What makes Kabal so good?

[OwtQue]

I'm seeing a lot of people say Kabal is really good, maybe even the best in the game but I'm trying to understand how people are coming to this conclusion?

Is it his neutral play, his strings, etc. Because I haven't had a lot of trouble against Kabal, so hopefully somebody can drop some knowledge for me. Thanks!

 

[xenogorgeous]

maybe because he has no real gaps to be flawless blocked ? and he has decent plus advantage to keep puttin pressure on neutral ? anyway, he seems balanced, because he has enough weakness to make him far from being unfair , broken ..... he is good , but not among the top 5 best characters in MK11

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

1. No FB gaps
2. Staggers that range from -1 to -7 while having a 7 frame D1
3. Good Zoning
4. Not Anti-Airable (godlike Ji2 and Ji3)
5. Match/Game Pace altering Fatal Blow
6. Cancels/Restands
7. General Safeness

I think he's top 2 or 3 EASY

 

[thlityoursloat]

No gaps, completely safe, good KBs, top 3 FB, hurtboxless buttons with good reach, has mixups, has top tier staggers, best jump punch in the game, projectile that shuts down other projectiles, good pokes, can convert meterlessly.
He's not top 5 now but if they nerf the top tiers and leave him intact he's going to dominate. Honestly what's even his weakness? He has none.

 

[GLoRToR]

1. No FB gaps
2. Staggers that range from -1 to -7 while having a 7 frame D1
3. Good Zoning
4. Not Anti-Airable (godlike Ji2 and Ji3)
5. Match/Game Pace altering Fatal Blow
6. Cancels/Restands
7. General Safeness

I think he's top 2 or 3 EASY

Don't forget his stupid range on a fast mid string that leads to huge combo damage.

 

[MsMiharo]

What others said but TL;DR no real weaknesses, lots of strenghts

 

[Ray'sGoodLiquor]

Kabal is for sure top 5. His tool set is extremely broad (sans a solid anti-air) and he's extremely safe. Both of his tournament variations are viable as well. When I saw the fake patch notes that said B1 would be a high, I paniced a little, but I think he's under the radar enough that he should avoid any major tweaking. He's really solid but not oppressive enough to warrant attention.

 

[TyCarter35]

Good zoning. (Air buzzsaws not being a clean punish on block is bullshit)
Godlike range
Hella safe and no flawless block gaps
Solid staggers
Solid mixup game.
Reliable damage and decent KBs
Buttons are solid and decently fast
Godlike jump in that has a jank hitbox that beats AAs out so much it's actually retarded

He literally is top 10 in this game and basically a good Kabal can rlly make ur day pretty bad and keep his pressure up all day.

 

[Arqwart]

As everyone's said: he's a jack of all trades, and at a bare minimum good at it all.

Or, as a wise man once said: "Kaballin'"

 

[Professor Oak]

Play against a good Kabal and you’ll change your mind.

 

[OwtQue]

Play against a good Kabal and you’ll change your mind.

Any good Kabals you know of in the community?

 

[TheTetraSpirit]

Wait, do people really think his B1 shouldn't be a high?
'Cause that shit absolutely needs to be a high.

 

[exflyingbooty]

b+1's hitbox and lack of hurtbox

 

[OwtQue]

b+1's hitbox and lack of hurtbox

Can you explain hurtbox to me?

 

[exflyingbooty]

Can you explain hurtbox to me?

A hurtbox is an area around a character that you can hit, Kabal's b+1 hurtbox is very small so it's way harder to hit him during this move then other moves + this leads to a 50/50 a lot of characters just need to deal with which is stupid.

 

[Gruntypants]

FYI kabal doesn't have a true 50/50 theres something like a 7 frame gap discrepancy between the low hook grab and OH.

 

[Eldriken]

I agree with a lot of points made in the thread. The one thing I don't agree with is him being top 2-3. I'd say he's just outside of Top 5.

