Stryker is a mid tier character, with seriously powerful combos. It seems like with multiple infinite variations available, he’d be higher up, but he’s just not. He is a major zoning character and has a lot of different and useful specials moves. He can be a major force in the right hands, but like all other skill-to-use characters, he is ultimately defeated by top tier characters. He has a larger than average juggle zone, so he is massively vulnerable to punisher combos off his Baton Throw, not many characters can relaunch him, and he has huge juggling potential with the Riot Gun. His ducking blocking collision box is really small. He can’t be run jabbed by many character, but likewise, for whatever reason his LP Jabs collision box is higher, so he only Run Jab Shang, Sheeva, Kabal, Jax, Kung Lao, Kano and the Robots while they are ducking and Blocking specifically with LPs.
Basic moves:
Nice range HK, solid Uppercut that can hit Shang and Kano while they are just ducking, a trait shared by some other characters, good range sweep, good range HP jabs. Stryker can Run Jab Sheeva, Jax, Kabal and Kung Lao on Crouch Block with HPs for less push back Mid Screen. He has a slow, but deceptive hit area Roundhouse, probably the worst pure frame data, which can be used as anti air but only in extremely circumstantial situations, if you can hit the Roundhouse as anti air, you’re better off doing an aaHP,HP to Riot Gun, dash in, HP,HP and try another Riot Gun, etc, average range, but quick ducking LK, excellent range JP good for wide cross ups if they are available, nice JK very similar to Jax.
The high and low Grenades are essential to his zoning. Make sure you mix them up and try to guess when they are going to jump to knock them back down with the high Grenade and keep them second guessing themselves but try to never throw out a Grenade that will totally miss or you’ll get punished. They are great anti air and anti counter turtling since they can hit very high and very depending on distance. Only use them in combos if you plan on terminating a combo for whatever reason.
The Riot Gun is very fast, and not always easy to punish depending on how close the opponent is when he blocks so often times it’s safe to throw out randomly but make sure they are going to run into the tail end of the contact so Stryker’s recovery time is shorter in case it is blocked. This sets up the chance to counter a rush down in their way in. It’s good for wake up or after a knock down and the person is suspect to jump away. It is fast enough to counter virtually any close range attack for a simple psychological punish. It is a juggle machine because it counts as containment in air, similar to Cyrax’s net but inside they wobble away from you so you need to utilize the Baton dash sometimes to get close after it, setting up juggles. The gun can also punish standing LKs, and HKs and sweeps when blocked.
The Baton Trip is virtually worthless unless it used as a surprised last resort hit to win a match because Stryker recovers at almost the exact same time as the person does when they get up and hold down, and he can be Uppercut for chip by everyone for free after it at the very least, and Kabal for example, can connect an Uppercut on him for free or Spin him for free if it connects.
The Baton Throw is a very interesting move. It for some reason, like Sonya’s leg grab, has it’s own self damage protection properties. It’s normal damage is about 19%, if you connect more than 3 juggled hits before it, it will do 5%, if in a pop up combo, it does 3%, .5% on contact and 2.5% on the landing. Weird. Anyway, it’s great for early anticipated cross ups, so if someone goes to jump over you, if you buffer the F,F you can snag them as soon as they leave the ground, Uppercuts in general can be used the exact same way, but there is a zoning advantage for Stryker by using the Baton throw. It is MASSIVELY punishable since it’s kind of slow and can be blocked from such far range at start up, it’s better to stick to using it as long distance anti air or anti cross ups. It can also punish standing LKs and HKs when blocked, so that’s useful.
