CrazyFingers
The Power of Lame Compels You
Hello everyone! CrazyFingers here and I am going to go over a few things about Killer vs Butcher as far as which is better. By the title you can probably tell my opinion on this but let me explain. Now, anyone who has talked about Leatherface and where he is in the game has either heard or stated "Killer is the best variation" and "Butcher is the worst variation" however, it might actually be the other way around. You see I've realized that what Killer has vs what Butcher has is fairly skewed by a couple things that aren't AS good as people make them out to be. These tools that Killer has are definitely good, but the gameplan has more holes in it. I'll give an example.
EXAMPLE
Let's say you are playing a character with decent buttons like Jason or Kotal and your opponent picks Killer Leatherface. Now depending on your experience with this matchup, you are thinking one of two things "This is going to be tough" or "I have D1". That second thought is the correct one. Killer Leatherface definitely has ways to get your respect, D3 checks and Berserker Stance 1 as your mid. However, you aren't going to get your pressure going by just doing those two things, you need to use your good strings which are all highs which means low pokes make his game harder. He's not like Tremor where his knockdown game is godlike and that balances out his lack of mids. Killer's gameplan hinges on respect, something that is so damn hard for Killer to do. He has barely any plus frames on block and if he does, they can be low poked. Now keep in mind this does not take away from his strengths. He has some of the best non-zoning space control in the game, he has a very good punish in F1 and very good mind games with Berserker Stance. However, his gameplan hinges on if your opponent decides to fall into the black hole that is Berserker stance. If they do not understand what it does or simply when to do things, they are going to get blown up by everything you do and he looks like a god tier character, but this isn't the case in all reality. Now, let's take this same scenario, your low pokes are of the caliber of Jason and Kotal and instead you are up against Butcher. If the player behind this character knows the character, Butcher commands respect with his arsenal. He has a usable overhead and a usable low. His D3 doesn't simply lead into another D3 or a F1 that can be disrespected with a simple D1. Butcher can go for more in that situation. His ability to actually open you up with relative ease is so huge for the character. The 50/50 style isn't the only strong one, but this IS the case if you have no mid, you cannot play a pure neutral stagger string game without a mid, because it is too easily disrespected. Take for example Kotal Kahn. This character lives eats and breathes stagger, it is show in all his variations and is one of the main tools he uses to open people up aside from War God. Why can he do this? Because B1 demands your respect, it's a mid and you can't mash low pokes out of it. Now granted, a person mashing D1 out of pressure doesn't make characters bad, but it can certainly make them not optimal.
Now let's look at another character who lacks great mids but is still a formidable fighter, Predator. Predator is able to put you in a blender and make sure your never get out. How can he do this though? How does he get respect without that vital mid. Well you see, he doesn't play a stagger game, he plays one of two games. Plus frames into mixups, or just outright one touch kill. He doesn't need the mid, because of his plethora of plus frames in HQT or his ability to end the game by hitting you with a trap once in hunter. His gameplane does not revolve around staggers therefor he doesn't need that mid, which is why Warrior struggles so much because in the neutral he CLEARLY wants to stagger into BF1 but he can't because his mids are abysmal and he can only get going in the corner, which he has a problem getting to. However, not having a mid does not kill the stagger playstyle, enter my next example.
Erron Black is an anomaly. He has one of the best strings in the game with 21122. It does so much but it's a high. He is very good at the stagger style of play with things like S11 and of course, S21122. However he is known for his lack of really good mids. How does he do so well then? He certainly isn't a weak character, Outlaw having some of the best space control and pressure we've seen. How can he play the stagger game while also not having a solid mid? It's because he doesn't put all of his eggs in one basket. He is not a pure stagger pressure character like Blood God or Jason. He has the plus frames that HQT has (not quite as high but still has them) and he has 50/50's. The 50/50's allow him to gain respect much quicker than if he did not have them, and this is where Butcher comes in.
Butcher is very similar to Killer in the fact that he has strong staggers and good space control (less good space control than Killer but still fairly effective at it) And yet I have stated that he has no good mids but at the same time COMMANDS respect. Why is that? The answer is quite a typical Mortal Kombat player's answer but that doesn't make it any less true. He has the mix. Again, Killer not having the mix doesn't make him bad, hell him not having a mid doesn't make him bad, I actually think Killer is quite good. However, Killer's effort hurts him quite a bit. You have to try for so much of the game to gain the respect of the opponent before he can start actually applying pressure. The more time you have to take for the opponent to respect you, the more the opponent is not respecting you and the more they're applying their own pressure. With Butcher, it's different. With Butcher it takes on D3 and a F2 to get the opponent to start respecting you. After they get hit with a mixup into a restand into another mixup is when they start getting scared, and this happens almost immediately with Butcher. Additionally, he has plus frames everywhere. S22 is plus, S22 into DF2 is plus and is a 50/50 with S22D2. DF2 as mentioned before, is plus and turns every block string into a 50/50 with DF2 being an Overhead and BF3 being a low. Granted, any string besides S22 into DF2 has a gap but this will not be abused 100% of the time because of the next bit, which is the fact that on top of all these tools you get instead of the range from Killer, you also still have your BEST staggers in S1 and F1. And when you gain respect instantly via the aspect of 50/50's, your highs are less likely to be poked out of and therefor, your stagger become that much better. Add to all of this craziness the fact that meterlessly you are getting 35% MINIMUM and that 35% is going into restands into pressure and you have a character that honestly, sounds like one of the most ridiculous characters in the game.
