Unmasked Sub-zero (Updated 9-23-06)

Unmasked Sub-zero is considered a low tier character in the 20s, perhaps even last, but there is a a certain level of effort behind this generally defensive character that can make him into a beast. When use to his fullest ability, he is an excellent counter character for Kabal, however, it requires a much patience and craftiness. Zoning is particularly important and this can be done with the ice clone and ice showers. Sub has some decent corner traps I will get into later, but overall his damage is low and requires some creativity to make up for it. In UMK3 his iceclone is relatively limited compared to that of MK3 since you cannot get the freeze effect from it if you are too close. Remember his freeze is very fast and catches character when ducking on occasion. Set up the best possible combos from these situations. You can eek out a little extra damage in the corner on his combos by putting in ducking LKs on everyone, but for example, Kabal can spin you for free after that, and the Robots can teleport uppercut you, so on Kabal, kara jab (cancel a LP with block) and try to bait a spin out of him, and then capitalize with a combo, and against the Robots you can stick in a standing LK after his combo to add 6% giving him a reasonable 40% off a freeze in or near the corner. Sub-zero can be easily juggle to max potential by all characters who have good juggle combos, so that hurts him. Remember that his 6 hit ground combo does less damage on its own than his 5 hit, but off a jump punch or JK starter, the 6 hit combo does a tad more than the 5 hit. Against the female ninjas you cannot link a starter to combo midscreen, so this is a time specifically when the 5 hit combo is beneficial. It is sometimes a good idea to leave off the roundhouse part of that combo and then stick in a HK afterwards as a wake up, or even blocked it will do more damage than the comboed roundhouse. Make sure you time this correctly or the other person will be able to HK you first if they what you're going to do. You might actually want to block the incoming HK and then try to freeze them before they recover.

Sub-zero's basics are very good. His uppercut is excellent in virtually all situations, just generally hits the mark. His roundhouse is a bit sluggish and hits just a tad late, when used as anti air you have to be a bit early with it and a good distance away, or directly underneath. It would be a better idea to go for the anti air HP instead because his HPs are very good, and off them you can easily link a freeze even if you kara cancel the HP to avoid being hit during a snuffed HP, or if you aren't good at timing that yet, a standing HK will work just fine. His LPs have nice range and are good for run jabbing. His sweep, JK, standing HK, ducking LK, and straight up JK are all very good. His jump punch is a bit awkward, as the collision for it is very high in relation to where he can be hit, so it might be a good idea to cancel early HPs to iceclones whenever possible, but watch out for being scouted and countered. It is possible to freeze off his throw in the corner before they hit the ground and set up some tricky, but damage combos this way.

The Deep Freeze is an age old move that still has some benefits to it. It has a hit limit of 1, but breakable to 2, allowing up to 3 freezes per combo, but it's tricky timing and usually not worth it. Some characters are easier to glitch hit counter rule break than others, like the Robot Ninjas, Jax, and Stryker. You can use the freeze as an anti cross up. Scout a cross up jump kick, perhaps in a run jab situation, and run under their jump, and do the freeze as they kick, it'll freeze them in air and set up a decent combo. It's noticably faster than Classic Sub-zero's freeze and that is a plus of course. The freeze is OK for zoning, watch for jumping backwards opponents and freeze as you see them jump. Often times the freeze will hit in a situation where they are physically standing on the ground but cannot block, so watch for these situations. It will look like you should do an aaHPHP combo, but really you should go for a JK starter into his 6 hit ground combo. Take note that sometimes characters can be nabbed by a freeze when ducking in close range, especially Shang and Kano. If a person does a JK, block it and instantly do a freeze as soon as they hit the ground. This is uesful because it's rare a person does a jump kick and lands and doesn't continue pressure, the chance of them landing and just blocking are slim, and often time it happens more than once. This will either work almost everytime, or they will stop doing random jump kicks altogether, making them chance their strategy and psychologically giving Sub the upper hand. Sub can freeze within the amount of time it takes for them to land, and even if they block, he's relatively safe.

The Slide is good for adding damage to to juggle combos and as a wake up, but don't over abuse it, as it's easily punishable. It's the second fastest of the three slides with average range, making it questionable to use on juggle combos depending on distance. Sometimes you can stick one in for free after an uppercut as people tend to jump away, or sticking in an extra slide after one because often times people do not anticipate a second slide. Unmasked Sub's slide does not have the same collision detection trouble with certain characters like Classic Sub and Reptile's do. It is possible to break through the recovery of a comboer while blocking and slide inbetween hits, for example the female ninjas kick combo. It has a point of lag in the middle where you can actually go from standing block to ducking block, and if you time it right, the slide will come out here and you can beat them to their next hit. It's a great way to end a match if they are on danger, run in for a chip damage combo that will beat you, and you interrupt their last hit with a slide and win. You can also use the slide to escape run jabs and counter various basic moves before they recover, or on early jump kicks you can slide under and hit them from the other side. It has a lot of different uses.

The Ice Clone is a very unique and useful move. It is most important to use for zoning, and it should be out on the screen as often as possible. Cancel attacks with it and put it in the middle of the air to make the freezing area larger. Cancel standings HPs with it on jump ins just outside of the no freeze distance, this way they will land on the Clone in the air. If you do a Clone on the ground, it is possible for your opponent to jump on it and block it, if they do this, take this opportunity to start run jabbing them. When in the corner, it is a good idea to mix up run jabs with the Ice Clone by staying just outside the no freeze range, alternate single and double run jabs, then Ice Clone. Their options are now limited so you can move back in on them and continue. Mix in some standing HKs and uppercuts on possible jump outs when the Iceclone is near the wall. Try to use the Ice Clone specifically against teleporters but setting them up to land on it as they teleport. You might take a hit but it is worth giving sometimes back 40+%. It is possible to set up the ice clone high enough so that your opponent will run towards you, try and time and uppercut, roundhouse, or his 3 hit kick combo to knock them into the ice clone, then juggle from there.

The Ice Shower is another interesting twist on his freeze move. It is excellent for zoning as people who jump forward and back are always in danger of being hit by it. If you choose to finish his 5 and 6 hit combos you might want to throw out an "in front of opponent" Ice Shower against non teleporters because of the tendency to jump forward. This sets up decent combo situations for sub. Against teleporters it's kind of a 50/50 situation. If they see you start to go for an iceshower, they have the choice to do a teleport punch and hit you for the free 9.5% and go into rub jabs, but if they hesitate and you do the "behind the opponent" Ice Shower, there is a chance you will hit them with it, and a teleport would not be worth it. If you do an infront of, or normal Ice Shower, you will get hit with the teleport punch no matter what, however if they think you might do the behind Ice Shower, they will instead commit to running in and comboing you, or doing a containment, which will result in more damage. It's all mind games with Sub-zero and it is important you know all your options, and their options. Occasionally in the corner you might want to intentionally do 3 LP run jabs in a row to force push back, then cancel this push back with an In Front Of Ice Shower, this way the person sees they are free to move, and they will either jump, or run in, with the results being an air freeze (very good situation in the corner for Sub) them getting frozen mid attack (good situation for Sub) or them having to block it and get stuck in run jabs again, and this also leaves time for you to recharge and Ice Clone.

Sub-zero has an infinite on Sheeva in the corner using his iceshower. If you catch Sheeva in the air with a HP, do a regular freeze, and push her close to the corner. Do HPHP, and cancel the second HP instantly with his air freeze, it will catch her feet. Jump over her, push her out of the corner, jump back over her, and repeat. It's very complicated, but it works.

Basic Juggles:
1. aa freeze, aaHP, freeze, aa(HP,HP), JK, slide, 5 hits 43%
2. freeze, cross up jump kick, freeze, aa (HP HP), JK, slide 5 hits 33%
3. aaHP, freeze, cross up JK, aaHK or JK 36 and 37% (works well on characters who are harder to aaHPHP juggle)

Advanced Juggles:
1. aa freeze, aaHP, freeze, aaHP freeze(breaks a rule by canceling before the punch hits but still connecting)HP,HP, JK, slide, 6 hits 50% (BP)
2. aaHP, freeze, push corner, aaHP, (gc)freeze, aaHPHP, JK, HK, LK 7 hits 69% (leave off the last LK sometimes if the HK doesn't hit high enough, but a lot of position can be done during freezes, and if you aren't good at glitch canceling (gc) leave out the extra HP and you still get 50%
3. (freeze in air near corner), aaHP, freeze, aaHP (gc)freeze, aaHPHP, JK, HK, (6 hits 56%) it is possible on some characters to add a LK after the HK for 12% more (7 hits 69%)\
4. aaHP, Freeze, JK, aaLP, JK 4 hits 42%

Pointlessly Complicated Corner Throw Set Up Juggles that work against Jax, Stryker and some other characters.

