What Is Considered Safe On Block?
-7 is considered the magic number when looking at Block Advantage. Attacks with this amount of block advantage and above are considered safe while attacks at -8 and lower are punishable if the opponent is close enough. The majority of characters do not have a move with a startup fast enough to punish anything at -7 on block, with a few notable exceptions:
- Liu Kang’s jab (S1) starts up in 6 frames which can easily cancel into his 12/121 string, allowing him to connect an easy full-kombo punish against moves that are -7 (NOTE: remember to consider the additional frame needed to leave the blocking state)
- Kung Lao has a command normal (B1) that also starts up in 6 frames, and normally only has a Low string ender that ends in a knockdown but can be cancelled by itself into specials/assists to convert a -7 punish into a kombo
- The Enhanced versions of Li Mei's Shi Zi Lion and T-1000’s Sacral Spike (EX DB3) start up in 7 frames, meaning that they can punish -7 moves when used as a Reversal to occur immediately out of blockstun
A move is considered truly safe against these characters at -6. The startup frames of an attack must be less than or equal to the amount of minus frames a blocked move has in order to punish (meaning -7 must be punished with a move 7 frames or faster). With this in mind, spacing "unsafe" moves properly can still keep players from being punished in given situations, as well as using Kameo assists to cover unsafe moves.
Why Can’t I Punish This Unsafe Move?
Players must also account for the pushback of an attack they block when determining if their punish attempt will connect successfully; some attacks may theoretically be fast enough to punish an “unsafe” attack but will not reach the opponent due to the blocked attack pushing them out of the desired range. This may require players to utilize Reversals with longer reach and/or forward-advancing movement to connect against the opponent before they recover in time to block.
For example, a player may block an attack from the opponent that is -15 but pushes them back nearly fullscreen distance; if the player’s character does not have a normal attack with a 15f startup and nearly-fullscreen range, they will not be able to punish the opponent. However, their character may have a 13-14f special move that quickly advances towards the opponent fullscreen, which can be inputted as a Reversal immediately out of blockstun to connect with frame-perfect timing against the punishable opponent.
Why Are Fast Mids Important?
Many attacks (such as long-ranged normals, Uppercuts, projectiles, and especially Basic Throws) are considered Highs that can be evaded by crouching without holding Block (known as neutral ducking). Skilled players may commonly utilize microducking, a technique that involves quickly tapping Down to neutral-duck a High (such as at the start of a string) and standing up in time to quickly perform another action (i.e. punishing the whiffed High before a follow-up hit can connect).
A fast Mid can condition opponents to block at closer ranges with the risk of being hit for attempting to microduck and/or low-profile incoming attacks. Having a 9-11f Mid can create a 50/50 mixup between Throw (which is 10 frames universally) that can be ducked and the Mid that must be blocked; this is referred to as strike/throw mix. Mids with a 12-15f startup can also be considered on the faster side of the game’s attacks, especially Mids that advance forward.
How Can I Practice Jailing Highs?
Set the AI’s Movement Mode to “Crouch,” which will cause it to return to a crouching state after all resets/knockdowns and automatically allow it to neutral-duck Highs that begin a string (as well as Highs in the middle/end of strings if the AI’s Block Mode is set to “Auto” or “Stance”); if timed/spaced correctly, following up a successfully landed attack(s) with a jailed High that has a startup equal to or less than the prior move’s hit advantage will prevent the AI from being able to neutral duck under the High to evade it, forcing it to either block or take the hit. The same principle can be applied to labbing moves that are avoided by jumping; players can set the Movement Mode to “Jump,” “Jump Forward,” or “Jump Backward” in order to practice strategies that deal with these evasive tactics.
Because the game’s meta favors moves such as Mid checks, autoshimmy strings, and Low/Overhead buttons to condition opponents from disrespecting by crouching without blocking and/or mashing against Highs with pokes or low-profiling moves, players will want to lab these options with their given character by hitting the AI with the desired button/string to keep it standing and then have it block the follow-up High. This is best achieved by setting the Block Mode to “Auto” (which will cause the AI to automatically block after being hit by the first hit/kombo/knockdown); players can use this to practice properly timing a High attack after a successful hit to jail the AI, preventing it from ducking and forcing it to block.
How Do I Find My “Meaty” Button(s)?
A meaty describes a move that connects with the opponent on its later active frames to improve its advantage on hit or block. The magic number of active frames for a certain standing normal to be considered a good meaty button in most cases is 3-5 frames (or higher depending on the move). Players can observe the frame advantage increase by 1 frame for each additional active frame (as all attacks will have 1 active frame when connecting at the earliest). For example, Ermac’s F2 Overhead is safe on block at -6 and +10 on hit when connecting on frame 1, but has a total of 5 active frames that can connect with the opponent; timing and/or spacing this attack to hit on frame 2 will increase its block/hit advantage to -5 and +11 respectively, and will further increase accordingly for each additional active frame counted (with the possibility of connecting on the 5th active frame leaving the attack -2 on block and +15 on hit).
How Do I Practice Consistent Meaty Timing?
