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Who are the top tier characters? Podcast Discussion.

Which one of these characters is mostly likely top 5?


  • Total voters
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Now that F1,2,B2 jails on most of the kast I think Kano is in the running.

+2 off a staggerable advancing mid string with no gaps that leaves you point blank? Whew lads. It's so oppressive. It's the best plus frames in the game.

Everything else is +1 or starts with a high or has a gap or pushes the opponent back a significant amount.
 
Kotal has literally everything.
...except for the most important thing, a mid combo starter that isn't 19 frames.

Also his d1 is 8 frames (frame data says 7f, but it only hits beyond his crotch on the 2nd active frame).

Probably the best cmd grab in the game
Kollector's is 10f on start-up and also hits mid.

Kotal is a great character, but does have actual weaknesses. He cannot really hang in the same tier with Jacqui and Liu. Unless they let him set up a dmg totem stack repeatedly.
 

Agilaz

It has begun
...except for the most important thing, a mid combo starter that isn't 19 frames.

Also his d1 is 8 frames (frame data says 7f, but it only hits beyond his crotch on the 2nd active frame).


Kollector's is 10f on start-up and also hits mid.

Kotal is a great character, but does have actual weaknesses. He cannot really hang in the same tier with Jacqui and Liu. Unless they let him set up a dmg totem stack repeatedly.
You wanna argue Kotal can't stand up there because he lacks a fast mid, even after considering everything else he DOES have? By that logic, you can say the same for Liu because he's kinda the opposite; really good combo starting mids but very little range in comparison. And I'm not about to argue Liu isn't top tier lol.

Kollector's might be a few frames faster but IIRC he can't amp or switch sides with it. And a minor note, but Kollector's has the traditional dbf inputs, vs Kotal's easier db input. It's like the least relevant advantage but an advantage nonetheless.

I think Kotal was okay pre-Ultimate, but now he's just stupid. I'm not seeing any overt weakness - his d1 is probably the closest thing but he doesn't need to play at that range most of the time to begin with
 
I liked Reo's point on it not mattering that characters aren't always the same. MK not being a legacy game has always been a highlight for me.

Instead of walking into a new MK game looking for a certain type of meta I want to play, I look for my favorite characters and play them however they're built in that entry.

It gets me out of my comfort zone and has me trying out different styles of gameplay that I normally wouldn't explore.

(Though that's now mostly out the window with kustoms and being able to make everyone a paste gobbling, drooling grappler just as I always wanted)
 
You wanna argue Kotal can't stand up there because he lacks a fast mid, even after considering everything else he DOES have?
Yes, that's how big of a deal fast mids are.

That said, I do think Kotal kustoms make him silly. He's just right behind the top, not at the top.
 

Blewdew

PSN: MaxKayX3
Now that F1,2,B2 jails on most of the kast I think Kano is in the running.

+2 off a staggerable advancing mid string with no gaps that leaves you point blank? Whew lads. It's so oppressive. It's the best plus frames in the game.

Everything else is +1 or starts with a high or has a gap or pushes the opponent back a significant amount.
For real, people haven‘t realized yet how strong Kano got. The adjustment to his f1 string and the ability to put acid and command grab in one Variation make him a fucking nightmare to deal with. you basically have to guess every single time you block his f1 string because he has millions of options to follow up now.
 
A lot of the current Kano upplay is because people are just letting him end everything in acid and not punishing that. So while he's better, I'm going to wait a while for people to learn anything about the match-up.
 

Blewdew

PSN: MaxKayX3
A lot of the current Kano upplay is because people are just letting him end everything in acid and not punishing that. So while he's better, I'm going to wait a while for people to learn anything about the match-up.
The only way to punish acid is by walking back after d1 midscreen or flawless block acid which both get blown up if the Kano player decides to command grab instead, same goes for his 11 tick throw/acid, those are just straight 50/50‘s. In the corner you can‘t outwalk acid so you have to flawless block it while Kano still has a lot of safe or plus on block options. But I‘m sure you can consistently punish everything he does since you know the matchup that good apparently
 
I don't see how it's that big of a deal. Yeah, you may not like your favorite character's new play style now because they don't play like the last MK game they were in. But there's a ton of players like me who find a new character's play style very fun which garners new interest. Think of all the other players who wouldn't be interested in the character if their game plan and play style stayed the same.

Example is I didn't care or have any interest in characters like Baraka, Rain, D'Vorah, etc. in the last MK games they were in. In MK11 I find these characters very fun because they're so different and are now interesting to me because their play styles have changed.

Do we really expect Sub-Zero to play hide and seek behind clones every single time they announce him for an MK game? I think it's cool that a character like Nightwolf can become a command grab character all of a sudden or a character like Sheeva can become a power zoner all of a sudden
Nah reo. Even in other games characters stay mostly the same across games with subtle or very few major changes. I expect scorpion to teleport launch and spear everytime with some subtle changes. Unfortunately spending meter on spear to stun is a change I don't like. Sure some characters came with new changes for the better but well established staple gameplans shouldn't get major shakeups