Teach me your ways

[Hollow]

How are you all so good already? I practiced the same combo for like 5 hours yesterday and can't land it in a match. But literally EVERYONE I fight no matter how much of a noob they look already has all these combos down. I make one mistake and, bam, there's one third of my health. Then repeat.

[Yosogoto]

Combos are really easy and they are already all over the internet

The thing new players gotta learn is how to play the neutral game and earn the hits without dying

[Hollow]

Originally posted by Oxygen Thief:

Combos are really easy and they are already all over the internet

The thing new players gotta learn is how to play the neutral game and earn the hits without dying

I mean, sure, I imagine they're easy for people who remotely play fighting games, but I'm not feeling it at all.

[Meseki]

If you're new to fighting games, you should just start with a simple combo that leads to a knockdown, which in this game is really easy because of the Rapid Beat system (as in, you can literally mash one button and get a knockdown out of it, though it won't be nearly optimal). I believe the character missions have some easy combos that you can use while you play matches and learn how to get your hits in and avoid getting hit yourself.

[Fenrir]

Well, for starters, don't lab a combo for 5 hours, lol. You should only be spending about 30 minutes or so in the lab to warm up. Secondly, if you're feeling like this, you shouldn't be worrying about combos right now anyway. Just focus on the fundamentals first, then focus on combos later.

You said something about losing a third of your health off one mistake. So, take a look at your replay(s) and see what you could've done differently there. If you feel like your defense is lacking, just focus on improving that so you're not as easy to open up. If you feel like your offense is lacking, then focus on that instead and try to figure out what's safe, what's unsafe, do you have a good blockstring, etc.

I'm still figuring stuff out myself and it's kinda rough. I basically get rolled every time I fight a good Kohaku because she beats me in priority on pretty much everything, so I think it's just a hopeless matchup for Saber, tbh. Her range is better than mine, she can cover herself at close range too, she has stationary projectiles you're forced to respect, etc. The only thing I can really do in that matchup is pray my opponent is an idiot and hangs himself so I can get a free win, lol.

That's another thing you should keep in mind though. If you're feeling this way, it probably means your opponents are seeing an opening in your gameplay and exploiting it, so you're basically beating yourself. They let you keep making the same mistake and punish you for it. I mean, obviously I have no idea what you were doing or who you even play, but it's worth thinking about in any case.

So yeah, all I can really say though is just keep playing and you'll get there. While fancy combos and stuff can be fun, they're not always practical depending on the situation, so try not to worry about them too much. You can win without them, but it'll just require a little more effort on your part, mainly focusing on your neutral.

[scatteraxis]

How are we so good? First we have experience, secondly we practice with people on our skill level that push us to improve. Obviously the first will come with time, but to begin with you've gotta find a training partner or a friend to play with that isn't just gonna steamroll you like that's gonna teach you anything. Once you can take the game at a slow pace with someone, then you can start finding problems and figuring out solutions, also the nerves that come with playing versus someone else will indeed make you drop combos mid game, that's also something you'll get better and handling with time, it's not a terrible thing because even the best players can drop even the easiest combos.

You can join the Melty Blood Community Server and to network with other new players, because of course there has been an influx of players since release day:
https://discord.gg/mbcs

There are also links to resources and character channels that can help you learn your character or the metagame, and what to focus on to begin with when it comes to learning Melty Blood.

[Hollow]

Originally posted by Fenrir:

Well, for starters, don't lab a combo for 5 hours, lol. You should only be spending about 30 minutes or so in the lab to warm up. Secondly, if you're feeling like this, you shouldn't be worrying about combos right now anyway. Just focus on the fundamentals first, then focus on combos later.

You said something about losing a third of your health off one mistake. So, take a look at your replay(s) and see what you could've done differently there. If you feel like your defense is lacking, just focus on improving that so you're not as easy to open up. If you feel like your offense is lacking, then focus on that instead and try to figure out what's safe, what's unsafe, do you have a good blockstring, etc.

I'm still figuring stuff out myself and it's kinda rough. I basically get rolled every time I fight a good Kohaku because she beats me in priority on pretty much everything, so I think it's just a hopeless matchup for Saber, tbh. Her range is better than mine, she can cover herself at close range too, she has stationary projectiles you're forced to respect, etc. The only thing I can really do in that matchup is pray my opponent is an idiot and hangs himself so I can get a free win, lol.

