R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The Kitana Match-up Thread

[xTHUGx]

I really wish all the match ups were actually in this thread. Too bad those spoilers don't have nothing in them.

 

[Shiizu]

I feel the Kitana vs Sub-Zero matchup is heavily in Kitana's favor. But I hear a lot of people say that Sub is a bad matchup for her. Anyone know why or care to share thoughts on the matchup?

 

[Konqrr]

If the Sub matchup is easy for you, you aren't playing against a good Sub.

Simple, Kitana can't fight fire with fire and clone prevents her from coming in...she has to waste meter to blow through it.

Sub puts out a clone, then throws iceballs... not just throwing them out because it's what sub does, but thought out ones seeing what kitana is doing.

1. She can't throw ground fans unless she does them from near full screen and early or she trades freeze.
2. She can't blindly throw iAFs because Sub ducks down when he throws freeze and she gets frozen. There is a way to do an iAF over the iceball to hit Sub and not get frozen, but you have to do it PERFECTLY, and it's simply not worth it. You can do this to Noob also to his Tackle (I did it to RIP at ReveLAtions in Round 1).
3. She can't Square Boost over Sub to avoid the clone because he gets a FREE EX Slide that puts her right on the clone for free damage. Even if the clone doesn't hit, she eats the Slide or EX Slide.

What Kitana has to do is this:
1. Throw ground fans on reaction to Ice Clones. He either gets hit or is forced to block. If you hit Sub out of his Ice Clone, close the distance.
2. Punish EVERY Slide with your 48% bnb combo.
3. Sub cannot jump at you. 2~fan anti air is too gdlk.

What it comes down to is know your options and know what Sub can do and when he is vulnerable AND how long the clone has left. If you can make good reads, you will do fine.

From a distance, jump over iceballs and do low Air Fans. This is really only to build meter because she doesn't gain projectile advantage ever and she can't really punish him for throwing iceballs unless she burns meter and does an EX iSB. Sub can also do an EX Ice Blast to blow up you jumping over his iceballs, so it's really a risk.

This is not an easy fight for Kitana, I'd say it's 6-4 Sub, but it's definitely winnable.

I really wish all the match ups were actually in this thread. Too bad those spoilers don't have nothing in them.

Nothing is in them because nobody has really contributed to them. They don't write themselves man.

 

[gryphin81]

If the Sub matchup is easy for you, you aren't playing against a good Sub.

Simple, Kitana can't fight fire with fire and clone prevents her from coming in...she has to waste meter to blow through it.

Sub puts out a clone, then throws iceballs... not just throwing them out because it's what sub does, but thought out ones seeing what kitana is doing.

1. She can't throw ground fans unless she does them from near full screen and early or she trades freeze.
2. She can't blindly throw iAFs because Sub ducks down when he throws freeze and she gets frozen. There is a way to do an iAF over the iceball to hit Sub and not get frozen, but you have to do it PERFECTLY, and it's simply not worth it. You can do this to Noob also to his Tackle (I did it to RIP at ReveLAtions in Round 1).
3. She can't Square Boost over Sub to avoid the clone because he gets a FREE EX Slide that puts her right on the clone for free damage. Even if the clone doesn't hit, she eats the Slide or EX Slide.

What Kitana has to do is this:
1. Throw ground fans on reaction to Ice Clones. He either gets hit or is forced to block. If you hit Sub out of his Ice Clone, close the distance.
2. Punish EVERY Slide with your 48% bnb combo.
3. Sub cannot jump at you. 2~fan anti air is too gdlk.

What it comes down to is know your options and know what Sub can do and when he is vulnerable AND how long the clone has left. If you can make good reads, you will do fine.

From a distance, jump over iceballs and do low Air Fans. This is really only to build meter because she doesn't gain projectile advantage ever and she can't really punish him for throwing iceballs unless she burns meter and does an EX iSB. Sub can also do an EX Ice Blast to blow up you jumping over his iceballs, so it's really a risk.

This is not an easy fight for Kitana, I'd say it's 6-4 Sub, but it's definitely winnable.


Nothing is in them because nobody has really contributed to them. They don't write themselves man.

I totally agree - just to add an example to your thoughts. Chris G vs Tom Brady one of the effective things he was doing was shooting a projectile as soon as tom brady did the clone. It caused some problems..

