MK9 | How to play Scorpion Guide

Current Fighting Games Mortal Kombat
1

A lot of people are messing around with scorpion in mk on ranked match’s and tend to do the most obvious things like teleport random, use spear at long range not enhanced , ect …

but to truly know how to play with scorpion is to be as tactical as possible .

what i mean by this , is simple

when you are facing someone , don’t just random teleport expecting to get off a hit
chances are you will face a block that will punish you and cause you to lose the game .

don’t throw out spears like they are hadokens , cause you cant , the amount of time it takes to have recovery from launching a spear is 2 seconds at best , that is 2 seconds to long .

scorpions best tactical attack is his hell fire enhanced cause it grabs people at jump length , and it is also unblockable making it one of the best " projectiles " in the game itself

when to use scorpions tele is for reactionary alone towards projectiles at long range , and for air to air juggles if you catch your enemy jumping towards you . but only works against non tele type characters .

scorpions sweep can allow him to escape certain attacks and be useful towards moving in for a counter mix up game .

scorpion is best played as a zoning type character , he is not meant for rush down , or keep away .

scorpion also has a air throw that can be used for anti air , best used when playing against other that tend to jump on you instead of dive attack,

lots of people wonder why very few people play good with scorpion and , the reasons i listed what you or they should do , don’t happen .

scorpions best pokes are his crouching punch and kick , it has good range and is safe to use

if someone is jumping towards you , enhanced spear will more then likely catch them , be careful though with characters that can teleport in jumping motion like noob .

i hope these helpful tips better your game and so that you can burn everyone in sight .

2

I don’t agree with scorpion been a zoning character lol. How is he a zoning character when all he has is hellfire which can be easely baited and jumped over (unless it is enchanced, but then again, you don’t waste his bar for such a stuiped and non-guaranteed dmg, you better off saving it to throw in the end of the combo when it’s guaranteed on most of the cast), and a spear which is quite slow, and most people are aware of it so they’ll proboble just block it or worse.
Not to mention that both of his ranged attacks trade badly. You throw a spear, they throw an Ice ball, a Net, a Fan, a missle, anything and youre in disadvantage afterwards. Especially funny when you’re hit by a stun move like an Ice Ball, then they have enough time to dash in and give you hell for trying to zone with Scorpion.
Naaaw, no way he’s a zoning character, sure he can land a hellfire or two in the match, if the opponent is trying hard not to move or do anything at all, but that’s as far as it goes.

Scorpion in my opinion is a really strong mix-up character with plenty of mind games. He has 4 (!) different overheads, most of them are quiet fast and some aren’t even looking like they’re overheads (his sholder hit). He has 3 options for low, his sweep is pretty fast, and one of those low options has a good range and speed on it (his f4 move) and in addition can be cancelled into a spear, which leads to a 30-50% (depending on whether you have an x-ray) damaging combos.

Oh and most of those low\high mix-ups are safe on block.

So no, I don’t think Scorpion should be played from far screen trying to land hellfire’s and an EX spear. Can’t win like that :smiley: You can do that too, sometimes it’s fine, but in the end you will have to go in and bring the pressure on your opponent.

3

Same here. Scorp has great 50/50s. He can get 30-40% pretty easily off a low or mid. If he blocks any punishable move he can punish with the spear which will lead to high damage combos. Turtles can get hellfired. At full screen scorp doesn’t want to trade, he wants to bait a projectile so he can teleport punch and then get back into range to get further 50/50s or punishes.

4

I do have to admit though, ex-spear having armor is kind of funny, since you can trade with people and win which they don’t expect if they don’t know it has armor…Trading and getting 30-40% damage off an ex projectile is kinda funny…and it’s much more valuable than wasting 3 bars doing an xray for 10-15% more damage in a combo when scaled…

5

I feel scorpion is best played as rushdown character b/c has great range on his overhead hitting people on their toes will cause bounce and his forward lightkick is also great over head catching and training people to not block low. he also has light punches which are totally safe and gives scorp frame advantage just vary it from light x2 light punch light punch x2 light punch x2 light punch x3 and most of the time if they block they take a good amount of chip if they decide enough they take a hit and a spear for easy 35% to 40% damage. now speaking of damage the damage potential off of a jump in punch or successful back hardpunch is insane cause its guaranteed 35 to 40% life loss that u can get consistently. the only glaring issue with scorpion is his teleport and take down. his teleport on whiff depending if they ducked or stand is DEATH depending on the character and takedown is so punishable u shouldnt ever use it outside of combos and maybe even then. but thats just my opinion

6

Also try throwing ->BP+FB cancel into teleport into your combos while that combo is only 25 to 28% it also give you a free jump in and as a result more pressure also try mixing up your many methods into spear by using ->BK cancel into spear and using the overheads cause this will cause the opponent to have to guess on pressure or commit to a reversal. scorpion should also be played at close range as much as possible unless your matchup is against sub-zero cause lets face it he has to come to you to do damage, having a modicum of patience will win you the ermac matchup wich is tuough because he excels at mid range and his specials can lead to an easy defeat, the raiden matchup b/c they want to crank the soulja boy so bad they’ll throw it out at anything that seems punishable and after almost every teleport, also the nightwolf matchup his launchers can be deadly and he has some decent tools to keep you out. Just pm me for any questions u might have on some matchups ill give you my input from what i have seen.

7

Scorpion is a pure rush down character. Getting the other character caught in a stagger motion them mixing B+2 into BnB or F+4 into spear has really high reward but pretty high risk also. Scorpion seems to be a lot about guessing right because his highest damage mixups are pretty unsafe on block.

You can do jump in 2, b+2 jump forward 4, teleport, 2,1 xx spear, F+2,1 xx teleport. The last teleport causes stagger and you’re free to jump in with another 2 and mix either b+2 again which will lead to the same loop or f+4 into spear which will lead to a higher damage combo but end with a knockdown instead of stagger. The b+2 after jump in 2 is unsafe on block but it puts you in a juggle state so you wont take as much damage as if you would from getting f+4 spear blocked. Tom brady actually made a video showing some of this stuff.

If you want to play it safer you can create all types of block strings with 111/12 and mix in grab/whatever. You’re not going to get as much damage though unless you take risks.

Scorpion should not be trying to zone, he should be close at all times. Mix in ex/normal hellfire on wakeups and try to always hold onto a combo breaker. after throwing someone into a corner you can hellfire them on wakeup or bait them to jump and anti air with 3 xx teleport into spear. Then do f+2,1 xx teleport to stagger them and start mixup. Scorpions pretty good and he’s fun but guessing for risk.reward is kind of a turn off.