Classic, Masked or Original Sub-zero is ranked very low in competitive play, I don’t have an exact number to give him, because he can of course be used skillfully and be an annoying menace, along the same lines as Stryker, due to his two containment moves, super fast, long range Slide, Relaunch Combos against most of the cast, etc. He is a defensive character, and you should focus on baiting Freeze or Ground Freeze scenarios, but it is possible to go on offense with him and he has a few tactics here and there. Watch out on his 4 hit pop up because if you are a hair slow on it the last hit will miss leaving him hugely open. Of course don’t forget he’s a male ninja and has really great normals.
Basics moves:
The Male Ninjas have excellent basic moves, good height and range on everything in relation to their sprite proportions, their roundhouse is extra wicked and can connect in almost any situation. The only thing that can be weird about them is their aaHPs. Sometimes they tend to miss in situations where you wouldn’t expect them to and this is due to kara canceling with run to speed the last hit up, in this situation, often you can do aaHP,LP and it’ll work, with slightly less damage, otherwise, always take an extra small step in before doing aaHPs.
The Deep Freeze is an age old move that still has some benefits to it. It has a hit limit of 1, but breakable to 2, allowing up to 3 Freezes per combo, but it’s tricky timing and usually not worth it. Some characters are easier to glitch hit counter rule break than others, like the Robot Ninjas, Jax, and Stryker. You can use the Freeze as an anti cross up. Scout a cross up jump kick, perhaps in a run jab situation, and run under their jump, and do the Freeze as they kick, it’ll Freeze them in air and set up a decent combo. It’s got a little more start up than Unmasked Sub-zero’s Freeze and that hurts it a bit. The Freeze is OK for zoning, watch for jumping backwards opponents and Freeze as you see them jump. Often times the Freeze will hit in a situation where they are physically standing on the ground but cannot block, so watch for these situations. It will look like you should do an aaHPHP combo, but really you should go for a JK starter into his pop up combo.
Something interesting about Classic Sub’s Freeze is that Kabal, Shang and Kano can be hit when ducking if they are close enough that the freeze itself does not become a full projectile. This means the immediate collision box is slightly lower than the projectile’s collision box. This does not happen with Unmasked Sub for Kano and Kabal but it does for Shang, who has the tallest ducking Hurtbox in the game. If a person does a JK, block it and instantly do a Freeze as soon as they hit the ground. This is useful because it’s rare a person does a jump kick and lands and doesn’t continue pressure, the chance of them landing and just blocking are slim, and often time it happens more than once. This will either work almost every time, or they will stop doing random jump kicks altogether, making them chance their strategy and psychologically giving Sub the upper hand. Sub can Freeze within the amount of time it takes for them to land, and even if they block, he’s relatively safe. It doesn’t work quite as well as unmasked Sub-zero but still useful and you can still use it to apply corner jab traps by pushing them in when close.
The Ground Freeze is a neat and somewhat unique move. A common tactic I see overabused is run jab, run jab, Ground Freeze. Sometimes the person will lock up and wind up slipping, but it’s their own fault. It’s always counterable, and harshly at that. You might be able to get away with this once a match, maybe even once a round if you do one early on and then late in the last match, but it’s probably better to do it when they have less than 50% life left because that will be a guaranteed victory if they do manage to not avoid or counter it. You can try doing something like, 4 hit pop up, deep JK, let them hit the ground, run jab LP to get them blocking and semi stuck, Ground Freeze. This move also has a hit limit of 1, but breakable at 2, and it’s very difficult to do for some reason.
