Why I think Kano is underrated slash strategy guide.

[King Roosta]

I wish I could get some offline play to confirm this for my self. Noone in panama city plays mortal kombat.

 

[TotteryManx]

A rushdown character? Come on.

 

[Death]

Rushdown he will never be. His normals are way too slow and like Foxy said his pokes and normals dont compliment each other. The best you can hope for is to play really safe and not spam upballs obviously. Build meter by throwing knives and build your game around Kano x-ray. He prob has a top 3 x-ray so Id say build your game around it. I can see Kano being played as an x-ray character where the player can have good footsies and use the B+1 string as a whiff punisher. Straight ball and downward ball should be used less than what players actually use it for.

 

[YOMI MITYEAP]

Kano would need his old knife, old upball, and faster f3 and b2, then he would be a beast, make f3 and b2 6 frames and I guarantee you will see him a lot in tournies lol

 

[M2Dave]

Rushdown he will never be. His normals are way too slow and like Foxy said his pokes and normals dont compliment each other. The best you can hope for is to play really safe and not spam upballs obviously. Build meter by throwing knives and build your game around Kano x-ray. He prob has a top 3 x-ray so Id say build your game around it. I can see Kano being played as an x-ray character where the player can have good footsies and use the B+1 string as a whiff punisher. Straight ball and downward ball should be used less than what players actually use it for.

I agree. That is how I try to play with Kano. You have to take risks with the X-Ray to beat the better characters in the game. If you hit, you are in a good position to win. If you miss, you lose.

King Roosta's delusions aside, why should any sane tournament player use this character? Which top tier character does Kano beat? Which top tier character does he counter-pick? Let us see.

Cage? Loss. 6:4.
Freddy? Loss. 6:4.
Jax? Loss. 6:4.
Kabal? Loss. 7:3.
Kenshi? Loss. At least 6:4.
Kitana? Loss. 6:4.
Kung Lao? Loss. 6:4.
Sektor? Loss. 6:4.
Smoke? Loss. 6:4.
Sonya? Loss. At least 6:4.

He also loses to some mid tier characters like Liu Kang and Sub Zero.

Kano is terrible. I believe Baraka is better.

 

[-Deadman-]

They could give Kano his laser eye, a rpg, and a missle strike and he'd still be trash.
I'm just glad I finally woke up and see it now.

 

[King Roosta]

This thread is becoming repetitive. The point about Kano's normals being slow have been brought up already. The only thing new here is the idea of centering Kano's strategy around his Xray, and m2dave explaining that hitting with xrays is good, and missing with them is bad. He also made up a match up list.

 

[Axel_Redd]

Brady should repost his video...

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Sorry. I've never made a real strategy guide. All I know are essays.

Just add a space between each paragraph and you're good.

 

[Owerbart]

I still would like to see this encounter.

 

[ragnar0kz28]

I wish I could get some offline play to confirm this for my self. Noone in panama city plays mortal kombat.

The best venezuelan Kabal moved to Panama, but he doesnt have internet yet to play at the psn, add him by facebook Maurizio Calabro Mau, and tell him ur a mker...

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

Everytime you try to close down space with f1,2 or f1,1 with a possible special cancel you are taking a risk. Those strings are easy to jump or duck and low poke on reaction, if you get hit with a d4 you are basically giving your opponent free pressure.

Kano IS a mid-range zoning/ counter zoning/ whiff punishing character. The only time you should close the distance is when you are fighting someone who you cannot outzone. This is player specific and doesn't have anything to do with the character used by your opponent.

As for the upball un-cancellable string ender, yeah it only works online and on people who don't respect your option to do it, you can get hit out of it by a d1 or 7fr d2 and some standing normals. Kano's rushdown is very modest and risky and you should have at least a breaker before you decide to close the distance.

