I like many of you have picked up MKX and lets just say this game has quite a bit of depth as far as its characters go. With so much variation I figured it would be cool if we kind of had just an overall "help" guide for people just getting into the game as well as those looking to refine their play. So leave anything from combo questions to counter suggestions here and hopefully someone will be able to jump in and give you a hand.

So far, I personally am focusing on Johnny Cages A-list var. as well as Raidens Teleport var. I've dabbled in sub zero a little but I'm trying not to fill my plate up and overwhelm myself. I have had a decent time at getting most combos between 20-24% (no thanks to some rather terrible input lag). Right now, I've got an issue with J.Cage and specifically his shadow flip and kick. In most cases his outline is green but in a few situations I've gotten it off and it has turned red, does anyone know why that is? I've tested it with the EX and still cannot get it to reliably show up.

@sackmanjones: I think (if I'm remembering the dev stream correctly) that version of Johnny gets new effects the lower his health gets. So his kicks change colour and deal more damage, and his throw changes.

One of the things I've been struggling with is that I find it a lot harder to get up after being knocked down in this game compared to MK9. Most wakeup attacks are useless unless you ex them for armour, so unless you have meter, the best option seems to be to stand up blocking and hope for the best. If anyone has any tips for when you get knocked down, especially in the corner, I'd love to know.

I guess I've always had a habit of tapping to block button when I throw someone in MK9 and now that's really biting me, I keep accidentally doing to throw reset. It's kind of weird to me that most other EX moves require you hitting block right as you execute but the EX throw has a decent window.

@brackstone have you tried tapping back as you hit the ground for the roll? Or maybe holding down and trying to bait a move with some recovery frames so you could get an easier wake-up? Also as far as wake-ups go I've had decent success with dash moves like Jax's superman punch and knee (bf4).

@overnow: I've had this problem a few times myself. On top of that I've had some issues with the running mechanic as well, most noticeably when the games connection isn't doing so hot. However, I'm weirdly getting used to the lag, it eventually gets through to your head that your combo is dialed you just need to wait a second for it to actually come out

Oh also have any of you pulled off the Kung Lao kombo 1,1,2,1,2,4? I've tried it a bunch and tried to time it differently but he consistently only throws a 1,1 then stops.

Corner traps are big trouble in this game. Delayed wake-ups (holding down) can help bait your opponent to commit to a knockdown follow-up. Otherwise, midscreen, try to rely on tech-rolls.

Not exactly pro advice, but if you're a newb and just need some help getting through the story there are plenty of characters that have a very simple pop-up into uppercut combo that will do 20+% damage.

I have essentially never really played an MK game. I've like.. "played" early MK games on SNES as a kid but for no more than like one sitting and watching other people. Even less on something like Street Fighter. The only fighting game I ever really play is the Dead or Alive series. I kind of hate button combo systems that involve being super fast and precise. So... I don't know what I'm doing.

Obviously.. I decided to pick up MKX. First thing I did, aside from restarting the game because it crashed during the opening faction movie thing (on PS4 mind you), was pick a character and focus on it just to understand the feel and combat system of a fighting game like this. I chose Sub-Zero because whatever.. the old style ninja dudes are cool. Spent a chunk of time in practice mode just mashing buttons, eventually looking up and understanding some attacks and then just doing that. It doesn't take long for my hands and fingers to start hurting so I have no idea how anyone plays these games for any length of time. Took a break for awhile and then went into Fatality practice and I can't even reliably execute it. You have to input it so fast that I find I need to roll my thumb on the D-pad, but that just makes it so much sloppier because the game is reading me hitting Up and stuff. Kinda hate that.

Regardless, I jumped into regular fights against easy AI and actual depleting health bars and stuff. I could actually pull off some moves! Felt good. Although I find the standard Punches and Kicks kind of useless? The attacks are so slow and character keeps feeling like hes stopping in the middle of it like I'm doing something wrong. This is one of the reasons why I like DoA since the attacks feel so fast, responsive and fluid.

I'm forcing myself onto this game and trying to learn it. My fingers hurt after short play time. I don't like how damn fast and precise you need to be for something like a fatality. I'm still enjoying the feeling of improvement and the game looks pretty. I must practice more.

Didn't want to make my own thread for random dumping crap. This thread seems like it'll be helpful.

