Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei
"As the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster, Sub-Zero leads his ancient warrior clan in the defense of Earthrealm from external threats. For centuries, it has been their solemn task. But Earthrealm hasn't been threatened in generations, and Sub-Zero sees no point in limiting his clan to preparing for dangers that may never come. Under his leadership, the Lin Kuei will come out of the shadows and fight for its place as one of Earthrealm's great nations."
Sub-Zero is a straightforward, primarily defensive character who combines elements of his previous incarnations in NRS titles, including his overhead/low 50-50 game, ice ball, slide, the notorious ice clone trap and even Cyber Sub-Zero's dive kick. Many of his special moves can clash with or destroy projectiles, making it difficult to zone him out. While his primary mid, F1, has been slowed down from pre-release builds, Sub-Zero can still demand respect on offense thanks to his 50/50 game of overhead or low; he synergizes well with Kameos that help him stay safe when mixing his opponents as well as increase his reward for guessing right. His dive kick also gives him some much-needed mobility as his ground speed is lacking. Deadly Vapors, a tracking ground attack which slows opponents down, serves as both a combo extension tool and a chip damage option to close out rounds. Sub-Zero is arguably the character of choice for learning the fundamentals of Mortal Kombat 1 as his toolset is easy to understand and teaches skills that translate well to other characters.
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Weaknesses
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- Brick Wall: (Enhanced) Ice Klone Charge, (Enhanced) Ice Klone and Enhanced Ice Ball can negate or even destroy projectiles, making him difficult to approach with a life deficit. Deadly Vapors can also put pressure on an opponent within chip kill territory.
- Mid Projectile: While lacking the range of other fireballs, Ice Klone Charge hits Mid for free when most characters need to spend bar to do so.
- Dive Kick: A strong mobility tool to get around zoning which can lead to full combos on hit and can be made safe on block when spaced properly.
- Solid Reach: Buttons like D1, S2, D3 and F1 have great range and/or advancing movement for counter-poking and whiff punishes. D2 is blessed with a great range and angle for anti-airs
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- Freezes Scale Hard: Ice Ball and Deadly Vapors incur relatively harsh damage scaling on Sub-Zero's combos, limiting his damage in his confirms or fireball trades.
- Slide Standing Frames: Ice Slide forces him to stand up during its startup, limiting its use as a reaction to incoming fireballs.
- Lacks That One Kameo: Sub-Zero currently lacks synergy with the Kameo roster compared to other characters whom receive greater benefits from the system.
- Loses the Fireball War: Ice Ball's slow startup even when Enhanced coupled with the shorter stun duration make it difficult for him to win fireball wars and capitalize on trade situations.
- Covered in Gaps: Many of his basic strings have notable gaps between hits which can be punished with armor, more so than other characters. Most of his special/Kameo Summon cancels from these strings are also unsafe against armor leading to his next issue:
- Ice Klone Doesn't Work: Ice Klone has been nerfed severely with higher recovery frames, lowered duration, and an increased cooldown timer. There are few situations in which Sub-Zero can setup Ice Klone and not at least be punished by Armored attacks on reaction. Enhanced Ice Klone fixes none of these issues and offers little benefit for its 2 bar cost.
- "Honest": Lacks any sort of gimmick or low-risk, high-reward strategy in an meta that is gradually revealing more instances of these amongst the rest of the cast; his more rewarding moves are easy to react to and punish.
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