Kano's Post Patch Dirtbag Matchup Chart vs Ripper Matchup Charts!

[Circus]

Dirtbag:

Ripper:

So yes, in most cases, Dirtbag is now the superior variation. It's not by too much, but against certain zoners with slow startup projectiles, the variation really does shine.

The very obvious exception on the charts is Liu Kang.

On Liu Kang, D1xxChemicalBurn whiffs on block from any range. This makes it so his main strategy is punishable against Liu Kang. If the Liu Kang is aware of the matchup, he could just turtle up and wait for the Chemical Burn to whiff, then dash in and punish with F4. The characters with 9 frame mid pressure still give Kano a very hard time in this variation as it is, but with Kano not being able to properly make space against Liu with Dirtbag, is becomes even rougher. To make matters worst, Liu could contest Kano's zoning extremely well and his reliable damage output also trumps Kano's easily.

In general, if the Liu Kang knows the matchup, it's extremely difficult as Dirtbag.

There is some good news though. Many matchups get a bit better because Kano's risk/reward becomes better. That, and vs zoners who have projectiles with reactable startup, Kano could become really annoying. It does take some pretty great reactions and is easier said than done, but if a player became good enough on the draw they could reliably stop Skarlet, Jade, and Cetrion from using some of their main tools.

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Kano has definitely become a better character, but realistically, it's likely that he is still on the bottom of the barrel.

With the recent changes to D'Vorah, Frost, Kollector, and Shao, it's even possible for Kano to be considered the worst in the game.

With that said, with the combination of both variations, he is still more viable than he was before! If a character like Kano end ups being one of the worst in MK11, then it speaks volumes about the balance in the game at the moment. With such little changes from NRS, I think they really did a great job and it'll only get better from here.

 

[TyCarter35]

Gonna offer my input on Jax vs Kano.

Dirtbag does a little better against Jax (HD) since his tools complement a keepaway style more which is what Kano needs to be doing anywags against him. He can't heat up for free, knives are pretty fast where Kano wins trade against thumper more often than not. Molotov shuts down bf2 if done right. However upclose Jax dominates as he does with most chars, d1 chemical burn can be punished by bf2 pretty reliably and at worst checks him if u do amp. Vege Mighty is good for getting in on Jax if Jax has life lead.

Ripper doesn't have the same luxury as dirtbag for keepaway tools and still has to hard commit to a lot of stuff and Jax keeps him honest with f33. But he still has knives to keep Jax out

Overall I'd move dirtbag to 4.5-5.5 and Ripper remains as a 4-6 in Jax's favor

 

[lionheart21]

Dirtbag's definitely a better matchup for Cetrion due to the armored Kano Ball and the Up Kano Ball.

 

[Circus]

Gonna offer my input on Jax vs Kano.

Dirtbag does a little better against Jax (HD) since his tools complement a keepaway style more which is what Kano needs to be doing anywags against him. He can't heat up for free, knives are pretty fast where Kano wins trade against thumper more often than not. Molotov shuts down bf2 if done right. However upclose Jax dominates as he does with most chars, d1 chemical burn can be punished by bf2 pretty reliably and at worst checks him if u do amp. Vege Mighty is good for getting in on Jax if Jax has life lead.

Ripper doesn't have the same luxury as dirtbag for keepaway tools and still has to hard commit to a lot of stuff and Jax keeps him honest with f33. But he still has knives to keep Jax out

Overall I'd move dirtbag to 4.5-5.5 and Ripper remains as a 4-6 in Jax's favor

D1xxChemicalBurn is actually unpunishable by Jax now. If you BF2 it'll whiff. Also, you can't Amp ChemicalBurn on block.

The thing about the 9frame mid characters though, is that they could immediately dash in after D1xxChemicalBurn and start their 9frame mid pressure immediately again. Kano doesn't have time to backdash, jump away, or counterattack back.

The zoning on Dirtbag against Jax is the same except for Molotov which is reactable by Jax with BF2 from the majority of ranges so it can't just be thrown out.

Characters with advancing special moves create a problem for Molotov becuase you are essentially testing your opponent's reactions when you are throwing one out. This makes it so if the Jax player was accustomed to the matchup, throwing out a Molotov even on hit of anything would be nothing but a gimmick. Other matchups Kano could reliably setup Molotov on a read after certain hits.

D1xxChemical really is the backbone of Dirtbag because of the setup afterwards and the safety of it. With Jax eliminating the setup afterwards and getting free pressure anytime Kano does it, it's down to the Kano to play the standard Knife/Air KanoBall game that he'd be doing anyway in Ripper.

Due to Jax's 9frame mid, doing every D1xxChem or D1 grab or D1-D1 is a skewed risk/reward game for Kano because he only gets the 11 damage from Chemical if it hits (with no setup) and if the Jax guesses Kano does anything aside from D1xxChem, his 9f mid guarentees he'll get more damage, oki, and additional pressure.

