Mortal Kombat 1/Quan Chi/Strategy

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Chi

#MK1_Quan Chi

The Basics of Zoning

This is a stream from James Chen (jchensor) discussing the basics of zoning. The fundamental idea is that a zoner must make predictions on the enemy's next action, and that the enemy's frustration makes the zoner's job easier because you become easy to predict. He highlights two examples: Orochi Shermie from KOF15 and her distance-target projectile, and Axl from Guilty Gear and his long ranged, but committal chain attacks. Simplifying this into a unified theory of zoning, we have the following: a zoner must play around the fundamental gap between "what they want you to do next" and "what they think you'll do next", and they win when through conditioning, frustration, and setups, the gap is eliminated. Still, much work must be done to reach that point.

Back To 1991: Fireballs / Jump / Antiair RPS

The most basic expression of the zoner's gambit is classic fireballs vs. antiair gameplan - create projectiles to entice the enemy to jump, and then antiair them when they do. Quan can easily apply this, between the Bone Cage that the enemy can jump to escape, and the slow EX Head Rush that's highly plus on block and gives the enemy ample time to notice and jump over it. F21 and S4 are also avoided by jumping, but they are too committal to be used as bait by themselves, and must be applied as part of a greater conditioning goal. For the antiair itself, whether through a read or a setup, both S3 and 13 will give superb reward; S3 is better at avoiding jump-in attacks with its wide disjoint, but the 16 frame startup isn't great on reaction. Once the combo is found, Quan can change his routing to continue to force the jump vs. antiair gameplan, or switch to a different plan.

Return to 2023: The Modern Sorceror's Zoning

Fireball / jump / antiair RPS is a robust strategy, and Quan has solid tools for its application; however, as a classical gambit, experienced enemies are prepared to deal with it by patient, grounded approach. As such, it must be bolstered by another layer of zoning tools.

The main goal here in this second layer is to buy grounded space by restricting the enemy's approach, and then use that space to set up buffs. Psycho Skull (db1) is the first step to this additional layer. By coming from above and bouncing airborne enemies for an S4 pickup, it occupies the perfect niche to augment the above gameplan: it discourages jumping, it cannot be low profiled, and it still works as a fullscreen projectile against grounded enemies. It can be upblocked, but an enemy trying to aggressively approach through dashblocking cannot upblock it - they must remain stationary due to upblock having startup. Upblock also does not negate chip. If you misjudge the distance and do a Psycho Skull up close, it's safe on regular block. EX Psycho Skull is not entirely necessary to accomplish this but it makes it far more easy and threatening, as it aims automatically and gives the bounce on grounded hit as well. Once the difficult approach is established, Quan can use the space to set things up - Zone of Fear to keep them off his back, Zone of Power to greatly boost this zoning layer, Zone of Waste to disrupt the enemy and create the opportunity for a rushdown sequence, or even EX Head Rush or EX Field of Bones on the ground to entice them to jump again.

Once a Zone of Power is set up, the situation takes a huge step towards eliminating the predictive gap. Head Rush can no longer be ducked, and Psycho Skull, while no longer overhead, covers nearly the entire fightline and leaves Quan plus on block. If enemies have no answer for the withering fire from Zone of Power, Power Psycho Skull can be used to loop the situation - use the plus frames to jail into S4 and cancel into a Zone of Power. Zone of Fear is a less loopable, but more blunt and immediate countermeasure in the zoning plan - most enemies will have no option whatsoever to battle up close, and if they try they can easily be caught by S3 and S4. Enemies who show patience will give Quan plenty of space to set up further options.

Air Head Rush also fits into this second layer - it hits mid to catch ducking, and angles downward to discourage jumping. Psycho Skull will generally give better reward, but Air Head Rush comes out faster and allows for slight backwards movement. If the enemy is very consistent at upblocking Psycho Skull, switch to Air Head Rush.

F2 ~ Psycho Skull OS

F2 is a disjoint and active mid with the F21 followup to put the enemy fullscreen. Between the two attacks, Quan can safely cover a wide area in front of him and continue with projectiles and setups. In the zoner toolkit, it represents the covering space action to put a safe hitbox in front of Quan and halt the enemy advance. Knowing when to use this instead of another projectile is difficult to cleanly explain, but a simple rule of thumb is that if the enemy has already started moving and is closer than fullscreen distance, F2 is not a bad idea.

F21 by itself is already an important option in the zoner gameplan, but its up-close performance is rather lacking, with F21 being -14 on block. It becomes far more powerful when combined with EX Psycho Skull for an exceptional OS. F2 buffered into EX Psycho Skull will give F21 if F2 whiffs, allowing Quan to still cover significant space in neutral. If the F2 hits he gets a combo pickup with the fantastic damage from EX Psycho Skull, and on block Quan remains at -3 and out of poke distance - perfect for fishing with another F2 OS. If the enemy blocks the F2 and attempts to armor they will get armor broken. To beat this they can either block the F2 and jump forward, or block the F2, dash forward to avoid the overhead part of the projectile, and then armor through the mid blast - both options can be cleanly beaten by just doing a regular F21 input, or buffering nothing behind the F2.