That's another thing you should keep in mind though. If you're feeling this way, it probably means your opponents are seeing an opening in your gameplay and exploiting it, so you're basically beating yourself. They let you keep making the same mistake and punish you for it. I mean, obviously I have no idea what you were doing or who you even play, but it's worth thinking about in any case.

So yeah, all I can really say though is just keep playing and you'll get there. While fancy combos and stuff can be fun, they're not always practical depending on the situation, so try not to worry about them too much. You can win without them, but it'll just require a little more effort on your part, mainly focusing on your neutral.

This is great and all, but I don't understand how working on a combo for a short time is better than grinding it out. I don't play fighting games. The only character I've ever learned was Noob Saibot from the last MK. I don't think I'd ever learn these faster paced combos with only 30 minutes a day.

[Meseki]

Originally posted by Hollow:

This is great and all, but I don't understand how working on a combo for a short time is better than grinding it out. I don't play fighting games. The only character I've ever learned was Noob Saibot from the last MK. I don't think I'd ever learn these faster paced combos with only 30 minutes a day.

If you have to spend hours at once learning a combo, it's probably currently too hard to implement into your gameplay consistently. A simpler combo finished properly is generally more effective than a difficult, optimal combo that's dropped half way.

[Yosogoto]

Honestly most of my Noel combos are "mash into 623B mash into 214B maybe use some meter or whatever"

[mbgomes]

The idea for working 30 minutes in a combo is more so the game doesnt become a stressful grind (i did a lot of that, hours upon hours practicing and testing all kinds of stuff and situations, just for none of that happen agaisnt actual people), you dont really need to know combos if you master movement and the general feel of the neutral game. There is the other side of the coin tho, doing the same basic combo over and over can make the game feel stale pretty fast.

Easier said then done for sure, but try to balance out practice and play, doing stuff on the dummy flawlessly doesnt translate well to an actual match.

What i try to do is get the BnBs 10 times in a row and then go to a match with the sole purpose of applying it, whether i win or lose. Just landing it a few times already counts as a win for me anyway.

[Fenrir]

Originally posted by Hollow:

This is great and all, but I don't understand how working on a combo for a short time is better than grinding it out. I don't play fighting games. The only character I've ever learned was Noob Saibot from the last MK. I don't think I'd ever learn these faster paced combos with only 30 minutes a day.

Daigo practices his setups and stuff for like 30 minutes a day and look at how good he is. He's not really doing anything you can't do yourself. The whole idea though is to not burn yourself out on just practicing stuff. It's better to limit yourself to hitting X combo Y number of times rather than saying "okay, I'm going to practice this one combo for hours!", lol. Your brain's going to be fried by the time you even play someone online.

It's no wonder you drop it or can't even do it in a real match. You're looking for a shortcut or a quick fix to the problem here, but you can't really cut corners. All you can do is keep playing and let your experience grow organically rather than trying to cram everything into your head at once, thinking it'll work.

What you're basically doing is no different than cramming for an exam that you never did the homework for. So, instead of learning about the basics and all of that first, you skipped ahead to just try and memorize the difficult stuff, and now that the exam has started, your brain is fried and not only do you not understand the basics, but you also don't even have an answer to the problem(s) you studied for.

Applying this to the game, I'd say the main reason why you're not able to land the combo is because you're trying to jump ahead by ignoring your defense, neutral, etc. and you're focusing on just landing that combo. That's where all your brainpower is going. That's not good. Once you start to have a basic understanding of the fundamentals, then you can move on to hit confirming into your combo and all of that fun stuff.

For now though, I still stand by my original assessment here and assume you're just hanging yourself and that's what is allowing your opponents to take off "a third of your health" whenever you make a mistake. So yeah, instead of trying to take giant leaps and make insane progress in a short period of time, take things nice and slow, and the combo(s) will come naturally later on.

Before you know it, it'll just be part of your muscle memory and you won't even have to think about it whenever you see that hit confirm. But yeah, just focus on your neutral game, movement, offense, defense, stuff like that. Don't worry about the fancy stuff you're finding in combo videos or whatever. Some of that stuff is just for looks anyway and a poor use of meter, lol.

It's situational though, as I said before. Regardless, good luck though. You'll get there if you just stick with it and keep playing.

[Seven ate you]

I'm guessing you're looking for actual technique, which I'll tell you how I overcome situations where I'm having bad times with combos.

I still do this now, even though I have a bunch of experience with fighting games, as sometimes a combo I'm not used to and makes me uncomfortable in inputs comes up once in a while.

Although, I'm kinda guessing what the main problem is, I'd have to actually watch you attempt the combos to be able to be 100% accurate.

