I have been intrugued by MODOK since vanilla because watching MODOK vids make me think that he can rushdown and zone great, not to mention i really dig unusual characters, but I got intimidated by his unorthodox properties like not being able to jump, etc. making me think that he has an extremely high learning curve.
is this correct? is MODOK really THAT hard to use/master or is that a long-standing misconception?
I think that the easiest way to learn him is to play him as your first character and learn the game with him.
But it’s too late for that.
I think that his combo execution is not that difficult, but the hardest part is using his attacks and mobility well. With the best flight in the game, he can easily swoop about the screen throwing analyze cubes and such, but he also has 6 frames of not being able to block after jumping. If you want to chicken block with him like everyone else, you have to super jump, which leaves more room for error. Then he has his attacks, which are either slow or with bad hitboxes. He has trouble hitting someone short right in front of him, and he only has two low attacks. His Cr.m puddle, which is really only useful for OTGs and unblockables, and his cr.H, which is slow, but has long range and can be jump-canceled, giving him good high/low pressure that can be seamlessly interwoven. I think that people act like it’s more difficult to mix someone up than it is, because you can easily switch between high and low attacks, and then your throw leads into a combo too.
He also needs the right assists. From what I can tell, the most useful assists for him are, in order:
Drones
Lockdown/approach assist
defensive assist (Lariat, Hulk, Iron Fist to a lesser extent)
low assist
A low assist can be helpful, but you shouldn’t change your team composition just to get that. Defensive assist is important when they start to pressure him, because he’s so big and blocking can be overly difficult for him. Lockdown/approach assist like Arthur’s daggers or Dormammu’s Dark Hole (What I’ve been using) helps him get in on them if you are rushing down and hold them in place for his heinous mixups.
And Drones are amazing.
I also think that the way you want to play MODOK is to zone most zoning characters or big characters that have a hard time getting in (Haggar, Hulk), and rush down rushdown characters. MODOK can shut down most zoning characters with his shield and beam, forcing them to come to you. This is usually their weaker point. If they’re a rushdown machine (X-23, Wolverine), you usually want to be on the offensive, as his defensive abilities are weak.
All this in mind, and looking at the characters you play, I would recommend using either MODOK (Psionic Blaster)/Haggar(Double Lariat)/Arthur(Daggers) or Rocket Raccoon (Claymore or pendulum)/MODOK (Psionic Blaster)/Arthur (Daggers)
Probably the second team. The reason why I picked those assists is because Claymore is a good lockdown assist and can be good on the defensive. Pendulum helps cover the screen with crap if that’s your style. Now that Balloon Bomb doesn’t knock down anymore :arazz:, Psionic Blaster is a good beam assist, pretty fast with good durability. Arthur’s Daggers are amazing, especially in Gold Armor. You may want to start Arthur, get him Gold, and tag out to Rocket Raccoon behind an axe or something. Then you have Arthur sitting at anchor spot, ready to be a good anchor and help out the other oddballs with his high durability Gold Dagger assist.
Hope this helps!
yeah that really was a good read! actually, i was thinking of dropping either or both rocket raccoon and frank west and keep arthur as my anchor because i kinda feel that during the time that i tried to make my team work, my RR is so inconsistent and he gets bodied without doing anything significant to the team 60% of the time and what’s worse, i rely on him to make frank skip to level 4, and if he dies quickly then i would have to level up frank the hard way.
i guess the first thing i need to work on with modok is to get used to playing as him, which is a lot easier said than done. im really digging the cube loops, but im not sure if that’s something a total modok newbie like me can pull off in a real match.
anyway, huge thanks to you. really appreciate the help you just gave me 
MODOK isn’t hard to use, he’s hard to not get bodied with because of his inability to chicken block.
Which is part of what makes him hard to use effectively.
wait, pardon me but what in the world is a chicken block?
It’s when you hold up-back to negate the high/low mixup. Most characters can block as soon as they leave the ground, but MODOK has 6 frames of vulnerability.
MODOK is “hard” to use because he has one of the most complex mobility issues in the game, and combine with his weird normals.
Basically the challenge of MODOK is…
He also doesn’t really have any derpy stuff. You’re not going to accidentally throw people into combo, no safe auto-mixup move to spam, no easy way in (teleport), no invincible normals that cover half the screen (swords), etc.
There is no easymode one-shot answer for a problem with MODOK… It’s all about precision.