1. throw into corner, freeze before opponent hits the ground, deep JK, freeze, RH, R+HK 3 hits 47%
2. throw into corner, freeze before opponent hits the ground, deep JK, if too low to get a juggled HP, do a straight up JK into his 6 hit combo for 8 hits 50%
3. throw into corner, freeze before opponent hits the ground, deep JK, freeze, jump over opponent, aaHP glitch cancel to freeze out of corner, jump over opponent again, aa(HP HP), JK, aa HP, Slide 7 hits 65%
4. throw into corner, freeze before opponent hits the ground, deep JK, freeze, jump over opponent, aaHP glitch cancel to freeze out of corner, jump over opponent again, aa(HP HP), JK, HK, LK 7 hits 78%

Essentially what this does is gives you a free undamage protected air freeze in the corner, however very low to the ground. With the right timing, this will set up potentially big combos.

Best...

Guide...

Yet...






only because italian-sub is my fav...hee hee

We have actually been called him "Turk-ey Sub" for a while now lol. Italian Sub lasted for about 9 years.

this guide will become better after umk3 shattered comes out ^_^

Scorpion

Scorpion is a mid tier character, ranked around # lucky 13 of 23 in the roster. His combo potential on the ground is very low, but juggles are somewhat prosperous. Overall, this guide is going to be very similar to Human Smoke's, except with the differences being combo potential. His air throw makes him slightly dangerous during cross ups, but there's not much he can do after that except rush down with the kick combo. What you should do is run jabs, then the kick combo for 3 hits, leaving off the last hit, and mixing up after that. Male Ninjas can play a nice defensive game and he is one the best to make use of that with because of the available damage he can deal in those situations, similar to Reptile, Human Smoke and Ermac, but to a lesser degree since he has no pop up. He has moder to big damage opportunities on defense, but it is possible to rush down with them as well. There is a common misconception that Human Smoke is just a clone of Scorpion, who is gray and smoking, with no difference in moves. In reality, Human Smoke is much more powerful than Scorpion because he has pop up combos, and he also has a slightly faster walking speed, which makes certain juggle combos easier. His damage range is anywhere from 10 to 35% more at any given time in the same situation as Scorpion. He is still played much like Human Smoke, only with a handicap, meaning it takes more skill and patience to win. Run jabs and safe teleports are your game mixed with the 4 hit kick combo of doom. Off a jump punch start it is sensible to use the 4 hit punches to kicks combo because it does about half a percent (1 pixel) more than the 4 hit kick combo. For example, do 3 jump punch to 4 hit kick combos and it will leave your opponent on danger, if you do this with the punch to kick combo, they will be done. Mix up his run jabs with knees, for example, double run jab, run in, knee, run jab, knee, knee, and keep them guessing. Again, don't forget about his airthrow, and try and get them low on cross up attempts. When run jabbing, sometimes an opponent will jump away, watch for a juggled LP and get them with a harpoon afterward. Also pay attention to collision detection. For some reason when male ninjas duck and block, a lot of distance gets between them and the attacker, causing their combos to miss, like Jax and Kabal. When Jax's first punch in his combo, or Kabal's uppercut misses, capitalize on that with a harpoon, or run in and combo. Specifically with Scorpion, it might be a good idea to try and learn the spacing and timing to get his aaHPHP on jump attacks as a counter to set up the 51% damage combo.

Male Ninja Basics moves:

The Male Ninjas have excellent basic moves, good height and range on everything in relation to their sprite proportions, their roundhouse is extra wicked and can connect in almost any situation. The only thing that can be weird about them is their aaHPs. Sometimes they tend to miss in situations where you wouldn't expect them to and this is due to kara canceling with run to speed the last hit up, in this situation, often you can do aaHP, LP and it'll work, with slightly less damage, otherwise, always take an extra small step in before doing aaHPs.

The Harpoon (or Spear, I tend to throw both words around randomly) is an essential move as it is a very quick containment and relatively safe to do from full screen depending on the who the opponent it. It's good on wake ups as it seems to have a hit box in front of him before it even comes out. You can try throwing out a harpoon afterward a combo for mix ups on jumpy players. It can be linked in juggle combos with a normal limit of 4 hits before it, and can be broken to 5. It can counter many simple standing attacks for free. You might want to also get the feel down for players who jump back and snag them on a landing. A situation where you might be able to consistently connect a spear would be when running jabbing, then doing a teleport punch without leaving the screen. At this point a lot of players try to jump in, hit a spear right as they are coming down, into a convenient combo of choice. You can also just throw out a spear as wake up at this point on characters who don't have teleports.

The Teleport Punch is a great move if used for escaping and overall positioning and manueverability. If you use it too much players will see your patterns and counter by getting in the way of it and blocking. If you are experienced enough with the placement and timing you should be able to teleport almost anytime it is available (it has a small time limit between usages) and not get punished. Essentially think of the screen's width as 1 unit, and then if there is more than half of the entire screen behind you and the opponent combined, you are safe. Use if when you are getting up to escape run jabs, HKs or knee starting combos. It is best to try and get the placement down to land right next to them even if they are blocking, this sets up free throw potential and/or rush down. Watch out for counter sweeps, LKs, HKs or uppercuts if you rush in immediately. Utilize the teleport punch as a combo extender but try not to actually hit them with it as it activates damage protection. Its limit is 4 hits before it is locked, has a small window of time limit recharge. Do not use the teleport punch as a safe guard chip hit when someone is on danger because it only does about 2% chip damage and danger can mean the person has 4% life left. It is common to see people lose matches they should have won because of this. You can also glitch cancel the teleport punch if you want to get fancy.

His Air Throw is very useful on jumpy opponents, remember to tap block in air a few times any time you leave the ground just incase they do as well. Use it on cross attempts, it's not quite as useful in sweep situations as Jax or Kano's, but still possible to do. It's good to link at the end of juggle combos.

Basic Juggles:
1. aaHPHP, harpoon, HP, HP, HK, B+HK 7 hits 42%
2. aaHPHP, JK, air throw 3 hits 28% (43% actual)
3. aaHPHP, teleport (miss) aaHPHP, harpoon, HP, HP, HK, B+HK 9 hits 55%

Advanced Juggles:
1. aaHPHP, JK, teleport punch, harpoon, HP, HP, HK, B+HK 9 hits 51%
2. aaHPHP, JK, harpoon, HP, HP, HK, B+HK 8 hits 57%
3. aaHPHP, teleport (miss) aaHP, JK, harpoon, HP, HP, HK, B+HK 9 hits 64%

Corner punishers:
1. (very close to wall) aaHP, RH, harpoon, RH, HK 5 hits 60%
2. (half screen distance from wall) aaHP,HP, JK, aaHP, RH, HK 7 hits 72%
3. (sweep distance from wall) aaHP,HP, JK, RH, harpoon, RH, HK 7 hits 83%

Sektor

Sektor is ranked around 18th in UMK3, a lower-mid or higher-low tier character, however you want to look at it. The main things that separate him from Robot Smoke are the air throw, and harpoon. Your main game is going to be run jabs, mixed with smart missiles, as many as you possibly can so missiles are constantly exploding. Go for his 2 hit kick combo, and on occasion his 3 hit pop up which sets up a mediocre juggle opportunity, and tracking jump attacks with teleport uppercuts. After a teleport uppercut you have the choice of the guaranteed damage, or the tactical end by doing a roundhouse and setting up smart missile traps. At this point against non teleporters it is a good idea to throw out 2 smart missiles. Some downsides overall to the the Robot Ninjas are: they have some juggle advantages and vulnerabilities in terms of taking hits, watch for them. They can be relaunched by just about anyone with a launcher combo, easier than most to time, and they are harder to juggle in certain situations, particularly for Ermac and Human Smoke. Kung Lao can spin them and I believe Nightwolf after his autocombo in the corner when it is performed on the "just frame" so not only will you take the 34% or more from the auto combo but you're stuck in the corner infinite. Anyone who can get a ducking LK after their autocombo in the corner on anybody can get a standing HK after their combo on them, for example: Liu Kang, HP starter, 7 hit combo is 38% + standing damage protected HK is 46%. Always stick a sweep in after teleport uppercut combos because often times they will catch people on a wake up, but if they block you are safe since the distance is so far.