It's not nearly as bad as Liu, but there is no doubt that Kano's options are very limited against Jax when you are Dirtbag. The damage potential is just more in Jax's favor and he controls the game more often than Kano could because of their options.

The matchup is only changed from Ripper to Dirtbag if the Jax doesn't know he could punish certain things or get free pressure off certain things guaranteed every time.

I'd even say that Ripper is the more reliable pick vs Jax if the Jax knows the matchup. Ripper has more options up close like a parry, more options from D1, and more opportunities to land bigger damage with 241+3 and Lumbar.

 

[MsMiharo]

Kotal is still worse. But even if he's bottom tier the game feels more balanced overall. He might be worse on a tier list but still better off

 

[Circus]

I've made some adjustments to the Dirtbag matchup chart. It'll obviously be a work in progress considering it's so early.

Big Surprise:

Dirtbag loses to cat Kotal Kahn lol. Kotal could camp him out with his heal light, use cat on reaction 3/4's screen against knives, he could react with cat when Kano is going for Molotov, and he outputs more damage more reliably.

 

[lionheart21]

Kotal mains: "A winning matchup? We got one!"

Me: "But, its against another low-tier character."

Kotal mains: "Fuck off, we need this!"

 

[Circus]

I moved Jade back up to 5-5 for Dirtbag.

While Jade's zoning variation is a little lackluster against Dirtbag, Jaded does very well in shutting down what Dirtbag wants to do while still being offensive.

 

[AK Harold]

I don't think I can react to a dagger toss with amp cat. But I'm more willing to make the read now if they don't understand how to punish it.

 

[Vslayer]

I really wanna play Kano in the KL, but the LiuLius tilt me way too much. Thanks for this, I'll definitely use him for those even MUs if I wanna get to Demi someday.

 

[Parasurama]

Liu Kang will take this but to be honest I would prefer all the whiffing issues to go away.

 

[Rude]

Kano definitely loses to Kabal.

 

[MagicMan357]

Kanos frames are complete garbage and he doesnt have the necessary options to not play like a retard especially after this patch. I honestly think he doesnt 5-5 any one unless you have lumbar check because of the Cmd throw. Ditbag is still trash asf.

 

[Vslayer]

Kanos frames are complete garbage and he doesnt have the necessary options to not play like a (soap bar in my mouth) especially after this patch. I honestly think he doesnt 5-5 any one unless you have lumbar check because of the Cmd throw. Ditbag is still trash asf.

Yeah sadly it's pretty rough out there for him when there are better command grab characters like Jax, who can run down his opponent and kill them with meatys and pressure. 9 frame mids son.

 

[MagicMan357]

@Vslayer Think about it. B1 leads to shitty follow ups and and no normal follow up like b1,2 so youd think hed get a 9f mid since it would actually MAKE SENSE!

d1 and d3 BOTH give +10 on hit so he STILL cant jail consistently yet all these other characters can. They made him ass on purpose because he was too good in mkx so its a wrap LMFAO. Kano is forever going to be trash because NRS literally has the tier lists made before the game is out.

 

[Vslayer]

@Vslayer Think about it. B1 leads to shitty follow ups and and no normal follow up like b1,2 so youd think hed get a 9f mid since it would actually MAKE SENSE!

d1 and d3 BOTH give +10 on hit so he STILL cant jail consistently yet all these other characters can. They made him ass on purpose because he was too good in mkx so its a wrap LMFAO. Kano is forever going to be trash because NRS literally has the tier lists made before the game is out.

Yep, his advancing move is a freaking high that leads to an even slower high with no combo potential. I wouldn't ask for a 9 frame mid, but like some mids would be nice. And his damn whiffing issues fixed on 241+3, I have no idea why that was overlooked in the patch. And how 11 still whiffs on some crouching characters.

I think Kotal is better than him now tbh.

 

[Wigy]

Yeah man I thought I was going crazy cause it's Kano but boy I struggle with frost there. You can't zone him and at all. Not sure post patch with new mids if it's better but felt loosing before.

 

[Trini_Bwoi]

Pretty much every character can walk backward during D1xxChemical Burn to make it whiff and then punish it, now whether or not you can walk backward on reaction to D1 is another story.

 

[Monstahpanda]

it is hard for me to admit it but in all honesty I don't see Dirtbag wins any MU maybe Kotal. He has more even MU then Ripper but that's just due to the fact that Ripper can be Option Selected and has to Risk so much every time. Kano is in a bad Spot atm the d1 mind game is also Risky. And his d1 on hit is still jailing very badly.... look at NW.. Try to stagger johnny or kung and get whopped.... Sad but hey he is KANO..