MadeOfMetal
Kenshi Srubtastic,Cyrax, Special Forces Mains
I am astounded at how many players online do not know when its there turn. I constantly here others complain why did my move not come out when it was clearly the other players advantage. So i am making this not for Educated and Veteran players but the less Educated Online Warriors that do not understand it. if you happen to understand how Frame Data works then disregard this altogether.
My goal here is to Educate those who need it and hopefully make players better online, and make a tiny bit less to complain about, its really filling up my Mailbox.
Ok Frame Data work's this way in Mortal Kombat XL:
There is Startup, Active, Recovery, On Block Advantage, On hit Advantage, and Cancel.
To understand what turn it is and if after using a move its your turn or your opponenets you need to understand how the Frame Data works and what it means.
I will do my best to Explain and will explain it in the easiest way to Relate as possible and give multiple examples so all can understand.
Startup Active and Recovery can be explained through a couple examples. one example could be a Boxer:
He has to be in a stance ready to put all his wieght into his Power punch, this in MKXL is called Neutral State or Zero/0 frame advantage, meaning Both players have the same advantage and nboth can do all moves in list without Delay.
Negative Frames make the person using the move stuck till those frames are over, meanwhile the opponent can Punish them while they are stuck.
Positive Frames make the person have advantage over opponent that used the move/special.
Ok now on to understanding Startup, Active and Recovery.
Startup,Active and Recovery is like Using a YO-YO and trying to Walk the Dog trick,
On hit Advantage and On Block Advantage:
Same as Startup and Recovery Hit/block advantage is very similar.
When you hit the opponent on block or on Hit(connect the move without them blocking) there is either bad advantage not in your favor or Good advantage in your favor.
The way we see it on game is:
Negative numbers: they look like this: -14/-10/-8
and Positive numbers. they look like this : 1/4/2
and there is Zero on block meaning both are at same advantage and noone has priority: 0 on block/hit
What are Safe Moves:
Well some moves are whats called Safe generally when thinking about a move thats Safe on block we think of -7 or below because on MKX most characters can not punish this and have no starters that can hit you that fast so any move -7 on block is generally safe.
What are Negative moves and why is it not my turn?
well lets say i throw out Kenshi's BF3(teleFlurry) while opponent Blocks it, it is -9 and lets say there is no Pushback on this move just for educational purposes.
its -9 that means i have to wait for 9 frames to do anything even block. that means my opponent can Hit me with any move that Starts up faster than 9 frames like an 8 frame move or a 7 frame move since it takes 1 frame to block if crouching. generally any high starter in this game averages 7-8 frames startup with some unlucky ones that are slower because they have better tools to compensate.
So the opponent will use lets say Mileena's 21 the (2) starts up in 7 frames and will hit before the Kenshi can block until the 9 frames are up, so Mileena punishes, and that's why Kenshi can not hit her again. It's not because the game messed it up, its because the game is working properly. And 99.999% of the time you try to do a move and it does not come out this is the Reason.
You do not know your characters Frame data or your opponents characters frame data.
What are Positive moves for my opponent and why is it not my Turn?
OK lets say i use Kenshi again and D4 you and hit you because you did not block or are currently doing a high move and my Low profiling Low D4 will duck under the High move you do with Mileena Like Standing 2 and i will hit you. It says in game that I am at an advantage of 23 Frames, In the Data there is a box in Lower Middle on right side of Move list when i look at D4 move also known as Down+B on Xbox or Down + Circle on PS4. Tanks @Tanno
Here you can see Kenshi's advantage on Hit is +23.
His disadvantage on Block is -2, and that means if they block it, Kenshi has to block right after doing it or he is at risk of getting beat out by a fast normal, because he is 2 frames behind opponent is.
Since I'm at 23 frame advantage with D4 i can follow with any move that reaches in time and is Faster that 23 frames of Startup. So lets say I'm using Balanced which i do. I would use F211 which is a Mid that starts up at 16 frames and can not be low profiled, and how i find this out is i look at Basic moves to find the first button in the Normal combo starter. Because the Move in Combo's list that says F211 is only giving data on the Last hit in that move the second 1.
