Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Classic Sub-Zero

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Introduction

Placeholder

Biography

Thought to have been vanquished in the Shaolin Tournament, Sub-Zero mysteriously returns. It's believed this secretive member of the Lin Kuei, a legendary clan of Chinese "ninjas", has returned to again attempt an assassination of Shang Tsung. To do so, he must fight his way through Shao Kahn's tournament.

Classic Sub-Zero
Strengths Weaknesses
  • Male Ninja Normals: Male Ninjas have a great LP, HP, HK, RH and Uppercut.
  • Glitch Jab Launcher: CSub's launcher (HPHPdLPdHP) begins with HP, so it can be glitch jab option selected.
  • LK, HK, Sweep Punish: CSub punishes LK, HK and unsafe Sweeps on block at any range with Slide. This is especially useful when combined with his glitch jab launcher. Freeze can be used as a punish at close distances.
  • Good Punishment Mode Combo Damage: CSub punishes blocked Teleports for around 50%.
  • Male Ninja Hurtbox: The Male Ninja hurtbox is the status quo for UMK3 combos. Expect most combos to work against you.
  • Highly Dependent on Glitch Cancel: Many of CSub's relaunchers require Glitch Cancel. CSub's launcher can whiff without Glitch Cancel.
  • Poor Throw: The Male Ninja throw is negative on hit. At worst, it is universally punishable by uppercut in the corner.
  • Weak Crossup Anti Airs: CSub has trouble anti airing crossup jump attacks. Most of the time you are forced to Uppercut or try a risky Slide.
  • Weak Mids: CSub's mid auto combo only does 19%.
  • Tall Running Hurtbox: CSub cannot run under instant air projectiles like Kabal's instant air Gas Blast or Mileena's instant air Sai.

Notable Players

  • Gas, MKHolic, pozlovatel (CIS)
  • Believer (CIS)
  • Likemagic (CIS)
Classic Sub-Zero
Umk3 Classic Sub-Zero pose.png
Character Data

Differences from MK3

  • Classic Sub-Zero did not appear in MK3

Move List

Basic Moves

The Male Ninjas have excellent basic moves, good height and range on everything in relation to their sprite proportions, their roundhouse is extra wicked and can connect in almost any situation. The only thing that can be weird about them is their aaHPs. Sometimes they tend to miss in situations where you wouldn't expect them to and this is due to kara canceling with run to speed the last hit up, in this situation, often you can do aaHP,LP and it'll work, with slightly less damage, otherwise, always take an extra small step in before doing aaHPs.

Kombo Strings

  • HP, HP, LK, B + HK, F + LK (26%)
  • LK, B + HK, F + LK (19%)
  • HP, HP, D + LP, D + HP (22%)

Special Moves

Freeze

  • D, F, LP
  • 0% Damage
  • The Deep Freeze is an age old move that still has some benefits to it. It has a hit limit of 1, but breakable to 2, allowing up to 3 freezes per combo, but it's tricky timing and usually not worth it. Some characters are easier to glitch hit counter rule break than others, like the Robot Ninjas, Jax, and Stryker. You can use the freeze as an anti cross up. Scout a cross up jump kick, perhaps in a run jab situation, and run under their jump, and do the freeze as they kick, it'll freeze them in air and set up a decent combo. It's got a little more start up than unmasked Sub-zero's freeze and that hurts it a bit. The freeze is OK for zoning, watch for jumping backwards opponents and freeze as you see them jump. Often times the freeze will hit in a situation where they are physically standing on the ground but cannot block, so watch for these situations. It will look like you should do an aaHPHP combo, but really you should go for a JK starter into his pop up combo. Take note that sometimes characters can be nabbed by a freeze when ducking, especially in close range, especially Shang and Kano. If a person does a JK, block it and instantly do a freeze as soon as they hit the ground. This is uesful because it's rare a person does a jump kick and lands and doesn't continue pressure, the chance of them landing and just blocking are slim, and often time it happens more than once. This will either work almost everytime, or they will stop doing random jump kicks altogether, making them chance their strategy and psychologically giving Sub the upper hand. Sub can freeze within the amount of time it takes for them to land, and even if they block, he's relatively safe. It doesn't work quite as well as unmasked Sub-zero but still useful.

