MK11 Guide: How To Play Against Noob Saibot featuring MagicTea

The dark personality of Noob Saibot is so in tune with the Mortal Kombat setting, so it’s not unusual to see people enjoying playing this guy. And Noob is pretty strong as well; he is a decent fighting character.

With this video, DashFight continues the series of guides on how to play against specific fighters. Yes, Noob Saibot is the hero of the new episode. We are ready to reveal all his hidden weaknesses!

And we are so glad that the info comes from a professional player. MagicTea gives pretty detailed explanations on what to do against various strong attacks of Noob. Please, enjoy!

Mortal Kombat 11 | How to Play Against Noob Saibot Guide by MagicTea

Playstyle

MagicTea starts his guide by giving general info on Noob Saibot.

The playstyle of this character revolves around long-range pokes, strings, and the special move Shadow Slide. Noob Saibot tries to keep the opponents at a distance. Also, he has a good defense with anti-air tools and safe pushback. Noob can punish every mistake with a damaging combo.

Variations

The most popular Variation for Noob Saibot is:

• Shadow Slide (BF3)
• A combo extender: Shadow Portals (DA AMP) or Sickle Snag (DB1)
• Another combo extender or a utility move, like the Spirit Ball projectile (BF1) or Air Tele-Slam (DU) 

Countering Noob's Attacks and Strings

It’s a practical section of the guide. MagicTea demonstrates how to counter regular attacks and strings of Noob Saibot.

But first, the pro player mentions Shadow Slide as this special move can be used at any moment with any poke or string. It hits low and is safe on amplify. You can only block it. However, the non-amplified Slide is unsafe and can be punished. That's why it's really important to track Noob Saibot's meter. If there is no meter to amplify, then after blocking the Slide, you can safely go for a punish. And even if Noob Saibot players have the meter, sometimes they are greedy — if they don't amplify their Slides a lot, you can call them out and try to go for a punish. This will make them use the meter on Shadow Slide every time, and then they won't have the resource for their combo extenders.

• 113 — it’s a common combo starter that easily converts into big combos with teleport. If you block it, then it will usually get followed up by Shadow Slide. If there is no follow-up, the string is -8 and unsafe, so most characters can punish it with a combo or at least a poke into plus frames.
• 112 — alternatively, Noob Saibot players can do 112 if they see that you block the first 2 hits. This string is safe, but there is a flawless block gap on the 3rd hit. So you can sometimes go for a read that they will do it and go for a flawless block U2 or U3 to punish, especially if your opponent has no offensive meter. There is also a kinda mixup with 112 Overhead and 11 Slide, which is low, but the Slide comes out much faster, so you can block both options by blocking low first and then, with a small delay, the Overhead.
• F221 — This common string is pretty fast and has a long range. It's safe at each hit on block. But it starts with a high, so using long low pokes is good to counter it.
• B1 1+3 — it’s Noob’s fastest mid string with a 9-frame startup. It’s -17 on block, so punish it with any fast advancing move like Shadow Slide, flying kick, or a long range normal move (for example, Scorpion's B2 or D'Vorah's F1).
• B3 1+3 — this string is really unsafe, and players don’t usually use it very often. It has a Krushing Blow if you stand-block, but there is no mixup, so remember to always duck-block against Noob Saibot. Most often, you will see just B3 into Slide. It has a long recovery, so try to outrange it or jump in on prediction.
• 212 — the second hit here is low, so keep blocking low. It's often used alongside throws because the animation kinda looks like a throw, and if you try to throw-tech, then you get hit by the 2nd low. Both of Noob Saibot's throws also have Krushing Blow on failed escapes, so teching throws is extra dangerous. If you don't feel super comfortable with reacting to throws, then just always block and take the throw as it’s the safest option.
• B2 — it’s an advancing mid attack that is also an armor break. Watch out and don't always immediately armor break after getting launched. It's safe on block but becomes unsafe if you manage to flawless-block it.
• F4 — It’s a rare move, but it's a safe low-high attack. If it whiffs from a distance or because of delayed wakeup, the second hit can be ducked and even punished with D2 KB.
• D3, D4 — these are really good 9-frame low pokes. Both have a long range with some pushback, and the following Slide pushes you back even more. But you can counter the poke Slide with a jump.