PS - I don't like how they've changed the Ninja style dudes so much? I haven't followed these games so I don't know if there are reasons they look different or they just didn't want a bunch of characters with color swaps but I am disappointed. From my vague memory: Scorpion was yellow, Sub-Zero was blue, Reptile was green, Smoke was grey?, Ermac was red? Then there is apparently Rain and Noob? No idea who those are. Kinda wish they left them as is. Ermac doesn't even look like a ninja. And I think the modern versions of the ninjas look too muscular.. They look like Bane or something. Eh that's personal taste I guess.

Not really sure what you mean but needing to input fatalities fast, I feel like they're very generous. I do mine very casually and slowly and it still connects.

The point of the pauses in between the combos is so that players can't just button mash basic attacks. It opens up windows for people who don't think about what they're doing. If you try to rely on random basics, you're opponent will just wait until you end your string and start up his. This is the rhythm of the game and why you have to be careful, methodical, and know what it is you're trying to do.

Tips for people who are struggling finding good moves to start a string with. Find a combo that starts off with an overhead into a low, or vice-versa, as this will defeat either guard (standing and ducking) you're opponent chooses, unless he's some pro and predicts it easily every time you open up with it, which I just don't see someone doing much haha Then when you find it, practice it and find a way to extend it and/or mix it up.

@seikenfreak: One thing that is key to MK is cancelling standard kombos into special moves. One way to do this is to replace the last input of the combo with the special move. An example of this for Sub Zero is that he has a combo with the input square, square, triangle (at least I think, I haven't messed with him too much). So one example of something you could do instead would be square, square, BackForwardCircle (the slide move), this will do the first 2 punches of the first combo, but it will cancel into the slide. This is also useful because the two punches are high hits and the slide is a low so even if they are blocking high the slide part will connect.

I'm not sure if this will be too effective with the freeze ball since the animation seems like it takes longer than it used to, but I haven't tried it yet.

Oh and if your problem is that the combos just aren't coming out it could be that you are waiting to push the next button once the first strike actually lands, however you should be putting the whole string in at once.

@seikenfreak: You probably just need to practice more. These things become easier with time. If you're accidentally getting extra inputs (like an unwanted up) it just means your inputs are sloppy. Go into practice mode, turn on input display, and practice your inputs until you can do it consistently. I wouldn't even worry about trying to execute actual moves at first, just take it slow and get comfortable. A common problem for new (and not so new) players is that they panic or get frustrated in actual matches and their execution becomes even sloppier. (I know it was a problem for me for quite awhile.)

It might even be that you're trying to input them too fast. That's also a problem I see with inexperienced players, where they get worked up and start pressing buttons harder and faster than necessary, which tends to lead to pain. I do actually experience pain in my hand while playing certain fighters that need quick and tight execution (which is why I use a fight stick for them, far easier on the hands), but MK isn't one of the them. The inputs in MK are simple and lenient enough that I don't find using a controller to be a problem.

@seikenfreak: NRS games use a really funky input timing, unlike any other fighting games. Basically you can mash your strings into a special, no timing involved. You need to actually dial moves in faster than the moves come out in some cases, which can be really weird if you're used to playing something. The timing also changes up mid-combo for some reason, but for the time being just learn how to mash out strings.

Thanks for the responses.

Started playing through the story mode and its been good practice. Messing with Sub-Zero in practice kinda showed me the general structure of the button combos and then story mode forced me into other characters where I experiment and try similar button combinations.

There is definitely a level of complexity here that I can't even begin to touch. Completed the tutorial thing and it goes into some advanced stuff that I can't really execute on or remember in the heat of the moment.

I'm having fun with it though. As long as I can beat some part of the game, even if it is just on easy AI, then I'm happy. I'm here more for the spectacle than the skill.

I found these combos with Sub's Cryomancer, there nothing special but it's a start :)

B square-Triangle, Ex. Hammer, neutral jump punch,F circle-Triangle-Square/X = 36% damage

If you start with a jump punch it only adds 1% to the damage.

B Square-Triangle, Ice Ball, Triangle-Circle-Triangle, RUN, Circle-Triangle-X/Square=29% damage

With jump punches I believe it goes up to 32 % damage.

Here's a vid I just uploaded showing the combos.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq-JhrvyN1E

I've felt like my key to doing anything resembling a good combo in this game is to go into practice and then find whatever combos will end up a pop up with a character. Cassie's F + O, O and Raiden's F + X, O (PS4 obviously) seem to both work pretty well for starting things up.

As a side, after playing with my brother for a couple of hours last night, I found a good number of variations that I can't do a lot of GOOD with, but are a ton of fun. The biggest too were probably Ethereal Mileena and Master of Storms (the trap one) Raiden.

