Playstyles in Fighting Games
Playstyles in fighting games are numerous yet very distinct. Overcoming the different playstyles you encounter is the part and parcel of fighting games. These playstyles typically originate from the personality of the player which may be hawkish, machiavellian, cautious, honourable or somewhere in between. The core playstyles in fighting games are Rushdown, Patient and Keep-away playstyle. We will discuss the best strategies to use as a player, how to use, overcome and counter each of the core playstyles from the most honourable, to the most despicable. We don't pick sides here.
Playstyles versus Character Archetypes
Which comes first, the Chicken or the Egg? This is the nature of the relationship between character archetype and playstyle. Every character can be played in any "Playstyle" but every character belongs to a particular archetype. A character archetype is basically a character's optimal strategy hence default playstyle. These include archetypes like Rushdown, Footsie, Zoner, All-rounder, Grappler, Stance, Set-play and more which fall somewhere within the spectrum of playstyles. The archetype of a character is determined by best tools they have in their arsenal. The synergy between the types and properties of moves they have such as special moves, normal moves, mobility and other abilities determine what tools and by extension strategy is most effective (best).
Playstyles in fighting games on the other hand are not rigidly defined by or tied to the physical tools available to a character, rather they only reflect the manner in which the Player decides to express him/herself with a character. Playstyles can complement character archetypes if they are compatible, while in some cases they are completely incompatible. The following are the core playstyles
Rushdown Playstyle
The Rushdown playstyle by its nature presupposes combat within striking range of your normal attacks. It is a fast-paced and relentless playstyle that suits aggressive players. In this playstyle, you typically deal moderate damage and ensure you keep your opponent at close range in looping state of perpetual misery.
The Rushdown playstyle is most effective with characters that have attributes like fast normal moves, plus frames, staggers, re-stands, resets, good mix-ups and generally the ability to steal turns. A character with most of these features would typically be classified under the Rushdown archetype.
The basic strategy is to lock down the opponent, dominate and deny them turns and ultimately break the opponent's defence more times than they break yours (inflicting more cummulative damage than the opponent in the process). It is commonplace for a Rushdown player to take 3–5 turns before the opponent gets 1 clean turn or chance to escape, of which if the opponent fails, they may be subjected to another 5rounds of turns from the rushdown player including guesses leading to further pressure. It's such a nightmare!
Keep-away (Zoning) Playstyle
The Keep-away playstyle is the inverse of the Rushdown playstyle. As the name suggests, the goal is to keep the opponent away or out at a range where their physical attacks cannot hit you but you can strike them with ranged moves. This is achieved with the tactical spacing, use of ranged normal moves and relentless use of well-placed projectiles to chip away at the opponent's life bar from a safe distance while frustrating all the opponents effort to move into their physical attack range.
When using the keep-away style you ideally want to be far away from the opponent or at worst just beyond mid-range.To effectively "Keep-away" an opponent, you should aim to take 5 or more turns before your opponent can get to a range where they can physically strike you. If they do eventually get in, your top priority is to create distance between the two of you as soon as possible. You should also avoid getting backed into a corner where you have no room to create space, manoeuvre or escape.
To thrive with the keep-away style, your character should excel in controlling Neutral with ranged normal moves, special moves that can hit anywhere on screen, moves that pushback opponents far away, ranged moves with good recovery, good anti-airs and, a side switching/escape move. Typically keep-away characters do relatively low damage. A character that has all or most of these features by default can be classified as a "Zoner"/Keep-away archetype. This playstyle is built around getting the life lead, keeping the opponent out, and frustrating their efforts to get in while you maintain or further increase your life lead.
Patient (Waiting) Playstyle
The Patient fighting style stands out from the others because it has no namesake character archetype. It is entirely a mental figment and deliberate choice on the part of the player to play patiently, waiting for the right opportunity or opening to strike and punish the opponent.
Typically a patient player would excel playing at mid-range because this position offers them the best opportunity to capitalize and react to errors and exploit openings in the opponents’ strategy decisively. To effectively play this style, you should be able to completely deplete the opponents’ health in 3–4 successful touches/ turns. You should be content waiting patiently for the right chance even in dire situations because you know that you will make your turns count by hitting very hard damage wise despite the dominance of the opponent.
This patient fighting style is most effective when your character has relatively good damage output, good whiff punishes, can convert stray hits easily to damage, and good mobility.
Sansukumi-ken: The Three-way Deadlock of Playstyles
The three core playstyles in fighting games have an interesting relationship with each other, coincidentally, they counter each other to form a three-way deadlock where Keep-away playstyle beats Rushdown playstyle, Rushdown playstyle beats Patient playstyle and, Patient playstyle beats Keep-away playstyle. Why is this so? Let's dig into the dynamics of each playstyle carefully.