Countering Noob's Specials

It’s a section about special moves.

Notice that Shadow Slide was discussed earlier.

• Tele-Slam — Noob Saibot can only make this teleport move in the air if he has the extra (Air) Tele-Slam move equipped. It's extremely unsafe to block it. Punish it with your strongest combo. It's a high attack, so you can punish it with D2 Krushing Blow for extra damage or neutral-duck it to avoid chip damage.
• Sickle Snag — it’s an anti-air and combo extender move. Breakaway before Sickle Snag, not after it, as you can get hit by that B2 Armor Break.
• Shadow Tackle (also known as Running Man) — it’s a pretty slow projectile with a lot of recovery. Jumping over it can give you a punish opportunity or a good frame advantage. It also disappears if Noob gets hit, so you can just zone back.
• Rising Shadow Kick — this is an extremely good high-hitting anti-air, so be careful with jumps. You can try to bait it with hops or jumps outside of the move’s range and then whiff-punish or zone.
• Spirit Ball — it’s a hard-hitting single projectile, but it will always be high, and it can not be amplified. So you can duck it every time to avoid chip damage and win zoning by using amplified projectiles.

These were the best and the most popular special moves for Noob Saibot. But also, the character has a few more custom moves. They are rare but might create some problems for you. So, let’s figure out what to do with them.

• Ghostball (slow unblockable) — this is an alternative, slower projectile. It’s unblockable, but also, it's high. Due to the slow animation, you can always duck it, even on hit. So whenever you see the animation, duck it and punish it if possible.
• (Air) Sickle Port — Noob throws his Sickle and then teleports to it. An amplified version will launch you, but it’s -9 on block. A non-amplified one is unsafe as well, but it can be hard to react to, so you should just check it with a poke. However, if it's done from a long range and doesn't go behind you, then you can go for a punish immediately, and it will interrupt amplify as well.
• Sickle Toss — this slow projectile is overhead. You can stand-block it. Keep in mind that it can be amplified for 2nd hit. Both hits have a pretty long recovery, so you can attack after them.
• Shadow Strike — it’s a mini version of the Slide, but Noob can choose only one, and it's going to be the Slide 99% of the time. Shadow Strike is a safe Special and doesn't cost the meter. Just block it and take your turn.
• (Air) Shadow Dive — this jumping projectile looks good, but it's actually pretty minus on block. Depending on the range, it's between -20 up-close and -12 at the max range. A lot of characters can punish it with some long-range moves or just easily take their turn.

Gameplan

The safest place to be against Noob is outside of his Slide range. Here you can duck all the Spirit Balls, react to the Running Man, and generally outzone Noob Saibot. Keep in mind his Teleport — still, it's high, slow, and super punishable on block.

If you see a lot of Slides and Running Man, it could be a good idea to jump over them and get in, as these moves have a long recovery on whiff. You might get some punishes.

Always keep track of the meter and remember that non-amplified Slides are not safe.

Matchups

The best characters against Noob Saibot are Shang Tsung, thanks to ground fireballs and shake, and also Jade with Robocop, thanks to their low shot.

Noob can not really punish ground fireballs, and Shang can spam them all day.

Jade's Glow counters Slide and other shadow projectiles.

Robocop outzones Noob like crazy by low profiling Spirit Ball and even Teleport.

Other characters with good movements and zoning can be good against Noob as well — for example, Cetrion and Geras. They can stay outside of the Slide range and outzone really well. Being able to punish B1 1+3 helps a lot.

We thank MagicTea for this awesome guide!

It’s time to bring all this knowledge to the game practice!

To expand your understanding of the MK11 roster, check out other guides. For instance, learn how to play against Sonya and against Jade.

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