Haha. Yeah. That started around MK4 and only got weirder from there. Reptile was literally a fighting dinosaur at one point. Later on, Smoke was actually just made of smoke, but still had a robot face and wore these shitty ninja overalls.

So I'm not sure if this is the input lag talking or what but I'm having some trouble punishing people after I block their basic combos. I feel like I'm always just a little too slow and even though I block their combos they can instantly start up another. Anyone have any tips on how to deal with this? For reference I've been playing Raiden as my main.

Definitely the easiest way to start doing combos in this game. Juggles seem easier than they were in 9. I recommend Torr to people. A great easy combo to try is his pop up basic attack (towards and Y on Xbox) and then follow with his uppercut special enhanced (which pops up again in the enhanced version) and then do a grab. Does 27% damage and really easy to do.

I am surprised so far that my two favorite characters are Goro and Ferra/Torr. I usually don't like the larger, hulking characters. I like Torr's Lackey variation and Goro's Kuatan Warrior one.

A lot of people, especially those that played the early games and are jumping in now, tend to "underestimate" how complex these games actually are. It's obvious to see why: they definitely look like all sizzle and no steak and, of course, they have the reputation of being more about finishing moves and systems (especially early on) but there's actually a TON to them. Every character has extremely distinct combos and with the three variations that goes even further, so unfortunately throwing out basics doesn't really cut it. Watch some high level Ferra/Torr or Jacqui Briggs if you want a great, weird example of how fluid it can get even with its bruiser characters.

And unfortunately, the practice/tutorial is EXTREMELY lackluster in this with no combo input "challenges" like in Street Fighter IV or demos like in Tekken, so the best way to get more acquainted with them is to watch online videos. Preferably ones that show the input effectively (which can be tricky since it's usually and overhead shot and the person's hands are moving so fast it can be tough to track). As for why the changed the ninjas: the ninjas were the way they were in early games because of time and money restrictions, and some of the ones you list (Ermac and Rain) actually started as glitches and were later integrated into official rosters. Noob's been in the game since, I think, 3, so he's not exactly a Johnny-Come-Lately either.

@sackmanjones: I feel like several characters have combos that are positive on block, meaning they can keep performing the combo until you stop blocking it. Jason mentioned it on the podcast with Erron Black, but I think there are several examples. I haven't checked it out for sure, but Cassie Cage's 1,1 combo, for example, is really hard to interrupt. It's good enough that I beat the final boss by mashing square. Liu Kang also has the fastest punch in the game, so I feel like he can do the same. Even if the combo isn't positive, if your move has start up frames longer than their startup frames, you won't be able to break the combo.

My advice would be to find a move that has armour to try and tank through combos like that. I play Kotal, and I find most of my attacks have long startup frames, so I can't really interrupt people unless I armour through it. Generally speaking, low punches while ducking are your fastest attack. This also lets you avoid any mid/high attacks. The problem is that you can't really combo off of low punches.

Here's a link Jason posted on twitter last night. It explains a lot of the weird reasons why people may have difficulty doing combos. I especially noticed that sometimes I'd do a special move in the training mode, without even doing the right inputs for it.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDntW5hWZvI

I just started playing the game last night and went into training mode with Kitana - Assassin Variation. I got a few combos that max out around 30-34%. I'm sure there are better ones to be found, but that's what I got from my 1hr Kitana. The "party starter" was f+1,1,2 - I would cancel into fan raise, air fan toss, ground fan toss, n.jump 1, and either finish with f+3,3,2 or f+3,3xxEX Cmd Grab for a little extra damage. I tried some juggle combos into Xray and it's just not worth it with the damage reduction at the end of combos. Even raw Xrays don't seem to do any more than a middle of the road combo that requires only one bar.

I get super irritated about this, because the giant negative edge window was a problem in MK9, so why didn't NRS bother fixing this? Yes I know they added the option to turn it off in Injustice, but it benefits no one to even include in its current state, and is going to put off new players who have no idea about what negative edge is in the first place and why their combos are just fucked. If they wanted to keep release checking in the game they should have tweaked the window so it makes sense.

@overnow said:

So I finally pulled off this combo, I had to use my index finger on square and my middle finger for triangle and circle. The input window for this seems fucking crazy, like I don't know if a person with average or even a bit above average finger speed could do it using their thumb. I don't really know how to explain the difference in required speed but if you know music I guess it would be like the difference between 8th notes and 16th notes

@hippie_genocide: It's not Assassin but maybe this will give you some ideas. I'd probably go for something like, f1,1,2xxFan Throw, Dash, f4,3, j3xxFan Throw, Run, f3xxUpraise, Walk Forward, f4xxAssassin Strike.

