Become the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei! Sub-Zero Overview and Combo Guide - Mortal Kombat 1

[@CameronDC-Grimes]

Very good guide: A few things, on strings section you said 122 has gap between 22 and recommended doing 12xxLao hat to prevent armor. It's not safe, there's an Armor gap between most strings into Lao hat. 12, 21, 122, 212, 34, B34, 44, F123 all have armor gaps I just don't worry about it unless I'm vs Johnny, Tanya, Ashrah, Kung Lao

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thank you! And shitttt i totally forgot to mention that Low Hat is armorable. Thanks for the correction! Yea the gaps aren't the biggest deal and I tried to frame it as such, but fair point, its definitely a much bigger deal against the characters you mentioned which i forgot to specify I'm sure its going to be like that every time, where after I publish a guide, I'm going to think of or realize things I left out lmao

[@DrillSgtMason]

​@@AwesomeBRINKSalot of times you dont have to worry about that armor gaps though. Most people online will just sit and block. Its the same for back 2. I OBVIOUSLY dont reccomend blindly using it but when youre playing onling and dealing with ping...dont underestimate it. I clap people blocking low all the time with it. The human element has to be considered along with all other contingencies. All and all...great guide and learned some new stuff today.

[@DrillSgtMason]

​@@AwesomeBRINKSoh by the way I would not underestimate subs 4,4 string. The sweep is only -1 on block and has absurd push back macking it very safe. The first hit is just kind of slow.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

@@DrillSgtMason yea its not a huge issue, but its still a detriment in last hit situations. And yea I feel you on Back 2, but to be fair, a high ping environment is just a totally different game, and I also don't wanna encourage people to pick up bad habits that only work in a shitty connection but maybe its worth throwing in a line to address it lmao. The hope is if I explain how X works, they'll be able to figure out for themselves if they can get away with it more in a shit connection or if they should play safer. But in general, its always safer to just not use Back 2 aggressively and I wanted that to be the main takeaway for someone learning the character. Especially if they're tryna go to a local or to Combo Breaker or something I super agree with the human element part. Sometimes you can overwhelm your opponent mentally to the point that they're so focused on reacting to multiple things that they just get hit by a yolo Back 2 or slide lmao But thank you! I'm glad you learned something from it! And thank you for the feedback!

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

@@DrillSgtMason i was actually hoping someone would comment about 44. I was watching the most recent Sikander beef set and he uses 44 a lot to pressure knockdowns and I dont get why. The huge pushback and safety makes sense. But the part that confuses me is why you would rather use 44, than just to stand a bit back and pressure their wakeup with klone punch/ice ball/etc.

[@-LMND-]

Another incredible guide. This one might even be better than your Smoke video, which is insanely well put together. Thanks again for doing these. Even though I don't play Sub, having this knowledge will make facing him easier. I look forward to more of your awesome videos!

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Yo thank you a lot for saying that!! I'm glad you enjoyed it and got something out of it!! I tried to improve from the Smoke guide cuz there were things I could have explained or shown better and imma keep tryna improve as I go lol. But thats dope, I hope future guides will be just as entertaining/informative for you! I'm working on labbing Quan Chi to write up my script, otherwise I've got Havik and Rain guide scripts in the works too, and I have some Smoke kameo synergy guides on the way. Hoping to finish the first one tonight!

[@littlehair5060]

Not gonna lie one of the best looking sub guides out there

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

That's awesome of you to say, thank you!!

[@daveytoowavey]

This guide is so good. Love the way you lay everything out and even touch on "less optimal" Kameos to show all the options. I feel like people of every skill level could still get something out of this. Would absolutely love to see more in the future, particularly a Mileena guide would be awesome!

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Yoo thank you so much!! And yea I wanted to structure it so that the guides are relevant whether youre super competitive or just playing with your friends/grinding invasions and towers etc. So its dope to hear that dude, thanks! And hell yea, Mileena is for sure high up on that list, im super excited to learn her and make a guide. Currently, the top of the list is Havik, Mileena, Rain, and Omni-Man kinda

[@daveytoowavey]

@@AwesomeBRINKS Sweet, super hype for Havik!

