Eddy Wang
Skarlet scientist
I've seen some Skarlet loyalist and people who supposedly mained Skarlet through MK9 voicing their opinions on how different she plays from her MK9 design, some even went far enough saying the only think she kept from MK9 its her ability to control blood and some are already looking to wait for other options or characters to come.
Which led me to think that not many people who mained actually understood Skarlet at all, but i'm not here to judge, i'm just here to put up a side by side comparition so i can put this though to rest and so that people who like me are actually looking forward to this game, can look further forward to this game.
First of all, when you Talk About MK9 Skarlet, you have to talk about 3 persons.
1 KH Skar
2. Eddy Wang
3. Xarakamaka.
I'm telling you this, its not because we had the most popular Skarlet, there were a lot of people that played Skarlet before, but this 3 players do have a peculiarity which you can put on a straight line and define how much of a utility character she was.
To further break this i will place in the following form:
Eddy Wang played a far more defensive and reserved Skarlet, so i'm on the far left of the spectrum
KH Skar played a more offensive Skarlet and he was mix heavy, so he is on the far right of the spectrum
Xarakamaka is right in the middle (Sorry couldn't find footage).
This is relevant because you can pretty much put any other skarlet in between these 3 spectrums.
Now that we know this what did MK9 Skarlet was or had that was so big that some old Skarlet zealots are actually disappointed?
The goods.
Mobility, top 2 walkspeeds, Ability to zone or poke from distance, Overhead launchers, a command dash, insane defense with super amor, looppable blockstrings, OTGs and restands which led to more pressure post combos, good damage and above all else, Skarlet had good buttons either to poke, anti-air, punish or whiff punish So her Neutral was the core of her Utility.
Her F4 could crush highs, and her Standing 3 would anti-air pushing her hurtbox away so she could anti-air almost everything, if you can't picture this just know that in MKX Scorpion's has a standing 3 which almost the same animation has hers (or look at my first footage).
She was basically able to do all this but the reason why she was really was strong was:
a) Super Armor was broken, so you could over extend or don't do nothing after and you would still have 2 frames of armor to apply a normal (armored normals).
b) She could disable other peoples specials on knockdown with insta air low kunai which hit as OTG and usually before the wakeup window.
c) Though she was a meter hungry she built meter faster than any character in the game with her loopable pressure once she forces you to stand so she could do a lot of chip damage unlike never seen before in any MK game.
d) 13f overhead with meter, which forced you to stand so she could mix with loopable pressure.
e) Game system would put your character stuck in standing or crouching if jailed with a blockstring (no gap pressure) so if she catches you standing she could loop until she runs out of meter doing 50% chip (that is why point C had the broke down in 3 points lol).
The Bads
Not all was good with Skarlet either, her projectile hitbox was of a size of Mosquito, did almost none to damage, and to perfect control space her Execution was extremely demanding, instant air straight kunais had to be frame perfect from 1 to 3 frames post jump and that was extremely hard to do due the input bug which also affected jumping up.
Her teleport was ass even the metered version
From a character who could aborb blood to become stronger, she didn't had any of those and her blood ball move while it dealt a lot of damage on hit and probably the most damaging chip move in the game it also dealt her damage and she couldn't absorb to regain health.
Without meter she was extremely terrible and became one of the weakest characters in the game, she couldn't even wakeup, because she only had one move with armor which was fast enough and her pokes and strings are all negative on block so she couldn't salvage and countering using armor.
You look at this and you see why mostly every Skarlet main was so attached to her, she had a lot of things but there isin't denying that she was broke at some point.
Now lets look at MK11 Skarlet, what is it that she makes her different? Is it really true that she retains nothing from her previous MK9 incarnation? I disagree.