I was never really into the bigger characters either, until Injustice. Bane and Solomon Grundy became some of the most fun I've ever had in a fighting game. I've have a pretty good time with Ferra/Torr too, mostly with Lackey though Vicious is pretty fun too sometimes. Kuatan Warrior is also cool, and has what is probably my favorite Brutality I've seen so far (the Chest Bump one).

I'm really having a shitty time with this game's combo system, it feels way more difficult and punishing than MK9 was. Sub Zero in MK9 could cancel into freeze ball or slide kick with a lot of his moves so it made doing some decent 30% combos fairly easy, MKX Sub Zero can barely seem to cancel any of his specials out of combos, so instead I find myself having to stop and time when I input a special and that fuckin sucks IMO. And the ridiculous timing required on like Kung Lao's chain punch move, the only way I can input that move is by holding the controller a weird way and just sliding my finger back and forth on the controller, which sucks.

Try watching the video that was mentioned above. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDntW5hWZvI)

You might need to turn off release check in the control options to avoid getting negative edge.

I have that off already. Messing around with Sub Zero some more in training I can explain why it pisses me off.

Like I said before, sub zero seems to have very few moves where he can cancel into freeze or slide. His basic combos in the menu that don't require directional input are knock downs, so I either shorten the combo and then I can freeze, or I lengthen the combo and then have to time my special better. So if I do TR O slide kick, it cancels from O into the slide kick, it misses, but still it cancels into slide kick. If I do TR O TR, I then cannot cancel into slide kick and I have to wait for the full recovery of the final attack before doing slide kick and it's a really specific timing.

On PS4, if you do X X freeze TR O TR slide kick, it does LESS damage, than if you just do TR O TR slide kick. I don't understand that. It does like 16% damage if you do the longer combo with XX Freeze, it does 19% damage if you do the shorter combo of TR O TR slide kick. I don't remember MK9 working this way and in fact I went and played it just now and it definitely doesn't seem to be that way, I hopped into practice with Sub Zero and was immediately able to throw out a 26% combo with Sub Zero, without even using meter. I just don't get this and it's pissing me off because I'm seeing it with multiple characters, it's like if I'm unable to perform super long combo strings, then I'm stuck in this middle ground where my medium sized combos are entirely shit because a shorter more basic combo is better. I'm seeing this same thing with Kung Lao as well, the middle-ground combos do less than short combos and less than long combos so scrubby ol' me is stuck doing simple dinky combos for better damage than the cooler lengthier combos I can pull off.

Can you explain this? I mean I understand scaling from a SFIV perspective, but even then there is a variety of combos for every character that do more than just a short little combo can do and in almost every case that I can think of, there aren't any major instances of a tiny combo being better than a lengthy combo, because even despite the fact that scaling causes damage to be less, the more of a combo you're doing, you still end up adding to the damage rather than detracting from it.

This just seems really shitty to me unless I'm missing something.

EDIT: and no I'm not pushing any directions after doing my special, even with perfect clean inputs, it still doesn't work.

If you think about it, freeze is a completely free reset after a hit confirm. It should scale, because you can land any combo you like after it. Throwing out slide kick is completely unsafe hence why you're rewarded with more damage for just doing it raw as opposed to after the initial combo.

I see what you're saying about more hits and LESS damage but the fact is that's not the optimal combo to be doing after freeze when you can pretty much land anything providing you're at the correct distance.

@yates: It still seems way harder to pull off decent combos in this game without meter and lengthier strings and it's causing me a lot of grief with this game.

In MK9 you could do a move that's like TR SQ TR freeze, dash forward, TR SQ TR slide kick and that's like a 26% combo, I'm just not seeing how to do anything similar to that in this game that is remotely as simple and easy to do and continuing with my previous example, even if I do SQ SQ freeze, jump TR, step TR O TR slide kick, it does 18% damage.

I get what you're saying with the freeze being a free combo, but that's just them designing for tournament play and not casual play which is my problem. I'm never going to be at a point where I can pull off a lot of the combos I'ms eeing in videos, too complicated, too much flawless execution needed, not enough move buffering. So this being as it is sucks, especially when even if I add an extra hit in there, it doesn't do as much damage as just the basic TR O TR slide combo? That just seems completely moronic to me, and like I said this isn't just with Sub Zero, I was playing with Kung Lao and had the same problem, some lengthy combo doing less than a two hitter or something.