 

[King Roosta]

Everytime you try to close down space with f1,2 or f1,1 with a possible special cancel you are taking a risk. Those strings are easy to jump or duck and low poke on reaction, if you get hit with a d4 you are basically giving your opponent free pressure.

I agree that closing space with those combos is def a risk, but I would say all strategies in all games is a risk. If there was a strategy that worked one hundred percent of the time, you'd be Kabal. I find I have the most luck with it after I make them respect my knives and upballs to the point that when I dash forward they just block expecting something else. Both hits on forward 1, 1 hit pretty high, so it's not THAT easy to jump as long as you at least made them hesitate.

Kano IS a mid-range zoning/ counter zoning/ whiff punishing character. The only time you should close the distance is when you are fighting someone who you cannot outzone. This is player specific and doesn't have anything to do with the character used by your opponent.

I can't respond to this, because I'm not clear what you mean. In the first two sentences, you're making definitive statements about the character, but in the last sentence you are saying that it is player specific.

As for the upball un-cancellable string ender, yeah it only works online and on people who don't respect your option to do it, you can get hit out of it by a d1 or 7fr d2 and some standing normals. Kano's rushdown is very modest and risky and you should have at least a breaker before you decide to close the distance.

The only person I've had trouble down one'ing me out of my upball is Jax, and of course it doesn't work on someone who respects the option. That's the point, is to make them respect it so that you can do other stuff. I never implied that you will always hit someone if you upball after a string. I really disagree with the notion that Kano is a zoner. He has one good projectile. It is easy to dash cancel up to Kano. If characters like Kenshi and Freddy, who have waaaay more zoning options can be beaten, there's no way Kano is going to be a zoner with his one good projectile. I use the knife the same way I use Baraka's Blade charge; to apply pressure when I'm not close enough to start a combo. To make them get used to blocking, even when I'm not attacking. I know that the common consensus is that his rushdown is modest and risky, but then again, that's the whole point of this thread; to say I disagree. I appreciate your comment, because it was constructive and specific. I'm tired of people showing up just to say, "I disagree." and "Kano suxxx."

 

[peachyO]

This thread is becoming repetitive. The point about Kano's normals being slow have been brought up already. The only thing new here is the idea of centering Kano's strategy around his Xray, and m2dave explaining that hitting with xrays is good, and missing with them is bad. He also made up a match up list.

haters gonna hate. some people just don't know how to shut their traps when they have nothing useful to say. kano is fun, and has some decent tools. i have played you several times; you are really solid. thanks for bringing sum attention to a character other than cyrax, jax, kabal, Kl, freddy, sonya, or kenshi.

 

[Smoke_Of_Finland]

Kano's ball and air ball attacks need to be utilized for his zoning and counter zoning to be effective, people who dash-d3 under knives on autopilot are easy to hit with a straight ball, especially online, where the move is hard to block on reaction at 3/4 screen to jump range. Ex air ball on hit gives you an oki setup where sweep, f3 and even b2 stuff certain wakeups.

What I was trying to say is that when faced with a superior zoning character you shouldn't immediately try to close the distance, but try to outzone your opponent at the optimum 3/4 screen - outside jump range area, it doesn't matter what character you are facing, this is the default game plan for Kano. Sooner or later people are gonna start jumping or trying to close the distance via dash blocking and then you can employ Kano's AA and whiff punishing options. If you lose the first round by stubbornly trying to outzone your opponent, only then should you try to close the distance.

I have beaten pretty much every player and the entire roster with Kano by using him as I have. As for the close range stuff you mentioned in your original post, I employ all of those shenanigans. Rushing someone down with Kano is a secondary option if the zoning/spacing game fails though.

 

[-Deadman-]

an upball is just an upball

But Fig Newtons are Fruit and Cake!

 

[King Roosta]

I have also beaten the roster with Kano, without resorting to a pure zoning game. I feel like it's the other way around. Zoning is the secondary option. I do agree that using the ball to punish people who try to jump your knives works, but it's pretty rare that the really good players fall for it.