Mess around with all his preset combos and add up skulls after they leave their feet. That's what I did in practice mode and now I'm a competent Shang player.

He's a very fun character to play and you can be very creative with his combos. His zoning is also really great (in front down skulls ftw!) but you have to be careful against rushdown characters such as Cage and Laosy.

He's got a low starter (F+3, 4), but his best starters, in my opinion, are 2,2,1; and F+4,3,4. These are all followed by medium up skull, far up skull, enhanced up skull, then, whatever you want.

Well, that's all the wisdom I have for you as of right now, kind sir. Hasta luego.

Partially what Cyber said and also, if you want an effective Shang Tsung, learn the rest of the roster his damage boost can make a 32 percent damage combo jump to 44.

Shang Tsung has the top five best zoning capabilities in the game, in my view and is the most versatile characters on the roster( after all, he can be anybody).

He has some nice chains as Cyber mentioned, I like to use back 1, 2,1, 4 and then X-ray or I like to change it up with forward 4, 3,4, medium ground skull, soul steal, if I want to throw my opponent off or I throw out the next ground skull and then enhanced skulls.


You can combo into Shang Tsung's X-ray off of nearly all of his chains.

2,2,4 is a great mix up tool.


I think Shang Tsung is very well rounded, pretty good up close and far away, but his zoning is top notch.

Just my two cents, but I think Shang Tsung is top 5 best out of the entire roster.

I need close game tatics and ANti-airs. What to do against teleporters, particularly sektor.


Ive never been so lost in using a character lol.

Well, first and foremost, being able to properly read your opponent is key. You have to be able to see those teleports and aerial attacks coming so you can counter them properly, especially since Shang is a bit on the slower side.

With that said, again, his fireballs are pretty useful for keeping people at bay and out of the air. His Close and Medium Ground Fireball is useful for catching opponents who are jumping in from midscreen, or from afar trying to move in and close the gap. His Upward Fireball can be used to catch opponents who are trying to cross you up with an aerial attack, or for those who have teleport moves that requires them to go straight up or above your head; for example, his Upward Fireball can be used to knock Sheeva out of her Teleport Stomp entirely, and can catch Kung Lao just as he's teleported behind you. If you've got your opponent figured out, you can usually stop teleporters such as (again) Kung Lao, Sheeva, and Noob Saibot right in their tracks.

Another option is to bait the opponent to jump in or away from your fireballs, and then catch them off guard with a Soul Steal. It's reach is pretty far, and it's a sneaky way to morph into your opponent without having to combo into it.

As for close quarters, the strings that CyberDemon and Espio listed above are all very good close quarter strings; try playing around with them in practice mode and learn how to combo them into your Ground Fireballs. Remember too, as stated above, that you can combo your Ground Fireball into your Soul Steal or X-ray.

For opponents who like to crouch block, you can use his 2,1,2 string, since the last part hits medium. Also, his Back + 1 can not only hit crouching blockers (as a medium attack), but can be combo into his Basic Fireball or Soul Steal, or the Ex Versions of either move.

As for your particular request against Sektor, all I can advise you to do is just either wait for it or use your fireballs to bait him (and others like him) into teleporting, block, and take it from there. Also, for teleporters like Raiden, Cyrax, and Rain, just watch carefully what the opponent does after the teleport, and when they do it again, counter appropriately. Again, with any character, being able to read your opponent is key for any victory. Always be ready to switch up your strategies once an opponent has figured you out, and always be on the lookout to punish their mistakes. Also, try and have a little patience with Shang; the man has been through enough as it is already lol.

I remember a couple weeks ago fighting you with my Shang Tsung( who is I guess my main, I guess, I use ALOT of people though).


I was destroying you, but then I decided to tone it down a bit, but I guess I toned it down to much and let you zone me out some how.


my #1 tip, NEVER use Shang's X-ray unless you really don't want to lose and you're down to your last bit of health. cancel into soul steal from a combo and, remember this, let the opponent go to attack you, immediately X-ray them because the small amount of damage you're super armor ate up is nothing compared to the massive +45% damage X-Ray you're unleashed on their asses. This applies to everyone except Skarlet and Rain who have the shittiest X-rays in the game.

mix up Triangle, Triangle, Square(optional cancel into soul steal or fireskull) and Triangle, Triangle, Back + Circle because the sweep almost always gets them the first time. Also his Foward + X, Circle combo is the easiest way to cancel into soul steal or into the close fireskull, far fireskull, far fireskull/EX fireskull combo.

Grab often, even though the tiny bit of health you gain means nothing, it sometimes helps in those clutch moments.

forward air skull often against heavy offense players and spam the ground skulls against turtles. the normal fireskull projectile is good at hitting opponents jumping in if you are good at timing, its like scorpions spear in the fact that it has a larger hit radius than the actual projectile itself.

Shang is brutally hard to use, but I'm committed because I know the whole cast, and morph is nasty.

I want to be Morphing a lot rather than zoning skulls, but soul steal is so slow.

The problem is that everytime the rest of the cast gets a buff for armor, it effectively nerfs Shang since he is so reliant on zoning.

Give the man a real uppercut or a parry...


Shang with a parry=

Something that is like Kratos' Golden Fleece, then Shang will never need a buff ever again!

(With a counter like Liu Kang's Counter/Cyber Subby's Icy Counter)
Shang will turn into green energy (like in his close range round win animation), once he is attacked, some energy will transfer to the attacker, stunning them and Shang delivers a counter-attack.
The EX Counter will let the Shang use any combo he wishes. *Does not counter projectiles*

(With a counter like Kratos' Golden Fleece)
Same thing as the above, but he can dash-cancel his counter to use any combo he chooses, the EX version will absorb the blow, releasing a blast the knocks the attacker away, doing 2% damage while Shang recovers 12% of health.
*Still doesn't counter projectiles, just trying at least a little at keeping the game balanced*

I have imagination for new special moves for the fighters, but they will never come true. Maybe if Shang Tsung's Soul Steal wasn't so slow, Shang would be a more fearsome fighter, he wouldn't be needing a parry or a counter, or any new special move.

Shang Tsung is badass!!! I just started to seriously play with him in the past couple days. IMO he is great. His ground skulls work to zone as well as work to prevent zoning or projectile spammers and gets the oppornent to come close or be annoyed by the skulls. Then I like to do f+Fk BK and BP BP FP and combo in couple normal ground skulls a enhanced ground skull and a FP BP morph finish. When being blocked a lot mix in throws and BP BP b+BK and FP BP FP and b+BK for low and mid mixups.

I feel like I still got some practicing to do with shang and still trying to get a good feel for him in competitive play. He is awesome though like IMO I'd say easily top 10 best chars in the game. Only thing he really lacks keeping him from being top 5 best is a good mid or low special move.

That's great to hear! Shang Tsung's EX Soul Steal starts up faster and has armor, Shang will also stay morphed for around 8 seconds instead of 5 seconds.

I think what Shang Tsung really needs to be in the top 5 is a good wakeup game.