Robot Ninja Basic Moves:

Standing HK is topps, uppercuts are somewhat bad in the sense they tend to miss in crucial situations similarly to Kung Lao's, for instance you have to take a step in if you want to counter a punishable move sometimes to hit an uppercut. The robot Ninja roundhouse is late on the hit and has some funky corner issues, good range, low height, better on far away jump ins, but if you can time an aaRH you might as well try and aaHP to teleport uppercut. LPs are really good for double run jabbing mid screen, they keep in tight on the opponent because you have to be closer to connect them. Sweeps have good range and recovery is the same as female ninjas. JK is good, jump punch is kinda tight and ball like, and is easily counterable. Ducking LK is quick and pointy, excellent to get out of runjabs or prevent them. Straight up JK is a great set up to cancel quickly with a teleport uppercut, just make sure it connects, and you have a decent combo/juggle for 50%.

The Teleport Uppercut is a bit overrated on it's own, and definitely overabused by casual players, getting them into a lot of trouble. It has so many cons I will get in depth with. You should really only use this move if you link it off an anti air attack, or to punish full screen projectile turtles, in essence, any situation where you know it's going to hit and not be blockable. If you feel the need to do this move, you can use it almost like a dragon punch would be used in Street Fighter if you suspect an early jump attack by doing it as they jump and before they land, however, in any situation where you can get that, you're better off going for the aaHP first to add 6.5% there, and then you will knock them high enough to easily get the teleport uppercut after that. It has a strange punishment area, and sets up smaller, modified versions of normal punishers, but punishable nonetheless. If you can scout a cross up JK or JP, you can buffer the FF motion and get them in the middle of their cross up. If you're too late, it's blockable. If it's going to connect off a juggle, it always hits from the left side, so if you counter an attack on the right and cancel it to the teleport uppercut, it hits the opponent as they are falling into it, sometimes making extra juggle hits after it easier, otherwise it will almost always come up behind opponents. You can use it to bait an air attack by jumping in and attacking early, and do it right as you would normally expect to take a standing HK, but teleport out of it's range, it's possible to still block it however, so you might want to try baiting within the range of an uppercut counter situation, because the opponent's uppercut, if done during or after the decent of the teleport, will hold until the teleport uppercut connects. It's limit is 1 hit before hand, and breakable to two on just frames, but is hardly worth the effort. Be careful with overuse, it can be easily snuffed before leaving the screen by many moves like a LK, ducking LK, harpoon, freeze, sweep, uppercut if it's used as a fake out from the air, etc. Even after it leaves the screen on the way back up it can be snuffed with a ducking LK or a well timed uppercut, by specific characters only I believe, like Stryker. You can time a ducking LK to miss and avoid being hit by it completely and counter it as well. This is a nasty trick to use against a Sektor player who goes for it as a last hit of chip damage kill, to beat them specifically, but they will probably just go for smart missiles in this situation.

Dumb Missiles are a fast, straight forward projectile. You can use them to extend combos, to pin down your opponent after homing missiles, on jump aways, etc. You can throw them out from full screen against nonteleporters and Sektor will remain relatively safe. You can put a very big pause between the F,F and the LP part of the command. This is a good idea to throw people off and the sudden missile without the foot shuffle, or obvious block holding buffering. The Dumb Missile has no limit of use. After a grounded JK, the dumb missiles start up speed is reduced, making it combo easier.

Smart Missiles are a very unique projectile. They move slowly, home in, and there can be multiple on screen at once. There is a nuance about their collision detection however. If you attack while a missile is out and your character is in a frame after the hot box appears, the missile will usually explode, do no damage, and have no stun effect. It is easy to avoid them with ducking LKs, sweeps, standing HKs, LKs. This is good to use when the Sektor player thinks the missile enables a free rush down opportunity. You might want to mix corner run jabs with smart missiles and throw out a 3 hit pop up combo knocking them into the missile, setting up a couple more hits from the juggle. There is no limit to the number of missiles you can have on screen, however, once it approaches the 4th, the 1st one's time limit expires just after, and that will only be seen if the other player moves around enough but doesn't attack. It is possible to keep spamming the missiles while teleporter are moving around and they will eventually catch up with them if they aren't fast enough. Mix up dumb missiles with the smart missiles in these situations to make cross patterns that are hard to escape. If you do a smart missile and get a juggle opportunity, try to set it up so they hit the missile in air, to increase overall juggle damage. If you have a couple smart missiles out, watch for counter rush down and go for a kara jab when they are close, this way you will either throw them, or block their combo, and either way you have friendly missiles coming in to save you from the rush down.

Sektor can relaunch combo everyone except Sindel, Stryker, and the female ninjas only because he cannot combo his pop up off a starter mid screen on them otherwise, he can make them stand up.

Basic Juggles:
1. JK, teleport uppercut, aaHP, dumb missile 4 hits 29%
2. teleport uppercut, aaHP, dumb missile 3 hits 28%
3. jump punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, aaHP, dumb missile 6 hits 36%

Advanced Juggles:
1. jump punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, aaHPHP, JK 7 hits 41%
2. jump punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, deep jump kick, aaHP, JK 7 hits 46%
3. aaHP, teleport uppercut, aaHP, HP, JK 5 hits 45%
4. aaStraight Up JK (or regular JK canceled quickly, either way), teleport uppercut, aaHPHP, JK 5 hits 50-54% (some characters you cannot get two HPs on and it always depends on how high you connect the teleport uppercut or their collision detection)

Corner Juggles:
1. aaHP, teleport uppercut, close RH, aaHP, dumbe missile
2. jump punch starter, HP, HP, D+LP, JK, RH, HK 7 hits 51% (JK must hit very high and RH must hit as soon as possible or it will be blockable)
3. aaHP, teleport uppercut, straight up JP, RH, HK 5 hits 57%

excellent, the end is near ;

3 left. These were easy because they are primarliy cut - paste - edit jobs. Not as much actual typing involved and a few repeated moves.

It will go Cyrax, Liu Kang, Kabal.

Cyrax

Cyrax is a low tier character, ranked around number 20 in UMK3. Overall he is the worst of the three Robot Ninjas, however like Sub-zero, with some effort he can be a beast. Your main strategy with him is going to revolve around zoning with his bombs and the net, which has a big collision area and leaves little room to punish him from full screen. Cyrax's problem isn't the damage he can deal, but it's the methods of doing it which generally require a lot of tactics surrounding them. Take advantage of his high damage 6 hit auto off a net for 42% with the jump kick starter, or go for tactics with a roundhouse, setting up bomb scenarios against non teleporters. Go for his 3 hit kick combo mixed in with run jabs. Some downsides overall to the the Robot Ninjas are: they have some juggle advantages and vulnerabilities in terms of taking hits, watch for them. They can be relaunched by just about anyone with a launcher combo, easier than most to time, and they are harder to juggle in certain situations, particularly for Ermac and Human Smoke. Kung Lao can spin them and I believe Nightwolf after his autocombo in the corner when it is performed on the "just frame" so not only will you take the 34% or more from the auto combo but you're stuck in the corner infinite. Anyone who can get a ducking LK after their autocombo in the corner on anybody can get a standing HK after their combo on them, for example: Liu Kang, HP starter, 7 hit combo is 38% + standing damage protected HK is 46%. Also, watch for openings for the air throw, which is a very neat and under used move. Try mixing up bombs and nets in the corner with run jabs to keep your opponent locked down, and when they move go for the air throw. Cyrax can juggle many characters off his regular throw with a LP to net, the damage thereafter is limited but none-to-less it is still damage. His throw also has it's own tactics because it lands strangely. You can try to run to the other side of your opponent before they get up and go for another throw on the cross up, which if timed right is 50/50. If you are unsuccessful you can go into run jab tactics. Cyrax is a lot of fun, but overall far too much effort to be successful.

Robot Ninja Basic Moves:

Standing HK is topps, uppercuts are somewhat bad in the sense they tend to miss in crucial situations similarly to Kung Lao's, for instance you have to take a step in if you want to counter a punishable move sometimes to hit an uppercut. The robot Ninja roundhouse is late on the hit and has some funky corner issues, good range, low height, better on far away jump ins. LPs are really good for double run jabbing mid screen, they keep in tight on the opponent because you have to be closer to connect them. Sweeps have good range and recovery is the same as female ninjas. JK is good, jump punch is kinda tight and ball like, and is easily counterable. Ducking LK is quick and pointy, excellent to get out of runjabs or prevent them.

