We caught up with Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Open Series pro AWP on Reddit to discuss why people hate fighting zoners in our first iteration of Option Select. The series where we poll the FGC on ‘controversial’ topics for insight into ways players can improve both casually and competitively.
Here are some key takeaways from the European Sonya Blade main to help you better understand and improve against projectile users.
Zoning is either weak or extremely overbearing depending on character choice, playstyle, and proficiency of the player
“After having considerable time played with Sonya Blade (7,000 games) I can conclude that in terms of high level play, her high ring blast projectile (which is one widely considered the best traditional projectile in the game) isn’t a foolproof tool in her arsenal.” - AWP
Characters are designed to have weaknesses, otherwise the game would fail competitively. Top tier characters’ tools often cover these flaws to a greater extent than the rest of the cast. While these options can be tough to play around, that doesn’t mean they’re unbeatable.
Most characters can deal with traditional high projectiles with moves like:
- Fujin F3
- Sub-Zero Slide
- Cetrion Vine-grab
- Scorpion Teleport
The main flaw isn’t the ring blast itself, but the way characters can get around it
“The ring blast is exceptional. It has fast startup, great recovery, Krushing Blow on amplify (which creates a nice mind game to stop your opponent from approaching) etc etc. The main flaw in the projectile isn’t the ring blast itself, but the way other characters can get around it, whether it be read or reaction.” - AWP
You can’t afford to just ‘spam’
“To use the projectile effectively in a lot of matchups, you can’t afford to just ‘spam’ because you will get counter hit or punished by these anti-zoning tools. However, in the matchups where characters might not have tools that are as simple to use as something like a teleport or a slide (read+reaction based tools), the ring blast is fairly effective. I think this can be said for 99% of the high projectiles in the game. There may be a few exceptions I’m forgetting about, but for the most part this is the problem with high projectiles.” - AWP
Maneuvering around projectiles takes practice, but anyone can do it
“I think one of the most important aspects of how effective the high projectile is, is down to the opponent. Being able to maneuver around projectiles does take a lot of practice, but I believe anyone can do it. People who may not have as much experience with this may find it “braindead” or “unfair,” but at the highest level, it’s more of an issue trying to keep the opponent away, rather than trying to keep them at distance.” - AWP
Why zoning isn’t always weak
"You’re probably thinking zoning is pretty weak by this point. However, on the other hand, we have mid/low projectiles. These projectiles typically either hit harder, or low profile other projectiles in the game. This isn’t true for all low/mid fireballs but for a lot of them it is."
Examples:
- Cassie’s Kneecappin’
- Sindel’s Low Star Screamer
- Nightwolf’s Lightning Arrow
- Liu Kang’s Low Fireball
“These projectiles are normally considered some of the best in the game, nearly all of them for their neutral control."
The risks of blocking and jumping projectiles
“Due to a lot of these fireballs hitting mid/low, they must be either blocked or jumped, which immediately has a larger impact on the actions a player must take. Jumping over a fireball is an option, but if you misread, you could be in for a punish as most of these projectiles are unreactable at closer ranges.”
“Blocking the fireball could be considered the safer option here, but if you do this too often, chip damage will begin to take a toll on your lifebar, especially if you are playing a character with low damage, as this can make it more difficult to mount a comeback.”
What makes some zoners higher on tier lists
“Due to the control of the neutral these tools possess, you normally find characters with better mid/low projectiles higher on tier lists, because of how impactful those tools are on the character's fundamental gameplan. There are characters with mid projectiles such as Kollector which aren’t particularly strong, but I’m mainly talking about mid/low projectiles that travel in a straight line.”
The hit and miss nature of untraditional projectiles in MK11
“Finally we move onto direct-able/tracking special moves and some other untraditional projectiles. Direct-able and tracking special moves are rare in MK11, but a lot of them are really strong in terms of their ability to control the pace of the game.”
Examples:
- Sonya’s Drone Drop
- Shang Tsung’s Corpse Drop and Ground Eruption
- Cetrion’s Geyser and Ground-Pound
“These tools are however normally a complete hit or miss in this game. Characters like Shang have amazing directable projectiles, on top of anti-zoning tools and a solid traditional fireball, making him an extremely scary character at longer distances, but others such as Raiden’s lightning strike are almost redundant.”
Why Cetrion’s design is well thought out
“Cetrion, being the premier zoner of the game, has a lot of atypical projectiles, such as her Geyser, Ground-Pound, Hells Wrath beam, Vine Grab and of course the infamous Boulder. All of these tools are fairly well thought out in terms of a design standpoint. There is a projectile to create the initial space needed for her zoning to be fully effective by pushing away close opponents (Hells Wrath/wall), a projectile to frustrate and push away at longer distances (Boulder/Ground Pound), and a damaging long range punish for people who are trying to counter-zone (Vine Grab, Geyser (on a trade)).”
"These together are why Cetrion’s zoning is such a prevalent complaint in the community as she seems to have everything she would need to keep you out completely, but as we know, fighting games never play out like they should on paper.”
Fighting games never play out like they should on paper
“Players will have tendencies and will be read, players will make mistakes, and so on and so forth. Some characters do have ways to deal with Cetrion’s oppressive zoning (teleports and slides as examples) but for a reasonable chunk of the cast, she is a monster, along with Shang Tsung at a close second with his high damaging zoning tools.”
Zoning probably isn’t the appropriate term people throw around
“Personally, I think the buzzword of ‘zoning’ is thrown about a lot when it’s probably not the appropriate term. I’d probably say ‘space control’ or ‘neutral control’ better describe the act of trying to stop your opponent from bulldozing their way in using tools like projectiles.”
Projectile tools are literally hit or miss
“A lot of characters can control space very well with projectile tools but personally with how the current state of the game is, in my opinion, traditional projectiles are pretty weak, low/mid projectiles are much stronger but there are still some counterzoning tools which work against them (which in my opinion is right in the sweet spot of not too cheap but not weak) and the other untraditional projectiles are really either on one end of the spectrum or another (either extremely strong or not that strong at all).”
“Some projectiles are very good. Others aren’t so good. it’s very subjective based on matchups, characters, and player skill.”
It’s okay to struggle with zoning
“One thing I’d like to clarify before I conclude is that if you do struggle with zoning, that’s okay. You’re not a bad player for that. I don’t have enough fingers on both my hands to count the number of times I’ve been decimated by my Italian rival Asodimazze through pure zoning. There are ways (on paper) to deal with pretty much everything projectile wise in the game, but as I said earlier, the game never plays like it does on paper."
What does the community think?
“Idk though, I’m just some guy from Scotland that spams Sonya rings and sometimes plays in the Open Series. Let me know if you agree, I’m interested to hear the responses.”
Thanks again to AWP for taking the time to talk zoners in Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate! Follow him on Twitter for more invaluable fighting game information and then find out where your opinions fall among the community in our Option Select feature on zoners.
Next Option Select: Tier Lists
Look forward to our next installment of Option Select on tier lists. Until then, include these extra options in your Open Series arsenal and let us know if you have any feedback or topics you'd love to see featured in the future!