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General/Other - Tarkatan XL Tarkatan Alien Discussion Thread

Tweedy

Noob
I'm only doing B1 after the rekka 2 restand these days, due to the 33/33/33 situation that it offers, with B11 xx flip, B113 xx flip, and B113 or B113 xx snag. Letting B113 rock might not be a great idea since the 2nd hit is fast enough to open up fuzzy guarding for the opponent. B1 is also +2 on block, so you can mix in throws.

Sometimes with B1 a little run cancel is required after rekka 2, and i'd actually recommend this every time, because it leaves less room for error with the timing. Unlike with normals, you can buffer run cancels during the landing animation of the rekka 2. The issue of getting F3 instead of F1 doesn't exist with B1 or S1, because of this. However, I do recommend B1 over S1 at all times because of the mix up potential.
 

Invincible Salads

Seeker of knowledge
whats the best way to play against alien with a character like scorpion? do i stay away and use ninjutsu or try to pressure him? i know making him whiff his ranged normals is probably the best way to open him up. Does scorpion have trouble with the rekkas?
 

Tweedy

Noob
Posting to advocate the use of standing 2 xx rekkas in the neutral. Since there's no 22 string, you'll get nothing on whiff, so you'll just be left with standing 2s recovery, which is basically nothing.

whats the best way to play against alien with a character like scorpion? do i stay away and use ninjutsu or try to pressure him? i know making him whiff his ranged normals is probably the best way to open him up. Does scorpion have trouble with the rekkas?
If you buffer EX takedown you can option select punish the rekkas. Also, standing 3 being 7 frames makes it easier for Scorpion to react and punish rekka staggers, without having to use meter.

Definitely jump whenever you think he's going to B3, snag, etc. Alien doesn't have the best anti airs ever. What makes jumping at Alien so dangerous is that his jump 2 is possibly the best air to air normal in the game, along with his jump 4. Scorpion has a fighting chance, though, with his jump 3 being really good as well. If you read a B3 among other moves with a jump, it's a punish every time.

Ninjutsu might be best. Alien's neutral game is insane.
 

Youphemism

Gunslinger since pre patch (sh/out to The Farmer)
Definitely jump whenever you think he's going to B3, snag, etc. Alien doesn't have the best anti airs ever.
Uh....what? Between at least his D1, D4, D2 and U3 he's got a pretty good set of anti-airs imo. Unless you just mean in terms of trying to anti-air with them after whiffing B3/snag.
 

x TeeJay o

Canary Cry Gapless Pressure
Uh....what? Between at least his D1, D4, D2 and U3 he's got a pretty good set of anti-airs imo. Unless you just mean in terms of trying to anti-air with them after whiffing B3/snag.
He must mean after whiffing b3 because Alien has top 5 anti air game in mkx.
 

Tweedy

Noob
Uh....what? Between at least his D1, D4, D2 and U3 he's got a pretty good set of anti-airs imo. Unless you just mean in terms of trying to anti-air with them after whiffing B3/snag.
You can't anti air Scorpions jump 3 with those consistently.

Alien's D1 is good, U3 has whiffing issues, his D2 is among the worst in the game, his D4 is 12 frames. None of his anti airs are comparable to over half of the cast's D2s.

Alien's best anti air is an air to air jump 2. Free.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
Hey guys, I'm a bit behind the curve with Tarkatan Alien. How are you guys incorporating rekkas now after the nerf? I'm getting blown up constantly, and I'm wondering how you guys are using them?
 

x TeeJay o

Canary Cry Gapless Pressure
Hey guys, I'm a bit behind the curve with Tarkatan Alien. How are you guys incorporating rekkas now after the nerf? I'm getting blown up constantly, and I'm wondering how you guys are using them?
Max delay wen they have no meter, make em safe with medium delays, stagger and bait armor
 

Tweedy

Noob
Just remember that the rekkas aren't pressure tools, at least they won't be once everyone figures out their specific options.

When you use Acidic, in order to launch with F4 and B3, you have to commit to an impossible to hit confirm EX flip. The rekkas give you an ability to hit confirm your meter usage. Remember, they should already be blocking a 50/50 when you go into rekkas. The fact that you're basically always unsafe when doing rekkas, especially in match ups vs characters with faster armor, is not a huge deal.

Don't constantly go into rekkas with F134 against characters or players that can easily blow them up, since F134 and F13 xx flip is possible to fuzzy. Settle for snag/flip at the end of that string vs characters like Kitana, Johnny Cage, Shinnok. Snag after F13 is also good to blow up fuzzy guarding.
 
U3 is one of the best if not the best aa in the game. I compared it against some of the best d2s in the game such as jax s and it is bounds and leaps better. It has a ridiculous disjointed hitbox that lets you aa even the best jump in kicks. Also léads to 35% restand
Completely agree. The only aa better than tarkattans u3 is acidics u3 lol. Shits basically a projectile.
 
Lmao dude people think just cause they are in practice getting the rekkas down ez that they will be able to do it in a real game no problem. It's really not that easy AT ALL and most ppl will punish you if you don't get them safe. You don't even know if they are safe or not in a real game most of the time. . .
The way i like to think about it is its easy to use but super hard to keep them safe when you want them to be safe. Like when your trying to bait armor between the second and third rekka and you opponent ends up armoring after the first one cuz you left just a hair to much space between the first and second. So you get punished on your plan to bait lol. So annoying cuz thats what you wanted them to do to begin with.
 
