Choosing the right character means being honest with yourself as a player

[villainous monk]

I really do understand Brady and his opinions and his thoughts on his own strengths and weakness. It was a really great post and should get people more engaged into who they are and what/how they play. Nothing wrong in this posting at all we all have our own ideas of characters and our own ways of fighting. It was refreshing to read it actually a couple of times. I think other great players should post like this all the time.

We could learn so much.

 

[Kidigital]

Yet he plays oni lol. Very fun to watch and places well but not top tier by current meta standards

 

[DreadKnight1]

I Had a really tough time finding the best main for me in injustice but after 5 months of the games release I was finally happy with a main and enjoyed the game thoroughly afterwards. Better late than never so don't follow tier lists or trends and always play who you want to play...just be prepared to work harder if they're low tier lol

 

[Rip Torn]

Yet he plays oni lol. Very fun to watch and places well but not top tier by current meta standards

lol

 

[Immortal Kombat]

This does not always work. There are players who couldn't have success in MK9 using a character that just has to touch you once and the match is over. In IGAU they have success using a character with low damage and not seen as top 5 but has a move that goes 3/4 screen, has 2 hits of armor, and is adv on block. Its not always about playing the characters who are the best of the best.

You just gave my dd a shout out

 

[Superi0rMagik]

Im a Tier whore so none of this will apply to me! @Pekapowa

 

[deathblooms2k4]

I think this is a great post for finding a character you enjoy. The problem is I don't think it's a great post for finding a main IF you truly want to be competitive in most fighting games.

It's an amazing step to identify your weaknesses, but to be competitive it's far more beneficial to you as a player to choose a character that emphasizes your weaknesses. If you're bad at footsies choose a character who relies on footsies and forces you to learn them. If you're bad at rush down choose a character who is rush down, etc. While you still may not enjoy that style you will have at least conditioned yourself to learn those concepts and thereby become a better player as a whole.

This is important because if you end up relying on a single character to mask your weakness's it's only a matter of time before you hit that 7-3 matchup in tournament and get knocked out because you have no solution for it. And I'm sure Tom is well aware of this notion.

That said, if you don't plan to compete in tournament or if you do but don't care about winning then there really isn't much of a point in forcing yourself through an unpleasant grind to fix your weaknesses and you should just play the character you enjoy, which consequently will likely be the character that masks your weaknesses the best.

An example that really reiterates this to me is Pigofthehut as a zoner vs. M2Dave as a zoner in MK9. Pig was never really in a situation where he couldn't win (granted Kabal was rough). He clearly preferred to zone with kenshi but he also had the background of footsies due to playing with mileena which made him adaptable. Dave on other hand could only zone with Freddy and he never developed a backup plan, as such if and when he ran into a smoke in tourny it was over for him. As such Dave's tournament success was entirely predicated on luck of the draw on who he was going to be matched up against. Compared to Pig who could handle being matched up against anyone because he himself was adaptable.

 

[PPJ]

i have always been honest with myself

 

[Kidigital]

lol

lmao God damnit!

 

[DeathTouch]

nice thread

 

[vegeta]

I never fully thought of choosing a character in terms or strengths and weaknesses. To be honest I'm extremely prideful and I usually choose my characters with no direct relation to what tier they are, I go on story, character design, loyalty and then mix in game play. I've then tried to adapt myself to said character. It works most times but I admit in hindsight sometimes it was extremely difficult. I've changed my way of thinking a bit but this time around I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I'll say I have interest in 5 characters but I've also been character loyal to scorpion for over 20 years (good god). I've been all up and down the tier spectrum (though technically I didn't become a competitive fighter or know what it really was until Soul Calibur 2). That said sometimes I may just need some guidance or a second opinion as using this kinda character picking over the years has made me flexible. Good example is in MK9 I was struggling at first with Scorp in tournaments. I then spent 3 days total and 3 sessions with @Blackula and @Tom Brady and I went from getting wrecked 0-2 and 1-2 to placing really well in locals and regionals and doing ok at majors. It was about how I learned from them and learned to use the strengths sometimes I didn't see I had. MKX....like I said......I'm not entirely sure what I'll do yet but.....I know I want make some real impact this time around.

