The Kano Guide by The Kano Community

[truendymion]

I thought I heard they're going to nerf Kano, more recovery on Up Ball and Knife. That didn't happen already did it? Upball still seems safe.

 

[MagicMan357]

I thought I heard they're going to nerf Kano, more recovery on Up Ball and Knife. That didn't happen already did it? Upball still seems safe.

its punishable offline

 

[John Diablo]

hi there,

I mainly play kano and I know all combos and launchers, but I lack in skill when I try to rushdown my opponents. in this kano guide there is a mixup explanation

Mixups: As you know, Kano now has his patched, which allows him to hit low and launch with his , this opens a whole new world of hurt for Kano who now can mix his 3 launchers (which also happen to be quite safe on block and posses 3 of the 4 different hit properties) This combined with his long range sweep and quick poke finally give him the tools to force opponents to gamble between High and low block.

what do you suggest to learn a nice mixup strategy? I'm often confused when I have to choose options like "sweep or d1?"-->"then what??" ^_^'

uhmmm...maybe I should look the kano strategy thread

 

[PimpUigi]

What's the best thing Kano can do off of a jump punch?

 

[GNG Iniquity]

What's the best thing Kano can do off of a jump punch?

I'm presuming b112 up ball/ball. Been a while since I've played him, the inability to consistently get the armor from an EX ball due to having to synchronize the input with the block button pisses me off.

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

I'm presuming b112 up ball/ball. Been a while since I've played him, the inability to consistently get the armor from an EX ball due to having to synchronize the input with the block button pisses me off.

he has a 50/50 .... low kick starter and the long overhead smash.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

he has a 50/50 .... low kick starter and the long overhead smash.

I'm not saying he's an awful character, he isn't. The inability to get the EX ball out bugs me though. Lots of characters have much better 50/50's if that's your main selling point to a character!

 

[G4S KT]

What's the best thing Kano can do off of a jump punch?

On hit? b112 > 212 > b12 > up ball

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

I'm not saying he's an awful character, he isn't. The inability to get the EX ball out bugs me though. Lots of characters have much better 50/50's if that's your main selling point to a character!

no its not. Is part of his meta game though. b1,1,2 is easily his best string, and most expected. You can catch people napping on a JiP with the low kick starter. Sometimes once is all it takes. His overhead is like his X-ray.... you just watch yourself get hit by it and go "WTF!!!" *true story*

I think he is grossly under used as well. Although he does strike me as a jack-of-all trades... bitch.

 

[GNG Iniquity]

no its not. Is part of his meta game though. b1,1,2 is easily his best string, and most expected. You can catch people napping on a JiP with the low kick starter. Sometimes once is all it takes. His overhead is like his X-ray.... you just watch yourself get hit by it and go "WTF!!!" *true story*

I think he is grossly under used as well. Although he does strike me as a jack-of-all trades... bitch.

He used to be my main, now he's like the creepy uncle that comes around once in a while to choke a bitch!

 

[Derptile]

I wish Kano got his knives back, they pale in comparison to other zoners like Kabal, kitana, and liu kang now

 

[Zoidberg747]

As a Kano main for one week here is a list of my full knowledge on the character. Right now I am mainly focusing on matchup experience.

Anyway here is what I have so far:

Throw Setups:
Kano has a lot of throw setups that you will want to use.

• F1,1 throw
• B1,1 throw or B1,1 3 throw
• D1 throw
• 2,1,2 throw

Low Pokes
His best pokes are probably d1 and d3, although D4 has a pretty good range. After each poke you can follow up with a knife. This is good for pressure strings and catching your opponent off guard. I also like to follow up a D1 with a choke, as his choke is safe on block. If it hits them it makes it even better. After a D4 I usually follow with an upball(can be punished, but usually isnt. Use sparingly however).

