My thoughts on Mortal Kombat 11: Raiden
Mr. Melledork
When it comes to Raiden, he can be very tricky to play because he has a rather slow startup on his strings and nothing that seems to be plus.
F11
F11 is the go-to combo starter for many people. It starts rather quickly, has a good range, and is safe on block. I don’t personally like this move, and it starts with a high. At a little bit of range, your first attack goes straight over someone’s head while they’re standing neutral.
B31
B31 is a somewhat decent combo starter string. It hits low but is a tad bit slow to start up. Seeing as he doesn’t have many overheads — mainly B2, hop attacks, and the B14 string — people have an unfortunate tendency to block low vs. you. So you have to do a bit of conditioning.
B12
B12 is also pretty good; it’s fast but sadly is minus 9 so not safe on block. All be it, online I have not seen many punish it properly yet — also a good combo starter.
B12+throw
B12+throw is a move I love to use, just because it looks good. It has some corner carry, but if you want that you could do anything into BF3 and get more damage. I use B12+throw to give myself some time to get a handle on my controller, reset my mind, or other things where I need a second not to click buttons. However, mostly, it’s just a quick starting move that looks cool.
243
243 is also a pretty neat combo. Starts with a high, then low then mid. Also launches your opponents a bit, so you can superman them, or electric grab them(if you play Raijin)
B14
B14 Is mentioned earlier and is a string that ends in an overhead.B1 comes out fast and makes it a bit of a mix-up. However, seeing that b14 has 19 frames startup and B12 has 13 frames startup, people can fuzzy block it.
21
21 as launches people but starts with a high. Which is suitable for his Raijin variation, but can lead to BF3 for the Thunder wave variation.
There are few strings I haven’t touched that much yet. 321 and f32, I need to practice these more.
However, for me, three main things make Raiden sexy.
First: One variation has sparkport. I love to fuck with my opponents, teleporting close, teleporting far, teleporting fake(front of them, then back of them) is all good ways to force your enemy to whiff, and I love it.
Second: 4 frames interrupt/punish with his Raijin variation. Which makes a lot of moves unsafe on a block against Raiden. Even in a poke fight, it’s great. An enemy can be mashing you with down ones, and you can use your 4 frames discharge til cut into his mashing and steal the turn pretty easy.
Thirdly: In his Raijin Variation, he controls airspace significantly with his lighting grab(DB2). This move scares people from jumping to get to you from distances.
Some tips
Teleport Cancel You’re able to teleport cancel, but the timing is finicky. With normal moves, you can input the string then input the commands for the ability. However, when it comes to sparkport, you have to wait till the last hit connects(or around that time).
People camping the teleport When people do this, you have some options:
- Teleport Amplify; Usually messes with them and makes them whiff the punish.
- Move up into the range of their attacks then teleport.
- Start zoning with DF2 and BF1.
- Just walk up to them and grab them.
Corner Pressure
Raiden has some intense corner pressure with his B2. Since the B2 has a crushing blow on two consecutive hits if you land one you can do a lot. People are afraid of that crushing blow, so grabbing, low attacks or just waiting a sec and punishing their move are all great options. Instead of going for full damage on your combos, you could end your combos in B2 to set up for even more pressure.
Don’t be afraid of pushing people out of the corner
You’re Raiden. You have the opportunity to throw people out of the corner to mess up their techs. Throw and teleport and then you can easily combo them back into the corner with BF3.