[@CameronDC-Grimes]

@@AwesomeBRINKS add Quan Chi to that list cuz he's gonna be popular for sure. Get gameplay reveal today at 10am Would be cool to see a advanced Sub Zero guide with Stryker. I am starting to think Stryker may be his best Kameo, I can make B2 and B34 safe/plus on block but also launch on hit, it's like an Option Select covering everything. Vs certain characters it actually can make clone safe. But more importantly you can combo off Armored Slide by doing B+R1 then Armor. I'm getting 25% with no extra meter used. Also if your interested in Baraka Stryker is his best Kameo. He's crazy strong and flying under radar because of the damage nerf. He's the same as Prepatch Cyrax but is better in the fact many players don't expect the grenades to hit after they start their punish and you get full combo off it, and on hit it combos from his B3 and F3. But the most important thing is his bleed damage, you end combos into his upchop move and it adds bleed then you can do blockstrings with Stryker to add 15-20% chip cuz you get extra turns so his 33% combo guarantees at least 48% and if they open up it turns into 65% minimum plus extra bleed after and if you fatal blow there's mad bleed damage. So they losing life while blocking correctly, all his flawless block gaps are covered and he has safe 50/50's that lead to 33% combos or strong chip on block until they do open up and they have to constantly guard against overhead and low. And that Low is double hit that armor breaks. Have no clue why people dropped him. Has amazing buttons and range and gap closers and zoning

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

@@CameronDC-Grimes Oh yes I fully plan to make shit for Quan. He actually looks amazing. I havent tried Stryker with Sub tbh. I've seen people in MKTomBrady's chat mention it. In theory I can see the benefit since grenades let you do a lot of yolo shit without much risk. And even having the built in mix off of block strings with Stryker seems cool too. Its funny you mention Baraka cuz I just started learning him a couple days ago. I wanted to play him at launch but lost interest when he was one of the most popular characters. Hes really fun with Cyrax and his damage feels fair now lmao but Ill have to try out Stryker with him. Damn yea all that about the chip setups with grenades sounds wild, Ill for sure have to look into that. He's been really fun to learn with Cyrax, but having the pressure with grenades sounds dope

[@CameronDC-Grimes]

@@AwesomeBRINKS yeah do Sub with Stryker and definitely pick up Baraka, it's best to learn playing with a character to better understand how to beat them and you can recreate situations that beat you online in practice easy. But Sub Zero with Stryker is very good. For B2 you need to press B+R1 right when the first hit of B2 hits for it to make it safe and launch high enough for JIP 21. Also try to find a way to use arrest move D+R1 on end of combos, even if it's only 20% get it to connect into that Restand because it's +35 and allows you to force them to guess B2/B34 The B34 requires you to press Grenades B+R1 between B3(here)4 mess around with it so it juggles high enough and easy. Then Stryker also gives you a +6 on block overhead and a +1 on block low. You can jail them on S4 as well as other strings so no gap. That overhead makes your MID a 9f Startup after they recover which is Johnny Cage level of power.pnly thing they can beat you with is 12/ D1 poke and they only have 2 frames to do it which isn't happening online. The overhead also conditions them to get hit by your B34 which combos with grenades. Do the string into U+R1(Stryker Overhead) then you can mix with Staggered 2 and do Throw or 21 or backdash into B34 dash cancel to force them to wiff their starter (12/21 starters) Sub feels almost not low tier with Stryker. But it's that his buttons are trash. I feel Sub should have a 12f Mid if they keep all his wild gaps in everything and if they don't fix Clone. Because at a minimum he needs his 12 to jail from frost to second hit with no armor gap because it's a fundamental tool to poke into 12(7 frame starter) but he can't because it has gap and good players hold that poke and armor as soon as they see the second coming. That's why staggering 2 is soo good vs better players, it makes them have to mix themselves between armor or not when you use 2/21/2xxThrow

[@blasian318]

Another great guide for one of my fav fighters!!!