Rushdown versus Patient Playstyle
When you compare the Rushdown style to the patient style, you will notice a disparity in turns taken. The Rushdown approach thrives in going in and dominating turns hypothetically 5:1 at close range while the patient style is the reverse 1:5 turns and thrives mostly at mid-range. This situation plays into the hands of the Rushdown style player because firstly, it will be easy to get from mid to close range. Secondly the majority of the battle will fought at close range where rushdown is most effective and patient style is not. And finally, the rushdown style player will most likely break the patient player's defence with multiple times leading to a situation that can snowball into 10-15 consecutive turns before the patient player gets any of the 3–4 total chances they need to win the game. So this is basically a bad matchup.
Patient versus Keep-away Playstyle
When a patient player battles against a Keep-away style player, the odds are in favour of the patient player. This is because despite the Keep-away player having more turns than the patient player, say 5:1, most of those turns will lead to little or no damage; even if the Keep-away player is successful with most of his/her offence, because of their typically low damage output all their effort can be cancelled out by one successful hit/ turn from the patient player who will deal significantly higher damage than all the combined damage received. Where the keep-away player will need 10+ successful hits to win, the patient player needs just 3–4 hits. Achieving this with the patient playstyle is by no means easy, it takes grit and nerves of steel!
Keep-away versus Rushdown Playstyle
When a Keep-away playstyle player battles against a Rushdown-style player, the odds are stacked in favour of the Keep-away Player. Owing to the fact that the Keep-away playstyle excels at keeping the opponent out of striking range while dealing damage and Rushdown playstyle requires close proximity to be effective. The Rushdown style player has to traverse from fullscreen to far range, far to medium range, before finally getting to touching distance of close range where they can function.
By the time the Rushdown player has laboured to get in they could have incurred significant damage(40%+) owing to their haste to get into striking range only to make one error and be sent right back to the far end of the stage to start the obstacle course all over again. This often leads to a turn ratio in the region of 10:1 in favour of the Keep-away player.
Victory is not a foregone conclusion because in any of these situations, Player skill is still a factor, though you will definitely have an uphill battle versus the counter to your playstyle. These kinds of situations are what have given rise counter picking character archetypes in competitive play. But here is the thing, if you can counter pick an archetype, can you counter pick a playstyle? Absolutely! Because of the shortcomings of these core playstyles, it will be of great value to be competent in at very least two of the three core playstyles.
Mixed Playstyle
It is somewhat impractical to expect to be competitive with one playstyle in fighting games exclusively, to do so you literally have to play perfectly, guess right every time while your opponent continuously guesses wrong. At certain in certain situations using some playstyles is untenable. In such situations, you will need to switch to a more suitable playstyle to deal with the situation until the circumstances permit you to switch back to your preferred playstyle. This is essentially what using a mixed playstyle entails.
Though it is possible to play any character in any playstyle in fighting games, results will vary if you play a character that lacks the range of ideal tools for the particular playstyle you decide to play compared to one that has the appropriate tools. The table below gives a loose description of the abilities of some characters in Mortal Kombat 11.
Looking at the ratings, it’s obvious which characters are better as a whole and those that are “narrow specialists”. A narrow specialist like Robocop is very susceptible to counter picks or plays because of his abysmal rushdown and patient style ratings. No matter how good of a player you are, you will struggle playing rushdown or patient style. Characters like Jade and Cetrion on the other hand, despite being technically Zoners can play rushdown and patient style quite effectively and hence cannot be easily be counter picked or played.
Factors to Consider when Choosing or Switching between Playstyles
Character Archetype: The primary determinant of how a character "should" be played is the character archeype. This is because it represents the most effective and efficient strategy for best results with a character. Despite the fact that Cetrion in Mortal Kombat 11 is capable of playing both the rushdown and patient style effectively, she is best used with the Keep-away playstyle, her strongest playstyle.
Position or Range on screen : Inspite of your characters default archetype, your position or distance from your opponent should determine your playstyle. At far range or fullscreen you should Zone, at mid-range you should wait patiently for opportunity to whiff punish, and at close range you should rushdown! Despite the fact that Robocop is abysmal at Rushdown, when at close range he has to play a rushdown style while looking out for the opportunity to move to a better position (far range) where Keep-away is most effective.
Opponents Playstyle: This is very important especially when your opponents playstyle is a counter to yours. If you cannot overcome the opponent by pure grit, you best switch to a playstyle that puts you at advantage. For instance, if you are Zoning and the opponent patiently approaches to whiff punish you, switch to rushdown when they get into close range. Basically, you adapt your playstyle as appropriate(dynamically) based on the prevailing circumstances as the battle progresses.
To be successful you need to be capable of playing your character in at least two complementary styles, preferably three if the character has the appropriate tools. You also need to be an expert at using your characters foremost playstyle (that which complements their archetype) because sometimes you will be up against opponents that are the same archetype and playstyle as yourself hence you cannot counter them, rather you will have to outplay them. In a worst case scenario just like the Sindel (P1) you could end up against a character (and or Opponent) that is good at all three playstyles and an opponent that is at the same skill level or better than you.
In the above situation, "Tech" alone will not be enough, neither will gimmicks, rather a keen understanding of the dynamics of your playstyle and that of the opponent will lead you to victory!