How to find this for yourself and read it:
This is the startup of the first hit of 421 in Kenshi balanced moves list and Frame Data: the first hit is always the startup of any move and you have to look in Basic section to see it, not Kombos!
Kenshis move 42, and how to read it in the Moves list:
Whe it shows the data on a Kombo its talking about the last move that coms out, not the first.
Here is what it looks like an how to prove this to yourself:
The move 42 is only talking about the last hit and its data 4(2) you can prove this to yourself by looking at the block damage and setting AI in practice to block and you will find it all matches up.
Same thing with the 421: check how much damage each hit does on block and you will find, it matchs up with the last hit displayed every time.
The reason there is no gap in some moves is because there is block-stun/hit-stun on moves with no gap, each move/kombo shows the last hit of each move in the Kombo Section. And the Startup is referring to each last hit of each move. So 4 from the move (421) is 11 frames of startup, then however long after, the 2 from (421) is 17 frames of startup and the 1 from (421) is 19 frames startup after each hit.
now some moves have a gap in them and that's because there is less Block-stun/Hit-stun in that move between hits.
Anyways i Connect with opponent before they can do anything. since the Stagger From D4 is kinda long, you might not connect both moves together that links into a combo because 16 Frames goes by quicker than you think, a Single Frame is 1 60th of a second. 16 frames is 16th/60 of a second. and so on.
So a better example would be a move that i can Cut off some of the Recovery of the Move D4 but since Kenshi does not have this type of cancel we will have to move on to Scorpion, normally a move has to go through the Recovery Phase.
And then you can use a move again.
Well not when you Run Cancel into another move it cuts off the Recovery time. And Leaves you at Positive Frames so you can connect strings together in a combo or make them Jail into another.
Like Scorpions Hellfire: B12 xx DB1 Run Cancel into B12 or 21 or throw on Hit.
That makes the B12 lose almost all its Recovery and makes Scorpion Come out positive and that's why some characters can take multiple turns at least it seems that way, but its actually there turn according to Math and Physics and the Game.
This is not cheap and nothing new, MK9 had this, and many on MKXL have it, Raiden kinda has it, Liu Kang, Jax, Jacqui, D'Vorah, Johnny, and Erron Black. maybe a few others.
Counter Poking and why its important and why MIDS are so crucial!
ok counter poking is when player a Pokes you with a D1/D3/D4 and you Block it and Send one of the same ones right back, hoping they don't expect it and miss the block.
Why is Poking important and why are Mid's crucial?
Well a Mid is generally with the top characters on average of 10 frames of startup. And whats important about them is they stuff Low profiling moves like Pokes and Sweeps(tripguard) and staggers like D4 or Mileenas F4.
Player A pokes me and I counter poke back. He does not block and i hit, then i follow with a Mid because i have advantage from hit, this way when he/she tries to poke to get that advantage back that i showed earlier with Kenshi's D4. he can not Low profile me and take advantage, see if i used my fastes move A high 7 frame starter, he could poke on my turn and get advantage back.
Well not with a Mid, i win and combo.
Are all Pokes easy to Counter?
NO certain pokes are -1/-3 on block and sadly those are harder to counter than most. example Reptile D3, Jason D1, or Quans D3, or Mileenas D3.
The reason this is the case is 5 frames is faster than you think it is.
We usually are capable of pressing a button within 7 frames of seeing something. Well at least on Pure Reaction, you can punish those moves however if you know they are coming sometimes.
-1 (Jason D1)/(Quan D3) is harder to counter poke than -3 (Reptile -3) for example.
In Jason's case certain characters have no respose for it since they would have to use an 8 frame normal to counter. and that is not gonna happen cuz some characters sadly do not have that fast of moves. Bo rai Cho being one, Liu Kang is a good example.
But an Example of an easy on reaction Move to Counter poke is -5/-7 on block Poke.
Cancel's and do those Run Cancel characters get there turn forever?
The answer is NO, First off There is few Cancel moves that work only with Highs(which can be Low Profiled), but some have them with mids, like Johnny and D'Vorah. But does this mean they can always make it there turn?
