Viable?

[Macoomba]

Hello guys, since the MK11 release, I'm still struggling for a main. I would have picked Jacqui for sure, I do love her thai style and the amount of pressure you can make with those looking damn good strings and combos.
BUT, how actually good is she? I mean, she is a beast on close (really close) range, but..then? No projectiles, no teleports, no anti-zoning.. I mean, would you pick her in a tournament? You really need to struggle to get on your opponent and then you can do something that even other characters can do.
Note that I love her and I'm KINDA a newbie too, I'm just looking for a reason to stick with her and learn everything she can do.
(Atm I switched to Geras, and looking for one between Sonya/Cassie/Johnny while I learn all the advanced mechanics for Jacqui)

 

[Simba]

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: I think she's viable but requires a lot of patience and work. She's probably one of the tougher characters to play right now because she kind of has to hold a lot of other character's game full screen and work her way in to play her game. You're right she has no projectiles/teleports/anti-zoning tools but there's more ways around zoning than that. Walking and ducking high projectiles or just walking and blocking. In those zoning matchups you have to accept you will take damage and eat chip damage for positioning. Play patient and try checking them with dash punch. If they start neutral crouching looking for that, take the opportunity to dash to make some ground or start checking with B22 more. When she's in she has good frame data and conditioning with staggers, full strings, and feints to open someone up with damage to boot.

I played a set vs a good Kabal yesterday and while the matchup seems clearly in Kabal's favor and hard for Jacqui I didn't feel like it was outright unwinnable. She has to just deal with air saw and his good buttons. but the only times I got mopped was when I got flustered and impatient. I lost because I didn't make the most of my opportunities after walking him down to the corner when I was in and missed punishes on blocking his mixups correctly. That and blocked D1 walk back B1 was beating my D1 counter poke which I just realized I should just counter poke with F3/D3 instead to stop that. I say all that to say I haven't fought a character where I just outright felt like she had no chance of success in the matchup.

The characters you mentioned do seem to be generally considered better than her right now, but it's early though. I would say try them if you're interested. You might find that they just fit you and how you want to play more.

 

[SaltShaker]

If you switched to Geras, no wonder why you consider Jacqui weak. Who isn't weak compared to that broken dumpster fire design character?

 

[Macoomba]

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: I think she's viable but requires a lot of patience and work. She's probably one of the tougher characters to play right now because she kind of has to hold a lot of other character's game full screen and work her way in to play her game. You're right she has no projectiles/teleports/anti-zoning tools but there's more ways around zoning than that. Walking and ducking high projectiles or just walking and blocking. In those zoning matchups you have to accept you will take damage and eat chip damage for positioning. Play patient and try checking them with dash punch. If they start neutral crouching looking for that, take the opportunity to dash to make some ground or start checking with B22 more. When she's in she has good frame data and conditioning with staggers, full strings, and feints to open someone up with damage to boot.

I played a set vs a good Kabal yesterday and while the matchup seems clearly in Kabal's favor and hard for Jacqui I didn't feel like it was outright unwinnable. She has to just deal with air saw and his good buttons. but the only times I got mopped was when I got flustered and impatient. I lost because I didn't make the most of my opportunities after walking him down to the corner when I was in and missed punishes on blocking his mixups correctly. That and blocked D1 walk back B1 was beating my D1 counter poke which I just realized I should just counter poke with F3/D3 instead to stop that. I say all that to say I haven't fought a character where I just outright felt like she had no chance of success in the matchup.

The characters you mentioned do seem to be generally considered better than her right now, but it's early though. I would say try them if you're interested. You might find that they just fit you and how you want to play more.

Ty so much you are so exhaustive! Well yes, I think I'll stick to another one and I'll come back on Jacqui when I have more experience. Which one would you suggest between Sonya, Cassie and Johnny? Do you have pros and cons for them?

If you switched to Geras, no wonder why you consider Jacqui weak. Who isn't weak compared to that broken dumpster fire design character?

Erron, Jax, Noob and other ones

 

[xSkeletonSmasherx69]

She has some great damage and I think her krushing blows are ok for the most part. Having the option to cancel all strings into the superman punch (if they jail) is cool. Her block strings and pressure are really good too. However, I am convinced her uppercut sucks the range is so pathetic. Having no projectile sucks. Her F22 string needs less strict timing on the input. Honestly, that makes me more angry than the towers of time. I wish she had moves that used her cool looking fists. In the default intro she throws those 3 punches that look dope and then I only do 2 moves that include it. She is totally viable though.

 

[DivineImpalerX]

She has some great mid attacks (her Playstyle seems to be more like Johnny - bait attacks and whiff punish) with custom loadouts she could be crazy her ranked variations are decent (her next gen variation seems underated imo).

So yeah she is viable

 

[Tony at Home]

More than viable. Although it's early she (1st round ko variation) should absolutely be in the discussion for being one of the stronger characters in the game.

A ton of characters in this game have easy "fuck zoning" moves but that only obscures how easy it is to close distance just by walking in. You take some chip, whatever, Jacqui doesn't really suffer all that much from it.

I feel her tougher matchups are the "footsie" characters like Johnny which can take advantage of her stubby range and have similarly good frame advantage (being outranged by Scorpion for example isn't really similarly as bad)

 

[Macoomba]

Thank you for all your info guys! In the end, do you think I should stick with her or train with somebody else for Now?

 

[DivineImpalerX]

Thank you for all your info guys! In the end, do you think I should stick with her or train with somebody else for Now?

Her only Downside is that she has zero Style (Personal Opinion ofc) but it`s a good Character to learn Footsie (bait enemy to attack when you cancel your stuff and dash back into a fast mid counter etc)

 

[Macoomba]

Her only Downside is that she has zero Style (Personal Opinion ofc) but it`s a good Character to learn Footsie (bait enemy to attack when you cancel your stuff and dash back into a fast mid counter etc)

this just makes me thing again about her difficulty i think i'll start with sonya then, and then ill get back on jacqui!

 

[Brown Cow 54]

Her only Downside is that she has zero Style (Personal Opinion ofc) but it`s a good Character to learn Footsie (bait enemy to attack when you cancel your stuff and dash back into a fast mid counter etc)

Your opinion is wrong. Jacqui got style for days. To the op I would stick with the character you love and want to play. It will make it more fun and you will get much more satisfaction from winning with her. Plus we’re 1 week in and I’m sure Jacqui still has more stuff to discover. It will also help you just learn to deal with zoning overall instead of looking for an easy way out.

 

[colby4898]

You said you’re a newbie. So I’m assuming you’re not going to be competing?

If so who cares how viable they are. You said your having a lot of fun with her and that’s all that’s important.

 

[Marlow]

If so who cares how viable they are. You said your having a lot of fun with her and that’s all that’s important.

Amen.

 

[Macoomba]

Your opinion is wrong. Jacqui got style for days. To the op I would stick with the character you love and want to play. It will make it more fun and you will get much more satisfaction from winning with her. Plus we’re 1 week in and I’m sure Jacqui still has more stuff to discover. It will also help you just learn to deal with zoning overall instead of looking for an easy way out.

I totally agree, she got a ton of style with her thai stuff. I also think that dealing with a not easy character, make you learn faster because you have to master all the foundamentals. Am I wrong?

You said you’re a newbie. So I’m assuming you’re not going to be competing?

If so who cares how viable they are. You said your having a lot of fun with her and that’s all that’s important.

Yeah, not thinking about tournaments FOR NOW. But they are totally the objective So first I want to learn properly the game, then I'll focus on rankeds and competitive.