Match-Up Discussion - Kitana Kitana MU Chart Created by xKhaoTikx & SonicFox

[xKhaoTik]

This chart represents the MU #s for ALL 3 VARIATIONS COMBINED. This means we analyzed each variation, looked at how each one fairs against each other, and ultimately, came up with a #. Some MUs I had no idea about, but since @SonicFox5000 plays against those characters alot, I had no choice but to go with his judgement.

Alien: 4-6
Jason: 5-5
Kung Lao: 6-4
Cassie: 4.5-5.5
Kenshi: 4-6*
Scorpion: 5-5
Sub Zero: 5.5-4.5*
Mileena: 4-6
Jacqui: 4-6*
Takeda: 5-5
Sonya: 5.5-4.5
Kung Jin: 5.5-4.5
Liu Kang: 5.5-4.5
Tanya: 6-4
Bo Rai Cho: 6-4
Leatherface: 5-5
Predator: 5-5
Jax: 5-5
Shinnok: 5-5
Kano: 5-5
Johnny: 5-5
Erron Black: 4.5-5.5
Ermac: 5-5
Kotal: 5.5-4.5
Reptile: 5.5-4.5
Ferra Torr: 5.5-4.5*
D'Vorah: 4.5-5.5
Raiden: 6-4
Quan: 5.5-4.5
Goro: 6-4*
Tremor: 6-4
Cyber Sub: 5-5
Sektor: 4.5-5.5
Cyrax: 5-5*
Smoke: 5-5


*These are the matches I had no idea about. In the case of SZ, I have no idea what unbreakable is about. Those are sonic's numbers.

***Triborg had to be split up. All 4 variations play completely different and feel like different characters***

Winning: 15
Losing: 8
Even: 14

Feel free to leave your thoughts.

 

[BillStickers]

Thank you for sharing your opinion.

 

[Pan1cMode]

Full auto beats Royal storm and Assasin but I think it loses to mournful.

High tech feels like it goes even or slight disadvantage against all 3. Shotgun feels like it loses to mournful but does fine against the others.

Also, if you're gonna split up triborg I think you need to split up Jacqui as well considering how differently they all play.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Full auto beats Royal storm and Assasin but I think it loses to mournful.

High tech feels like it goes even or slight disadvantage against all 3. Shotgun feels like it loses to mournful but does fine against the others.

I honestly felt like it was a 5-5 in general. But after talking to sonic, he made me realize Jacqui does have an advantage. Jacqui has a much better neutral game than Kitana, hits harder, FA zones her out, shotgun trades are scary and High Tech has the absorb to deal with zoning and the pressure upclose.

 

[Invincible Salads]

kitana goes 5-5 with hqt?

 

[xKhaoTik]

kitana goes 5-5 with hqt?

That number represents Kitana vs Predator in general, not just HQT.

But no, she doesn't go 5-5 with HQT

 

[chrisisnice]

I am surprised that she beats Subby - it always feels a little uphill. Any clarification?

 

[xKhaoTik]

I am surprised that she beats Subby - it always feels a little uphill. Any clarification?

We both agreed she beat cryomancer. I don't know shit about unbreakable lol, but Sonic does. He feels like she beats that variation. So that's 2 variations she wins against.

When it comes to GM, that's when it gets tough. Everyone knows GM is one of the toughest MUs for her, but not overwhelming enough to call it a 3-7. She can still compete, she just has to be on point.

So because she wins against 2/3 variations, we gave her the slight advantage.

 

[Laos_boy]

Okay its averaged.

When i saw 5-5 predator i was about too...

 

[chrisisnice]

Oh ok... I did not realize they were averaged rather than picking the strongest variation. GM bodies her.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Oh ok... I did not realize they were averaged rather than picking the strongest variation. GM bodies her.

Yea GM can go burn in hell lol

 

[Akromaniac27]

I don't think I ever posted in the Kitana forums despite using her, but I don't see her going even with Scorpion, especially Ninjutsu. His d4 alone outspaces her, completely evades EXrising fans, and having an option select teleport, it doesn't leave much room at all for her to get in a hit unless on a stagger into grab. His standing 3 even punishes her fan toss now...

 

[Bruno-NeoSpace]

Liu Kang?

 

[xKhaoTik]

I don't think I ever posted in the Kitana forums despite using her, but I don't see her going even with Scorpion, especially Ninjutsu. His d4 alone outspaces her, completely evades EXrising fans, and having an option select teleport, it doesn't leave much room at all for her to get in a hit unless on a stagger into grab. His standing 3 even punishes her fan toss now...

Assassin does just fine against any variation, especially Ninjustu. D4 is just a nuisance, nothing more.

Her punishing f2 is a huge plus. Parry in the neutral is a godsend, which means less f2 and b2. Mixing up parry with fans makes it hard for him to tele. B2 gets punished hard. She wins the air battle because her j2 is faster than any of his jump attacks, plus air fans and ex rising blades.

Idk why s3 punishing fans was even brought up. You shouldn't be ending strings with fan anyway.

