Video/Tutorial The Kurtis Stryker Guide to Riot Control & Police Brutality

[Vulcan Hades]

Yo which podcast did Tom Brady talked about Stryker? I just listened to the SRK and Liveon3 podcast and did not hear Tom talk about Stryker. is it a different podcast that you are referring to?

http://alphaism.com/radio/bunkeiscornereps32.mp3

Skip the fist 40 minutes or so. He doesn't talk much about Stryker but yeah he mentions him and talks about his tools, strengths and weaknesses.

He doesn't say he is tourney viable in that link though. That's what he told me when I asked him. Basically I asked him what were his thoughts on Stryker, Kano, Baraka and Jax on the tournament scene. He said Stryker and Kano were pretty good and tourney viable but that Baraka and Jax were pretty much ass right now.

I should've asked him what were Stryker's good and bad matchups.

 

[dookieagain]

Just listened to Tom Brady on the podcast talking about Stryker a bit. Basically he said Stryker is mainly a zoner that relies on Gun Shot to keep people away. That kind of surprised me a bit because I always saw Stryker as a mixup/mid-range kind of character. But it's true his Gun Shot is fast and good enough to deal with zoners and rushdown characters.

Tom Brady thinks Stryker is definitely tourney viable. So I'm guessing he either knows something we don't and doesn't want to elaborate on it. But yeah apparently Stryker is much better than people think right now.

My take on it, is that Stryker follows a similar game plan as Nightwolf does. By that what I mean is you have to condition your opponent into adopting certain habbits like crouching, jumping or teleporting and then begin to counter those habits. Nightwolf for example uses his Shoulder Charge to condition people into crouch blocking, then mixes up with Lightning, overhead and throw. Stryker uses Gun Shot to condition the opponent and Gun Shot held to appear vulnerable and bait stuff.

Also, listening to Brady talk about the game in general made me realize this MK is much more about mind games, space control and meter management than anything else.

While I agree with this, I think it's pretty hard to rely on gunshot when it's so badly tilted in the risk to reward category. It's a good move for sure, but it also only deals 6% damage, doesn't set up much, doesn't have huge knockback, is easily ducked/dashblocked in on. And then you end up with one badly chosen gunshot leading to eating 40% from Ermac or Smoke or Kung or Scorp or Raiden. Compare that to Ermac or Smoke's projectiles which net them 40%.

Secondly baiting with gunshot held is good, but fast teleports still beat that somewhat. Raiden and Cyrax can still get in. You're dashing so you might get a whiff but you aren't guaranteeing a whiff. Also I'm still waiting to see him in a tournament. I took him to PowerUp and got smashed by Smoke/Ermac. I know OnlineTony was using him, but it looks like he got eliminated from WNF before top 8 last night. So I just have a hard time imagining how Stryker really competes unless I'm missing something.

 

[darcmosch]

While I agree with this, I think it's pretty hard to rely on gunshot when it's so badly tilted in the risk to reward category. It's a good move for sure, but it also only deals 6% damage, doesn't set up much, doesn't have huge knockback, is easily ducked/dashblocked in on. And then you end up with one badly chosen gunshot leading to eating 40% from Ermac or Smoke or Kung or Scorp or Raiden. Compare that to Ermac or Smoke's projectiles which net them 40%.

Secondly baiting with gunshot held is good, but fast teleports still beat that somewhat. Raiden and Cyrax can still get in. You're dashing so you might get a whiff but you aren't guaranteeing a whiff. Also I'm still waiting to see him in a tournament. I took him to PowerUp and got smashed by Smoke/Ermac. I know OnlineTony was using him, but it looks like he got eliminated from WNF before top 8 last night. So I just have a hard time imagining how Stryker really competes unless I'm missing something.

I honestly really like Stryker and he has a decent moveset, but whenever I'm Noob, it's so easy to wait for the guy to throw a grenade/shoot me and teleport or shadow because I know he's stuck there, esp with gunshot and then I can use that to set up to my next combo

Now if somehow his gunshot was like an MP5 and his grenade was a stun grenade plus a little punishment, he'd have a much better moveset (then his upgrade to his gun attack would be dual wield :evil: )

 

[Carefoot]

http://alphaism.com/radio/bunkeiscornereps32.mp3

Skip the fist 40 minutes or so. He doesn't talk much about Stryker but yeah he mentions him and talks about his tools, strengths and weaknesses.

