Improvments to Kan-Ra

Characters Kan-Ra
#1

I am a person who loves to play as Kan-Ra and love his ranged attacks however as most Kan-Ra players know it can be very difficult to near impossible to keep off the pressure.

One of the challenges I’m facing when playing as Kan-Ra is jump-ins

If I’m cornered without a sand trap to perform a sacrifice or it fails I’m nearly defenseless (unless I have some shadow meter to shadow counter but at the expense of a lot of chip damage or regular damage and or a lucky grab) and I’ve tried many ways to try and counter them. Predicting a jump-in with a clutch is possible but most of the time (at least when I play) it will be whiffs and with the slow start-up and recovery players can be severely punished if not dead. Some other things I’ve tried are variations of sorcerers hands to try and push back the opponent but some are either too slow on start-up or have a far range hitbox that goes past opponent’s specials. Also, it’s especially difficult when players jump directly overhead and throw out some lights or mediums right when you wake up and be trapped into a combo. A suggestion I’d like to recommend is making Kan-Ra’s whirl top invulnerable and or start-up invulnerable. This would allow for easier recaptures of airborne opponents instead of being hit out of it through jump-ins and take off some of the pressure as people would have to re-think their pressure strategy (to be reasonable; whirl could still be stopped by tripping).

#2

He’s supposed to have lackluster reversal options.

#3

Sure and it’s understandable but once a person gets in, as I’ve said before, it’s can be difficult to get opponents out. Ive tried sorcerers hands where you can fully see that the animation played through but whiffs through specials and once that sandsplosion gets used the recovery can take a bit. It’s especially difficult if they’ve still got Ra in a corner and anticipate his explosions throwing light jabs to prevent at times.

#4

Sorcerers hand? You mean his heavy punch buttons?

#5

No, his crouching light, medium, and heavy punches.

#6

In the corner yes, especially if they stay outside sandsplosion range or no sand. Elswhere I disagree, Ra has too much mobility to pin down that easy. Kan is super mobile with sand, has a reversal, anti zoning tool that can also act as an assist/meaty, and a trap.

I think this character is misunderstood. He’s meant to be offensive hyper mobile as well. He’s not meant to play an exclusively straight defense reactionary grounded game, thats only one of his many aspects. and is mu specific or situational. Something I don’t see people realize is the power of ra’s corner carry and corner trap game…

I think people need to get riskier and be more versatile with his tools, playing him straight won’t get you far

2 Likes
#7

If he can place his sand, a person can summon a quick sand trap right in front of themselves with Heavy crouching kick but a Jago can easily wind kick through it if up close or timed well or light or medium punch Ra to prevent his sand coming out even though you can see the sand animation come up. If you can time a sandsplotion before the hit and push them back a little that’s ok, but jago will close the gap with wind kicks and then Ra will be left with no sand. Glacious can get through a lot of his traps with teleports, ice projectiles, ground punches, still play a ridiculously good zoning game, and still dish out more damage than Kan-Ra. All in all, I’m not asking for much since Kan-Ra has a tough time to get out of corners once the sand is gone and I’m sure he will end up in those situations. If he were top invulnerable on his whirl it might help to take off some of the pressure from jump-in’s directly over him since whirl is also suppose to be a recapture. I’m just throwing out suggestions.

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#8

Just because they can doesn’t mean they will. It’s like saying “oh raam blocked my -1 move, and he has meter. Guess I’m getting punished then.”

It doesn’t work like that. There’s never a 100% guarantee you’ll be punished for your actions.

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#9

Well of course it’s not 100% but most of the time it tips the favor that a person is gonna be punished, the chip damage eventually builds up and becomes a pretty significant portion of Kan-Ra’s health, without a trap a person is is just sitting there taking it full on.

#10

Well duh.

#11

Kan still has some bugs that I would like to see fixed. An example when you whirl an opponent through a scarab it does inconsistent things. also I don’t believe that Shadow scarab should do less hits over time because other projectiles don’t, but if the argument is they don’t track then i guess i would say yea whatever. I would also like to see the name of sand explosion changed to sand puff or something because explosion gives the impression of something big and powerful but that hitbox is anything but that. It doesn’t stagger or anything just leaves you set up to be hit most times definitely not something you want to be using much at all.

#12

I agree, with you 100%. While Kan Ra isn’t nearly as brain dead as he was in Season 2, when I encounter a player that really knows how to use him, his potential is insane. I still think his jumping HP could use a hit box nerf (much like Shago’s Pizza cutter), but other than that, I think he’s fine.

S3 Kan Ra just has to really work the traps, versus S2’s “just fill the screen with sand” tactics. And while he isn’t about huge combo damage, although he can, the best Kan Ra’s use Scarabs and resets to wear you down, and a good Kan Ra can do that really quickly.

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#13

Indeed. Kan is a trappler with a floaty jump and very obvious weaknesses, so by nature he will have some pretty rough matchups, especially teleporting characters, but he is also very powerful at the same time it’s just that his insanity is not very obvious without studying the character thoroughly. Kan has a few matchups where he can seriously wreck, straight up counterpicks.

It’s true that alot of the mahvel shenanigans are unsafe and can be punished, but who is going to consistently punish every single thing Kan can do? It’s one thing to hit the lab and punish one specific shenanigan since you’re expecting it, but in a match, you will not be able to deal with all the bags of tricks, especially all the nasty ambiguous crossup setups Kan can set up.

This character is ridiculous, mahvel status type ridiculous (I consider his instinct a mini x factor), the only people who see that are sadira mains :wink: and players with anime game backgrounds.

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#14

I think the game is just trying to account for all the hits from the scarabs plus whirl I’m sure it also depends on WHEN you whirl into them while getting hit by scarabs. Also, good point with shadow scarab, I know the shadow scarabs eventually dissipate but really it should keep its number of hits over time, sure it tracks but its also slow, I can’t think of any other character that would use a shadow projectile and lose hits over time. I also thought sand explosion was actually named sacrifice? I got to look it up again haha but yea maybe something to improve the sacrifice to make it a little safer for Ra so he isn’t left with very limited options if he’s trapped. Good input!

#15

So where is Kan-Ra is suppose to make up for the damage? he can be chipped a good portion of his health even into death. A person who’s in Ra’s face is not going to let him set it up especially since a lot of other character’s normal are faster than his and just poke him out of his specials on startup, unless he’s got shadow meter.

#16

What does every other character do that doesn’t have a reversal?

#17

Either die or try to poke them out of it, but your looking at a character with very limited pokes and very slow startup.

#18

What’s the startup on his nromals again?

#19

I’m not sure but all I kno is his standing light kick and light punch are the only fastest normals he has that he can actually use up close.

#20

Is kan-ra your main main?