Sub Zero's power up special attacks are really weak

cyberSubZero

cyberSubZero

New member
So I am a huge Sub Zero fan, and I have noticed that his charged up attacks are not any good, and being that he only has 4 special attacks (Ice freeze, puddle freeze, clone, and the slide), I think they should be better. The slide powered up is obviously decent, but the rest is not. The only other one I use sometimes is the puddle, but even that is slow and people can see it coming and avoid it.

The powered up ice freeze and clone are worthless. What do they do? Well the ice freeze is a tad bit faster and makes you freeze for a second longer. That's it. The clone is similar. It lasts a second longer and keeps you frozen a second longer. It's not worth using your bar for this and I don't understand how it can really be put to good use. There are characters out there with 8 or 9 special attacks, and characters like Smoke can go INVISIBLE when their moves are powered up.

I just think Sub's moves are very weak and pointless.

Also I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else that use different characters. My best combo with X-RAY (that I can do every time without being next to a wall) is 10 hits for 53%. But I just came up with a more advanced version that adds in 3 more hits. So that brings that combo to 13 hits, but the 53% stays the same. It doesn't make any sense. How could it be the same if I hit him 3 more times?
 
OK well after his 214 combo a ex ice beem can freeze your opponent where as a iceball cant his ex clone actually lasts twice as long and if you look in the subzero thread there's plenty of strategys for his ex moves
 
He should have his MKvsDCu moveset, it was the best he had.

Ice Ball
Ice Counter (CSZ's Ice parry)
Ice Nugget
Slide
Ice Teleport
 
Some combos don't do more damage with more hits. It just depends. That's what practice mode is for.

As far as Sub Zero's EX's: The EX Clone lasts about two seconds longer and could be good for a corner trap. The EX Ice Beam cannot be jumped, so that's something. You can also trade projectiles from farther away and get over to punish since the normal Ice Ball doesn't freeze them for long. And yes, the Puddle is one of the worst specials in the game. If you're still not convinced, there's no shame in saving his meter for breakers or his Xray.
 
The EX Puddle is actually worth, especially when the opponent is on the other side waiting for a simple Ice ball. Freezed, free combo starter. Bam!
 
Sub Zero's EX moves are not useless if you know HOW and WHEN to use them. You should take a look at Sub-Zero's thread.

-EX Ice Clone lasts for 6 second instead of 3, and that is not bad at all, expecially against opponents that doesn't have teleport.

-EX Ice Beam freeze the opponent for twice the time of Ice Ball, is faster, and cannot be jumped! how can you say that's useless??? There are a lot of good tactics that imply the use of Ice Beam.

-EX Slide hits at a longer distance than the normal slide, does more damage, and can be used to throw the opponent into a Ice Clone or in the corner.

-EX Ice Puddle is Sub-Zero less useful move, but it may catch off guard unexperienced opponents and if your adversary is in the corner, there is a way to block him there with the use of this move.

Hope this will change your mind.
 
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Outside of enhanced Slide (and possibly enhanced ice beam), Sub doesn't really benefit as much from enhanced moves simply because his normal versions work so well.

With regards to ice puddle, ice clone is for 99% of the time, a better move (it does the same job and you're much safer). The only time puddle's worth a damn is if your opponent is so close to you (and is doing a delayed wake-up), that if you were to do an ice clone, it would not appear due to a proximity limit on that particular move. The Enhanced puddle is better (larger surface area), but it's at the cost of 1 bar...

IMO: Sub's meter is better suited for his X-ray, which doesn't scale so harshly in combos when compared to others, or a combo breaker.

Regarding Op's comment about extra hits doing not giving any more damage. This is down to damage scaling - the more hits you do, the less damage each particular hit does. In this MK, damage degrades very harshly (although, some moves have their own specific scaling such as sub's X-ray), so it's best to find a combo that balances damage output and button input i.e. less attacks for more damage.
 
