Attack Height
- High attacks will connect on a standing opponent if they are not blocking but can be blocking either standing or crouching; they will also whiff on a crouching opponent so long as the opponent is not blocking or in a jailed state. Some high attacks may also be low profiled if the opponent does an attack that lowers their hurtbox below the high attack’s hitbox.
- Mid attacks cannot be evaded by crouching but can be blocked either standing or crouching. Some mid attacks may also be low profiled if the opponent does a low-hitting attack that lowers their hurtbox below the mid attack’s hitbox.
- Low attacks must be blocked while crouching but may also be evaded by jumping and certain grounded attacks that put the player in an airborne state (example: Ashrah F3).
- Overhead attacks must be blocked standing in all cases. These attacks can also be Up-Blocked which will increase their recovery making them punishable. All jumping normals hit as Overhead Attacks when connecting against a grounded opponent on the way down.
- Throw attacks cannot be blocked under any circumstance but can always be jumped, with the exception of Reiko’s held Fatal Blow. Most throws in the game are considered highs and can be neutral ducked (crouched without blocking), but select characters may have command grabs that are considered mids and cannot be crouched. Basic throws can also be escaped or teched, while command throws cannot. Some characters may also have automatic command throws that are incorporated as enders of kombo strings.
- Unblockable attacks cannot be defended against in any way except by avoiding the hit region of the attack altogether, or by using armor/invulnerability to negate its impact. These attacks can be useful for creating unblockable setups, although the game has a slight form of automatic unblockable mixup protection which allows players to block a low and an overhead that hit on basically the same frame, so long as they guess correctly on blocking the attack that is considered to hit first. In addition to this, some unblockable moves may change their properties depending on which way the defending player hit by them is blocking (i.e. only launching a player that is stand blocking).
Attack Damage
Refers to the damage taken by players on hit; any damage inflicted by attacks will be displayed in value points measured to the hundredth decimal (110.00 for example) and will subtract as many points from the affected opponent’s health value. The damage value for individual attacks is listed in the move list or briefly on the characters’ hit regions in practice mode, but damage will be displayed onscreen during the match above the kombo-hit counter once a kombo has reached two hits.
Kombo Damage Scaling
Each individual attack has properties that reduce the damage inflicted from subsequent attacks performed in the same kombo. This damage proration is different for each attack, but overall will reduce the damage each attack does by a greater amount as the kombo continues, which means longer kombos with more hits will inflict a gradually decreasing rate of damage. Damage will be scaled to the hundredth decimal place. Certain moves (such as Fatal Blows) may scale kombo damage very heavily, resulting in the move doing far less damage when used in a kombo than it will inflict when done separately.
Gravity Scaling
A mechanic that regulates the rate by which certain moves will also cause the opponent to fall down to the ground out of a juggle/float state increasingly faster as the kombo continues longer or more hits are added. Additional and/or repeated attacks in a kombo will knock the opponent back up from falling at varied yet gradually lower heights, until the kombo eventually cannot be continued before the opponent enters the knockdown state. The height at which an opponent is launched and how much faster they fall down afterwards depends on the attack that is used, affecting the juggle scaling to different degrees. Hitting an airborne opponent with a move that “stuns” or “restands” will not negate gravity scaling.
Block Damage
Also known as chip damage; refers to damage taken by the players from blocking attacks. The amount of block damage a given move can inflict varies and differs in its amount relative to that move’s hit damage. All attacks in the game inflict an approximate minimum of 3.00 damage (0.3%) on block, which is also allowed to eventually kill the opponent. Individual hits in kombo strings do not have their damage scaled such as with the overall damage in kombos. This chip damage can be negated by Flawless Blocking, or by blocking with at least 1 bar of super meter during a player’s last pixel of health to automatically spend the remaining meter and activate “Chip Damage Avoided/Last Breath”.
Flawless Block Damage
While this is rather rare due to Flawless Block negating virtually all chip damage, some select cases may exist where flawless block reduces chip damage down to a minimum of 0.001 dmg.
Pushback
A property of some moves that causes them to “push the opponent back.” While this can equally describe the hit reaction caused by some moves (resulting in pushback that creates advantage & space between characters), this term tends to be commonly associated with moves pushing an opponent back on block. Flawless Block and/or Up Block can be used to negate or reduce the pushback on specific moves (i.e. Uppercuts, Fatal Blows, Jump Attacks, etc.)
Knockdown
A state where the player is knocked down on the ground and cannot be hit until risen up. This is considered a generally disadvantageous position where the opponent who scored the knockdown can keep pressuring the player as they attempt to wakeup and defend themselves (this mindgame is called okizeme, or just “oki” for short). Moves that grant a knockdown in this game vary in the amount of time they leave the opponent floored and how far away they place the opponent, however the frame data shows the hit advantage normally, making it very easy to lab oki setups and meaty timings after knockdowns on certain attacks. The only actions that can be performed by the player in the knockdown state are delayed getup (which will keep them in this knockdown state for another second) or buffering a reversal input to come out on the first wakeup frame. While in the rising animation the player is briefly invulnerable to attacks for __ frames before being considered returned back to the standing neutral state and becoming prone to incoming attacks.
