The Newest Mortal Kombat (9) Tier List

[Drayn0]

I don't understand how Skarlet is being rated at all if she's been banned at every major tournament I've ever seen? What experience is this based on?

Also, why does a C-tier character get banned at tournaments?

I was thinking the same thing. What do you guys have down as skarlets good and bad MU's. lol the skarlet community doesn't even have a remotely accurate or complete chart.

 

[Ninj]

Skarlet isn't tournament banned and hasn't been for a while. There's just no one playing her.

Doesn't come close to answering the overall question

Just curious.

 

[Peckapowa]

i disagree with people saying reptile is a bad matchup for cage, as long as the cage player is patient and stays slighty within elbow range he can sit back and anti-air with a decent reaction window and many different aa options for spacing including 1 down 1 neutral jump punch and back 4, all solid low frame attacks. He just has to wait for an opportunity by inching in and abuse his frame advantage up close and bait elbow dash or jump outs. He also neutralizes wakeup options and exploits reptiles lack of good aa outside of d4 (ex forceball is an option) (which he can jump kick in on). He wins the battle once he finds the opportunity to land his pokes, or corners reptile.

one of the disadvantages that im not sure thats been mentioned is that johnny's ex fireball whiffs on block on reptile, which is a problem but he wins the frame trap battle.

 

[M2Dave]

The new tier list looks great but a few things i dont agree with and i would like m2dave to tell me why. I think KL should be moved up to top tier and put Jade and sheeva in C and get rid of D tier. Also, what 0-2 bad matchups does Mileena have. I assume the 2 are KL and Ermac/ or Raiden?

REO can answer the Kung Lao question since he used to use the character. Mileena's only bad match up is Kenshi, which is highly debatable at the moment. Why would Ermac be Mileena's bad match up?

I was thinking the same thing. What do you guys have down as skarlets good and bad MU's. lol the skarlet community doesn't even have a remotely accurate or complete chart.

Even with the crazy dagger cancels, pre-patch Skarlet had some difficult match ups vs the likes of Raiden, Kung Lao, and Kabal. How can she compete now when the dagger cancels, by far the character's best tool, have been slowed down by 10 frames? Bad match ups include Kabal, Raiden, Mileena, Noob, Smoke, Jax, Kung Lao, and Freddy. I think she has become one of the worst characters in the entire game.

 

[Verstande]

In my personal opinion (which is worth nothing) I think Reptile and Cage have sort of a equal match-up, some of Cage's frame traps don't work because Reptile can get out with Elbow Dash.

If reptile has health advantage, then he can sit back and zone. This is the only time I think that Cage loses the battle, because he has to work to get in and can't trade projectiles with reptile, since he can just acid spit, fireball all day.

 

[REO]

Kung Lao is listed in A+ because he has three losing match-ups: Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Kitana. Sonya and Cage have small hitboxes with good pokes and uppercuts so they shut down Kung Lao's offense and teleports fairly easy. They also beat him punch for punch up close. Kitana is just difficult for Kung Lao to approach. She punishes him very hard, and forces him to rely on teleport in a lot of situations.

 

[Ruuku1012]

Can you Ermac players please let us know how you would rank the character instead of bitching about his rank for the past 6-7 pages?

Whoa! I was attempting to follow the whole commenting and discussing mentioned in the first post. You selected few that created this tier list decided to focus on match ups to rank the characters and you all are asking for the opinion of that rest of the community. We can't simply suggest ranking without discussion yet all that has been discussed about Ermac has been reduced to "bitching". I'm done talking about Ermac as it seems unacceptable.

 

[REO]

Personally as a Mileena player, I don't give a shit about U+4 or TKP. Hit me with either and I get away to zone you some more. I block a TKP, I get zoning or positional advantage. The only thing I would say I fear from an Ermac player is lift, but we all know the story when this move is misused properly. I also don't see the reason to use teleport drop on Ermac either. Roll should just be used for anti-air, nothing more. Really, it should be quite simple to handle Ermac with basic use of instant aerial sais and D+4. Everything else is just icing on the cake to go along with the tempo.

 

[PimpUigi]

I'm glad Ermac even made the tier list.
He gets to run home excited and tell his parents he wasn't picked last.

"I made the team! I made the team!"

 

[Nick T.]

