Post moved to appropriate thread.

Erm, was this supposed to be in the match-making thread? Or is it me who is confused?

Anyways, I'm in Toronto, Canada so...

krsx66 = Canada, East or Eastern North America or N.A. East Coast or whatever...

You're right, I'm a doof.

So whos the best if you get rid of infinites ? And without using the same special move 2 and more times in combo.

Kabal is the best.

Kabal doesn't have any infinites, but even if you include them for other characters, Kabal is still probably the best. And, he is still the best even if you don't get multiple JK-air Fireballs in the corner with him.

Jade

Jade is lower end mid tier character ranked roughly around 16. You're going to want to stay on the ground with her, abuse her return boomerang, projectile protection whenever needed or even as a distraction, run jabs, ground combo chip, but throw in pauses and then stick in a standing HK to get people who rush when they suspect you are stuck in a broken combo. Throw out her dash kick every now and then as it is very safe in many situations except the obvious ones, ie: vs characters with containments. Always does her 4 hit HP HP D+LP D+HP combo, and add an unblockable sweep after it on everyone, which will do more total damage than her 7 hit combo which is nerfed for human players for some reason, doing 10% less than the CPU. On some characters you can stick a standing LK after the 4 hit combo, like Jax and the Robots, on Sheeva you can stick in a standing HK, and even on Jax with rigid timing. Her overall juggling and combo ability is extremely limited, she has no useful or damaging juggle combos, although huge, impossible to set up, theoretical, corner combos for her do exist. Just remember to abuse the suddenness of her moves and stay on the ground. Double dash kick counters are fun to do for 22%. Also there's the weird hit boxes the female ninjas have which can make certain juggles harder to do on them. Many characters cannot do their HP beginning to a combo if they get a starter, lowering their overall damage effectiveness helping her out slightly but not a whole lot. Double run jabs in the corner are great, watch for openings to get her combo.

Female ninja basic moves:

The female ninja uppercut is average, nothing to write home about, their standing HK is great for far away jumpers trying to stay out of range for anti air HPs, it doesn't have as much height as some other characters, but the collision detection is a good distance from their body hit box, so it has good priority. Their LP jabs hit lower than most so they can run jab Stryker when he's ducking and blocking, and they good range. HP jabs have average range, sweeps are silent which is a plus, and they have some distance to them, however are slow on recovery compared to the fast sweepers leaving them potentially open. Ducking LK has some decent pointiness and distance, standing LK hits a bit lower than usual. Their roundhouse is very close range, better off going for a standing HK on jump ins, but the RH can often be used in run underneath jump in situations because the placement is perfect for that. Their jump punch has limited range and is close to their body, bad for cross ups on ducking blocking opponents.

The Dash Kick is fast, in fact sudden, and is also extremely safe in many situations that it shouldn't be. There are very few close range attacks that can hit Jade while she's in her recovery frames, but projectiles always work, however the start up time for most projectiles is too long to capitalize even if done immediately from too far away. The best way to counter her dash kick is to anticipate it, not block it and run in with a counter combo, or just simply uppercut. This move can be used repeatedly, similarly to Nightwolf's shoulder tackle, and it has a limit of one hit before it is disabled, two can be done in a row in a combo. It's range is about half screen, and best used when you are very close to your opponent as it's very difficult to block upon reaction. After her autocombo is blocked, you can stick in a dash kick to counter a rush down, or you can use it against crossovers sometimes. It can hit some characters who are ducking like Kabal and Shang Tsung, and sometimes you might want to stick in a ducking LK after her 4 hit combo, then a dash kick as they are getting up, it's either going to hit as they are getting up, or be blocked, and is relatively safe, except against Kabal for instance. Use the dash kick to counter virtually any attack if you block because it's that fast. This is all part of her pitbulling strategy. Occassionally stick in dash kicks after run jabs in the corner, specifically watch for openings when they are about to jump, setting up small juggles. You can also glitch cancel it to 2 hits before it, for example, aaHP, aaHP, dash kick, however not useful.