He doesn't say he is tourney viable in that link though. That's what he told me when I asked him. Basically I asked him what were his thoughts on Stryker, Kano, Baraka and Jax on the tournament scene. He said Stryker and Kano were pretty good and tourney viable but that Baraka and Jax were pretty much ass right now.

I should've asked him what were Stryker's good and bad matchups.

First let me start out by thanking you for putting all this work into this thread shit is the only reason I signed up for this site. Thanks.

Appreciate you finding this podcast clip for me. Very glad to hear Stryker is tourny viable. He was always top 5 (according to devs) in classic MKs so I am glad this is still true.

I made a 30 minute lab video and after I get you guys to look at it I'd like to make a followup. I want to make my Stryker button up good and I want to bounce ideas for matchups, mirror and just get all the bolts and screws for Stryker in check.

I will be repping Stryker at PDP in Vegas so hit me up

 

[Vulcan Hades]

First let me start out by thanking you for putting all this work into this thread shit is the only reason I signed up for this site. Thanks.

No problem. I appreciate it.

Appreciate you finding this podcast clip for me. Very glad to hear Stryker is tourny viable. He was always top 5 (according to devs) in classic MKs so I am glad this is still true.

I made a 30 minute lab video and after I get you guys to look at it I'd like to make a followup. I want to make my Stryker button up good and I want to bounce ideas for matchups, mirror and just get all the bolts and screws for Stryker in check.

Stryker is not top 5 in this game though. In fact he's not even high tier. Stryker is mid tier at best and low tier at worst (for now at least.. ). Being tourney viable doesn't mean the character is godlike. Adon was tourney viable in SSF4 because he had almost no bad matchup at all, but he still was mid tier because, well, he had no good matchups either. Everything was 5-5 for him so it could go either way.

Also, the only reason why Stryker was so good in UMK3 is because he had an infinite back then.

I will be repping Stryker at PDP in Vegas so hit me up.

Nice. Good luck for your tournament!

 

[dookieagain]

First let me start out by thanking you for putting all this work into this thread shit is the only reason I signed up for this site. Thanks.

Appreciate you finding this podcast clip for me. Very glad to hear Stryker is tourny viable. He was always top 5 (according to devs) in classic MKs so I am glad this is still true.

I made a 30 minute lab video and after I get you guys to look at it I'd like to make a followup. I want to make my Stryker button up good and I want to bounce ideas for matchups, mirror and just get all the bolts and screws for Stryker in check.

I will be repping Stryker at PDP in Vegas so hit me up

Just going to say that if you want to do well, do not play Stryker in Vegas. He loses matchups to almost all the top and high tier badly. Even if you are the better player you will be working twice as hard. I love the character, he is who I play, but against Ermac, Noob, Kung Lao, Reptile, Raiden, and likely Nightwolf you are looking at 7-3 at best and maybe 8-2 on some of those matches.

Kung Lao and Reptile have moves that lead to full combo that you can only punish with dash or Sweep. There is no reason not to spam them against Stryker. Teleports devestate Stryker's offense unless they fix the inability to block after dashing on fake gunshot.

His mixup is medicore at best even using the reset you are unlikely to net more than throw damage.

He is viable in the sense that at the core of this game if you land a jumpin punch you have a chance at damage, but honestly considering the characters that are tournament mainstays Stryker is a terrible choice. OnlineTony who is an excellent player was not able to make top 8 at WNF because of the weaknesses Stryker has in major matchups.

Honestly if you like his playstyle and care at all about winning, I highly suggest learning Nightwolf.

Stryker was excellent in UMK3 because he had a very high damage fullscreen wall carry. He isn't anything like that incarnation in this game.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

Kinda sad really.

I do hope NRS gives Stryker some decent buffs in the near future.

Tom Brady has said in the past that the game is very well balanced except for like Baraka. Now as much as I'd like to believe him, I have problem seeing this balance right now.

Dookieagain made a good point in another thread saying how he felt discouraged with Stryker. That he felt he was just using a watered down version of Ermac or Nightwolf.

That sort of thing shouldn't happen imo in a truly balanced fighter. People should be able to pick the characters they like best and be able to compete vs the whole cast without unfair disadvantages.

So yeah, I really hope NRS takes these kind of concerns into consideration because a balanced game = diversity in character usage = more exiting tournaments = better ratings/interest = good for the MK community.