Kung Lao is listed in A+ because he has three losing match-ups: Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Kitana. Sonya and Cage have small hitboxes with good pokes and uppercuts so they shut down Kung Lao's offense and teleports fairly easy. They also beat him punch for punch up close. Kitana is just difficult for Kung Lao to approach. She punishes him very hard, and forces him to rely on teleport in a lot of situations.

Kabal/Kung Lao is even, yes??

I've played this match alot and it definitely feels even, but it seems to be more dictated on pace rather than clearly saying, "X counters Y." Aside from IAGB keeping KL from moving outside of Teleport, the approach seems up close and personal.

Could I get some insight on this?

 

[Ninj]

Even with the crazy dagger cancels, pre-patch Skarlet had some difficult match ups vs the likes of Raiden, Kung Lao, and Kabal. How can she compete now when the dagger cancels, by far the character's best tool, have been slowed down by 10 frames? Bad match ups include Kabal, Raiden, Mileena, Noob, Smoke, Jax, Kung Lao, and Freddy. I think she has become one of the worst characters in the entire game.

I disagree. Dagger cancel was a gimmick - you're ignorant of what Skarlet's actual broken quality was pre-patch, which was linking a down slash into Red Slides, allowing for relatively easy 50%+ meterless midscreens.

Post patch, she has the ability to hit 46-48% meterless midscreens with a bit of technical proficiency. Add that with a teleport slash that can be used on reaction to punish certain projectiles, a Red Slide that can interrupt certain specials on getup, and an armored Red Dash that allows for taking a hit in return for a 38-42%ish punish without meter, a downward dagger that forces a block and a midscreen or corner reset combo ender...

I'm not sure what it is she needs for your tier list to consider her better than C-tier, besides the fact that you clearly need to play a Skarlet player who has some real technical skill with her along with matchup experience vs the rest of the cast.

 

[A F0xy Grampa]

I have no doubt that Skarlet is higher than C tier. Shes basically a red version of Sonya without a divekick

 

[Helter Skelter]

I have no doubt that Skarlet is higher than C tier. Shes basically a red version of Sonya without a divekick

I think Skarlet is just average, but I'm going to try and make a detailed matchup chart in the next four weeks. Skarlet was just an okay character pre-patch with some very polarising matchups. However, with the nerfs she took (they were quite deserved) those matchups are not nearly as bad for the other character or now that character beats her.

With all that said, she is still perfectly viable but I think she has some very, very uphill battles.

 

[A F0xy Grampa]

I think Skarlet is just average, but I'm going to try and make a detailed matchup chart in the next four weeks. Skarlet was just an okay character pre-patch with some very polarising matchups. However, with the nerfs she took (they were quite deserved) those matchups are not nearly as bad for the other character or now that character beats her.

With all that said, she is still perfectly viable but I think she has some very, very uphill battles.

Jay was putting my Sonya strats on his Skarlet and its basically like fighting a mirror

 

[Drayn0]

Jay was putting my Sonya strats on his Skarlet and its basically like fighting a mirror

Red dash mixups and MS mixups are extremely similar. They also both have the 1,1,2 reset which goes back into mixups.

On Topic: I can't see noob as a bad MU for skarlet. It's 5-5 if not in skarlet's favor. she can teleport on reaction to shadows for far screen distance and she is better up close. En. Red dash into up-slash blows through shadows at midscreen for full combo. Plus skarlet's dmage output is better.

 

[Helter Skelter]

Jay was putting my Sonya strats on his Skarlet and its basically like fighting a mirror

Fair enough. I'll have to see it. Sonya's mixups don't inherently require as much risk. With all that said, I'm playing Skarlet hit and run, so I'll make some adjustments.

Going by the tier list in the OP. I would say she sits between A and B tier. She still has very polarizing matchups like Cyber Sub-Zero does. However, I do have to admit all of us Skarlet players need to move away from damage now and focus on setups and traps. Still early days for her, though.

 

[A F0xy Grampa]

Fair enough. I'll have to see it. Sonya's mixups don't inherently require as much risk. With all that said, I'm playing Skarlet hit and run, so I'll make some adjustments.

Going by the tier list in the OP. I would say she sits between A and B tier. She still has very polarizing matchups like Cyber Sub-Zero does. However, I do have to admit all of us Skarlet players need to move away from damage now and focus on setups and traps. Still early days for her, though.

