I don’t think Sandsplosion needs to be bad period. I get that the devs don’t want the move to be abused heavily, but the are some matchups in where that’s your only option to get out of the corner, and the character you’re facing typically has an easy time putting Kan in the corner.
There’s gotta be a give and take for how this move works. This is why I was contemplating how curses could “buff” sandsplosion. Imagine having this move having essentially 4 different ways this move could work, and depending on the situation, the better off Kan will be. Using the move outside of both curse and instinct would be the worst outcome, and using the move while the opponent is cursed and while you’re in instinct would of course be the best outcome. During the match, Kan would have to work his way in to curse the opponent, that way at the very least if things don’t go his way, Sandsplosion would still function as a “get out” card, but with less penalties per say. I know it may sound a bit complicated, but I believe a subsystem like that could work.
Also, on a side note:
Someone mentioned this before, but I definitely like the idea of Kan being able to do both versions of Shadow Sandspike. I personally would recommend the option to hold the buttons for the S3 sand spike, and just
taps for S2’s version. I wonder if the hitbox to S2’s version was too small for it to be used as a “push back” move. I personally liked it. The move forced the opponent back to the other side of the screen, and they would have to work their way back in, ultimately putting themselves in the range Kan needed them to be in. I feel most people weren’t using this simply because Shadow Swarm, and Shadow Clutch were stronger and easier options to use and nothing else.
The idea of a “buff” with curse seems interesting. Maybe they could make it to where he could get more potential damage like Cinder to get opponents to stay cautious and back off to avoid the cash out or if caught in Sandsplosion while cursed it causes tremendous damage while maybe also achieving a back off of some opponents? also maybe his hitbox for c.b.HP could be a bit bigger or longer so that it at least reaches out to the end tip of the animation for better AA?
That was me. Full disclosure, I’ve never touched season 2 kan-ra. But personally I think spending a bar to safely push the opponent halfscreen, on a character who already has to make serious choices between spending meter on damage or on neutral, is probably fair.
It really feels like they just made Kan-Ra the joke of the game like he hardly stands a chance what with how much damage everybody else can dish out he really doesn’t seem like much of a threat…
If Shadow sand spike hits with all the hits it does create space as the last hit will generally hit away from you. I think what you want is for it to create some pushback on block. I dont think bringing back the old spike just for that purpose is worth the time when you can in theory have the new spike fill that role also.
I’ll be honest here I can assure everyone that both @TheKeits and Iron Galaxy love Kan-Ra for several reasons. 1st Kan-Ra is Iron Galaxy’s first original character both TJ and Maya were remake characters. Second I have talked to Keits at CEO multiple times he did some of the animation acting for Kan-Ra personally and he is proud of it. Keits also always speaks highly of the character when I talk to him, even when I was still struggling with him at the beginning of S3. Its true that Kan-Ra has a hard time getting damage in a lot of normal situations and I will post videos about this later along with some wall splat suff I labbed up yesterday. Its also true that his potential damage also isnt great but give the game some time to balance itself out a bit. I truly believe IG will make the necessary adjustments to Kan in due time and I will keep posting my thoughts and idea along with video evidence so that they know where to look based on something real and not just wishful thinking. Also it helps that I am a software engineer so I have some insight into the development process.
As you say, it(current one) only creates space on hit, and sometimes, if it hits you at determinated ranges, it push you in.
Old version has two qualities very different from the current:
-Pushes away on block (Yay!)
-Both hit and block lay the sand just below your opponent(which can lead to use it for instant preassure), while the current doesn’t if it hits.
I’m not saying this because I want old version back as option(Irrelevant to me), just to clarify that both versions have clearly different objectives, and more options =better for Kan-Ra
Well, I think it would probably be too good if the new spike filled both roles. Shadow spike is already a super good use of meter, making it also a tool to push people away safely might be too much. I could be wrong though.
