WBIE/NRS has released the first round of character DLC under their Season Pass: the newest Kombat babe Skarlet. She has the prototypical look of most of the other female fighters on the selection screen with scantily clad attire that covers the necessaries while leaving plenty of toned skin exposed. She isn’t quite as (cough) “endowed” as some of the others, but her look definitely fits with the other gals. As a character, she is a solid all-around. Her basic attacks are pretty quick and can be chained together with ease. But like most MK characters, her true effectiveness lies in nice combo play. A few quick jabs can set up either an opportunity for an improvised juggle or a scripted, but lengthy extended combo that can dish out some serious damage. The only negative to her multi-hit game is the opposition is thrown quite far away from her upon completion and it would be better for your offense if they were left a little closer to the “wheelhouse.” To counter this challenge, she has slick projectile attacks. The Dagger Toss sends speedy slivers on a bee line across the screen. She also features a more deliberate throw in the Blood Ball that is strikingly similar to Johnny Cage’s Forceball. It does drain some health, but does way more damage to the other side and can really get you out of a jam if your kombatant is on a roll. You can also try the teleport-esque Red Dash (which is a falling strike attack that auto-shifts you to the other side of the opponent) to close the gap and keep the barrage going.
Skarlet has really sweet combos and more payload than most of the other femme fatales, which affords her some unique offensive tactics. But on the counterpoint, she isn’t as quick as Kitana or Jade in comparison. Because of this, the redhead works best as a tag partner. You could match her up with another XX chromosome participant and have a newer pair that might take some players by surprise. Although I don’t think you’ll have the raw power that can make the difference in a close match. So she works best counter someone with a solid brawl mentality. I experimented with a Jax/Skarlet team that seemed frighteningly natural considering this is her rookie outing. Starting with Jax allowed me to get on the proverbial scoreboard first with his “bash ’em” move list. But when the opposing side got going, a simple tag move introduced a nice injection of relative speed and careful combo play. But the unexpectedly strong power she has makes the opponent quickly reevaluate the situation. And after one of two long combo chains, send the big guy back in on “mop-up duty” and make quick work of the chump that was stupid enough to underestimate you for using “the new girl.”
At the end of the day, Skarlet is a different kind of MK woman with stronger attacks, but slower overall movement. With some practice, she can become a great Tag parter opposite a nice complementary selection. But she isn’t going to be replacing Scorpion as your “go to” one in solo bouts anytime soon.