Stryker has two infinites. One is semi, the other is true. The semi infinite is his cross screen aa,HP,HP Riot Gun, which cannot be done to every character, for example: Shang Tsung. His true infinite is in the corner, any variation of jump attack, aajab, Riot Gun, so, for example: 4 hit pop up, JK, aaLP, Riot Gun, probably the easiest and most effective incarnation of it, occasionally there might be times where Stryker is too close and a straight up JK can be useful. Make sure you allow enough push back off the jab to create distance when the Riot Gun hits, preferably on the way down towards the end, reducing recovery time, allowing Stryker to JK later, landing sooner, jabbing sooner, repeating the infinite ideally. The infinite can be starter off his regular pop up in the corner, or if his other infinite is forced to terminate you can attempt to continue infing with the true inf off it.
For doing his cross screen infinite against some characters, it is a good idea to do aaHP, run cancel, step in, aaHP, instead of aaHPHP. On the male ninjas for example, do his pop up combo, labor B,F so he actually takes a full step in but do it soon enough after the pop up so they land on the Riot Gun instead of being hit by it at all too late, Baton dash-miss, and repeat, this way the character is low enough to ground to get hit by the gun in a good position but still be close enough to continue cross screen juggles. If you do the HPHP they will be too high for the Riot Gun to connect right. You’ll notice the best way to get this is to have the gun connect well after it’s been fired, essentially landing right on top of the gun’s collision area. This way you have started elapsing the time it takes in between uses of the gun, which is very brief, but it’s crucial in this combo.
He can relaunch the Robot Ninjas, Sheeva, and Kung Lao.
Special Moves:
Baton Throw: F, F, HK (19.2%, has its own additional Damage Scaling rules whether it’s already scaled or not if more than 2 hits are done before it. Can snag Shang, Kabal and Sheeva on cross-up if they are ducking)
Baton Trip: F, B, LP (15.6%, -11f? on hit and punishable by many attacks depending on range, particularly Uppercuts, must be Blocked Low like a Sweep)
High Grenade: D, B, HP (12.6%, high arch, can be as negative as -12 at point blank and as plus as +17 from full screen, missing some ducking opponents anywhere even in corner)
Low Grenade: D, B, LP (12.6%, low arch, can be as negative as -12 at point blank and as plus as +17 from full screen)
Riot Gun: B, F, HP (12%, cool down on hit, Block or whiff. Recovers significantly faster if opponent is airborn on hit, sets up cross screen semi-inf [variants work on most characters] and corner inf [works on all character])
Auto Combos:
- HK, LK, B+HK (3 hits, 19%, +9f, mid screen knockdown, tends to break if not performed fast enough, unreliable during rush down)
- HK, LK, B+LP, B+HK (4 hits, 23%, +9f, mid screen knockdown, tends to break if not performed fast enough amd whiff on Block, even less reliable during rush down)
- HP, HP, LP (3 hits, 18%, +50f, Launcher, whiffs on all ducking characters and Female Ninjas off a Jumping Starter [unless in corner but only if you add a slight pause between the Jump Attack and HP]. There is never really a reason to use this combo unless you are in the extremely rare situation where doing the extra HK will push you out of the corner on a Launcher)
- HK, HP, HP, LP (4 hits, 23%, +50f, Launcher, tends whiff on Block especially after a Jump Attack Starter, but it still the go-to combo to use, so stop at the 2nd HP on Block as it is only -3f, this is really the only combo you need)
Basic juggles:
- aaRiot Gun, aaHP Grenade 3 hits 21%
- aaHP,HP, Baton throw, 3 hits 32%
- HK, HP, HP, LP, Riot Gun, Grenade 6 hits 35%
- aaHP,HP, Riot Gun, Baton dash (misses), Uppercut 4 hits 36%
Advanced juggles:
- HK, HP, HP, LP, Riot Gun, Baton dash, (misses) aaHP,HP, Riot Gun, repeat til corner, up to 80%+ depending on the opponent on how far from the wall you can begin, 90%-100% on Jax as well
- in corner (HK, HP, HP, LP, JK, aaLP, Riot Gun, repeat until satisfied or capable, and terminate with any variety of attacks)
- aaHP,HP Riot Gun, Baton dash, repeat for inf.
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UMK3 Character Guides