MK11 Skarlet has her core neutral intact, don't believe me here is some proofs.
a) She still has good buttons, considered as one of the characters with more range in the game by 16bit himself, and her Spacing seemed excellent to me.
b) She can still restand after combos and according to Forever King she is +3 on regular and +7 on amplification while wait for it... draining health.
c) Her Armor has been replaced with a Parry, so you can still bait buttons and instead of armoring out of it, you parry, and for the better, amplifying her parry on hit gives you 10% of health (Current Build)
d) Her Blockstring is still there though its not loopable, but you can still apply a 4 hits blockstring with a huge push back and its safe.
e) She has a special which disables 2 in 1 cancels, meaning you won't be canceling normals strings or pokes into specials when under such effect (remember her dagger OTGS?)
f) She actually drains blood to regain Health
g) No longer meter dependent except you want amplify to regenerate or to get a different effect
h) She has a much better teleport
i) She has much better zoning tools which can hit at all parts of the screen with 3 different types of special moves, one forces jumps, other forces duck an there is one that spawns anywhere on screen, one can be amplified to slowdown neutral or to do a lot more than just zone.
I wouldn't sleep on this Skarlet at all, the MK9 Skarlet worked but its a formula that will only work specifically for MK9, the ability to jail people standing or crouching, loopable pressure and insane plus frames, extended chip loops mixups post restands, are all things she had but worked only for MK9, if Skarlet was to return it was mostly certain that she wouldn't have all this considering most of those were bugs, and was all fixed back in MKX, how come some of you expect her to play exactly the same? The formula simply doesn't work for MK11 where its a much slowed paced game.
While the MK11 Skarlet is different its like the same core design reinvented to adapt what was more familiar to her and apply under a new game, so MK11 Skarlet is almost everything she was in MK9, with better ability to regain some health if she hits you, her og footsies, her classic restands which are extremely consistent now and its a trance that can drain health with almost the same mixups, better zoning, better teleport, while still negative on pressure and poke like her MK9 counter part, you can still support the rest of the neutral with her parry just as you would do with super armor, and she doesn't even needs meter anymore other than confirm a hit and regain health if succeeded just in case you need it.
So lets stop this nonsense that MK9 Skarlet is superior or that the only thing she kept is her ability to control blood or that she looks extremely different, the game isn't even out, yet Skar who played, and from what i've seen we're on the exact same page and none of us are disappointed, still to hear Xarakamaka's though on this but i'm definitely sure he is loving it.
If there is anything i miss from old skarlet its only her !NYAAAH! scream on some moves, her red hair with ponytail and her twin swords, those are the only things i miss, other than that my main is fire and i'm overjoyed and to try it and april 23rd can't come soon enough.
Which led me to think that not many people who mained actually understood Skarlet at all, but i'm not here to judge, i'm just here to put up a side by side comparition so i can put this though to rest and so that people who like me are actually looking forward to this game, can look further forward to this game.
First of all, when you Talk About MK9 Skarlet, you have to talk about 3 persons.
1 KH Skar
2. Eddy Wang
3. Xarakamaka.
I'm telling you this, its not because we had the most popular Skarlet, there were a lot of people that played Skarlet before, but this 3 players do have a peculiarity which you can put on a straight line and define how much of a utility character she was.
To further break this i will place in the following form:
Eddy Wang played a far more defensive and reserved Skarlet, so i'm on the far left of the spectrum
KH Skar played a more offensive Skarlet and he was mix heavy, so he is on the far right of the spectrum
Xarakamaka is right in the middle (Sorry couldn't find footage).
This is relevant because you can pretty much put any other skarlet in between these 3 spectrums.
Now that we know this what did MK9 Skarlet was or had that was so big that some old Skarlet zealots are actually disappointed?
The goods.
Mobility, top 2 walkspeeds, Ability to zone or poke from distance, Overhead launchers, a command dash, insane defense with super amor, looppable blockstrings, OTGs and restands which led to more pressure post combos, good damage and above all else, Skarlet had good buttons either to poke, anti-air, punish or whiff punish So her Neutral was the core of her Utility.
Her F4 could crush highs, and her Standing 3 would anti-air pushing her hurtbox away so she could anti-air almost everything, if you can't picture this just know that in MKX Scorpion's has a standing 3 which almost the same animation has hers (or look at my first footage).
