Kitana General Discussion

[John_NX]

Also something that literally made me quit the game, I was playing against Kung lao, I READ that he was going to wake up with U3, he did, I tried to whiff punish with my B231 but guess what? Just because that fucker leaves the ground for 0.5sec, my WHOLE string WHIFFS and I get punished. Is that fair?

 

[DarksydeDash]

Good points! But I don't agree with B231. It's one of the two advancing mids kitana has and the one with the longest range. I get your point about not using it as a meaty, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that it's a DIAL-IN. Every character mid advancing string can get punished by just jumping, but at least they have the option not or to complete the string. Only kitana has this issue and I don't understand why. At least let us get a B23 as a string, make it death on block, but let it be used for situations like these.

The answer is simple. You either don't dial it in and check your opponent with b2. If they are capable of reacting to this stagger you can check them with a poke to get your turn back, or use b14 if you think they'll challenge, or b131 if you think they'll respect.

In my experience, the opponent most likely knows the range of B2 and will jump expecting you to throw it out. What you do is treat fan toss as a mid because if they jump, you can dash up for a d4 fan toss for more damage. The opponent is also more likely to block the fan toss the closer you are and a reminder that fan toss blocked at B2 range or more is + on block. Kitana also has incredible jump ins as well that are hard to anti air so if they can't stop you from jumping, KEEP DOING IT. In fanfare's case, you can bait anti airs super hard with float.

 

[DarksydeDash]

Also something that literally made me quit the game, I was playing against Kung lao, I READ that he was going to wake up with U3, he did, I tried to whiff punish with my B231 but guess what? Just because that fucker leaves the ground for 0.5sec, my WHOLE string WHIFFS and I get punished. Is that fair?

This sounds like a situation where you needed to rely on F234 for a master mid. Imo the best way to punish a wakeup is to stay outside of the range and punish it with dash up b14, a jump in, or flawless block it.

The safest option is just to block on their wakeup and react to what they do? Wakeup u2 is punishable, wakeup U3 can start the strike/throw game, roll is super reactable. If they have no meter, then you can throw the shit out of them until they prove they can tech it.

 

[OPS_soldier]

The answer is simple. You either don't dial it in and check your opponent with b2. If they are capable of reacting to this stagger you can check them with a poke to get your turn back, or use b14 if you think they'll challenge, or b131 if you think they'll respect.

In my experience, the opponent most likely knows the range of B2 and will jump expecting you to throw it out. What you do is treat fan toss as a mid because if they jump, you can dash up for a d4 fan toss for more damage. The opponent is also more likely to block the fan toss the closer you are and a reminder that fan toss blocked at B2 range or more is + on block. Kitana also has incredible jump ins as well that are hard to anti air so if they can't stop you from jumping, KEEP DOING IT. In fanfare's case, you can bait anti airs super hard with float.

I honestly didnt know you could d4 into fans after clipping them with a fan! I just looked in the lab; you can also use d4 into square wave for a fullscreen knockback.

 

[DarksydeDash]

In my experience so far, B142 also whiffs on jumping opponents.

That is a result of doing the string too late. However, even though it may whiff in that situation, you have succeeded in stopping your opponent from jumping and didn't get full combo punished for it.

 

[DarkSado]

Honestly I think people want old mk9 and mkx kitana because she was more fun and had more options. Mk11 problem is that the character are so linear compare to the old game that's why it die so fast.

 

[Juxtapose]

... that's why it die so fast.

I was unaware that Mortal Kombat 11 was a dead game.

 

[DarkSado]

I was unaware that Mortal Kombat 11 was a dead game.

yup

 

[Juxtapose]

yup

Somehow I think this is a gross exaggeration.

 

[Gooberking]

I honestly didnt know you could d4 into fans after clipping them with a fan! I just looked in the lab; you can also use d4 into square wave for a fullscreen knockback.

