So today I had the pleasure of having my first set against a Grandmaster Sub-Zero. This matchup is so oppressive.
I think this matchup is nearly unplayable in Assassin variation. I had far better mileage using the Royal Storm variation. The threat of reflecting his iceball helped tremendously. Even with the reflect though, it was extremely difficult. Not sure on the Mournful variation as I haven't had much practice with it yet so I never used it.
Up close you have to deal with his high/low mixups (2 low strings plus his slide for YOLO) and then his combo-starting overhead (each time he hit that it was like rubbing salt in Kitana's crap-overhead wound). Backdashing is ill-advised because his strings move him very far forward and he can easily punish. Most of the time I was just hoping to catch him doing an unsafe slide and block it to punish. But against better players/offline I don't think players will continuously end their strings with slide even if the string is blocked.
In the corner is where Sub-Zero shines so you really don't want to be there. The square wave dash helped a lot with escaping his corner pressure but if you get predictable with it Sub-Zero can easily punish/bait you. EX-throat slice was useful in escaping the pressure but do note that the armor only seems to last at the beginning of the move. So if the clone is a bit further away you'll just end up frozen even if you EX-throat slice.
Full-screen was surprisingly difficult as well. Sub-Zero's clone will reflect your fan toss so if he sits behind it and tosses an iceball you will just end up being frozen (which he can convert to combos from full screen away.) Trading with iceball is also a nightmare because if you trade, you stay frozen long enough for him to get back up and run in for a combo. Reflect comes in handy in the full-screen zoning match but if the Sub-Zero player is smart he will start to toss his clone at you and stuff your reflect. Reflecting while he has a clone out is pointless too because the clone will just absorb the reflected hit.
If Sub-Zero has the life-lead he will just sit and duck your fans. And if you approach he will just ice clone away. Air fan tosses seem rather ineffective because Sub-Zero has no reason to jump at you. He wants to just sit back until he can finally trade an iceball with your fan. Even trying to bait with an EX-Fan toss didn't work. It just trades with iceball and he gets back up and runs in for the punish or mixup. A lot of times he will just sit there and duck under your fans while waiting to set up his clone/iceball game.
I also found it difficult because Kitana's jump is quite floaty and in her neutral jump one of her legs extends straight down which oftentimes resulted in getting frozen by the tip of her toe.
I'm very interested in seeing if/how Kitana will combat this. Playing this match for me just felt like it was bringing out the flaws in Kitana's current design and highlighted her weaknesses.
My roommate plays GM Sub-Zero and while we're probably not the best, I did understand a whole lot about the MU.
First of all, it's definitely NOT at Kitana's favor. The only thing you have going for you is damage--Sub Zero (currently) has to work for his and has to spend bar.
In the corner, you do have to make a hard read. There's no way around it. You can probably gimmick into parry I suppose, but that's extremely risky for 15% payoff (as oppossed to his 30-40%). In this sense, I think Royal Storm is your best bet, as at least you have an air escape option.
Here's what I found useful. Hope it helps:
- Use IAF sparingly. Sub can and will slide on reaction. Even worse, if he spaces you correctly, he can actually slide, not hit you and recover in time for an even better punish. Mid screen is an honest footsie game. Use it here and there to keep him honest and/or if he's full screen, but otherwise, not a good idea.
- You win air to air. You will deal 30-40% plus off a j2 than he will with his. Midscreen, watch out for opportunities of when he jumps, even over your head. Kitana can do a really early NJP, so you will beat out his option at best, get out of the vortex at worst.
- Against GM sub specifically, Float is not a bad idea. Jumping over his head and going for cross-up/non-cross-up means he has to respect your options and not just clone away. You can cancel into float early or late, which does mess up a lot of his inputs. If he's D2 happy, float really high and punish with NJP into 40%. You will outdamage him if he risks going air to air. Long story short, this is how you make him block.
- If you're using Assassin, do not be afraid to react to clone/iceball with EX AS. You don't need to use meter for combo damage--use it to make him afraid to zone you. 19% damage can and will add up.
Good luck.