Inferno definitely doesn't beat her, especially assassin. Hellfire is even.

 

[Tony at Home]

.5's in matchup charts make my eyes bleed.

I agree with the Sonya number, for what that's worth (nothing).

 

[xKhaoTik]

Liu Kang?

All 3 variations are fine against Kang, but RS stands out the best. Reflect is something Kang has to worry about and if she has a life lead, she can hold it in any variation by ducking our jumping the fireballs, making Kang come to her. Dragon Fire is the best variation to use against her, but that's because of the pressure, and even then, she can handle that.

 

[xKhaoTik]

.5's in matchup charts make my eyes bleed.

I agree with the Sonya number, for what that's worth (nothing).

I do too lol but some matches felt more advantageous than others, but it wouldn't make sense to but those as 4-6 because it wasn't as tough as the ones we put as 4-6.

 

[Espio]

I don't see how Kitana doesn't on average beat Cyrax at least 6-4. She seems to control the entire pace of the match and with net nerfs it just does not at all seem feasible that he would give her an even 5-5 run for her money, this match up just feels extremely easy and comfortable. She should probably give Cyber Sub-Zero a huge problem too, but even more so since she shuts down a lot of his mobility pretty well.

Goro even if averaging all variations should still be 5-5 honestly. She outzones him, but gets outfootsied and dies hard in the corner to him. Run speed and other major buffs definitely equalized it even more so than it has always been. It's actually one of the most balanced match ups in the game in my opinion. I can write an in depth breakdown if interested.


This system makes her seem way better than she probably realistically is because it by design covers up really hard match ups (Grandmaster Sub-Zero and HQT Predator for example) in a veil of averages. When people fight Kitana, they're gonna use the most optimal variation, not Cryomancer, Master of Storms or Kuatan Warrior. They're gonna use the best variant. Kitana is good, but winning match ups against nearly half the roster might be being too optimistic. Kung Lao, Tanya and Bo Rai Cho are very agreeable being in her favor.

Raiden, Quan Chi, Kotal and some other ones are very puzzling.

 

[SM StarGazer]

For the most part I say yes, coming from a strictly Mournful point of view. However I cannot agree on the following:

Kenshi, Jacqui, and Alien.

Kenshi: outside of balanced Mournful has the potential to run circles around Kenshi. Keyword: potential. Teleports can be baited and countered and nearly all his zoning tolls do not hut and airborne target. In which Mournful can zone with almost no fear of deflect. She simply needs to play patient. ExShadow kick can blow through alot of his zoninr and glaive setup are extremely hard for him to get out of safely. 6-4 for kenjutsu 5-5 for the rest.

Jacqui: Full Auto is the only chance Jacqui has against Kitana. This become nigh heartbreaking against Mournful. InstantAirGlaive shutdowns Jacquis zoning down and instantFloatxxGlaive easily makes her waste a bar. This also keeps her from runup up rockets as you can mix this with ifExG abusing thatt small window and being close enough to convert ExAirGlaive into f43, d1, f33, f11, 11, 21, b12, and d3. Shotgun and high tech have it harder. 6-4 if you can keep her at bay. 5-5 if they are competent in full auto that is.

Alien: Without a doubt in my mind Mournful is the answer to Alien. Her zoning keeps him at bay EXTREMELY will and the added bonus of air glaive forces Alien to spend bar to get in. IAG mid to full screen is safe to anything Alien does without meter, which can lead to some conversions if you land the air to air, as well as ExAirGlaive breaking some armor or full to mid screen(on a read). This forces Alien to jump into one of the best meterless AA's:Lift. 6-4 outside of conjurers Alien drop.

Dont murder me for not agreeing with Sonic or Khao. I mean you could try...but then who would save Martha.

Oh look at the time. When you arrived you had an hour..now you have le..holy shit your back already.









Impressive..

 

[Akromaniac27]

Assassin does just fine against any variation, especially Ninjustu. D4 is just a nuisance, nothing more.

Her punishing f2 is a huge plus. Parry in the neutral is a godsend, which means less f2 and b2. Mixing up parry which fans makes it hard for him to tele. B2 gets punished hard. She wins the air battle because her j2 is faster than any of his jump attacks, plus air fans and ex rising blades.

Idk why s3 punishing fans was even brought up. You shouldn't be ending strings with fan anyway.

Inferno definitely doesn't beat her, especially assassin. Hellfire is even.

Thats off of the assumption that the Scorpion player doesn't know what he's doing and opts to go for unsafe long ranged footsies at point blank range. He doesn't even need to space it out accurately, just outside of normal range, she isn't reaching for a punish for either, in which at that range, d4 can be used as often as he please because it will evade every option she has other than EXcharge which is easily baited.

Same goes for the Scorpion player jumping on a character that is very dominant in air control. Mixing up between parries and fans still don't stop him from getting in for free on a cancelled tele and being at an advantage, neutral at worst.