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thank you!! And that's a great choice for a favorite. Ice is one of the coolest elemental powers imo, and Sub just has some really fucking cool moves in this game.

[@blasian318]

@@AwesomeBRINKS hate that they nerfed him tho

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

@@blasian318 Yea same. Its weird that they let Kenshi and Johnny be as crazy as they are(which i think is fine lol) but are scared of Sub-Zero having equally crazy tools lol I think they need to either make his zoning stronger(faster ice ball and klone push being safe on block) or get rid of the terrible damage scaling on freeze combos. Its wild to spend meter on ground freeze but do less damage overall lmao

[@117ninjanate]

Excellent guide. Very comprehensive!

[@Clip1Craze]

Came here from the Smoke video, yet again another great tutorial. Keep it up man 💪🔥

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thats awesome dude, thank you!!

[@timchard]

Great tutorial, perfect speaking pace and really well taught - thanks! 🎉

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

That's awesome of you to say, thank you for the feedback!

[@damionbaxter4912]

The problem with this character is he's actually not a zoner he's a jack of all trades type character. He has a tool for every situation you just have to know what tool works for any given situation. Whoever designed this character and the person who gave him 12 nerfs at launch clearly had different vision for the character and didn't give him anything after they weakened his tools making him a character that does nothing.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Yea for sure. He definitely has a lot of tools. The main issue is most of those tools are better at controlling neutral than rushdown or up close pressure. I will never understand why they nerfed him so hard from the beta. He doesn't really excel at anything. I'm really hoping he gets some kinda help in the Quan Chi patch tomorrow. Personally I'm hoping they make klone last a bit longer or recover faster Revert the change to his F1 startup Make iceball able to be comboed into and tone down the scaling on ground freeze I feel like iceball should be the meterless combo starter with high damage scaling, and EX ground freeze should be the "I want to spend meter to do more damage" move. Basically every character can get full meterless combos solo from their main strings, so its weird that Sub can only do that off of his slow af B2.

[@tbohacker]

I would love to see some gameplay commentary for Sub-Zero like you did for Smoke.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

I have genuinely thought about doing some of the narrated KL vids for Sub and Ermac so I will definitely try to make a thing out of it in the near future! Especially since ive been working on Sub/Janet, which has been a fun team but I need to lab a bit more before Im ready to take it online. But when I do I will definitely make a narrated vid out of it!

[@abbashuseynov8455]

You are amazing. You should do more guides

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thank you so much for saying that!! That is the plan though! Been away for the holidays but just got home a day ago and I've got a few more in the works! Working on some Smoke videos and the Quan Chi guide!

[@steftier]

Brinks I need some Smoke + Shujinko sauce when you're versing Quan Cheesy.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Oooooh i totally forgot to check what Shujinko gets from Quan. I will definitely see what I can come up with! Might do a short or 2 this week but I'm gonna try to do a little combo video of my findings after I finish this Smoke/Sektor synergy guide!

[@Polyantra]

Great video man

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thank you!! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@CameronDC-Grimes]

Subscribed. Anything with Cyrax bomb setups, I have a few clips on my YT

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Yoooo thank you, and yes I gotta lab some more of them and see whats out there but ill definitely check out your stuff too!

[@nicholasross3854]

😁❄

[@Azalealiketheflower]