His safety after nearly everything is completely bonkers. Safest character in the game, bar none. I don't doubt his b1 getting nerfed. Not gonna lie. Having a decently fast mid with that kind of range and utility is wonderful (for us, not you =P).

Definitely agree with having a top 3 Fatal Blow. People simply stop pressing buttons when he's got his at the ready. It shouldn't be like this. This is one of the better ways to show that Fatal Blows are really dumb in their current form.

He's got four Krushing Blows that launch (universal d2, db4, bf1 and b12d2), a back throw Krushing Blow and one from f224. He can get almost 50% for a bar with his db4 Krushing Blow. Doesn't matter where you are on the screen.

Conveniently enough, his b12d2 starts with arguably his best button. What are the chances, yeah? I get to stagger you, mix you, pressure you and if you screw up once and I confirm into b12d2, you not only ate however much chip damage during that time, you're now eating 40%+ to boot.

His mix is great, sure. But the damage only really comes from b12 into whatever. If he does b1~bf2, you ate a flat 10% versus whatever combo he did. However, those 10% can and will add up. So I'm obviously not going to recommend stand blocking all the time.

If you guess right on b1~bf2, it's your turn and with a punish to go along with it for some potentially hefty damage. If you guess right on b12, he's -7, so take it from there.

I actually hate having to say "guess" when talking about my character. It isn't an element of NRS games that I've ever cared for.

His air projectile is pretty good. I'll give you guys that. I'll also give you the issues mentioned with his j2. It's MKX Kotal all over again. Or maybe even Ares from Injustice. I imagine it won't remain this way after the first balance patch.

All in all, he's got his dirt and safety, but he's still not top 2-3 to me. Maybe there will be a tier shift after the first balance patch and then maybe he'll be there then.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

Wait, do people really think his B1 shouldn't be a high?
'Cause that shit absolutely needs to be a high.

Yeah he already has an awesome mid in F2. Take that B1 mid nonsense and give it to Dvorah. She's the one that should have something like that.

 

[TotteryManx]

He isn't the best in the game, but around the top 5 range imo. As others have stated, he is safe, no FB gaps, air buzzsaw is safe, etc. He controls spacing not only on the ground, but the air. Cannot anti air him and air buzzsaw is also safe.

Oh yea, he has a restand as well. I'm honestly terrified of competent Kabal players. When someone picks that character I kind of freeze up.

 

[CO-KANO]

His bitchass range

 

[NothingPersonal]

Stupid mids.

 

[Ray'sGoodLiquor]

I kind of like the idea of not nerfing the handful of characters with a good advancing mid and buffing the characters that don't have anything to compensate/punish it. Instead of making Kabal feel shitty like Dvorah or Johnny, lets make Dvorah and Johnny as fun to play as Kabal.

 

[Blewdew]

The only thing that kabal is holding back from being a top 5 character is that he is not doing too well against the current top tiers

I kind of like the idea of not nerfing the handful of characters with a good advancing mid and buffing the characters that don't have anything to compensate/punish it. Instead of making Kabal feel shitty like Dvorah or Johnny, lets make Dvorah and Johnny as fun to play as Kabal.

I agree. B1 being a mid isn‘t essential for kabal but people who know the matchup know how to deal with people who try to flowchart play him like that.

 

[CO-KANO]

I kind of like the idea of not nerfing the handful of characters with a good advancing mid and buffing the characters that don't have anything to compensate/punish it. Instead of making Kabal feel shitty like Dvorah or Johnny, lets make Dvorah and Johnny as fun to play as Kabal.

I like the idea of not nerfing anyone and buffing the ones that need it And leaving the others as is

 

[OwtQue]

Thanks for all of the replies. I had no idea Kabal had all of this. I was so upset with his dash cancel, that I ditched him (I mained him in Mk9) lol.

Mean Streak and Clean Cut both look like viable options. I guess it comes down to the matchup or what you favor more of, right?