MK9 | The Kurtis Guide to Riot Control

Current Fighting Games Mortal Kombat
1

I made this small informative vid about Stryker:

[all other informative vids will be posted here]

I thought I would also take this opportunity to open up a new thread so we can have a community guide. Now I’m by no mean an expert with Stryker (actually I just started using him like yesterday but decided I was gonna main him) so feel free to correct me or contribute your own discoveries, combos, mixups and what not.

Anyway, this is what I got down so far:

==================================================
*LEGEND

360: X=1, Y=2, A=3, B=4.
PS3: Square=1, Triangle=2, X=3, Circle=4.
EX = Enhanced Special
B=Back, F=Forward, U=Up, D= Down, J=Jump, +=Press together.
FJ = Forward Jump
NJ = Neutral Jump
Wall = Combo performed on the far side of either side of the level.
Dash = Press forward twice.
xx = Chain into
~ = Cancel into*

1. Normals

3 - kick to the gut. Good poke that is pretty much the center of his mixup game.

4 - Surprisingly fast and has good range to hit at max sweep range. Good AA option and also a good way to end a combo if you want to get the opponent into the corner quickly.

D+1 - Crouch jab is generally used for mixups. If you end a juggle with this it will make the opponent wake up faster.

D+3 - Can’t find a good use for this. I guess you could use that after an empty jump to fool people.

D+4 - Wish this had more reach. It’s hitbox is weird. Kinda hard to connect during juggle combos. Not an awesome poke but still decent I guess.

D+2 - Uppercut

B+1 - Cross Hook

B+2 - Baton Twirl

B+4 - Sweep. Stryker’s sweep is pretty good. Quite fast compared to other characters.

Throw -

F+Throw -

2. Generic Kombos:

Kop Out - 1, 2
Dispatched - 1, 1, 4
Beatdown - B+1, 2, 2
Pain Patrol - 2, 3, 2
The Heat - F+2, 1
Aggravated Assault - B+2, F+1
Spread 'Em - B+2, F+2
Come With Me - B+3, 2

More info:

-Second hit of “Come With Me” is an overhead.

-B+3 hits low.

3. Special Moves

Baton Sweep - D, B, 4

Hits low.

Safe on block: No.

High Grenade Toss - D, B, 2

Good to catch happy jumpers. Kinda slow but deals good damage if it hits.

Low Grenade Toss - D, B, 1

Gun Shot - B, F, 1

Much quicker than Grenade and useful for juggles as well as for zoning.

Roll Toss - B, F, 4

Hits high. This kinda surprised me, I wish this was a command throw or an overhead.

4. Finishers

Time Served - F, D, F, 3 (Sweep)

Have a Blast - D, F, D, F, Block

Babality - D, F, D, B, 2

Stage fatality - F, U, U, 4

5. Anti-Airs

Sweep and Uppercut can of course be used as AA.

But the best option is probably to use 4. It’s fast, deals good amount of damage and you can chain Gun Shot or Roll Toss after it which is neat.

6. Juggle Starter:

Stryker has 3 main ways to start a juggle:

A) B+1, 2, 2 (Beat Down)

B) B+3, 2 (Come With Me)

C) B+2, F+2 (Spread 'Em)

That’s his bread and butter. All three can be chained after a JF punch and both can be follow up with dash 1, 2.

You can also NJ2 right after B1, 2, 2 to slam the opponent on the ground and make him pop up again in the air.

7. BnB best most practical Kombos:

-10 hits 37%: FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 1, 2, Gun Shot, dash, D+2

-12 hits 39%: FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 1, 2, Gun Shot, dash, D+3 xx Roll Toss

-12 hits 40%: FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, 1, Gun Shot, 1, Gun Shot, D+2. (Wall)

-13 Hits 41%: FJ+1, B+1 2 2, Gun Shot, Dash, 1 2, EX Gun Shot, Dash, Uppercut.

-13 hits 41%: FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 1, 2, Gun Shot, dash, 1, 1 xx EX Roll Toss

-10 hits 49%: FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 2, X-ray.