The Boomerang is used for zoning. She has 4 types, straight across, upwards, downwards, and a straight across return which is the best one to use, but remember to watch for players who will expect return spamming and just duck, so stick in a downward one, or on jump aways stick in an up one. Jade is not so much about damage, but chipping away and this move makes certain of that. You can spam the boomerangs for eternity so long as you time them right, remember to not abuse them against teleporters and watch for opponents who will trade a hit like an uppercut and use it to remove the recovery. Against characters with containments they can do the uppercut, get hit by the return boomerang, and then freeze/harpoon, etc, creating big damage. Mix up the usage of the boomerang, don't depend on it, make them make mistakes. Throw in dash kicks here and there against some characters while using return boomerangs to keep them guessing.

The Projectile Protection is very useful in it's intuitiveness. Jade is temporarily immune to all projectiles except Sindel's scream, Kitana's Fan Lift, Sindel's air fireball, and a few other special case situations. You can use the PP to remove recovery time from push back in the corner with juggles, increasing damage slightly if you are ever in the situation where a ninja teleports and winds up in the corner. You can also use it to stop the push back on triple run jabs in the corner. This way your opponent will try to get out and capitalize, but you will instantly recover and can counter-counter them with a dash kick, standing HK, sweep or autocombo and set up further tactics.

Basic Juggles:

1. jump punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, standing HK 6 hits 40%, standing LK, or sweep will do less damage but connect on more and more characters respectively.
2. (for a punisher) aaHP,HP, aaLP, boomerang, 4 hits 30%

Jade has no useful advanced juggles, but here's a few that can work if you are in the right situation.

1. (in corner against opponent trying to jump out) Dash kick, Dash kick, LK 3 hits 35% or sometimes HK for 37%
2. (opponent in corner) RH, dash kick, HK, 3 hits 43%
3. (as a corner punisher) aaHPHP, PP, JK, RH, HK 5 hits 60%
4. (Jade in corner) run under a jump, RH into corner, dash kick, RH, HK 4 hits 60%

Excellent. One of the best I've read so far, even though they are all very good. I like how you put in the extra stuff like:



The extreme detail helps a lot.

I also didn't know about her HP HP D+LP D+HP combo, as I tend to use the HK, HK, LK, B+HK or 7 hit combo - good stuff.



*Looks at sig*

Hehehe, yeah.

For example on Sub-zero, punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, standing HK is 6 hits 39% and very easy, standing LK is 37%, sweep is 37% but like, a pixel less than LK, ducking LK is 33% but sets up some other tactics. Jump punch to her 7 hitter is 34% and has recovery, so it's almost always worth it to do any one of the other options off the 4 hit. It's the same concept as sticking HK, LK or sweep at the end of Jax's combo minus the last cross screen hit, you do more damage no matter what because the last hit does like 2%, vs 8% you get off the HK on a bunch of characters.

Right, Jax's 7 hit ground combo does what - 33%? 6hits + standing HK is 39% I believe.
Actually, there seems to be a few combos that are better off left unfinished, to allow for more damage / tactical advantages afterwards. I remember seeing unmasked Sub Zero matches where you didn't use the last cross-screen hit for tactical reasons I believe...one day you're gonna have to post a list of all the situations where it benefits NOT to finish the full auto combo

---

On another note...



Is a double Shadow Kick combo possible with Johnny Cage in MKT?

I'm not sure, I never bothered. aaHPHP, red tackle, green tackle is possible with Nightwolf, but it doesn't do a whole lot since the Red one does like 7%

Kungbroken I was wondering if I could put one of your guides up on my website. I would give you full credit of course.