The Net is his primary containment move. You can often times trade a hit for it, like a jump kick or jump punch can be snuffed with a well timed net. If you do a net from full screen and your opponent jumps backwards to clear it, run forward with Cyrax right as he recovers and they will land in the net, setting up his 6 hit with a starter, or a roundhouse to bombs. You can buffer a net to escape run jab scenarios as well because it only needs a couple frames and doesn't even have to be on the screen yet to be active. Use the net in juggle combos to extend them a bit. The net has a limit of 2 hits before it is disabled, and can be broken to 3 with some timing, you also must pause briefly between connected usage. For example: aaNet, aaHP, net, aaHP, net (the nets do not count as part of the combo) and now finish it accordingly. An active net disables bombs, and his air throw, but not his teleport. Watch for when the net connects and the opponent is touching the ground. Generally a person will be holding block in this situation and the net will not connect, but there are many occassions where things are happening too quickly, but the point is, you should go for the 6 hit autocombo with a starter. The Net is also excellent against sweepers. You can trade a sweep for a net very easily and it's worth it.

The Bombs are a very unique containment move and are a big part of his zoning strategies. You can set bombs up in patterns to do big damage combos, as they remain dormant for a few seconds each. There are two types of bombs, normally referred to as "close" and "far" but a better terminology for them would be "midway" (no pun intended) and "tracking" because the B,B version makes the bomb land midway between Cyrax and his opponent, and the F,F version, always lands where the character was upon the command input for HK. They have a number of limitations. Two bombs can be on screen at once, they can be done instantly after one another, a third bomb can be out in a succession after the first one goes off, but not if another bomb/general hit connects after the first bomb, thus reconizing a limit of 1 hit before bombs are disabled. For example: aaHP, instant bomb drop, compared to aaHPHP, no bomb drop. A bomb cannot be done while a contained net is active, but can be dropped after one in the same manner as after an aaHP from a contained air net, because the net doesn't count as a hit in the combo. Your best bet with bombs would be to do something like: place a midway bomb from long distance which generally keeps the opponent at bay unless they are a teleporter and they will wait until it explodes, then a tracking bomb or a net to make them move around, particularly towards you so you can throw out a HK, RH or even aaHP, JK to snuff them, and make them land back on the bomb, setting up an easy 53-56% or upwards to 68% juggle depending on the character. If they jump backwards, try and use the net follow tactic by running towards them and making them land in the net. You can also try doing things like dropping a midway bomb, and running to it, stand over it so you can safely plant another bomb, your opponent will be hesitant to move near you because the other bomb is about to go off. From here you can start doing mix ups and mind games with the bombs and keep your opponent off their game. A good tactic is keeping someone locked down on a bomb, and letting off so they will jump, then HK them back down to set up a combo.

The teleport is a dangerous move. Cyrax is very vulnerable during it both in air, and briefly on the ground. It is useless for transit against someone like Kabal, as a spin will totally whipe him instantly, or a male ninja because of their containments. Use is sparringly for escapes but never over abuse it. It is rare that you can make use of it during juggle combos except to get out of the corner to the other side of someone when you want to exploit a corner juggle. For example: Cyrax in corner, aa net, aaHP, net, teleport, aaHP, net, aaHPHP, JK, aaHP, air throw -7 hits 63%. You can also use the teleport on projectiles with significant recovery to get close and counter, but it's not as fast as something like Kung Lao's teleport which works the same way but invertedly.

Cyrax's air throw is strange, as it is a command throw. The motion is D-F, BL, and then press LP while you are in the air and near your opponent. It has good priority when activated, but that leaves a lot of room for error as it has a specific route to travel towards the opponent and where he is under them depends on how well it will connect. If you do an air throw while someone has left the ground through the ground, like Sektor, or Kung Lao, it will cause some funny glitch scenarios. Use the air throw to extend juggle combos, and use it as transit moreso than the teleport because it is fast and hard to punish, not to mention overtly unexpected. The best way to use it to get close to your opponent would be as they are falling, this way it creates a very obtuse hyperbola, causing him to get close to the ground faster than it would be if they were high in the air and he has to float a bit. Use it after roundhouses and JKs to get in close very fast if you are not using bomb tactics. Making Cyrax fast, maneuverable, accurate, and vicious is the key to making him win.

Basic Juggles:
1. aa net, aa(HP,HP), net, aa(HP, HP) air throw 5 hits 41%
2. throw, aaLP, net, aaHPHP or JK, air throw 25-26%

Advanced Juggles (There are tons of bomb variations that require set ups):
1. Bomb, RH into bomb, aaHP,HP (another HP possible on many characters) air throw, 5 hits 56-63%
2. aaHP, net, aaHP, net, aaHP,HP air throw 5 hits 41%
3. aaHP, net, aaHP, net, JK, air throw 5 hits 41%
4. aaHP, aaHP, net, deep JK, aaHP, air throw 5 hits 50%
5. (corner) aaHP, aaHP, net, JK, RH, air throw, 61%
6. (corner) aaHP, net, JK, net, JK, RH, HK (or air throw) 5 hits 69%-70%,
only works on some characters, situation generally does no present itself,
but some position can be done in the corner while they are in the net,
timing is crucial

Lucky Far Tracking-bomb with predropped Mid-bomb setup:
1. bomb(far away) connects with bomb(mid) dropped soon after, then a third bomb dropped instantly after the first (essentially juggling off each bomb towards you) RH onto third bomb, aaHPHP, aaHP, air throw 8 hits 84%

Liu Kang

Liu Kang is a another one of those lower end of the mid tier characters, ranked in the neighborhood of 17th, who can be a pain in the right hands. He has a number of options to play around with, wake up bike kicks, dragon kicks, air fireballs, High/Low Fireball mix ups and the roundhouse of God. Mix up run jabs with his 4 hit kick combo, and when midscreen always do his 7 hit combo rather than his pop up when it is available for free, or off a jump punch starter. The 7 hit with a jump punch does 39%, and his pop up combo to JK, air fireball, dragon kick does 32%, not worth the effort. In the corner it is possible to link a sweep, standing LK or HK after his 7 hitter, and sometimes it is a good idea to throw a low fireball out after the 7 hitter, and mix that up with a high one once in a while to keep them guessing. The only time you will want to use his pop up combo is in the corner to set up multiple airfireball juggles, as it is relatively easily to compensate for the lost damage, but not by much. He has a very nice punisher that requires a bit of timing, aaHPHP, JK, air fireball, dragon kick in this case, without the double damage protection of his pop up combo, does 56%. It is a very useful tool to counter Human Smoke and Ermac's damage if you catch a blocked teleport, make sure you take a running step before you do the HPs, and cancel the second HP with the run button to allow yourself more time to get the JK high in the air. Abuse his roundhouse as much as you can, and try to link dragon kicks off it mid screen for some psychological advantages, as it is very easy to know when you will connect a Liu Kang roundhouse. Everynow and then throw out a wake up bike kick from close range, similar to Kano's cannonball.

Basic moves:

Liu Kang is the only character in the game to use his rear fist first to punch, subsequently, this has no affect on his juggling ability. His jabs in general are pretty normal. His sweep has normal range, but a bit of recovery to it. His uppercut is pretty good, but his HK hits noticably lower than some. His JP and JK are very high, similar to Kung Lao's in MKII and has an easy time beating out others because his forward and back jumps are a bit higher than everyone else's. His ducking LK is not as good as say Sonya's, or Kung Lao's, but it gets the job done, as well as his ducking LP for run jab escape. The straight up JK is a little short on range. His roundhouse is amazing. It has ridiculous range and is almost impossible to not connect it. Use it often, and use it well. It is possible to juggle a Dragon Kick off it if you happen to hit it close enough.

The Dragon Kick is a fast, horizontal air attack with some strange properties. If you are too close to an opponent, the Dragon kick will go over them and land instantly on the other side, this might actually be something you will want to use because it will create some temporary confusion but as long as you know what the situation is you can take the upperhand. If the Dragon Kick is blocked, Liu Kang will land, and then go into a double animation where he is vulnerable to ground combos for an instant, timed to coincide with the recovery of the other character. You basically want to use it to extend combos, and occasionally as a wake up or a sudden attack. Like any move, it becomes easily scoutable with overuse.

The Bike Kick is used similarly to the Dragon Kick, except it can possibly lead to further damage in the corner, and occasionally you can combo a standing LK off it mid screen if you get it out right on time. If you get it in the corner and are overlapping your opponent when you land, it is easily possible to get his 7 hit combo off it with a sweep for 47%. From there you can run jab and mix up. The Bike Kick is a very good wake up attack because its collision starts up quickly. Do not over abuse this or people will bait it, and Liu Kang will go into punishment mode when it is blocked. You can use it to extend corner combos as well.

The Low, High Fireballs and Air Fireballs still have some use, but limited to generally full screen tactics and zoning. You can throw out a low or high fireball after his 7 hit combo to keep them pinned down, and air fireballs are good as well for pinning down, but try and keep them very low. Air Fireballs can also be used to extend corner combos, by doing JKs as early and high as possible, then doing the Air Fireball as low as possible, enabling you to rejump and repeat a few times. Unfortunately since all his attacks are double damage protected after the pop up, his corner combo damage is very low for the effort it takes to do them.

