Kitana vs. Kabal
Kabal controls the air hands down. Kitana vs. Kabal is very much a punishment situation: I'm often down to 20% life and have to bank on getting 3 full punishes in a game. Against Kabal, I think I'm usually relying on
lift wakeups,
instant air ass, and praying for enough meter left over for breakers
. One thing she has against him is poking, though, so getting down your d1~cutter motions is probably a good idea.
Kitana vs. Mileena
I'd argue that Kitana takes this one. Granted, if you iAF all day, you're going to get a stiletto in your face, but if you play it smart and have your iAFs down to a science, you can usually bait her teleports, which are punishable. Even though Mileena's mixup game is formidable, I think Kitana has a better up-close game overall.
Kitana vs. Sindel
Sindel wins the air game IMO. Really good Kitana players will tell you that you can somehow dodge Sindel's fireballs and throw fans at her at the same time. The problem I have is that really good Sindel players are fully expecting that and can offset their fireball timing just as much as Kitana can. In my online-only experience, air fireballs beat out jump-ins, instant air ass, and even
instant air ass. The supposed key to winning against Sindel is with
fan cancels into full combo. The caveat, though, is at full screen, you really need to have your dash-cancel game on lock and be able to travel full screen within a second, otherwise you'll be eating a flip kick or a scream into full combo. This is another match that, when Kitana wins, she usually has 20% life left. You really have to rely on those huge combo punishes when the rare opportunities arise.
Good luck! All three of these match-ups are tough.