You can't anti air Scorpions jump 3 with those consistently.

Alien's D1 is good, U3 has whiffing issues, his D2 is among the worst in the game, his D4 is 12 frames. None of his anti airs are comparable to over half of the cast's D2s.

Alien's best anti air is an air to air jump 2. Free.
Ive personally havnt had any problems anti airing with u3 or standing 1. And even if i started struggling with his aa normals i would just start abusing his armor instead. Especially with tarkkatan. Seriously this variation has every mother and their fucker as an option for armor lol.
 

Tweedy

Noob
After ending a combo with pounce, D4 xx EX DB2 breaks all of Goro's armor, including EX punchwalk and EX stomp.

Super situational, but if you read an armor happy Goro, that's a pretty easy break.
 

YoloRoll1stHit

Publicly Educated
After ending a combo with pounce, D4 xx EX DB2 breaks all of Goro's armor, including EX punchwalk and EX stomp.

Super situational, but if you read an armor happy Goro, that's a pretty easy break.
d4 has 4 active frame so you can try to time it in such a way that if Goro wake ups, d4 makes contact and special move comes out, if Goro blocks you only whiff a d4.... but wait.... isn't whiffed d4 worse than a blocked db2 lol
 

Tweedy

Noob
d4 has 4 active frame so you can try to time it in such a way that if Goro wake ups, d4 makes contact and special move comes out, if Goro blocks you only whiff a d4.... but wait.... isn't whiffed d4 worse than a blocked db2 lol
Not worse than an EX DB2, especially at that range vs Goro.
 

YoloRoll1stHit

Publicly Educated
Not worse than an EX DB2, especially at that range vs Goro.
Many characters in this game also have similar option select on knockdown if they have normals with long active frames and good hitbox. The biggest problem is that pokes don't combo on hit. So if Goro wakes up with something stupid (non armor special or wake up throw) and happens to hold block after getting hit by the poke you're dead. I don't know much about Alien but can you try his F1 and B1? They have like 4 or 6 active frames
 

Tweedy

Noob
Man characters in this game also have similar option select on knockdown if they have normals with long active frames and good hitbox. The biggest problem is that pokes don't combo on hit. So if Goro wakes up with something stupid (non armor special or wake up throw) and happens to hold block after getting hit by the poke you're dead. I don't know much about Alien but can you try his F1 and B1? They have like 4 or 6 active frames
Yeah, standing 2 and standing 1 into EX DB2 actually work vs Goro's EX punchwalk, however, they do not vs EX stomp.

F1 doesn't work at all, but B1 actually works vs everything, making it a better option than D4.

Praise lord @YoloRoll1stHit for the suggestion. Thou improveth the reign of Lord Alien. Thou is a friend of mine. This is what TYM is for my friend.
 

ATP2014

The best mediocre Batman
Use jump 2 at all times.

@PandaManee I can give you games, are you on PSN?

Also, I think it's safe to say at this point but almost everyone overreacted to the Tarkatan nerfs. He is still clearly very good, and has some better matchups than Acidic vs some characters.
 

Tweedy

Noob
I think Kitana might just be exploiting noob tendencies from Alien players.

To catch people up to speed, Dragon got bodied 4-0'd by Atai in the UMG, i'm not nearly as relevant but I got 3-0'd by Atai in the ESL, it's known that she easily blows up rekkas, and even Lord Pig has said that Kitana beats Tarkatan.

Some points about the match up.

Kitana controls space. While zoning isn't a huge bigboy omg deal on this game, when you don't have a projectile and your opponent has a pretty good one, that gives them quite a bit of control in the neutral. Obviously Alien has B3 and snag, although, they become less relevant if Kitana is just going to throw fans or jump. Both things will blow them up.

Kitana wins air exchanges vs Alien. This is very relevant because of my first statement. Alien players jump, because they can. Jump 2 does not lose to much in this game. Kitana's jump 2 is faster than Alien's and her fans of course will catch the monster as well. A good Kitana player will use those two moves and blow up jumping, even from Lord Alien the Don himself.

Another problem is that Alien players think "well I can just krawl or EX pounce through projectiles". What if they get blocked? You're risking getting full combo'd, and in the case of EX pounce, being out of a bar, for really almost nothing. Getting full combo'd because you tried to close the distance or get 12%(a bar for 12%, mind you), is terrible risk/reward.

I'll conclude my thoughts with rekkas. Imo rekkas should only be used for confirming mix ups in match ups like Kitana, where they can easily punish them. If you're constantly going into them off of F134 and other strings that people can block at a high rate, you're doing it wrong. Kitana doesn't give a fuck about rekkas. BUT. But boys..... She can't punish flip, and i'm assuming has a hard time punishing snag.

I believe using rekkas to confirm only true 50/50s, reducing jumping, and cutting out krawl/pounce, will make this match up much easier. I hope my rambling will help players who are new to the character, in this seemingly troublesome match up.
 

Tweedy

Noob
Btw I see people talking about Liu Kang being a possible bad MU for Alien. I don't think he beats Tarkatan at all tbh. Being able to punish B2 for a full combo with Alien's standing 2, having launching armor that Liu can't really break, etc, is pretty big. Kang can punish flip, but tbh his rekkas punishes are whatever. I don't care if you spend a bar to flying kick me bruh nah mean cuz you only gettin like 12 percent.

So yeah, Kang may beat Acidic, but there's no way jose that he beats Tarkatan.