King Roosta
The Duke of the Donk
You guys have probably seen me posting some krazy stuff on the status updates lately about how I think Kano is underrated. I've been met with responses from, "derp you think kano doesn't suck" to this, "Kano is underrated. His whole game is about perfect spacing to zone and keep assholes from jumping. Mid screen, not full is the best. b112 is a great whiff punisher as well. ppl be crazy."
While I appreciate that someone agrees with me, I also feel that it's exactly that kind of thinking that is holding Kano back. People seem to brand Kano as some kind of zoner slash whiff punisher, and I really don't think that's how he should be played. I am of the belief that kano is one of the best rush down/pressure characters in the game. PLEASE bear with me before you fly off the handle about that last part. I will explain my reasoning; and when I am done feel free to agree or disagree, but either way please be constructive.
There are several tools that I think are unappreciated and that, when applied to a rush down strategy, make Kano more of a force to be reckoned with than most people expect. For one, Kano's jabs are fast. Not Oddjob fast, or Jax fast, but fast enough to anti air and anti crossup; and as anyone who plays mk9 well can tell you, anti airs are huge in this game. Off of a standing 1 or a down 1, you can dash 2 1 2, dash 2 1 2, dash back 1 upball for 25 percent damage. You can enhance the upball for 26, but if you really want to burn meter you might as well replace it for an enhanced choke for 27. Being able to anti air your opponent for a quarter of their life is good; really really good. You can go for the back 1 anti air, and it does work well because it lowers your hit box and hits pretty high, but it doesn't hit as high, or come out as fast so I would stick with the standard jab. Another thing that makes the low jab so good is that its fast enough to poke out of just about anything and its an amazing followup for your combo pressure; but I'll get more in to that later.
First let's actually talk about some combos. One of the things that makes me realize just how little most people have analyzed Kano is their choice in combos. Just about everyone I have seen play Kano just spams 2 1 2 combos. 2 1 2 dash 2 1 2 dash 2 1 2 upball, but what does that net you? Even with a jump in punch its like 32 percent. In Mortal Kombat there are generally two types of combos; Damage Combos and frame traps or stagger combos; something that leaves your opponent on their feet but giving you enough frame advantage to initiate a new attack. The Best stagger combos are the ones that give you advantage one both block and hit.
When it comes to damage combos, the general idea is to net yourself as much damage as possible before your opponent hits the ground. These are used to get yourself a life advantage or end the round. The advantage they have over frame traps or stagger combos is that they do more damage, but at the cost of something usually more important; control. Kano's biggest damage combo from mid screen is jump in punch, back 1 1 2, dash 2 1 2, dash back+1 2 up ball. It gets you 37 percent which is pretty good for a meterless combo. Also, either of the anti air jab combos would be considered a damage combo. Kano does have a low starter and an overhead as well; his low starter is forward+3, back+2 and his over head is back+2, forward+1. If you find yourself next to a wall his wall combo is jump in punch, back+1 1 2, 2 1 2, 2 1 2, back+1 2, up ball. The great thing is that,because most of Kano's combos carry your opponent a good distance, you can usually do a wall combo pretty far away from the actual wall.
These next combos are the ones that I think are really overlooked. Kano's Stagger combos. Kano has 3 different combos that leave your opponent standing, dazed, and helpless. Those combos are 1 1 2, forward+1 1, and Forward+1 2. After staggering an opponent your best bet is to either throw out another stagger combo, hoping to catch them either trying to poke or jump out so that you can make them guess again; or go for a throw, hoping they're standing there expecting the combo. Using the throw every once in a while is how you condition your opponent in to trying to jump or poke out so that you can keep staggering them, otherwise they'll always just block the second combo and then counter attack; which is not to say that you don't have options on block. Oh, you have options.
Enter Kano's up ball. Even as I type this I can hear the groans, but stay with me. You know that the infamous upball is super punishable, but the suddenness of its execution matched with the fact that most of Kanos combos leave you even with your opponent makes it hit confirmable; or rather, block confirmable. After any combo that you do, on block, you can throw out an upball and it will hit your opponent almost no matter what he does. After you teach your opponent to respect this tool you will often find them just standing around blocking after you finish a combo leaving you open to soooo many options from throws to crossovers to pokes to just plain starting another combo. Aside from his upball, you also have his regular ball which is great against players that try to use a low poke to make the upball whiff so they can punish you. All but the lowest of low pokes still eat kano's regular ball. Another great way to keep the pressure going is using your down+1. It comes out just as fast as the up ball, and if your opponent thought he was going to cross you up after your combo; which they generally do, Down+1 will actually hit them on the way up giving you the chance to take 25 percent of their life.