Juggle/Float
Launching the opponent upwards into the air with certain attacks may put them in an airborne state during which the player can juggle them with additional hits to continue the kombo until they fall to the ground either due to the juggle hit missing or gravity scaling. Hitting opponents out of certain states such as jumping, crumple, and select moves (that may take the opponent even slightly airborne in their animation or hit reaction) will float the opponent into this juggle state. Command grabs can connect on an opponent in this state, however regular throws cannot. Moves that have a “restand” property will recapture the opponent from this airborne state and reposition them in their standing state (either resetting the opponent to neutral or stunning them to allow the player to continue the kombo even further).
Stun/Crumple
A state of prolonged hitstun with a unique animation that allows players to extend kombos. Unlike most other fighting games, stun is a property given to certain special moves by default that cannot be mashed or teched out of. Certain stun moves may freeze the opponent in place whether grounded or airborne (i.e. Frost, Subzero, Geras) while others may also restand the opponent and allow for a whole new launch or kombo extension (i.e. Scorpion, Sindel). The amount of stuns allowed within the game’s kombo structure may be limited to once or twice per kombo.
Another type of stun is the crumple state (referred to in-game as “Collapses On Hit”); several moves have a similar hit animation where the opponent collapses or “crumples” to the ground slowly, usually falling to their knees. Moves marked with this property have high advantage on hit which makes it possible for players to kombo off of this state before the opponent falls to the ground. Hitting a player out of a crumple will float them into an airborne juggle state; the kombo structure of this game usually limits crumple states to once per kombo. It is also possible to trigger a crumple state by interrupting certain characters’ move animations with select Kameo Ambush abilities (i.e. Liu Kang can interrupt the final hit of his throw with kameo Kung Lao’s teleport and convert into a kombo before the opponent has finished falling down). Most moves with a crumple property will knock down an opponent who is already launched or crumpled, although there are some exceptions.
Restands
Certain moves have the ability to restand an airborne or juggled opponent, disabling access to their defensive wakeup options. Some moves may have this property in addition to stun that is possible to kombo off of (i.e. Scorpion, Sindel), whereas others may simply grant a reset that leaves the player at a slight advantage to keep pressuring the opponent (i.e. Johnny, Stryker).
Hit Reaction/Trade
Attacks and kombos have little to no hitstop in MK (much like a 3D fighter), and attacks/strings all play out with hit reaction animations that are often individualized to each impact. These hit reactions can visually determine what hit state the affected opponent is in as a result of the corresponding move that triggered it (i.e. hitstun, juggle, stun/crumple, knockdown); they can also create variance in how moves affect players in different states like standing compared to crouching (or blocking vs. not blocking). For example, Jax’s unblockable Ground Pound will launch a standing opponent, but will instead cause a knockdown on crouching opponents.
Attacks do not vary in “power level” outside of speed & damage, and do not have a priority or clash system. All attacks can trade with each other if their hitboxes connect with each other’s hurtboxes on the same frame. When two attacks trade with each other, the players will act out the normal hit reaction and recovery of the move(s) they were respectively hit by, which can result in one character recovering differently than the other in a trade situation and may even allow them to convert into kombo damage from this trade interaction.
Projectiles also do not clash with each other when their hitboxes collide like other fighting games, passing through each other onscreen and interacting individually with the characters. This makes the zoning in MK games centered around trade interactions. However, there are certain specials and assists in this game that grant invulnerability against projectiles or can actively destroy the opponent’s projectiles (usually for the cost of super meter).
Throws may still have some priority over strikes when trading. Unlike throws in most fighting games that will play out uninterrupted due to them being fixed animations and virtually having invulnerable frames (much like rising from a knockdown), MK games allow both players to be interrupted out of the throw animation by interacting with onscreen projectiles, setup tools and/or Kameos. This may still cause damage to the throwing player depending on the move that interrupts or who used it, and may lead to a trade animation where the throwing player still falls down and is reset; however, the throwing player may recover from this reset in time to interact with the hit/stunned opponent depending on the move used for interrupting the throw.
Kameo Interruption
Kameo Ambush assists can be called by players to interrupt most move animations in the game, including throws. This can allow for different hit reactions and animations to occur, which in turn can create unique kombo opportunities, as well as protect players from certain hit interactions. For example, a teleport Kameo Ambush such as Kung Lao’s or Motaro’s (which will grab the executing player mid-animation) may stop the animation of a preceding move before its final hit can properly play out; this will often allow certain characters’ throws to be converted into a kombo when paired with these assists. These types of mobility assists may also teleport the executing player away from the opponent safely on hit or block if timed correctly to come out before the player enters hitstun or blockstun (and is not hit out of the assist). In certain scenarios, this can allow players to ignore the rules and punish their opponent for landing a hit successfully.