Ground Freeze

  • D, B, LK
  • 0% Damage
  • The Ground Freeze is a neat and somewhat unique move. A common tactic I see overabused is run jab, run jab, ground freeze. Sometimes the person will lock up and wind up slipping, but it's their own fault. It's always counterable, and harshly at that. You might be able to get away with this once a match, maybe even once a round if you do one early on and then late in the last match, but it's probably better to do it when they have less than 50% life left because that will be a guaranteed victory if they do manage to not avoid or counter it. You can try doing something like, 4 hit pop up, deep JK, let them hit the ground, run jab LP to get them blocking and semi stuck, ground freeze. This move also has a hit limit of 1, but breakable at 2, and it's very difficult to do for some reason. You cannot do freeze, aaHP, freeze, aaHP ground freeze because the game looks at it very mathematically. When you freeze them, you cannot ground freeze. If you already have one hit out before the freeze, and go to glitch break a second hit on the frame it connects, the game never sees them as unfrozen during the time the ground freeze would be activated, and a frame too late means the game has accepted 2 hits and locked the ground freeze. The ground freeze cannot be done if your opponent is within a certain distance from the wall with their back facing it (about a character body width), so if you are trying to do ground freezes and they aren't coming out, that might be why. The real factor here is their actualy collision box, which moves slightly back and forth during their stance, and sometimes you can let them stand there, do a ground freeze, and nothing will happen several attempts in a row, but then it will work. (just some technical data)

Slide

  • B + BL + LP + LK
  • 8% Damage
  • The Slide is good for adding damage to combos, as a wake up, but don't over abuse it, as it's easily punishable. It's the fastest of the three slides with the most range, so it's easier to link into juggle combos. Sometimes you can stick one in for free after an upper as people tend to jump away, or sticking in an extra slide after one because often times people do not anticipate a second slide. Also watch for some misbehaving frames with Kung Lao, Sonya and the Female Ninjas especially. The slide will sometimes simply not hit them at all like Nightwolf's shoulder tackle against a blocking Stryker for example, so if you have someone at danger, a slide is not always the safest route to victory. It is possible to break through the recovery of a comboer while blocking and slide inbetween hits, for example the female ninjas kick combo. It has a point of lag in the middle where you can actually go from standing block to ducking block, and if you time it right, the slide will come out here and you can beat them to their next hit. It's a great way to end a match if they are on danger, run in for a chip damage combo that will beat you, and you interrupt their last hit with a slide and win.

Finisher Moves

Fatality 1

  • D, D, D, F, HP
  • Sub reaches for his opponents head, the screen goes black and you hear a big rip as the head comes off.

Mercy

  • Hold RUN, Wait 1 Second, D, D, Release RUN (Round 3) (Past Sweep)

Stage Fatal

  • F, D, F, F, HP

Strategy

As Classic Sub-Zero

Classic Sub-zero is ranked very low in competitive play, around 20, I don't have an exact number to give him, because he can of course be use skillfully and be an annoying menace due to his two containment moves, super fast, long range slide, etc. He is a defensive character, and you should focus on baiting freeze or ground freeze scenarios, but it is possible to go on offense with him and he has a few tactics here and there. Watch out on his 4 hit pop up because if you are a hair slow on it the last hit will miss leaving him hugely open. Of course don't forget he's a male ninja and has really great normals.

VS Classic Sub-Zero

Combos

Classic Sub has one semi-infinite, he can relaunch: Sheeva, Robots, Kabal, Nightwolf, Kung Lao, Jax, Sub-zero, Shang Tsung, Male Ninjas, Liu Kang, Sonya, and Kano

Basic Juggles:

1. aaHP, freeze, aaHP,HP, JK, slide 5 hits 43%
2. aaHP, ground freeze, JK starter, HP, HP, D LP, D HP, JK, slide 9 hits 51% (try a deep JK, to standing HK at the end for 55%, might be more of an advanced juggle)

Advanced Juggles:

1. aaHP, freeze, cross up JK, standing HK 3 hits 36% (sometimes you can get a second JK for 3 hits 37%) This combo is good against characters whom you can't always basic combo #1 against due to collision boxes.
2. aaHP, freeze, aaHP, freeze, aaHP,HP, JK slide 6 hits 50%
3. aaHP, HP, ground freeze, JK starter, HP, HP, D LP, D HP, JK, HK 10 hits 62%

Corner Juggles:

1. freeze, (reposition if necessary) HK starter, HP, HP, D LP, D HP, JK, RH, run in HK 8 hits 57%
2. aaHP, freeze, aaHP,HP, JK, HK 5 hits 50%
3. aaHP, freeze, aaHP,HP, JK, RH, slide 6 hits 60% (or LK on some characters for 6 hits 65%)
4. if too close to the wall to reposition try aaHP, freeze, JK, RH, run in HK 4 hits 54% (slide or LK is good too, or a straight up JK to start, will all result in slightly lower damage)

UMK3 Navigation

General
Controls and Notation
HUD
System
FAQ
Characters
Kitana
Reptile
Sonya
Jax
Nightwolf
Jade
Scorpion
Kano
Mileena
Ermac
Classic Sub-Zero
Unmasked Sub-Zero
Sektor
Sindel
Stryker
Cyrax
Kung Lao
Kabal
Sheeva
Shang Tsung
Liu Kang
Smoke
Human Smoke
Non Arcade Characters
Rain