Mortal Kombat 1/Ermac/Introduction

Introduction

Collection of Souls

"Ermac is a collection of souls, bound together by Quan Chi's dark magic. The souls within him were intended to function as a group mind. That part of the spell is temporarily undone, however, when Ermac is defeated by Mileena. During that period, one of the souls in Ermac's collection takes control of his group mind. It is that of Emperor Jerrod, deceased ruler of Outworld and husband of Empress Sindel. He rejoins the royal family, aiding Empress Mileena's reign. But when Ermac's collection of souls reestablishes its control, Ermac retreats to Outworld's shadows. No longer Quan Chi's slave, nor bound to the royal family, he must find a future worth fighting for."

Ermac is a rushdown/mixup archetype that excels at playing the neutral with many disjointed mid-range normals as well as close-range pressure options to open the opponent up for kombos; some of his tools include an autoshimmy that is neutral on block (s12), a disjointed 17f High s.2 and 14f Mid B2 with safe staggers that can confirm into kombos, a safe disjointed 23f Overhead F2 that is special-cancellable, and two Low disjointed crouch-pokes (D3/D4) with active frames that allow them to hit meaty and become safe. Specials like EX DB1 can be used as whiff-punish tools or kombo enders to grant a stun kombo extension while BF2 can be converted into meterless juggles with Kameo assists. Moves that put Ermac in an airborne state (i.e. F4, s42) can be cancelled into his (Air) DB2 which momentarily leaves him airborne allowing him to quickly cancel into one of his aerial options during kombos and/or blockstrings; his 18f (Air) EX DB3 is unsafe and costs 2 bars of meter but can be difficult to react to when conditioned by the Overhead aerial attacks, and will cause a stun/restand on hit to increase his reward for successfully mixing up the opponent. His DB4 teleport may be used on the ground or while airborne (interchangeably); he can also dash cancel specials like BF1 charge or EX BF3 launcher, on hit to extend kombos or on block to remain safe and potentially continue his pressure. FDB3 Death’s Embrace causes all dmg inflicted against Ermac to instead drain his super meter for 7 seconds or until Ermac cancels the buff/runs out of meter.

Strengths

Weaknesses

MKX Lite: Soul Charge can be cancelled with a dash, granting Ermac the ability to engage or disengage pressure at will and creating mind games between cancelling and letting it rip; dash cancelling this in neutral can also be used for meter build; Float Cancels: Ermac has Float to further open up his combo, mixup and pressure games on top of the mobility it offers; Launching Armored Reversal: Enhanced Lift gives him a combo opportunity with Kameos like Janet Cage, a great tool against gaps in strings and on wakeup (although there is a significant flaw noted on the opposite side); Mana Shield: Death's Embrace gives Ermac an additional lifeline by draining meter instead of health when he gets hit; Shimmy God: His throw animation is unusual compared to the rest of the cast as it resembles some of his other attacks, giving him a strike/throw game that can be harder to defend against.

High APM Requirements: Ermac's gameplan is reliant on dash cancels of different flavors; Bad Armored Wakeup: Challenging gaps is not a problem for Ermac but waking up is a different story: the attack hits High meaning the opponent meatying with a Low makes it whiff.