Peacemaker is the latest DLC fighter to join Mortal Kombat 1’s roster. As previously described by NetherRealm Studios, Peacemaker is designed to be part of the brawler archetype thanks to how his advancing normals function and how he is lacking in terms of traditional 50/50 mix ups.
When Peacemaker was first announced, I was personally under the impression that he’d just be another zoning character that heavily relied on firearms, similar to how Deathstroke and Deadshot function in Injustice and Injustice 2 respectively. In my review of Peacemaker in Mortal Kombat 1, I actually noted how he was far more interesting than I had anticipated.
Ultimately though, Peacemaker is only relegated to using his Force Multiplier and specials that call “Eagly” as sort of a built-in assist mechanic for combatting opponents from across the screen. Of course, his Force Field special grants him full immunity to projectiles, which enables to to completely counter any zoning game plan the opponent might have in mind.
It turns out that Peacemaker is particularly solid as a zoning character due to the presence of these zoning and anti-zoning tools. Plenty of characters have to change their strategies pretty dramatically when Peacemaker is played a certain way.
A recent clip featuring a battle between a Liu Kang user and Peacemaker user really demonstrated this. Of course, keep in mind that the Liu Kang player used some salty language for the Peacemaker player in the clip below:
Cry harder you’re playing top 5 lol pic.twitter.com/HbM9ZMf5wj
— @Retribution2 (@Emperor_Tiza) March 31, 2024
On one hand, there are certainly things that the Liu Kang player could’ve done better in this scenario. It’s also clear that he ended up losing his cool part way through the match, which resulted in the Peacemaker player having an easier time snowballing the situation.
Regardless, it’s important to note that Liu Kang isn’t the rush down monster that he has been known as like with previous entries in the Mortal Kombat series. Instead, he is designed to have more of a focus on his zoning, especially with his low fireball.
Needless to say, it can be argued that Peacemaker’s Force Field special behaves as a complete counter to what Liu Kang generally wants to do. Liu Kang can still fight up close, but he’s been cursed with some rather stubby buttons this time around and can have a difficult time approaching a patient Peacemaker.
Of course, it’s not just this random player that has taken issue with Peacemaker’s long-ranged capabilities. It should be mentioned that NASR|Tekken Master, the best Baraka player in Mortal Kombat 1, has become concerned with Peacemaker’s options.
So basically Peacemaker has the best zoning in the game and the best anti zoning ( forcefield ) and a fuck neutral tool ( torpedo ) unreactable which he can throw anytime and its safe with striker or Khameleon ok so how am i able to get in ?
— NASR | Tekken Master (@tekken_masterbh) April 2, 2024
Peacemakers forcefield is not okay at all , move has no recovery and no cooldown aswell and it lasts for a long time pic.twitter.com/MOVD8hWvuQ
— NASR | Tekken Master (@tekken_masterbh) March 31, 2024
Overall, it looks like Force Field might be the main culprit behind what makes this strategy so strong. Some fans have suggested either giving it a cooldown or making even the normal version costing at least one bar of meter.
Notably, Ed Boon stated that the Shujinko Kameo “has got more goodies koming” in a future update, though these goodies were noticeably absent with the patch that added Janet Cage as a Kameo to Mortal Kombat 1. This suggests that NetherRealm Studios is already working on the next balance patch for Mortal Kombat 1.
We’ll have to wait and see if Peacemaker is hit with a nerf or two considering how these opinions about the character are just now beginning to surface.