Mileena was for quite a long time, considered a very low tier character, but has in recent years gained favorability when used as sort of a “Kabal Light.” She has overall low combo damage, not much in terms of options, almost everything revolves around Jabs and the Roll which activates damage protection miserably. She, like Cyrax, requires a lot of effort to be a force in the game, and there are some expert players here and there who can use her, however she still just doesn’t cut it against most top tier characters. Fortunately the female ninjas have strange collision boxes making it harder to juggle them, and maxed out combos are unlikely in most cases, watch for slip ups and counter based on their character design. Some characters cannot get starters on them at all, and both ground attacks after a JP or a straight up JK will whiff, however in the corner a lot of these characters are able to get starters on them, but still some cannot, it depends on how close you are when the jump attack connects. An underused tactic the female ninjas can abuse is by leaving off the last hit of their kick combos if the opponent blocks the first three, and pausing ever so slightly, then doing a HK as they try to rush in, which happens very often. Even if they don’t it hits blocked which does slightly more chip damage than finishing out the combo and doesn’t give them as much time to recover and counter, setting up other situations in your favor.
Female ninja basic moves:
The Female Ninja Uppercut is average, can hit Shang and Kano while just ducking, nothing to write home about, their standing HK is great for far away jumpers trying to stay out of range for anti air HPs, it doesn’t have as much height as some other characters, but the collision detection is a good distance from their body hit box, so it has good priority. Their LP jabs hit lower than most so they can run jab Stryker when he’s ducking and blocking, and they good range. HP jabs have average range, Sweeps are silent which is a plus, and they have some distance to them, however are slow on recovery compared to the fast Sweepers leaving them potentially open. Ducking LK has some decent pointedness and distance, standing LK hits a bit lower than usual. Their Roundhouse is very close range, better off going for a standing HK on jump ins, but the RH can often be used in run underneath jump in situations because the placement is perfect for that. Their jump punch has limited range and is close to their body, bad for cross ups on ducking blocking opponents. Their JK is one of the best in the game.
The Roll is an interesting and complex move to say the least with lots of uses. It is by definition a containment move as well, similar to that of Reptile’s Forceball, however Mileena’s distance from the opponent and positioning is not always exactly the same making juggle combos for her difficult to guarantee. Mileena can run in sooner depending on what frame she is in when the Roll connects. The Roll can be used to prevent anti air cross ups if timed correctly. As the player jumps over you, buffer F,F,D instead of B,B,D and do the Roll as they start the air attack, you will Roll under them, causing the occasional forward flip towards Mileena reaction which is ideal, enabling better juggle combos. It is relatively easy to perform the flip towards Roll by timing the contact just on the opposite side of the opponent as they fall, try this during punishment combos with aaHP,HP, B,B, pause, D, HK for the late Roll and ideal spacing.
The Roll can also be used on a delay, so you can buffer B,B, D, wait several frames, and then surprise with the Roll as if you were the CPU and didn’t have to perform any motion, similar to usage of Stryker’s baton throw, which can abuse the same delayed button hit concept. There are many players who abuse the Roll constantly, and pay for it, please do not be one of these players. It is also however, possible to abuse the Roll and be successful, it just takes good judgment on placement in close up scenarios. The Roll can also be used as a wake up to escape run jabs, similar to Kabal’s spin and Sonya’s bike kick, but if it is expected, a simple kara jab will block it and set Mileena up for a punisher combo similar to Kabal. The Roll can punish fast Sweepers at very close range, for example: going for Trip Guard on Empty Jumps, so look for Mileena players attempting this bait set up.
The Roll has a practical limit of 1 usage every other hit (it is really a timer that just happens to approximately coincide with 1 hit) and is locked at 3 hits, so that means you can combo 2 legitimately. Also look for chances to use the Roll in the corner, don’t just throw out too many random Rolls because of the likelihood of it being blocked, but watch for an attempt to uppercut and buffering B,B while jabbing at times. While in the corner, similar to the Teleport Uppercut, the Roll can be performed and lock your opponent in push back animations. The window to lock them is smaller than the TPU, and it is not as reliable, however, it will result in reasonable corner damage for Mileena, up to 40+%.
The Teleport/Drop Kick is a very slow attack and should be used as a total surprise, perhaps no more than once a round, it is easy to scout, predict, and counter, and any time you can use it in a combo, you could do 2 or 3 more hits with something else resulting in higher damage.
The Sai Shot is still spammable as it was in MKII in terms of speed, however it is not as effective. The Prophet once said in reference to UMK3 Mileena, “It looks like she’s aiming at airplanes or something with them.” What he means is, they are way too high in the air when she releases so they are easy to avoid, and he would be right. You can still try to spam them, use them in combos as well, for zoning, etc. You can charge HP for the Sai Shot while run jabbing with LP, if you see them try to jump out of the corner you can jump back and release HP hitting a Sai Shot knocking them back into the corner, and you can also try to juggle again before they hit the ground.
Mileena has some specific rules to her relaunch combos, they will be explained eventually.
Special Moves:
Roll: B, B, D, HK (9.6%, activates Damage Scaling, Hit Limit 2, containment Juggle potential mid screen and corner)
Sai Shot: Charge HP 2 Seconds, Release (9.6%, activates Damage Scaling, can be done in air, some Juggle potential in corner)
Drop Kick: F, F, LK (14.4%, limited Juggle potential in corner)
Auto Combos:
- HP, HP, U+LP, D+LP (4 hits, 22%, -7f, this is likely an unfinished combo as it does not knockdown or cause stumble, similar to a couple combos for Unmasked Sub-zero and leaves her negative)
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK (5 hits, 24%, +48f, Launcher, whiffs on ducking opponents except Shang, Kano and Kabal)
- HP, HP, HK, HK, U+LK, U+HK (6 hits, 30%, +11f, mid screen knockdown)
- HK, HK, U+LK, U+HK 4 hits 23% (4 hits, 23%, +11f, mid screen knockdown. This combo does optimal damage in the corner pushback range after a Jump Attack Starter due to the way Damage Scaling is applied)
- HK, HK, D-F LK (3 hits, 16%, +48f, Launcher, whiffs on ducking opponents except Shang, Kano and Kabal)
Basic Juggles:
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 36%
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, aaHP, Telekick 8 hits 37%
- Roll, aaHP, Roll, HK, 4 hits 24%
- JK, Roll, aaHP, JK 4 hits 31%
Advanced Juggles:
- aaHPHP, Roll, Uppercut 4 hits 33%
- JK, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot, 6 hits 39%
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, aaLP, JK, Air Sai Shot 8 hits 39% (doesn’t work on everyone)
- aaHPHP, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 41%
- aaHP, JK, Roll, aaHP, HK 5 hits 42%
- aaHP, JK, Roll, JK, Air Sai Shot, 5 hits 44%
- aaHP, JK, Roll, aaHP,HP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 50% (doable on male ninjas, Kano, Jax, Stryker, Sub-zero, etc)
Advanced Corner Combos:
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, JK, Air Sai Shot, RH, HK 9 hits 52%
- (back to corner) Roll, RH, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 41%
- (facing corner) aaRH, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 6 hits 45%
- (facing corner) aaHP, Drop Kick, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 49%
- (facing corner) tight corner Uppercut, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 6 hits 50%
- (facing corner) aaHP, aaRH, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 52%
- HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, JK, Air Sai Shot, aaHP, Telekick 9 hits 46%
Expert Combos:
- (back to corner) Run Under aRH, aaRH, Roll, aaHPHP, JK, Air Sai Shot 7 hits 63%
UMK3 Strategy Guides
UMK3 Combo Guides
UMK3 Character Guides