Cetrion is a brand new character introduced in Mortal Kombat 11. She's part of the base roster and thus has been playable since game's release back on April 23, 2019.
The elder goddess of virtue is the sister to Shinnok and daughter to Kronika. She harnesses the forces of nature as the moves closer to her goal of spreading universal balance across the realms.
Cetrion is dressed with shades of green atop her gray with a tinge of purple skin. Her long flowing hair resembles plant leaves, the armor that guards her vital organs resembles emeralds, and we see more of this stone in the hovering rock formation that adorns her head.
Cetrion has garnered a reputation for being the most formidable zoner in all of Mortal Kombat 11. Her go to moves tend to be ground pound, deadly wind, and teleport as she creates mazes of frustrating hitboxes for opponents to attempt to navigate. She can also hurl massive boulders very quickly across the stage and summon her Hell's Wrath diagonal fire strikes, making her an absolute nightmare for some characters to try to get close to.
Cetrion excels at controlling space and dictating the pacing of most matches in MK11, making her one of the strongest choices on the entire roster. When faced with fellow zoning type fighters, she has plenty of anti-zoning counters but can often simply out muscle them with her superior attacks.
Cetrion tends to take the number one spot on most tier lists and pro player ranking charts. Her ability to dole out tons of damage without getting her hands dirty, (having to get close and risk getting hit) is an incredible advantage that no one enjoys on the level she does. If and when she does find herself in close quarters, she has strings that are both effective and help her to space herself out and get back to her strongest points on screen.
If you want to win in MK11, look no further than Cetrion. You may lose a few frustrated friends along the way, but such is the cost of bringing balance to the universe sometimes.
One of the best ways to play her is as a Zoner, and her tournament variation, Force of Nature, is ideal for this style of fighting (although I am partial to the Bouncing Boulder, but we're talking about tournament variations here because that's all anyone cares about :-D).
Earthquake can be useful to catch your opponents off-guard as well as provide a little pushback. She slams the ground twice, so even if they're jumping and the first slam misses, the second one can potentially disrupt their flow as the second one will almost always land by the time the opponent lands from their jump. If they're smart, they'll block as soon as they land. The Delayed Boulder Bash is primarily good for jumpers (Shattering Boulder is also good for this, the enhanced Shattering Boulder will ignite them for a couple of seconds as well as provide some pushback). If they happen to be close while jumping, simply uppercut or use Natural Barrier (enhanced optional, but it provides pushback just like enhanced Shattering Boulder. I typically uppercut because it's just quicker and does more damage).
Hell's Wrath and its enhanced version can be used for great mix-up and playing mind games, because you can use it while jumping.
If they get in close, use Tendril Pull. Enhance it to open them up for a combo, which a decent go-to in this instance is the Fire-Nado combo (2, 1, 2), which provides further pushback. Another decent combo I've had success with up close is Lifecycle (<-3, 2) + Enhanced Tendril Pull + Fire-Nado.
If they're blocking high, use either a low-jab as a poke, then transition into Imminent Eruption (1, 1, 4) or throw them (I usually go for throws, because that can grab them even while they're blocking low and plus, three throws during the match are required for a Brutality).
If they are blocking low, either throw them or use an overhead (her overheads are usually unsafe to perform unless they are part of a combo, which is another reason why I throw)
Just a side note for Tendril Pull specifically... if you do not plan to enhance it, it's not worth doing unless you're at a great distance from your opponent. Which if they are, you have better options to use instead of Tendril Pull. So using the un-enhanced Tendril Pull is pretty much pointless... unless you want to get punished. By all means use it, if you feel it's worth the risk. I just haven't had much luck with it. The whole point of Zoning is to maintain distance as much as possible. The un-enhanced Tendril Pull pulls the opponent in a little bit, which is counter-intuitive to Zoning by default.
As always, block block block. It's pretty much key for Zoning. Be extra wary of teleporters, especially Noob Saibot, Scorpion, or Kung Lao.
I found videos displaying her combo capabilities. What I provided here are the very basics for people wanting to learn Cetrion. If you're interested in more advanced combos, check them out (note: I do not own these videos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4pyN...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvxVh...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1lAX...
https://youtu.be/GESh8fooNP4
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