The Devil's Leg: On the Usage of S4

S4 is too slow to be used as a direct anti-jump bait, and is easily avoided by forward movement. Its purpose is to provide an unreactable attack from anywhere onscreen, denying them space to react to fireballs or go for anti-projectile setups; it is the ultimate move to keep them on their toes. Even from situations that don't jail, S4 after a plus fireball will catch enemies trying to take the opportunity to advance, forcing them to waste more time to avoid the possible attack. As it hits a wide area and comes from behind, it will stop nearly all anti-zoning options in their tracks, especially kameo options, while still allowing Quan the cancel to further his gameplan. Blocking S4 will actually make this easier for Quan, as being stationary will guarantee that the kameo takes the hit. Motaro Shield can be caught, and Sub Ice Armor can be caught even if the armor has taken effect - and with a kameo that gives combos from S4, this gives Quan an opportunity to deal unbreakable damage. Projectiles like Frost Ice Karpet and Kano Knives are a little more troublesome, but Quan can cancel into Sky Drop to dodge them. Beyond kameos, Quan can stop Peacemaker Force Field and Ermac meter armor on startup, and cancelling S4 into Field of Bones will waste significant time for the buff to wear out.

S4 is also important for midscreen punishes. Many moves employed as anti-projectile options, such as Mileena Ball Roll and supers, are unsafe but leave Quan too far away to punish with a jabstring. In these cases, S4 is there to guarantee the catch - which is why a kameo that gives a full combo from S4 is so valued, as without that he must spend two bars for EX From the Fog.

Exchange of Fire

Quan is extraordinarily difficult to defeat in the zoning wars. Slow EX Head Rush destroys enemy projectiles and stays on the screen for a while, providing him with cover for far longer than any other EX destroying projectile (i.e. Liu Kang EX Cosmic Flame, Sub EX Iceball, Tanya EX Heavenly Hand). Psycho Skull goes around the enemy's EX destroying projectiles, and the lengthy bounce of EX Psycho Skull grants far longer hit advantage than most other EX projectiles, giving him a leg up in the trade. S4 can stop the enemy's fireballs before they even come out, and it lets him put down a Zone of Waste to simply overwhelm the enemy's options by volume of fire. With how Power Psycho Skull works, even if Quan gets hit by the enemy's fireball and the enemy can block Quan's, the significant block advantage will deny their options of capitalization. If all else fails he can Sky Drop to catch their zoning, but this is generally much riskier than staying fullscreen.

Projectile Immunity, Low Profiling, and Other Anti-Projectile Options

If the enemy managed to get out a projectile-immune state, Quan is not defeated. Enemies fighting a zoner will typically try to recklessly aggress while they have buff up - put a stop to their advance with Zone of Fear. Quan still has a suite of disjoint normals, entirely unaffected by projectile immunity, and well suited to defensive play. If he lands a hit, remember that Zone of Waste is also not affected by projectile immunity, and Quan can switch to forcing a rushdown sequence.

Quan has no need to fear low profiling moves. Psycho Skull and Field of Bones will ignore the low profile entirely, and EX Head Rush cannot be low profiled. Even fullscreen enemies trying to low profile S4 can be stomped into the ground with D+F+4. Power Head Rush is harder to low profile, but a lucky enemy might still be able to sneak between the sine wave skulls. Stop the enemy's reckless advance with an F2 ~ EX Psycho Skull OS.

Mavado Snag is a dangerous rushdown move, intended to force the enemy to play at close range. While Quan can stop the move with a preemptive S4, it is a much harder catch than other kameo moves, and Quan doesn't get to hit Mavado with the kick for extra damage and kameo lockout. Still, if he reads that the move is coming, he can duck and then punish with S4.

The only anti-projectile options that Quan doesn't have a unique answer or punish for are teleports. If the enemy is trying to force with teleports, ease up on the S4 usage and try to put down portals instead of committing to a projectile. Portals, being a crucial part of Quan's zoning, will still tempt the enemy into teleporting, while having a short enough recovery that he will be able to block if done on reaction. Quan can also punish a teleport on a hard read with EX Psycho Skull, but the timing has to be perfect - too soon and they'll teleport out of the way, too late and their attack won't be stopped. The projectile lifespan has to take effect once the enemy has moved their location, giving a ten frame window for the projectile to come down before the enemy's attack lands.

Summary

Zoning has two halves; anticipating your enemy's next move and smothering it before it succeeds, and conditioning the enemy's next move to force a punishable action from them. Quan Chi can force both aspects from any distance onscreen, and he can turn space and punishes into dangerous setups to further tip the fight in his favor. Use S4 to stop their buffs and disrupt their movement options.

Zone of Waste is Everything

Zone of Waste is an extremely powerful lockdown move that is the key to all his non-zoning options. By draining meter it prevents breaker, and by granting armor it negates Quan's main up-close weaknesses of being easily mashable and having numerous gaps. It stays active when Quan is hit, allowing him to escape the enemy's combo. This is his single best move, and while it is up it is extremely risky to contest Quan up close.

Zoning Too

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Chi

#MK1_Quan Chi