Butcher is HIGHLY underrated, even by me for the longest time. People talk about how the Kotals and the Jasons will be top tier after the patch...me? I'm waiting to see what monster they create if they buff Leatherface too much. If he's given a fast mid, he is by far top 3 after the nerfs to the current top tier, no doubt in my mind. So watch out for this monster after patch because when that comes...you will be mixed/staggered into oblivion by The Cannibal Hillbilly himself. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Am I crazy? Or am I just correct? Love to hear your opinions!
EXAMPLE
Let's say you are playing a character with decent buttons like Jason or Kotal and your opponent picks Killer Leatherface. Now depending on your experience with this matchup, you are thinking one of two things "This is going to be tough" or "I have D1". That second thought is the correct one. Killer Leatherface definitely has ways to get your respect, D3 checks and Berserker Stance 1 as your mid. However, you aren't going to get your pressure going by just doing those two things, you need to use your good strings which are all highs which means low pokes make his game harder. He's not like Tremor where his knockdown game is godlike and that balances out his lack of mids. Killer's gameplan hinges on respect, something that is so damn hard for Killer to do. He has barely any plus frames on block and if he does, they can be low poked. Now keep in mind this does not take away from his strengths. He has some of the best non-zoning space control in the game, he has a very good punish in F1 and very good mind games with Berserker Stance. However, his gameplan hinges on if your opponent decides to fall into the black hole that is Berserker stance. If they do not understand what it does or simply when to do things, they are going to get blown up by everything you do and he looks like a god tier character, but this isn't the case in all reality. Now, let's take this same scenario, your low pokes are of the caliber of Jason and Kotal and instead you are up against Butcher. If the player behind this character knows the character, Butcher commands respect with his arsenal. He has a usable overhead and a usable low. His D3 doesn't simply lead into another D3 or a F1 that can be disrespected with a simple D1. Butcher can go for more in that situation. His ability to actually open you up with relative ease is so huge for the character. The 50/50 style isn't the only strong one, but this IS the case if you have no mid, you cannot play a pure neutral stagger string game without a mid, because it is too easily disrespected. Take for example Kotal Kahn. This character lives eats and breathes stagger, it is show in all his variations and is one of the main tools he uses to open people up aside from War God. Why can he do this? Because B1 demands your respect, it's a mid and you can't mash low pokes out of it. Now granted, a person mashing D1 out of pressure doesn't make characters bad, but it can certainly make them not optimal.
Now let's look at another character who lacks great mids but is still a formidable fighter, Predator. Predator is able to put you in a blender and make sure your never get out. How can he do this though? How does he get respect without that vital mid. Well you see, he doesn't play a stagger game, he plays one of two games. Plus frames into mixups, or just outright one touch kill. He doesn't need the mid, because of his plethora of plus frames in HQT or his ability to end the game by hitting you with a trap once in hunter. His gameplane does not revolve around staggers therefor he doesn't need that mid, which is why Warrior struggles so much because in the neutral he CLEARLY wants to stagger into BF1 but he can't because his mids are abysmal and he can only get going in the corner, which he has a problem getting to. However, not having a mid does not kill the stagger playstyle, enter my next example.
Erron Black is an anomaly. He has one of the best strings in the game with 21122. It does so much but it's a high. He is very good at the stagger style of play with things like S11 and of course, S21122. However he is known for his lack of really good mids. How does he do so well then? He certainly isn't a weak character, Outlaw having some of the best space control and pressure we've seen. How can he play the stagger game while also not having a solid mid? It's because he doesn't put all of his eggs in one basket. He is not a pure stagger pressure character like Blood God or Jason. He has the plus frames that HQT has (not quite as high but still has them) and he has 50/50's. The 50/50's allow him to gain respect much quicker than if he did not have them, and this is where Butcher comes in.
Butcher is very similar to Killer in the fact that he has strong staggers and good space control (less good space control than Killer but still fairly effective at it) And yet I have stated that he has no good mids but at the same time COMMANDS respect. Why is that? The answer is quite a typical Mortal Kombat player's answer but that doesn't make it any less true. He has the mix. Again, Killer not having the mix doesn't make him bad, hell him not having a mid doesn't make him bad, I actually think Killer is quite good. However, Killer's effort hurts him quite a bit. You have to try for so much of the game to gain the respect of the opponent before he can start actually applying pressure. The more time you have to take for the opponent to respect you, the more the opponent is not respecting you and the more they're applying their own pressure. With Butcher, it's different. With Butcher it takes on D3 and a F2 to get the opponent to start respecting you. After they get hit with a mixup into a restand into another mixup is when they start getting scared, and this happens almost immediately with Butcher. Additionally, he has plus frames everywhere. S22 is plus, S22 into DF2 is plus and is a 50/50 with S22D2. DF2 as mentioned before, is plus and turns every block string into a 50/50 with DF2 being an Overhead and BF3 being a low. Granted, any string besides S22 into DF2 has a gap but this will not be abused 100% of the time because of the next bit, which is the fact that on top of all these tools you get instead of the range from Killer, you also still have your BEST staggers in S1 and F1. And when you gain respect instantly via the aspect of 50/50's, your highs are less likely to be poked out of and therefor, your stagger become that much better. Add to all of this craziness the fact that meterlessly you are getting 35% MINIMUM and that 35% is going into restands into pressure and you have a character that honestly, sounds like one of the most ridiculous characters in the game.
Butcher is HIGHLY underrated, even by me for the longest time. People talk about how the Kotals and the Jasons will be top tier after the patch...me? I'm waiting to see what monster they create if they buff Leatherface too much. If he's given a fast mid, he is by far top 3 after the nerfs to the current top tier, no doubt in my mind. So watch out for this monster after patch because when that comes...you will be mixed/staggered into oblivion by The Cannibal Hillbilly himself. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think. Am I crazy? Or am I just correct? Love to hear your opinions!
Last edited:
