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General/Other - Mileena The Mileena General Discussion Thread (All Variations)

TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
With wake ups having no invincibility anymore, standing resets are not as viable in MKX meta. Wake up's are like reversals now. Ravenous has an overhead grab that you can mix with her low strings and combos give the most damage. It's all about conditioning. Piercing is just a zone heavy stance with standing resets, but as I said resets are not as good as MK9. Her strength is in IA sai. These are a necessity to be an effective Mileena player. My only question is what does MB ethreal TP do? It seems to be the same move as regular TP. It seems to be the same for Ermac's vanish.
MB Teleport does nothing of merit at the moment apart from costing you a bar. No armour as well
 

Alejandro De La Vega

It happens when you party naked
ravenous grab is not a overhead so no high/low mixups are to be had with it, it hits mid.
mb ethereal teleport uses a bar of meter....thats all it seems to do at the min :/
I believe he meant the grab that only grabs low, so it function as an overhead.
I don't know about Ethereal. I like the idea, but it seems the weakest.
 
ravenous grab is not a overhead so no high/low mixups are to be had with it, it hits mid.
mb ethereal teleport uses a bar of meter....thats all it seems to do at the min :/
I thought the low one is an overhead but the high one is a mid. When I set up block low in practice mode that's the results I got yesterday. I'm at work... can someone confirm... I may be wrong.
 

1man3letters

Alpha Tarkatan - Moderator
Moderator
I thought the low one is an overhead but the high one is a mid. When I set up block low in practice mode that's the results I got yesterday. I'm at work... can someone confirm... I may be wrong.
yea sorry i read your post wrong, drugs are bad
 
So essentially we are down to:
Ravenous for more opportunities to open people up for some damage without meter and highest damage in combos
Piercing for better zoning and better footsies
Ethreal for derp although I will still use this one the more for the movement even though in most situations it is not as advantageous as we initially thought. I'm still going to find more small uses I have for it right now and try to maximize it. If she could dash cancel out of this it would be so much better. And if she couldn't be grabbed at any moment while she is invisible. Just make the EX version faster, throw invincible, and the ability Dash cancel and I'm good.

My current opinion is: She is going to have to heavily rely on instant air sai and capitalize on every damage opportunity to be competitive in her current state. F3 is not reliable for combos. Maybe for punish on major whiffs and blocked attacks that lead to flips. Rely more on F2,3 and 2,1 for confirmed combos. People also need to stop relying on jump in punch for damage or openers. I also noticed her MB U3 does not scale juggle weight, something to keep in mind to add a little extra damage to close a round after a combo with neutral junmp punch, but how reliable is it as an anti-air? If it has a reduced upper body hurt box, we may need to explore that as a priority option for damage.
 
Why would she have to rely on one of her weakest tools?
She really doesn't have as many options without meter fro damage outside of Ravenous. If I can get chip from full screen, I'll take it. Use at discretion, because it can be punished by half the cast. Mortal Kombat is always a TP heavy game. but it can help against rush down and Grapplers
 

Johnny San

Shazzy's Biggest Fan
She really doesn't have as many options without meter fro damage outside of Ravenous. If I can get chip from full screen, I'll take it. Use at discretion, because it can be punished by half the cast. Mortal Kombat is always a TP heavy game. but it can help against rush down and Grapplers
If you want chip, you're better off using the standard Sai.
 

JDE

Pick up & kill it & kill it & kill it!
I need to go back through her normals & see what I can come up with. Day 1 I was kind of stuck & confused to look for anything, but I'm up for it now.
 
I need to go back through her normals & see what I can come up with. Day 1 I was kind of stuck & confused to look for anything, but I'm up for it now.
A lot of her game seems to be playing off of he lows in strings and then mixing it up with MB roll, which of course means you need meter. Build it up with instant air sai and some zoning. Ravenous allows you to get some damage on low overhead mix ups without meter.
 
