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Match-up Discussion Kitana Matchup Discussion Thread

NKZero

Noob
Kitana is definitely not top 5 for me but she is definitely top 10 around 7 or 8 or 9. How some people don't have Cyrax in their top 5 is beyond me. Kitana is the second best female character imo after Sonya....
 

Dsynkronized

Tierless
I realize that there might be a matchup thread already in this forum, but the point of this thread is to discuss matchups to make the Matchup Chart as accurate as possible.

The Matchup Chart thread:
http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?3075-Mortal-Kombat-(2011)-Matchup-Chart

EDIT: The NEW Official Matchup Thread by Nori:
http://testyourmight.com/forum/showthread.php?12086-Official-MK9-Community-Matchup-Chart

When you discuss or list what you think the matchups are, please do so in alphabetical order. Also, they should be listed in either whole numbers or .5 notations.

For the Official Matchup Chart: Kitana Matchups by Konqrr

6.5-3.5 - Baraka
He has a really hard time getting in and building meter. His fullscreen armor blade helps a little

6-4 - Cyber Sub-Zero
Kitana controls the air which shuts down dive kick. He has a hard time getting in. Teleport is punished by 2~lift

4.5-5.5 - Cyrax
Kitana gets edged out by 75% one bar reset combos. Matchup is a zoning war. Footsies.

6-4 - Ermac
Blocked lift or teleport means 45% combo. Push shuts down iAF from anywhere but fullscreen, but is nullified by dash blocking. 3/4 screen whiffed push nets Kitana 40% one bar. Ermac unsafe moves are extremely unsafe when blocked where Kitana's unsafe moves are not punished by big damage.

4-6 - Freddy
Entirely theory fighter. Teleport is punished just like Smoke's. Glove throw just like Kano's knives. Ground blades are just like Shang's up skulls.

5-5 - Jade
Heavily discussed and argued matchup. I personally feel it is even because of the damage output of Kitana and how insanely unsafe the boomerangs are which Kitana can jump over and punish with 40%. But it could be in Jade's favor. I just don't have that much exp in this matchup.

6-4 - Jax
Jax has an extremely hard time getting in without meter, but once he is in, it is very difficult to get him off of you. Jax wins if he corners you. CD and CDjr can tune in here. Changed with input from 16-bit.

6-4 - Johnny Cage
He has a hard time building meter until he gets in. He has a hard time getting in. Cage f32 whiffs if Kitana blocks the 3 and ducks the 2. She can then punish with a full combo.

4-6 - Kabal
Kabal owns the air where Kitana reigns. True iABGs hit Kitana out of ground fan throw which is her only option against iAGB until she is in range. Once Kitana gets in, Kabal's up close game is much better than hers so she must rely on fan damage and projectile advantage to get him to the corner.

4-6 - Kano
Was 7-3 before knife and upball were nerfed, now it's 6-4. He still outzones her with knives.

3.5-6.5 - Kenshi
Kenshi is THE anti-Kitana character. He shuts her down in every aspect. She must make good reads (guess) to punish him, and punish hard when she does.

6-4 - Kung Lao
Even though Lao was nerfed yet again, he still extremely good. But like so many other characters, he has a hard time getting in safely.

4.5-5.5 - Liu Kang
Footsies. Zoning battle. Liu's low fireball completely shuts down her iAF game. d1 is punished by b312 into 37% or 43% in the corner with no meter.

4.5-5.5 - Mileena
Kitana must be very careful throwing fans. She must slowly get Mileena to the corner where she can pressure Mileena into doing tk or ex tk which Kitana can punish.

6-4 - Nightwolf
d1 completely shuts down Nightwolf's offense. Nightwolf f31 is duckable on the second hit and punished by full combo. Kitana has no safe answer to avoid unblockable lightning after a shoulder charge.

6-4 - Noob Saibot
Kitana almost always gets the first hit bonus with d1 (blocked shadow is punished by ff~d1). Up shadow is punished by f21 or ex fan. Once Noob is cornered, he has no safe way out and he gets cornered easily.

