Masked, Classic or Original Sub-zero is ranked very low in competitive play, there isn’t an exact number to give him, because he can of course be used skillfully and become 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, a Male Ninja Normals. He is probably best considered 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 to use as momentum shifts. Watch your input timing on his 4 Hit Launcher because if you are a hair slow on it the last hit will miss leaving him vulnerable (more on this later).
Basics moves:
The Male Ninjas have excellent basic moves, good height, speed and range on everything in relation to their sprite proportions, their Roundhouse is extra wicked and can connect in almost any situation, be it long range, close up, overhead or Run under potential. The only thing that can be inconsistent about them is their aaHPs during Juggles. Certain height to Collision ratios cause them 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. There are times when you do not want to Cancel the second Jab (eg punishing Robot Ninja Teleport Uppercuts). You can also do aaHP,LP and it’ll work, with slightly less damage, otherwise, always take an extra small step in before doing aaHPs to lock it in.
The Deep Freeze is an age old move that still has some benefits to it. It has a Hit Limit of 1, but subject to Glitch Canceling if you have Frame Disadvantage (more on that later as well), allowing up to 3 Freezes per Combo. 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 attack, it’ll Freeze them in air and set up a decent Combo. In a similar scenario, you can also try to Freeze someone on the way down from a shallow JK, but Masked Sub’s Freeze has a little more start up than Unmasked Sub-zero’s Freeze and that hurts it a bit. This is useful because it’s rare a person does a Jump Kick and lands but doesn’t continue pressure. The chance of them landing and just Blocking are slim unless they are anticipating this counter, and often time it happens more than once. This will either work often, or they will stop doing random Jump Kicks altogether, making them chance their strategy and psychologically giving Sub the upper hand because now you don’t have to deal with your opponent disrespecting your Neutral.
The Freeze is OK for Zoning, watch for jumping backwards opponents and Freeze as you see them Jump but can be predictable when spammed. Often times the Freeze will hit in a situation where they are physically standing on the ground but cannot Block, so watch for these scenarios, as it can be difficult to tell if your opponent is in the air, or on the ground, and this will cause you to drop a crucial Combo or corner carry as it will look like you should do a Juggle Combo, but really you should go for a JK starter into his Launcher Combo.
Something interesting about Classic Sub’s Freeze is that Kabal, Shang and Kano cannot Neutral Duck it if they are close enough that the freeze itself does not become a full projectile. This means the immediate Collision box around his hands 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.
The Ground Freeze is a neat and unique move. A common tactic seen overused is Run Jabs into Ground Freeze while your opponent is in recovery, it’s good to catch people sleeping and works more often than it should, but once someone catches on, you have to change your strategy to guess when they will Jump and you can try to catch them with a Freeze. Otherwise, it’s always Counterable, and harshly at that. It’s probably better to do it when they have less than 50% life left because that is a good range to finish them off if they do manage to not avoid or counter it. You can try doing something like, 4 Hit Launcher, deep JK, let them hit the ground, Run Jab to LP to get them Blocking and semi stuck, Ground Freeze.
The Ground Freeze cannot be done if your opponent is within the “Push Back” distance from the corner, regardless of whether their back is facing it or not (essentially just under a character body width), so if you are trying to do Ground Freezes and they aren’t coming out, that is why. This is range where if your opponent is hit by a juggle Jab after 1 hit, RH or Uppercut, it will push you back.
The Freeze and Ground Freeze sort of share active frame data. You cannot perform a Ground Freeze while they are frozen from the Freeze, and you cannot perform the Freeze while they are slipping on the Ground Freeze. They both have 1 Hit Limits, but you can perform the respective moves with the proper breaks in your opponent’s state, eg: JK someone while they are frozen and you can do a follow up Ground Freeze, but you cannot do Ground Freeze, then JK into Freeze because Ground Freeze counts as a hit. Learn to maximize your damage in situations when you have to choose between the moves depending on your opponent’s character, and where you are respective to the corner.
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 an opponent’s Combo 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.
Relaunch Combos with Classic Sub-zero are honestly his biggest potential, as he has reliable ways to set them up and max out his corner carry and damage potential but you still have to be competent with the character to turn this into something dangerous. His Launcher Combo is also a good way to figure out if you’re at Frame Disadvantage (Glitch Canceling Enabled). If you perform his 4 hit Launcher off a Jump Starter and the last Uppercut whiffs, you actually have Frame Advantage where it would suggest the opposite. The reason why you want to test this with a Jump Starter is because there are proximities and input speeds that can result in Whiffs mid string or on final hit that do not indicate that you have Frame Advantage. If it connects on the final hit of the string, that means you are at Disadvantage, and also have an extra hit to Cancel his Freeze and Ground Freeze using this 1 Frame exploit, so it’s safe to at least to attempt them if you’re confident.
Without this, it is not possible. Just remember to consciously put in the effort to perform the hits quickly without a break but if it whiffs, you will likely put yourself in trouble. Also remember that this data changes every round in UMK3, unlike MK and MKII where it’s always Player 2 with Frame Advantage. Against some characters he needs to have Glitch Cancel in order to perform Relaunches, such as Jax, Kano, Liu Kang, Male Ninjas, Shang, Sonya and Unmasked Sub. This effectively means, he can only Relaunch 5 characters 100% of the time, and 11 characters 50% of the time, so it’s a good thing to keep in mind if you’re trying to build out this character.
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