Pretty noob question I’m sure… I want to develop my sense for stringing combos.
So I’m learning the combos, but want to chain them, to get 6-11 hit strings, like I keep seeing in videos.
I know if you use Sub-Zero and combo into an ice-ball, the hits carry over when you unleash a new combo on the frozen opponent… ok, so there’s one way.
But generally, how do you string combos together? Not every character has a move which immobilizes the opponent. I’ve accidentally landed a juggle with Jade, wasn’t too sure how I got there, though.
And I’ve learned that I can start most stock combos (the ones in the move list) with a jump-in punch, and get an extra hit that way, but that’s pretty basic, right?
Any thoughts - advice for when how to get longer strings than 3-4 hits?
Honestly, I find the most important element to combos so far, is the dash. Dashing for combos is so stupid important, that it’s a little sad that no one is preaching about its importance so much. Case in point, I’d say the dashing is more important than the actual combined moves in the combo because dashing and timing is your hard part. The moves should usually be second nature.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to practice just to work on my pop ups and dashing. I can now do at least 9 hit combos. Though with Scorpion, I don’t really see much reason to shoot for 9 hits if a 6 hit combo can give me relatively the same amount of reward.
i’m in the same boat, it’s taking me a loooong time in practice mode to get the muscle memory together for combos.
but most characters have attacks, specials or bread and butter combo’s which bounce people off the ground.
practice a LOT at using the bounce move and then see what moves you can do to keep them in the air. generally the bounce move, followed by a dash or pause (ye sometimes you need to be patient and wait for them to drop a little), followed by a special or a 2-3 hit combo string, followed by a special etc etc.
but you just have to know that the longer people are in the air, the gravity increases so they become harder to juggle the longer it goes on.
I think the gravity is also affected in a combo long before the initial pop up occurs. I noticed that if you’ve got a strong ground combo going and then do a popup, the fall is a little bit faster than normal. It’s not so much that gravity is what limits combos, it’s almost as if combos have an initial limit in general.
I’m still a little perplexed as to how I can do about 23% damage with a 6 hit scorpion combo, but a 9 hit combo will only give about 25/26% damage. Those 3% extra points in damage doesn’t seem to matter for the stress it takes to pull off a combo like that.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, everyone has to start somewhere. The basic stuff is where all the advanced stuff you see in combo videos comes from, and I guarantee you they didn’t film those on the first take. I’ve found myself spending a lot of time in training mode working on timing and getting cancels down, so you aren’t the only one learning.
Yeah, it’s taken me a few days to at least get one good combo for one character into the double digits and even now, it’s rare that I can do it consistently.
And doing combos is part of the fun, but then there’s just the way other people use their characters that you’ll have to watch out for. There’s much more to the game than just being able to spam out an impressive 11 hit combo.
Thx for replies, encouraging to hear
I’ve been working on my evasion/counter game, and of course getting to the block button in time.
Good point, that there’s more to winning than just getting crazy combos, and that dashing is huge. I feel like it’s pretty important to be able to reliably get those 25-30% damage strings in, when you get an opening, But 11 hits is borderline just showing off
Every character seems to have a pretty easy launch, i’ve learned this week, and sometimes you can bounce an enemy off the ground and create a “juggle” that way…
Personally, to get strings going, I just go through all of the Kombos on the move list one by one, see what they can and can’t link into, whether or not they knock up/back, and then just work out how I can string them together for the easiest setup, lowest hit count, and most damage (the longer the string, the less reliable it becomes in every way).
11 hits is pretty average for a good bnb though. Example:
I haven’t played MK as a serious fighter up until this one. But from what I’ve seen and tried out, the combat system in this game is essentially doing the move list “kombos.” You can’t really just string in random hits like Tekken except under specific circumstances (in the corner you can juggle with punches, etc, etc.) I used Smoke but now I main Raiden. Their combo system is using their combos given to you while either adding in specials or stopping the combos at points to start other minor combos.
But like kontankarite said, dashing is such a vital element in your combo system. When I started playing I started with Smoke and pretty much every little combo he has involves dashing. But if you look at everyone else, they all need dashing too. Liu Kang’s 3 hit juggle combo dashes in between each rep, Johnny Cage dashes in after a juggle to end the combo in normals and a special, etc, etc.
Something that might help you with this game is to know that the combo stringing system is pretty strict. In SF and Tekken, you can react to connected hits to hit confirm for more damage with just a decent level of reflexes. MvC3 has a ridiculously large window to hit confirm with. In MK, there is almost no hit confirming (outside of juggling) because all of the combos you do need to be pressed quickly. So poking in this game is doing an entire combo, specifically one that is both safe on block and will ground bounce (in order for you to hit confirm into another combo), as opposed to poking in SF and Tekken where you throw out 1 or 2 moves.
