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Guide - Assassin How the new beta Assassin buff will change her playstyle & discussion about this buff

Kryo

Assassin Kitana specialist
Okay guys so first of all, as some of you out there, I have mained Assassin Kitana since day 1 and I have seen this variation's potential grow little by little & now I personally believe Assassin Kitana is her best variation now (remember that we are all entitled to our opinion).

So generally Assassin Kitana is the variation that allows her to get close to her opponent since she is a zoner. Assassin Strike allows you to get to your opponent if they want to zone you out. For example, if Tremor does his up rock thing, you whiff punish him with the Assassin Strike and get a good knockdown to go for something else. Sharpen allows you to buff up her damage and fans but you have to take a risk (at least for pre patch version). And the parry allows you to punish your opponents wake up game or normals if you time the parry correctly (but keep in mind it only works on overheads, highs and mids. also works on throws too).

Okay So first of all I wanna discuss how pre patch assassin Kitana played in a match (well at least how I played her). I have put so much time into this variation (literally so much months) figuring out strategies & tech. I figured out how this variation was supposed to played.

So my strategy was
- when I hit confirm into a combo, I would go for like 212 fan air kick into fan then f4 fan lift. after the fan lift i would drop my combo to go for the sharpen buff and my opponent would fall down from the fan lift. I thought that the best possible way to use sharpen was after fan lift because when your opponent is in the fan lift they still get knocked down pretty well. So after they got knocked down, i would either go for a bait to punish a wake up, do a frame trap, or try to time the parry to punish a wake up move. Sometimes when I'm trying to zone out my opponent and they are constantly respecting me, I would go for the sharpen but the risk was that I could get whiff punished like by scorpions teleport or something. So pre patch sharpen did not ever guarantee damage because it is generally used after a combo or when your fullscreen. This is why pre patch assassin suffered. I NEVER EVER used Ex sharpen because spending a bar never guaranteed you anything so I thought it was useless and just used normal sharpen. So pre patch Assassin's game plan was not at its full potential. You had to drop a combo or do it fullscreen to use sharpen and sharpen never guaranteed you damage. Also the normal sharpen didn't last for a good amount of time.

So now let's talk about the beta buff for Assassin Kitana
- So now thanks the NRS lords, You can finally now cancel a combo into ex sharpen. I literally was waiting for this buff for a long time. When Cutthroat Kano and Unbreakable Sub received their buffs last patch I was so mad that Assassin Kitana didn't get that cancel buff. But hey, we got it now! This buff changes so much about Assassin Kitana. You can now play as Kitana a little more rushdown in your face type of style. Ex sharpen is much faster now, you can cancel a combo into sharpen to actually guarantee something. So i found out that now you can hit confirm your opponent with a combo into ex sharpen, be at frame advantage, continue your combo and get some juicy damage. This is awesome. Now even on block you can cancel a combo into sharpen, be at frame advantage and go for so many options after. a grab, more pressure, an ex move if they let go of block. It's great. So now for the cost of a bar, you get to be at frame advantage. Now ex sharpen is actually worth spending a bar. It drastically changes kitana's play style. I personally think that if this move got armor, Assassin would be complete. Of course, for the cost of something (health, stamina, etc). Like cutthroat Kano. And also sharpen lasts so much longer. It's great. When KP2 comes out, I am going to lab this new Assassin Kitana and come up with new ways to play her now. I personally think that Assassin is now potentially A+ tier or even S (remember this is my opinion).


What do you guys think?
 

SM StarGazer

The voice of reason in a Sea of Salt
I think its a beta. She rapes, so once again. Scaling on lift, lower chip on fans, all fans highs, b3-fan fulk fombo punishable, yeah I said that right. Wake-up game still ass aside from parry, air fans become 16f start up amd leave her -30 on block.

She gains Ex Air fans. 8f start-up throws two fans leaves her +1 on block. Death on whiff.

Im calling it.