 

[Araragi]

That sort of thing shouldn't happen imo in a truly balanced fighter. People should be able to pick the characters they like best and be able to compete vs the whole cast without unfair disadvantages. So yeah, I really hope NRS takes these kind of concerns into consideration because a balanced game = diversity in character usage and that translates into better tournaments/better ratings.

I honestly feel like Stryker accels more as a close range fighter, or that the tools he has for zoning just flat out do not work. When ever a match up results to Kitana throwing fans like a retard while Stryker can only duck or roll, there's an issue there. I love how he plays, and I like the current tools NRS gave Stryker but i absolutely just abhor how much they do not work against characters like Smoke , or Kung Lao. You can't jump in on either, and it becomes a block~wave dash match to get some damage.

I'm just ranting though. :X

 

[dookieagain]

I honestly feel like Stryker accels more as a close range fighter, or that the tools he has for zoning just flat out do not work. When ever a match up results to Kitana throwing fans like a retard while Stryker can only duck or roll, there's an issue there. I love how he plays, and I like the current tools NRS gave Stryker but i absolutely just abhor how much they do not work against characters like Smoke , or Kung Lao. You can't jump in on either, and it becomes a block~wave dash match to get some damage.

I'm just ranting though. :X

Well you my friend are wrong. . . this just in STRYKER IS THE BEST ZONER IN THE GAME.

That's why he can't punish Kung Lao spin.

Also he's amazing at poking.

I know you think his pokes are supremely slow and beaten by every normal in the game, but it turns out his game is about his amazing zoning and pokes.

The fact that you can duck it all is irrelevant. The fact that every other zoner wins trades is also irrelevant. Also the fact that his gunshot comes out slower than most other projectiles, his grenades are even slower than that, and that his broken fake gunshot is obviously not there to help punish since he can't punish, also irrelevant. Best zoning in the game.

Also his roundhouse is key to winning. Which is weird because it doesn't guarantee a safe jump doesn't guarantee gunshot is even blocked, and it trades with a lot of jump kicks and normals.

We've figured him out gang. It's unfortunate because if he could punish Kung Lao spin or Reptile dash he'd have a win button.

Well I'm going to go outzone noob now. Wish me luck.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

lol, do I smell a bit of sarcasm in your post?


I like Tom and I appreciate what he's doing for the community but until I see a high level Stryker outzone Noob, Reptile, Ermac or Kano in a tournament I can't say I agree with his assesment of Stryker. I would also like to see a Stryker actually outpoke Kung Lao and Johnny Cage. That must be something.

 

[dookieagain]

lol, do I smell a bit of sarcasm in your post?


I like Tom and I appreciate what he's doing for the community but until I see a high level Stryker outzone Noob, Reptile, Ermac or Kano in a tournament I can't say I agree with his assesment of Stryker. I would also like to see a Stryker actually outpoke Kung Lao and Johnny Cage. That must be something.

Honestly I'd be impressed if Stryker could outpoke Kano and Ermace and outzone Kung Lao and Johnny Cage. Pretty sure forceball comes out faster than grenades and I know low hat is better than any of Stryker's projectiles.

Honestly though after this patch Stryker will be good. He'll still have a bad matchup against Noob/Kung/Reptile, but only Noob will stay as hard as it is. Kung getting nerfed, Ermac getting nerfed, Smoke getting nerfed, pretty much eliminates the two of the three almost unwinnable matches for him.

If they make it so you can block out of fake gunshot and give his roundhouse the hitbox it should have for anti-air he'll be seriously viable. Cause that by itself would make the noob fight possible. Basically you can't zone at all against anyone with a fast-ish teleport because of the fact that even baiting with fake gunshot doesn't let you block in time. Fix that and Ermac/Noob become very winnable.

 

[Carefoot]

I am not playing to win PDP (I'm Canadian even if I did win my earnings are going to http://leap.cc) I am playing to be good in a year from now its more realistic, right out the gate its easy to feel hes mid tier when his strings haven't even found their place yet.