Simply put NO. There are gaps built into Johnny Cages A-List Variation and in D'Vorahs, for example if Johnny wan'ts to do F3 into another F3 into another F3 it stopps there, The reason behind this is Stamina, a very good mechanic added to this game, it regulates people using Run Cancels and Limits how much they can do it. After it goes Below Half, there is a Cool down Period that cuts off there turn. Then we have Johnny which when he does OH that is known as his F24 there is a Gap that allows you to Armor.
but lets focus on Universal Mechanics that Limit Cancel Pressure.
So when a player Cancels on you , you always have at least two options no matter what character you use to stop it. one happend's naturally and the other cost 2 of your bars.
How to learn how to Defend against the entire cast and how to Practice Effectively
In Conclusion Study all the Frame Data until you understand it fully!
This is very important in Fighting games, and with MKX it is absolutely crucial that you know the Frame Data and how to read it as well as basic fundamentals like Cancel Pressure and how it works, Characters Gaps in strings, What moves Wiff, Footsies(what move reaches ferthest in the matchup both characters. It is also important to understand what moves to use and how to Hit confirm, one of my biggest problems with cyrax or any character is that i sometimes Link Net without hit confirm because its hard on some strings to Hit Confirm, meaning i should see while its happening if i Connect or it gets blocked, and if its block i ashould on reaction link DB1 which is -8 and has pushback his Buzzsaw normal. and if my string connects i should either use Bf1(net) or DB1 + BLK(EX Buzzsaw) which both start combo. Meter management is very important for certain characters like Cyrax which struggles alot with it. and how about Kano CT. nobody talks about this, but yes he has mad pressure only when he has Meter, he can use either EX Roll or Power up to Cut off recovery of his normal be Plus 15 ish and use anothe rmove like go from OH to LOW. but if he does not Meter manage well or gets blocked he is pretty much fucked against certain characters who do not rely on Meter as much, Like Mileena and Johnny cage can play without meter and can really fuck him over when he is out of it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this Helps you better understand the Game and why its your turn and when its not your turn and you can properly read the Frame Data. Happy games and Happy learning.
if others want i can possibly add Picturs later when i have more time.
@Tanno and @Apex Kano what do you think?
My goal here is to Educate those who need it and hopefully make players better online, and make a tiny bit less to complain about, its really filling up my Mailbox.
Ok Frame Data work's this way in Mortal Kombat XL:
There is Startup, Active, Recovery, On Block Advantage, On hit Advantage, and Cancel.
To understand what turn it is and if after using a move its your turn or your opponenets you need to understand how the Frame Data works and what it means.
I will do my best to Explain and will explain it in the easiest way to Relate as possible and give multiple examples so all can understand.
Startup Active and Recovery can be explained through a couple examples. one example could be a Boxer:
He has to be in a stance ready to put all his wieght into his Power punch, this in MKXL is called Neutral State or Zero/0 frame advantage, meaning Both players have the same advantage and nboth can do all moves in list without Delay.
Negative Frames make the person using the move stuck till those frames are over, meanwhile the opponent can Punish them while they are stuck.
Positive Frames make the person have advantage over opponent that used the move/special.
Ok now on to understanding Startup, Active and Recovery.
- Startup is like when a boxer starts to throw his punch at your face,
- Active is the time that his punch Connects with your Jaw, and
- Recovery is the time it takes for him to pull back the punch and get back into position to throw another Power puch, since he can't just throw it while its still out there. thats impossible!
Startup,Active and Recovery is like Using a YO-YO and trying to Walk the Dog trick,
- the Startup is when you spin it down towards the ground,
- Active is when the YO-YO touches and Moves on ground,
- and Recovery is when the Yo-Yo starts comming back all the way till its back up, and you can't do it again until it fully wounds back up right.
On hit Advantage and On Block Advantage:
Same as Startup and Recovery Hit/block advantage is very similar.
When you hit the opponent on block or on Hit(connect the move without them blocking) there is either bad advantage not in your favor or Good advantage in your favor.
The way we see it on game is:
Negative numbers: they look like this: -14/-10/-8
and Positive numbers. they look like this : 1/4/2
and there is Zero on block meaning both are at same advantage and noone has priority: 0 on block/hit
What are Safe Moves:
Well some moves are whats called Safe generally when thinking about a move thats Safe on block we think of -7 or below because on MKX most characters can not punish this and have no starters that can hit you that fast so any move -7 on block is generally safe.