Hi, so the guides solid but I have a couple of notes b2 can be linked out of raw j2 jump in, as well as j2 divekick. j2 divekick s4 vapors is a real thing you can do or j2 divekick s44 for soft oki and 15%. s4 is a 12f button, so, you can technically jail out of d1/d3 into s44; s4 is your 'meatiest' heavy button and would be better to be used with your assist calls; or before specials as you covered. Scorpion cameo can pop up into full combo (but loses a lot of damage) with s44. s3 covers the same purpose, 2f faster for 10 less damage, and it makes some stuff like linking out of j21 more consistent. j12 scales harder than j21 because its your 'confirm' ender, but you can usually do j21 (land) f12/s21/s3/s4 into enders as you demonstrate, s4 has about 30 more damage than s3 but s3 is far more consistent; but doing b2 b2 j21 will increase the gravity and will make s3/s4 not work. You could do b2 b2 j21 s12 assist popup to extend. As you covered, freezes tank your scaling, but the 'microfreeze' like deadly vapors applies to 21 and j222 which is why you get lower damage on those strings. The problem with using freeze moves is to do what you should normally be able to do you lose about 10% on the rest of the cast; clone defensive AA is great for space control, but, if I get a freeze from ice ball, I try to set up oki instead unless its a game winning kill combo; otherwise Sub can avoid using vapors in his routes entirely with certain cameo calls. Sareena users can easily push 40% on any combo if they choose by using s4 before the second assist call, or just forcing mix with 1hit b2 or b3 cancel; though this isn't entirely reliable. Scorpion users get an overhead that full staggers that lets you do dash cancel b2 for a full combo launch; just as two examples. During your meterburn combos you can basically do j21 divekick x3 j21 clone j12 divekick in the corner, most stuff I can push to around 45% doing this even if it is a waste of super meter; if you're really concerned about optimization you should be getting 35~42% for 1 bar, but again you've covered this. The uppercut jump cancel is useless for Sub because he can just do j12 intercept or standing 1/2 into grounded bnb/assist call, also because this game is this game and has no 'force counter hit setting' it's not really good to lab, but for 2 meter it leaves it in the same place as ex ice clone ie theres better options you can do for better damage, its like you said you're better off just saying screw it and taking the 15% at that point; or just use an assist like Scorpion I guess. Your fatal is missing like ten damage just because you used s3 instead of s4 and you did the extra b2. Normally you'd want to do b2 b2 but if you get it raw b2 j21 s4 fatal will just give you 50% damage, it's also most optimal to use after 5 hits because even at the upper end you can still crank out 45~49% but you can never actually touch 50% without the mashing minigame and b2 j21 s4 as your entry string. tldr you want more j21 in your gameplan, no matter what, as it scales less than j12 and allows you to push people into your advantage position; the corner. You want s3 for consistency links and s4 for damage (in the case of j21 landing links); most assist calls can be pushed after that landing s3/s4, even people who aren't 'good' for Sub like Sub and Frost (thanks to the combo freeze quirk.) can be used for midscreen stuff though you won't get as much damage as other cameos. You can optimize your fatal route by taking out a b2 and changing a button. Your best way to use iceball is post cameo confirming [either through Lao hat b2 setup or something like Sonya with b2 j21 s4(assist)df] because if you land it full screen you can't land more than a 1-2 extension without wavedashes, a double hit of scaling will murder your combo damage; and if you land it in the air you're improvising a half combo route. Your jailing advice is solid, with the exception that you can also do s4 but its *incredibly* tight at 12f, and forcing knockdowns is never bad on Sub when he has 3 counterpokes and a throw to work with really.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

I think I mentioned that a jump in can let you get a Back 2 but I didnt spend much time on it. I definitely forgot to mention that you can still cancel into a jump in after connecting (or whiffing) a jump in though. I actually meant to put a jump in -> divekick -> vapors combo in part 2 but as seems to be the case with these guides, I randomly just forget a couple things, so thanks for pointing those out! I didnt think about using Scorpion to convert from 44, that sounds funny and cool but not super useful unfortunately. And yea s3 seems like the more versatile high damage single button overall. Yea I initially was going to focus on ending j21 BNBs with s4 into slide, but with a difference of less than 1% for being way more precise, I dont think its worth the slight optimization there at least. I probly could have gone further with weird kameo combos, but I feel like the most useful kameo use is to get a launch that skips the need for deadly vapors, rather than being able to extend a bit at the end, though I think I kind of show a similar concept for some of the F123 conversions. ooooooh I didnt think about the game considering 21 as a freeze and impacting the scaling. That actually makes so much sense. I think 222 is the same damage as 134 though. But I havent labbed any kameo combos out of those and am only basing that on using them as an easy combo ender. Thats a good point on sacrificing the small damage combo after iceball and trying to setup instead. Yea I tried to point out the importance of j21 and that if you wanna do damage with Sub, you can cash out with j21 ex divekick loops, whether corner or midscreen. And yup Im glad you agree about the D2 jump cancel lol. He just has so many more efficient and even more damaging options if you antiair or air to air your opponent. Thats a great point about the fatal route being less optimal. I tried so many variations of combos into fatal before I went with the one thats in the video but I forgot to check a single B2 launch lmao. And those are all great points in your tldr! I think I emphasized that j21 is the damage option and j12 is the easier more consistent option for air extensions. I may have forgotten to point that out with s3 vs s4 though. I can't remember if I mentioned that s4 can jail from pokes or if I took it out of my script because of how tight it is and that it doesn't lead to much on its own, but thats a fair point about getting a knockdown never being a bad thing, though s34 gives the same benefit while being only slightly more minus but more plus on hit. But thank you for all the feedback and extra info!! It's greatly appreciated!!