Once I'm done writing all the UMK3 characters, I'm going to send it to Lex, let him look it over, tell him to plop in anything he wants, and put it up on gamefaqs.com as the ultimate competitive guide by us, then I will post it everywhere else, so keep an eye.

great job on all these i learned some things i never knew before keep em coming

Jax (Updated 9-23-06)

Jax is considered at the bottom of the top tier barrel ranked at #10. He's a sweeper, a zoner, a back breaker-er, and ground combo crusher. He's got a lot of options but he struggles against teleporters and other top tier characters. Take advantage of old tactics like standing HKs, ground pounds, sweeps, watch for cross ups and hit the back breakers, sweeps, keep away with missiles, sweeps, rush down with run jabs and the 7 hit combo but be careful on male ninjas and some other characters because often times the 7 hitter will whiff on the D+HP (HK, HK, D+HP) leaving Jax open for a free counter, in some cases disastersouly damaging because he is the easiest character to juggle, oh yeah and sweeps. Play as cheap as possible with him, perhaps even turtle or read other players, and play safely because he can be annoying to rush down due his range. Utilize his Gotcha as wake up on occassion, combining with double missiles for zoning afterward.

Basic Moves:

His LP run jab game is questionable because they hit slightly higher, allowing more chance for him to be uppercut or ducking LKed, his HPs hit high as well, and set up easy air juggle aaHPHP, JK, air throw for about 44%. His standing HK has good range and moderate height, excellent for anti airing half screen jumpers. His standing LK also has good range and positioning. His sweep is among the fastest in the game, abuse it. His ducking LK is a hair slower than some, but has good distance again. His RH has very limited range, but good height, useful for run under RH situations. His uppercut has a lot of height and range, but some characters can slip through it on cross ups, which is when you should for an anti cross up backbreaker. All of his air attacks are very good.

The Gotcha Grab is a sudden, fast move that is relatively safe to throw out randomly from a distance and the only real way to punish it consistently is to sweep when it comes out. There are obviously other ways to scout and punish it, so don't rely on it as a certain way to catch someone but it often does get people off guard and against blind rush down. With exact timing you can stick the Gotcha Grab in his 7 hit autocombo midscreen against Jax, and unmasked Sub-zero for a bit of extra damage that isn't really worth the effort, 51% with a punch starter, vs guaranteed 47% on everyone with a sweep instead, 47% with a LK on most characters, and 48% with a HK on a bunch. It is very useful for punisher combos, and in the corner off his autocombo, which can be extended significantly against many characters. Also use it when a character jumps from a far distance as anti air.

Single and Double Missiles are great zoning moves because they take up a lot of space and move Jax backwards, so if someone jumps over one he is generally safe. In UMK3 they added charge time to the single missiles, and this also effects the doubles. If you fire a single missile, you have to wait a few seconds before you can fire a double, or another single, and vice versa. They were too broken in MK3 and decided to add this limitation to balance him. You can still use the double somewhat for zoning, or avoiding certain attacks with extra protection. You can mix the single missile with run jabs, and the double missile will hit teleporters from full screen as they go off screen.

The Dashing Fist is a sudden move that can be useful to an extent, used as a wakeup particularly when getting up. Try to buffer the move without making your movements known as it is easily scoutable in that situation. In certain set ups, the Dash Fist will make Jax bounce off the opponent and move backwards, making him slightly safer than he would be normally. Do not over abuse it because it hits high and is easily duckable and punishable. It is possible to use this move to get you closer to an opponent as a method of dashing, but it is inadvisable, and you can also use it to extend corner combo juggles. It is also useful to get you out of certain situations and go back into zoning or sweeps. Sometimes you can use it as anti air and it generally makes Jax wind up right next to the opponent so you can go into run jabs, a combo, or sweep strategies as well. When used as anti air it can cause some glitch type scenarios where it will make Jax and his opponent push off eachother in opposite directions either facing towards or away and can create some opportunities for other tactics. There is no limit as to how many Dash Fists you can do in a juggle, nor is there a time limit inbetween so you can literally just frames a couple of them in a row in the corner as a humiliation juggle after his 7 hit combo.