 

[Shiizu]

2. She can't blindly throw iAFs because Sub ducks down when he throws freeze and she gets frozen. There is a way to do an iAF over the iceball to hit Sub and not get frozen, but you have to do it PERFECTLY, and it's simply not worth it. You can do this to Noob also to his Tackle (I did it to RIP at ReveLAtions in Round 1).

This is what I usually do at full screen with Kitana. Whenever both me and Sub throw out our projectiles, Sub gets hit and I land in time to block the freeze. Do you mean iAFs go over Sub during his freeze ball animation? I never knew this if that's the case. But then wouldn't Kitana still land in time to block the freeze? I guess I just have a hard time seeing Sub outzone her with her quick recovery from iAF. I pretty much agree with everything else.

 

[Konqrr]

Do you mean iAFs go over Sub during his freeze ball animation?

From my experience, they do...but you get frozen if you aren't near full screen.

You really don't want to get in on Sub, you just keep building meter with safe air fans, punishing him for being stupid, and putting the pressure on when he can't clone.

 

[Pistol]

I really wish all the match ups were actually in this thread. Too bad those spoilers don't have nothing in them.

Patience grasshopper, we're only on 3 pages. Waiting for the balance changes to die down too.

 

[xTHUGx]

Patience grasshopper, we're only on 3 pages. Waiting for the balance changes to die down too.

Ah ok, well I was more worried about the thread starter not being an active user, but you just so happened to reply. Thanks and I hope more people contribute to this thread so we can fill these spoilers in.


@ Konqrr
Whenever I try to punish subzero's blocked slide, I don't seem to be able to connect the f2,1 it's too slow. But I do manage to do d1 all the time. SO I would love to know what you're punishing his slide with or how are you doing it?

 

[Konqrr]

@ Konqrr
Whenever I try to punish subzero's blocked slide, I don't seem to be able to connect the f2,1 it's too slow. But I do manage to do d1 all the time. SO I would love to know what you're punishing his slide with or how are you doing it?

Immediately after you block the slide, let go of block. Practice it in training mode with Sub on "Always" block and "Ducking" with "Recovery" and "Wakeups" to ON and knock him down with b12. He will do the wakeup slide eventually, just block and punish.

I have updated the Smoke matchup guide:

http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?4206-R-E-S-P-E-C-T-The-Kitana-Match-up-Thread&p=49745&viewfull=1#post49745

 

[xTHUGx]

Immediately after you block the slide, let go of block. Practice it in training mode with Sub on "Always" block and "Ducking" with "Recovery" and "Wakeups" to ON and knock him down with b12. He will do the wakeup slide eventually, just block and punish.

I have updated the Smoke matchup guide:

http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?4206-R-E-S-P-E-C-T-The-Kitana-Match-up-Thread&p=49745&viewfull=1#post49745

Alright I'll try that ASAP. So this does work with subzero's slide, EX slide and wakeup slide, correct?

 

[M2Dave]

Konqrr, how are the Kano and Raiden match ups for Kitana?

 

[Konqrr]

Alright I'll try that ASAP. So this does work with subzero's slide, EX slide and wakeup slide, correct?

Yes

Konqrr, how are the Kano and Raiden match ups for Kitana?

Kano is a bad match for her currently. Once the upball gets nerfed in the hotfix, it will be a little easier. You can't play the long distance fan game because knives own you, so you have to play from about 1/2 screen. If you block an upball, you can hit him out of the next one with 2~into whatever, but I think he can block... so just doing a couple d3 after blocking it to push him back and if he does another it whiffs and you can punish.

Raiden has to play safe and use his blockstrings when he gets close. If his superman is blocked, he is dead. Teleport gives her a free 2~into whatever she wants on reaction as it comes out in 7 frames (her d1 is 6 frames), but of course this is while not blocking and that means random supermans are coming lol. I'd say after the hotfix where Raiden loses advantage on his strings, it will be closer to an even match. Right now it's 6-4.

 

[M2Dave]

Kano is a bad match for her currently. Once the upball gets nerfed in the hotfix, it will be a little easier. You can't play the long distance fan game because knives own you, so you have to play from about 1/2 screen. If you block an upball, you can hit him out of the next one with 2~into whatever, but I think he can block... so just doing a couple d3 after blocking it to push him back and if he does another it whiffs and you can punish.

