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Kotal Kahn basic guide

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
So, I've been playing the game for about 10 hours a day the past 3 days, these are my impressions and what I've discovered so far.

Kotal's main strings are F24, F12/2 and F34.

F24 is a very far reaching string that's -7 and only punishable by 6f normals. The 4 can be delayed. Good starter normal that leads into an average string.

F12 is your whiff punisher. It's a bit lackluster as a fast normal because the range is slightly iffy and it drops very easily during airborne combos and is punishable if your opponent air recovers as you're about to do it.

F122 is your krushing blow.

F34 is your go-to safe string, decent pushback, nice wallcarry on hit, hits low and catches people trying to jump away or walk back on knockdown.

B22 is your go-to launcher if you don't have kahn cut, otherwise it's a very mediocre string. You can end in 3 to make it -5, I wouldn't advise it past week 1, easy to flawless block and punish.



Kotal's main normals are F1, F2, F3, F4, ALT F4.

F1 is a decently fast high move, it's your whiff punisher and anti air.

F2 is your slow mid, catches a lot of people off guard who don't respect it, has slight pushback you can abuse if you do F24 too much.

F3 is your slowish low, decent to catch people walking back, the very occasional stagger and can follow it up with kahn cunt for a low starter launcher.

F4 is your go-to frametrap mid after pokes. Does a pitiful 7%, but it's your best mid to enforce poke advantage from. Is mid but turns into special mid from max range vs crouch block. Don't abuse too much in footsies, it feels like it has some sort of proximity block, where it hits further if the opp is blocked than when they're not.


Kotal's main pokes are D1, D2, D3, D4

D1 is your best overall poke. Gigantic +10 on hit makes your command grab a frametrap. Decent range but tends to whiff weirdly sometimes.

D2 is your uppercut, very decent anti air, combo in the corner. Krushing blow on a throw/high read.

D3 is meh.

D4 is good. -10 on block but reaches far and frametraps into F4. Your long range poke.
 

Hellbringer

1 2 3 drink
"alt f4" :D

btw i didnt see u mention his 3,4 string wich you can also special cancel (after the patch).
second hit is a mid and its 0 on block.
 

Hellbringer

1 2 3 drink
I dont understand nrs. why invest so much time trying to make a fighting game like world of warcraft. in mkx the variation system was ok, but here i dont really get it. Can't even create ur own character unless u wanna fuck around in playermatches. So dumb. Start making fighting games like they used to be. No years of krypt to, unlock outfits, no abilites locked, just one character with all the moves usuable just like its supposed to be.
 

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
Skarlet, Cetrion, Noob, Kitana and other characters have good projectiles as well like Liu Kang, Sub Zero...
Subzero is difficult but unless they got an air proj or something good off of their proj, they don't zone too well. Noob is not a good zoner for instance, he just has projectiles
 

SoapBar

My pussy, my rules
Its not, it doesn't have the combo potential, but amplified cat is projectile immune so its good vs heavy Zoners and the blood totem also seems really good.
Am I missing something? I wasn't aware you could amplify either of his cat moves.
 

Braindead

I want Kronika to step on my face
Just checked, it's the exact same
Don't trust AI blocking, it doesn't block the way you think it does. Record Kotal to do F34 and you try to block it.

Or it could be a Subzero specific thing, but when I blocked F34 standing it pushed me away outside poking range, and when I block it ducking I remain up close in Kotal's face.
 

Wrenchfarm

Lexcorp Proprietary Technologies
Its not, it doesn't have the combo potential, but amplified cat is projectile immune so its good vs heavy Zoners and the blood totem also seems really good.
I've been playing with this variation. Blood totem is really good and the cat can be helpful, but you just give up too much.

Kotal needs Khan Cut to do any damage. Without it, your ONLY combo launcher is B22 which is not a very practical string (slow as days, high, awkward hit box on the first strike). Feels really bad to be playing as Kotal "delete half your health bar in one touch in MKX" Khan and punish with 12xSword Cut. Wow, what a blow up.

Missing the command grab hurts too. Being able to tick throw a D1 is one of the few ways to open an opponent up since he has no overhead and such dodgy mids.

Blood totem is crazy powerful. With a decent set of tools, I think it would be overpowered honestly. But as it is, it just feels like a life support system for a character that needs to work 3x as hard to stay in a match.
 

Wrenchfarm

Lexcorp Proprietary Technologies
(god, I might dip into Kasual non-competitive tonight with Grab, Cut, and Blood Totem and see how much better he performs. I predict a significant boost).
 
I’m definitely not the most experienced person posting here but... to start I think most tournament variations aren’t optimal intentionally as an easy way to avoid Kharacters being op at launch.

He’s intended to be played differently in mk11 he’s straight up mid-range poke whiff punish orientated and he is definitely not “oh you’re new? Play scorpion!”

Haven’t played in awhile but love kotal so said right... footsies then

Take SC for example, yes you can’t choose the side you throw them but after a throw you’re in a position most of the time where you can hit them but they can’t hit you e.g after non-amp you’re spaced so perfectly for f+2 and dash f+3 it’s obviously a design choice. All of the insane knock back + cat gets them to the corner then you keep your neutral game (where you’re strong) going but they literally have they’re back against the wall so they have to try come at you.

You get your SC buff before you corner them with knockback and then drop the beam in the corner or you corner them with cat and start dropping totems.

Just seems like it’s week 1 and people just pick out everything he can’t do instead of figuring out what you’re meant to be doing with him. Like Day 1 people wrote off the cat as shit (it’s not) DAY ONE! He isn’t easy mode and just needs to be worked on.

If I’m talking out of my arse just tell me but at least say something positive you’ve discovered about the kharacter when you do.

Low-tier till I fucking die. #KahnDaMan #HeHasTheBiggestTitsInTheGame
 
B4 is really good to whiff punish when you don't have space to move and keeps them close.
S4 is great to whiff punish in a similar manner with much more range and knocks away.
34 is zero on block for mind games and is cancellable

Dash and wave dash cancelling into moves makes him feel inescapable mid range. Short range dash throw and f4 gives a lot of people headaches.

Also I get so few combo opportunity when I play him that I rarely miss the potential damage when I play blood god
 

LawAbidingCitizen

Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
Don't trust AI blocking, it doesn't block the way you think it does. Record Kotal to do F34 and you try to block it.

Or it could be a Subzero specific thing, but when I blocked F34 standing it pushed me away outside poking range, and when I block it ducking I remain up close in Kotal's face.
Crouch Block is kotals nightmare when in forcing pushback and wiff punishes off F34.
If they block Low high like the AI does and most online players who don't know the matchup it's -3 with pushback and allows Kotal to walk back wiff punish and take additional turn if they have slower advancing moves.
If they block F34 low low then they are left in poking range removing his capability to wiff or enforce anything. With his wiffing issues on many key normals I feel this is something that should be addressed. Being a bad character up close that has every normal put him close enough to wiff but not act with better slower strings.

Maybe they can fix his wiffs, make F1 mid and make crouch block have the same push back as stand block among other things listed above. Many moves and specials are not functioning properly.