 than -20)

great guide man,really,but i have problems working out with the empress,tough combo connections!
Which combos are you struggling with?