The Ground Pound is another returning move from MKII, but it was given more start up frames to balance it, however it is still useful, and unblockable and only avoidable by jumping. It keeps your opponent on guard at all time and might put them in bad situations when they might not want to be in the air. Not many people actually use this move in UMK3 because of how much slower it is than the MKII version, but when used properly it becomes an annoying factor in a match, particularly if you time it to connect as soon as they hit the ground on a jump, this will force them to jump if they see it coming and they have to immediately decide whether they are close enough to counter the ground pound with a jump kick or a jump punch start to combo, straight up, or backwards. If you time and space it right, you will be on the advantage when they land on their second jump and be able to once again resume your now nasty, cheesey sweeping and back breakering techniques.

The Backbreaker is his golden move, because it is perhaps the most useful move in his arsenal, even though simplistic in usage and design. Air throws have tremendous zero frame priority in MK like regular throws in just about any game, including MK itself, but you can't avoid them in air or tech hit, and they generally do significant damage, in the mid-high teens and this is for one move that sets up tactical scenarios, generally accompanied by a JK before hand, increasing damage to about 30%. Whenever someone tries to cross up jump punch or jump kick you as you are sweeping them to a bitter end, anticipate it, and immediately, unhesitantly and committedly, jump forward, or straight up and tap block, and you will backbreaker them right back to the ground, then immediately return to the sweep fest. This tactic is also used with Kano and perhaps even more so. Even when you aren't sweeping, watch for any possible chance to get a backbreaker because it is also a psychological move. It makes people rethink what they are doing if you get them with it, 2, 3 or 4 times in a row because they think for some reason their cross up is going to work this time. Always remember to tap block a few times while you are in the air even if you aren't in a natural situation where you would instinctively backbreaker someone because chances are you'll hit it. Remember that Robot Smoke's radius for his air throw is very large, pretty much 360 degrees around him while Jax's has a bit less area to deal with.

The Multislam is simply a special throw, in which you perform a normal throw, and tap HP several times to get 3 more slams. There isn't much more to it other than you can go back into sweep tactics after it!

Basic Juggles:

1. aaHP, Gotcha Grab 6 hits 27% (add an extra aaHP, but requires stepping forward a bit depending on the opponent)
2. (as a punisher) aaHP,HP, JK, air throw 4 hits 44%
3. Add a HK on Male Ninjas, Sub-zero, Jax, Stryker, (Robots, Sheeva require a small step forward), and a few other characters, for 39% instead of 33% on his 7 hitter, leaving off the last B+HP, a standing LK works on a lot more characters, for 37%, and a sweep will work on everyone also for 37% and sets up tactics, you can do his Gotcha Grab with perfect timing on Jax and unmasked Sub-zero for a few more %.

Basic Corner Combo - Juggles:

punch starter, HK, HK, D+HP, HP, BL, LP, B+HP, with your choice of finish:
1. HK - 50%
2. RH - 51%
3. gotcha grab 13 hits - 53%
4. uppercut - 54%

Advanced Corner Combo - Juggles
punch starter, HK, HK, D+HP, HP, BL, LP, B+HP, with your choice of finish because certains combos work more faithfully on specific characters:
1. RH, HK - 10 hits 59%
2. JK, Backbreaker - 10 hits 59%
2. aaHP, dash punch, HK - 11 hits 60%
3. aaHP, dash punch, aaLP, gotcha 16 hits 65% (against Robots, Kung Lao, Jax, Sheeva...)
4. JK, aaHP, dash punch, HK, 12 hits 68%

Corner Juggle Punishers:
1. aaHPHP, dash punch, HK 4 hits 40%
2. aaHPHP, dash punch, aaLP, Gotcha Grab 9 hits 52%
3. aaHP, JK, aaHP, dash punch, HK 5 hits 56%
3. aaHPHP, dash punch, JK, backbreaker 5 hits 58%
4. aaHP, JK, aaHP, dash punch, aaLP, Gotcha Grab 10 hits 68%

perfect job with jax's guide man

Very nice, imma use Jax more now

Excellent as always.

Something I haven't mentioned to you yet, but I'm sure you've thought about...have you ever considered doing character specific tutorial videos in the future?

