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Guide - Tarkatan Vertical, Not Horizontal: The Complete Guide to Slicing & Dicing with The New Tarkatan

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Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure

VERTICAL, NOT HORIZONTAL
AN ALIEN - TARKATAN GUIDE



Hello TYM, it's early days from the release of the Kombat Pack, but I've been playing and labbing Tarkatan heavily, so I decided to make a guide similar to what I did here for for Hat Trick, and help us all get a better understanding of the character. I don't claim to know the character inside out just yet and at this stage I do not think that anybody could, but as we learn more, so shall the guide grow, so please contribute your knowledge at me and it will be updated, with credit given where appropriate






Legend:
RC = Run Cancel (FF+Block)
EX = Meter Use (Bllock During Special Activation)
Spin = Blade Spin (DB2)
Flip = Tail Flip (BF4)
Snag = Tail Snag (DB3)
Krawl = Low Krawl (BF1)
Rekka = Tarkatan Rush (BF2)
XStrike = Xeno Strike (DF3)
 
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I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure

GUIDE



Neutral Game - Key Normals, Strings, and Openers:

Midscreen:

D1: Check,
D4: Spacing check, Pressure starter
214: Pressure string/Neutral
F13: Pressure string
B3: Low combo starter, midscreen combo starter
F4: Overhead combo starter
Rekka: Pressure Special, Armor, Advancing mid, safety
Ji4: Long range poke, combo starter
B11U4: Highest damage punish
Krawl: low profiles projectiles/ranged highs

D1 is an excellent poke, 7f, +14 on hit, and only -3 on block, with a nice hitbox with his tongue. You couldn't ask for more, it jails into both his pressure strings, as does his D4, which is 11f start up and unsafe up close but has excellent range, and on hit jails to 214 after a short run in, making it a great defensive button, and making the use of 214 as a pressure string a key tool to get familiarised with. D4 on hit also jails into a 50/50 at closer range, further range D4 on hit only B3 jails and F4 will whiff because of the pushback, but a slight run in still gives a 50/50 although no longer jailing off the overhead.
214 is a great button in general, its a 9 frame high starter but has the range of most characters D4's, so it's unlikely you will get poked out of it if spaced nicely and the follow up hit is an advancing mid, however its worth being aware that low profiling moves will go straight under this if they are in range for it, or advance through like most slides or rolls. S2 cancelled into Rekka is great in the neutral on both hit, block and whiff, and is a great way to play footsies with the Alien. F13 is an even better pressure tool although slightly different in application with slower frames and slightly less range (it still jails off a D1 however), and comes with an automatic safe mix-up - F13 cancelled into Flip hits Mid, Mid, Low, and ends at -7, F134 cancelled into Rekka is -4 when made frame perfect (although practically around -5 to -6), and hits Mid, Mid, Overhead, and is also your number one chip tool, doing a combined total of 6%. This is also a true 50/50. Its worth noting that you can EX the flip in all cases, which leads into a combo on hit, however it does make it highly punishable on block.
Alien's Rekka I will touch more on later, but basically is a 15 frame advancing mid with possibly the best range and hitbox out of any move with the same frames, on block it's a safe 3% chip string once you learn the timing, and ex Rekka comes out Armored. On hit, you can meterburn the finishing grab to launch into combo. It makes B3 and F4 both safe on block, giving a safe hitconfirmable 50/50 starter. B3 is especially nice cancelled into Rekka from far midscreen, as it has ridiculous range even further than Rekka itself, and closes the gap to allow Rekka to string straight into it. F4 is a great ranged Also, any poke cancelled into Rekka is safe outside of people managing to armored reversal a poke which is wildly impractical at best (and excellent if you've managed to condition your opponent to do this after a poke), it will catch them if they immediately unblock after blocking a poke, so can condition them to respect blocked pokes for a few extra frames. It's especially nice off a bloc
Ji4 is worth mentioning for it's amazing range, and the fact that it option selects into an EXFlip combo on hit, or nothing (aka safety) on block makes it an excellent tool for controlling the space all the way out to fullscreen, one of the best counter zoning tools in the game. Ji3 is a very different kick and probably worth avoiding as aside from the fact that it is double hitting, it seems objectively worse in all ways to JiP in this variation due to the extended hitbox thanks to the KLAWS
B11U4 is not a great opener by any means, being a short ranged, difficult to confirm, 9 frame high, which really is not very special at all in Alien's list of dope buttons. However, it is the only button that launches into combo meterless, making it his best punish string as the bar you saved by not needing to use EX Spin to combo, can otherwise be used for a restand with EX Krawl, with follow up pressure. I'll touch more on this later.
Krawl isn't a key tool, but merits a mention on neutral play, purely for the fact that it's basically a mid hitting slide like Mileena's ball, that screen travels fast and restands if it happens to anti-air, but is highly punishable on block. Useful for people trying to control midscreen space with projectiles or long ranged High's of any sort, EX Krawl goes into combo on hit. It's probably not as useful as some of his other counter zoning tools, like Armored Rekka, Ji4~EXFlip, his amazing JiP's, or from even further out, his Ji3~Rekka, but against things like Cassie insta-air guns and who knows what else its better than all these, so it's fairly niche but still a decent neutral tool worth keeping in mind.