Just keep in mind that d4 into specials aren't natural combos and SW is super punishable if they block. If I see another Kit player use SW more than once I generally start to think it's a fight I'm going to win. (mostly if it's used in the yolo sense, than say distance closing)

I never really looked at fan advantage until after switching to Fearless. Since you can't lift after 12, or b231 I had to start hit confirming into fan as an ender and trying to figure out what comes next. One of the more useful ones doesn't make sense for FF since she can go for damage off of everything, but ending in fans leaves them at a range tempts people to feel safe at, but are actually still in b2 range. At -9 or -10 (b231, fan) means their options are very limited and generally about all people can do is down poke if they have a 6f. Some which 6f d1 character players do tend to do there.

Most characters can't even jump up or in if you chuck another fan, so I try to tell myself to just do that and see how they handle the situation. If the jump, doing b231 is mega dangerous and it's better to just make them take the second fan. Just b2 alone is a decent test as well. If you get them respecting getting hit by fan, you can start moving on to stuff like b231, b14, jump in, or dash in throw. F2 isn't a bad option either. It has one less frame startup to fight off pokes, and its string is quite a bit better at dealing with jumping. It's prone to getting low profiled though.

At really close ranges fan is like -9 and may leave you in b14 range, or at least close enough to blow up any button they press. It's not the best situation to be in though given you basically would have chucked a fan right in their face and risked full punishment, but you know I've done it.

 

[VELL1]

Honestly I am pretty content with Kitana right now.

I'd love to may be have some staggers, like may be making B14 at like -3 or -4. But overall I think everything is good for her.

By biggest wish would be walking speed. She relies on footsies so much, but can't really play footsies effectively.

 

[xKhaoTik]

By biggest wish would be walking speed. She relies on footsies so much, but can't really play footsies effectively.

this is something that has been troubling me since the beginning
Kitana is a ninja assassin, yet her movement is so slow and sluggish in this game. In MK9/X, she was one of the faster characters in the game, yet they nuked it this time in this game.
what makes it worse is big boat characters like spawn and kotal move MUCH faster than her

makes no sense

 

[Zviko]

Her forward movement is pretty good though isn't it? I always felt like she has one of the fastest forward walk speed but could be wrong. Back movement is trash I agree.

 

[Gooberking]

Her forward movement is pretty good though isn't it? I always felt like she has one of the fastest forward walk speed but could be wrong. Back movement is trash I agree.

Her wave dash is pretty fantastic, so she for sure has forward movement as an option.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Her forward movement is pretty good though isn't it? I always felt like she has one of the fastest forward walk speed but could be wrong. Back movement is trash I agree.

Her wave dash is pretty fantastic, so she for sure has forward movement as an option.

Forward movement and wavedash is good but it’s nothing compared to people like spawn and Kotal

And since she’s a footsies character, she needs a backdash to work with. She doesn’t have that

 

[VELL1]

BTW do we have any high level players using Kitana, and specifically FF Kitana?
Just want to see what people are doing differently. Any youtube videos?

Also what do people use as a BnB?

Is it still, B231xDB1-J2-J2-B14xBF3xAMP

Do people use something different. I drop the second jump sometimes, but I'd say 90% of the time I get it.

 

[anheirtothethrone11]

this is something that has been troubling me since the beginning
Kitana is a ninja assassin, yet her movement is so slow and sluggish in this game. In MK9/X, she was one of the faster characters in the game, yet they nuked it this time in this game.
what makes it worse is big boat characters like spawn and kotal move MUCH faster than her

makes no sense

agree, she lacks acrobatic moves ... her stance looks like she's encumbered by those fans ...

 

[Gooberking]

Forward movement and wavedash is good but it’s nothing compared to people like spawn and Kotal

And since she’s a footsies character, she needs a backdash to work with. She doesn’t have that

I'm not disagreeing. Last night I was fighting a Scorp a with Baraka for the first time. I kept walking back and getting him to wiff full strings and was like "this is new."

I know I've wanted to get people to wiff and then b2 my way back in, but it's not something I feel like I get to do much of. Running in isn't generally my goal making WD'ing pretty situational. Like time is running out and Jade has glow and a life lead kind of stuff.