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JDE

Pick up & kill it & kill it & kill it!
A lot of her game seems to be playing off of he lows in strings and then mixing it up with MB roll, which of course means you need meter. Build it up with instant air sai and some zoning. Ravenous allows you to get some damage on low overhead mix ups without meter.
What about the other 2 variations?
 
What about the other 2 variations?
Piercing: better footsies and a low projectile that mixed with her Instant Air Sai can give a solid zone game
Ethreal: TBD. The MB version of her teleports do nothing different than the regular except spend a bar of meter, which is very similar to ermac's vanish with MB vs regular. I honestly think her Ethreal stance is unfinished. She can be grabbed out of thin air if your grab her start point at any time even when delayed. They will probably buff it to normalcy soon.
 
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nahoYi

Noob
I have been maining Mileena and my take her is that she has slow normals and unsafe specials.

I like to use Ravenous and poke with down 4 cancelled into her command throw that hits high. That makes people respect her low if they get hit and is only -6 on block. Then it is much easier to use your overhead options.

I usually meaty people on wake up no matter what, so unless they do something with armour, I can overhead with forward 2 more often because they expect meaty down 4 into command throw.
 
I have been maining Mileena and my take her is that she has slow normals and unsafe specials.

I like to use Ravenous and poke with down 4 cancelled into her command throw that hits high. That makes people respect her low if they get hit and is only -6 on block. Then it is much easier to use your overhead options.

I usually meaty people on wake up no matter what, so unless they do something with armour, I can overhead with forward 2 more often because they expect meaty down 4 into command throw.
I agree that Ravenous is probably her best stance. I'm switching to it until Ethreal is buffed to normalcy, where she can't be grabbed at any point of TPing and the MB version actually does something different. The high grab at -6 makes strings safe and it allows for more mix ups. It's a no brainer considering she gets the highest damage out of this stance. resets aren't as effective as they are in MK9 for the re-standing in piercing, and the frame advantage from the re-stand is not that advantageous. She can also sacrifice damage if you end a combo with step one of low grab to re-stand the opponent. I may use piercing in certain match ups where I can clearly benefit from flat out zoning.

Main Ravenous, Sub Piercing is the way to go.
 

Johnny San

Shazzy's Biggest Fan
Looks like the Overhead Grab Chain is the way to go for combos. Grants the most frame advantage and allows you to switch sides or not depending on the last two hits. Will be making a Ravenous "Guide" very soon.
 
I think part of Mileenas "sticking point" is that her rather big launcher strings range from unsafe to ungodly slow, case in point her F343 and F343 lead into big damage even from mid-screen but you can get poked out by almost anything.

I may be completely wrong here but I feel like Ravenous is probably most suited to her kit.

You may lose low-sai and the standing reset stab but combo damage is higher and ending with low/high pounce lets you choose which side you drop the enemy on post-combo.

I reckon if you can condition people to block how you want them to with some light pressure strings you can bait them into eating some of her slower start-up moves for huge damage.
Disclaimer, I'm probably the worst player in this thread, so I feel like I'm in a stage where I can't really condition people to do anything but bait me over and over with really scrubby stuff because of horrible reads. I'm getting bodied constantly and I'm not sure how much of it is the character's flaws since this is the first MK I'm taking semi-seriously (coming from this as a slightly above average SF player).

I can open with F44 because no one expects the low hit, but then I feel like I have nothing to follow up on. Any attempt at F343 gets stomped, even at wakeup. Same with jump-ins. Erron Blacks and Takedas in particular are just outzoning me to death and I feel like I have no options from full screen except for a desperation TK. Executing rolls on a 360 pad is also hell on earth. I'm whiffing that way too much. Maybe I'm underutilizing sais?
 

Rapid99

Resident Mileena Researcher
Disclaimer, I'm probably the worst player in this thread, so I feel like I'm in a stage where I can't really condition people to do anything but bait me over and over with really scrubby stuff because of horrible reads. I'm getting bodied constantly and I'm not sure how much of it is the character's flaws since this is the first MK I'm taking semi-seriously (coming from this as a slightly above average SF player).

