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Kotal Kahn General Discussion

GrandMasterson

The Netherrealm beckons
Anyone else notice how much better the hitbox is to D2 krushing blow? It was absolute whiff city before, now it magnetizes them into it.
 
So lost to the resident Kabal today. But I really prefer totemic now to deal with air buzzsaws more aggressively.

I think I have to recommit to learning Kotal Kahn to beat him at this point. But we are both in agreement that the changes have impacted the match up. Before it was not a close call at all, but now the games were very tight where one mistake would cost rounds (typically mine).

Among the other people I have played since patch, the HP buff is significant. I feel like I have even more life to give when I am ahead. The safe air Dive is a really good distance closer at a different angle and helps deal with people trying to stuff your f4 etc. Overall pretty fun to play him again.
 

LawAbidingCitizen

Bomb Setups & Ball Rolls(Mileena/Cyrax)
I'm not gonna argue with anyone, because I don't think there's a point, so here's my opinion on kotal.

"Kotal got very good minor buffs, with D3 being by far the most significant.

That said, he's still bottom 2. But any matchup you could arguably call 7-3 has been eliminated, me, furious pillow and harold had a podcast ( uploading RN ) and we couldn't find any matchup that bad. "

His core issue, not being able to jail, was fixed. He got some extra health, which double dips with sunlight, and cat is only punishable as a just-frame vs 7f S1 chars.

People who still complain should just deal with it and pick up a new character.
I'm actually pretty happy with Kotal so far. Still need to grind MU's with everyone being changed. But if he is bottom 2 then so be it. He feels much better to me, my biggest complaint was hitboxes being able to jail off pokes and CMD Grab swapping sides so I think I'll cut my loses and be grateful for what I got. 2/3 its a win for me
 

ChoseDeath

Seriously Casual Player.
At this point, I want less recovery on totem, I want command grab enhanced to let us pick which side they go on, and I want B2 2 3 to not suck a high hard one.

But even if I get NONE of that, I am really, REALLY happy with this patch. We got pokes, we got a parry that is usable, we got A FUCKING APEX PREDATOR JAGUAR, not a geriatric lynx with mange and pneumonia like we had before. I love it. I had a fucking catastrophic blow up about that Shang set a few weeks ago, but I just cannot quit Kotal, and now I feel like we're still bottom tier, but I don't feel hopeless in some matches like before.

If I saw Lao or Shang or Cetrion before, Erron to some extent, I knew it was GGs and I was fucked. Don't feel that way now. Maybe in a few more months we'll get a few more tweaks, but I'm sending bitches to jail and it FEELS SO GOOD, lol.
 
Overall nice changes and yes he's still bottom 3, but he is viable in tourney and can hold his own. Hopefully next patch they fix b223 and maybe make standing 4 mid. D3 jail helps alot and in totemic you can d3 into cat on block to catch people counter poking.
 
Unless something amazing gets discovered (from parry, I guess), yeah, still bottom tier, but at least now he has his own unique thing (most health, sunlight = tanky boi). Plus, tanky characters rarely get access to a divekick.
 

Lanqu

Noob
everybody (even tips in game) says that parry has now same frame data as flawless block. But it is definitely not that:
  • sometimes it grants more advantage then FB, drasticly more
  • it fucking sucks vs characters with fast hitting attacks, because for some strange reason you can't block second attack if first got parried!
I see usage for parry in high level gameplay, when you be able to parry first hit, see the second hit and FB it into U2. But that's hella hard for casuals
 

chief713

Vertebral Subluxationist
Idk if I'm sold on parry in footsies yet but it's much better for counterzoning now.