Corner:


B3
F4
EX-Rekka
F134


This to me, is going to be where his corner game starts and finishes. B3 and F4 are pretty much self explanatory, his overhead, and low 50/50, they aren't very fast at 17 frames but they are indistinguishable on reaction. But the start up means you have to be smart with their use while your opponent is standing or limit it to the Oki alone.
EX-Rekka is especially good armor here for keeping your opponent in the corner, as it's safe on block meaning it doesn't automatically let your opponent out of the corner on a misread, and it does not require that he meterburn the grab or even finish the string to get good value out. Ending the Rekka after the second hit leaves you at +15, meaning you can jail into your F134 pressure.
F134 was a great string midscreen, here it is even better, as F134 strings into the Flip which it does not do midscreen. This means he has the option of hitting [Mid, Mid, Low, Overhead] or [Mid, Mid, Overhead], so the mix-up potential off this string is obvious, the damage is MUCH higher than midscreen and on block its great chip and meterbuilding. Spending a bar on a TailFlip combo can get you over 40%, which is big damage for Alien! And also opens you up to spend a second bar in your combo, to get up to 45% for 2 bars, but restanding your opponent and leaving you with 15 frames of advantage, which guarantees follow up F134 pressure, granting him 6% guaranteed safe chip (giving you a 51% combo for 2 bars), or going for a mini-vortex because he can mix-up again of this pressure string. I'll work on getting a video up later today demonstrating this, but his corner game is definitely nasty.


Alien has a very defensive playstyle in the neutral, playing to the strengths of his extended reach and amazing mobility with his advancing moves, backdash, and fast walk + run speed. However once he gets his turn he can do a very good job of keeping it, with great pressure strings, a Rekka, safe armor, a very long range and safe (but slow) 50/50, one of the best poke games in the roster, and heavy corner carry and meterbuilding. He doesn't have anything significantly plus on block however, but he plays thematically very much like his movie counterpart waiting for his time to strike when he's in his element, and he is great at just backing off and waiting for your opponent to do something and using it to take back his turn again, because basically, backing off and spacing your opponent out again often means that it IS your turn in essence or at the very least your advantage, because you have a plethora of options available while most other characters will have very very little. He is a very safe character in nature, but doesn't put out a lot of damage at once, and has heavy meter reliance.

Tarkatan has the option of using 2 bar combos off any string or 1 bar combos off B11U4 punishes, that restand his opponent through the use of EX Krawl, and leave you at +15 through the use of an unfinished Rekka. The most common way to do this is by using this ender:

EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1


The F2 string can be substituted for 214 for the same damage, but it corner carries less (and doesn't look as cool) but it's not a big difference.


This leaves you at +15, which jails into F1, meaning after any restand combo, meaning you are GUARANTEED 6% chip and to build back 60% of the bar you just spent by going into F134~Rekka on block. But this also allows you to mix your opponent up with F13~Tail Flip if they are blocking the low expecting the into Rekka, meaning you get 7% an a really nice +19 HKD, which pretty much auto-times a follow up 50/50 into Rekka, and also leaves them perfectly spaced for it to just connect on the tip of your reach, meaning a lot of armored wake-ups will whiff, limiting your opponents options generally to the unsafest stuff or even no armored options at all. The benefits of a Tail Flip knockdown sort of speak for themself, just remember that F134~Flip does not connect on hit unless you are in the corner.

