Mortal Kombat 11/Jax Briggs

Jax Briggs #MK11_JAX
DUTY Cyber-enhanced officer of the Special Forces. Jax Briggs lost both arms in the line of duty, but he came back to the battlefield twice as strong thanks to cybernetic upgrades. Even with that power, Jax’s sacrifices burden him. He soldiers onward, honorbound to protect Earthrealm.
Data
Health	1000.00
Hitbox	Male

Overview Matchups

Introduction

Jax builds Arm Heat, shoves the enemy to the corner, and destroys them with devastating corner pressure and practical KBs.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Hot Snowballs: Jax builds Arm Heat with every arm attack he lands, increasing his damage, letting him use Heat Missiles, and unlocking his forward throw KB. Building heat is the foundation of his snowball gameplan, and maximizing heat gain through D12 and Gotcha Grab is crucial to his optimal combos. Corner Pain: Jax becomes fully unlocked in the corner, where he can unleash Heat Missile combos for increased damage and his Gotcha Grab gains a +4 restand. With Lethal Clap equipped he loses Gotcha Grab, but gains far more meterless damage and new pickups off of normally uncomboable attacks. (Mostly) Practical KBs: For the most part, Jax's KBs are highly practical and can be applied at will - usually to either burst down the enemy when they have only one round left, or to squeeze out damage when on the back foot. F33: One of the best strings in the game. A safe, confirmable nine frame mid string with a natural overhead ender. Mix City: Jax has a 16 frame overhead and three strings that end in overheads - potentially five with kustoms. The Expert Grapper kustom move enhances three of these enders with much more damage, heat build, and yet another practical KB. In addition to his litany of overheads, Jax has numerous stagger points, a forward throw that keeps the enemy close, and spacing and frame traps with Arm Heat. With kustoms, he gains a supremely versatile command grab, the fastest unblockable attack in the game, and the absurdly long 2211221 string that gives him two tick throw points. Ridiculous Fatal Blow: Jax has the best Fatal Blow in the game, having absurd range, incredible speed, and the unique property of fully building his Arm Heat. Perfect for catching spacing and an effortless combo ender, Jax's Fatal Blow instantly puts the battle in his favor. Surprisingly Good Zoning (With Arm Heat): Heat Missile has the fastest startup of any projectile in the game. With heat, Jax gains a suprisingly robust zoning gameplan, using Ground Pound to chip the enemy and make him plus, and Heat Missile to catch the enemy if they try to jump.

Cold Snowballs: Jax needs to build heat, and while he can generate tons of heat through proper combo structuring, he can stumble and die especially fast if he has been unable to secure it. Amplified Heating Up can instantly give him the heat necessary to go on the offensive, but it is highly punishable. Corner positioning is also crucial, and characters with teleports can easily skedaddle and undo his efforts towards cornering the enemy. Terrible against Zoning and Spacing: Jax is extremely easy to outspace and outzone, having short range, only average movement, the worst projectile parry in the game, and no moves (without heat or Fatal Blow) to effectively cover mid-range space. The best thing he can do is toss out a risky Stiff Armed. Heat Missile entirely negates this weakness, but that requires Jax to get the heat first. Terrible Reversal Attacks: Jax's reversal U2 is horrendous, having an absurdly slow 13 frames of startup and a very high, easily low profiled hitbox. His U3 has great range and a slight disjoint, but it has no aerial hitbox at all, being easily punished by hops and jump-ins. Against certain grounded leaping attacks, it will whiff entirely. Patchy Advancing Moves: Jax's F2 and F4, his primary normals for advancing and attacking in neutral, cannot start combos. To combo off them, Jax must have Lethal Clap equipped and heat ready - and these combos cannot be confirmed. Curse of -7: Like other characters, many of Jax's attacks leave him at -7, allowing characters with six frame attacks to punish him.

Unique Mechanic - Heat

Jax gains Heat when landing any attack using his arms, as well as by using Heating Up and Briggs Barricade. His Fatal Blow also puts him at maximum Heat. At 50% Heat he gains a buff that increases damage from his arm-based attacks with a x1.05 multiplier; this bonus is increased to x1.1 at max Heat. Additionally, Heat can be spent to trigger certain Krushing Blows or to use Heat Missile. Heat passively drains when not being generated.

Movelist

Normals and Strings

1

Quick Steel (1)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	2.00 / 0.30 / 0.0003	High	8	2	14
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	13	20	1	1	-
	A jab that's really high - too high up to jail against crouch blocking enemies. As such, while it's a good antiair, it should rarely be used by itself outside of it. Can be used as a punish for situations where F33 would be an entire frame too slow. Jax could use it to do a conventional tick throw if the enemy is certain to block high, but it is very risky. Beware of its short horizontal range as well. Very plus on hit, enough to combo into Ripped.