I’d say he’s hard to use. You need to be insanely precise with what he does not to have some of it work against you because of slow startup,bad hitboxes etc.I get really frustrated because sometimes i’m barely off with something and end up getting combo’d out of my own combo
Nothing is free with this guy,nothing at all, and in a game where alot of the characters get stuff for free, that’s tough. he’s almost like a bipolar character like the phoenix twins, either you’re destroying people and making him look godlike, or you’re getting destroyed and he looks useless.
Ok so here is what we got so far in this thread
MODOK is hard to use because:
-Awkward momentum
-lack of herp derp skills
-insane hitbox to the point where most characters can jump and jab,which gives an easy hit confirm, yet he is given a crappy hitbox for his moves to hit (???)
-No free be card(goes with derp)
If you want to learn MODOK here is my advice. You should really prioritize mastering his movement first, because that is one of the things you will definitely need to be a decent MODOK. It’s sad, I know… However it is also very rewarding . The reason why his momentum is so important in his gameplay is because you need to pressure your opponent either in a keep away style or a rushdown.
Learn how to get out of unsafe situations by using fly. Don’t mash Air S all over the place, because it can be punished if you keep using it without any plan. Instead use Air L, which is much faster. However it is one of the very few moves that are tricky to hit confirm in the game (in my opinion) because it happens so fast, which is why most people may do it twice in some vids. However it can lead to great combos, and pressure.
ALSO REMEMBER THAT YOU ALWAYS WANT TO DO St. M. NEVER Cr.M DURING A BLOCKSTRING! (However you caqn flight cancel the move, but I wouldn’t count on your opponent staying still to actually pressure them :P)
Modok’s wacky hitbox puts him at a disadvantage when facing fast characters who like to mash. You need to have good control of the field to prevent them for being to derpy, and that can be done with Balloon bombs and Low and medium analysis cubes, and Cr.M. I personally think that it is a lot better to have your opponent fall into a zoning trap and then go into rushdown mode. In fact I think this way of learning him is good for beginners who are interested in using him because you are working on 2 of his best play styles.
Also learn to Dash cancel in the air, this is very important for a rush down modok to get down. Wavedashing is also a good thing to know how to do since it can be canceled into cr.M and then flight mode with Air.L
Wavedahing is basically cancelling a dash by pressing down during the dash. You can do this repeatdely.
I don’t want to overwhelm you with a lot of stuff. This looks like a lot, but it’s actually pretty easy to grasp quickly., Pulling this things out in a battle is what most MODOK players have some trouble doing, which is why I recommend playing with a friend from this site to help you learn the basics and use them on an actual opponent. If you want to be good with MODOK, you may have to spend hours with him in training mode just to get his mobility down, and this is just 1 of the 3 characters on your team.
Welcome to the AIM lab, and I hope you stay in club MODOK. We need more players.
what do you mean by dash cancel in the air?
and when people do OTG slime into air dash M, are they doing up and then the dash, or they doing a flight cancel into a dash? both are pretty hard…
When you OTG, you cancel the Cr. M into flight after he shoots it, but well before it actually hits the opponent off the ground. You have to use command flight (:qcb::s: ) because the Cr. M is not normally jump cancelable. When you recover from the starting frames of Flight, you airdash forward and cancel into air M. If timed right, you hit them as they are popping up from the Cr. M and you get to continue your combo.
Dash>cancel into a jump>Air dash>cancel into a move
Similar to Doom in ultimate, and why he became so insane with his new pressure game. This is something you want to practice as well since it allows MODOK to travel faster. Also remember that dashes have recovery frames, and although they are small, you can still be punished if you dash at a bad time. Cancelling into a move relieves that worry
thanks sinder and el maiz. the dash cancel air thing is pretty obvious but the fly cancelling is something I NEVER do (unless i’m trying to combo jamming bomb).
I am gonna hit the lab till i get that down! (slime, flight, dash M)
One good reason to stick with MODOK is because he makes anyone else seem easy to play in comparison.Blockstring of st.M cancelled to low H>canceled to jump>cancelled to dash>cancelled to air M>cancelled to downward dash>cancelled to low H>cancelled to jump etc is mindboggling not to screw up on in practice let alone against a live opponent.Apparently doom is a high execution character…
MODOK is the highest execution character in the game easily i think. Viper needs really good execution to become close to invincible, dante needs it to be powerful, morrigan needs it to be able to move properly,chun-li needs it so you don’t look like you’re playing with boxing gloves…
MODOK needs it to stay away from being free