If you can't do a combo after the first 30 minutes, with hardly improvement, it's typically a sign you're overwhelming yourself and need to break it down.
I don't care if the combo you're learning is simply a normal button into special, or half of it is button mashing.

You need to break down each part of the combo individually, and practice them separately.

If you break it down and you still can't do it, break it down even further. Doesn't matter if you're simply practicing inputting special move by itself.

By the very off chance you're doing some higher than normal execution stuff, I'll just say it now, you probably wanna drop the execution.

[Donny Stoops]

Hey you're not alone I'm total ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at all these games. I respect the time people have put in to learn this ♥♥♥♥. Or they are talented. Find what you enjoy in the game and you will get better over time. God bless you touch of death ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[Hollow]

Originally posted by Fenrir:

Originally posted by Hollow:

This is great and all, but I don't understand how working on a combo for a short time is better than grinding it out. I don't play fighting games. The only character I've ever learned was Noob Saibot from the last MK. I don't think I'd ever learn these faster paced combos with only 30 minutes a day.

Daigo practices his setups and stuff for like 30 minutes a day and look at how good he is. He's not really doing anything you can't do yourself. The whole idea though is to not burn yourself out on just practicing stuff. It's better to limit yourself to hitting X combo Y number of times rather than saying "okay, I'm going to practice this one combo for hours!", lol. Your brain's going to be fried by the time you even play someone online.

It's no wonder you drop it or can't even do it in a real match. You're looking for a shortcut or a quick fix to the problem here, but you can't really cut corners. All you can do is keep playing and let your experience grow organically rather than trying to cram everything into your head at once, thinking it'll work.

What you're basically doing is no different than cramming for an exam that you never did the homework for. So, instead of learning about the basics and all of that first, you skipped ahead to just try and memorize the difficult stuff, and now that the exam has started, your brain is fried and not only do you not understand the basics, but you also don't even have an answer to the problem(s) you studied for.

Applying this to the game, I'd say the main reason why you're not able to land the combo is because you're trying to jump ahead by ignoring your defense, neutral, etc. and you're focusing on just landing that combo. That's where all your brainpower is going. That's not good. Once you start to have a basic understanding of the fundamentals, then you can move on to hit confirming into your combo and all of that fun stuff.

For now though, I still stand by my original assessment here and assume you're just hanging yourself and that's what is allowing your opponents to take off "a third of your health" whenever you make a mistake. So yeah, instead of trying to take giant leaps and make insane progress in a short period of time, take things nice and slow, and the combo(s) will come naturally later on.

Before you know it, it'll just be part of your muscle memory and you won't even have to think about it whenever you see that hit confirm. But yeah, just focus on your neutral game, movement, offense, defense, stuff like that. Don't worry about the fancy stuff you're finding in combo videos or whatever. Some of that stuff is just for looks anyway and a poor use of meter, lol.

It's situational though, as I said before. Regardless, good luck though. You'll get there if you just stick with it and keep playing.

I do get the brain fry. That used to happen to me back in MK11. And I also agree that fundamentals come first. But the thing is, I believe my fundamentals are becoming solid. I understand all of my character's (Ciel) moves and ranges, I use overhead and low mix ups. I zone and throw at usually proper times, although lately I've been getting punished HARD by shield. I do okay at shield wars too, but usually lose them against skilled players. What I feel like is holding me back is that I've just been sticking to auto combos. Since I've calmed down a bit on the salt I've looked forward more to improving and understanding the next step. I'll admit that when you talk about playing neutral, I don't really know what you're talking about. I'm pretty deaf to fighting game terminology and frame data stuff.

[toasted]

you shouldn't be practicing fancy combos if you are still a brand new player just find a basic really simple one like abc into the launcher. spend more time just trying to land a hit without getting hit, optimizing and stuff comes after.

[Xaks32]

Originally posted by Hollow:

How are you all so good already? I practiced the same combo for like 5 hours yesterday and can't land it in a match. But literally EVERYONE I fight no matter how much of a noob they look already has all these combos down. I make one mistake and, bam, there's one third of my health. Then repeat.

Always go for the easy-to-apply combos: even if you can manage to pull off the hard combos on trainning mode, you're still hitting a moveless dummy and will likely miss all combos online.

If something requires mad practice like 2h, then u're likely practicing something that will have 0(zero) appliance against real players.

Only try to pull off combos online that you actually have an easy time doing in both trainning and arcade mode.

As a golden thumb rule for you: if something doesn't work on Arcade Mode, it'll never work in online mode.