Liu Kang has a hard time relaunching characters because of the height and arch of his jump, but it is still possible to relaunch combo Jax, The Robots, Sheeva, Kung Lao, Nightwolf, Sub-zero, Kabal and Shang Tsung, but it is hardly worth the effort as the added damage for just one relaunch is about 13%.

Basic Juggles:
1. jump punch starter, HP, HP, B+LP, aaHP, JK, airfireball 7 hits 28%
2. aaHP,HP, JK, air fireball or Dragon Kick 4 hits 42%
3. Bike Corner (in corner), HP, HP, BL, LK, LK, HK, LK, sweep, standing LK, or standing HK depending on opponent 9 hits 47-48%

Advanced Juggles:
1. aa(HP,HP), JK, air fireball, dragon kick 5 hits 56% (BP)
2. jump punch starter, HP, HP, B+LP, late JK, airfireball, dragon kick 7 hits 32%
3. jump punch starter, HP, HP, B+LP, deep JK, aaHP, JK, air fireball 8 hits 32%
4. (close to corner as a punisher) aaHP, JK, air fireball, RH, Dragon Kick 5 hits 66%
5. (close to corner as a punisher) aaHP, JK, air fireball, aaHP, high fireball, standing HK 6 hits 69%
6. (Half screen from corner as a punisher) aaHP,HP, 3X JK air fireball (over 100%, and you can leave off the 3rd JK air fireball and replace it with roundhouse, dragon kick if you don't have them high enough off the juggle)
7. (Near corner), jump punch starter, HP, HP, B+LP, JK, air fireball 3X, aaHP, fireball, standing LK doable on just about every, but very difficult in concept, 13 hits 50% (you can also finish it with RH, run in HK, or RH dragon kick also for 50%)

well done, liu can be annoying against scrubs ^_^

Ranked #1 in UMK3, also the last character for this guide is...

Kabal (Updated 9/21/06)

Kabal is far and beyond the #1 character in UMK3, and for that reason, I will get into a bit of counter Kabal strategies as well. He defines the top tier. There are many specific tactics that need to be used against him to stand a chance, and these tactics can be spilled over into general gameplay as well. He essentially dictates the match and really the only way to beat Kabal is to frustrate him and force mistakes. You really have to take advantage of jab canceling with block, in which you bait spins out of the Kabal player, and the result will either be a snuff, a block, or a throw. You should try to stay on the ground against him as much as possible because the spin dash will get you everytime, particularly in cross ups. Teleporting Ninjas Ermac, Human Smoke, and Scorpion can give Kabal a lot of trouble, with Scorpion having the least chance due to his low damage combos, also Sub-zero seems to be a good counter for him as well as Nightwolf. What makes Kabal even more dangerous is he can turtle as well as rush down, to both extremes, and mix it up in game constantly. Expert Kabal players can place jump away kick to fireball traps low enough to the ground to not be hit by teleport punches. He has ok damage combos starting from a knee lift, and good damage basic juggles off a simple spin. Serious damage can be dealt in the corner with multiple JK air fireball juggles. His rub jab pressure is unparalleled because of the Spin Dash always lurking around, even though his damage was slightly reduced from UMK3, the ease of him getting 3 combos becomes very apparent when you just don't feel like being stuck under run jab pressure and a spin plows through your ducking LK. Counter run jabbing Kabal will usually result in you being thrown because of some awkward throw priority in that situation. When a Kabal player begins his rush down specifically run jabbing like crazy, you might want throw out an uppercut before the first run jab even comes out, also try uppercut him when he lands after a JK and watch when he does his 5 hit combo because if it is even slightly slow the uppercut will miss and you can capitalize on him.

What you want to do as Kabal is run jab pressure as much as possible. Stick in knee lifts every now and then, watch for guard breaks and spin, or combo, if you spin, make sure you add a jump punch or jump kick to his autocombo. You can play keep away by doing low air fireballs and watching for spin opportunities if they leave the ground. His game pretty much revolves around the run jabs and spin set ups. Corner runjab pressure should be in the form of double run jabs (LP,LP run, LP,LP run as fast as possible) and occasionally stick in a knee lift for his combo, but don't do the pop up combo, do the 4 hit kick combo, as it does 24% vs 15% for the 5 hit, and the same rule applies if you get a spin in the corner, and cannot push them out to set up a multiple JK air fireball juggle, except you should add a jump kick starter. You can stick a ducking LK in after the 4 hit kick combo in the corner, and if they attempt to rush out after the stun of the kick, this is a good chance to get a spin, or a RH to a spin in the corner, which can hit certain characters and make them end up standing and not in the air, and it is unblockable. Jump Kicks also can cause this scenario, so watch for it and make sure that they are not actually on the ground before trying a juggle combo when you will get his hook swords instead.

Basic Moves:

Kabal's run jabs are excellent, and compliment his rush down very well. His standing HK and uppercut are very good and useful. His standing LK has about average range as does his sweep. His JK and JP and excellent in many situations, and his roundhouse is fantastic for long range anti air, keeping him out of snuff range. It's up there with Kung Lao but not quite as good as Liu Kang's which has height and distance. His ducking LK is a bit short on range, but on occasion you might want to stick a random ducking LK inbetween run jabs to entice your opponent to attack, and wake them up with a spin. Take advantage of his own cross up ability, as Kabal often times will land next to someone without getting hit by a counter uppercut, and in from there you can sneak in a JP to combo.

The Spin Dash is probably Kabal's most important special move. It's collision box and collision start up are very large/fast and ultimately broken. The only things that can beat it out are usually accidentally timed jump kicks, or intentional run jabs that turn into accidental throws. There are a few other moves here and there that can beat the spin, but generally not timable. You can throw Kabal out of the spin from any distance with perfect timing, but expert Kabal players will not do random spins if they know it has a chance to be blocked. Expert Kabal players also tend to have a "Psychic Spin" ability in which they know exactly when you let off your guard. Utilize the spin on cross ups by performing the motion (B,F LK) backwards, as (F,B) and hit LK as soon as they cross Kabal's axis. It is a good idea to get good at performing the motion while ducking, as that is it's most useful feature during cross ups. The spin has a limit of 1 usage per combo, and 1 hit before it is locked, breakable to 2, for example (aaHPHPgc) Spin after a teleport punch on male ninjas. In MK3 he could spin twice in a row for no particular reason but that was removed. The Saw Blade is disabled while the spin, wobble, or drop out duration of the Spin Dash is active, this was also changed from MK3. Use the spin after an anti air HP, or a high contact air fireball to set up big damage mid screen juggles. After an anti air spin, it is easy to get 42% on just about everyone except Shang Tsung with aaHPHP, JK air fireball, after this you can often times do a ground fireball on certain characters (Kano, female ninjas) which keeps them pinned down because they cannot duck it, if they jump, try another spin. If you spin on the ground, a generally good damage combo is jump punch starter, 5 hit pop up, JK air fireball. If you decide to go for tactics over damage, you can do a deep bleeding JK instead of the fireball, and go back into run jabs, even if it is late and gets blocked and this sets up more chances to get another spin. If you spin someone in the air who has an air move, like Sindel, or an air throw, once they drop out of the spin they can escape the drop with that air move, so don't waste time and let them drop if they are too high or they will be able to surprise counter you. When you do a pop up combo with Kabal, sometimes the combo lags slightly depending on where they are when the first hit happens, and it looks as if the uppercut isn't going to come out. If your opponent releases block to capitalize the uppercut will hit. Spin them as they are falling, but do it somewhat low to the ground since you only have one hit in memory for the combo. Let them drop out and then do aaHPHP, JK air fireball, but make sure they will not be able to drop-counter. The point of doing this is because the remainer of the combo will now do full damage, and the Spin will also have done a whopping 1 pixel of damage, for a total of 45%. This also works in a much simpler scenario, after a grounded JK. When it connects, immediately do a spin when you touch the ground and spin them before the hit the ground, afterwards you can do his aaHPHP, JK, air fireball for 59%, vs 36% with the damage protection. Use the spin on occasion as wake up, but players with counter Kabal knowledge know to bait that wake up spin with a fake run jab, canceled to block. The spin can plow through a standing HK or LK after Kabal is knocked down, so watch for that, and you can also counter just about anything with the spin after you block. You can also break out of the wobble frames (not the spinning frames) with any special move, but Kabal players should never allow this to happen.