8. Frame Traps & Mixups

Stryker is a really good mixup character. His BnB juggles are flexible and you have many ways to end, reset or follow up your strings. Here I will share the ones I found were the most interesting:

First you need to reset your BnB juggle with either D+1 or 3.

A) D+1 will make the opponent wake up faster so you can take advantage of this to pursue further mix ups.

  • B+1, 2, 2, U+2, dash, 1, 1, Gun Shot, dash~ D+1 xx follow up

  • B+3, 2, dash, 1, 1, Gun Shot, dash~ D+1 xx follow up

Crouch jab (D+1) follow ups:

-dash 3
-dash throw
-dash~ sweep, NJ3
-dash~ backdash~ block
-dash~ backdash~ :bk: xx special
-dash FJ (neutral xx throw, late JF4 or JF2)
-Gun Shot held
-B+3, 2 xx combo/reset

B) 3 is a kick to the gut, makes airborne opponents stand on the ground. This puts you around sweep range and again allows you to mixup/trap your opponent.

  • B+1, 2, 2, U+2, dash~ 3 xx follow up

  • B+3, 2, dash~ 3 xx follow up

Kick (3) follow ups:

-special (none will combo so beware. Grenade is the safest)
-dash~ 3
-dash~ throw
-dash~ sweep, NJ3
-dash~ 4 xx special
-dash~ backdash~ block
-dash~ backdash~ :bk: xx special
-Gun Shot held
-B+3, 2 xx combo/reset

9. Shenanigans

Random Mindfucks I came up with while goofing off in training mode. Feel free to share your own.

-FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, B+2 xx Gun Shot, Roll Toss (whiff) = makes the opponent turn and look at the opposite direction. Follow up with a sweep, throw or neutral jump.

-After juggling with a 1, 1, xx Gun Shot, dash and perform a Baton Trip (makes it look like a whiff but still hits and crosses-over)

-FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 2 xx Roll Toss (whiffs and crosses over). Follow up with a cross-over jump as the opponent is waking up. You can land a combo of JF2 or make it neutral and follow up with a throw or sweep.

-FJ2, B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, dash, 1, dash, 1, empty FJ (ambiguous cross-over). Follow up with a slightly delayed dash* xx sweep or whatever.

*Reason why you should delay your dash is that you’re actually on the other side before dashing. So when the opponent wakes up he will face the wrong direction but only if you delay your dash.

10. Strategy

Genral Tips:

Stryker playstyles:

Zoning:

Punish:

Mixup tips:

Combo tips:

That’s pretty much it for now. Will update this post with the additional info you guys provide. :karate:

2

Well, you pretty much have all bases covered, lol. This is really good, in depth info. You even covered standing 3. So awesome, I’ve been experimenting with it as a “reset/mixup” button, wouldn’t expect others to share my sentiments.

3

Very good stuff, glad there was some mention of b1, 2, 2, nj2, 2, X-Ray as I haven’t found it anywhere yet and I think it it might be his highest damage midscreen. Good to see the resets/shenanigans as well, although I’m not sure if they can roll or not after a d+2 as a combo ender, which would kind of limit your mix ups to guns or db+4/run up b+3, 2. 3 for resets is amazing though, and I really wish we knew what kind of advantage is on that.

Something I would really like to see is some notes on 4. It is quite easily his best move and should be abused, at least for right now. Incredibly fast (frames?), great range and can connect on crouchers, staggers on hit, can cancel into gun-dash for mix-ups/safety, and on top of that it ends up being an awesome AA with combo potential near 30%.

4

Thanks guys. :slight_smile: I added a bit more info.

Does anyone know what strings and moves are safe on block or hard to punish?

5

With the lag online I find these combos easiest to pull off and safer than the FJ+2 strings, midscreen and wall effective. I hope I notated them correctly.

