The Complete Killer Instinct Guide (ki.infil.net) [All post-S3 chars added!]

Link to the site: ki.infil.net

With the new forums, I wanted to make a new topic for my guide. I started this project near the beginning of Season 2 and have been working on it steadily throughout the duration of the season, writing new character pages as characters were released and improving other parts of my guide as my time allows. The site has grown to an almost unmanageable size, filled with information on virtually every aspect of the game.

The title of my guide references Street Fighter IV players, and some of the pages are written in language meant to relate to people familiar with that game, but the guide has grown so encompassing that it is very readable by players of all backgrounds. Whether youā€™re totally new to fighting games or have been playing for years, itā€™s my hope that this guide will teach you something new about Killer Instinct.

So, whatā€™s in this guide?

  • A thorough breakdown of every aspect of KI: To the best of my knowledge and ability, Iā€™ve broken down how Killer Instinct works, from the combo system, to combo breakers, to basic movement options, and described each system with examples where applicable.

  • Embedded video examples: Almost every page has several embedded videos to further illustrate concepts.

  • Character overviews and strategy: Each character in the game has their own character page where I provide information about their general strategy, important normals and special moves, and full discussion about any special mechanics they bring to the game. On the characters page, you will find a few playful graphs visualizing my subjective view on each characterā€™s strengths and weaknesses.

  • Practice breaking shadow linkers in your browser: Iā€™ve created a browser-based method for practicing the timing to break all shadow linkers in the game! Simply visit the Shadow Linker Break Trainer page (use Chrome for best performance) and explore the data to your heartā€™s content. You can sort the linkers with some interesting criteria, examine the exact frame data by clicking ā€œToggle Framesā€ above the graph, or press the Play button next to any linker to practice the break timing yourself.

I will continue to post in this topic as I post updates to my guide. You can also post here if you have any feedback for my guide, whether positive or constructive. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and supporting this project over the last year!

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This needs to be pinned to the top again just like on the old forums.

I donā€™t have KI yet but I will be getting it when it launches for PC. I already understood the basics of the game ever since I first started getting interested in KI (which was around December 2013 - yes, Iā€™ve been interest for that long but have not got to play yet). Anyway, I read through this guide recently and know I understand the combo system completely.

I just want to say thanks for this guide and great work. Now Iā€™m completely prepared for when I get to play KI!

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Keep on keepinā€™ on, Infil! :smiley:

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Sticky this absolute hotness!

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By the way, Infil, I advertised this guide on my youtube channel in the description of my Glacius guide video. This really is an amazing piece of work, though some parts of it are outdated.

What parts are outdated? Iā€™ve tried my best to keep stuff as up-to-date as possible, but itā€™s really hard when I have to manage all the pages that are there. Let me know and Iā€™ll try to fix what I can.

Specifically in the basic ā€œShadow Movesā€ section, there are a few moves you donā€™t mention that go against what you say. You say something like ā€œIt doesnā€™t matter which two punches or two kicks you press because NO shadow move changes effects of trajectories based on that.ā€ Well, Cinderā€™s Shadow pyrobomb changes trajectories based on which buttons you press, so maybe you should mention that.

Thereā€™s also a few times in this part where you talk about exceptions to certain rules, like which shadow moves do more than five hits, and some exceptions are not listed.

Sorry if this sounds really nitpicky, but Iā€™m just trying to help.

:laughing: Infilā€™s guide is getting so popular that itā€™s web-filtered at my office now

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I know some people who will be jumping in with the PC release, I will show this to them now.

Thanks, Iā€™ll make these changes over the weekend. I thought I stayed up to date on the more-than-5 hit shadow moves but maybe one slipped through so Iā€™ll go back and check. I forgot I wrote that remark about which two buttons to press for shadow moves (itā€™s pretty tough to remember the contents of every page), so Iā€™ll adjust the wording there.

I also kind of want to rewrite the second half of the combo breakers page. Thereā€™s some missing information there (the 3-hit rule, for instance) and some wording I really donā€™t like, but it also means I have to shoot some new videos which is a fair bit of work so Iā€™ve been putting it off.

Since we seem to be suggesting improvements, i noticed on the Manuals section you have the title ā€˜Comparing Auto-Doubles & Linkersā€™ but shouldnā€™t it be ā€˜Comparing Auto-Doubles & Manualsā€™?

Yep, thanks! Fixed it.

In the combo traits category, there is no mention to ARIAā€™s combo trait(I suppose that her combo trait is her swap body-enders).
If this isnā€™t considered a combo trait, a mention of the lack of combo trait for ARIA would be cool too.

Thank you :blush:

Huh, interesting. I thought I had done that for herā€¦ guess I forgot to. Iā€™ll try to whip up the video this week, as well as fix those earlier comments from SonicDolphin that I said I would do this weekend, but didnā€™t because I was playing Rocket League for 15 hours instead. :slight_smile:

The best just keeps on getting better!

Thank you so much for not only creating this masterpiece but also for constantly maintaining and improving it. Iā€™m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say we greatly appreciate your generous contribution(s) to the KI community.

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After struggling with Aria, I decided to consult infilā€™s guide. Long overdue (my checking of course). Great guide!!

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In the Omenā€™s character page, enders section.

You say that his orda shield ender is his most damaging ender, which itā€™s incorrect. It was patched to deal less damage than furious flurry and demon slide, as you correctly stated in the best counter breaker section. Surely you forgot to edit this post-patch.

Thanks for your time :slight_smile:

Does Ariaā€™s Booster form Crescendo move serve any purpose? I was skimming the guide but wasnā€™t sure if there was anything specific about its use.
Against the CPU on harder difficulties I have only connected with crescendo once in 50 matches or so. Thanks!

The horizontal Crescendo is a really good footsies tool, since it whiff punishes tons of stuff from surprising ranges. The vertical Crescendo in the air can be used to fake movement (sort of like a dive kick) and also used for tricky crossups, although Aria doesnā€™t need to use Crescendo to do crossup stuff in booster body. Shadow crescendo has a hit of armor so it can be used as a situational reversal, while the heavy one on the ground is truly invincible but they have to be pretty close to hit. Another pretty common use of it is the medium version in the air. You can fly around and punish things on reaction, or bait anti-airs and then punish with it.

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