And this trend continues, in Sub's B variation, Forward SQ TR TR TR O TR slide kick, does 24% damage, only slightly more than simply pressing SQ TR TR dn.TR. I feel that we should be rewarded with being riskier and instead we get barely any benefit, if any at all, it seems completely stupid.

EDIT #3 If I continue this further, SQ SQ freeze, foward SQ TR TR, TR O TR slide kick, it does 20% DAMAGE! The more hits I do with freeze added, THE LESS DAMAGE I do, this is absurd!

Basically this is ending up being, any combo I can figure out with sub that has a special in it, is garbage. You can do SQ fw TR TR, fw O TR grab and that does 28%? Frustrating.

Since I haven't seen it mentioned before I can only recommend to check out testyourmight. There's an incredible amount of information on that site, combo threads, guides and whatnot. Always helps me a ton when I'm trying to learn a new character.

@epidehl: I'll keep my eye out for the chest bump brutality!

I didn't get into Injustice too much for a few reasons, but did enjoy those two characters a lot more than I expected to.

Part of it, I think, is this game's increased emphasis on the neutral jump punch. I was kind of shocked to see it highlighted so prominently in the tutorial. It's probably safe to assume NetherRealm wants players to incorporate it as a primary form of juggling. Which means characters might not have a lot of pop-up strings, but they have multiple ways of starting their offense and getting opponents into the air.

As far as Sub-Zero goes, you're bringing up a bunch of really good points. The ice ball should always lead to scaled damage on the combo string that lands after the freeze, but it feels extreme in Mortal Kombat X. That being said, Sub-Zero's game has never been extreme damage. He specializes in space control, and the ice ball is one of the primary assets that allows him to dictate the pace of the match. Sub-Zero doesn't excel when he's trying to land one huge combo, but rather, when he plays to set up several medium-damage combos consecutively.

Take the Cryomancer stance, for instance. Try the Forward+Circle, Triangle, Square + X combo. That leaves the opponent standing, vulnerable to another mix-up. If you can start incorporating that string at the end of your combos, suddenly Sub-Zero offense becomes a flurry of standing resets. The guy can strip you of 20, 40, 60 percent health before you have a chance to catch your breath.

Meter is important for Sub-Zero. One of my favorite EX-Specials is his standing hammer, a single-digit frame pop-up. A quick string into EX Hammer into the string in the paragraph above can get you 30%+ fairly easily. You can toss an ice ball and a neutral jump punch and an extra string somewhere in there for good measure.

@red_piano: like some people have said, any kind of ability that pretty much leaves someone open for any attack reduces damage. The best way to test this is simply going into practice and doing a throw. Then use the special (spear, iceball, sand throw, etc) and then throw. You'll notice the damage is reduced, how much depends on if the attack does damage itself or not as well

Figured out this one with Royal Storm Kitana: Triangle, Square, Triangle, Fan lift, Fan throw, Uppercut

The Uppercut isn't necessary, as you can kombo into an X-ray, or her Square, Square, Square kombo as well. Does about 30% I think. With the X-Ray it does about 36%.

That X-Ray ender is just a waste of meter for 6%. Save the meter and use it as a get out of jail free card/EX projectile.

@historyinrust: Maybe Sub Zero hasn't ever been a high damage output type of character, but like I said in MK9 he can do very simple combos for 20-30% which can only be improved by using EX moves to extend or do more damage and the combos I used, used his special attacks and the freeze ball specifically. Yes I'm sure there was scaling in MK9 as well with the freeze ball, but as I said below in my reply to Sackman, even if it reduced damage, it allowed you to string together longer combos that otherwise couldn't be achieved and that doesn't seem like the case in this game.

Furthermore the combo you mention, f.O, TR, Grab, does more damage than most of the combos I can figure out, it's like 24% damage for a built in basic combination grab attack and that is silly, you can make it even better by doing like SQ f.TR, TR and then doing that grab combo, and that's 28% damage, which is more damage than anything else I have figured out so far, and with fewer button presses. This just seems like an ultra shit way to balance the damage in this game, at least for Sub Zero who so far I've had the most trouble figuring out any good bread and butter combos for, which kind of angers me considering he's my favorite character in the series and I hate playing him in MKX.

Like what is the purpose of the slide kick and freeze ball, even watching combo videos I'm seeing people using these moves in only a few combos, that is so stupid, so fucking stupid that the dude's most defining characteristic special attacks seem almost entirely useless in this game.