The Fireball (Eye Laser) is another integral move in Kabal's arsenal. You can use it to zone because Kabal can instantly touch the ground after a low one, or you can use a high one to knock a jumper down, in which case you should watch for a free air spin, setting up and easy 56% combo. You can use the air fireball to bait an uppercut counter on a jump in and avoid the contact, enabling you to then run jab pressure. Nightwolf can give Kabal trouble at times, but if you notice they are reflecting your low air fireballs, intentionally do one that will go over, or through Nightwolf's head and spin him. Use the air fireball in corner juggles to extend them up to 3 times on anyone with the right timing, being high JK contact, low air fireball contact, rejump, repeat. You should never use the ground version of this move except to extend a combo, but only use it if it's going to finish them because the recovery is long. It is also a useful tactic to use the air fireball's push back on Kabal to get him safely over projectiles one jump backs.

The Saw Blade is generally useless. If you do happen to catch someone with it on the ground, you can't do anything after it anyway because they can block. If you get someone with the saw in the air as they leave the ground to jump over it, you can spin them and do his bread and butter combo for 53%. The Saw Blade has a limit of 2 hits before it is locked and has no useful comboing scenarios. If Kabal is hit at anytime while the Saw Blade is out, it will disappear and not connect on the opponent.

Kabal can relaunch combo the Robots, Sheeva, Sub, Nightwolf, Jax, Kung Lao, Sonya, Kabal.

Basic Juggles
1. Spin, jump kick starter, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, JK, air fireball, 9 hits 41%
2. aa spin, aa(HP,HP), JK, air fireball 5 hits 42%
3. aaHP, spin, aa(HP,HP), JK, air fireball 6 hits 49%

Advanced Juggles:

1. near corner, spin, jump kick starter, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, JK at peak, pause and fireball just before you hit the ground, then JK immediately again, pause slightly, air fireball, JK, airfireball (you should be able to get at least 2 JK airfireballs on every character) 2 volleys is 11 hits 56%. 3 is 13 hits 70% and you can stick an unblockable sweep at the end on some characters resulting in a maximum of 14 hits 76%
2. aa spin near corner, aa(HP,HP just out of corner pushback range) JK, airfireball 2 or 3X depending, can result in 72-100%, on 2X, stick in a running HK at the end, for 86%.
3. Spin, jump kick starter, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, R, aaHP, JK, air fireball 10 hits 44% (works on male ninjas, jax, Stryker, and Sub-zero, Nightwolf, add a second aaHP on Jax for 11 hits 47%) substitute aaLP JK AFB on Robot Ninjas, Kano, and Sindel)
4. aaspin, JK, aaLP, JK, airfireball (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 5
hits 50%
5. aa air fireball, spin, aaHPHP, JK, airfireball (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 6 hits 61%
6. aaSUJK or aa air fireball, spin, JK, aaLP, JK, airfireball (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 6 hits 61%
7. aaHP,HP (glitch/just frame cancel to spin), aaHPHP, aaHP, JK, airfireball (on Scorpion, Smoke, and Ermac block teleport punch especially easy, hit them before they fall out of the spin because they can escape) 8 hits 62% or also just do a single aaHP, then pause to get a higher spin, and finish the combo as normal for 56%
8. JK (grounded) spin, wait till they fall out of the spin, HP, HP, JK, air
fireball 6 hits 59%
9. (blocked teleport uppercut) aaHP, spin, JK, JK, AFB 5 hits 51%
10. (blocked teleport punch, Mileena telekick and Kano's cannonball) aaJK, spin, aaHPHP, JK, AFB 6 hits 58%, and if they land on the ground many times it will not be blockable, or it'll hit as a wake up, so do a b&b ground combo of choice.

kabal's guide is awesome man. its been a lot of work but its finally done.

watch for updates soon for lots of characters and for general gameplay post as well.

Yeah thanks so much for your help and suggestions on these.

Very nice and very useful, defintely needed. It would be cool if someone could do something similar for MK1 and MKII actually...

Oh, and where's the Noob Saibot guide?

Great job on the guides Matt.

Hopefully you can get recognition soon on the front page for all of your hard work

I asked about that a while back, doesn't look like it's gonna happen

Perhaps these could be added to the Games Section of the site though...

And the MKT character's are gonna get guides as well right? I'd like to see a Chameleon guide

It seems much cooler now that it's done. I'm not very good with that many characters but now, things are gunna change

Take a break Matt before you consider making the guide videos or working on trilogy characters, you deserve it. You should expose your work as much as you can, have you considered sending this in as a FAQ (or seperate character walkthroughs) for varios websites. Like GameFaqas?

That would be cool if its possible.

Yeah I am going to post them on gamefaqs, I already have a combo/juggle guide up there which I need to update soon, after the next video.

I will work on the MKT characters probably in the next couple weeks, maybe next week on my vacation, and I'll post them all at once. In the last week or so I was really motivated to finish off the guides because of the announcement. I'm going to start putting together a general gameplay post tonight.

good job..

These are the sacred texts of the MK community!

Awesome, I've already managed to implemplement a few of these tactics here and there, and my game is IMPROVING. I look forward to pushing more important things out of my brain so I can start processing more of this

Based upon Lex's guide from Shoyruken.com

Ground Combos:

Blocked ground combos are very good for two reasons, chip damage and position. You should almost never finish a ground combo unless you want to use the last hit as a positional setup of some kind. Stopping a ground combo before the last hit keeps you close so you can continue the rushdown. 99% of all ground combos push the opponent back on the last hit.

example character: Jade

When someone is blocking, run in and do her knee combo (HK, HK, LK, HK). Stop on the 3rd hit to remain close, and then go into run jabs. The reason for this is you can get more guaranteed damage from the chip hits and continue rush, resetting the trap, and to make sure they are blocking throws and not trying to counter attack. Restart the leg combo, stop at the 3rd hit, then mix it up, maybe stick in a standing HK or a dash kick. This is a lot better than completing the initial ground combo and pushing the victim back, allowing them to counter attack easier, and continue assaulting them.


Blocking:

Blocking in MK is different from virtually every fighting game. Obviously, there is a button for block, rather than holding back, which eliminates the need for proximity blocking entirely, and you can buffer moves easily while blocking. A not so obvious concept about blocking in MK is frame update. Character sprites are behind by one tick in MK, so you can block things upon the frame they connect. There is a similar concept in SFA3 called "Blue Blocking" which your character turns blue and it takes away less guard stun meter. You can essentially Blue Block sweeps and low hitting attacks in UMK3 by tapping D+BL on or just before the frame the sweep will connect, and your character will not have to duck, enabling them to counter faster, or sometimes duck half way, and stand back up instantly. It is a good idea to learn how to block only when absolutely needed, so you aren't stuck in standing back up frames after releasing block, rather, releasing block at the end of the contact and standing up while unblocking.


Run:

In simplest usage, the run bar depletes obviously when you press the run button and forward, and you continue to run by holding forward, not forward+run. You can hold run and tap forward repeatedly to take small, medium, and large running steps. If you hold forward+run after the run bar has been depleted in any situation, the run bar will not refill until you release either forward, or run. Run bar is depleted in slightly different delegations for an aaLP or HP, a little more for aaLPLP or HPHP, and on moves like the Teleport Uppercut, and Liu Kang's Bike Kick. After a pop up combo, you can walk forward and let the run bar begin to fill up, once you get a sliver of green, you can take a "run burst" and get an extra HP before many juggle combos.


Run jabs:

You can cancel a LP or HP by tapping any other attack button, however, run performs no action when you tap it (except if you hold it even without run meter you can no longer do special moves) so there is no chance of throwing out a HK or LK or blocking, and you can create a rhythm to continue advancing forward, or doing a double LP, cancel with Run. What this does is it forces the LP or HP to retract the instant it completes it's contact frame, rather than holding it, reducing the total jab duration by 1/3. It may not seem like much, but it is in the heat of battle. The best way to run jab is to keep your meter from emptying for as long as possible. This means you should hold forward, and alternating tapping run and LP, and releasing forward briefly during the LP, so the run meter doesn't drop anymore than it has too. This is a very offensive tactic and dramatically changes the game when used effectively. Not only does it give you multiple chances of landing a throw, but its really good chip damage and it moves the victim towards the evil, evil corners. Doing more than 2 LP run jabs in the corner will result in push back, so try to keep it to a pace of 2, and mix up with other attacks when you see an opening. Watch for early counter ducking LKs or uppercuts.