And if you cancel it from B22 it'll catch counter pokes so it makes the string somewhat safe. It's not much but this char needs every little thing he can get
 

Lanqu

Noob
If you are so confident that opponent will poke back, then why would you cancel B22 into parry, not for example into Kahn Cut or Cat? Yes, now you can get away with parry unpunished, that's why Im using that cancel too. But really, that's not a good parry usage until parry is so shit. Because trying to punish B22 people go for the fastest string, like Cassie 11, and that's exactly where parry sucks at dealing with.
I'd use such cancel once or twice a game and not hold it
 
His parry is good for

Projectile absorb and trade especially now he gets a lot of frames back, like a lot test it.

Soft reads on Reaching strings like Cassie B2 etc. Think about after you frustrate players with your buttons and they try to dash attack etc. You don't get a hard punish for it but you do get a buff for when they are negative in front of your face. Makes that grab way scarier opening up other options.

Also if you lab enough, you can parry the first hit of a lot of strings and flawless directly after to punish.

I wish he could multi parry again for the hype but would be stupid strong here.

It's a hard move to use and I doubt anyone will have enough time to get godlike with it.
 

chief713

Vertebral Subluxationist
If you are so confident that opponent will poke back, then why would you cancel B22 into parry, not for example into Kahn Cut or Cat? Yes, now you can get away with parry unpunished, that's why Im using that cancel too. But really, that's not a good parry usage until parry is so shit. Because trying to punish B22 people go for the fastest string, like Cassie 11, and that's exactly where parry sucks at dealing with.
I'd use such cancel once or twice a game and not hold it
A lot of chars won't get a good punish from strings like that anymore since B223 is airborne now. S1/D1 juggle is what's going to give the best punish so you should get more leeway with using parry. Still tho, I agree about using KC most of the time and only parrying every once in awhile. It's still not great, it just isn't complete ass anymore, either
 
Quick question, punish for Cassie fatal blow? I feel like I labbed one but I couldn't remember it in tournament so resorted to throw or d3.
 

ChoseDeath

Seriously Casual Player.
Been noticing a lot of Kotal’s going for dash xx 12 instead of f12 after Kahn cut.

Which I do as well online because f12 is annoyingly inconcsitent for me outside of a completely perfect connection and sometimes not even that.
You and me both brother! I have the worst kind of inconsistencies with that F1 2 combo sometimes, so I just said the hell with it.
 

GrandMasterson

The Netherrealm beckons
Been noticing a lot of Kotal’s going for dash xx 12 instead of f12 after Kahn cut.

Which I do as well online because f12 is annoyingly inconcsitent for me outside of a completely perfect connection and sometimes not even that.
It's because Kahn Cut has so much recovery even on hit that you have a very tight window for landing F1 compared to 12. Heroin addicts have an easier time recovering than Kotal.
 

Braindead

I want Kronika to step on my face
Kahn Cut is one of the main reasons I'm not much into Kotal in this game lol. I hated that move since the first time I went into practice mode with him. Wacky visuals and sound effects and juggle ugh.

I'm trying to play Totemic after the Buffs now and I'm having fun with him.
 

Qwark28

Joker waiting room
The juggle is not too execution heavy except against females. Vs females online it's a nightmare bc dash 12 doesn't work unless point blank
 
For whatever reason I'll whiff f1 after Kahn cut a bunch in the corner but never have a problem mid screen. Just feels like the hitbox of F1 is the fingernail on one of his pinky fingers.
 

Pterodactyl

Plus on block.
Kahn Cut is one of the main reasons I'm not much into Kotal in this game lol. I hated that move since the first time I went into practice mode with him. Wacky visuals and sound effects and juggle ugh.

I'm trying to play Totemic after the Buffs now and I'm having fun with him.
What? Looks fine to me. One of the few launchers in the game that feel as hefty as they look when it hits. Feels like a suped up version of his old f2, I like it. But yeah I wish it didn’t take an entire Edenian year to recover.
 
new to kotal. always been a baraka, jade and shao khan user.

for totemic, I know the jaguar pounce (bf2) does more damage than the sword cut (df2) as a combo ender.

question is; when do you use either?