Welcome, Kombatants, to the first-ever Mortal Kombat X-focused episode of How To Counter!
We’ll be running down some basics for dealing with Scorpion. He isn’t a huge problem to deal with, but since we all know you’re going to see a ton of them online, we figured we should boil down the best ways to deal with the things you’ll see the average online warrior throw your way.
The key to remember with Scorpion is that while he has some good options, they’re all commitments. All you need to do is understand the situations when a Scorpion player wants to use certain moves, be ready to defend, and then know how to get the maximum reward. Characters like Kitana, who can turn punishment situations into above average damage excel at putting recklessly-played Scorpions in check.
Harpoon
The harpoon throw is Scorpion’s signature move, and the one you should expect to see thrown out the most when Scorpion is at long range. Simply understanding that is enough to defend it. Just block it and advance. He’ll be in recovery for a bit, so if you run, you can make up a lot of ground.
Defending it isn’t as good as making your opponent pay for it though. Few characters can get a strong, full punish on a long-range harpoon, but you can get a good little chunk of health and a better situation with many. Kitana’s Assassin variation gives her such a tool in Assassin Strike. The meter-burned version of this move will blow right through a harpoon, and grab the hapless Scorpion player for 19% damage and a knock down with you standing right over them. Not only is this a great situation for you, but now your opponent will be afraid to throw a harpoon at you when you have meter – a nice psychological advantage.
Other characters have similar tools. Quan Chi, Liu Kang, and many more fighters have options to spend meter and threaten Scorpion from long range when he wants to throw that harpoon. Learn one for your character and have it ready when you’re in those long range situations!
Teleport
The teleport is the move novice Scorpion players stick to the most, but fortunately, it’s also the easiest to deal with if you keep your head. Just like with the harpoon, think about when your opponent might want to do it. One common situation is when a Scorpion player is being pressured with lots of projectiles from long range, like Kitana’s fans. If you are effectively keeping your opponent out, you should be ready for a teleport.
Though it’s really fast, it’s incredibly easy to punish once blocked, since it recovers really slowly, and leaves Scorpion right next to you. Whatever your best punish combo is, this is the time to pull it out! Kitana has some relatively simple punish combos that do over 30% damage and require no meter. No one wants to be on the receiving end of that kind of damage, so your opponent will either need to stop teleporting, or risk a third of their health bar. Suddenly, no more teleport spam!
Slide
The favorite wake-up attack for most Scorpion players. If you know them down and stand over them like you’re about to do something as they get up, they’ll probably try this. Easy to predict, but a little tricky to punish since it pushes you back a good bit when you block it.
Once you’ve identified when your opponent likes to slide, you need find your longest reaching attack that you can combo off of. This will usually be forward on the stick/pad along with one of your punch buttons, but it varies by character. These moves tend to be slow, but that’s ok; Scorpion is still unable to block for a little even once he gets to his feet after a slide. This is a situation where you practice a specific combo for this situation. Once you have though, you again put your opponent in a position where an option they relied upon is no longer worth doing, tipping the match far in your favor.
These are some basic tactics you can use to put down those scrubby online Scorpion players. Again, Kitana is ideal for applying these tips, but with a little figuring out in training, you can fight Scorpion effectively with anyone.
Let us know who you’re having the most trouble with in the comments, and keep checking back for future editions of How To Counter.
Vince is an Associate Editor at IGN. You can follow him @vincogneato on Twitter.