Hey, everyone. So I'm sure most of us are aware that Kitana has the best back walk speed in the game. This is a very good trait for Kitana to have as it helps her zoning, keep away, footsies, and spacing game. Kitana having the best back walk in the game also slightly amplifies her defense by giving her more room to react while on the retreating defense. Combine this with her good air control, top five anti-air attack in the game, cross-up defense, high damaging punishment, and you have quite a good defensive character.
Now what if I told you that you could move back with Kitana even FASTER than her already amazing back walk speed? There are two levels to this tactic that I will call "level 1 wavedashing" and "level 2 wavedashing" since it's a commonly known term for accelerated movement in other games like Smash. Kitana can accelerate backwards faster by performing small buffers of her back walk and then repeating it again. With enough practice and good timing, you will be moving backwards almost half as fast as her regular back walk speed which is pretty crazy if you think about it.
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Below is the video of Kitana performing level one Wavedashing:
The first part of the video is simply showing the speed that Kitana walks back while Goro is walking forward. As you can see Kitana is slightly out walking Goro but Goro stays close within her range when they reach the corner. The second part of the video shows Kitana performing level 1 of the wavedashing backwards tech. You can clearly see Kitana covers more distance backwards, giving her more space to play around with. Level 1 of this tech basically refers to the easier version of wavedashing backwards. The input to perform this strategy is pressing Back, then waiting a split moment, and immediately pressing Back again and repeating the process all over again. It's simple once you get it down and not as difficult to perform as level 2. This will require a bit of practice at first so you get used to the timing and don't accidentally backdash.
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Now in this video you will see Kitana perform level two Wavedashing:
Keep in mind this was done against
Kotal Kahn who has the FASTEST walking forward speed in the game when he is accelerating. In this video you see Kitana move backwards at such speed that even Kotal Kahn who is walking forward, is losing ground. When mastered, this is quite possibly the fastest movement for any character in MKX for retreating backwards. It requires no stamina and you can break free from this movement at any time to perform an attack or jump. The only downside is it requires a LOT of execution (far more than the level 1 wavedashing) but it is something I can see many of you Kitana loyalists getting down in the future to help your princess assassinate more victims. The input to perform level two wavedashing is Back into hold, buffered into slight Down taps. The best way I have to doing this is by putting the edge of my thumb on the back direction and then using the base of my thumb to buffer the down direction.
Now I know this won't help Kitana in every single match-up as in some of them Kitana is forced to play more of an approach game rather than a retreat game. But for the match-ups where Kitana's main strength is to play keep away and control the pace of the neutral game, I feel this will strongly improve that and make Kitana's defense all the much better. Imagine playing against a Kitana who can perform the level 2 wavedash at will and combine that with instant air fan tosses, unpredictable run ups, and general mindgames. Not only would it probably be insanely hype to watch, but also frustrating to play against in the right hands.
Anyway, who said MKX doesn't have high execution? Hope you guys enjoy or find any of this tech useful.
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