6-4 - Quan Chi

4-6 - Raiden
Raiden with meter shuts down any fan throws. Superman hits, you are cornered. Teleport gets Raiden in for free on any fan throw for f24 chip. It's Raiden.

5-5 - Rain
I'll let CD or CDjr do this one.

4.5-5.5 - Reptile
Kitana has no answer for forceball after she is knocked down. She is hit with dash if she tried square boost then she is back in the mixup again. She can safely throw iAF on Reptile all day until he has Xray.

6-4 - Scorpion
16-bit vs Slips

5-5 - Sektor
16-bit vs Sektroll

4-6 - Shang Tsung
I do not have much exp here. From what I have experienced, she has no safe distance to throw iAF except from absolute fullscreen. Shang's f434 whiffs a ducking blocking Kitana on the second hit, she can mash d1 to get out.

7-3 - Sheeva
Telestomp is a non-issue due to square boost. You can iAF all day on Sheeva and there isn't much she can do about it.

6-4 - Sindel
Sindel afb hits you, 8%. Kitana air fan hits you, she gets 30-35% from fullscreen. Kitana punishes much harder.

5-5 - Skarlet
No high level exp in this matchup, but with the dash and knife nerfs I put it even.

6-4 - Smoke
iAF all smoke bombs, if close enough she can use ex for a full combo. Footsies range (just outside sweep distance), Smoke has NO safe options. Everything option he has is punished. Shake is a non-issue because Kitana does not fight Smoke with iAF or ground fans.

6-4 - Sonya Blade
Sonya has a hard time getting in and cannot punish d1 with anything but dive kick in anticipation.

5.5-4.5 - Stryker
Stryker's new armor on ex roll helps him a lot in this matchup. Before, Kitana could d1 him out of whatever roll he tried. She can still get in on him easily by dashing and d1 (ff~d1). If roll is anticipated, she can njp for 35-40%. Could be 5-5 or 5.5 for Stryker once more time has passed and his buffs are fully fleshed out.

6-4 - Sub-Zero
Freeze trade is not in Kitana's favor with extra 10 frames on iceball. Sub's corner game is very difficult for Kitana, square boost is punished by slide, ex slide (back in the corner), or xray every time. Changed with input from 16-bit.

TOTAL = 158
defiently think kit vs sindel is 4-6 not 6-4
 

BenGmanUk

Get staffed bro
Kenshi put the hurt on most Kitanas at final round, Kano if played right against her is a nightmare, upballs and knifes all day long. Kenshi, maaaaaan Kenshi.
Should have had a pocket Lao against Pigs Kenshi/Mileena imo. As respectable as character loyalty is, its only ever going to cause you troubles at some point.
 

NKZero

Noob
True. That match up seems really bad. 7:3? Neither CD nor Osu stood a chance vs Pig's Kenshi.
lol if there was such thing as an 8-2 I'd give it that. No armour, can't zone can barely leave the ground. Kenshi limits every option she has.
 

M2Dave

Zoning Master
lol if there was such thing as an 8-2 I'd give it that. No armour, can't zone can barely leave the ground. Kenshi limits every option she has.
Well-said. I think Kenshi has better zoning than Freddy in more match ups than I thought, albeit in a head-to-head match up Freddy outzones Kenshi. The point is if Kenshi has more life and meter than you do and the clock is running out, characters without a good armor move cannot win vs a high level Kenshi in such a situation. Kitana fits this description well.
 

Jimmypotato

Mid Tier
Should have had a pocket Lao against Pigs Kenshi/Mileena imo. As respectable as character loyalty is, its only ever going to cause you troubles at some point.
I actually worked on a pocket lao for Final Round, just didn't feel it was ready for Tournament play. I trained alot for this match up, sometimes you get lucky and other times you get kenshi'd lol.

It came down to playing a character i'm super comfortable with or a month old Kung lao, I went with my comfort zone. oh well.
 