She was basically able to do all this but the reason why she was really was strong was:
a) Super Armor was broken, so you could over extend or don't do nothing after and you would still have 2 frames of armor to apply a normal (armored normals).
b) She could disable other peoples specials on knockdown with insta air low kunai which hit as OTG and usually before the wakeup window.
c) Though she was a meter hungry she built meter faster than any character in the game with her loopable pressure once she forces you to stand so she could do a lot of chip damage unlike never seen before in any MK game.
d) 13f overhead with meter, which forced you to stand so she could mix with loopable pressure.
e) Game system would put your character stuck in standing or crouching if jailed with a blockstring (no gap pressure) so if she catches you standing she could loop until she runs out of meter doing 50% chip (that is why point C had the broke down in 3 points lol).
The Bads
Not all was good with Skarlet either, her projectile hitbox was of a size of Mosquito, did almost none to damage, and to perfect control space her Execution was extremely demanding, instant air straight kunais had to be frame perfect from 1 to 3 frames post jump and that was extremely hard to do due the input bug which also affected jumping up.
Her teleport was ass even the metered version
From a character who could aborb blood to become stronger, she didn't had any of those and her blood ball move while it dealt a lot of damage on hit and probably the most damaging chip move in the game it also dealt her damage and she couldn't absorb to regain health.
Without meter she was extremely terrible and became one of the weakest characters in the game, she couldn't even wakeup, because she only had one move with armor which was fast enough and her pokes and strings are all negative on block so she couldn't salvage and countering using armor.
You look at this and you see why mostly every Skarlet main was so attached to her, she had a lot of things but there isin't denying that she was broke at some point.
Now lets look at MK11 Skarlet, what is it that she makes her different? Is it really true that she retains nothing from her previous MK9 incarnation? I disagree.
MK11 Skarlet has her core neutral intact, don't believe me here is some proofs.
a) She still has good buttons, considered as one of the characters with more range in the game by 16bit himself, and her Spacing seemed excellent to me.
b) She can still restand after combos and according to Forever King she is +3 on regular and +7 on amplification while wait for it... draining health.
c) Her Armor has been replaced with a Parry, so you can still bait buttons and instead of armoring out of it, you parry, and for the better, amplifying her parry on hit gives you 10% of health (Current Build)
d) Her Blockstring is still there though its not loopable, but you can still apply a 4 hits blockstring with a huge push back and its safe.
e) She has a special which disables 2 in 1 cancels, meaning you won't be canceling normals strings or pokes into specials when under such effect (remember her dagger OTGS?)
f) She actually drains blood to regain Health
g) No longer meter dependent except you want amplify to regenerate or to get a different effect
h) She has a much better teleport
i) She has much better zoning tools which can hit at all parts of the screen with 3 different types of special moves, one forces jumps, other forces duck an there is one that spawns anywhere on screen, one can be amplified to slowdown neutral or to do a lot more than just zone.
I wouldn't sleep on this Skarlet at all, the MK9 Skarlet worked but its a formula that will only work specifically for MK9, the ability to jail people standing or crouching, loopable pressure and insane plus frames, extended chip loops mixups post restands, are all things she had but worked only for MK9, if Skarlet was to return it was mostly certain that she wouldn't have all this considering most of those were bugs, and was all fixed back in MKX, how come some of you expect her to play exactly the same? The formula simply doesn't work for MK11 where its a much slowed paced game.
While the MK11 Skarlet is different its like the same core design reinvented to adapt what was more familiar to her and apply under a new game, so MK11 Skarlet is almost everything she was in MK9, with better ability to regain some health if she hits you, her og footsies, her classic restands which are extremely consistent now and its a trance that can drain health with almost the same mixups, better zoning, better teleport, while still negative on pressure and poke like her MK9 counter part, you can still support the rest of the neutral with her parry just as you would do with super armor, and she doesn't even needs meter anymore other than confirm a hit and regain health if succeeded just in case you need it.
So lets stop this nonsense that MK9 Skarlet is superior or that the only thing she kept is her ability to control blood or that she looks extremely different, the game isn't even out, yet Skar who played, and from what i've seen we're on the exact same page and none of us are disappointed, still to hear Xarakamaka's though on this but i'm definitely sure he is loving it.
If there is anything i miss from old skarlet its only her !NYAAAH! scream on some moves, her red hair with ponytail and her twin swords, those are the only things i miss, other than that my main is fire and i'm overjoyed and to try it and april 23rd can't come soon enough.
