SaltShaker
In Zoning We Trust
We, the Kano Community, have stood by idly in the shadows long enough. Most of us have been guilty of massive amounts of up playing, respectable levels of patience, but worst of all, delusion. Blinded by our love and enjoyment of the character, this community was the shining example of what TYM hopes all communities represent. A community where the overwhelming majority of it's members asked for nothing, were happy with the character they played, and stayed out of every other character forums business. But as is life, all good things come to end. The last couple of weeks reality has taken over our community to the point where we can no longer sit by without speaking up as a group. I have spoken to nearly everyone involved in our community whether through private PM's or in threads, and I am here to bring attention to Kano's glaring issues both with bugs and lack of competitive tools.
We have come to realize, simply that our character is just not that good anymore, and possibly never was as good as we thought he was. Many of the Bottom 5 characters have made threads basically pointing out the obvious. That their character is bottom 5 and why with justification. But ask yourself this. How far away is Kano from Bottom 5 in the current iteration of the game? Is he Bottom 6 or Bottom 7 at best? How many mains of other characters say, "well Kano isn't as good as my character, but he's pretty good"? How many characters are actually "worse" than Kano at this point? If he is "almost as good" as "almost everyone's character" doesn't that make him bad? How many players have dropped Kano for other high and mid tiers?
Firstly, I'd like to point out the bugs involved with Kano. These are the things that need to be fixed as soon as possible since they were not designed to operate this way. For those of you unaware or simply missed it, you can watch a video by one of our community members @ando1184 highlighting a few of the bugs hindering the characters full potential. The below section is about things that should be considered fixes, and not buffs.
BUGS AND GLITCHES
-As you can see in the video, first he demonstrates how Upball operates. This can't possibly be how it was supposed to operate. This doesn't apply to just Upball, but straight ball as well. The priority is non existent. Nearly every character can easily air normal Kano out of Upball. Everyone can special or even standing jab you out of straight ball. Grab you out of Straight Ball. How is this possible? This is absurd. How can Sonya Arc Kick you with massive priority from close range or full screen, yet Kano can be poked and even combo'd with normals out of his ball special? The priority on this move is broken in a bad way and needs to be fixed.
-Next is Commando's Parry. Having a High/Low Parry is good on paper, if it worked correctly. Too many times, as shown in the video, Parry will get you hit because the low had to parry a high and vice-versa. What? At times it just doesn't parry and you wonder if that is what happened or if it just bugged. Also needs to be fixed.
-Commando's Command Grabs. This has to be the most disrespectful of all glitches. How can a variation designed around grappling have it's grabs whiff and trade? How can Erron Black Command grab you out of damn near anything while Kano whiffs and trades? To add insult to injury, sometimes your excellent read is rewarded by a loss of one bar and whiffed grab. The worst of all bugs.
-The 112 string. This seems to be a problem among many cast members. High/mid/mid whiffing on crouch. There needs to be a universal fix on this, but here is Kano's.
-Cutthroats B1. I could write a book on this. This move makes every move in the game seem like Dhalsim limbs. The hitbox/reach of this move needs to be extended. Not Kung Jin level reach, but if we land a D1 or D3 we can't follow up with he OH at all. We have to either dash or run cancel to hope to land it, and even then it whiffs at times. You can have opponents in the corner and it whiffs at times. Glaring issues are involved with the hit box of this move and needs to be fixed.
BUFFS
Universal-
-EX Knives close range in Commando and Cutthroat leave you close range. With the non existent hitbox of Cutthroat B1 and style of Commando, spending a bar for the frame advantage on block shouldn't leave you out of the striking range you are trying to achieve. It would be like Lao spending a bar on hat plus frames just to be out of range to hit you. He even steps forward when he does the move. It should leave him forward so he can apply pressure the same way the other characters in the game do in these two variations.
