Learn to use both variations. And understand something when you play Geras, people hate him because they dont know how to fight him. I play with Geras, and you will encounter alot of salt. First things first, heis weakness is air projectiles and players NOT spamming special moves and projectiles. He is very weak against air angled projectiles and good zoning. His launcher with the first variation can help if you get the timing, but its tricky. There isnt much you can do against Air projectile spam I'm afraid, most you can do is wait until they make a mistake. Geras is good at capitalizing off of opponents mistakes. Another thing, Geras is not OP, so dont let them gas your head up. He can be beaten pretty bad if you know how to fight him and who to fight him with. Kabal, Jade, Sub Zero and Cassie Cage are tough for Geras if they know his weakness, so fight them cautious, but not too cautious. Geras has o true projectile so, he is super strong up close and can keep you in. Players dont like to change their fighting style to fight him. Pay attention to how they fight, If you catch them with Sand Trap/Quick Sand outside of a combo, they're spamming. May not be alot, but it's enough to catch them in the middle or before they try again after you block. Geras is a rush down, grappler counter character. As you play you will learn how to effectively counter most of your favorable matchups. Like I said, you can read when the opponent doesn't know bow to fight him, and that's most players. You will face players that will have a 45% special usage in their kombat league stats after the match and you're will be 25% and they will still have something to say. I learned to play both variations because of the corner pressure of one and the combo strength of the other. There are characters like Sub Zero who can throw an air projectile, land and immediately go into slide for a full combo, that can lead to a crushing blow. Jade can jump in the air and spam projectiles as well, and hit you with low projectiles and use her reach to keep you out. Kabal is the same way. Cassie can shoot a low, that I advise you not try to trade with Geras. He loses that trade more times than he dont, trust me. There are plenty of characters that if you play with them, will find something OP. Even more so than Geras. Keep in mind, most of the cast has a projectile to control some sort of space, Geras? His can be low blocked or hopped over. If you hit them with it easily, they're trying to spam you.
As far as spam, many will tell you to hit the lab but, that doesnt help in a real fight. There are two types of spammers my dude. 1st and the moat common are the casuals who just spam in a predictable manner. Usually they moat throw projectiles because they won a few Player Matches with it. 2nd is the player that knows the mechanics of the game and can zone (zoning and spamming are NOT the same) pretty good, but rather be A-Holes and spam you, but in a way that you CANT get in and stay in. They know which moves to keep knocking you half or fullscreen enough for another rinse and repeat. They also know how to use knockdowns to their advantage so, when folks say spammer can be difficult, believe them. Both of these types of players, HATE Geras, with a passion. They hate him soooooo much that they want him nerfed even after the newest patch that made Dvorah somewhat valuable. Zoning is way different from Spamming, I believe I stated that up top. Think of zoning like basketball ball, you dont just throw your players at the ball handler like a mad man. In this game zoning is knowing your spacing, knowing how to utilize your knockdowns, and not spamming predictable projectiles. Most REAL zoners mix up these many options to effectively zone you put, especially if they counter pick you. Always look for counter pickers, they usually wait at the select screen until you pick, then they will pick your worst matchup. Trust me when I say this, hide your cursor and learn to pick your character without the sound cue. It will hurt the counter pick game, and moat will go to a higher tier character to try and match you in case you picked a high tier character. The salt is real when you do this, but ignore it. If they hide their cursor after yours, dont get discouraged, they mostly will be so focused on which you might pick that they will go for a character they think is brain dead, and not use their main. That's so dumb, but people still do it. Anyway, hopefully I dropped some gems for you and other Geras players. Keep in mind, he is NOT OP like I said before. As you play him more and more, you'll see that. Goodluck.