Pressure Strings
I play a rushdown Kano with a little bit of zoning. Here are some of my favorite strings to use up close and personal:

• b1,1,3- can follow up with a dash b1,1,3 knife if it hits. If its blocked you can either throw, choke, or low poke. Basically I find it is one of his best pressure strings, as many people are tricked by the last 3. You can also just use 1,1 to mix it up
• F1,1- Can follow up with a throw, low poke, knife, up ball, choke, etc. Plus you can sometimes get away with doing 2 F1,1's in a row if your opponent isnt blocking enough. Adds pressure and is a very quick attack.
• 2,1,2- When hit leads into an easy 35% with 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 up ball. When blocked you can still follow up with throw, choke, low pokes, or an upball. The great thing about this string is sometimes it will hit them on the third strike, even if it whiffs on the first two. Or they will let go of block too early, and you can still get off 30% combos.
• B2,3- This one is only good if you know the range and when to use it. It is pretty punishable and slow, but the range will get some people, and when it hits you can end with a knife for extra damage. Use sparingly.

Zoning
This is the Kano most people are used to fighting. Spam knives until opportunity for a ball. There are better ways to do this. First off spam knives, keep spamming until they get close, once they get within range(especially if they are jumping in) do an upball to get farther away. Or you could surprise them with a Ball or Air Ball while they are trying to get in close. Some say zoning is Kano's strong suite, I disagree. However it still can be effective and can win matches. I would not suggest revolving your ENTIRE Kano around zoning though, but that is just me. Also, LEARN TO BALL EVERYTHING ON REACTION. This makes things a whole lot easier.

How to use meter
Kano has one of the best X-ray's in the game. Unblockable, 40 something percent damage, pretty fast. I have only used it twice XD. I play very aggressively and that includes using a lot of meter. If they try to jump in EX upball or EX knives will net you some nice damage. If they are zoning you can EX Ball to get in close. If they are putting pressure on you EX choke to get out(not sure if it is armored or not, will test it later). Be smart, but dont be too conservative. Keep in mind Kano's EX knives dont scale in the corner either.

Combos(I dont use many tbh)
Midscreen:

• 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 upball
• 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 dash 2,1,2 ball(or knife)
• B1,1,3 dash B1,1 knife
• B2,3 knife

Corner:

• B1,1,2 2,1,2 2,1,2 upball
• B1,1,2 2,1,2 D4 EX knife
• 2,1,2 d4 EX knife
• 2,1,2 d1, d1, d1(Looks hilarious)

Like I said this is after a week lol. That is pretty much all I have so far.

 

[OnizukaPM]

Zoidberg i think u should change your BnBs

B112,212,B12,Upball
212,212,B12,Upball or 212,212,212,B1,Upball
F3B2,212,B12,Upball

in corner:
B112,212,212,B12,Choke
212,212,212,B12,Choke
F3B2,212,212,B12,Choke
for meter use u can, 4,d1,ExKnife,d1,ExKnife,d1,ExKinfe,D3,Choke i think its 52%

Also Try to use B112 more, B1 has great recovery frames so
B1,Pause,Throw
B1,Pause,B112
B1,Pause,F3,B2
B1,Pause,Sweep
B1,Pause,B2F1

Also F11 string, F1 has short recovery so u can apply same things to the F11 string

Also after D4 on hit u should follow up with B112, its guaranteed, only armor moves can interrupt.

Im pretty sure that ExKnifes are +on block, i like to use something like:
D4,ExKnife,B112,D1
D4,ExKnife,D4,ExKnife,B1,B112
etc.

 

[Zoidberg747]

That post was a month ago

But honestly 212dash212dash212 upball is still my bnb. I dont think the timing is nearly as strict as people say.

 

[Plop]

After a D4 I usually follow with an upball(can be punished, but usually isnt. Use sparingly however).

Thething about that, i find, is you'll just fly right over their head while they're in stagger,
However, once in a blue moon (like literally hardly ever), the upball will hit hem in the chest instead. I find this only happens sometimes when dashing in then immediatly doing the d4, upball. I've just been messing about with it in training mode and this only seems to be the case at max d4 range, but it's still pretty inconsistent.

EDIT: this is only the case if you're cancelling the upball into the d4, as opposed to pausing slightly for the stagger to fuck off. Ignore all this ^ lol

 

[EGP Wonder_Chef]

Okay I haven't found this anywhere:

212 > 212 > 212 > 4 xx Straight / Up Ball

33% without a jump in, 36% with.

 

[Flagg]

Jip, F3B2, dash, B11 ex knife, dash, B11 upball:

41% You can get this up to 43% if you do F12 instead of B11 for the final part, but the timing is quite a bit harder.

F3 is a nice follow up to a blocked 212, but it depends on the character you're fighting.

