If you’re a beginner to Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate or fighting games in general and looking to join the competitive community, you’ll need to learn more about advanced concepts like frame data. A lot of casual gamers are perfectly content learning a moveset that works most of the time, but if you have aspirations of FGC tournaments and esports, then you’re going to need to make the most of every tool in your character’s kit.
One of the best ways to improve and expand your options is with an understanding of how frame data works. Here’s how it works.
What is Frame Data?
A frame is one frame of animation, or movement. Frame data is generally a universal concept throughout the genre, however, this specific explanation will primarily use Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate. Fighting games traditionally play at 60 FPS (frames per second). That means one frame equals 1/60th of a second.
In other words, frame data is a move’s speed. The bigger the number, the slower the move and vice versa. Faster frame data is almost always better. You’ll quickly notice that the best characters in any game usually have the fastest frame data. Fortunately for a good chunk of the cast, being top tier or winning tournaments isn’t all about how fast a move comes out.
Frame data is a springboard for how to utilize other advanced techniques, like playing neutral, using footsies, mix-ups, okis, and shimmys.
Why is Frame Data important?
Frame data is like a map that will tell you where you’re going before you get there. If you know that a certain move will allow you to recover before an opponent does, you can gain the advantage on the next attack. This makes understanding every character’s moveset extremely important if you want to play at the highest level.
Learning how many frames will pass with each move is part of becoming a better player. Otherwise, you’ll quickly get punished by a player who’s schooled on frame data and knows how to use it. More knowledge leads to better anticipation and more effective reactions, ultimately improving your game plan and playstyle.
What are the Different Types of Frame Data
Every move in MK11 takes a certain amount of frames, and there are three parts to a move – starting, performing, and recovering. All three have their own unique frame data.
Start-up frames are what happens before the move becomes active (when the move deals damage to the opponent on contact). The fewer start-up frames in a move, the faster it comes out. Moves with low start-up are often part of bread and butter combos (easy to perform strings). Expect players to rely on these to open up opponents thanks to their speed.
Active frames are how long the move stays out. Typically you want to time moves so that they are active either when the opponent is open to an attack or coming out of an option such as a roll or wake-up.
After that comes recovery frames, or they amount of time until the character can perform another action (move, block, etc). A move with a lot of recovery frames will get whiff punished (opponent has ample time to attack on miss). Although, acting out of block isn’t so simple.
Hit Advantage
Hit advantage is the amount of frames an opponent won’t be able to move after an attack connects. Like all forms of frame data, this varies on a move to move basis. Attacks with strong hit advantage give the aggressor a chance to mix-up their opponent with multiple moves because the defender has no choice but to stay in block due to the frame data or speed of the moves.
Block Advantage
Block advantage is the amount of time the opponent won’t be able to move after their attack is blocked. A negative block advantage is the opposite, and means the player won’t be able to move for a certain amount of frames.
Let’s say an opponent has a negative block advantage of 12 frames. That means an opponent can use a move with 11 frames or less to punish that.
Flawless Block Advantage
The best scenario for any player waiting for their turn is to get a flawless block. A flawless block is when you block right when you’re about to get hit. While risky, the perfect block comes with faster frame data, allowing players to perform punishes that would normally not be possible with traditional blocks.
Practicing flawless blocks is simply a matter of spending a lot of time with the game. Go for it as much as possible to continue to improve.
Frame Advantages or Jailed
Frame advantages are periods where you can get an edge in attacking another opponent because they are essentially unable to do anything. Players also call this “jailed.”
Frame Trap
Many players confuse frame traps and jailed. While similar offensive frame data techniques, frame traps are when you stop attacking an opponent during a blockstring in order to bait them into starting a move. If timed correctly, you’ll trigger another attack and land a counterhit before your opponent can get their move out.
Cancel Advantage
This refers to frames you get when you cancel one move into another. Let’s say a move has a cancel advantage of 31 frames, that means that if an opponent is hit and then cancels into another move, you get 31 frames where they can’t act.
Invincibility Frames
Ever wonder why your move can’t hit opponents in specific situations like when they’re knocked down and have yet to act? The answer is invincibility frames or periods when your character cannot be damaged.
Without invincibility or I frames, some characters would never get the chance to recover from combos, making these frames crucial to the game’s balance.
Frame Data Example
For a more visual deep dive into all things frame data, check out MK 11 expert Shujinkydink's two part video on how it works.
“If you really want to up your game from just a casual couch player to someone who actually knows what they’re doing, maybe beat some friends, maybe beat the guy down the street, then this is a video you should be interested in,” said Shujinkydink.
How to Use Frame Data to Get Better at Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
Frame Data Tutorial
Framing your Competitive Future
Watching MK11 Ultimate tournaments is one of the best ways to get a better grasp on frame data since you’ll see a wide variety of characters and playstyles utilizing frame data in unique ways. Tune into the Open Series or participate on your own to practice!
Image Source: NetherRealm (MK11)