Also you need to know your specific characters bnb’s. When I used Smoke I knew most of his damaging 30-45% ish damage combos and made sure I did them exactly how they were supposed to be done (needed dashing). Now with Raiden, I learned some bnb’s and practice them. Namely his B3, 1, 2. That’s my poke. If it’s blocked, I am safe. If I land it, it ground bounces and I can hit confirm into another series of the same combo and end it with his Torpedo.
But if anyone reads this and thinks it’s incorrect in any way, I apologize but read the first sentence. I’ve never played MK as a serious fighter til now, but that’s pretty much what I got out of the game so far. Hope this helps OP.
Very helpful. with dialing in combos (useful for a relative fighting game novice like me, btw… having to learn combos AND be really timing specific about them in SF was kind of overwelming) and as a result not much in the way of hit confirming, are there combo openings that are better than others in your opinion? Where if your opponent is on his block button, but you’ve committed to 3 hits, you won’t get punished too badly?
Anything that leaves you with frame advantage. I can only talk about raiden since I don’t play anyone else, but forward 24 and back 312 both leave you with frame advantage for a block, or a tp into more pressure.
Yeah it’s really character specific. If you can have a friend help you, go into training mode and do the short combos on him blocking, then have him try to attack you afterwards. If he can hit you before you can attack again or block, you are negative on frames. If you can attack once again or block then you are positive.
You just gotta browse his combos in the move list and try them all out. Keep in mind you’re going to want combos that leave you with good positioning, ones that ground bounce, and ones that are safe. Like fang and I both said, we both use Raiden and one of his most used combos is his B3, 1, 2. It leaves Raiden with frame advantage (safe on block), it ground bounces, and Raiden can follow up with the same combo into his Torpedo for I think 28% damage.
Did a search before starting a new thread and this one may seem appropriate to ask in.
Im having tons of problems canceling into supers in this game. I see all these combos being done in videos with a few stock combo hits into a super. I like playing reptile and been trying this BnB starter:
FP, BP, BP, Fast Mega Ball
And cant seem to get it consistently trying with all sorts of timings, and I dont want to turn into a “back” masher :D. Same with other characters such as cancelling into sub zeros freeze or slide after a 2-3 hit chain. Whats the timing exactly for these moves. Do you just chain the whole string together as quickly as possible? Or is there a specific timing on the supers.
Can’t really string a combo unless the other person doesn’t know how to block. An easy bread and butter combo for Sub Zero is: Y, X, Y, ice ball, jump forward, Y, X, slide or Xray. In the corner Y, Y, B, slide or Xray.
Doing better now. Finding that you can usually throw another basic 3-4 hit combo after a launcher, so I’m practicing comboing into specials that launch, juggling, learning what my characters are good at, Watching vids, practicing what I see, trying to get those basic strings into my memory. Loving it, fwiw
I’ve been finding it’s really lenient in terms of timing. And dialing too fast is almost always better than too slow.
I know the reptile juggle you’re talking about, works great! but pretty sure I just land 2 FP punches before canceling into the special. 3 if you count the jump-in FP. Does 3 hits then force ball work?
Yeah, and this takes a little bit of getting used to. It also seems way easier to combo with some characters than others. I find Stryker’s B&B’s to be a lot harder than scorps, but less rewarding at the same time.
You’ve got to be pretty exact with the dashes too, especially if you’re comboing into a standing move that also happens to have a move with forward and that button. For example with ermac:
Jump in and punch, 2, 2 -> teleslam -> jumpkick -> teleport -> dash -> 2,2 -> b, f + 1 is a combo.
But forward and 2 is also a move for ermac.
So if you get to the dash part and you accidently hit 2 early, or you spaz your dash you’re going to get forward and 2 instead of standing 2,2 which ruins the combo.
I haven’t decided yet if this is good (requires exact movements/timing) or bad (near clashing inputs is just frustrating/bad for new players).
I’m not a SF vet or anywhere near that but I’ve spent most of time experience in fighters on SF. If you’re looking for a comparison I like SF combos better because they set up opportunities for more combos and added damage better than in MK. MK combos are pretty damaging (bnbs are like 28%-60%) whereas SF bnbs are fairly weak, however they end in situations for you to follow up with more offense. For example, C.Viper and Dudley’s combos.
But just asking how are the MK combos in general, I like them a lot. I grew up with MK and Tekken but I never played them seriously. Tekken was way too hard for me as I got serious into fighters. I was able to learn 3rd Strike, SFIV, MvC3, MK9 but Tekken I’m just ass at. MK9 is like a mix between Tekken and SF though. The fighting system is almost identical to Tekken except for the whole 2d-3d thing, but with the added ability of special move inputs. I like the idea of ground bouncing, launching, juggling, OTGs (Smoke), and various types of teleports. It makes the gameplay so much more deep.