The Briggs (12)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	3.00 / 0.45 / 0.0005	Mid	10	3	18
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	15	13	1	1	-
	If Jax can somehow get 1 out without being punished, he is rewarded with a vastly superior mid followup. 12 has excellent range, lightning quick recovery, and is plus on block. Perfect for a stagger with the threat of 121 - even possibly into another 12 due to the overhead threat. Unfortunately it doesn't combo into any combo-starting specials except Lethal Clap.

Active Duty (121)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	7.00 / 1.05 / 0.0011	Overhead	24	2	27
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	-	37	-2	-2	-
	Overhead followup to 12, and the threat behind its stagger. Only -2 on block, and a very long knockdown on hit. The flawless block gap can be troublesome, as Jax lacks a special that would immediately catch the enemy for attempting it, though on the other hand it can force a defensive reaction in the enemy and allow Jax to go for a pressure reset.

B1

Power Punch (B1)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	5.00 / 0.75 / 0.0008	High	14	2	27
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	21	28	-12	-12	-
	An odd advancing normal. Too much forward advancement to use as an anti-air, and too much recovery to use as an advancing stagger. Midscreen, Jax has to buffer it into an amplified Stiff Armed to be safe on block, though it can still be ducked and punished due to being a high. With heat, B1 will jail into Heat Missile on block, and start short combos in the corner on hit - just enough hits to trigger the Heat Missile KB.

D1

Knee Jab (D1)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	2.00 / 0.30 / 0.0003	Mid	7	2	15
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	11	14	-5	-5	-
	Absurdly good crouching jab. Lightning fast recovery, long range, only -5 on block, and has a unique string followup. Jax also uniquely gets more reward from landing D1 due to the heat mechanic. D1~Amplify Stiff Armed is safe, steals a turn, and completes the D1~Quad Grab tick throw.

Quick Drill (D12)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	3.00 / 0.45 / 0.0005	High	10	2	21
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	17	15	-6	-6	-
	Unique string followup to D1. Does not combo from D1 and hits high, meaning that retaliatory crouching pokes will hit it, though it will catch the enemy if they try to take their turn with a standing attack. Excellent for filling out combos for the best heat generation, and for pickups in antiairs and high-gravity situations.

2

Straight Punch (2)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	3.00 / 0.45 / 0.0005	High	11	2	18
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	16	16	-3	-3	-
	This standing jab actually will jail against crouch blocking opponents, though the slow startup makes it vulnerable to being mashed on. Not a very useful attack at all without kustoms, but with kustoms it leads to a wealth of possibilities. The hard part is getting 2 to land, but if you can accomplish that you're golden.

Outranked (22)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	2.00 / 0.30 / 0.0003	Mid	13	2	20
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	19	18	-5	-5	-
	Mid followup to 2 with slight forward advancement. Oddly enough it deals less damage than 2, causing 22 to deal the same damage as 12 or D12. Technically mid, but with a high hitbox, so be careful about dedicated low profiles. Combos into Ripped, technically making it the best standing punish (without Enhanced Outranked) for building heat, though it rarely matters as the common Jax midscreen B&B already builds full heat from none.

Get In Line (22D4)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	7.00 / 1.05 / 0.0011	Low	11	3	34
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	0	5	-20	-20	-
	Low kick followup to 22, nearly identical to the low kick followup of F2D4. However, unlike F2, 22 doesn't have a natural overhead followup, relegating its use entirely to frame trapping off 22 staggers. With Expert Grappler equipped 22 gains an overhead followup, allowing 22D4 to be used as part of a canned mixup.

Major Force (221+3)
	Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
	11.10 / 1.05 / 0.0011	Overhead	16	2	24
	Cancel	Hit Adv.	Block Adv.	F/Block Adv.	Cost
	0	14	-7	-7	-
	Krushing Blow: Activates with FULL Arm Heat. Unlike the other Expert Grappler followups, 221+3 does not modify an existing overhead followup, instead adding a new one entirely. Turns 22 into Jax's only combo starting string with both an overhead and a low followup, potentially giving it broad usefulness, though this requires very strong confirms.

3

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

4

Face Smasher
1

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Jump and Hop Attacks

Face Smasher
1

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Getup and Flawless Block Attacks

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Throws

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Special Moves

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Fatal Blow

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder

Kustom Abilities

DEEP FREEZE

"Modifies Ice Ball. Can amplify Ice Ball Special Move. Absorbs other projectiles."

2 Slots, No Conflicts, No Requirements

Face Smasher
3

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery
20.00 / 3.00 / 0.30	High	9	2	11
Cancel	Hit Adv	Blk Adv	F/Blk Adv	Cost
12	23	4	4	-
Placeholder