Some of the dial pokes like 1-1-4, and 2-3-2 reset the distance between you and your opponent to allow even more zoning. I feel his bread and butters have yet to be polished to their best and I feel there is a lot of room to grow with Stryker as hes an extremely hard character to read. I feel the potential for the character is good and I feel that it would be far more uphill for me to pickup a new character so I am going to eat the bullet and say that I will keep at it. For me I have a hard time understanding why an amazing punisher like OnlineTony would want to switch characters but thats on him I haven't been able to pull off some of his 40%+ no meter combos away from the wall. Once I have some of those down I think I would easily be devestating. As for the matchups I feel coming into some of them it can feel uphill but I put in like 12 hours against Subzero just recently and already that MU for me feels way more than in my favor than it did initially (I got raped a lot by his slide before I understand how hard you can actully punish it).

I still feel hes high tiered but not without any investment in the lab offline with strong players.

Also I'd love to see some footage of back + 2 mixups for baton twirl. It also shortcuts into gunshot pretty awesomely.

 

[Cat]

You CAN punish Kung lao spin. Just quick dash uppercut. If he does ex spin you can punish with full combo pretty much. I need to see you guys strykers. I want to post some videos of mine so y'all can see how I work with him. Give tips and stuff. Haven't taken him to a tourney just yet was gonna go to ucc upper cut in Dallas but couldn't make it. My bro got top 8 and I beat him most of the to time with Stryker.
Also played krazie bone today online. He said he couldn't handle the delay after I pretty much slaughtered his ermac with Stryker. Lol. I didn't see much lag we where Landing our combos fine.
But yeah might upload some matches tomorrow.

 

[dookieagain]

So interesting notes from the frame data project. Kung Lao's ground hat is 7 frames faster than our gunshot. Hat toss is 4 frames faster. Fan toss is 2 frames faster, instant air fan is 13 frames faster. Johnny cages forceballs come out 7 frames faster than our gunshot. Ermac's airblast is also 7 frames faster, with his slam and push being 13 and 12 frames faster respectively.

Hopefully our recovery is better than theirs. But if you're wondering why your gunshot never seems to beat anything onto screen, here's why.

 

[Vulcan Hades]

Wow I didn't expect Gun Shot to be so slow lol.

Johnny Cage having faster projectiles surprises me because I always thought they were kinda slow.

edit: Hmm.. I guess one could argue that Johnny Cage's force ball takes like 30 frames to reach me while Gun Shot hits almost instantly after start up? You know, since a bullet travels faster than a fan or a hat. Then it all comes down to who has better recovery imo. Both on hit and on block.

 

[Araragi]

Hopefully our recovery is better than theirs. But if you're wondering why your gunshot never seems to beat anything onto screen, here's why.

Johnny Cage having faster projectiles surprises me because I always thought they were kinda slow.

edit: Hmm.. I guess one could argue that Johnny Cage's force ball takes like 30 frames to reach me while Gun Shot hits almost instantly after start up? You know, since a bullet travels faster than a fan or a hat. Then it all comes down to who has better recovery imo. Both on hit and on block.

Stryker possibly suited to be a better counter zoner?

 

[dookieagain]

Stryker possibly suited to be a better counter zoner?

I'm not 100% sure what he's best suited for. Some things I've started doing though. Using 1,1,4 it's very low damage but it does get a knockdown, it's 10 frame start up, which isn't as fast as his 4, but the nice thing is you can do 1,1 gunshot to preemptively anti-air people trying to jump out. 4 is still probably better since it does the same, but if it's a match against Ermac or Noob who you aren't trying to space out 1,1 gunshot is nice since it beats their slow-ish strings.

Plus and here's the best part, if the gunshot hits them in the air, you can follow it with or roll to move them toward the nearest corner and for pretty solid damage.

 

[Carefoot]

Stryker possibly suited to be a better counter zoner?

Maybe? The start up on gun seems on par but the projectile it self has no travel time making it the fastest projectile minus startup. That being said if you roll toss someone and get the first gun shot on them, they need to dodge your minefield that you lay them. Very few characters can deal with this exceptions being Kung Lao, Liu Kang. Raiden you need to be careful with but at full screen I can get away with a few tags but eye on the meter is solid advice.

I'm not 100% sure what he's best suited for. Some things I've started doing though. Using 1,1,4 it's very low damage but it does get a knockdown, it's 10 frame start up, which isn't as fast as his 4, but the nice thing is you can do 1,1 gunshot to preemptively anti-air people trying to jump out. 4 is still probably better since it does the same, but if it's a match against Ermac or Noob who you aren't trying to space out 1,1 gunshot is nice since it beats their slow-ish strings.

Plus and here's the best part, if the gunshot hits them in the air, you can follow it with or roll to move them toward the nearest corner and for pretty solid damage.