[@Azalealiketheflower]

@@AwesomeBRINKS Yeah there's no real reason to spend a ton of time on jump ins as they're self explanatory imo. The vapors stuff is kinda situational after realizing you can just take a full damage launcher off j2. As for 44 pop ups it does work with people that pick up off air stuff like Scorpion or Cyrax but, as I said I think the meter is better used elsewhere because you can pad damage in silly ways. You are 100% right about s4 not being a huge deal for damage, s3 imo is far better for the consistencies sake but if you can hit it consistently it is worth mentioning; plus with some assists you can pop up out of s4 (Lao, Sonya, Scorpion) and push the extra % which is always good when you're fiending for every bit of damage. " but I feel like the most useful kameo use is to get a launch that skips the need for deadly vapors, rather than being able to extend a bit at the end" This point right here is CRUCIAL and is why people gravitate toward Sareena aside the 'lol I get free midscreen combos' but in my experience when you play around certain routes you can bypass vapors combo burn with half of the assist cast seemingly; except for Stryker, and Frost and Sub with their unfortunate freeze quirk you end up losing damage anyway. You did emphasize j21 was damage, I'm just backing it up saying for whatever reason it scales a lot less than everything else, which is just a little silly but it is what it is right? Thanks for reading my whole essay worth of stuff lol

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

​@@Azalealiketheflower Yea that was my thinking too. I go super in detail about a lot of things in these guides as it is so I try to not do it for every little thing lmao. And yea for sure about the jump ins. Also for the record when I was labbing it, J1 and J2 seem to scale the same, and I feel like J1 is easier to connect. The 44 pickups I tried with Cyrax were terrible cuz you cant get much out of chopper with Sub(most I got was klone into j12 slide) because the gravity and scaling is way too high. Scorpion gets pretty good damage from it again, not super useful but good to know. And yea I like using s4 at the beginning of combos if I know itll connect or something but I usually opt for s3 when picking up after a j12 or j21. And yes exactly why people like Sareena and Lao. I personally dont like Sareena as much because I enjoy the option of mix with low hat, but Sareena does at least give you B3 full combo for not that much risk which I forgot to cover in the guide🙃 Actually Sektor can full combo punish a point blank Sareena double knives if youre quick, but in general its pretty low risk for high damage. I skip vapors a lot with Lao spin. In the corner, all your strings combo into it but midscreen 12 whiffs like 90% of the time so that's like the one situation where vapors is pretty mandatory. And actually Stryker can bypass vapors too in a weird way. You can combo into iceball from his strings if you call the grenades early enough, which you gives you around 34% meterless depending on starter. Lol yea thats fair, and it is weird how much more damaging J21 is, but I actually really like how Sub's air strings are balanced, given that they all kind of have their own niche(except j112, I dont think theres a reason to use that over the others) which makes his combo structure really fun with a lot of situational decision making to worry about. And no problem! I enjoy talking about this shit and I super appreciate your feedback and you taking the time to type all that out for me! Thank you as well for reading my own essay(s) in response lmao

[@Azalealiketheflower]