At this stage of the game, its basically a high execution block string, that can be made gapless and -4 on block if the delay between the hits are timed correctly. It can be cancelled into from any string, and the Rekka alone builds 40% of a bar and does 3% chip exactly, and pushes your opponent quite heavily towards the wall. Its a key tool and important to learn the timing to keep it safe and is opens up so much for the character, and your opponent can Option Select out armored specials if you accidently make any gap. I think it was originally intended to be a guessing game, but since the mechanics of MKX don't allow this due to the fact that any gap will always be easily option selected by a high level opponent who has done the labbing (props to @Zoidberg747 for sharing that knowledge), and the fact that if timed right it is gapless anyway (thanks @YOMI REO for finding this), means its pretty much as I said earlier: a high execution block string. If that changes at any stage, I'll be sure to update. You can read about it in depth here in REO's comprehensive guide on the matter, as it's a lot to explain, a very in depth mechanic, and it's all already been written and I don't feel like rewriting it. It's important to keep in mind however, REO describes the Overhead/Low ender as a 50/50, which is false, I don't know if he did that just to make it easily digestable, or because its simply day one and REO has a lot of shit to lab and he simply made a human mistake, however it is in no way any mix-up, blocking low covers all options and you can react to the 24 frame, forward leaping Overhead everytime. Putting out the overhead just means your timing needs to be tighter to be safe, leaves you more negative no matter what, and does the exact same chip, so it's probably just a gimmick to use against people who don't know the MU, or people who are drunk (shouts to my locals).
 
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I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure





BNB MIDSCREEN COMBOS


||Neutral Game BnBs||


Note: Worth mentioning 214 openers can be substituted for an cancellable, non launching button or string, but most other buttons have different preferable combo paths

F134~XSTrike enders after a Spin NJP U3, can be replaced for B1, 214 XStrike for easier execution, at the cost of only 1% damamge




37% 1-Bar - 214~EX-Spin, NjP, RC, U3, F134~XStrike
37% 1-Bar - 214~EX-Krawl, B11U4, RC, B11U4, RC, 214~Snag [Switches Sides]



30% 1-Bar -
Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, NjP, RC, U3, B1, 214~XStrike [15f Far Advancing Mid]
33% 1-Bar - F4, Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, NjP, RC, U3, B1, 214~XStrike [Safe OH Combo Starter]
33% 1-Bar - B3, Rekka, 1, EX-Grab,NjP, RC, U3, B1, 214~XStrike [Safe Low Combo Starter]

35% 1-Bar - F13~EX-Flip, RC, B11U4, RC, 214~XStrike [Overhead Mix-Up]
38% 1-Bar - F134~EX-Krawl, B11U4, RC, 214 -XStrike [Low Mix-Up]

28% Meterless - NjP, RC, U3, F134~XStrike

29% 1-Bar - Ji4~EX-Flip, RC, 214~X-Strike [Option Selects nothing out on block, full combo even from fullscreen on hit]



29% Meterless - B11U4, RC, B11U4, RC, 214~Snag [Meterless Punish]



31% 1-Bar - EX-Spin, RC, U3, F134~X-Strike [9f Armored Wake-Up]
30% 1-Bar - EX-Spin, run under, B1, 214~X-Strike [Corner Wake-Up Side Swap]

30% 1-Bar - EX-Flip, RC, B11U4, RC, 214~X-Strike [17f Overhead Armour, but doesn't have a whiff window for pokes to beat it out like Spin does, probably worse for everything other than counter poking however, but we'll see how it develops in time]





||Standing Reset Pressure Midscreen BnB's||



Note: Same openers as above, but spending an extra bar to end in standing reset at +15. You can add 6% guaranteed chip by following up with F134~Rekka and build back 60% of a bar, so I'll include the total amount in brackets, or you can go for a 50/50 or mix-up pressure or whatever. Every single one of these combo's switches sides however, so worth being aware of your position relative to the closest corner when using them.