Raiden has to play safe and use his blockstrings when he gets close. If his superman is blocked, he is dead. Teleport gives her a free 2~into whatever she wants on reaction as it comes out in 7 frames (her d1 is 6 frames), but of course this is while not blocking and that means random supermans are coming lol. I'd say after the hotfix where Raiden loses advantage on his strings, it will be closer to an even match. Right now it's 6-4.

Thanks for the quick response.

By the way, I'm fairly certain that the EX Fan Lift punishes the current Up Ball. It's just difficult to do reaction wise in the heat of a battle. The Up Ball is arguably one of the best anti-aerial moves in the game. It's literally like a Tiger Uppercut, but those players who spam it randomly should get punished. It just takes some time to get used to because the move has an insanely fast start up.

 

[Konqrr]

Thanks for the quick response.

By the way, I'm fairly certain that the EX Fan Lift punishes the current Up Ball. It's just difficult to do reaction wise in the heat of a battle. The Up Ball is arguably one of the best anti-aerial moves in the game. It's literally like a Tiger Uppercut, but those players who spam it randomly should get punished. It just takes some time to get used to because the move has an insanely fast start up.

EX Fan Lift works "sometimes". I've been hit out of it several times with upball spam.

I've even done a psychic 2~fan out of range and hit Kano out of the upball for a 40% combo lol ... but doing option select 2 is SO unsafe.

 

[DrDogg]

EX Fan Lift works "sometimes". I've been hit out of it several times with upball spam.

I've even done a psychic 2~fan out of range and hit Kano out of the upball for a 40% combo lol ... but doing option select 2 is SO unsafe.

How are you option selecting in this game?

Also, any tips on the Shang matchup? Detroit is a local player here and finally made it out to his first local. He knocked me out in loser's before going on to win the tournament. It was my first time playing against a Shang.

As far as I can tell, you have to stay at a distance between his close ground fireball and his mid ground fireball. Then punish when/if you get an opportunity. If he gets close and starts his block string ridiculousness, then you're pretty much done.

 

[Evil_Riu48]

i find the sub vs kitana to be a 5-5 i use a low IAF which sub can not slide on reation to punish it and if you do it very low it will hit sub 's slide sub has to use his ex ice ball if he want to fight kitana's IAF in a zoning war and he has to guess when an AIF is coming to win the fire ball war because at mid screen if he try to do it on reaction the AIF will stop the ex ice ball animation. . . sub has to come after kitana in this match up because at mid screen is very hard for sub to react to kitana's game specially if he has no meter.

 

[Dark Kobra]

CAn anyone tell me how to punish the EX teleport from Scorpion? I'm playing this guy and he does the ex teleport and whenever I try o do something, he just spams the 1,1,1 into a throw and I'm trying to block and punish, but nothing that I'm doing seems to work.. any ideas guys?? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[xTHUGx]

CAn anyone tell me how to punish the EX teleport from Scorpion? I'm playing this guy and he does the ex teleport and whenever I try o do something, he just spams the 1,1,1 into a throw and I'm trying to block and punish, but nothing that I'm doing seems to work.. any ideas guys?? Thanks in advance!!!

I've done an iAF right after he does EX teleport and the fan will keep him in the air therefore you can keep doing Kitana's unbreakable fan combo

 

[Konqrr]

How are you option selecting in this game?

Also, any tips on the Shang matchup? Detroit is a local player here and finally made it out to his first local. He knocked me out in loser's before going on to win the tournament. It was my first time playing against a Shang.

As far as I can tell, you have to stay at a distance between his close ground fireball and his mid ground fireball. Then punish when/if you get an opportunity. If he gets close and starts his block string ridiculousness, then you're pretty much done.

Option selecting in MK9... let's say I throw out the motion for 2~Fan (2~d~f~1). If the 2 whiffs, the fan doesn't come out and I get the 21 string which is unsafe on whiff. If the 2 hits, I get 2 into ground fan. You can OS with negative edge so you only get 2 instead of 21, but 2 is even more unsafe lol

OS's are pretty much useless in this game because whiffed normals are so damn unsafe.

I haven't fought vs Shang, so I don't know.

CAn anyone tell me how to punish the EX teleport from Scorpion? I'm playing this guy and he does the ex teleport and whenever I try o do something, he just spams the 1,1,1 into a throw and I'm trying to block and punish, but nothing that I'm doing seems to work.. any ideas guys?? Thanks in advance!!!