B+1, 2, 2, 4~ Gun Shot or Roll Toss ( 22%, ex24% , 26%, ex29% )

You can add in NJ+2 to get 29% and 32% on ex Roll

B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2 dash 4~ Gun Shot or Roll Toss

B+1, 2, 2, NJ+2, 1, 2, xray 47%

6

Damage scaling is funny sometimes. You know that combo would do the exact same amount of damage if you removed the 2 before the X-Ray. But would do 2% more if you did 2 xx X-ray instead of 1 xx X-ray.

7

Not sure where this should go since we don’t have a match-up thread…yet

VS Sub-Zero

[details=Spoiler]
At half screen I don’t recommend zoning (gun and 'nades go over his slide, ice ball goes through gun [but roll goes under] and slide beats ground roll and baton trip; full-screen however it is possible to pin him down with 'nades for a while, but he can get through so don’t rely solely on it).

I found getting in his face (use a mixture of dash block and ground roll), particularly if you’ve cornered him as he can’t get out, to be far more effective since you’ve negated most of his specials - including his ice clone, which has a proximity limit (ice clone won’t come out if you’re too close to him and he still has to recover after performing it - free damage).

Granted he does have his 2,2 string at that range, but he’s got nothing to set it up with and if he whiffs it, you get a free punish.

Sub also has an overhead and follow up (towards+4, 1+2) - it does a chunk of damage and pushes you quite far (about 1/2 screen; within range of slide shenanigans). It has slow start-up and recovery but any Sub worth his er ice? will throw that out if you get too close, especially since the overhead itself can be used as an anti-air. Funky hit-boxes!

His main options on wake up is slide; which does do a fair amount of damage and has a decent knock back on it, but it’s negative on block and the chip damage is relatively low - you can combo him for free (back+3,2 is guaranteed, and if all else fails D+2) and now you’ve got a knockdown.

Generally speaking, take advantage of Sub’s slowness; his attacks have a fair amount of start up and you can usually interrupt them with standing or ducking 1s. Not a whole lot you can do after but it keeps the pressure on and you’re relatively safe.

Tl;dr don’t stay at half screen, and don’t rely on gun zoning. Do pin him into the corner and keep him there. Position is everything; sub wants you at mid screen, he does not want you up in his face and certainly not with his back against the wall.[/details]

8

I’ve got some info vs. Scorpion:

vs Scorpion

Spoiler

Recommended range - one-two jumps away

-3, 1~1, D+1, Throws for pressure. B+3, 1 if he starts to turtle.
-Gun beats wake up teleport
-Roll any spear attempts
-4 if he gets too close

For the most part, rushdown is a good idea since turtling leads to his unblockable Hellfire attack. Keep applying pressure since his teleports have some startup.

9

Just as a note Slide is punishable with full combo. Just as he stands up do back+1,2,2

10

Sweet; always thought Sub would recover too quickly. Also, good finds on Scorpion match-up, Sketchspace. :tup:

Vs Kung Lao

[details=Spoiler]
Match-up is freaking hard. Anywhere on the screen, Kung is dangerous. His ground hat beats almost every single one of Strykers options. Dive kick and teleport take care of the rest…:frowning:

Up close is slightly better in the sense you’ll be able to get most of your damage here, provided you can get past Kung’s insane pressure game.

Only thing I can seem to punish his spin with is baton trip (everything else is either too slow or hardly has any effect) - which does gives you a knockdown and some damage, but grand scheme of things… yeah, nothing special. You won’t be able to out-poke him either because spin is too good and it can be done on reaction - leading to 30%+ damage.

This match-up will test your patience and reactions so you need to be on-point all the time - that means maxing out your punishments on everything. Since your specials are kinda useless, I recommend saving your meter for x-rays (Stryker’s got an easy 49% set-up, available on youtube —> learn it).

Summary: Like sub-zero, you gotta get up-close to win this, mainly because of Kung’s teleport. Unlike sub-zero, you can’t rely on your pokes nor corner traps, mainly because of teleport. It is do-able but it’s in Kung’s favor. [/details]

VS Sonya

[details=Spoiler]
Zone, zone, zone. Full-screen and throw bombs at her all day. Up close, she will eff your shit up. Her moves come out very quickly (so poking with 1s isn’t recommended) and she can connect her X-ray pretty easily from her main Bnbs, leading to some serious damage.

