Kitana General Discussion

[EMPRESS_SunFire]

It REALLY feels like the buff from royal protection doesn’t last long enough. I can barely get anything off before it ends. It makes the reward not feel worth the effort.

Lol she is also at disadvantage after using it and she can even be punished by MB fireballs, I rather use that time to close the distance if I’m getting zoned out lol

 

[dph1990]

I wish they’d swap Royal Protection for Up Fan!

 

[armani]

Not true because Edenian Twist requires you to be in the air just like base Square Wave does. If it didn’t, then yeah, it would be a bit much.

What Edenian Twist would provide though is a reliable long range overhead in the neutral since you can instant-air it like Fan Toss or Square Wave. With the real time frame data turned on in practice mode, the lowest startup I could get is 12 frames. Mind you, that doesn’t account for the first few frames of the jump because when I recorded this, I was still able to stuff it with a 15 frame poke. I could not with a 17 frame poke, however.

So, if you got the input down on the first available frame, you would have an unsafe midscreen overhead that starts up in 16-ish frames. For comparision, Jade’s f2 overhead starts up in 28 frames, has roughly same amount of range (Edenian Twist is slightly longer) and has the same block disadvantage -18. Obviously Jade’s is more safe due to not being in the opponent face.

no because if you have ground war equipped as well, you can do edenian twist grounded

 

[Rozalin1780]

no because if you have ground war equipped as well, you can do edenian twist grounded

Huh. I wasn’t aware. That... changes so many things....

What’s interesting is that with Ground War, the instant-air Edenian Twist comes out 3 frames faster than it did without it.

Instant-air, then grounded:

 

[gam224]

Royal protection is wack. I think it should give her a damage boost like sharpen in mkx (which was cool because you could trade guaranteed damage for potential damage and could set it up after fan lift) but remove the requirement for absorbing a projectile. This would make the move far better. Beyond that I’ve come to the conclusion that both edenian razors and fan nado are inferior to lift. With the lack of juggle potential in fans this time around being able to hit confirm into fan lift is huge. Edenian razors increases corner damage but getting the opponent into the corner is difficult without fan lift. Fan nado is a cool footsie/ zoning tool but you lose out on reliable damage and you’re less likely to get the KB with throat slice.

 

[DarksydeDash]

Sure feels good doing royal protection on Lui Kang only to eat two more fireballs if he meter burns it :'D

 

[exflyingbooty]

#buffkitana

 

[KriegerOfLucent]

Allright bros, I have just watched this tournament

and it dawned on me. Kabal can combo off his ex sawblade, which of course is nice and dandy, but my problem is, that Kitana has lost this ability. She was initially advertised to be able to combo off fans, which is now no longer the case, except for a few very specific situations in the corner. And it pains me to see how free she in the Kabal MU, given that the Kabal players has missed easy punishes on multiple occasions. Had he not wasted punishes, it would have been a masacare.

I have been watching many Kitana gameplays from youtube and everybody seems to agree that something is really amiss.
The gameplan for now seems to be specing and relaying on B231 and hopefully something hits in order to hitconfirm, or cancel it into Ex Fan which is easily duckable, but it creates a 50/50 situation with ending the string in D2 for a Krush. on its own, this may sound good, but given the fact that the fans are very unsafe on their own, it does not cut it for a gameplan in my opinion.

 

[Hor_PeT]

Hi I am just messing around with Kitana.
In the movelist I saw: F2222. With cancel adv 1.

Well it might have changed as F222 is enough for the string and can not be special cancelled.
It is -12 according to the frame data (and looks like true) so it not viable just funny fact.

I can agree with the others about Kitana. She can do the same as other footsie character - maybe a bit worse-better than others.
In casual level picking a same mentality char is just personal preference - on high level the small matters too.

I was bored with Kabal - Kitana will do the same just with fewer strings but the combo looks better lol.
The easy "braindead" hitconfirm is good too but it does not really matter from a certain point.
There should be some mindgame besides the footsies game to be more viable. Not just dropping the footsies strings and hitconfirm.

Fan fare looks really safe with her footsies strings - just need hitconfirm. Highborn has more variety but can take risks.
For a bit more risk Scorpion can do "the same" footsies game as well.
It looks personal preference.

I like her design though.

 

[Hor_PeT]

I honestly gave up trying to play her as a zoner against almost any character lol, she can zone a very few characters well OR when she has a lifelead she can play lame runaway, but otherwise her fans are good in the midrange just as a check, she is more of a neutral heavy character.
Also... I disagree, the strings that were made safe are a BLESSING, B231U2 is her main string and it’s amazing for mind games... this is probably her best string to get some damage off her opponent with all the good staggers it has + the krushing blow on the end, not to mention it’s hit confirmable and has amazing range, I think this string itself having those changes Is what made her a treat, considering B142 and b131 were already safe.

What "good staggers" do you mean?
Only stagger I found so far was B231 (U2) if the opponent tries to flawless block but the recovery is still too much to recognize the stagger.
Other strings are hitconfirm or end your turn with safe on block but did not see the stagger opportunity. There are not really follow ups which would respect the opponent to make the stagger effective.
Or I miss the point, yet.

EDIT:
B2 is 0 on block with "okayish" recovery so B2 looks viable.
And S1 even if its -4 but 12U2 is respectable and fast recovery. But that's just simple staggers for everyone though.
B14 - B142. To mess up with your opponent counter planning a bit.

So there are few of them which but you will not pressure your opponent all day with that.

 

[xKhaoTik]

What "good staggers" do you mean?
Only stagger I found so far was B231 (U2) if the opponent tries to flawless block but the recovery is still too much to recognize the stagger.
Other strings are hitconfirm or end your turn with safe on block but did not see the stagger opportunity. There are not really follow ups which would respect the opponent to make the stagger effective.
Or I miss the point, yet.