You can't punish Scorpion's EX teleport if you block it and you can't jump out because the second hit auto-corrects and hits you. I think you might be able to do a low attack like d1, d3, or d4 to hit the teleport before it connects, but I'm not sure. Just block and be glad you only lost like 2% block damage for him using meter. After blocking 111, see what he likes to do after and the next time he sets you up with it, get out. Best bet is to jump over him and get a free jps combo on his whiffed throw attempt.

 

[Somberness]

CAn anyone tell me how to punish the EX teleport from Scorpion? I'm playing this guy and he does the ex teleport and whenever I try o do something, he just spams the 1,1,1 into a throw and I'm trying to block and punish, but nothing that I'm doing seems to work.. any ideas guys?? Thanks in advance!!!

Uppercut or any low attack will work before he can attack. You could even (just barely) use an enhanced fan lift, but good luck getting that! Of course, x-ray works too.

 

[DrDogg]

Option selecting in MK9... let's say I throw out the motion for 2~Fan (2~d~f~1). If the 2 whiffs, the fan doesn't come out and I get the 21 string which is unsafe on whiff. If the 2 hits, I get 2 into ground fan. You can OS with negative edge so you only get 2 instead of 21, but 2 is even more unsafe lol

OS's are pretty much useless in this game because whiffed normals are so damn unsafe.

I haven't fought vs Shang, so I don't know.

Ah, okay. That's pretty much what I was thinking. I thought maybe you had a good use for OS.

The Shang match-up is difficult for any character that doesn't have a good teleport. Right now I'd say it's probably 6-4 or maybe even 7-3 in favor of Shang.

 

[xTHUGx]

So when is it the right time to use an iSB/EX iSB? I also noticed that EX SB doesn't have armor, which kinda sucks. It can't go through projectiles so what's the point of using it? other than doing it high in the air to get away from corners, but thats about it.

 

[Konqrr]

So when is it the right time to use an iSB/EX iSB? I also noticed that EX SB doesn't have armor, which kinda sucks. It can't go through projectiles so what's the point of using it? other than doing it high in the air to get away from corners, but thats about it.

iSB blows up Smokes looking for air fans to shake and it's a free way to get in on him if he stand blocks.

EX iSB is really great against characters like Noob or Reptile who have big recovery on their projectiles because you blow through them and push them to the corner. Be careful though because you eat the full damage of the projectile and if it's an EX projectile you absorb (Kano, Liu, Sindel), you take 12-14% and that HURTS.

Who is iSB useless against? Shang, Ermac, Liu/Sindel Low Fireballs. i'm not sure if it works against Scorpion's Spear.

 

[xTHUGx]

iSB blows up Smokes looking for air fans to shake and it's a free way to get in on him if he stand blocks.

EX iSB is really great against characters like Noob or Reptile who have big recovery on their projectiles because you blow through them and push them to the corner. Be careful though because you eat the full damage of the projectile and if it's an EX projectile you absorb (Kano, Liu, Sindel), you take 12-14% and that HURTS.

Who is iSB useless against? Shang, Ermac, Liu/Sindel Low Fireballs. i'm not sure if it works against Scorpion's Spear.

So you're saying EX iSB can pass through noob's tackles and not be interrupted by it? If so, how is it that it goes through noob's but not others like kano, liu, sindel, sonya,etc..( also, assume we're talking about them doing high fireballs not low enough to duck under the EX iSB)

EDIT: Nevermind, you're talking about characters that have slower recovery from projectile to projectile, right? Example: Jumping over reptiles acid spit then EX iSB to push them back?

 

[Konqrr]

So you're saying EX iSB can pass through noob's tackles and not be interrupted by it? If so, how is it that it goes through noob's but not others like kano, liu, sindel, sonya,etc..( also, assume we're talking about them doing high fireballs not low enough to duck under the EX iSB)

EDIT: Nevermind, you're talking about characters that have slower recovery from projectile to projectile, right? Example: Jumping over reptiles acid spit then EX iSB to push them back?

Noob's Tackle, Reptile's Forcceballs, etc...

You don't jump over it, you do it instantly after you jump so your iSB blows right through the projectile and hits them. You take the full damage of the projectile, but you hit them and make them think before they spam when you have meter. It also puts them that much closer to the corner.