Yea I think Shadow sand trap is awesome now also. probably fine as is i would put my stock in maybe adding better hit boxes on regular scarabs so that the whole cast couldnt ignore them anymore since they take time to setup anyway. Or at maybe they do more potential damage since its hard to always react to them also hitting.
also I honestly believe they should at least give a sand trap when the animation for c.HK starts so that way he doesn’t suffer so much for trying to get some sand down. By the way is it just me or does Kan’s grab whiff crouching opponents while other characters don’t?
Here is a link to a video that displays some of Kan-Ra’s manuals that have issues or at least they dont look intended to me. Going to also post this in the bug section to see what happens.
THIS VIDEO IS PERFECT! touches on all the problems that Kan-Ra needs to keep his mix ups going! the devs NEED to look at this and give more options for Kan-Ra to use rather than just some projectile invulnerability to the new 3.6 update which is ALL they did and is very disappointing.
Ill be honest I really wanted that projectile invincibility on the shadow clutch im super excited about it. I just also wanted to address these manual issues
Guys… this might be it for Kan-Ra, he just keeps taking too many disadvantages. The 3.6 patch notes just makes it horrible for him as it keeps 50% potential damage which is a huge game changer. With changes like these it just might put Kan-Ra, in my opinion, on the list of one of the most least enjoyable characters to use in Killer instinct. There are certain situations where the change to potential damage is just way too detrimental to him. For example, say if Kan-Ra has his sand out on the field and he’s taking damage from a combo and manages to break it; not only does he receive the 50% potential damage but could receive an even larger and significant amount of potential damage if he has to use sacrifice to relieve some of the pressure. With fast hitting characters this is basically like a candy shop where they can completely devour Kan-Ra’s health in seconds. To add on, Kan-Ra isn’t much of a hard-hitting character and builds such miniscule amounts of potential damage that even if Kan-Ra’s opponents break his combo it provides very little reward compared to the potential damage other characters can build up.
It is as if every day I am finding more and more issues with Kan-Ra and it’s making it less enjoyable for me to play as my favorite character and at this rate I feel as though I might just drop the game completely. it just doesn’t feel the same what with how Kan-Ra use to be. I’ve played so many matches with him and it just breaks my heart to see him suffer so much loss (not to mention he’s an ORIGINAL character to Killer Instinct!). I’ve also noticed instances where I believe Kan-Ra’s clutch should hit but end up missing. For example, if I’m doing a combo on the opponent and finish it with the sand spike ender, cause a flip-out with c.LP, and try to use clutch when they land but if they activate instinct the clutch completely misses (in my experience). Overall, I’m utterly disappointed to see Kan-Ra fall to such a low tier because of how slow, limited, and nearly non-menacing he is. I hope the Devs look into him a bit more than they have already and put a spark back in his flame to help him rise to the top and regain not only his respect but his fear and title in the tournaments that I believe he so deserves. In addition, I’d like to thank everybody who’s posted here in my forum. You guys have done a great job at addressing and debating some of the issues with Kan-Ra and I pray the Devs look into our responses to put a little more fight into his spirit so that way we can all enjoy him THAT much more.
Don’t use that ender setup. While you can use it all day vs low to mid level opponents, it gets you killed quickly vs good players.
They can just break the light attack (you get knocked down because they are airborne) or jump over the clutch on reaction or guess.
It’s not even that good for counter breaker bait, because the damage scaling will usually be too high.
It doesn’t even matter whether the clutch wiffs or not vs Instinct activation. As soon as they see the clutch during the freeze they can just hold up forward and punish you.
It’s difficult overall, the only option I can see is just to back dash but that gets stuffed easy and wind kicks just eat that back dash up but what I mean is I’ve done that setup and when they landed on their feet the clutch was already out and you could even see the wraps around the opponent when they activated instinct but just completely missed; they didn’t even jump.
Thank you for the news, it’s good to know that Kan-Ra is getting some changes that will put a smile on all Kan-Ra fans’ faces and hopefully they might look deeper into his character to put a kick back into him for some crazier fights! I’m excited to see what the new 3.7 changes will bring although It may be best to not expect any surprises for Ra but with fingers crossed I’m wishing the best for Kan-Ra and to one of my most favorite games to play!
he really doesn’t seem like much of a threat…