 

[xWildx]

If Kitana had better backwards movement and any move similar to her s2 from MK9 or f1 from MKX to whiff punish with she’d be just about perfect. But, alas...

 

[DarksydeDash]

Friendly reminder that Fanfare damage buff + 21222 does insane chip damage and ya'll need to abuse it if they block your jump in.

 

[Zer0_h0ur]

Trying to grind fanfare after the buffs and realizing I lick nuts with her compared to Highborn, which I expected, but..
One thing I learned about me in this game is sometimes I play characters the wrong way, and maybe my spacing and approach is all wrong...

Is fanfare a reaction/whiff punisher?

Bc my reactions suck and I play on a TV lol, I love kitana but after 100 games I'm thinking maybe I need to go fearless just for that mix up option to open people up.

 

[OPS_soldier]

Trying to grind fanfare after the buffs and realizing I lick nuts with her compared to Highborn, which I expected, but..
One thing I learned about me in this game is sometimes I play characters the wrong way, and maybe my spacing and approach is all wrong...

Is fanfare a reaction/whiff punisher?

Bc my reactions suck and I play on a TV lol, I love kitana but after 100 games I'm thinking maybe I need to go fearless just for that mix up option to open people up.

FanFare is a whiff punisher. You basically have to condition your opponent with fans/ b131 to give your opponent the illusion of control. The big issues with Fanfare is that even though she gets damage, you have to force your opponent off of his meter before you get anything. You get a nice reward off of d3 anti air though with a KB at 33 percent. The big issue is Fanfares pressure is fake so you really only have whiff punishes and throws if people mash d1 on you.

 

[VELL1]

Trying to grind fanfare after the buffs and realizing I lick nuts with her compared to Highborn, which I expected, but..
One thing I learned about me in this game is sometimes I play characters the wrong way, and maybe my spacing and approach is all wrong...

Is fanfare a reaction/whiff punisher?

Bc my reactions suck and I play on a TV lol, I love kitana but after 100 games I'm thinking maybe I need to go fearless just for that mix up option to open people up.

That mix up is not a real mix up. In fact it's pretty much react-able mix up, not even a proper fuzzy, so honestly I don't see much use in fearless. I think her wind is kind of okay as a footsy tool and even some kind of anti-air, but I don't know.

I think FanFare is like this really annoying but at the same time kind of shitty zonner, that uses her advancing mids to punish whifs. The good thing is that she is safe on pretty much everything, so if you see an opening or a tell, go for it. If you are wrong, you'll give up your turn against a good player and might keep it against a shitty player or someone who is not familiar with the matchup.

 

[Zer0_h0ur]

FanFare is a whiff punisher. You basically have to condition your opponent with fans/ b131 to give your opponent the illusion of control. The big issues with Fanfare is that even though she gets damage, you have to force your opponent off of his meter before you get anything. You get a nice reward off of d3 anti air though with a KB at 33 percent. The big issue is Fanfares pressure is fake so you really only have whiff punishes and throws if people mash d1 on you.

Can you go into more detail how b131 gives them the illusion of control?
I noticed it gives great range on block for a backdash b2 whiff punish, but that's it

 

[Zer0_h0ur]

That mix up is not a real mix up. In fact it's pretty much react-able mix up, not even a proper fuzzy, so honestly I don't see much use in fearless. I think her wind is kind of okay as a footsy tool and even some kind of anti-air, but I don't know.

I think FanFare is like this really annoying but at the same time kind of shitty zonner, that uses her advancing mids to punish whifs. The good thing is that she is safe on pretty much everything, so if you see an opening or a tell, go for it. If you are wrong, you'll give up your turn against a good player and might keep it against a shitty player or someone who is not familiar with the matchup.

Thanks for the insight.
I main noob and kitana and Kollector are my only "secondaries" if you can call em that so I consider her a strong zoner bc I get more action on her projectiles than what I'm used to