What are Negative moves and why is it not my turn?
well lets say i throw out Kenshi's BF3(teleFlurry) while opponent Blocks it, it is -9 and lets say there is no Pushback on this move just for educational purposes.
its -9 that means i have to wait for 9 frames to do anything even block. that means my opponent can Hit me with any move that Starts up faster than 9 frames like an 8 frame move or a 7 frame move since it takes 1 frame to block if crouching. generally any high starter in this game averages 7-8 frames startup with some unlucky ones that are slower because they have better tools to compensate.
So the opponent will use lets say Mileena's 21 the (2) starts up in 7 frames and will hit before the Kenshi can block until the 9 frames are up, so Mileena punishes, and that's why Kenshi can not hit her again. It's not because the game messed it up, its because the game is working properly. And 99.999% of the time you try to do a move and it does not come out this is the Reason.
You do not know your characters Frame data or your opponents characters frame data.
What are Positive moves for my opponent and why is it not my Turn?
OK lets say i use Kenshi again and D4 you and hit you because you did not block or are currently doing a high move and my Low profiling Low D4 will duck under the High move you do with Mileena Like Standing 2 and i will hit you. It says in game that I am at an advantage of 23 Frames, In the Data there is a box in Lower Middle on right side of Move list when i look at D4 move also known as Down+B on Xbox or Down + Circle on PS4. Tanks @Tanno
Here you can see Kenshi's advantage on Hit is +23.
His disadvantage on Block is -2, and that means if they block it, Kenshi has to block right after doing it or he is at risk of getting beat out by a fast normal, because he is 2 frames behind opponent is.
Since I'm at 23 frame advantage with D4 i can follow with any move that reaches in time and is Faster that 23 frames of Startup. So lets say I'm using Balanced which i do. I would use F211 which is a Mid that starts up at 16 frames and can not be low profiled, and how i find this out is i look at Basic moves to find the first button in the Normal combo starter. Because the Move in Combo's list that says F211 is only giving data on the Last hit in that move the second 1.
How to find this for yourself and read it:
This is the startup of the first hit of 421 in Kenshi balanced moves list and Frame Data: the first hit is always the startup of any move and you have to look in Basic section to see it, not Kombos!
Kenshis move 42, and how to read it in the Moves list:
Whe it shows the data on a Kombo its talking about the last move that coms out, not the first.
Here is what it looks like an how to prove this to yourself:
The move 42 is only talking about the last hit and its data 4(2) you can prove this to yourself by looking at the block damage and setting AI in practice to block and you will find it all matches up.
Same thing with the 421: check how much damage each hit does on block and you will find, it matchs up with the last hit displayed every time.
The reason there is no gap in some moves is because there is block-stun/hit-stun on moves with no gap, each move/kombo shows the last hit of each move in the Kombo Section. And the Startup is referring to each last hit of each move. So 4 from the move (421) is 11 frames of startup, then however long after, the 2 from (421) is 17 frames of startup and the 1 from (421) is 19 frames startup after each hit.
now some moves have a gap in them and that's because there is less Block-stun/Hit-stun in that move between hits.
Anyways i Connect with opponent before they can do anything. since the Stagger From D4 is kinda long, you might not connect both moves together that links into a combo because 16 Frames goes by quicker than you think, a Single Frame is 1 60th of a second. 16 frames is 16th/60 of a second. and so on.
So a better example would be a move that i can Cut off some of the Recovery of the Move D4 but since Kenshi does not have this type of cancel we will have to move on to Scorpion, normally a move has to go through the Recovery Phase.
And then you can use a move again.
Well not when you Run Cancel into another move it cuts off the Recovery time. And Leaves you at Positive Frames so you can connect strings together in a combo or make them Jail into another.
Like Scorpions Hellfire: B12 xx DB1 Run Cancel into B12 or 21 or throw on Hit.
That makes the B12 lose almost all its Recovery and makes Scorpion Come out positive and that's why some characters can take multiple turns at least it seems that way, but its actually there turn according to Math and Physics and the Game.
This is not cheap and nothing new, MK9 had this, and many on MKXL have it, Raiden kinda has it, Liu Kang, Jax, Jacqui, D'Vorah, Johnny, and Erron Black. maybe a few others.