@@AwesomeBRINKS The scaling could be placebo, I could very well be retarded; however I think it matters moreso for long strings at the end of them? The difference is like 39 to 41% though its literally meaningless. I haven't done much labbing between J1 and J2 on the ground so tbh I could just be imagining things, but I think the damage ultimately is like 10? difference. I would say opting for s34 after j21 is probably overall better, if you miss an assist confirm you get a soft knockdown; you hit assist confirm you can go into a 40% extension. You could also do s34 in a corner position to set up clone advantage, and there's a dash tick throw thats like 1-2f with meterless where you can pull people into the clone. That's how you had to do that mix before the patch, now you can just meterburn 1bar into b3 which is sick. I did some more tweaking around after making that comment, Cyrax stuff definitely would have been better patch 1; it's so hard to catch after a corner popup now because it flings the opponent midscreen like a d2. The Sektor tech is super useful to know and I noticed when I was playing with him with timings you can manipulate him to act as another soft pickup in between certain buttons, missile seems fantastic just for starting or continuing pressure too. I'm interested to see the new Scorpion speed changes, and when I was watching Sikander earlier he was claiming Motaro has a +13 projectile; which speaks for itself. The reason why I said Stryker couldn't is like, he absolutely can but the timing is finicky; and execution is a strength of mine, so when I don't feel comfortable hitting it I feel the average player probably wouldn't be that comfortable learning to hit it; but I kinda feel like its a j21 Scorpion s3/4 situation where when you call the assist before the button you should able to buffer cancel into his grenades or something similar, at least conceptually in my mind but I'd have to go play with it. I agree on the air strings, I actually like using 134 as a short ender and 13 can be good off certain buttons to pick up into the ex divekick loops; but I feel that 112 doesn't really have a good place between the other options, which is truly unfortunate. And yeah no problem I enjoy having someone to bounce ideas off of that is receptive to hearing what I have to say for once lmfao. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day for this.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

​@@Azalealiketheflower lmao ill have to lab it more because for the tiny amount I did, it seemed j1 and j2 scaled the same, but maybe it is only noticeable in the longer sequences like you said. and yessss the corner EX klone stuff is soooo cool. It still feels inconsistent to get the throw or b3 to touch the klone but I might just have to lab it a bit more Yea Cyrax stuff feels not great to do with Sub during this version lol. There's probly a timing to keep them from flinging out the corner but the damage hardly seems worth at the moment. Sektor is my main kameo with Smoke, and Ive been meaning to lab him more with Sub cuz it seems fun potentially. Motaro is another ive been wanting to try with Sub since the patch. The +13 tail shot is absolutely absurd with Smoke, so I really wanna find some dirt with Sub/Motaro lol. Yea thats fair, the Stryker links definitely aren't the easiest shit to do but it felt consistent to me once I figured out the rhythm to do the inputs. Yea agreed. 134 is fun and I just cannot find a use for 112 lol. I see Sik use it sometimes to combo into EX divekick but it just does less damage than 13 or j21 and usually its in a situation where those other aerials would have still worked and no problem! I love talking about the game so Im happy to listen and bounce shit off with someone! Sorry for taking so long to respond though. It's been a busy month with the holidays and everything lol

[@ibm_businessman6033]

Oh hell yea

[@caracal82]

Nice guide but you didn't mention that you can do enhanced clone for one bar. After the Quan Chi patcj Sub has now 3 versions of clone.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Thanks! And yea I released the guide right before Quan came out and of course the patch changed a bunch of shit that I covered in my guide lmao. I need to make a pinned comment going over everything that is outdated in the guide

[@el1e869]

Are you using an ai voice changer ?

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

Nope lol. I just record into Audacity, do a minor amount of noise reduction, then export and run through Adobe Podcast which mostly just boosts the gain and does a bit more noise reduction and then the mp3 file that comes out of that goes directly into my editor. Nothing super fancy Why? Does my voice sound like its AI generated? Lol

[@el1e869]

@@AwesomeBRINKS yea kinda, but a really good one, it just sounds nit and clean.

[@AwesomeBRINKS]

@@el1e869 oh that's awesome, thank you! lmao. I'm not using the highest end microphone(Shure SM58) or software so its dope to hear that the voiceover still sounds good