13 Tips For Beginners In Mortal Kombat 11 | Game Rant
Fighting games can be difficult to get into since they require a hefty amount of knowledge of your own character, as well as the characters opponents play. On top of that, it's important to grasp the game's mechanics that make it different from other games, and how that should affect a player's play style.
Mortal Kombat 11 is a beginner-friendly option with dial-in combos, character variations for different play styles, and simple command inputs that don't take too much practice to get the hang of. There're definitely hardcore fans of the series, but it doesn't take too much to be able to put up a good fight.
Updated June 30, 2021 by Paul DiSalvo: While every fighting game is different, certain elements such as fighting game fundamentals easily transfer over from game to game. This explains why so many professional fighting game players excel in more than one title. This is the case with Mortal Kombat 11, as a great deal of information that will help someone improve at other fighting games will help them grow as players in NetherRealm Studios' 2019 release. Mortal Kombat 11 is still very much active, and there are plenty of tips that can make the game more accessible for newcomers to the series.
13 Pick A Beginner-Friendly Character
While Mortal Kombat 11 has a sizable roster of characters that each have their own play styles, as is the case with nearly every fighting game in existence, fighters range in their ease of use. While some characters are extremely straightforward in their game plans, others are less easy for a newcomer to get the most out of.
Even if someone is incredibly fond of a particular character, when jumping into a new game, it’s best for them to learn the mechanics on the easiest to play fighters on the roster first. Then, they can transition to their character of choice after they grow comfortable with the gameplay and systems Mortal Kombat has to offer. This prevents a new player from getting bogged down with a more complex character's intricacies.
12 Meter Management
One integral but often overlooked element of getting better in many fighting games is remembering to manage the meter. In Mortal Kombat 11, while the Super Meter can allow a player to utilize highly damaging crushing blows, it can also be used to augment a character’s special moves, improving them in a variety of ways.
Depending on the move, the Super Meter may allow a given move to increase its number of hits, become faster, less punishable, or improve a move’s combo potential. As cool as Krushing Blows are, being conscious of how much meter a player has can determine if they could potentially win a game with augmented special moves, which is often a safer plan than putting all of a player’s eggs in the basket of a Krushing Blow. Likewise, as each player has access to the same information on the screen, it’s important to be aware of how much Super Meter an opponent has in store, so you can predict and play around if they may be fishing for a Krushing Blow.
11 Watch The Pros
While not within the game itself, it can be incredibly beneficial for beginners at Mortal Kombat 11 to watch professional footage. Simply watching matches at a major tournament like Evo can expose a person to how the game is played at the highest level. Although at first, it may be somewhat difficult to follow, seeing how pros approach both offense and defense can be incredibly helpful, as it provides knowledge of what is possible within the game.
Even viewing how pro players approach the concept of moving within Mortal Kombat 11 – when they walk, dash, and jump – can be a great reference point for learning the game. Try to pick out habits and tendencies within the footage, seeing what is working and what isn’t.
10 Learn A Mix Up String
Mortal Kombat has a block button so there's no way to cross up opponent's guards, but it's still possible to mix guards up low and high. Every character has a string in their command list that they can use to pressure a low or high guard from their opponent, making it difficult to block.
These strings can be found in the command list for every character as well as a brief description of what it does. Learning two or three of these can go a long way to improving someone's skills.
9 Post A String To The Screen
Mortal Kombat 11 has great resources for learning that other fighting games are still catching up to, like the ability to post moves on the screen during training and single-player modes. This makes it easy to learn a character quickly by having their moves right there, instead of switching between menus if forgotten.
To do this, players simply have to open the command list, and press Y or Triangle to display the move during a match or training. Exploiting this is a great start to finding out if a character fits your style or not.
8 Find Out What's Safe
The worst feeling in a fighting game is trying to land that string, only for it to be blocked and then punished with a ton of damage. Mortal Kombat 11 has resources built into the game that tell players if their moves are punishable in terms of frame data. If a move is more than -7, most characters have a way of punishing it.