As it can often be unpredictable to control spacing in the heat of kombat in order to reliably land attacks on later active frames, the optimal method for applying a practical meaty is on oki after landing a knockdown in attempt to connect with the opponent on the first frame of their wakeup (disabling them from performing any action except Block or a Getup Reversal with armor/invulnerability); players can practice timing an attack with multiple active frames against an AI that is getting up after being knocked down by setting the Block Mode to “Auto,” landing a knockdown and timing the meaty attack to connect on any active frame after 1.
The optimal method for labbing consistent meaty timing on oki is to look for a knockdown that has a hit advantage greater than the startup frames of the desired meaty button; the hit advantage on a move that ends in a knockdown can be referred to as knockdown advantage (or KD advantage). Although this can technically be done with knockdowns even 1 frame greater than the startup of the desired meaty, the magic number is at least 4-5f more plus on knockdown than the meaty’s startup. The knockdown should also ideally leave the AI within a close enough range to connect the desired meaty or have enough advantage to allow the character to dash up in time to connect the meaty.
For example, Ermac’s B2 has +36 KD advantage, knocking them down within the ideal range to perfectly time and space a meaty F2 due to its 23f startup. Timing the normal to connect on later active frames (4-5) has the dual benefit of making Ermac’s F2 safer against a Getup Block while also guaranteeing that it connected with the opponent as early as possible on their wakeup to disable them from acting.
Practicing consistent meaty timing will better guarantee the opponent cannot mash, duck, or jump on wakeup and must generally respect the executing player’s pressure; however in addition to armored/invulnerable reversals, Delay Getup can also be used by opponents to throw off the executing player’s meaty timing (encouraging players to lab variable timings).
When Can I Safe Jump?
The ideal KD advantage for executing a safe jump after a knockdown is roughly +42 for a neutral jump and +48 for a forward jump. Players can lab safe-jump setups by recording the AI to perform a “Getup/Reversal” action, toggling On the Getup Mode and setting the Getup Attack to “Recording,” executing a knockdown against the AI with the desired hit advantage, and following up by connecting a jump attack against the AI Getup with a timing that allows them to safely block the Getup attempt (or interrupt/armor break). It is also possible to lab safe-jump/armor-break routes that cover all potential Getup options by setting the AI to both normal and Delay timings (as well as setting or recording various actions for the AI to perform as a Getup/Reversal).
Why Is Cancel Advantage Important?
The amount of cancel advantage a normal/string has (particularly on hit) can determine if certain special/Summon cancels after that attack will connect into a natural kombo without allowing the opponent to block, even if the value of the hit advantage seems too low for certain cancels to form a kombo.
For example, Quan Chi’s F2 is only +9 on hit but has a cancel advantage of +41, which will allow a Summon Cancel into Cyrax’s 40f “Net” to form a natural kombo, despite the assist’s slow startup in relation to F2’s low amount of hit advantage. This also allows him to cancel into other slow specials of his own in order to start kombos (i.e. EX BF1, EX DF1, BDF2). Another example of this being important is a Summon Cancel from F2 into Tremor’s “Crystal Crag,” which is 33f on its own (with 32 recovery frames) but does not affect the opponent’s hitstun as Tremor kneels down on the sideline without interacting with either character; the recovery of the Summon animation can also be quickly cancelled out of with an action, which allows Quan Chi to connect with a 1f link before the opponent has left hitstun (F2 > Crystal Crag > S12/S13). Other characters may be able to make use of this cancel or Frost’s “Snow Flakes” cancel after certain normals/strings in dash-up, midscreen, or corner-kombo situations to execute tight links into follow-up attacks (i.e. Takeda B3).
When Is A Mixup A “50/50?”
The magic number for considering a mixup a “50/50” is at most 5-6f of difference between the startup of two different options (with 23f being the ideal max startup in the case of Low/Overhead mixups).
For example, Havik’s B22 string can be ended with either 1+3 (a 19f Throw) or 4 (a 19f Low), with no way for the opponent to react visually to the difference between these two opposing options of identical startup speed. This forces the opponent to guess between duck-blocking to defend against the Low or neutral-ducking/jumping to evade the Throw.
Alternatively, the second hit of Havik’s S22 is a 20f Overhead while his DB2 is a 17f Low, creating a small difference of only 3 frames between possible mixup options after S2. This also establishes unreactable mix as the defending player cannot visually differentiate between the two animation speeds or react with a button fast enough to check.
What Makes A Mixup A “Hard-To-Blockable?”
MK1 has 5 frames of unblockable protection between two mixup options, meaning that if a Low and an Overhead connect within 5 frames of each other and the defending player correctly blocks the option that technically connects first, both attack heights will automatically be blocked. However, players can still create ambiguous mixups/setups that make it difficult for defending opponents to visually distinguish between which attack height to block against first. This is referred to as a hard-to-blockable as it is not a true unblockable setup (except in rare cases).
For example, Sindel can cancel her B2 into Levitate (DB2) to access her aerial Overhead normals while having a Kameo assist that can also enforce a Low option, such as setting up Kung Lao’s “Buzz Saw” in advance or performing a Transmute cancel into Aftershock Tremor’s “Ground Pound” on reaction. The executing player can time these options to occur visually within the same window while deciding to either let Sindel’s Overhead normal or her Kameo’s Low assist connect first between the two. The defending opponent will be forced to guess correctly between blocking positions but will defend both options automatically if the initial hit is blocked correctly.