I can open with F44 because no one expects the low hit, but then I feel like I have nothing to follow up on. Any attempt at F343 gets stomped, even at wakeup. Same with jump-ins. Erron Blacks and Takedas in particular are just outzoning me to death and I feel like I have no options from full screen except for a desperation TK. Executing rolls on a 360 pad is also hell on earth. I'm whiffing that way too much. Maybe I'm underutilizing sais?
Which variation are you using at the moment?

Mileena's playstyle stays pretty consistent between Piercing and Ravenous (Ethereal needs a buff) so it doesn't make that much of a difference, but Piercings improved Sai basic strings and access to a low projectile can give you an option or two more if you're struggling to get in and make use of Ravenous's damage.

If you're getting zoned you can use Sai's to try and give yourself a little freedom to get closer, full-screen is pretty rough though. From a middle distance you can roll-punish a decent amount of stuff but be careful to not be too predictable with it because you'll be punished hard on whiff.

Ex roll also has armor so bare that in mind when you have meter. Ex TK combos on hit so if you can try and hold it for a punish and get some damage in it can make your opponent respect your meter at mid-full screen which might relieve some pressure.

F343 and F344 are big damage openers, but hardly reliable. I'd recommend staying away from them unless you've got a huge punish opportunity or you're certain that you've got your opponent blocking low against you. They're basically the "I can do anything I want right now because I've got a free hit" strings.

Speaking of strings, don't be concerned if you're not getting huge damage from low hits. If you're getting low hits in consistently (even if they don't lead to big damage) then your opponent is going to start predicting the low hits at some point.

Once they are blocking low you can cancel your string into a Ex BR for an overhead mid-string or throw out F3 if you're feeling lucky, if you're in Ravenous you can cancel pretty much any string into the Low Pounce chain grab too (having a low throw is awesome against habitual low-blocking opponents).

Oh and a quick note, if you aren't already, try using the following follow ups for stray low hits. It's basically my go-to small combo for stray hits.

(Hit), BR, B3, TK, AS, F12, Low Pounce (Ravenous)
(Hit), BR, B3, TK, AS, B12, 1+3, DD2 (Piercing)
 
Thanks! I've been using Ravenous because the chain throws seem to have priority over a surprising amount of things. Piercing does seem easier to use, though.

Like I said, the roll execution is killing me. I should just make a day of it in training but I'm getting too impatient seeing it's less than a week in and seeing some people that are already so good.
 
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Rapid99

Resident Mileena Researcher
Thanks! I've been using Ravenous because the chain throws seem to have priority over a surprising amount of things. Piercing does seem easier to use, though.

Like I said, the roll execution is killing me. I should just make a day of it in training but I'm getting too impatient seeing us less than a week in and seeing some people that are already so good.
It just takes practice to get the execution down, it too me ages to be able to follow up BR with B3, TK, AS but you'll get it eventually.

If you're finding you're doing what you think are the right inputs but nothing is coming out correctly head into options and turn off "release check" and "input shortcuts" under Wireless Controller Options if you haven't already.
 

TheGabStandard

The anticipation is killing me
Out of interest is anyone else using Ethereal or is it just a split between Ravenous and Piercing due to their superiority at the moment. Just curious
 

Primo_585

"Elder Gods Damn You!!"
What's up people? Can you guys explain two things about Mileena for me?

1.) what exactly is Instant Air Sais? Is it just jumping and getting off a sai all in one motion or something else?

2.) what is U3? I'm assuming it is Up+kick at the same time but is it anti-air, etc? And how do tou MB it?

I use Piercing variation and I see that some people think it's great for footsies? What is her best footsies to use? Quick punches, kicks, sais... Let me know please looking to get better and better with her!!!