41% (47%) 2-Bar - 214~EX-Spin, NjP, RC, U3, F134~EX-Krawl, 214~Rekka, 1


31% (36%) 2-Bar -
Rekka, 1, EX Grab, NjP, JiP, RC, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1
37% (43%) 2-Bar - F4, Rekka, 1, EX Grab, NjP, RC, U3, 214~EX-Krawl, 214~Rekka, 1
37% (43%) 2-Bar - B3, Rekka, 1, EX Grab, NjP, RC, U3, 214~EX-Krawl, 214~Rekka, 1



33% (39%) 1-Bar - NjP, RC, U3, F134~EX-Krawl, 214~Rekka, 1

34% (40%) 2-Bar - Ji4~EX-Flip, RC, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1



34% (40%) 2-Bar - EX-Spin, walk forward, B11U4, RC 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1
35% (41%) 2-Bar - EX-Flip, RC, B11U4, RC, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1


34% (39%) 1-Bar - B11U4, RC, F134~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1






BNB CORNER COMBOS


His corner game is a lot sicker than his midscreen game, his restand combo's knock and opponent out and then push them back into the corner, and do excellent damage.



36% 1-Bar - F4~Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, U3, B11U4, 214~XStrike
36% 1-Bar - B3~Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, U3, B11U4, 214~XStrike


39% 1-Bar - F13~EX-Flip, U3, U3, F134~X-Strike [Overhead first Mix-Up]
41% 1-Bar - F134~EX-Flip, U3, F134~X-Strike [Low into Overhead Mix-Up]




Those last 2 do 36% and 38% respectively assuming the mid's are blocked but the mix-up goes though. They are punishable on block however unlike the other 50/50, so they are best used during F134 pressure after jailing a restand, preferable after coaching your opponent to block it a certain way as well. However, the natural 50/50 has like 17f start up, and against someone trying to get out of the corner you may not be able to press those buttons reliably, so the start up on F1 is a great way to mix your opponent up, and in the corner you can finish the string and still cancel into Flip without it whiffing if the low happened to get through, and you can always go into Rekka pressure on block from it as well. And it's a good mid so it might just connect natural anyway if your opponent tried to poke out at the wrong time reading a slow 50/50, or something like that.

And here's where the fun stuff starts: Corner Restands!


37% (43%) 2 Bars -
F4, Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, NjP, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1
37% (43%) 2 Bars - B3, Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, NjP, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1


42% (48%) 2-Bars - F13~EX-Flip, NjP, U3, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1
45% (51%) 2-Bars - F134~EX-Flip, NjP, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1


32% (38%) 1-Bar - NjP, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1

35% (41%) 1-Bar - B11U4, D2, 214~EX-Krawl, F23434~Rekka, 1




Shouts to @BarterRaccoon and @Metatron for the heavy contributions



So he has some pretty nice corner play! I'll get a video of it up soon, and this thread will be under heavy construction as our knowledge of the character builds. Here is the ground work though. Enjoy!


 
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Scott The Scot

Where there is smoke, there is cancer.
Damn, this looks very in-depth and it's out really quickly. I'll give it a read soon and let you know my thoughts in this post. Looking good, man! Althought, I'd recommend maybe spacing out some of the lengthier parts so it doesn't looked as clogged up.
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
I love the title of this thread.
Thanks! Hope you guys caught the triple entendre!! (He was dismembered by Kung Lao's vertical slice fatality in MK trilogy but he got restitched - thats why the first picture at the top of this thread is what it is :D)
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
Damn, this looks very in-depth and it's out really quickly. I'll give it a read soon and let you know my thoughts in this post. Looking good, man! :)
Thanks for the props, its worth the read, he has some DIRTY tech with midstring 50/50's on his pressure strings that lead to a 45% damage restand combo at +15! And yeah it's out early but it isn't rushed in any way I covered almost the entire core of the character, I spent a fuckton of time in the lab and in ranked queue with Tarkatan so far - but I couldn't even tell you what Sektor's specials are if there was money on it. Can finally go explore the rest of KP2 now that I finished typing this shit up :)
 