Cybernetics-
-Up laser to have an actual use. Currently, this move serves no purpose. We recommend it at least have some sort of hitbox similar to how Jacqui's UpRockets operate. Even if it AA'd on normal and juggled on EX. With the near useless high risk Upball in effect, this would be a good AA alternative for things we are unable to B1.
-More plus frames on EX Knives. At distance, it wouldn't make to much of a difference, but up close it would work in line with other characters in the game. When you do a string into EX Knives, characters are still able to escape or simply armor through your follow up. Cyber has no OH, and with players improving every day the offense in this variation is near non existent. If we were able to have more plus frames, we would at least have a bootleg mix up of string/grab. That itself isn't even much, especially when compared to what other characters can do, but at least it would be something.
Commando-
-More tick throw options. How this grappler can't utilize tick throws outside of a couple of options are beyond me. Erron Black couldn't have been expected to be the "grappler of the game" with Commando's apparent build, but something isn't right. Of course he shouldn't be able to tic throw off of every normal and string, but he should be able to off of some of his other often utilized strings.
Cutthroat-
-Only the referenced B1 hitbox improvement mentioned earlier. That's it.
And there you have it. Those small few buffs and needed fixes to bugs would be all he needs to at least be viable in MKX. Nothing ridiculous or over the top. In his current state I feel, as many other Kano mains do that he is not. No one is going to win a tournament playing Kano all the way and we all know it. These changes would help him be a truly viable character, while at the same time not making him OP or Top Tier. We are all ok with not having a Top Tier character, we just want a viable one. As it stands now the majority of the community has either dropped the character but still likes him, or picked up a Top 15 main and made him a secondary. There were soooooo many Kano players high on him early on, but now there's only a few left who think high of him. I myself have started using Tanya. By Summer Jam there won't even BE Kano's left at this rate.
Originally, we tried to warn that if Kano is "left alone because he's fine" he would start being dropped while at the same time fall more and more down the viability ladder. We're looking like prophets and a patch or two away from being hired as psychics. Though hopefully attention will be brought to Kano's true state and he'll be allowed to live. Hopefully.
@ando1184
@General M2Dave
@KingHippo
@UltraDavid
@Decay
@dribirut
@Youphemism
@MrInsaynne
@Smoke_Of_Finland
@Rude
@DougDFC
@Paul the Octopus
@FlappyDaniel
@Error
@LEGI0N47
@Anyone I forgot or who wants to chime in.
We have come to realize, simply that our character is just not that good anymore, and possibly never was as good as we thought he was. Many of the Bottom 5 characters have made threads basically pointing out the obvious. That their character is bottom 5 and why with justification. But ask yourself this. How far away is Kano from Bottom 5 in the current iteration of the game? Is he Bottom 6 or Bottom 7 at best? How many mains of other characters say, "well Kano isn't as good as my character, but he's pretty good"? How many characters are actually "worse" than Kano at this point? If he is "almost as good" as "almost everyone's character" doesn't that make him bad? How many players have dropped Kano for other high and mid tiers?
Firstly, I'd like to point out the bugs involved with Kano. These are the things that need to be fixed as soon as possible since they were not designed to operate this way. For those of you unaware or simply missed it, you can watch a video by one of our community members @ando1184 highlighting a few of the bugs hindering the characters full potential. The below section is about things that should be considered fixes, and not buffs.
BUGS AND GLITCHES
-As you can see in the video, first he demonstrates how Upball operates. This can't possibly be how it was supposed to operate. This doesn't apply to just Upball, but straight ball as well. The priority is non existent. Nearly every character can easily air normal Kano out of Upball. Everyone can special or even standing jab you out of straight ball. Grab you out of Straight Ball. How is this possible? This is absurd. How can Sonya Arc Kick you with massive priority from close range or full screen, yet Kano can be poked and even combo'd with normals out of his ball special? The priority on this move is broken in a bad way and needs to be fixed.