I'm not saying its horrible because it isn't but if someone like Mileena is out spacing her, then I find it hard to see how footsies and range such as Scorpion's doesnt give her equally a hard time. Especially since his safe, low profiling range negates nearly all armor attempts, parry, zoning, grab attempts and the start of her staggers

 

[Pan1cMode]

I honestly felt like it was a 5-5 in general. But after talking to sonic, he made me realize Jacqui does have an advantage. Jacqui has a much better neutral game than Kitana, hits harder, FA zones her out, shotgun trades are scary and High Tech has the absorb to deal with zoning and the pressure upclose.

Ehh she definitely has the better neutral in shotgun but not in full auto or high tech. Full auto zoning does force approaches however except in mournful where she can stay wherever she feels like just outside up rocket range and still out of df2. She gets out zoned in Royal storm and Assasin but not in mournful.

Even though she has to deal with zoning and kitana's better ranging normals and pokes, I still feel high tech does alright since once she is in Kitana pretty much has to hold her block pressure. Using absorb or even quick burst against fans/glaives though is asking for some trouble since Kitana recovers too fast and Jacqui doesn't make any grounds in her approach.

Overall across the 3 variations I feel Jacqui does better but I think if you just took mournful against all 3 variations it'd definitely be 6-4 kitana's favour or at the very least 5-5.

 

[xKhaoTik]

I don't see how Kitana doesn't on average beat Cyrax at least 6-4. She seems to control the entire pace of the match and with net nerfs it just does not at all seem feasible that he would give her an even 5-5 run for her money, this match up just feels extremely easy and comfortable. She should probably give Cyber Sub-Zero a huge problem too, but even more so since she shuts down a lot of his mobility pretty well.

Goro even if averaging all variations should still be 5-5 honestly. She outzones him, but gets outfootsied and dies hard in the corner to him. Run speed and other major buffs definitely equalized it even more so than it has always been. It's actually one of the most balanced match ups in the game in my opinion. I can write an in depth breakdown if interested.


This system makes her seem way better than she probably realistically is because it by design covers up really hard match ups (Grandmaster Sub-Zero and HQT Predator for example) in a veil of averages. When people fight Kitana, they're gonna use the most optimal variation, not Cryomancer, Master of Storms or Kuatan Warrior. They're gonna use the best variant. Kitana is good, but winning match ups against nearly half the roster might be being too optimistic. Kung Lao, Tanya and Bo Rai Cho are very agreeable being in her favor.

Raiden, Quan Chi, Kotal and some other ones are very puzzling.

Idk the Cyrax MU at all. That was sonic. Gotta ask him about that. Same with Goro.

And I get what you're saying about the chart making her look better than she is, but that's gonna happen when you have a game based on variations. Yea GM and HQT beat assassin and RS, but Mournful can compete with GM and does better against HQT. Then you mix in the other variations and those are the ones Kitana does good against in any variation. Because of that, that's gonna make the MU # the way you see it. Same goes for the ones you seem puzzled on.

The chart doesn't even make her look top 10 or anything like that. 8 bad MUs. 14 winning ones. The rest even. That seems like a fair character to me.

 

[Vigilante24]

No Jax?

 

[SM StarGazer]

Ehh she definitely has the better neutral in shotgun but not in full auto or high tech. Full auto zoning does force approaches however except in mournful where she can stay wherever she feels like just outside up rocket range and still out of df2. She gets out zoned in Royal storm and Assasin but not in mournful.

Even though she has to deal with zoning and kitana's better ranging normals and pokes, I still feel high tech does alright since once she is in Kitana pretty much has to hold her block pressure. Using absorb or even quick burst against fans/glaives though is asking for some trouble since Kitana recovers too fast and Jacqui doesn't make any grounds in her approach.

Overall across the 3 variations I feel Jacqui does better but I think if you just took mournful against all 3 variations it'd definitely be 6-4 kitana's favour or at the very least 5-5.

You have permission to marry me.

 

[xKhaoTik]

Thats off of the assumption that the Scorpion player doesn't know what he's doing and opts to go for unsafe long ranged footsies at point blank range. He doesn't even need to space it out accurately, just outside of normal range, she isn't reaching for a punish for either, in which at that range, d4 can be used as often as he please because it will evade every option she has other than EXcharge which is easily baited.

But she punishes it with TS in about any range besides almost max range, and even at that range, d1 is still a check.

I'm not saying its horrible because it isn't but if someone like Mileena is out spacing her, then I find it hard to see how footsies and range such as Scorpion's doesnt give her equally a hard time. Especially since his safe, low profiling range negates nearly all armor attempts, parry, zoning, grab attempts and the start of her staggers

Well mileena also outspaces her because of her projectiles, alongside her normals. Scorpion doesn't have a projectile in Ninjustu, so he has to outspace Kitana with his normals, which she can counter just fine. D4 can easily be outspaced and whiff punished.

They both counter each other perfectly. When it comes to footsies, they both have an answer to it? Jumping? Answer to it. Air to air? Answer to it. They both hit just as hard meterlessly, while kitana wins in the damage department with meter. Scorpion is a hell of alot more riskier than she is, and the type of damage she puts out definitely comes into play here.