Another good thing about Kano's combos are their start ups. As I said before, they're not super fast, but they are pretty quick. Quick enough that you can full combo punish almost all mistakes made by your opponent. Another good thing about his combos is that a lot of them move him forward. This is an aspect that can be over looked some times. It makes it easier to work your way up to your opponent without having to jump in. The first hit of a lot of his combos are effectively a poke. One combo that comes to mind when considering this is Back+1 1 2.Generally, even though you're out of your opponents range, once you initiate this combo Kano moves himself close enough that it will connect. In the event that you were too far away and you're opponent jumped over the first hit of the combo a lot of times the second one will still connect. It usually means that the combo is over, because the third hit won't be high enough. Still, you can dash in and hit just Back+1 1 and then combo off of the second hit when they try to jump in on you. Another option is to throw the combo out while you're close enough that the last hit or two will connect. If they don't jump over it, and they fail to react in time a lot of times either you will connect because of an ill timed panicky jab or they'll just stand there and block. If it actually connects, then you get to continue your combo. If they block, and you've taught them to respect your upball, then you have a huge list of options after that.
A few other ways to get in with Kano are his down ball, and his kick+airgrab combo. Once you train your opponents to respect these tools, you can often jump in without having to worry if your opponent is going to anti air you.
I won't go in to his knives. Everyone knows how to spam knives. It can be a good strategy once you have the life lead, and against some zoners considering its good recovery; but people who don't suck at this game aren't going to lose because you spam knives. The enhanced versions don't even hit neutral crouching opponents. The choke is pretty much just there if you need to armor out of something, or as a slightly more damaging ender to some combos.
All of the tools discussed here come together to make Kano one of the best rushdown characters in the game. In my opinion it's the options that a character has following a hit or blocked attack that makes a character a rushdown artist. Its the options that make your opponent have to guess what you're going to do next before deciding whether its safe to move; instead of just knowing that after your combo, it's their turn to attack. Kano has options; far more than throwing knives from the corner and trying to upball the 3 people online who still lead every single attack with a jump in punch. It's ok if you disagree with me, but play me online and see if I can change your mind.
While I appreciate that someone agrees with me, I also feel that it's exactly that kind of thinking that is holding Kano back. People seem to brand Kano as some kind of zoner slash whiff punisher, and I really don't think that's how he should be played. I am of the belief that kano is one of the best rush down/pressure characters in the game. PLEASE bear with me before you fly off the handle about that last part. I will explain my reasoning; and when I am done feel free to agree or disagree, but either way please be constructive.
There are several tools that I think are unappreciated and that, when applied to a rush down strategy, make Kano more of a force to be reckoned with than most people expect. For one, Kano's jabs are fast. Not Oddjob fast, or Jax fast, but fast enough to anti air and anti crossup; and as anyone who plays mk9 well can tell you, anti airs are huge in this game. Off of a standing 1 or a down 1, you can dash 2 1 2, dash 2 1 2, dash back 1 upball for 25 percent damage. You can enhance the upball for 26, but if you really want to burn meter you might as well replace it for an enhanced choke for 27. Being able to anti air your opponent for a quarter of their life is good; really really good. You can go for the back 1 anti air, and it does work well because it lowers your hit box and hits pretty high, but it doesn't hit as high, or come out as fast so I would stick with the standard jab. Another thing that makes the low jab so good is that its fast enough to poke out of just about anything and its an amazing followup for your combo pressure; but I'll get more in to that later.
First let's actually talk about some combos. One of the things that makes me realize just how little most people have analyzed Kano is their choice in combos. Just about everyone I have seen play Kano just spams 2 1 2 combos. 2 1 2 dash 2 1 2 dash 2 1 2 upball, but what does that net you? Even with a jump in punch its like 32 percent. In Mortal Kombat there are generally two types of combos; Damage Combos and frame traps or stagger combos; something that leaves your opponent on their feet but giving you enough frame advantage to initiate a new attack. The Best stagger combos are the ones that give you advantage one both block and hit.
