Which characters are most difficult to rush down and pressure?

[ogrimtitan]

I really enjoy the way MK11 is doubling down on the "play the damn neutral" meta. It's much preferable (to me) relative to what dominated in MKX. That said, I've still found myself getting a bit frustrated from time to time with hyper-aggro players online. In particular, really aggressive Liu Kangs, Sonyas, Noobs, and members of the Briggs clan seem to get me gripping my controller a bit too tightly in irritation. Given that I don't have all the time in the world to lab matchups, I figured I might make my life a bit easier by scouting the roster. Are there any characters that are particularly difficult/dangerous/frustrating to rush down and pressure right now? I'm thinking kind of like how Birdie in SF5 turns the tables on characters like Cammy and Ibuki by making it dangerous for them to play their usual close-up game against him.

 

[DragonofDadashov24]

Every character in the game is tough to rushdown if they start walking back in the right time
I can’t even name a specific character. Might be Jade or Noob since they are great space control characters. Liu Kang can give you a hard time getting in with his fireballs and dragon kick. Raiden can teleport away from the opponent though his zoning sucks

I really enjoy the way MK11 is doubling down on the "play the damn neutral" meta. It's much preferable (to me) relative to what dominated in MKX. That said, I've still found myself getting a bit frustrated from time to time with hyper-aggro players online. In particular, really aggressive Liu Kangs, Sonyas, Noobs, and members of the Briggs clan seem to get me gripping my controller a bit too tightly in irritation. Given that I don't have all the time in the world to lab matchups, I figured I might make my life a bit easier by scouting the roster. Are there any characters that are particularly difficult/dangerous/frustrating to rush down and pressure right now? I'm thinking kind of like how Birdie in SF5 turns the tables on characters like Cammy and Ibuki by making it dangerous for them to play their usual close-up game against him.

 

[ogrimtitan]

Every character in the game is tough to rushdown if they start walking back in the right time
I can’t even name a specific character. Might be Jade or Noob since they are great space control characters. Liu Kang can give you a hard time getting in with his fireballs and dragon kick. Raiden can teleport away from the opponent though his zoning sucks

I appreciate the thoughtful response, but this isn’t quite what I’m talking about. I don’t mean “who can get out of pressure easily” so much as “who is built to be dangerous to rush down.” That’s why I have the example of Birdie in SF5, because whereas ordinarily, characters like Cammy and Ibuki want to smother you as hard as possible with their offense and you have to be careful not to get clipped, against Birdie THEY are the ones who have to be careful because the way he’s built makes it dangerous for them to be close to him.

 

[LawAbidingCitizen]

Kitana, Cetrion, Jade, Kollector, Scarlet and Noob have great toolsets to keep out or counter zone with Normals to get them away. See who works best for you and your playstyle. I myself am a rushdown/mid-range fighter and use characters with traps and close up tools.

Kotal Kahn is my favorite of the cast but struggles against the Top tiers Toolset but has good range and can play the mid range game and wiff punish staying out of thier range.

 

[DragonofDadashov24]

I appreciate the thoughtful response, but this isn’t quite what I’m talking about. I don’t mean “who can get out of pressure easily” so much as “who is built to be dangerous to rush down.” That’s why I have the example of Birdie in SF5, because whereas ordinarily, characters like Cammy and Ibuki want to smother you as hard as possible with their offense and you have to be careful not to get clipped, against Birdie THEY are the ones who have to be careful because the way he’s built makes it dangerous for them to be close to him.

Oh, I didn’t get it at first
Try Liu Kang

 

[_CHINOCUDEIRO_]

Jade´s B2 is your friend

 

[Elias6999]

If the character you’re up against does not have a teleport, Skarlet is great! If you wanna play the keepaway game, I suggest the variation where you can slow down the blood ball. The tentacle is also an AMAZING tool to end combos and blockstrings, and you’ll find yourself pretty fr away from your opponent if you use Skarlet effectively.

Cetrion also plays the keepaway game well, but fullscreen moves give her a hard time because of her slow startups, so I wouldn’t use her against Jax.

 

[Elias6999]

Jade´s B2 is your friend

I disagree, B2 IMO is a whiff punishing tool, and its too punishable to use regularly, not to mention that it is a high. Using EX air glaive is a better tool for space control. Glow is pretty good though, but you have to use it as a read bc of its startup

 

[GLoRToR]

Every character in the game is tough to rushdown if they start walking back in the right time
I can’t even name a specific character. Might be Jade or Noob since they are great space control characters. Liu Kang can give you a hard time getting in with his fireballs and dragon kick. Raiden can teleport away from the opponent though his zoning sucks

Actually Rushdown is Jade's main weakness, that and teleports. Rushdown characters, once they get in, have a very easy time destroying her especially in the corner because her wakeups, especially the launcher, are t-rex limbs and they can just walk back a bit and then full combo you again then if you don't do the wakeup they can just keep doing it for free.
Jade is hella negative and her only + string is flawless blockable. She also deals no combo damage unless you didn't know about her i28 f2.
People misunderstand Jade currently, but that's because she's easy to beat and nobody needed to lab her yet.
Her strength is spacing against those who can't teleport. Sadly, she has far more weaknesses than strengths in the current meta.

I'd say Liu is the hardest to rush down. He has superior zoning and superior pressure to everyone in the game.

 

[DragonofDadashov24]

Actually Rushdown is Jade's main weakness, that and teleports. Rushdown characters, once they get in, have a very easy time destroying her especially in the corner because her wakeups, especially the launcher, are t-rex limbs and they can just walk back a bit and then full combo you again then if you don't do the wakeup they can just keep doing it for free.
Jade is hella negative and her only + string is flawless blockable. She also deals no combo damage unless you didn't know about her i28 f2.
People misunderstand Jade currently, but that's because she's easy to beat and nobody needed to lab her yet.
Her strength is spacing against those who can't teleport. Sadly, she has far more weaknesses than strengths in the current meta.