I think 1,1 into 4 is the only hit confirm-able string he has? The baton twirls might be but I can't tell I need to get someone to help me test offline -_-

I'm really starting to appreciate 2,3,2 because in cases where I am zoning many times people can't identify the string so they charge into it and they get chucked back where they started. I've interrupted X-Rays with it.

 

[dookieagain]

I think 1,1 into 4 is the only hit confirm-able string he has? The baton twirls might be but I can't tell I need to get someone to help me test offline -_-

I'm really starting to appreciate 2,3,2 because in cases where I am zoning many times people can't identify the string so they charge into it and they get chucked back where they started. I've interrupted X-Rays with it.

I can't endorse 2,3,2. It doesn't have any advantages over 4. 1,1,4 has a use because it is hit confirmable and it gets you a knockdown next to your opponent. 2,3,2 is 18 frames on startup which means that any case where that will hit, back 1,2,2 would hit. From back 1,2,2 you get 34% and a reset or 37%, as well as the spacing reset. Standing 4 canceled to gunshot gives you the same spacing, a free gunshot mixup and comes out in 8 frames and opponent gets no wakeup attack.

Also almost everyone has an easy answer to Stryker gunshots, it's hardly a minefield, even characters without a teleport generally have a fast special that can go under it, or baring that they can duck one and counter with their own projectile which will now beat it.

 

[Carefoot]

I can't endorse 2,3,2. It doesn't have any advantages over 4. 1,1,4 has a use because it is hit confirmable and it gets you a knockdown next to your opponent. 2,3,2 is 18 frames on startup which means that any case where that will hit, back 1,2,2 would hit. From back 1,2,2 you get 34% and a reset or 37%, as well as the spacing reset. Standing 4 canceled to gunshot gives you the same spacing, a free gunshot mixup and comes out in 8 frames and opponent gets no wakeup attack.

Also almost everyone has an easy answer to Stryker gunshots, it's hardly a minefield, even characters without a teleport generally have a fast special that can go under it, or baring that they can duck one and counter with their own projectile which will now beat it.

I feel you. Its funny because I lean on 2,3,2 and I am not at all comfortable with 1,1,4. I can totally see why it would be preferable. I don't think every character has an answer, the real benefit to the gun is that it gains meter just for pulling it out. Also if they duck no reason to fire your shots just wait until the last moment and if they fail to pop up dash cancel backwords until at max screen, if they continue to duck throw a grenade and immeditly follow up with a shot (don't hold just shoot). More times than not they will go for a teleport or jump in which you will take them back to the floor.

This works against characters with "answers" like Scorpion or Noob.[FOOTNOTE] I think you may already know this?[/FOOTNOTE]

 

[Helter Skelter]

I hope NRS will at some point make Stryker's Gun Block Cancelable. That would be the shit.

 

[Carefoot]

I hope NRS will at some point make Stryker's Gun Block Cancelable. That would be the shit.

Well it would also make building meter super easy it would probably change the way Stryker is currently played (ie. constantly building meter for Xray vs using it primarily for the damage)

 

[Vulcan Hades]

I hope NRS will at some point make Stryker's Gun Block Cancelable. That would be the shit.

Wait, wut?

 

[MKF30]

lol just ask CRKfiend for Stryker advice, the guy owns with him. But I do hope they buff him up seriously.

 

[CRKFIEND]

My Stryker has been Greatly improving, yesterday I got him into Practice, and messed around a bit, anyways here is what I came up with...

<3, 2 - is WAY MORE useful then I originally thought. It has pretty good distance to it. It can also be linked into combos from the air by doing a jump punch first. A lot of the combos I find on here (Ex. <3,2, dash, 1,2, gunshot, etc...) seem to be way to unreliable online.

<3, 2, dash fwd, uppercut - easy and quick 23 percent damage.

Also in the corner I find this to be even more useful. Stryker has a great 2 punch juggle (1,2), and easily spring 40+ damage.

<3, 2, 1,2...1,2...1,2, uppercut

<1, 2, 2, ^2, 1,2...1,2...1,2...uppercut.

These of course have many variations, but these can at least be done online with some lag present without too much trouble. But these allow for a good high/low corner game, and can both also be started with a jump punch allowing for some tricky situations.

Also Gun against wake up teleports = bad. Thanks for the kind words MKF, maybe one day my stryker will be NASTY.