Kara jabs:

Canceling a LP or HP with block can be a very good idea against characters with fast wake up moves, specifically Kabal. Essentially, you should make it a point to throw out some LPs, in effort to bait a spin out of Kabal, and cancel that LP with block so the instant the spin happens, you will go into block frames. As long as you are holding block on or before the frame of contact, the spin will not be able to connect, even if you hear the jab sound, nothing will come out, you will just block. This also sets up the chance for snuffs and throws out of special moves, especially one that require a forward tap. The LP will either connect, you will throw them, or you will block. As long as you are dong this properly there is very little chance a surprise move will get you. You might want to try practicing against Kabal players, try to get a basic combo or a sweep to knock him down, then run in and labor an obvious LP. This will generally cause the Kabal player to react with a wake up spin. On the average player, the Spin will plow through them, but if you kara jab rather than run jab, the spin will be blocked and you can punish Kabal. This tactic works well on just about any character with a special move like this.


Corner Runjabs:

Once you have someone backed into the corner and blocking, run up to them and tap LP, run, LP, run, or LP,LP, run etc. to throw out really fast run jabs. They will be in the corner, and they will eat pixel after pixel of block damage. Don't do more than 3 jabs in succession or you will suffer "pushback". The only thing that the victim can really do is escape with a special move (teleport, fly kick, square punch, etc), uppercut, or crouching LK. If you can sniff out when they are going to try to do any of those, do a knee or special move, preferably a containment. If they block a knee you will be pushed back, so do it wisely to keep them trapped in the corner. Try to throw out 4-6 run jabs then knee, because thats usually when people realize that they are losing a lot of energy to chip damage. If the knee hits, continue to run jab and keep them locked down. Also, don't forget to hold back while you do the corner run jabs so that they can't counter throw. If you are under corner run jab pressure, after the first 1 or 2, try and spam on HK, and you have a good chance of sneaking out a knee lift on them right as they are about to do another run jab.


Throw Defense:

Hold "Back" and you will not be thrown. Up+Back, Down+Back, Down+Back+Block also works. Many people complain about throws, but throw prevention is pretty easy in MK, and it's been this way from MK1 through MK4.


Crossups:

Im sure you all know have an idea of what this is. Its purpose is a little different in UMK3. The main purpose of this is to "flip" the controls of the victim, setting up potential cross up throws. It's also useful to crossup and try for a jumping HP starter to ground combo, which if timed correctly, can snuff uppercuts. There are a lot of character specific tactics for jumping HP linkers, for example, Kabal can often times land within the collision area of an uppercut and start his combo without getting hit, or Jax and the female ninjas can cross up while still in the air, and connect a jump punch starter with their foot behind them, because the attack started before you crossed the other player's axis, but the collision box became hot after, thus putting it directly behind them. Another cross up concept is the reverse hitting in general. You can time sweeps to connect behind you if someone does a shallow cross up to try and land for a cross up throw. The opponent will land right behind you, and you if you time it right, the sweep will be out in front of you, and your back side will touch them. This also works on standing LKs very often in similar situations.


Crossup Throws:

This tactic is best used while an opponent is being defensive. The best way to describe this is when you are at jump distance, do an early jumpkick, so you land directly on top of the victim, without hitting them. You will land overlapping the victim's sprite. If you hit LP right as you land, you will have a very good chance of connecting a throw because they have to hold back to prevent the throw, and the direction is pretty hard to determine in such a close situation in a small amount of time. A good example of this is with Kano's upward Cannonball. You can place this move to descend directly on top of your opponent, and this results in a free throw very, very often if they don't have time to counter you before you land, which is limited generally to an uppercut, followed by their rush down, and your choice of counter uppercut, or Cannonball wake up.


Special Moves:

All special moves in UMK3 are "taps". For insance, Ermac's lift is Back, Down, Back HK. Most street fighter players interpret this as a Dragon Punch motion. It can work like that still, but keep in mind that all you need to do is register the BACK switch, then the DOWN switch, then the BACK switch, and hit HK. No fluid motion is needed and you will find your game improving as you become faster, but more labored in your direction hitting. This game was made for switches and not 360's. A lot of players have trouble juggling with moves like Kitana's Air Fan, or even Kabal's air fireball. It's pretty easy to do once you understand how "taps" work. After an aaHP,HP, punisher, hit Forward+UP+HK for the jumpkick, then hit Forward+HP+LP to toss out the fan instantly, and very high, enabling a good follow up juggle. Remember that you can generally buffer move directions with a pause, and while blocking to hide your movements, and then pressing the activating attack button shortly after.


Punishment Mode:

When certain moves are blocked, they will roll up into a ball and float right next to a player setting up a punisher juggle. Blocked moves that cause this are Kano's regular Cannonball, The Ninjas' teleports, Kung Lao's dive kick, Mileena's Roll, and Stryker's Baton Dash. Other characters who have a definition air punishment set up are Sektor and Robot Smoke's teleport uppercut, which has somewhat limited options to punish depending on who you are using, Liu Kang's Bike Kick, and Mileena's Drop Kick. Other punishment scenarios to look for are against Liu Kang's Dragon Kick, Kabal's Spin, Sonya's leg grab, Reptile's Elbow Dash and Ninja Slides. All of these, when blocked, make them stay locked in place, generally very close to you, free to be countered, but only within a very brief time. This is not much longer than the amount of time it takes you get out of blocked so you must react quickly.


Anti-Air:

Commonly referred to as "aa" directly in place of the attack which would be used as anti-air. These are attacks which are used to take someone out of the air. It is very important to understand every character's best aa opportunities. A standing HK is a very simple and effective way to anti air someone. Look to use this in close range if someone tries to jump away from a run jab scenario, but also sometimes use the run jabs to juggle into a special move. Some characters can aaHP others out of the air very easily, setting up decent, to super high damage combos. Off a single aaHP, Ermac can achieve 82% on almost every character, but Jade can only get 18% when countering a jumping attack. Some characters should go for RHs on their aa's because it will set up combos, traps, or other tactics and set ups. The best simple form of aa is the uppercut. Try and scout early JKs, run under, and uppercut them from the other side. It is a great psychological tactic. Run under RHs work well also with certain characters who hit high on the RH. Some characters have special moves which serve this purpose, like Ermac's lift. It can be used if the person jumps from far away, which can be baited by use of a non side switching teleport punch. Sindel's scream is excellent anti air, as well as Kano's upward ball. Kabal's spin can be used as anti air from even a ducking position.



Damage Protection:

This is a very necessary concept in games with single moves that do as much as 21% and no air hit-limit juggle combos. It is a safeguard that makes attacks do approximately half their normal damage (chip damage is generally 25% normal damage). Grounded Jump Kicks activate damage protection, so anything you connect after a JK will do half damage. Certain special moves activate damage protection, like Male Ninja Teleport Punches, Stryker's Riot Gun, Mileena's Roll, etc, while others do not, like Robot Ninja Teleport Uppercuts, Harpoons, and Shang Tsung's Ground Eruption. Cyrax's and Sheeva's Throws can be juggled off of, and they both activate damage protection. In MK3 they did not, and you could score reasonable damage off them. This was a pointless change, as they are now even more crippled than before. Stryker and Sonya's command throws (the Baton Dash and the Leg Grab) have their own damage protection built in, in which the move itself is reduced to half damage after 3 hits combo before it, and if you get them in an autocombo, they will do 1/4 their normal damage if the combo goes beyond 3 hits. Kabal's spin is the only attack that can turn off damage protection. If you do his pop up combo, and only the uppercut connects, spin them and let them fall to the ground. On the way to the ground do aaHPHP, JK, air fireball, and you will get the full damage for the juggle, plus 1% for the uppercut in his combo, and 1 pixel from the spin, totalling 45%.

Example character: Human Smoke

Block a teleport punch from Another Human Smoke,and he goes into punishment mode. If you are mid screen, do aaHPHP, JK, teleport punch, harpoon, 3 hit pop up, aaHP, JK, air throw. The result is (with the air throw counting as a hit and adding damage) 11 hits 68%. To break this down completely and understand where the DP comes into play: aaHPHP = 13.6%, JK = 15.6%, teleport punch = 9.5% (activates DP), and now your harpoon does 2.5% intead of 5%, and the 3 hit pop up do 9% instead of 19%, (the remainder of the hits do what they should do after his pop up).

Your new combo is aaHPHP(13.2%), teleport punch (miss)(0%), aaHP (6.6% and replacing the teleport punch which does 3% more), JK (15.5%) harpoon(5%), 3 hit pop up(19%), aaHP, JK, air throw. 11 hits 78%. Even if you do aaHPHP, TP miss, aaHPHP harpoon, the combo will do 1% more than the other.

This is not always a usable combo because it depends on how close to the edge of the screen Human Smoke is, but it shows that the same amount of hits, with one hit doing less damage than the DP activating alternate move, will result in more damage.

