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General/Other - Kenshi Kenshi General Discussion Thread

Something I just noticed, why is Possessed's 211 special cancellable but knocks down? Lol
The most utility I get out of it is a hit confirm into tele, then B1. If your opponent likes to wake up armor, the B1 will break many characters' wake up, otherwise you can pressure. If it's blocked, I usually cancel into OH or low totem, or leave it alone at -5.

Doubt it was designed with that in mind, but that's just me.
 

thlityoursloat

kick kick
It's probably because it has the same animation/properties as his 211 is Balanced/Kenjutsu but just a different hit reaction (the sliding KD).
 

Jack Burton

Apprentice
The most utility I get out of it is a hit confirm into tele, then B1. If your opponent likes to wake up armor, the B1 will break many characters' wake up, otherwise you can pressure. If it's blocked, I usually cancel into OH or low totem, or leave it alone at -5.

Doubt it was designed with that in mind, but that's just me.
I never bother with B1 to break armor on wake up because if the opponent does a delayed wake up instead of a wake up attack you can find yourself at frame disadvantage or punished.
 
I never bother with B1 to break armor on wake up because if the opponent does a delayed wake up instead of a wake up attack you can find yourself at frame disadvantage or punished.
Your mileage may vary, but I have never been consistently punished for using this setup immediately after the tele.

But you are certainly correct that if they do a very short delay, Kenshi is at negative frames (somewhere around -10, I think) and in someone's face. On a long delay, I believe Kenshi is neutral and/or safe. Regardless, it is just another tool in the toolbox, and I have had a lot of success with it, especially when my opponent has meter. This should definitely be combined with other options after the tele (NJP, jump back, jump forward, block, etc.), but it gives a purpose to 211xx.
 

Jack Burton

Apprentice
Your mileage may vary, but I have never been consistently punished for using this setup immediately after the tele.

But you are certainly correct that if they do a very short delay, Kenshi is at negative frames (somewhere around -10, I think) and in someone's face. On a long delay, I believe Kenshi is neutral and/or safe. Regardless, it is just another tool in the toolbox, and I have had a lot of success with it, especially when my opponent has meter. This should definitely be combined with other options after the tele (NJP, jump back, jump forward, block, etc.), but it gives a purpose to 211xx.
Most definitely. I started ending some of my bread and butters with 211 xx Teleport to sustain momentum and bait reversals on wake up in match ups that make the most sense to use it (I wouldn't use it in the Mileena matchup, for example).
 
Also if you end any decent gravity combo with 211tele then you are at a huge frame disadvantage. It's a really bad string haha.
I may be wrong, but this doesn't seem accurate. The last hit of 211 is a SKD - after the tele, not even Reptile's EX slide or Cassie's flipkick can come out before Kenshi's turn. What combos are you referring to, or what am I missing?
 

ChatterBox

Searching for an alt.
I may be wrong, but this doesn't seem accurate. The last hit of 211 is a SKD - after the tele, not even Reptile's EX slide or Cassie's flipkick can come out before Kenshi's turn. What combos are you referring to, or what am I missing?
You do have tech roll on? When I was labbing it months ago I remember tempest lao and cassie flipkick beating it on a long combo. Try f21exdrop, f32exdrop, 211tele. Put them on tech roll and wakeup and see what happens. I hope I'm wrong but I remember it being no good.

Gotta try setups with different conditions to make sure they're worth it.
 
You do have tech roll on? When I was labbing it months ago I remember tempest lao and cassie flipkick beating it on a long combo. Try f21exdrop, f32exdrop, 211tele. Put them on tech roll and wakeup and see what happens. I hope I'm wrong but I remember it being no good.

Gotta try setups with different conditions to make sure they're worth it.
If your opponent is tech rolling, then yes - you are 100% correct that Kenshi is at a frame disadvantage. Barring that, ending combos with 211 xx tele usually leaves Kenshi in an advantageous position. Of course, this is all academic because, practically speaking, most Possessed players will likely choose to cash out the damage in that situation rather than continuing to pressure.