EDIT:
B2 is 0 on block with "okayish" recovery so B2 looks viable.
And S1 even if its -4 but 12U2 is respectable and fast recovery. But that's just simple staggers for everyone though.
B14 - B142. To mess up with your opponent counter planning a bit.

So there are few of them which but you will not pressure your opponent all day with that.

Idk what game you’re playing but I’m staggering my opponent all day lol. If it’s one thing she’s good at, it’s her staggers and she has multiple

 

[Hor_PeT]

Idk what game you’re playing but I’m staggering my opponent all day lol. If it’s one thing she’s good at, it’s her staggers and she has multiple

Can you be more specific which staggers you using with success?

 

[xKhaoTik]

Can you be more specific which staggers you using with success?

1
2
B1
B3
B2
F2
12
21
B13
B14
B231

 

[Hor_PeT]

1
2
B1
B3
B2
F2
12
21
B13
B14
B231

lol okay no more question about staggers.
"Good stagger" is relative anyway. If it works - it will be good.

 

[KriegerOfLucent]

It never worked for me to stagger with high attacks. Getting pokes constantly. With b1 and all followups I agree, maybe b3. But no highs.

 

[Hor_PeT]

It never worked for me to stagger with high attacks. Getting pokes constantly. With b1 and all followups I agree, maybe b3. But no highs.

E.g. for me F2 is a terrible stagger at first glance. -4 on block with huge block stun and the follow up attack is very fast (F222) with -12 on block so risk reward factor is not that good.
What can make this a good stagger is the pushback. Opponent will probably know it is a stagger but maybe they can not reach Kitana is she steps back lol - opponent tries a slower move to counter it but Kitana will D1 him despite the -4 on block.

But we are humans and do not really know the game well, yet and might fall into every trap including staggers. Probably I would eat it as well!

 

[SeasonedGeisha]

Lmaoo I hate being a Kitana main. I’d rather have her bad yet fun. In her current state w/competitive variations, she just feels unfun and unrewarding. I’d take her losing some frames to gain fan combos back, maybe even buff the stun time of fans too. She just feels like a worse Skarlet with slightly more reliable combos, but worse everything else.

 

[Dramatique]

Current Kitana is 3 usable strings, throws and fans - her whole arsenal.

 

[gitblame]

She's not bad. Pretty basic and straightforwad. She has good footsie tools, decent forward walk speed, great range on D1, solid damage without any resources. I think she plays the game really nicely and I will learn her more.

F2222 for sure is not useless. It's a good combo ender for meterless combo when you don't wan't to use KB and carry your oponnent to corner.

 

[xWildx]

I’m just going to say it. Kitana is trash. Like what even IS she?

Her punishes aren’t hard hitting enough to be that scary, and anyone else with combos will punish just as hard. She can whiff punish, but every other character can do it just as well.

Staggers? Please. Anyone who knows the matchup after 2 weeks is just going to poke you out of everything since she has to commit to damn near every string she has thanks to the dialed inputs. B2 is great, but it’s also 17 frames. Can’t be used for a punish, and it’s slow, so unless someone is doing something monumentally unsafe from a distance long enough for you to see it she’s not whiff punishing shit. God forbid you miss part of the string too, since you have to dial in b231. They jump on oki because you barely mistimed? Great. You’re flying across the screen stuck in a string and they get a free check.

Her zoning is lackluster as fuck. Just duck and you have nothing to fear, maybe an errant ass here and there for that sweet 5% it does.

Then they go and take away her air combos, something Kitana has been known for since MK2. She is so basic and linear it’s sickening.

I suppose the argument will be “pick the Mileena variation.” So I have even less to check people with on the ground (any move with pushback she won’t be punishing), and I give up any semblance of damage unless I have a single crushing blow charged.

Christ.

 

[Laos_boy]

Sai variation is the way to go.
Safe move, cancelS, counter zoning, possible set ups, better up close game. Imagine if she could combo off Sai toss ( @ NRS )

Don't be afraid to do a string into Sai toss they won't punish you...all the time.

B2 is the only things going for her imo.
B2 stagger into short hop 2 is the secret stagger lol

S2 is useless right now do to how mashy this game is currently especially with d2s and how they are.

D1 is low key ass (I'm glad it's +10 now though)
D3 and D4 are also ass
B1 is...okay?

Overall Sai variation is fine.
The other one how ever is very bland (like most character tbh) other than "combo potential".

 

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

Yet another character who feels as dull as raisin potato salad without being able to customize their builds.

But if I say "How many more times does this have to be the verdict before things with variations change?", it'll be met with "iT's OnLy WeEk OnE, bOx" and all that.

Sorry, Kitana mains. No fan combos makes no damn sense.

 

[klabuster]

well i think i know why, or i have my own theory, why kitana is so dull
NRS is showing her in commercial and is known for being a MK char.. so they make her easy to play to cater new players i guess
just look what other chars who are shown in trailers play like.. they are almost as dull as kitana
1-2 combos and then zone or block, spam d1

just look what they did to raiden for example you have 1 !!! move which u always use to start ur combos

 

[xKhaoTik]

I just don’t get why they took her fans away. They been a staple thing for her since her introduction to the series. She’s ALWAYS been that character you DON’T wanna jump at or meet in the air. She’s always been that character who can juggle you with fans. Now it’s just like “oh”.

I’m more scared to jump at characters like Sonya and D’Vorah than Kitana. That’s a problem.

 

[armani]

“....yet again NRS, you’ve chosen the wrong destiny”