@ Full-screen: her ring blast is nothing special and you can roll under it (and at the same time toss her onto the opposite side); gun shot will deal with her cartwheel. That leaves her with handspring/dive kick or jumping - toss 'nades and keep your distance.

Summary: Pin her with grenade spam and get the life lead; play dry as hell because she can turn the match around really quickly, especially when she’s got x-ray.[/details]

11

Would be nice to have a whole thread dedicated to matchup knowledge like that. Someone should make that thread and put all that stuff in the first post. :slight_smile:

12

Note on spin. Can also be punished with standing 4 to fake gunshot. I like that one because even though it makes distance he doesn’t get wakeup spin if you pressure him.

13

Sorry about hi-jacking your thread, Hades.

For match-up related info, please head on over to this thread.

14

On every combo after i hit 1,2 i can never get the gun shot off before he hits the ground anyone tell me why that is?

15

You have to pretty much input the gun shot while he’s still punching. So right after the 1,2 do the gun shot. Just like Li Joe said, you input the combo and then watch it lol. It takes practice but it’s well worth it in the end as many characters in the game have similar combo inputs.

16

More stuff:

VORTEX

A) B 1, 2, 2, U2, dash xx 4 xx Baton Trip, dash xx Jump in (late kick or make it empty)

Baton Trip gives an untechable knockdown. But the follow up jump is not entirely safe. Some characters can anti-air with a fast enough special. But other characters with poor AA options or slow specials could have a harder time escaping it.

B) B2 xx Gun Shot hold xx dash xx Jump over punch

Again, this is particulary useful vs characters with poor AA options.

C) B 1, 2, 2, Gun Shot hold xx dash xx jump over punch

D) B 1, 2, 2, U2, dash, 1, 2 xx Gun Shot hold xx dash xx jump over punch

Same idea. Except the opponent can roll out of these last 2 set ups, so only use them sparingly. You don’t want to become predictable.

Instead of jumping over you can try to poke low or force block / go for a throw.

RESET

Best time to use 3 imo is right after a neutral jump punch following B 1, 2, 2.

B 1, 2, 2, U2, dash xx 3 (reset)

Try to hit the airborne opponent while he’s far from the ground for maximum stagger state advantage.

follow up:

-dash, force block
-dash, low poke xx roll toss/grenade/dash throw
-Gun Shot hold xx dash xx sweep / 4 / throw
-jump in (not entirely safe)

BEST POKES

A) 4

Fast roundhouse can hit crouching opponents and be followed up with Gun Shot.
B) 2, 3

First hit forces stand. Second hit hits low and staggers to sweep distance on hit. Decent string, I like it.

C) D2

Stryker’s uppercut is as fast as his D3. Try to always make it instant (by tapping D + 2).

D) D1

Stryker’s fastest poke (6 start up frames). Great to create space vs rushdown characters and to frame trap up close.

**E) **B3

Low poke with good range. Can be chained into 2 (overhead) or canceled into Gun Shot/Baton Trip/Roll Toss.

F) D3

Good low poke to create space vs rushdown characters. Mix it up with throw

BLOCKSTRINGS

You can cancel any unsafe blockstring with Gun Shot held xx dash/backdash xx 1, 2 / 4 / D4 / Roll Toss / Uppecut / Sweep to try and make it safer.

Note: 1, 2 and 4 can also be cancelled into Gun Shot.

ROLL TRAP

Frame trap using Stryker’s fastest crouch poke mixed up with Roll Toss, Uppercut/Sweep and 4 xx Gun Shot.

ex:

A) D1, Roll Toss, D1, Roll Toss, D1 etc.

B) D1, D1, Roll Toss, 4 xx Gun Shot, dash/backdash xx Uppercut / Sweep
C) D1, Roll Toss, D1, Roll Toss, 4 xx Gun Shot hold xx backdash xx Roll Toss / D4 xx Grenade

Roll Toss seems to be rather safe on block. I’m guessing it’s +0 at best and -5 at worst. And since D1 has only 6 start up frames, you can leave a small gap after a blocked roll toss. Wait for them to compromise and counter hit with D1, 4 or an instant uppercut. You can also backdash xx 4 / Grenade if you think your opponent is going to escape by jumping.