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The ice puddle is WAY TOO SLOW! I only use the enhance version when they are blocking far away

Slide is his best move, quick and almost unexpected

Ice clone is good, when he ACTUALLY does it, instead of just making a backdash
 
Jose Jr Torres said:
The ice puddle is WAY TOO SLOW! I only use the enhance version when they are blocking far away

Slide is his best move, quick and almost unexpected

Ice clone is good, when he ACTUALLY does it, instead of just making a backdash
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he can do it anytime unless you're touching your opponent or you're still during cooldown from the last ice clone you did. if your opponent breaks your ice clone *move blocking or hitting you* the cooldown is longer.
 
That's because he's so powerful as it is. If they made him better he would be OP. He's an X-Ray type character. Some characters are EX type characters like Cyrax and Johnny Cage.
 
Immortal Reaver said:
That's because he's so powerful as it is. If they made him better he would be OP. He's an X-Ray type character. Some characters are EX type characters like Cyrax and Johnny Cage.
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I wouldnt say johnny is just a ex fighter simply because hes a rush down character which in close proximity johnnys x ray is ideal, and you can combo out of it.
 
smoke1ne said:
I wouldnt say johnny is just a ex fighter simply because hes a rush down character which in close proximity johnnys x ray is ideal, and you can combo out of it.
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His X-Ray does demand respect, but it can also be used to play mind games. Use it take make the other player more conservative, if they're aware of it. If not, just X-Ray the hell out of them, lol. If they do fight a bit more carefully, then you can really crank up the pressure and use his EX moves in the mix. He's a pretty flexible rushdown character in regards to meter management.
 
3mag5num7 said:
His X-Ray does demand respect, but it can also be used to play mind games. Use it take make the other player more conservative, if they're aware of it. If not, just X-Ray the hell out of them, lol. If they do fight a bit more carefully, then you can really crank up the pressure and use his EX moves in the mix. He's a pretty flexible rushdown character in regards to meter management.
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idd i feel the same way and hes super fast @_@
 
You have to look at the issue in a different light. It's not that Sub-Zero's enhanced moves are useless, it's that Sub-Zero is S Tier without relying on a single enhanced move. That is the beauty of Sub-Zero; his regular specials are enough to satisfy his game plan. This means you build meter without spending it. This means that you almost always have a comfort cushion in the form of a combo breaker.
 
kaballer said:
You have to look at the issue in a different light. It's not that Sub-Zero's enhanced moves are useless, it's that Sub-Zero is S Tier without relying on a single enhanced move. That is the beauty of Sub-Zero; his regular specials are enough to satisfy his game plan. This means you build meter without spending it. This means that you almost always have a comfort cushion in the form of a combo breaker.
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This is one of the reasons I enjoy playing as Sub-Zero. I've had a couple matches that I've turned the tide on because of my meter management. I've been able to breaker out of a combo that would've killed me and then take the round. Or I've been able to punish a whiff with my X-Ray to finish off the last chunk of their health in style lol. I love how his meter works.
 
All good points guys. I just wish his EX clone and ice freeze moves were a little better. As it stands right now in my opinion it is not worth a bar of special to use it. And my point is, since Sub doesn't have many special moves (only 4), and I never use two of them for the EX, I feel like I'm really limited, when theres other characters out there who have double the special moves and they all have good EX's that are worth using.
 
cyberSubZero said:
All good points guys. I just wish his EX clone and ice freeze moves were a little better. As it stands right now in my opinion it is not worth a bar of special to use it. And my point is, since Sub doesn't have many special moves (only 4), and I never use two of them for the EX, I feel like I'm really limited, when theres other characters out there who have double the special moves and they all have good EX's that are worth using.
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Yes, SZ has a really bad moveset in this game, most of the chars has a lot of moves but SZ has the same moveset from MK3, this is very unfair. He is too defensive, he needs at least one more special, they could add one via patch but i doubt they will.
 
Sub Zero has decent moves but they seem really slow half the time. Everyone says hes really good when you master him though so i dunno. I think hes OK but nothing too special. Then again im no master as this game yet lol :P
 
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