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Match-up Discussion Kitana Matchup Discussion Thread

Konqrr

MK11 Kabal = MK9 Kitana
I have some post Devastation thoughts. Played a lot of games with Tyrant's Jax and Tom and Shoryuken's Subs.

I can't accept Cage being a better match than Jax. I'm now a huge believer in him. Yeah we zone him out but he's got better tools for dealing with that than Cage and if he corners you it's over. It's ridiculous, it's the sickest corner pressure in MK.

And Sub is still really bad for him. I'd go 6-4 minimum. Increased freeze duration barely matters cause you rarely trade and EX Slide was a non-factor. Corner pressure isn't THAT bad. As long as you just chill and wait for the right moment to ass out I could ass away to safety far more often than I was punished. Tom did punish ass with X-Ray a couple times though.

I still feel ass is the move that's talked about being punished more than it actually is. I always feel like Kitana players are sometimes their own worst enemies, overly spooking themselves about what might be punished. I mean in general not just the Sub match. Same with d+1 and other Kit stuff. You gotta see it like, if they're busy trying to scout ass, they're not playing their game.
I agree with everything you just posted. Once Jax has you cornered, it is over. You ass out and he does ex dash to throw you right back in there LOL Best corner game in MK hands down.

I've been doing some thinking lately about d1 and how unsafe it is. Really, you can't punish it with any standing move (not counting spin, reptile dash, csz parry, or cage xray) if she cancels it to cutter. You can only safely do a low or try to uppercut and if she doesn't do cutter, you eat a full combo on your whiff uppercut. To punish a d1, you have to really focus on it which distracts you from everything else she might do. It IS very punishable, but that is easier said than done in a heated match.
 

BoysBoysBoys

Apprentice
It`s very easy to punish if a character has a 6 frame D1.

I do agree though, Kitana`s D1, and in my opinion, Kitana as a whole get hyperboled about how good she is.
 

Slips

Feared by dragons. Desired by virgins.
You simply can't see d+1 and punish it all lackadaisical like its chewing bubble gum. Its 14 frames, you humanly can't even react to the move coming out, put on top of the fact that you have to release block (which takes a few frames in itself) and input a your move perfectly out of your block. And thats IF you just frame the unblock during the very very few frames of block stun d+1 gives. I'll give it to reptile and KL up close can do it feasibly, but nobody else. Me and 16 bit tested how hard it was for ermac to get his lift for free and I could do it maybe 1 out of 10 times AT BEST.

Kitana's d+1 is a cheap-ass move, just accept it. This is sounding more and more like when Tom Brady said people will be able to punish spin no problem once they got used to it. (pre-patch)

...

Only took two huge nerfs to the move to actually make that true.
 

funkdoc

Apprentice
Better question imo: Is there a reason to use d1 over d3 with anyone besides Kitana? Even for punishing, they seem to be neutral on hit so you're much better off dashing in and pressuring.
 

RWDY Nori

MK is kinda dope
Better question imo: Is there a reason to use d1 over d3 with anyone besides Kitana? Even for punishing, they seem to be neutral on hit so you're much better off dashing in and pressuring.
Most chars get some sort of combo after a D1 hits. For example, if JC hits you and doesn't want you to move, his D1 can float you into dash 11, dash 2, nut punch. Even Kitana has D1 combos. Smack somebody with a couple of these and it changes their psyche vs a poke like D3. D3 is great, but most of the time, D1 is better
 

funkdoc

Apprentice
Oh yeah, forgot about catching people jumping out. Kano can't do that for shit off d1 lol, always forget about that.
 

Mr. Mileena

Champion
6-4 Baraka
He can keep up a pretty good zoning game, his blade charge can help, the way Permodius plays him proves Baraka to be Deadly. F 2+1 a blocked blade charge for punish. Can be D+1 out of some strings.


8-2 Cyber Sub Zero
Kitana can outzone him, recover fast enough from air fans to block his dash, can punish his teleport, can d+1, air fan, fan lift, and even cutter his parry, none of these will freeze kitana.

5.5-4.5 Cyrax
The only problem with Cyrax now, is his DAMAGE, it used to be about a 6.5-3.5, but if you get caught, you WILL eat insane damage. Be careful when zoning, do not get caught by a net, punish buzzaw with F+2, 1, and punish his teleport with D+1 fan, 2 fan lift, and proceed the combo.

4.5-5.5 Ermac
For some reason, I have so much trouble trading projectiles with him, the moment my air fan actually gets the chance to hit him first, he teleports and combos after it, his d1 lift is scary as well. Patience is vital against ermac. bait out his lifts, and expect him to cross you over a lot, so be prepared.

Freddy- No match up exp.

6-4 Jade
At first, I had trouble with her, but the key is patience. Also, she will glow ALOT, so you must get the instant ass teleport down. It gets them all the time. Duck her U+3, and follow with F2, 1, duck her shadow kick, and follow up with 2,1, cutter, or 2,1 fan lift.