When it comes to damage combos, the general idea is to net yourself as much damage as possible before your opponent hits the ground. These are used to get yourself a life advantage or end the round. The advantage they have over frame traps or stagger combos is that they do more damage, but at the cost of something usually more important; control. Kano's biggest damage combo from mid screen is jump in punch, back 1 1 2, dash 2 1 2, dash back+1 2 up ball. It gets you 37 percent which is pretty good for a meterless combo. Also, either of the anti air jab combos would be considered a damage combo. Kano does have a low starter and an overhead as well; his low starter is forward+3, back+2 and his over head is back+2, forward+1. If you find yourself next to a wall his wall combo is jump in punch, back+1 1 2, 2 1 2, 2 1 2, back+1 2, up ball. The great thing is that,because most of Kano's combos carry your opponent a good distance, you can usually do a wall combo pretty far away from the actual wall.
These next combos are the ones that I think are really overlooked. Kano's Stagger combos. Kano has 3 different combos that leave your opponent standing, dazed, and helpless. Those combos are 1 1 2, forward+1 1, and Forward+1 2. After staggering an opponent your best bet is to either throw out another stagger combo, hoping to catch them either trying to poke or jump out so that you can make them guess again; or go for a throw, hoping they're standing there expecting the combo. Using the throw every once in a while is how you condition your opponent in to trying to jump or poke out so that you can keep staggering them, otherwise they'll always just block the second combo and then counter attack; which is not to say that you don't have options on block. Oh, you have options.
Enter Kano's up ball. Even as I type this I can hear the groans, but stay with me. You know that the infamous upball is super punishable, but the suddenness of its execution matched with the fact that most of Kanos combos leave you even with your opponent makes it hit confirmable; or rather, block confirmable. After any combo that you do, on block, you can throw out an upball and it will hit your opponent almost no matter what he does. After you teach your opponent to respect this tool you will often find them just standing around blocking after you finish a combo leaving you open to soooo many options from throws to crossovers to pokes to just plain starting another combo. Aside from his upball, you also have his regular ball which is great against players that try to use a low poke to make the upball whiff so they can punish you. All but the lowest of low pokes still eat kano's regular ball. Another great way to keep the pressure going is using your down+1. It comes out just as fast as the up ball, and if your opponent thought he was going to cross you up after your combo; which they generally do, Down+1 will actually hit them on the way up giving you the chance to take 25 percent of their life.
Another good thing about Kano's combos are their start ups. As I said before, they're not super fast, but they are pretty quick. Quick enough that you can full combo punish almost all mistakes made by your opponent. Another good thing about his combos is that a lot of them move him forward. This is an aspect that can be over looked some times. It makes it easier to work your way up to your opponent without having to jump in. The first hit of a lot of his combos are effectively a poke. One combo that comes to mind when considering this is Back+1 1 2.Generally, even though you're out of your opponents range, once you initiate this combo Kano moves himself close enough that it will connect. In the event that you were too far away and you're opponent jumped over the first hit of the combo a lot of times the second one will still connect. It usually means that the combo is over, because the third hit won't be high enough. Still, you can dash in and hit just Back+1 1 and then combo off of the second hit when they try to jump in on you. Another option is to throw the combo out while you're close enough that the last hit or two will connect. If they don't jump over it, and they fail to react in time a lot of times either you will connect because of an ill timed panicky jab or they'll just stand there and block. If it actually connects, then you get to continue your combo. If they block, and you've taught them to respect your upball, then you have a huge list of options after that.
A few other ways to get in with Kano are his down ball, and his kick+airgrab combo. Once you train your opponents to respect these tools, you can often jump in without having to worry if your opponent is going to anti air you.
I won't go in to his knives. Everyone knows how to spam knives. It can be a good strategy once you have the life lead, and against some zoners considering its good recovery; but people who don't suck at this game aren't going to lose because you spam knives. The enhanced versions don't even hit neutral crouching opponents. The choke is pretty much just there if you need to armor out of something, or as a slightly more damaging ender to some combos.
All of the tools discussed here come together to make Kano one of the best rushdown characters in the game. In my opinion it's the options that a character has following a hit or blocked attack that makes a character a rushdown artist. Its the options that make your opponent have to guess what you're going to do next before deciding whether its safe to move; instead of just knowing that after your combo, it's their turn to attack. Kano has options; far more than throwing knives from the corner and trying to upball the 3 people online who still lead every single attack with a jump in punch. It's ok if you disagree with me, but play me online and see if I can change your mind.