Sheeva (Updated 9-23-06)

Sheeva is a low tier character, hovering around the final shuffle of rank in the 20's of 23 playable characters in UMK3. This is more of a what not to do with Sheeva, than a "here's all the sectret tactics to win with Sheeva" guide. She has only 3 special moves, none of which have anything about them which is all that swift. She has no containment unless you count her throw as one since it allows free moves afterwards and is similar to Cyrax's yet unique in it's own way, then once again relimited by her as a character. She has a huge damage mid screen 42% autocombo, which is 51% with a JP starter, and that is one of her most useful assets. Her collision boxes are also a bit strange because she is bigger than the rest of the cast but she becomes more compact when in air. She is vulnerable to a lot of situations because of her collision area, like attacks that would normally miss. She gets stuck in her ducking frames while blocking if you are hit, which can be helpful so you can buffer certain tactics. If you continue to hold down while blocking she will stand up repeatedly while being run jabbed. Remember her throw sets up some interesting situations, after a throw midscreen you can uppercut male ninjas for free with some timing, and also vs anyone you do her throw, and on the last bounce, it is a free teleport stomp, resulting in an uncomboing 40% damage, just for a throw. This tactic can work vs anyone, but remember, some characters can wake up and counter her, like Kabal's spin, Kano's cannonball and male ninja teleports.
What you are going to try and do with her in terms of rush down is go for her 4 hit kick combo which catches people sleeping quite often, and look for other wake up opportunities with her special moves. Remember her throw allows a free standing HK afterwards, and in the corner some decent juggles are possible. Her normal juggling capability is extremely limited, perhaps the most limited in the game in terms of damage. The best midscreen punisher you can get with her on a Ninja Teleport Punch is aaHP,HP, aaHP, fireball, which is 4 hits 35% and that even requires you to run in a step before hand. She gets hammered on cross ups, so your best bet is to stay out of them. She is highly succeptable to relaunch combos, but she can often block them in situations when they would normally connect. The only combo you should go for off a JP or JK starter is her 7 hit combo for over 50%, but if you feel you must throw some spice into her game I will list a few alternate combos at the bottom. Something you can do with her launcher is do the pop up, then aaHPHP, cross up jump and as they land and attempt some rush down. What she boils down to is playing very basic, and very safe, watch for the smallest possible chances to take advantage of. If you practice with Sheeva, most of the other characters will seem a lot easier to use afterwards possibly make you a better player. Take note that Sheeva has quick recovery time when receiving attacks, you can immediately follow up and attack someone, as if she gets a head start. She can be hit but low projectiles, Jade's Dash kick, etc, while ducking very easily.

Basic Moves:
All of Sheeva's basic moves have reasonable range, but her surface area allows her to be hit by attacks in certain cases rather easily, defeating the purpose of her being tall, and lankier than most characters. Her standing HK is ideal anti air, and her RH is only good when a character is jumping from about half screen distance. Her RH also has considerable lag to it, like Sub-zero's. Her HPs hit normal hit, LPs hit a bit high. Her sweep is a bit short on range. Her jumping attacks are average, but again her large target makes her easily counterable. Her ducking LK is very quick, pointy, and has range, so use it to get out of run jabs. Her uppercut is pretty nice and meaty but watch for late JPs, she will get snuff everytime when going to counter with it.

Her Fireball does decent damage for a standard projectile, and is a bit higher than normal, so you can try to use it to hit opponents at slightly different placement in the air, meaning you can do it sooner on a jump away and catch them before they land. You can add the fireball to juggle combos easily, and it's recovery time isn't as bad as some.

The Teleport Stomp is a tricky move to understand in terms of using it. Many people abuse it and you can avoid it simply by walking backwards, then punish Sheeva with a combo. Your best bet with this move is to use it when someone is locked in place by a move, like a standing HK rush down, teleport just before they do it, and you will connect the stomp. You also might want to try and use it to get out of the way of run jab rush down, if she is hit on the way up she can be juggled though (however limited generally) but she leaves the screen very quickly, and often times the upward movement makes the person react with a standing HK that will miss. If someone jumps away and is going to land at full screen distance, do her teleport stomp and it is almost impossible to miss it. If in the corner and run jabbing it is possible to throw in a teleport stomp. It's avoidable but try and time to counter a counter.