6.5-3.5 Jax
IAF all day, very hard for him to get in, once he does, his pressure is deadly. it is important to end your combos with a normal + square boost if you are approaching near a corner, square boost to get you back to midscreen and repeat zoning.

6-4 Johnny Cage.
Almost same method as Jax, Cage's projectiles aren't deadly due to Kitanas fast recovery, so he must resort to time his EX shadow kick, simply bait him out, and punish his kick. Again, it is important to end a combo with square boost if you are too close to a corner, stay midscreen to avoid frame traps, and zone him out.

3-7 Kabal
His instant air fireballs shuts kitanas zoning game down. His mixups are great, he can get in with ex nomad dash and time your ground fans right to go through them both at the startup of his ex dash, great rush in, you must Block dash + d+1 to get in, something i realized and didnt do was, if u manage to get in d+1 distance, when hes throwing projectiles, d+1, ground fan, 2 fan lift, proceed to combo., Ex square wave is your friend, but make sure to insta it, i failed to do so, and went over Kabal, where Kabal gets a free punish. Make sure your EX square wave is low enough to hit him. His rush down is scary, but his zoning is scarier, do not allow him to escape from you.

4.5-5.5 Kano
His zoning will beat Kitanas, so you must get in. His upball can be punished by 2,1 fan lift. Be patient, punish when need be, and don't opt to play a zoning game with Kano, he will win.

4-6 Kenshi- He will completely zone you out, also, do not mash D+1, he will punish with his uplift sword. Again, Ex square wave is your friend, punish his moves when need be, do not allow yourself to grow distant from him.

6-4 Kung Lao
Kitana can out zone him, she can D+1 blocked low hat, when he teleports, duck his attack, and punish as he goes down with 2, fan, 2 fan lift, proceed to combo. When he ex teleports, mash D+1 to avoid attack, or jump back, and throw a delayed air fan.

3.5-6.5 Lui Kang
Lui Kangs low fireball is the same as Sindels, your fans will go through them, and will more than likely hit you. His pressure game is hard, you cannot rely on D+1 consistently, as his low starter WILL punish you. You can't outzone him, so you must rush in, but think carefully at the same time. Expect his EX bicycle kick to be thrown out if you are pressuring him, bait d3, as he will tend to do b3 after, walk back and EX fan lift, or cross jump kick + air fan. This is a tough one for Kitana in my opinion.

6-4 Mileena
Before I thought this was a 3.5-6.5, but Mileena is not scary at all as a Kitana Player. Patience is vital, bait out her roll, and punish with 4ground fan, 2 fan lift (you may 4 fan lift instead of 2, but I stay on the safe side), punish her teleport with 2, fan, 2 fan lift, her ex teleport +sai can be punished by D+1 cutter, now, NEVER do more than 2 D+1 in a row, her roll will punish you, instead, do 1, or 2, and bait her roll, and proceed to punish. RESPECT her teleport kick, never throw more than 1 air fan in a row, I probably wouldn't recommend jumping against mileena at all. D+1, ground fan as she starts up her U4.

6-4 Nightwolf
Her D+1 stops most of his offensive strategies. It's funny, you can actually zone nightwolf. When he reflects your air fan, if you throw out another one, the one reflected back at you will disappear, and the one you threw out will keep heading towards him. Purposely whiff an air fan higher than him, and punish his reflect with a ground fan, or f+2 1 if in distance.

5-5 Noob Saibot
Due to this recent patch, noob proves to give Kitana trouble. He can outzone her pretty well, but you can punish his up shadow with F+2, 1, and block a tackle , and dash in D+1.

6-4 Quan Chi
Make sure, no matter what character you play, to memorize his strings and how they hit.
His mixups are crazy.
His teleport and trance can be punished with F2, 1, not much to this character, like i said, memorize and study his strings.
Zone at the farthest distance, do not try and jump fan near, him, his trance reaches far.


3.5-6.5 Raiden
God his stupid teleport beats out fans, his superman is dangerous, once you're in the corner it's scary. Minimize your air fans, bait out his superman, and be ready for a teleport and perhaps a cross up. D+1 his tele, 2,1 his tele on good reaction. This character has the tools to beat Kitana

5-5 Rain
Not enough match up to give out details.

4.5-5.5 Reptile
His zoning will beat yours out once he gets it going.
If you're fast enough, your air fans will beat out his spit, but when he manages to get a booger ball out, that's when it gets scary.
Air fan, ground fan, air fan, ground fan works well too. Ex square wave is nice on instant reaction, will go thru his projectiles.
Punish dash with 2,1 fan lift.
It is hard since youre left waiting for his dash, and that messes with your offensive game.
Not impossible, but a pretty difficult matchup

6-4 Scorpion
D+1 out of his Ex teleport, D+1, ground fan out of his regular teleport. Hes heavily punished by blocked teleport + spear. Not too difficult.

4.5-5.5 - Sektor.
His zoning is pretty decent, his frame trap is a bitch to get out of, sometimes, Ex fan lift, as the fan lift will destroy the missle, and sektor will probably be jumping in you, and he'll get caught. dont make it a habit tho, mix it up. Respect his teleport as well, don't whip out too many air fans.

