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Match-Up Discussion - Kitana Help and Tips Against Sonya Blade

Juxtapose

Juxtapose

Noob
Hey all,

A good friend of mine mains Sonya Blade, usually playing Demolition these days, and Online (PC), I'm having a ridiculous time against him with Kitana.

With Mileena, I shut him down. My Piercing Mileena he has lots of trouble with and I usually take him 7-3 or 6-4, my Ravenous Mileena is on par and we go back and forth, haven't tried Ethereal yet.

For the Princess, different story. We just did a set, 10 matches, and I was 3-7. I did 2 matches as Assassin and lost both. 2 or 3 as Royal Storm and I took 1, and the rest as Mournful and took 2, almost taking a 3rd.

I recorded this set and hope to have it on YouTube either tomorrow night or Saturday and will post for feedback when it's up.

But basically, how should Kitana approach this match up? Since I did the best with Mournful I'm likely going to stick with that. The mid projectile and better wake up options, as well as Air Glaive being an Overhead really helped.

Note my friend does _not_ know those crazy Demolition kombos we've seen at tourneys, though he does use grenades in mix-ups. I have lots of trouble with his Dive Kick and I find it very hard to punish Online. Being able to shut this down, I think I could draw at least even with him. I also still muck up blocking her 50/50's, but I'm getting better at that. I also find I respect the X-Ray too much and that's caused me to hesitate too much to my lose.

Thanks in advance.
 
SM StarGazer

SM StarGazer

The voice of reason in a Sea of Salt
With Mournful you can play the ground game just like Sonya, match your meter and Sonyas gernade count at all times. When shes out you flush her ass with glaives still she jumps, in which you use lift for divekicks, or makes a mistake. Run-up Shadow kick any full screen reload attempts, or if in range use ExGlaive. Bait the X-ray by doing EXGlaive, full combo punish.
 
exflyingbooty

exflyingbooty

This dream has a sad ending
  • Tk dive kick can always be punished with throat slice
  • IAF are your best friends
  • Always be wary when he throws a stun grenade in neutral, you will lose that trade unless you clip him in the air. When i'm playing demo i like doing her grenade and then just jumping toward them and then exploading it when they try to aa me
  • Sonya has to respect kitana's 2,1 frame trap
  • back dash back dash back dash
  • sonya's parry loses to throat slice, boody and rising fans
  • don't even bothering try to oki sonya when she has two grenades because of her wake up
  • Always play keep out against sonya no matter what variation(you'll have an easier time with covert ops then demo)
 
Juxtapose

Juxtapose

Noob
SM StarGazer said:
With Mournful you can play the ground game just like Sonya, match your meter and Sonyas gernade count at all times. When shes out you flush her ass with glaives still she jumps, in which you use lift for divekicks, or makes a mistake. Run-up Shadow kick any full screen reload attempts, or if in range use ExGlaive. Bait the X-ray by doing EXGlaive, full combo punish.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the feedback @SM StarGazer. I'm very certain that, Online, Divekick always beats my Upraise, though perhaps I'm doing something wrong? Video of the set coming soon so you can properly critic/advise if you will.

The set should have ended 6-4 for him. I blew one match where I won the first round, and the second round came down to pretty much last hit and he woke up X-Ray and I stupidly did EX Staff Grab as opposed to Ex Glaive. I was quite angry at myself for that.
 
Juxtapose

Juxtapose

Noob
exflyingbooty said:
  • Tk dive kick can always be punished with throat slice
  • IAF are your best friends
  • Always be wary when he throws a stun grenade in neutral, you will lose that trade unless you clip him in the air. When i'm playing demo i like doing her grenade and then just jumping toward them and then exploading it when they try to aa me
  • Sonya has to respect kitana's 2,1 frame trap
  • back dash back dash back dash
  • sonya's parry loses to throat slice, boody and rising fans
  • don't even bothering try to oki sonya when she has two grenades because of her wake up
  • Always play keep out against sonya no matter what variation(you'll have an easier time with covert ops then demo)
Click to expand...
And thanks for your feedback as well!

- I'm very certain I've had Dive Kick beat Throat Slice as well Online...
- About the Stun Grenade in Neutral, yeah, I learned that.
- Good to know about 2,1. So should that be a standard go-to string?
- I did my best keep out at the moment with Mournful. In that first match, he didn't know what to do.
 
Juxtapose

Juxtapose

Noob
Okay all, here's the video of the set.

I uploaded it over night and haven't had a chance to actually watch it proper yet. My Assassin matches are right at the start. Royal Storm starts at 6:43 and Mournful starts at 17:04. My friend is Demo Sonya throughout.

A few notes off of memory:

- This is my first time ever using Mournful against another person. Given that and how I still don't really know the Variation well, I'm very pleased with how I did with it. That first match actually got me pumped.
- I start using D1 proper later in the set, sometime during Mournful I believe.
- I'm a scrub and forgot B3 existed, despite it being pretty.
- I clearly recognize his patterns, and typically when he's going to dive kick, when he's going to zone, etc., but I'm having lots of trouble with the dive kicks as I mentioned.
- I obviously still have a lot to learn about Kitana in general. With Mileena as I mentioned, I know what do to, what strings, what conditioning, that sort of thing. Not so much with the Princess, but I expect that'll come with simple time and experience.

Any feedback and constructive criticism is most welcome.

 
Juxtapose

Juxtapose

Noob
Juxtapose said:
Even up close with its recovery?
Click to expand...
Did some Reversal testing in training, and she can with Leg Grab, but not always 100%. Otherwise, it seems quite safe.

Unless you meant specifically for her Dive Kick, then yeah. EX Staff Grab also beats Dive Kick it seems. Not sure about EX Dive Kick though.
 
YoloRoll1stHit

YoloRoll1stHit

Publicly Educated
Juxtapose said:
Did some Reversal testing in training, and she can with Leg Grab, but not always 100%. Otherwise, it seems quite safe.

Unless you meant specifically for her Dive Kick, then yeah. EX Staff Grab also beats Dive Kick it seems. Not sure about EX Dive Kick though.
Click to expand...
I know leg grab can punish it. Use it to your own advantage: when cornered by Sonya, spam your staff grab, both ex and normal versions. Like d1 staff grab lol
 
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