The two will play essentially pretty similarly.

I spend a lot of time with the character in Practice, getting down the specifics of his/her combos and specials, stringing those together for high damage, and then practicing against the computer in Expert to see what's safe when, how to follow up on attacks, punishes, etc. You learn by getting hit just as much as you do dealing blows

Eventually it becomes second nature to you, what to do in which situations. Enough of this process, and you'll know how to act and react with your character in every possible scenario to maximize your chances of staying on top of the round. Be sure to practice against different types of characters (zoners/grapplers/rush-down) to explore different scenarios, and don't be afraid to go online; that's where you really learn and adapt and get good. The computer eventually becomes hilariously easy to read.

Also, look at YouTube videos for people who have been practicing your character as well. Check out their ideas and strings, learn what you will, and then (same thing) practice to be able to apply those in high-pressure situations, defensively and offensively.


That's how I go about it, at least.

I could tell you without a doubt that the way to master anything is practicing.

I have played MK as long as i can remember, and only trought that many days playing now is for me the most natural thing in the world to chain several combos. But there are things that you have to considerate when you want to really master a fighting game.

1) You must understand the game mechanics. for example:

-Injustice is not meant to be played in the same way as MK, the timing for jumping and conecting combos is diferent, the movement of the characters is diferent and the normal flow of the game is diferent.

2)Once you understand the game mechanics you must understand the character that you want to use.

You can chose whatever character you want, BUT you must understand what is that character good for:

-Is a rushdown close combat character. (Sonya)
-A good zoner with best options for long distance (Freddy)
-Good punch/kick range that could be use at medium ranges (Takeda)
-Antizoner that can teleport and punish fireballs (Milenna)

when you know what kind of atributes has your character, then you will know how to use it in diferent situations and will understand how to best use the character.

3) Practice mode. I recomend this for beginners. Just learn the basic combos of your character. Try to chain combos in every combination posible. NOT ALWAYS MORE HITS MEANS MORE DAMAGE.

You can go to youtube and watch the combos of another players until you understand the mechanics of your character, then when you have something good, go and play a match to see how you handle the presion.

Here are a lot more things to talk. FRAME TRAPS, RESETS, COUNTER PICKS, but this depends entirely of the character you use.

Dont use every character in the same way.If a character is best used in long ranges, just stay at long ranges, back in mk9 you dont need to know a huuuuge damage combo with Freddy to be good with it, you could preti much control the match from far distances of course,whe you where not playing against an antizoner (Counter picks).


4) Finaly Get out of practice Mode and MORTAL KOMBAT!!! While more you play, more you will understand the game an the character, just keep playing and every time rise the bar. Medium, Hard, Expert!!! then, why not?? EVO.

You know how you get to carnegie hall don't ya? Practice! In all seriousness though? What they said above me is pretty much it. I look to youtube for help with whatever character i'm looking to get better with

Pick a cool character..Find your punish combo..hit confirm combo, know what safe/unsafe on block..A solid jump in combo..Practice in training mode..Than just play..Eventually you will learn the other stuff..

Practice a lot! Even a bad game player cam be average across the board with enough practice. Watch youtube videos from expert players to help memorize the combos and some tech. Finally, watch tournament streams to see how the pros play in real time. I basically did this with MK9 amd embraces every detail of the game. I promised myself I would get good and you know what? I did! I made top 100 in ranked matches for a brief time and while this was pre patch amd there was a host of problems with the netcode it felt good. Hey, I could only play what was in front of me.

Learn and memorize a high and low combo, and use them in mix-ups. Use these in tandem with the fastest high attack and low attacks to break up the pauses. This whole process is called efficient pressure.

Getting your ass handed to you and adapting to different play styles. That's how I learned how to play better as Cyrax (I never had to look up his punishing combos, I learned them from a first hand ass whopping lol) and some others. I still remember getting worked by somebody here when we did the first tournament for mk9 lol It also doesn't hurt to do friendly matches over and over with people, like what everybody said before.....practice.

Everybody has added so many great things,but one of the first things I always do is find my anti air combo.Half of all new people will be jump crazy,and even good players will test the waters every now n then.Resets and frame traps are also very important in high level play.

First off know what is safe and unsafe with your character. You don't wanna be doing point blank scorpion spears or constant teleports, for instance.

Then find your characters combo that starts with an overhead and combo that starts with a low (assuming they have both). Basically you want to know your characters mix up game so you can open your opponent up. Make them unsure of whether to block standing or crouching. After that find your fastest starting and highest damaging combo, now when fools point blank Scorpion spear you can punish it for big damage. After that you'll wanna know what anti air combo your character has and what you can land most reliably, if your playing MK i suggest starting with just a NJP (neutral jump punch, where you just jump straight up in the air and when you hit your opponent they go into a bouncing state for a combo). Lastly find your characters best corner combo, which in most cases will be just like your overhead or low starting combos but with more hits for higher damage.

So to recap in list form, you wanna know your characters:
-Overhead starter
-Low starter
-Punishment combo
*Note: In a lot of cases these will all be the same exact combo, just the first hit of the combo will be different

-Anti Air or NJP combo (will be a shorter version of your above combo since it starts with your opponent already in the air)
-Corner combo

Now that you know that shit you can play around or search online to find out when to enhance a special move to make your combo do more damage. Like you'll want to know your highest damaging meterless combo and your highest damaging one bar of meter combo. Also when you get your main combo down pat you can experiment with different ways to end it. Like instead of ending it with Reptile's slide, end it with a slow force ball so you can continue pressuring your opponent. You'll also wanna see if your character has anything that is plus on block in order to create set ups.

Overall tho you can easily search all of the above information and look up tournament footage of the character you wanna learn to see how they're used at high level. Thats what I always do.

Ehh I just played the game a LOT. Got my stronger trophies and continue to play. Combo are easy after you do them in practice a few times. Then play the ladder on the easiest diff. practice . And increase difficulty.
Worked for me and I'm a mutate.

-Dp

Practice

Seems like everybody here has covered most things. The only thing I can add that I don't think has been said yet is always try new things and experiment.

Seriously, once you play and start to understand how things work, you don't even need to watch youtubers to come up with some pretty and/or effective combos. it will almost come naturally if you just play around and experiment a bit. Not to mention its actually kind of fun (and more rewarding imo) to figure them out yourself lol