You cannot do Freeze, aaHP, Freeze, aaHP Ground Freeze because the game looks at it very mathematically. When you Freeze them, you cannot Ground Freeze. If you already have one hit out before the Freeze, and go to glitch break a second hit on the frame it connects, the game never sees them as unfrozen during the time the Ground Freeze would be activated, and a frame too late means the game has accepted 2 hits and locked the Ground Freeze. You can however, do aaHP,aaHP, gcGround Freeze for example. The Ground Freeze cannot be done if your opponent is within a certain distance from the wall with their back facing it (about a character body width), so if you are trying to do Ground Freezes and they aren’t coming out, that might be why. The real factor here is their actualy collision box, which moves slightly back and forth during their stance, and sometimes you can let them stand there, do a Ground Freeze, and nothing will happen several attempts in a row, but then it will work. (just some technical data)
The Slide is good for adding damage to combos, as a wake up, but don’t over abuse it, as it’s easily punishable. It’s the fastest of the three Slides with the most range, so it’s easier to link into juggle combos but not as practical in common usage. Sometimes you can stick one in for free after an Uppercut as people tend to jump away, or sticking in an extra Slide after one because often times people do not anticipate a second Slide. Also watch for some misbehaving frames with Kung Lao, Sonya and the Female Ninjas especially. The Slide will sometimes simply not hit them at all like Nightwolf’s shoulder tackle against a blocking Stryker for example, so if you have someone at danger, a Slide is not always the safest route to victory. It is possible to break through the recovery of a comboer while blocking and Slide in between hits, for example the female ninjas kick combo. It has a point of lag in the middle where you can actually go from standing block to ducking block, and if you time it right, the Slide will come out here and you can beat them to their next hit. It’s a great way to end a match if they are on danger, run in for a chip damage combo that will beat you, and you interrupt their last hit with a Slide and win. It can punish standing blocked attacks.
Classic Sub has one semi-infinite, he can relaunch: Sheeva, Robots, Kabal, Nightwolf, Kung Lao, Jax, Sub-zero, Shang Tsung, Male Ninjas, Liu Kang, Sonya, and Kano
Special Moves:
Deep Freeze: D, F, LP (0%, Hit Limit 1, containment freezes opponent relative to location, can be pushed around for corner carry or position, a few frames more start up than Unmasked Sub-zero)
Ground Freeze: D, B, LK (0%, Hit Limit 1, containment makes opponent slip toward, away or both direction depending where they land, can otg easily, cannot be done if opponent is within about 50 pixels of corner facing out)
Slide: B+BL+LP+LK or hold B then press and hold each of the other buttons in any order (7.8%, can be done without releasing Block, moves faster and travels further than Unmasked Sub-zero)
Auto Combos:
- HK, B+HK, F+LK (3 hits, 19%, +11f, full screen knockdown, can otg Slide in corner)
- HP, HP, F+LK, B+HK, F+LK (5 hits, 26%, +11f, full screen knockdown, can otg Slide in corner)
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP (4 hits, 22%, +50f, Launcher)
Basic Juggles:
- aaHP, Freeze, aaHP, JK, Slide 4 hits 36%
- aaHP, Ground Freeze, JK starter, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, Slide 9 hits 51% (try a deep JK, to standing HK at the end for 55%, might be more of an advanced juggle)
- JK, Ground Freeze, NJK, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, Slide 8 hits 45%
Advanced Juggles:
- aaHP, Freeze, aaHPHP, JK, Slide 5 hits 43%
- aaHP, Freeze, cross up JK, standing HK 3 hits 36% (sometimes you can get a second JK for 3 hits 37%) This combo is good against characters whom you can’t always basic combo #1 against due to collision boxes.
- aaHP, Freeze, aaHP, Freeze, aaHP,HP, JK Slide 6 hits 50%
- aaHP, HP, Ground Freeze, JK starter, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, HK 10 hits 62%
Glitch Cancel Combos:
- aaFreeze, aaHP, Freeze, aaHP, gcFreeze, HPHP, JK, Slide, 6 hits 50%
- aaHPHP gcGround Freeze, NJK, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, HK, 10 hits 62%
Corner Juggles:
if too close to the wall to reposition try aaHP, Freeze, JK, RH, run in HK 4 hits 54% (Slide or LK is good too, or a straight up JK to start, will all result in slightly lower damage)
Freeze, (reposition if necessary) HK starter, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, RH, run in HK 8 hits 57%
aaHP, Freeze, aaHP,HP, JK, HK 5 hits 50%
aaHP, Freeze, aaHP,HP, JK, RH, Slide 6 hits 60% (or LK on some characters for 6 hits 65%)
UMK3 Strategy Guides
UMK3 Combo Guides
UMK3 Character Guides