Jax (First Paragraph in Strategy Guide)
Jax is considered at the bottom of the top tier barrel ranked at #10. He's a sweeper, a zoner, a back breaker-er, and ground combo crusher. He's got a lot of options but he struggles against teleporters and other top tier characters. Take advantage of old tactics like standing HKs, ground pounds, sweeps, watch for cross ups and hit the back breakers, sweeps, keep away with missiles, sweeps, rush down with run jabs and the 7 hit combo but be careful on male ninjas and some other characters because often times the 7 hitter will whiff on the D+HP (HK, HK, D+HP) leaving Jax open for a free counter, in some cases *
disastersouly damaging because he is the easiest character to juggle, oh yeah and sweeps. Play as cheap as possible with him, perhaps even turtle or read other players, and play safely because he can be annoying to rush down due his range. Utilize his Gotcha as wake up on **
occassion, combining with double missiles for zoning afterward.
*Should be spelled
disastrously
** Should be spelled
occasion
Still Jax (Ground Pound Move) :
The Ground Pound is another returning move from MKII, but it was given more start up frames to balance it, however it is still useful, and unblockable and only avoidable by jumping. It keeps your opponent on guard at all time and might put them in bad situations when they might not want to be in the air. Not many people actually use this move in UMK3 because of how much slower it is than the MKII version, but when used properly it becomes an annoying factor in a match, particularly if you time it to connect as soon as they hit the ground on a jump, this will force them to jump if they see it coming and they have to immediately decide whether they are close enough to counter the ground pound with a jump kick or a jump punch start to combo, straight up, or backwards. If you time and space it right, you will be on the advantage when they land on their second jump and be able to once again resume your now nasty, *
cheesey sweeping and back breakering techniques.
* Should be spelled
cheesy
On Kabal (Basically end of spin dash) :
The Spin Dash is probably Kabal's most important special move. It's collision box and collision start up are very large/fast and ultimately broken. The only things that can beat it out are usually accidentally timed jump kicks, or intentional run jabs that turn into accidental throws. There are a few other moves here and there that can beat the spin, but generally not timable. You can throw Kabal out of the spin from any distance with perfect timing, but expert Kabal players will not do random spins if they know it has a chance to be blocked. Expert Kabal players also tend to have a "Psychic Spin" ability in which they know exactly when you let off your guard. Utilize the spin on cross ups by performing the motion (B,F LK) backwards, as (F,B) and hit LK as soon as they cross Kabal's axis. It is a good idea to get good at performing the motion while ducking, as that is it's most useful feature during cross ups. The spin has a limit of 1 usage per combo, and 1 hit before it is locked, breakable to 2, for example (aaHPHPgc) Spin after a teleport punch on male ninjas. In MK3 he could spin twice in a row for no particular reason but that was removed. The Saw Blade is disabled while the spin, wobble, or drop out duration of the Spin Dash is active, this was also changed from MK3. Use the spin after an anti air HP, or a high contact air fireball to set up big damage mid screen juggles. After an anti air spin, it is easy to get 42% on just about everyone except Shang Tsung with aaHPHP, JK air fireball, after this you can often times do a ground fireball on certain characters (Kano, female ninjas) which keeps them pinned down because they cannot duck it, if they jump, try another spin. If you spin on the ground, a generally good damage combo is jump punch starter, 5 hit pop up, JK air fireball. If you decide to go for tactics over damage, you can do a deep bleeding JK instead of the fireball, and go back into run jabs, even if it is late and gets blocked and this sets up more chances to get another spin. If you spin someone in the air who has an air move, like Sindel, or an air throw, once they drop out of the spin they can escape the drop with that air move, so don't waste time and let them drop if they are too high or they will be able to surprise counter you. When you do a pop up combo with Kabal, sometimes the combo lags slightly depending on where they are when the first hit happens, and it looks as if the uppercut isn't going to come out. If your opponent releases block to capitalize the uppercut will hit. Spin them as they are falling, but do it somewhat low to the ground since you only have one hit in memory for the combo. Let them drop out and then do aaHPHP, JK air fireball, but make sure they will not be able to drop-counter. The point of doing this is because the *
remainer of the combo will now do full damage, and the Spin will also have done a whopping 1 pixel of damage, for a total of 45%. This also works in a much simpler scenario, after a grounded JK. When it connects, immediately do a spin when you touch the ground and spin them before the hit the ground, afterwards you can do his aaHPHP, JK, air fireball for 59%, vs 36% with the damage protection. Use the spin on occasion as wake up, but players with counter Kabal knowledge know to bait that wake up spin with a fake run jab, canceled to block. The spin can plow through a standing HK or LK after Kabal is knocked down, so watch for that, and you can also counter just about anything with the spin after you block. You can also break out of the wobble frames (not the spinning frames) with any special move, but Kabal players should never allow this to happen.
* Should be spelled :
remainder