METER GAIN

You don’t have to release 1 to gain meter with Gun Shot. So you can hold it, dash xx Gun Shot hold dash xx Gun Shot hold etc. to gain meter faster. This is risky and a bit hard to do, but can be an interesting way to build meter.

I would use this if I have a big life lead in the first round (ex I have 60%+ remaining and my opponent has almost no health). I don’t want to kill my opponent right away so I would build as much meter as possible before finishing my opponent off with gun shot or whatever.

You want the opponent to block your gun shots as often as possible because they give you double meter gain.

ZONING 101


Use Gun Shot to build meter and mix it up with high grenade (anti-air) and roll toss (high crush). Use EX Roll Toss to go through low projectiles and EX Grenade if you’re looking to trade, chip or want to cover a lot of vertical space.

Note: only a few of the EX roll toss starting frames have armor. The later active frames leave you vulnerable to low projectiles and low pokes.

Advantage vs Disadvantage

The player with zoning advantage has speed priority over his opponent. This means he will not trade because his projectile will always cancel the opponent’s projectile before it even comes out.

Stryker gains zoning advantage with the following:

:f: After a Gun Shot or Grenade hits.
:f: After Baton Trip or Roll Toss hits
:f: After 4 or uppercut hits. After an air reset (3).
:f: After a succesful throw.

Note: Beware of Teleporters. They can wake up teleport to nullify your zoning advantage or counter hit your Gun Shot.

Few tips to deal with teleporters:

-dash/backdash block often.
-Stay crouched (most teleports hit high so they whiff if you stay crouched)

This will make them respect your defense and make them more hesitant to teleport on wake up.

Stryker loses zoning advantage with the following:

:f: After a grenade is blocked.
:f: After jumping away.
:f: After blocking or getting hit by a projectile.
:f: After being knocked down.
:f: Waiting too much.

Note: Stryker keeps zoning advantage if his Gun Shot is blocked from far distance.

If you get knocked down far away, it might be wiser to stay grounded (hold down) instead of waking up to avoid eating chip damage from a projectile. This might also nullify your opponent’s zoning advantage if used well.

So basically, the idea is this: When you have zoning advantage, you should be in pre-emptive / zoning mode. When you lose your zoning advantage, you should be in reaction / counter-zone mode.

Zoning mode:

-Gun Shot to keep your zoning advantage and gain meter
-High grenade to anti-air / make them scared of jumping
-EX Grenade to cover vertical space / Chip
-Dash / jump forward (advantage lost), EX Roll Toss to counter projectiles

Counter-Zone mode:

-Gun Shot hold xx dash xx jump in
-EX Grenade to trade for big damage and cover vertical space
-EX Roll Toss to counter low projectiles or whiffed specials
-Gun Shot to gain back zoning advantage if they decide to jump / wait
-Jump or Crouch to avoid your opponent’s projectile
-Dash block to close distance and take chip damage
-Stay Gounded to avoid your opponent’s projectile[/INDENT]

17

What mileage are you guys getting on Stryker’s corner game? With back 3, 2 I’m hitting 32% consistently with 2 sets of 1,2s and finish with standing 4; finishing with d2 gives me 34% but knocks them out of corner, so I tend to go for the former. Corner pressure is insane!

I Went in to practice mode and found it’s actually possible to get in 3 reps of 1,2s during that particular juggle state. You can finish with standing 4 for approx 37% (d2 grants you 38%), but the timing is very strict.

Standing 3 as a reset is an unbelievably good mind eff. But, I noticed if you land a throw or uppercut right after, it scales your damage from 12% to 11% (even though it’s not counted as a combo…).

Another thing I noticed: sometimes I’m getting 7% on regular gun shot. My inclination is it’s counter hit damage, but I wasn’t even aware this game had that.

p.s; good stuff Vulcan Hades!