Skarlets have more risk for sure, but Sonyas have alot less range on her overhead. Thats probably why theyre a bit different. But that red slide is nasty.

 

[Evil_Riu48]

reo ,dave i think you guys should move cage to B tier if this tier is going to be based on lossing matchups

1) sub zero
2) kitana
3) kabal
4) sektor
5) reptile
6) sonya
7) noob
8) kenshi

that make him B tier and if you want to add mileena and freddy to the list he is C tier if you guys have any question about any of this matchups let me know

 

[Crathen]

I don't see how Cage has trouble with Freddy or Mileena ( i think those are 5-5 matchups ) , also Sektor is not a bad matchup it's 5-5 for sure , Sonya i have some doubts about that too , could you please explain your vision on those matchups?

 

[Sand-man]

This is the newest off-line tier list, according to REO, Tom Brady, and m2dave. Slight input was also provided by Perfect Legend. The characters are listed alphabetically within each tier. The letters used in the tier list represent the following match up wise.

S = 0-2 bad match ups
A+ = 3-4 bad match ups
A = 5-6 bad match ups
B = 7-8 bad match ups
C = 9-10 bad match ups
D = 11+ bad match ups

S Cyrax, Kabal, Kitana, Mileena, Raiden
A+ Freddy Krueger, Jax, Kung Lao, Rain, Reptile, Smoke, Sektor, Sonya, Sub Zero
A Cyber Sub Zero, Johnny Cage, Kano, Kenshi, Liu Kang, Quan Chi, Scorpion, Shang Tsung
B Baraka, Ermac, Noob, Sheeva
C Nightwolf, Sindel, Skarlet, Stryker
D Jade

Please comment and discuss. The tier list is based on off-line gameplay ONLY.

10/30/11 - corrected minor mistakes (thanks Subzerosmokerai)

11/02/11 - Smoke moved down from S to A+ ; Cage moved down from A+ to A

kenshi B RANK???!!!??? why is not A+ rank?

 

[SZSR]

Ok, so Smoke loses to Raiden, Kung Lao, Jax, and Johnny Cage. Post on page 10 is REO's mention of the Raiden, Kung Lao, and Jax brief overview of the matches and page 12 has m2dave's info. on Jax and Cage. Primary issue for Smoke is staying out of rushdown, so bad matchups are about moving around the stage and trying to keep Lao, Jax, and Cage off (very much easier said than done).

What about Raiden? Is it because of no clear lockdown or zone on him?

 

[Killphil]

So if I understand all of this correctly, people are saying that Ermac's game only focuses on getting into max force push range. Because most Ermac players I've seen don't do it, it doesn't mean that Ermac can't pressure his opponents at close range. The fact that the majority of his strings/moves are punishable doesn't dismiss the efficient ones like u4, b2, f2, b114, and 31.

Sure don't dismiss the efficient ones, but now people know what you're more likely to do since Ermac has less than viable strings like b3,4 and f1,1,4. I'll agree that keeping a person in max TKP range is a lot easier said than done. The more I read the stuff about Ermac the more I agree with with his placement. That being said, this is a bad matchup tier list. Like someone else mentioned...a character with 4-5 bad match ups and the majority of the rest are winning match ups should be higher than a character that is 4-6 against 2 characters and goes 5-5 with the rest of the cast. This is hypothetical so I can't throw any names out there, I'm just joining to agree with Ermac's placement. Random teleports suck for Ermac. If you're not using iats then you probably shouldn't be using it unless you want to attempt the "Ermac vortex". Again his mixups kinda blow so why not just do a damaging bnb? I don't care about his placement, I'm still going to use him.

 

[BR3N7]

So what are Scorpions bad matchups ?

 

[MK Peanuts]

kenshi B RANK???!!!??? why is not A+ rank?

Is Kenshi being ranked B such an outrageous thing that you needed 10 punctuation marks to express it? At the absolute most it requires two question marks and one exclamation point; I can show you exactly why this is the case if necessary.

 

[Killphil]

I'm glad Ermac even made the tier list.
He gets to run home excited and tell his parents he wasn't picked last.

"WE made the team! WE made the team!"

fixed it for you.