Example character: Sonya

aaHP, JK, leg grab 3 hits 43% (no DP)
JK(DP), aaHP, leg grab 3 hits 29%
aaHPHP, JK, (personal DP)leg grab, 4 hits 33%

Example Character Ermac:

JK, TKS, aaHPHP, JK, TKS, aaHPHP, aaHP, JK 8 hits 52% (counting the slams' damage)

aaJK (meaning while both players are in the air) TKS, aaHPHP, JK, TKS, aaHPHP, aaHP, JK 8 hits 91% (again counting the slams damage) - identical combos, huge damage difference because the JK hit in the air.


Pushback

If you block a normal attack in the corner, the attacker gets pushed back to just under jump distance (with the exception of LP jabs, as you should know by now). If you juggle someone in the corner with two LP/HP jabs, or a jab after just about any other hit, you will be pushed back, but you can cancel this with any special move. The same thing applies to when you throw out 3 jabs in succession and they are blocked, the third punch frame will freeze and you will be pushed back. At any time during the "iceskate", you can cancel out with a special move.


Corner Resets

This is going to be difficult to explain in text, but I will do the best I can.
So back to what I was saying about crossup throws, when you land on top of them and the sprites overlap, if you dont throw, the attacker will "ice skate" out of the overlap. Theres rules for this when it happens in the corner, and its very useful to know. Let me start out with mock up of the starting positions:

p1 - player one's starting position
p2 - player two's starting position
p1c - player one corner
p2c - player two corner
| - wall

|p1c p1 p2 p2c|

p2 backs p1 all the way back into p1c so that he can't go any further. Now, when p2 jumps on top of p1's sprite, he will always be pushed back out of the corner and p1 will remain in the corner. p2 will not be able to get behind p1 while p1 is backed all the way into p1c.

so, if p2 is backed all the way in p1c, and p1 jumps on top of p2's sprite, then p1 will be in the corner and p2 will be pushed out. So why is this useful? Read about kabals corner trap below and you shall see.

example character: kabal

its kabal vs. kabal. im p2 and I back p1 all the way into HIS corner, and he blocks. I start the corner rj's while waiting for him to let go of block. once he does, I hit him with the flash (B, F + LK) then the corner reset pushes me
back OUT of the corner. Instead of doing the uppercut combo (which will push me back on the final hit), I continue to rj until he lets go of block and i hit him w/ the flash once more. Again, the corner reset keeps him trapped in the corner, but this time I sweep him. The most common reaction to this is to "wake up jump" out of the corner. So after I hit him w/ the sweep, I hit LP to juggle him immediatley after he jumps, and I get pushed back cause its a juggle. THEN, I cancel with the flash during the "iceskate" and spin him in the air. Since his forward jump brought him out of the corner a little bit, and he was NOT all the way back into the corner, I DON'T get pushed out of the corner. Instead, he's hovering off of the ground and I get flipped around, setting me up for an easy 2xHP, JK, Fireball juggle for 42%.


Fake Ducking:

When rushing down someone, an interesting tactic to use is a fake duck. Run in, duck outside of normal attack range, stand up and run in again after they attack and counter with a combo, or at least a standing HK. This is a great bait move to throw in every now and then if you are having a hard time getting in for run jabs. You must be very fast and aware of placement for this to work, it is good for a character like Nightwolf, or Sonya.


Wake Ups:

In MK and many other games, there are times when a move that is usually unsafe to do when the person has the ability to block can be used to generally make you character get up more quickly and reward you for doing so with a potential juggle, or counter after blocking when in close range. What you must understand is that of course, even though this is inherently unsafe in all fighting games due to baiting, errors, etc, it has become a huge part of fighting game psychology, so it is always a factor. "Will they bait" "Will they wake up" etc. These are sometimes referred to as 50/50s. Some characters have excellent wake up moves that are actually safe in certain situations. For example, Kabal's spin is often used as a wake up vs counter aggression. Kabal is knocked down with a standing HK, his opponent proceeds to rush him down with a combo, Kabal now has the option for a free spin upon getting up because between Kabal laying down and standing up, he can spin between the frames of an attack. If the aggressing character is smart, he will throw out a kara jab, meaning, he'll LP, but instantly hit block to cancel it. The Kabal player will see the jab, and spin through it, but be blocked. Mileena's roll is good for wake up as well, sometimes Robot Smoke's harpoon, or Kano Cannonballs. Another variation of wake up is more like a "Shake Down". This is when your opponent does a high jump kick, you block, and he lands next to you. In this situation, some characters if fast enough, can take full advantage of the decent. Kung Lao can get a free spin, but it is only available to the frame usually, and also, Robot Smoke's harpoon, and Sub, Classic Sub and Reptile's slides. There are wake ups all over the place. You can throw out a standing HK in the middle of run jabs and catch someone randomly if they aren't paying attention, or throw out an uppercut after a JK to hit the aggressing player. Male Ninja Teleport punches are a great way to escape rush down without getting hit or hitting them, as is Reptile's dashing elbow on a cross up, this is more like a "Sleep Over".


Glitch Canceling:

Many special moves in MK have a number of hits you can do before that move is locked. Moves like the Harpoon and teleport punch have a limit of 4 hits and the moves are essentially turned off. MKII did not really have a feature like this, but they start implimenting time limit usage on moves, which still exists in UMK3. You can cancel a LP, HP, JP, or JK on the frame of contact, into a special move with a hit limit, one hit beyond that limit. In other games this technique is referred to as "Just Frames" meaning essentially you have just one frame in 60 to get this to work.

Example character: Scorpion

Block a teleport punch, counter with aaHPHP, delayed JK, teleport punch, run in, aaHP(glitch cancel on contact frame) - harpoon. You have just broken the rules and done 5 hits before a harpoon.

Other examples of moves with hit limit cancels: Kitana's Fan lift (0) Sub's Freeze (1), Mileena's Roll (2), Reptile's Forceball(3), Ermac's Telekinetic Lift(4). Sindels' scream has very strange properties. The scream itself has no legal limit, if you connect a single aaHP or LP between screams, you can continue doing screams until they are too low to the ground, however the general hit limit is 2. If you juggle 1 HP, scream, 2HPs, scream, you can continue doing single HP, dancing on that last hit limit.

After this, you can glitch cancel her scream multiple times: aaHPHP(limit reached), aaHPHPgc, aaHP gc, etc. This concept in general is a very advanced tactic and you should stay away from it in game until you know what you are doing, but the easiest character to practice this with is Sub-zero, as you will see more gcing with him than anyone.

Relaunch combos:

What you must do is do a pop up (launcher) combo and then jump as they arch in the air. Right before they land you have a small window to connect another jump punch that fools the game into thinking they are on the ground, making them stand up and sell the attack standing instead of being juggled. If you mistime it, they will either be juggled by the jump punch, missed, or they will be able to block it. Not everyone can relaunch every character due to collision detection. Kano, Ermac and Human Smoke can relaunch everyone. Sonya, Kabal and Classic Sub-zero can relaunch a lot of characters, and so and so forth. Some characters are very hard to relaunch, some are easy when it's the computer, like the Robots and Sheeva, because they don't block until the combo breaks and their vertical collisions are taller than others. This means they are touching the ground and still hittable for longer duration, but they are in blockable frames longer as well, so ultimately they have just as small a window to legit relaunch. With characters like Sonya, Ermac, Human Smoke, and Kano, you must pause after their pop up before jumping forward since they recover faster than Kabal and Classic Sub-zero. With the latter, you can just hold Up+Forward after the pop up and getting relaunchers with them is very easy. In general, this is another advanced, somewhat cheap tactic, and generally not worth it unless you have mastered the timing.

Off the Ground: (otgs)

For some reason at the end of an autocombo, you cannot block on the last landing frame, or even completely lying on the ground which is why you can sweep after Jade's and Kitana's 4 hit punch combos and Jax's 7 hitter (minus the the last hit), or ducking LKs in the corner after many combos. The ducking LKs can result in free counters however, so do not use them against someone like Kabal, how can just allow you ducking LK and spin you immediately, Robot Smoke, who can teleport uppercut for free as well. Nightwolf has a 3 hit kick combo and the first hit is very low to the ground, allowing him to hit the Robots, Kabal, Kano, and Sheeva while they are laying completely on the ground in the corner within the duration of time you have before they can block. In any other situation, if you hit someone while they are lying on the ground, or in the first landing/blockable frame you will instantly appear blocking if holding block. If you connect a standing LK or HK after an auto combo the opponent will appear standing and selling the hit, unable to block. For characters like Sonya, Jax and Kano, their sweep recovery is very fast and wake up otgs are possible, however blockable. If you get a sweep close enough, you can start an autocombo with a knee lift directly afterwards, and it is very difficult to react in time to block it. Liu Kang can do this to some extent as well with his kick combo, so can Nightwolf and Kabal.

That's it for now folks. Enjoy the read, and start playing.