Counter Poking and why its important and why MIDS are so crucial!
ok counter poking is when player a Pokes you with a D1/D3/D4 and you Block it and Send one of the same ones right back, hoping they don't expect it and miss the block.
Why is Poking important and why are Mid's crucial?
Well a Mid is generally with the top characters on average of 10 frames of startup. And whats important about them is they stuff Low profiling moves like Pokes and Sweeps(tripguard) and staggers like D4 or Mileenas F4.
Player A pokes me and I counter poke back. He does not block and i hit, then i follow with a Mid because i have advantage from hit, this way when he/she tries to poke to get that advantage back that i showed earlier with Kenshi's D4. he can not Low profile me and take advantage, see if i used my fastes move A high 7 frame starter, he could poke on my turn and get advantage back.
Well not with a Mid, i win and combo.
Are all Pokes easy to Counter?
NO certain pokes are -1/-3 on block and sadly those are harder to counter than most. example Reptile D3, Jason D1, or Quans D3, or Mileenas D3.
The reason this is the case is 5 frames is faster than you think it is.
We usually are capable of pressing a button within 7 frames of seeing something. Well at least on Pure Reaction, you can punish those moves however if you know they are coming sometimes.
-1 (Jason D1)/(Quan D3) is harder to counter poke than -3 (Reptile -3) for example.
In Jason's case certain characters have no respose for it since they would have to use an 8 frame normal to counter. and that is not gonna happen cuz some characters sadly do not have that fast of moves. Bo rai Cho being one, Liu Kang is a good example.
But an Example of an easy on reaction Move to Counter poke is -5/-7 on block Poke.
Cancel's and do those Run Cancel characters get there turn forever?
The answer is NO, First off There is few Cancel moves that work only with Highs(which can be Low Profiled), but some have them with mids, like Johnny and D'Vorah. But does this mean they can always make it there turn?
Simply put NO. There are gaps built into Johnny Cages A-List Variation and in D'Vorahs, for example if Johnny wan'ts to do F3 into another F3 into another F3 it stopps there, The reason behind this is Stamina, a very good mechanic added to this game, it regulates people using Run Cancels and Limits how much they can do it. After it goes Below Half, there is a Cool down Period that cuts off there turn. Then we have Johnny which when he does OH that is known as his F24 there is a Gap that allows you to Armor.
but lets focus on Universal Mechanics that Limit Cancel Pressure.
- Stamina
- Gap's you can armor them.
- Block Breaker
So when a player Cancels on you , you always have at least two options no matter what character you use to stop it. one happend's naturally and the other cost 2 of your bars.
How to learn how to Defend against the entire cast and how to Practice Effectively
You have problem's remembering every move in the game, how negative or positive it is for every character and feel you don't have super memory?
In Conclusion Study all the Frame Data until you understand it fully!
This is very important in Fighting games, and with MKX it is absolutely crucial that you know the Frame Data and how to read it as well as basic fundamentals like Cancel Pressure and how it works, Characters Gaps in strings, What moves Wiff, Footsies(what move reaches ferthest in the matchup both characters. It is also important to understand what moves to use and how to Hit confirm, one of my biggest problems with cyrax or any character is that i sometimes Link Net without hit confirm because its hard on some strings to Hit Confirm, meaning i should see while its happening if i Connect or it gets blocked, and if its block i ashould on reaction link DB1 which is -8 and has pushback his Buzzsaw normal. and if my string connects i should either use Bf1(net) or DB1 + BLK(EX Buzzsaw) which both start combo. Meter management is very important for certain characters like Cyrax which struggles alot with it. and how about Kano CT. nobody talks about this, but yes he has mad pressure only when he has Meter, he can use either EX Roll or Power up to Cut off recovery of his normal be Plus 15 ish and use anothe rmove like go from OH to LOW. but if he does not Meter manage well or gets blocked he is pretty much fucked against certain characters who do not rely on Meter as much, Like Mileena and Johnny cage can play without meter and can really fuck him over when he is out of it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this Helps you better understand the Game and why its your turn and when its not your turn and you can properly read the Frame Data. Happy games and Happy learning.
if others want i can possibly add Picturs later when i have more time.
@Tanno and @Apex Kano what do you think?