The Ground Stomp is a nearly useless move, as there is no way to hit it on someone as long as they hold up+back or forward except off an aaRH, which it can combo as 2 hits, but you have to be extremely on the ball with it. If you counter someone with an aaHPHP and stomp just as the right time, it will hit them on the way down, but it is again easily escable. If they only hold up, there is a chance it will connect, and chances are they didn't know they can't do that and will learn. Use this move has a wake up on occasion mixed up with teleport stomps, but you can't abuse either move at all in any way against someone with the least bit of skill and knowledge. You can try to mix this up with run jabs but it can get you into trouble. The only thing it will do is make the other person jump and there is a good change they will jump towards you and cross up with a jump punch starter. If you are successful with a stomp while run jabbing, stick in a HK as the might jump away the next time instead. After a regular RH, or moreso and aaRH, stick in the stomp as a wake up. If they jump forward Sheeva has a chance to counter, otherwise she's reasonably safe except against teleporters, who probably won't be jumping at you that much.

Sheeva has a launcher combo, however it takes an odd arch and therefore she cannot relaunch anyone.

Basic Juggles:
1. Throw, HK, 2 hits 28%
2. aaHPHP, JK or fireball 3 hits 28%
3. aaHPHP, RH 3 hits 30%
4. punch starter, HP, HP, LP, F+HP, aaHP, JK or fireball 7 hits 46%
5. (in corner) punch starter, HP, HP, LP, F+HP, JK, aaHP, fireball 8 hits 54%

Advanced Juggles:
1. (for punishers) run step, aaHPHP, aaHP, JK or fireball 4 hits 35%
2. punch starter, HP, HP, LP, F+HP, aaHPHP, JK 8 hits 49%
3. (in corner) punch starter, HP, HP, LP, F+HP, aaHP, JK, JK, HK 9 hits 61% (you can add another aaHP for 10 hits 64% in the middle depending how far you are from the corner and what character it is against, and this makes the rest of the combo easier due to extra height to play around with, regardless a difficult show combo for a worthless character)

Corner Throw Juggles:
1. Throw, ducking LP, uppercut, 3 hits 33%
2. Throw, ducking LP, aaHP, fireball 4 hits 33%
3. Throw, ducking LP, JK, aaHK 4 hits 37%
4. Throw, ducking LP, RH, HK 4 hits 38% (on Robots and Sheeva)
5. Throw, ducking LP, JK, aaLP, fireball, 5 hits 40%

Very odd, I thought I replied to that last post but now it doesn't seem to be here.

Eventually we'll do video tutorials when I'm done writing everyone up, we have found a better way to record combos. When I get a chance I'll also add in counter character info for the high tier and some mids.

Nice, I think they'd be great - coupled with the guides you've written up, they will make for a complete character guide. Reason being is that it may be easier to understand some of the more complicated aspects of the guides if seen in action.
I'm also looking forward to the counter-character stuff, should come in very useful.

As for the Sheeva guide, very good again - though even after reading this, I doubt we'll all be rushing to her on the select screen

Something that I find strange is that in UMK3 the throw, ducking LP, Hp, Fireball in the corner combo is 4 hits - 33%, yet in MK3 it does 46%...
So I'm guessing they added damage protection to her throw? Why would they do that, make an already weak character worse? They did the same with Cyrax's throw from MK3-UMK3 as well, very odd...

There was no real reason to add DP to her or Cyrax's throw, it makes no sense. Why bother crippling weak characters even more, but not do much of anything about Kabal.

Shock,

turn this guide up a notch and do Reptile. You know you want to :)

Yes...do either Reptile, Kung Lao, or Sub-Zero next

Reptile was the plan.