RTM2004

Revenant Jade
sindel imo beats her i dont agree with the match up either
Sindel doesn't beat Kitana. Sindel has two things to counter Kitana, Low Fireballs trade with Kitana's Fan Toss but even after trade Sindel gets hit by the second fan right after she recovers from her Low Fireball. Also, when Kitana uses Square Boost to move to the other side, Sindel can use her Hair Whip right before landing.

Sindel has higher risk trading Air Fireballs with Kitana's Air Fans since Kitana can combo from projectiles, Sindel can not. Sindel has a big hitbox, Kitana has a small hitbox and the range of her D1. Kitana can punish much harder (40%+ meterless combos) with F2,1-F4,1-Jump Kick~Fan-B2~Fan combo starters. Sindel has no armored move, her D1 range is short. Full screen Kitana and Sindel can trade projectiles but once Kitana is in, she will stay in and pressure Sindel with higher damage.

This is a match up I hate because Sindel can't control the air so she must stay on ground with slow normals. It's just like when Mr. Mileena in another thread said "Putana!".... XD Kitana 6-4 against Sindel, in Kitana's favor.
 

Dsynkronized

Tierless
okay i understand what ur saying but out of the ten times i faced kitana i lost maybe twice in that match up and the point is the same point with kabal if ur dumb enough to challenge in the air then u get what u deserve sindel can condition kitana to hesitate about the air then she takes control ...full screen sindel wins all day inside gets a bit tricky but sindel still has what it takes and stop talkin armored moves with sindel she dont need it its ridiculous ppl want it so bad, because what its to much work with out aromor? Kitana has no zone control in this match up period 6-4 sindel
 

rev0lver

Come On Die Young
Jimmypotato , Kano's not much of an issue, especially offline where you actually have a chance at punishing upball. Contrary to what I used to think, you can actually outzone him.

m2dave , I'm not so sure I agree. I don't understand where everyone's getting the idea that 16bit doesn't rush down. He does when the matchup calls for it, and plays a footsie game as he should. CD simply won a mirror; they both lost to Pig.
 

RTM2004

Revenant Jade
Where do you guys think Kitana stands after Final Round? I have a lot of trust in my fellow midwesterner Osu 16 Bit, but I think the jury is in. She is best played as an offensive character (i.e., how CD and Mr. Mileena usually fight). She struggles vs the most basic of zoning (i.e., vs Ermac and Kano).

This character doesn't feel like top 5 for me. Maybe she was top 5 when she could do 50% juggles after f+2,1, but those days are long gone.
16Bit saw the future coming on Kitana and he said it ahead of time. Everyone will have her gimmicks figured out, wake up options aren't good, getting around her Cutter, working against her famous D1, ducking her fans all day to close in space, no armored special move and no mid hit/direct overhead. It takes time to figure these things out, same could be said about Kenshi dominating tournaments with his strong zoning tools - look what happened to Mileena, finding weaknesses. Either way, these are very solid characters in the game, they just have weaknesses like any other character - the game evolves over time.

When I play Kitana I struggle the most against Kenshi and Reptile, those two really ruin my flow of a typical match.
 

RTM2004

Revenant Jade
okay i understand what ur saying but out of the ten times i faced kitana i lost maybe twice in that match up and the point is the same point with kabal if ur dumb enough to challenge in the air then u get what u deserve sindel can condition kitana to hesitate about the air then she takes control ...full screen sindel wins all day inside gets a bit tricky but sindel still has what it takes and stop talkin armored moves with sindel she dont need it its ridiculous ppl want it so bad, because what its to much work with out aromor? Kitana has no zone control in this match up period 6-4 sindel
Kitana has the heavy damage output comeback factor with many options.
 

salvificblood

Worst Sub-Zero Ever
Well-said. I think Kenshi has better zoning than Freddy in more match ups than I thought, albeit in a head-to-head match up Freddy outzones Kenshi. The point is if Kenshi has more life and meter than you do and the clock is running out, characters without a good armor move cannot win vs a high level Kenshi in such a situation. Kitana fits this description well.
That's why I think Sub-Zero does better against Kenshi and Freddy than Kitana. The matchup charts need to reflect that. At least against Kenshi Sub can regular slide his way in with a read, can trade with iceball and has the trick of baiting a reflect with ex freeze and has a way out of the corner with ex slide (Kenshi's corner rape is actually pretty ridiculous), Kitana just has no answers for much of what Kenshi can do. If it's 3-7 for Sub-Zero then it must be 2-8 for Kitana.
 