Keeping things safe goes a long way for new players because it keeps them alive longer against their opponents who might make less informed mistakes. Pay attention to the frame data in the command list just to learn what moves might be leading to death.
7 Find Your Character's Quickest Button
As a beginner, it isn't expected of you to know every character's frame data and what's punishable and what's safe. That knowledge comes over time when learning the game and playing matches naturally against CPUs and players. Learning a character's quickest button is generally the fastest way to figure out if a move is safe or punishable.
If an opponent tries a move and it's successfully blocked, throw out the quickest string the character has to see if it lands. If it lands, that probably means what they did was unsafe, and that knowledge can make a huge difference in the future.
6 Forget Tier Lists
Tier lists have become a hype craze in gaming communities as of late, and they can influence a new player to make a choice they might not normally make. Mortal Kombat is in a better place in terms of balance than it has been in a while, so lots of characters are viable and fun. When a tier list is made, the assumption is usually that all characters are being played to the best of their potential, which just isn't true at low levels in ranked.
Pick a character that seems fun and well-designed, don't worry about their spot on a tier list. In a game with as many unique designs as Mortal Kombat, it's a shame to not pick someone because a top player said they wouldn't win a tournament.
5 Work Around Krushing Blows
Krushing Blows change per variation of a character, and essentially dictate how the character is played. They could be centered around grabs, combos, counter hits, or almost anything else the game's mechanics allow for. Learning what Krushing Blows come with the character they play sets players up for success.
Krushing Blows have limited uses during matches but provide massive damage which can supplement lack of long combos for beginner players. Learning them only makes each character's game plan stronger, so it's a worthy investment.
4 Lows, Mids, And Highs
Each attack in Mortal Kombat 11 has a level of height that they make contact with an opponent. Lows have to be blocked with a crouch block, mids can be blocked standing or crouching, and high attacks can be crouched under. This concept is a bit more complex, but extremely crucial for understanding how certain mix ups work.
To put it simply, players should always try to crouch under high attacks because they can counter them with a launcher, which leads to big damage. The danger of crouching without blocking is that it opens players up to overhead attacks that are designed to hit crouching opponents. The best time to aim for a crouching counter is right after the opponent does something that's barely safe since high attacks are some of the fastest and most damaging moves in the game.
3 Anti-Airs
Beginners of any fighting game love to jump in attack because they lead to some of the highest damage combos. Being able to scout those out and punish them is the first step to leveling up in Mortal Kombat 11. Each character has a down 2 that acts as an uppercut that is built for punishing high attacks and stopping aerial approaches.
On top of the down 2, some characters have specialized moves that lead to combos or favorable situations to stop aerial attacks. These moves can be found in the command list, and they usually say specifically if they're meant to be anti-air attacks or not.
2 Defensive Options
Mortal Kombat 11 offers a variety of things that players can do while they're blocking or even getting hit that go a long way for surviving into more rounds. There's a meter in the bottom corner of each player's side that displays what options are available. For beginner's there isn't too much to be concerned about because it can be overwhelming.
The biggest option to focus on for beginners is the breakaway function. Breakaways are done by pressing the block button and down at the same time while being juggled in the air. If the opponent is performing a long combo that has the potential to do lots of damage, breaking away might just swing the momentum the other way if timed correctly. The breakaway stops the character from being hit any further and effectively can reset the match.
1 Complete The Tutorial
Once players have a general feel for the game, it's always a good idea to see what the tutorial has to say. Netherrealms has done a fantastic job of breaking down the game's core mechanics, as well as what players should look out for, for each character.
The tutorial has lessons for beginner players as well as people who are more seasoned in the franchise and fighting games. Almost everything for improving gameplay can be found here, and more. This is one of the better tutorials in fighting games out there, and it shouldn't be wasted.
Post a Comment