EDIT: Damn, this thread is older than the hills

 

[kanaida]

His EX knives travel slower than his regular knife, if it makes contact with a person who is in the air, that person will float for about an extra 1/2 second. I've done combos where I use kano as the secondary person, I start a popup combo, super knives, then continue to hit him with the first character for longer than I usually would. It's like a slightly less useful version of what happens when kitana's fan's hit you in the air, but can be nicely added to combos for more damage.

 

[Fangoria19]

I'm bored so I'll contribute to this old dusty thread just for the hell of it, I might be a new member to this forum but not to this character, anyways...
1. There's only one way to use kano these days and its rushdown, his knives are the easiest thing to get around, small hitbox and predictability.
2. Use an ass load of pokes and chokes to build meter and keep them blocking. *Choke is the best meter builder which is why he has to rushdown.
3. Kano is a mind trick character, you have to almost bait people with a ball on reaction say after a blocked b112 followed by a delayed upball or st ball if your ballzy, mix in a knife, choke, or throw after block string for a mix up.
4. Instant Air ball might be the best thing he has as a tool, punish zoners at the right distance and you can just jump around randomly at times to bait reactions or use an air throw as a surprise.
5. Go for f11 string alot up close, if blocked, follow with a choke, if landed, opponent gets staggered which means you can follow with his slow ass low or overhead option.
6. Corner game is good for Kano, keep poking into throw, knife, or choke setups and try to use f11 and f12 into choke or d1 into b112 etc. Delayed upball can prevent jumping out if your fast enough.
7. Bnbs are dealers choice, your not gonna change his damage output unless you go for those tight 1 meter midscreen combos which are usually 50/50 to pull off, same with corner combos, very risky to go for a 50/50 2 meter corner combo with the tightest execution say b112, b11, ex knife, d1, ex knife, d3, upball= 45 to 48% with jip. Too risky to go for these combos in my opinion.
8. Only ex anything you should use is ex ball, it actually has armor on it so you can truck thru projectiles or punish people up close but only on command, very ballzy. His ex knives are ok for mind games in that from full screen toss a reg knife, followed by ex knives, followed by st ball, will fool alot of people actually. Despite popular belief, ex choke has no armor or not practical armor anyways, you can poke out it or punch out of it anyway you feel necessary. Also dont do ex upball when you can do instant air ball, its redundant.
9. Xray, usually scares people, run people down with the air or ex ball or corner them and rape them with it, not fool proof but once again, mind tricks, gotta bait it.
10. Turtling is always an option but for gods sake dont zone the knives, just run away, occasional knife, with upballs and jb insta air balls.

Those are my 10 points, I'm sure most of this has been covered but figured I'd contribute to this forum since I actually still main Kano for the pure sport of it. If he had armor on ex knives or choke, he wouldn't be a complete basement character, but until then he will be one of the riskiest characters to use which is why most people abandoned him long ago.

 

[kanaida]

Strange you say he's risky, f3,choke when they get up is my favorite its not very often an opponent can get a chance to kill me. Maybe in the past that was true but I take down top players like butter. If I had 2 kanos I would slaughter everyone lol. He does have a nice set of unpredictable variety which makes him deadly if you're good at variety and got fast reflexes. His air ball is awesome for escapes too, I've avoided countless xrays with his up ball as well. I'll post a video next time I fight a 40+ true skill so you guys can see how I handle them.

 

[Fangoria19]

The only reason I say he's risky is because I use air and ex ball alot which is hella risky but a pain in the ass for opponents, just gotta get the timing down right. Also baiting people after they block a string by using an upball can be risky if they are on to your bag of tricks but its still fun to do. Looking forward to seeing some kano vids, they dont really exist anymore at a high level.

 

[Zoidberg747]

I have a question, if I do a BnB corner combo and end it in choke, then proceed to mash X-ray, do they have time to jump out of it?

 

[Deyrax]

Kano's guide:
df2
mash X-ray

 

[Flagg]

His instant air ball is not easy to snap off, which is a shame, as its a 7 frame move. It's supposed to act like a dive kick, but is nowhere as easy to perform.

 

[Badboy Takuma]

oh lol this thread is still alive :O
kanos fatalitys are worth to use him
i mean connecting his xray on online randoms is still a nice and beautiful thing <3