4-6 Shang Tsung-
The only time you should ever throw an IAF is at full screen distance away from him. At any other distance, his skulls may hit you.

7.5-2.5 Sheeva
You can outzone her, when you see a tele coming out, you can fan lift to catch her, D+1 works well, sheeva has a big hitbox so cutter, fans, are easier to hit. D+1 her grabs, Ex grabs, square boost her telestomp, not much sheeva can do vs kitana.

4-6 Sindel
Sindel is a pain in the neck for Kitana. Sindel wins the zoning game, she can Low fireball to miss an air fan, if you try and square boost, sindel will db2 (yell) and catch you in it) if sindel can space you correctly, Kitana will be in trouble. Be patient and jump over her projectiles, until you get in. Instant square boost helps too.

5.5-4.5 Skarlet.
Punish her teleport with 2,1, fan lift. Her knives aren't scary, just don't get in the habit of zoning her, she will teleport to punish. D+1 her slide on reaction

5.5-4.5 Smoke
Air fan a missed smoke bomb. Smokes will shake a lot, so instant square boost to punish the shake.

6-4 Sonya
She has a pretty hard time getting in on Kitana. If you IAF rapidly,youll land on the ground to block sonyas projectile in time. Sometimes, her dive kick goes through Kitana during D+1 animation. Not much sonya can really do when she can't get in on Kitana. When she's in, Respect her meter, as EX cartwheel may be thrown out.

4.5-5.5 Stryker
Strykers buff really helped him out on this one. He can zone you out pretty well, so Ex square boost comes in handy. Once youre near him, hes not too scary. Just don't let him zone you,

6-4 Sub Zero
IAF him all day, make sure to be careful throwing out IAF, if you're in slide distance. Square boost away from corners, being careful not to be baited by him, expecting your square boost. Dont ever jump into him, and avoid the corners.
 

Verstande

Kombatant
That's because you don't zone against ermac >.>

If ermac tries to cross-up, d1

If ermac tries to lift you, block and punish with 40%

ermac isn't a guy that you want to be in the air with, if anything, ermacs the better zoner in this case. But his offensive is hella bad.
 

Mr. Mileena

Champion
That's because you don't zone against ermac >.>

If ermac tries to cross-up, d1

If ermac tries to lift you, block and punish with 40%

ermac isn't a guy that you want to be in the air with, if anything, ermacs the better zoner in this case. But his offensive is hella bad.
/

Sorry about that typo, I meant trading projectiles, ( the most ill throw is 1 to try and bait a teleport) I never try and zone an Ermac, sorry about that m8 XD
 

xenogorgeous

.... they mostly come at night. Mostly.
Maybe Skarlet can give some trouble for Kitana ? I mean, Skarlet has a projectile as quick as Kitana's fan (if not quicker), she can dispute in the air with air dagger, and she can give trouble with teleport if Kitana starts to spam fan toss as hell ............ what about it ?
 

rev0lver

Come On Die Young
I disagree with a bit of Mr Kitana's matchups, but for now I'm just going to say Kitana has to dash block in against Ermac. Squareboost gets easily punished by tkpush/lift without using instant air ex (not sure if he can lift/push that on block, but I'd think he could)
 

Konqrr

MK11 Kabal = MK9 Kitana
Better question imo: Is there a reason to use d1 over d3 with anyone besides Kitana? Even for punishing, they seem to be neutral on hit so you're much better off dashing in and pressuring.
When I see someone is scouting a d1 to punish it, I will use d3 instead. Sometimes I use d3 as a setup to hit them with d1 since it's so fast lol
 

RunwayMafia

Shoot them. Shoot them all.
What are your guys' best tips when you are enduring Scorpions reset? I was playing a fellow clan member (first to 8 and I was up 6-2 before losing, lol) and once he got me in the air with that sword pop up move he literally dismantled me until I formed a breaker! I was blocking, that didn't seem to work due to being stunnded....d1 didn't really work...I just couldn't find an opening....HELP! ;)
 

Konqrr

MK11 Kabal = MK9 Kitana
What are your guys' best tips when you are enduring Scorpions reset? I was playing a fellow clan member (first to 8 and I was up 6-2 before losing, lol) and once he got me in the air with that sword pop up move he literally dismantled me until I formed a breaker! I was blocking, that didn't seem to work due to being stunnded....d1 didn't really work...I just couldn't find an opening....HELP! ;)
Fuzzy guard the mixup. The low kick is faster than the overhead so just block low and watch for the overhead then let go of down when he does it and make him pay.

If he does the safe jump punch after a teleport punch hits you, block the jp then quickly block low then high to avoid the mixup and punish accordingly. That is what a fuzzy guard is.
 

GuamoKun

I Break Hearts, Not Combos
how to play vs kenshi? this guy is much worse than noob.
If people play a zoning Kitana then of course they'll lose out to Kenshi almost all the time. I play a rushdown Kitana so I think this match up (for me) is 5-5.

Many say Kenshi deals really badly with cross ups.

Match ups are kinda weird since they expect the character to be played a certain way.