-Next is Commando's Parry. Having a High/Low Parry is good on paper, if it worked correctly. Too many times, as shown in the video, Parry will get you hit because the low had to parry a high and vice-versa. What? At times it just doesn't parry and you wonder if that is what happened or if it just bugged. Also needs to be fixed.
-Commando's Command Grabs. This has to be the most disrespectful of all glitches. How can a variation designed around grappling have it's grabs whiff and trade? How can Erron Black Command grab you out of damn near anything while Kano whiffs and trades? To add insult to injury, sometimes your excellent read is rewarded by a loss of one bar and whiffed grab. The worst of all bugs.
-The 112 string. This seems to be a problem among many cast members. High/mid/mid whiffing on crouch. There needs to be a universal fix on this, but here is Kano's.
-Cutthroats B1. I could write a book on this. This move makes every move in the game seem like Dhalsim limbs. The hitbox/reach of this move needs to be extended. Not Kung Jin level reach, but if we land a D1 or D3 we can't follow up with he OH at all. We have to either dash or run cancel to hope to land it, and even then it whiffs at times. You can have opponents in the corner and it whiffs at times. Glaring issues are involved with the hit box of this move and needs to be fixed.
BUFFS
Universal-
-EX Knives close range in Commando and Cutthroat leave you close range. With the non existent hitbox of Cutthroat B1 and style of Commando, spending a bar for the frame advantage on block shouldn't leave you out of the striking range you are trying to achieve. It would be like Lao spending a bar on hat plus frames just to be out of range to hit you. He even steps forward when he does the move. It should leave him forward so he can apply pressure the same way the other characters in the game do in these two variations.
Cybernetics-
-Up laser to have an actual use. Currently, this move serves no purpose. We recommend it at least have some sort of hitbox similar to how Jacqui's UpRockets operate. Even if it AA'd on normal and juggled on EX. With the near useless high risk Upball in effect, this would be a good AA alternative for things we are unable to B1.
-More plus frames on EX Knives. At distance, it wouldn't make to much of a difference, but up close it would work in line with other characters in the game. When you do a string into EX Knives, characters are still able to escape or simply armor through your follow up. Cyber has no OH, and with players improving every day the offense in this variation is near non existent. If we were able to have more plus frames, we would at least have a bootleg mix up of string/grab. That itself isn't even much, especially when compared to what other characters can do, but at least it would be something.
Commando-
-More tick throw options. How this grappler can't utilize tick throws outside of a couple of options are beyond me. Erron Black couldn't have been expected to be the "grappler of the game" with Commando's apparent build, but something isn't right. Of course he shouldn't be able to tic throw off of every normal and string, but he should be able to off of some of his other often utilized strings.
Cutthroat-
-Only the referenced B1 hitbox improvement mentioned earlier. That's it.
And there you have it. Those small few buffs and needed fixes to bugs would be all he needs to at least be viable in MKX. Nothing ridiculous or over the top. In his current state I feel, as many other Kano mains do that he is not. No one is going to win a tournament playing Kano all the way and we all know it. These changes would help him be a truly viable character, while at the same time not making him OP or Top Tier. We are all ok with not having a Top Tier character, we just want a viable one. As it stands now the majority of the community has either dropped the character but still likes him, or picked up a Top 15 main and made him a secondary. There were soooooo many Kano players high on him early on, but now there's only a few left who think high of him. I myself have started using Tanya. By Summer Jam there won't even BE Kano's left at this rate.
Originally, we tried to warn that if Kano is "left alone because he's fine" he would start being dropped while at the same time fall more and more down the viability ladder. We're looking like prophets and a patch or two away from being hired as psychics. Though hopefully attention will be brought to Kano's true state and he'll be allowed to live. Hopefully.
@ando1184
@General M2Dave
@KingHippo
@UltraDavid
@Decay
@dribirut
@Youphemism
@MrInsaynne
@Smoke_Of_Finland
@Rude
@DougDFC
@Paul the Octopus
@FlappyDaniel
@Error
@LEGI0N47
@Anyone I forgot or who wants to chime in.