@sackmanjones: Sure, but making it do that much less? Even then, fine, I can accept it! But then the freeze should be more useful for other things, make it a thing that can extend a combo in a meaningful way but I'm not seeing that at all because it seems like almost no combos can be canceled into a freeze ball, so even if I wanted to freeze someone mid air to continue a juggle that otherwise couldn't be done, I can't! And this is exactly what I was talking about when I referred to MK9, with Sub Zero in MK9 you can use his freeze ball easily, cancel out of a number of combos, to freeze an opponent mid air, which allows you to close in and do another combo whereas if you couldn't freeze, they would be knocked too far away and you couldn't close the distance fast enough and the scaling didn't seem broken in MK9, yeah you could freeze people in mid air and get another combo off, but you were dealing the same sort of damage that a simple combo from Sektor or any other character would do, that is absolutely not the case in MKX.

Which I expect is why the freeze ball is shit and useless in MKX because they had to add running back in, which is so hard to do on it's own, let alone in the middle of a damn fight, in the middle of a complicated combo that I'm trying not to fuck up with a bunch of difficult timings.

It all seems arbitrarily and rather stupidly more challenging and the more I mess with it, the more pissed off it makes me.

Back to my original post, this whole game just seems way more challenging to do way less damage. I wanted Mortal Kombat not Street Fighter with gore.

Basically, it comes down to big picture balance. Sub-Zero's offense hits high, it hits low, it hits overhead, and it does all three of those things quickly. And he can put his opponent wherever he wants to best suit his next assault. Far, close, midrange, standing, hard knockdown.

Sub-Zero's single combo damage is truncated because he's a fucking monster in every other way. In MK9, this wasn't the case. He couldn't deal with projectiles, he couldn't get in close, and he couldn't stay in even if he did. His attacks were slow and he had only one good startup string (Triangle, Triangle), which hit mid and could be blocked extremely easily. So his damage was high as a counterweight.

My advice would be to stop trying to play Sub the way you did in MK9. He's a different character now with different strengths. I'd rather have a 28% combo that leaves my opponent immediately vulnerable to another attack than a 30% combo that knocks my opponent into safety beyond my attack range.

@historyinrust: I guess so, I'm not giving up yet but it's just really frustrating so far, especially seeing that most of the 30% or more combos with characters involve running and stuff that I have a hard time with.

Are you sure that grab sets them up for an attack? Surely they can block after it?

Yup. They can block. But they have to guess the appropriate block. Do they duck for a low or stand for an overhead? It's a 50/50 situation where Sub-Zero has an advantage. His Square, Triangle string hits low on the second hit and is super speedy. Do Square, Triangle, EX Hammer for a low-into-overhead they have to really pay attention to.

Or, you just throw them on block. Don't even go for a string. Just throw them for the extra damage you might be missing from the combo before.

Keep at it, for sure. I'm definitely feeling you about the damage scaling thing, and I think extreme scaling overall is something visible across the game globally. But the intent is to ease us combo-hounds into playing the game a different way. Combos are just one piece of the puzzle.

EDIT: For what it's worth: I play Cryomancer pretty much exclusively. Haven't branched out to Grandmaster or Unbreakable yet, though I know a lot of folks are digging Grandmaster.

@historyinrust: Considering I've not been able to play a single non-laggy match I don't know that mixups are super helpful for me since most of my time will be spent against the AI.

I like Cryomancer, but without the clone I feel like I just get shit on by faster rush-down characters.

Soooo, ermac has a soul ball that not only freezes the enemy but actually INCREASES the damage you deal. So I think the stuff about Sub Zero's freeze being for balance went out the window.

Well. Ermac has a lot of slow strings and laughably punishable specials. So no, it didn't.

EDIT: Master of Souls Ermac is fun as hell, though. Really flashy.

So I think I've gotten as good as I'll be with Raiden. I have about 5or 6 combos that range from mid 20s to low 30s and when the games input lag isn't super terrible I can put up a good fight against a lot of people, just gotta work on my blocking.

Anyway, I've been trying to find a new character to play. I messed with Johnny cage cause he was my main in 9 but I just ain't feelin him in this one. Been doing some Erron Blakc lately and he seems really good but I'm having a hard time getting some fluid combos with him. Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe your main or someone youve been working with lately?

@sackmanjones: Kung Jin keeps coming up as the guy who plays the smoothest of the newer characters. Not just here on Giant Bomb, but on the MK Subreddit and on Test Your Might as well. Haven't tried him myself, so I can't put a lot of stock into that recommendation.