Scott The Scot

Where there is smoke, there is cancer.
Thanks for the props, its worth the read, he has some DIRTY tech with midstring 50/50's on his pressure strings that lead to a 45% damage restand combo at +15! And yeah it's out early but it isn't rushed in any way I covered almost the entire core of the character, I spent a fuckton of time in the lab and in ranked queue with Tarkatan so far - but I couldn't even tell you what Sektor's specials are if there was money on it. Can finally go explore the rest of KP2 now that I finished typing this shit up :)
Hardwork pays off. Unless you're playing Alien apparently, 45% into a restand!? Does that restand guarenteed a mixup into another 45%!? If so then I need to pick up Alien, that's too good not to use lol.
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
Hardwork pays off. Unless you're playing Alien apparently, 45% into a restand!? Does that restand guarenteed a mixup into another 45%!? If so then I need to pick up Alien, that's too good not to use lol.
Well, it does jail into another mix-up, but you won't be able to get more than 41% off it - and thats assuming you started with 3 bars. The restand combo is 2 bars, and you'd need to have a third bar when you started that combo, to combo off the restand, he doesn't get to do much meterless. So it's not Cassie corner game, but its still nice. And his meterless mix-up is still nice off the restand, safe but doesn't hit for much. Also, you can use the restand to build back 60% of the bar you spent, as well as chipping them for 6% in the process (all gapless and safe) so that makes it 51% restand for less than 1.5 bars!

Tarkatan nice yo :D
 

Jolt

Uprise
Beautiful guide. Glad someone wrote one up sooner rather than later. I love this character and desperately want to play him, but I'm just having trouble remembering which buttons to press :'(
 

ArmageddonUMK

Hipster Spectral Player
Really good stuff, definitely gonna hit the lab with this when I get the chance. I came into kp2 expecting to love the robots and pretty much ignore the rest, but tarkatan is so awesome I can't stop playing it
 

The Ultimate

aka CommandThrower
I really appreciate the details done on this guide. Tarkatan Alien is a character that I would like to main. It's very fun, and the closest thing that anyone has to Baraka. If only Baraka was this good...

The timing the rekka in order to make it safe will be the hardest thing to learn for this variation. I was getting it a few times in training mode, but I'm not quite consistent yet.
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
I really appreciate the details done on this guide. Tarkatan Alien is a character that I would like to main. It's very fun, and the closest thing that anyone has to Baraka. If only Baraka was this good...

The timing the rekka in order to make it safe will be the hardest thing to learn for this variation. I was getting it a few times in training mode, but I'm not quite consistent yet.
Tip: when you successfully get it, try to recall the timing you did on the first one, then try replicate it. Delay the second one the right amount, and you'll start being aware of the timing you need on the first one when everything goes though unpunished. Once you got that, you can work on perfecting the second timing. The timing will be different depending on the ag qualities of your monitor / TV, but for me its when the sort of blade flashes green downwards, so try use that as a rough estimate. A visual que always helps, even if its just till you know what timing you are looking for and you can move on.

Hopefully this helps, I know it's kinda vague but its the best I can do, you will get the timing consistent with practice.
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
Beautiful guide. Glad someone wrote one up sooner rather than later. I love this character and desperately want to play him, but I'm just having trouble remembering which buttons to press :'(
I'm the exact same way man, I'm getting stomped online with him, even though I know exactly what I should be doing after the fact, I freeze up when I play! It always takes me a lot of games to get comfortable with a character and their buttons, Alien is going to be no exception to this for me, but the more I play the more I learn :)
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
32% 1-Bar - F4, Rekka, 1, EX-Grab, NJP, RC U3, B1, 214~Snag [Safe OH Combo Starter]
37% 2-Bar - F4, Rekka, 1, EX Grab, NjP, RC U3, 214~EX-Krawl, 214~Rekka, 1
Oh shit mate, didn't realise you could do this. Nice, that's already better than what I'm using, I'm going to play around with this see if I can go any better, new BnB's incoming! Good job man!

EDIT: and you can also get a free run-under if you want one with these ones too!
 

Tweedy

Noob
Super dope guide. I've actually moved away from Alien(Sektor is all I've ever wanted in a character, very homo).

It'll be interesting to see if people really master making the rekkas safe. Seemed pretty rough when I labbed it.

But yeah, if I play the character on the side i'll definitely refer to this.
 

I GOT HANDS

Official Infrared Scorp wid gapless Wi-Fi pressure
Xstrike is the better ender?!
1 more frame of hit advantage (not usually relevant), better corner carry, and basically between the two, if you can end in either, XStrike will always do more damage. I went with snag with my Rekka BnB's before, because XStrike didnt connect like 99 times out of 100.

I'm trying to see if I can make this F134 x strike ender consistent, but its hard :/ may have to go with yours