Mortal Kombat 1/General Shao/Introduction

Introduction

Supreme Commander of Outworld’s Army

"Born into a proud military family, Shao was expected to become a soldier. But he was a sickly child who, though brilliant and eager, had an infirm body. Shao’s disability infuriated his father. He dismissed his son’s physicians and designed an extreme program to build his son’s strength and endurance. Years of toil molded Shao into a physical colossus and forged within him an iron will. And as his father had promised, Shao became the perfect soldier. His brilliant tactics and relentless effort won Outworld many victories and him much fame. Though General Shao is sworn to serve the Empress, his loyalty is to with Outworld. If Sindel’s rule ever endangers Outworld, he will be the first to try to end it."

A master of both armed and unarmed kombat, General Shao is a Stance character with strong mobility, primarily built around playing neutral and pouncing on opportunities. By default he stays in Axe Stance, patrolling neutral with a suite of long-reaching, disjoint normals. In this stance, B1 is a solid High whiff punisher, S2 stands out as a ludicrously fast button for the amount of horizontal and vertical space it covers, and B2 is a slow but plus on block launcher that opponents need to be wary of. Enhanced Devastator (EX DB3) is an Armored attack with the special property of creating a full combo launch opportunity if the Armor isn't triggered by an incoming attack. Once he finds an opening, he plants the axe with Power Strike (DF4) to enter No Axe Stance, losing reach but temporarily gaining far superior attack speed, safety, mixups, and damage output. Notable attacks in this stance include the plus and gapless launching string in 112, F2 becoming a fast and safe meterless Overhead launcher, DF1 as a Command Grab that gains Armor when metered and a true Armored launching DB3. While all of this sounds great on paper, the General Shao player must be aware to operate within his current stance's strengths, as the two stances have limited overlap and major deficiencies on their own.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Exceptional Health: At 1100 base HP, General Shao is tied with Havik as the highest HP characters in the game. This health value can be used to make -50 HP Kameos less of a problem, or it can be combined with an HP-boosting Kameo for even more durability. Supreme Reach: In his default Axe stance, many of General Shao's normals boast excellent reach with generous disjoints. Foremost among them are S22, a "jab" string with absurdly large coverage for its 8-frame startup, B1, a safe advancing disjoint mid with a natural overhead followup, and J2, a downward axe swipe with an enormous sweeping hitbox. Dangerous Mix: General Shao has numerous Overhead options in both stances, with the No Axe stance boasting the best overhead in the game in F2 (on top of a command grab that ticks from D1 and D3). His Low B3 kombo starter is available in both stances. Peculiar Speed: Like his MK11 predecessor, General Shao has unusually quick speed for his size. His blockdashing is among the best in the game, allowing him to close the gap and threaten mixups from a surprising distance. Mano a Mano: Few characters can scrap like an unarmed Shao, where he is free to apply a massive suite of mixups and plus frames. His specials in particular gain an enormous boost, with three out of the five available specials gaining armor on EX and giving him an armored kombo starter (with caveats), an armored command grab, and an armored plus mid. Air Kontrol: General Shao can easily antiair with Devastator (DB3), and his exceptional height makes his jabs excellent at anti-airing. If all else fails, his highly vertical and disjoint D2 will work. General Shao's Army: General Shao could be the most Kameo-versatile character in the game, with the entire roster being viable choices. He works wonderfully with meta Kameos Kung Lao and Stryker, while still effectively using off-meta choices like Frost and Motaro. His superior base HP (1100) also makes health-penalizing Kameos less of a problem.

Devastatingly Frustrating: Shao relies on Devastator (DB3) for both kombo extensions and armored reversals, and it is a highly flawed move for both purposes, being easy to low-profile and risking full-kombo punishment on drop. Though it is the only explicit armored launcher in the game by itself, armoring a move in both stance versions will disable kombo pickups under most circumstances. Safety Third: Shao's options for offense in Axe stance are defined by two outcomes: his gapless options are unsafe, and his safe options leave a gap. His Power Strike (DF4), while mostly safe on regular block, is easily anticipated and punished on upblock and flawless block on top of creating a gap with nearly every cancel option. Even in No Axe stance, he sometimes must swing with an unsafe move to complete a frametrap. The Wrong Tool for the Job: While his Axe stance has excellent space control and his Unarmed stance can brawl up close, being forced to play outside of the stance's strength can have disastrous results. Among other issues, his Axe stance entirely lacks a confirmable mid without Kameos (the closest being his 26 frame B2), and No Axe stance surrenders all of his disjoints. Kameo Dependent: Though General Shao has numerous viable Kameo choices, his gameplan is highly dictated by his current choice, making him less flexible once ingame and often necessitating a Kameo switch mid-set. Kameo priorities include covering the gap in a Power Strike (DF4) cancel on block, being able to kombo from Axe F2, being able to confirm from his cancellable one-hit mids, and providing an alternate armored reversal to replace Devastator.