 

[GuerillaTactix]

i've said this too myself as well before INJ, my biggest weakness in MK9 was getting zoned and out footsied. with flash all i had to worry about was improve my footsies as a player since he was an anti zoner. and i finally did achieve that 1 year ago at WB and FR and ECT, being able to out footsie players like Jupiter, KDZ, Whiteboi, King etc. I Feel as though i turned a huge weakness into a strength now but as I've said in the thread about your weaknesses i have a linger weakness in the defense department. i think i need a character with a safe armor special "get out of jail free card" character to cover this, that or make sure the character i have can keep out those rushdown characters. i feel like Liu Kang and Takeda are going to be strong in the footsie department as well as have tools to deal with rushdown and also rushdown on their own.

These past few months i've been honing my zoning/footsie game whenever i can. using zoning characters in MK9 and Black Adam in Injustice. i Know i can approach people, getting in is my specialty, but can i keep someone out? can i defend?

I'm pretty interested to see what you do in MKX.. I watched your tech videos for Flash and I think the whole Injustice community can agree you propelled that guy into the top 5. I plan on playing Takeda and Liu Kang for the same reasons you do: I love the intense rush down Lui Kang offers but I'm more interested in Takeda's air control and footsies. If you're on the PS4 I'd love to train with you some time.

 

[GuerillaTactix]

Great thread! I had been thinking about this alot actually. I wasn't sure who I was going to pick but I narrowed it down simply because I'm extremely aware of my weaknesses after playing injustice and join TYM and listening to you guys talk about neutral game and footies etc.

My biggest weakness in injustice: Blocking cross-ups..

I didn't trust NW's anti-air so jump back wing dings became my crutch for the longest time. Idk what it is but there was just something extremely uncomfortable about committing to a change in the direction I was blocking so I just wanted to avoid that whole situation in general. In hindsight, I realize now, avoiding blocking jump ins meant that I was limiting my offense coming off of defense and I was eliminating the "your turn, my turn" aspect of the game and it makes me EXTREMELY predictable!

Alot of you tornament veterans would probably be like, "pick top tier" but I LOVED the way NW played in every other aspect it just his anti-airs were garbage.. In retrospect, now that I'm trying to level up, I should've just switched to AM who has an amazing anti-air and that would've allowed me to shut down the jump in threat and I would've started looking at the neutral game in a different light.. It would've made me a better player.

Moral of the story is I'm now able to identify my biggest weakness and I can go to the character select screen with that in mind, nip that in the butt, and start really putting my energy into things like space control and meter management strategy.

I'm confident that I'll finally be able to grow as a player when I'm able to force my opponent to stay on the ground and play the neutral game.

 

[Zyphox]

I'm pretty interested to see what you do in MKX.. I watched your tech videos for Flash and I think the whole Injustice community can agree you propelled that guy into the top 5. I plan on playing Takeda and Liu Kang for the same reasons you do: I love the intense rush down Lui Kang offers but I'm more interested in Takeda's air control and footsies. If you're on the PS4 I'd love to train with you some time.

thanks man add me on PSN emperor_zyphox

 

[KH StarCharger]

I know I'm a little late in responding, but here goes anyways.

My strengths:

Offensive Pressure - My best attribute by far. If I've got the upper hand, I know how to press my advantage to the point where the match tilts in my favor big time.

Oki - The pressure game on wake up is what I learned how to do when I started playing FG's seriously in STL. It's still amazing how well option 3 (Doing nothing) still works to this day in every FG.

Space control - whether it's with projectiles, normals, etc. I always have that good combination of character that molds to my style in keeping a certain area respected to set up an offensive or to stay vigilant on Defense.

Mental Fortitude - having experience now gives me something to fall back on when things reach their worst. Not quitting is the best way to progress.

My weaknesses:

Being a slow learner - It takes a while for me to process info and that can lead to paralysis by analysis. It takes months of practice for me to be as effective as I can be.

Doing too much - There are times where I get ahead of myself when making reads and I hit that one button too many or the wrong button that may leave me open. That's the price paid for being offensively minded.

Committing to a lacking weapon - In spite of my beliefs on char loalty (And I'm still going to play with Kitana first) and putting time into said character to give yourselfe a chance to win, I think my stubborn nature may have led me to commit to a character that didn't ultimately have the tools to help me win consistently in the games I've played.