I appreciate it man! I used to be considered one the good Reptile guys, I've made top 16s at Majors before but never in the Top 8, I'm not in that upper godlike level lol.
Reptile imo struggles with exactly what he did in Mk9 except unfortunately it will become worse as this game evolves in my opinion. Reptiles problem in Mk9 was he didn't have a poke game so he was constantly having to put his lifebar on the line using his command dash to escape pressure rather than being able to keep people in check with pokes like the majority of the top tier. Reptile here is the same except his Dash is no longer 6 frames so now he will have to use his Ex slide to get out of pressure since his poke game is the same as his best mid at 9 frames.
So when he faces the top characters that have 0 on block strings with 6 frame pokes or normals there will always be the hesitation of "do I try to poke in hope they are trying another string and risking getting hit by a poke which will leave you subjected to the wide range of 50/50s OR do I continue to block and try to counter poke? In most cases the option of dashing isn't even available since its 7-8 frames now so any 6 frame poke will always beat it out at the highest level.
Its odd really, on paper if you were to compare MK9 vs MKX you could very easily argue MK9 Reptile is better since this Reptile is completely 1 dimensional as his zoning is horrendous and he has to be in your face for 50/50s but the power of 50/50s, especially one as quick as Reptiles does make him REALLY scary on knockdown.
Mk9 Reptile Pros: EX Fb was +1 on block, recovered instantly and had AA properties (forceball animation he got low to the ground and put the forceball in front of him) - 321 string was 0 on block throughout every hit and was hit confirm-able on the last hit - One of the highest damage outputs in the game - Acid Hand (overhead special) could be canceled into on d4 or 321 for a true block string with push back leaving you at only -4. EX Dash was also +5 on block but there was a gap and people could armor out if they had meter - Invis could be used as a pressure tool and was only -2 on block when cancelled into. Forceball were meaty mids and only Mileena could roll under them or Kabals silly d4 could consistently go under them. Builds meter quickly due to projectiles and command dash. Best looking combos in the game with the NJP
Cons: No poke game as I mentioned earlier and one of the slowest AA normals in the game, slide was -2 on hit and an awful combo ender lol.
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MKX Reptile Pros: 0 on block 50/50 although b34 is -7 and can be full combo punished by you guessed it, the top tier characters with 6 frame starters or pokes. F2 has incredible range and can be used to check people advancing and can be used to do Air to Air combos, something he couldn't do at all in Mk9. Slide is actually positive on hit and is a great combo ender with actual follow up options. d4 is still very good and his 21 string is 0 on block, although both hits after it 21(2)(4) are both full combo punishable as they are -8. f4(1)2 is an overhead.
Cons: No safe specials, Everything Reptile does is full combo punishable with or without meter. Forceballs are not meaty mids which means any move that low profiles in this game will go under them leaving his FB ender setups virtually useless since most characters can actually d4 under the forceball while you are trying to advance in. SubZero can actually punish every FB ender with normal slide before Reptile can recover in time. Cannot counter zone or zone at all. His best bet is spit in hopes of a trade since EX forceball barely recovers faster than the normal fb this time around. Does not build meter quickly since he can't use most of his special moves in zoning or in block strings and his main string f412 is -5 and -6 throughout and has to be hit confirmed on the 2nd hit rather than the last. Can no longer do the NJP combo and FBs scale insanely in combos
If hes going to want to dream of being with the eventual top tier of this game, I think he needs EX FBs to be meaty mids + on block with instant or better recovery , Klaw needs to be an overhead and safe on block, and he needs at least a 7 frame poke.
Damn that was a lot lol. Even with all this hes still super fun to play just a completely different version of Reptile from the past incarnations with how much of non-zoner he is. What do some of you guys think?
@THTB @RM Cossner @Denzell @G4S J360 @colt @R.E.O.