Interestingly, even if the opponent tech rolls to a wake up special, many of the moves will whiff - including Kung Lao's EX spin - and some advancing specials/strings will be caught by a NJP out of the tele.

In any event, I agree with you that one should try different conditions to see if setups are worth it in those conditions. For me, I wouldn't say that because 211 xx tele at the end of combos can sometimes be blown up by some characters who tech roll that the move is really bad - it depends on the MU and what your opponent is showing you.
 

ando1184

Warrior
Can someone tell me what his best variation is and why? I'm playing balanced and personally think it to be the best of the 3.
 
Can someone tell me what his best variation is and why? I'm playing balanced and personally think it to be the best of the 3.
Depends on what environment you are trying to use Kenshi in. IMO...

  • Pro-level play: None of them, but Kenjutsu (or even variationless) probably has the best shot because he at least has 50/50's in a game that is all about 50/50's. Also, he has decent counter-zoning tools in this variation.
  • Random online play: Probably Balanced, as it punishes mistakes well and rewards patient play. Also has the best meterless damage of all of them, and some very swaggy corner combos.
  • Cool looking, gimmicky stuff: Possessed. Specials in this variation are also the safest on block, though the low totem has no air hit box and you can just run through the TF in this variation (!)
But you should play whatever variation you have the most fun with. Personally, I am very partial to Balanced.

Good luck.
 

Sage Leviathan

I'm platinum mad!
I hear possessed is the best a lot but what is making it better than balanced specifically?
Safety, mobility with the teleport, and the damage per bar spent, not to mention the Demon Push is probably the best zoning tool between Kenshi's 3 variations.
 
Safety, mobility with the teleport, and the damage per bar spent, not to mention the Demon Push is probably the best zoning tool between Kenshi's 3 variations.
Totally agree about Possessed shoulder, but it does more damage per bar than Balanced or Kenjutsu? In Balanced, for example, you can get 40%+ off one bar mid screen and 40%+ for no bar in the corner.
 
Possessed has worse meterless damage and 1 bar combos do pretty much the same.
That was my understanding, too, though I thought maybe there was some crazy, hard-to-pull off, optimized combo I didn't know about. IIRC, max one bar, mid-screen damage for Possessed is ~38%, Kenjutsu is ~40%, and Balanced is ~42%.
 

thlityoursloat

kick kick
There really isn't much flexibility with Possessed combos, I find. I've already come up with dozens and dozens of mostly optimal Kenjutsu combos but can't come up with much for Possessed.
 

ando1184

Warrior
Ok so now I'm confused, is possessed not as good or better than balanced? From the past few posts it seems it's worse?
 
Ok so now I'm confused, is possessed not as good or better than balanced? From the past few posts it seems it's worse?
It really depends on how you are meaning "better" and how you like to play. Possessed has safer specials, but is more meter hungry, the teleport can be neutralized pretty easily by a backdash or NJP, and the mixup game is not great. Balanced can do really good meterless damage, but the specials are very unsafe, and the mix up game is terrible. Kenjutsu has 50/50's but no good zoning tools and unsafe specials.

If you are patient, good at reads, and know your gaps, go with Balanced. If you prefer being in your opponent's face, pick Kenjutsu (or another character that can do it loads better, lol). If you are comfortable doing a bit of zoning and a bit of in-your-face, go with Possessed.
 
I find that if you want to do well with Kenshi it's best to learn all his variations. Kenshi isn't a one variation fits all like Mileena.
100% agree. In fact, for someone just picking up Kenshi, I would even recommend using variationless for a while to get a feel for his neutral game, such that it is. My learning progression with Kenshi went Possessed -> Variationless -> Kenjutsu -> Balanced, and I think I saw the most improvements in my neutral game when I couldn't rely on ranged specials.
 

ando1184

Warrior
In balanced, can anyone tell me what's the highest damage corner combos for 1 and 2 bars? I'm not seeing over 50%?