I'd say Liu is the hardest to rush down. He has superior zoning and superior pressure to everyone in the game.

So much for the keep away character

 

[GLoRToR]

So much for the keep away character

Hoping for patch next month.

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

I main Jacqui so rushing down and staying in is what my character does best.
N-S is actually not that bad because his normals are assy, once I’m in he’s toast.
Kang is on about even footing with me, I feel like that fight goes to which of us is better.
The hardest character I’ve played against is Cetrion. She has a ton of zoning tools. The boulder pushes back. And then she can passive teleport away. Very hard.

 

[DragonofDadashov24]

I main Jacqui so rushing down and staying in is what my character does best.
N-S is actually not that bad because his normals are assy, once I’m in he’s toast.
Kang is on about even footing with me, I feel like that fight goes to which of us is better.
The hardest character I’ve played against is Cetrion. She has a ton of zoning tools. The boulder pushes back. And then she can passive teleport away. Very hard.

Doesn’t bf2 demolish her zoning? I’ve heard that bitch is very slow

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

So much for the keep away character

Jade is actually really good at playing keep away.

And midscreen her D4 is a great get off of me tool. She does however suffer in the corner.

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

Doesn’t bf2 demolish her zoning? I’ve heard that bitch is very slow

Dash Punch is a high. So Cet just crouches and hits d2.
Basically the Cetrion I play against crouch blocked, and d2ed my dash punch, or jump ins. And if I wasn’t trying to approach she’d start zoning hard. If I started dash blocking in she would far teleport and switch sides. Could be my Jacqui was bad, or that the Cetrion was very good, but I couldn’t touch her.

 

[DragonofDadashov24]

Dash Punch is a high. So Cet just crouches and hits d2.
Basically the Cetrion I play against crouch blocked, and d2ed my dash punch, or jump ins. And if I wasn’t trying to approach she’d start zoning hard. If I started dash blocking in she would far teleport and switch sides. Could be my Jacqui was bad, or that the Cetrion was very good, but I couldn’t touch her.

I mean doing bf2 in the middle of her zoning animation. Her boulder start up is 30 something frames if I’m not wrong

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

I mean doing bf2 in the middle of her zoning animation. Her boulder start up is 30 something frames if I’m not wrong

If the Cetrion is smart they won’t boulder unless full screen. Dash punch is like 3/4 distance.

 

[Corruption100]

yea i was about to say a good cetrion is incredibly hard to rush down if you don't have a teleport or projectile krushing blow. i have found some success against grounded teleport characters using jax ground pound on a read

 

[SaltShaker]

Dash Punch is a high. So Cet just crouches and hits d2.
Basically the Cetrion I play against crouch blocked, and d2ed my dash punch, or jump ins. And if I wasn’t trying to approach she’d start zoning hard. If I started dash blocking in she would far teleport and switch sides. Could be my Jacqui was bad, or that the Cetrion was very good, but I couldn’t touch her.

Sounds like you played me lol.

I mean doing bf2 in the middle of her zoning animation. Her boulder start up is 30 something frames if I’m not wrong

Boulder startup is like 48 frames. It's pretty fraudulent right now (as is Wall) in some MUs but once people learn a bit more it won't be abused as much.

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

Sounds like you played me lol.

Could be. PS4?

 

[SaltShaker]

Could be. PS4?

Yea, if that is your PSN name I think I played you in matchmaking lol.

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

Yea, if that is your PSN name I think I played you in matchmaking lol.

It is my PSN has 7188 at the end of it but it’s the same.

 

[SaltShaker]

It is my PSN has 7188 at the end of it but it’s the same.

Yea it was you. Your Jacqui was good though, but I'm not sure that's a good MU. I was crouching so much at that range because if you Dash Punch I can get the KB on recovery, and then a S2 combo later in the round. So it makes you have to hesitate on using it to get in. There's no air threat so I can D2 jumps on reaction and then just walk balk/jump back at range. Then finalize it with a far away tele when I get too close to the corner. It's still early but that feels like a losing MU. One of the only ones where the character I'm facing is strong but I really don't care what they can do.

For characters without a teleport or a strong counter projectile (the way Sonya can) Cetrion shines the most against.

 

[ZeroSymbolic]

Yea it was you. Your Jacqui was good though, but I'm not sure that's a good MU. I was crouching so much at that range because if you Dash Punch I can get the KB on recovery, and then a S2 combo later in the round. So it makes you have to hesitate on using it to get in. There's no air threat so I can D2 jumps on reaction and then just walk balk/jump back at range. Then finalize it with a far away tele when I get too close to the corner. It's still early but that feels like a losing MU. One of the only ones where the character I'm facing is strong but I really don't care what they can do.

For characters without a teleport or a strong counter projectile (the way Sonya can) Cetrion shines the most against.

I dunno that was like day 2 of my Jacqui, and I’m stronger with her now. I’m still not great though I forget to cancel into clench all the time and I can’t do f2,2. It did feel bad though. I was simply at a loss as to what to do. I can’t remember if O had b2,2 in my arsenal at that time, but even that is unsafe on block. Yeah if you have any idea what I could’ve done I’d like to lab it.

 

[ogrimtitan]

Thanks for all this discussion, guys. It’s good and I really appreciate it. However, I want to reiterate that I’m not looking for good zoners, good keepaway, good runaway, or anything like that. I’m not looking for characters that are difficult to GET close to, I’m looking for characters that are scary to BE close to. I’m looking for a character that makes Sonya or Liu Kang nervous to rush down because they feel anxious being that close. Does that make sense?