Introduction
Like Sub-Zero, Scorpion's true name and origin are unknown. He has hown distrust and hatred towards Sub-Zero. Between ninjas, this is usually the sign of opposing clans.
Move List
Spear: B, B, LP | Damage: 5%
Teleport Punch: D, B, HP | Damage: 14%
Toasty! (Fatality): Hold BL U, U (sweep)
Advanced Strategies
Scorpion is ranked as #7 in the tier list. It doesn't matter he could be monster against Raiden, it doesn't matter he can turtle as hell with teleports and all his other tactics, because some people can play so good with him doesn't make him better in the tier list. His uppercut has nice hitting area but the recovery and start up time is terrible. Forget to use it as an anti air. You can still use it as a punisher after blocked stuff but better use his spear except for blocked jump kicks. There is a trick to use ninjas uppercut against aaJump Kicks. In revision 3.0 you simply have to do Down + Block and cancel with Uppercut to hit your opponent after JK, but in revision 5.0 the gravity was lowered. What you have to do now is block the jump kick from your standup pose, then duck and cancel it with uppercut. Its hard but once you got it and practice it enough you can use if often. You can try to get Spear with this same trick of course but you risk so much because of the recovery time from the spear. You cant add hits after his uppercut or use it against jabers due his slow startup animation. Ninjas throws are dangerous against Cage and Liu Kang sometimes because you can get wakeup Shadow Kick or Flying Kick (mid-screen) after it, so be careful against those characters.
Ninjas Duck Kicks are good enough for jab escapes and anti air, however its very difficult to get aa D+LK against Kano's JK and on top JKs. Often two Duck Kicks one after another works vs jabers. Ninjas sweeps are easy punishable if blocked, but you can use them as a whiff strat against some characters. If you get Cage in about jump distance you can try to get few sweeps without touching him, usually they will try to Fireball or Shadow Kick you but they will miss, if they shoot fireball they will be sweeped if they do shadow kick you will recover exactly before the shadow kick animation ends and can punish it. However its not a 100% sure tactic just a strat example. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have the best HK and LK. HK can be used as anti air, not against Kano's JK but against everything else, the LK is very fast and useful too, you can punish Sonya's Sweep with it. Their RHs are good too. You can use it in a jab pressure strat mixed with sweep or duck block cancel, for example: Jab, Jab, Jab, Step away RH, Whiff Sweep/Block to Punish and etc. You can use it as an Anti Air against some jump kicks too. The HPs and LPs are good too. You can try to get the UMK3 aa trick against jumpers when they jump at you with JK or JP try aaHP and cancel it with block, then if aaHP hits do Spear immediately if not you will just block the JK and you can try to get aaD+LK because there will be not enough time for Uppercut.
There is actually a way to get aaLK after uppercut in corner with ninjas, when the uppercut hits in the latest possible frame and there is at least 1 aa hit before it. Its too much story about it and total useless in gameplay so i will not go into details about it.
The Spear is a horrible move. If you catch someone with it that's ok, but the recovery and startup time is so slow that if you miss you can be punished sometimes even from full screen. The Spear however can be used as punisher against sweeps, uppercuts, slide and etc. You can try to use the spear against jab pressure if the other player step away enough for whiff Jab, but still its not 100% safe. Something interesting about the Spear is that if you catch someone with Spear at the same time when they shoot fireball and both characters are hit (you will get the fireball and other player will be hit by spear) you can get UNBLOCKABLE Teleport Punch if you are fast enough. You can try to stay from full screen distance and catch jumpers with the spear but again its not a 100% safe strat. Because of "missing" crossover jump kicks in MK1 you can easy get Spear if someone crossovers you. In MK1 you can jump after you catch someone with the Spear but all you can get using this is OTG JK against some characters.
The Teleport Punch is what make Scorpion a monster against some characters. You can use it as a Wakeup, even blocked its hard to punish. Also its the best move for turtleing. You can try to use it for jab escape too but difficult. The only bad thing is that you cant use the Teleport Punch in or near the corner. Because of gravity changes in Revision 5.0 all you can get after aa Teleport Punch is aaLP, Spear, still a good damage anyway. Sometimes aa Teleport Punch can hit backwards and it will be hard to get Spear in this situation, this often happens if you do the TP faster than you need against Raiden's Torpedo. Another interesting stuff is that in some cases if you get Teleport Punch in juggle (usually after Death Punch) you will be pushed away from the Teleport Punch, I'm not 100% sure but i think even Spear done as soon as possible in this situation is always blockable in Revision 5.0. Using the TP can often open the opponent for one of the "Broken" Throws, there is no 100% known way to get them with Scorpion but you can try to throw a Spear sometimes after them if you feel cocky, works best against Raiden. The Teleport Punch can be neat in jab strats too, get some jab pressure, then use the Teleport Punch to escape and you can try to throw a Spear or wait to see what your opponent will do and counter it. Sometimes if you got the Teleport Punch you will hide behind the screen and it will shake for a while, you can use this moment for safe spear in this situation but that's it overall lol. Scorpion had infinite in older revisions using his TP move but its removed in Revision 5.0.
Combos
Basic Juggles
1. aaHP(x2), Spear, Uppercut
2. JK, Spear, Uppercut (Can be used as a punisher too)
3. Teleport Punch, Spear, Uppercut
Advanced Juggles
1. (corner) JK, RH, Spear, Uppercut
2. aaHP, JK, Spear, Uppercut
3. Teleport Punch, aaLP, Spear, Uppercut
4. (near corner) JK, JK, (aaLP if possible) Spear, Uppercut