Dsynkronized

Tierless
Kitana has the heavy damage output comeback factor with many options.
it takes more then a comeback factor, its intelligence and when it comes down to it paper doesnt matter its the people next to each other playing , sindel has a counter to take out the main reason kitana can apply pressure. If and i say if meaning this happens alot kitana's will use f1 2 or f2 1 which ever that long poke into launch is, if that is started and doesnt hit immediatly hair whip will put her on the ground leaving it untech able and allow sindel to get back out or apply her own pressure which ever the match is called for
 

16 Bit

Mash d+1~Cat Claws
Premium Supporter
NetherRealm Studios
I have no idea where Kitana stands. I change my mind all the time. Matches like Johnny Cage are not nearly as bad for JC as everyone thinks and matches like Reptile are not as bad for her as everyone thinks.

Pure zoning Kitana isn't good. I've known that for ages but keep doing it because many can't handle it. Too many characters can keep up with their own zoning and even those that can't won't lose to fan spam, it just lets you run away and protect the life lead.

I'm not convinced Kenshi is this 7-3 MU you need a secondary for. I got blown up so bad because I played poorly, jumping too much before forcing him to use other moves, not paying attention to his meter when I would finally get in, ect. It's bad but Mr. Mileena trains with Pig and said he had some solutions.
 

Z-911-Z

Bone and Metal
Kano/Kitana is pretty much 5-5 in my view, back in the day when knife toss was on par with post-patch Freddy glove toss and the upball was only punished by superman it would've been 7-3. xP
 

Noserfatu

My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
I don't think kano/kitana is 5-5. I play that matchup consistently with one of my good friends who is an inferior player, and he can do a lot of dmg just spamming knives all day (this is online, but its still annoying as F offline).

as far as i know, you can't punish upball with 21 lift which makes the matchup awful. If I could do that, I would win every time.
 

16 Bit

Mash d+1~Cat Claws
Premium Supporter
NetherRealm Studios
You can keep up with knives. Just be smart about it, throw a fan after ducking a knife or when you have projectile advantage. Watch out for jump ball. You can punish upball with 2,1 offline.
 

GuamoKun

I Break Hearts, Not Combos
Most Kanos expect you to try to come in after they toss 9000001 knives.

What I like to do is stay at full screen and completely duck the knives but stand block in between the gap.

Most Kanos will want to do the regular Kano ball or the EX Upball to get int, and if they are blocked...well thats a 45%+punish for you.

Once you take away that element, you can kinda get away with more since they are hesitant to do anything else now.
 

rev0lver

Come On Die Young
Yeah, it's really not hard to get projectile advantage on Kano. Jump over a knife, throw a fan, start doing iaf's and he has to come to you.

I'm not convinced Kenshi is this 7-3 MU you need a secondary for. I got blown up so bad because I played poorly, jumping too much before forcing him to use other moves, not paying attention to his meter when I would finally get in, ect. It's bad but Mr. Mileena trains with Pig and said he had some solutions.
From my understanding Mr Mileena would rather pick Sindel than Kitana in that matchup, but I can't speak for him. Kenshi really is bad when played the way Pig does it.

Also, 16bit how do you feel about CDjr beating his brother with Liu Kang in top 8? I think it went 1-1 and he switched, but still, it shows there was something we saw in that MU.
 

16 Bit

Mash d+1~Cat Claws
Premium Supporter
NetherRealm Studios
I haven't seen the first couple of top 8 matches, was out getting some food. With the range on Liu's normals it doesn't surprise me he'd give CD Kit some trouble.
 

PND OmegaK

Drunk and Orderly
How does kitana deal with people who just smoke away the whole match? I find it very hard to get in on him.