Sadira yes Thunder absolutely not
[quote=âBubbRubb4Real, post:20, topic:5170, full:trueâ]
Oh well I was referring to using spike for when the opponent is jumping
around and before they land. Do you know what I mean by that? Similar
to how most good players use Glaciusâs Shadow Shatter when theyâre about
to land from their jump?[/quote]
Oh, as far as that goes, itâs honestly a matter of timing. Some charactersâ jumps are more or less floaty than others, so youâll have to lab it up and work the timing for a few chars like Omen, Kan mirrors, Aganos (?), and cursed characters. I believe most of the other charactersâ jumps are roughly the same timing. Youâll have to do the input at the midpoint of the decline like as theyâre about to land, so as theyâre landing, about 2/3 of the ways down theyâll get hit with Sand Spike.
Perhaps I might make a video to better explain it if time allows.
I havenât fought a whole lot of Thunders in S3, but Iâm sure that j.HP, land, then DP with the MK follow up shuts down some of Kanâs gameplan right? I have a feeling Thunder has such an easier time closing in on Kan, especially considering how Sacrifice doesnât always work in his favor. Like there used to be a point in where on hit or block, Sacrifice would create that space needed to zone again, but now it has to hit for it to work.
Seriously, vs Sadira itâs like âjump moreâ, and âthrow tons of â â â â on the field so sheâll have a hard timeâ. If she closes in, pray that Sacrifice works, or Shadow Whirl connects and doesnât get stuffed by j.HK, which is what she tends to use frequently.
IMO the Thunder MU got a little easier in S3.
Shadow spike is very good especially against characters that canât harass you with projectiles like Thunder.
In S2 you also had to fear combo breakers whenever you hit thunder. Now you can zone him out and even go for a combo whenever you feel like it.
The matchup is bad for Kan nonetheless. You canât do any mistake. And you have to survive until you get a bar to get a shadow spike out.
Further more combo breakers are still bad for Kan, because you loose the shadow trap and your reversal.
I wish getting a CB and getting hit wouldnât destroy your shadow trap. It should just become a normal trap.
Thunder seems tough until you have meter, that I will agree on.
I also wish that CB didnât destroy Shadow Sand Trap. If anything, the character recovering should have a certain # of frames of invincibility while landing, to avoid the juggles done in S2. I think the only character that bypasses this is Arby due to his sticky grenades.
Speaking of Arby, this MU seems a bit challenging depending on the playstyle. Scarabs are so weak that the Carbine shot destroys them easily. Mixups in command grab can only be dealt with by either jumping or Sacrifice, and even still it feels like a 50/50 at the end of the day.
EDIT: The OP has been slightly updated. Please feel free to peruse through it and make any helpful suggestions or changes.
Shadow Spike seems incredibly important in every MU. Is there any MU you guys can think of where it isnât really needed, but still useful to have?
nope. I would go as far and say, if you didnât use your meter for shadow spike, shadow counter or to kill than you just wasted your meter.
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Vs Maya.
Try to avoid or beat her daggers with swarms and HK. You can low profile her daggers with cr.MK. As soon as a dagger is on the ground you have to protect it with good positioning, swarms and your shadow spike. A Maya without daggers is easy.
When she pops instinct, it will get very hard to avoid her daggers. Be mobile and beat her daggers with swarms. Try to waste as much time as possible until her instinct is over.
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I would like to start a discussion about the first couple of seconds in the game and the time between the rounds, where you can move freely but nothing else. How do you get rid of your opponents and establish some defense.
As soon as the match starts there are 2 options an opponent usually chooses.
-
They dash back.
This is the best thing that can happen because they give you time to put your stuff on the screen for free -
They dash in
Now you are in trouble. With no swarm and no trap and bad close normals Kan-Ra is just â â â .
So what do you usually do?
The first thing I do is dash back once or twice and see what option they pick.
If they dash in I usually go for a jump forward.LK to air to air them because most of the time they will jump in. You can also bait a jump by dashing in, but that is dangerous.
I mix this up with a jump back MK xx swarm when I anticipate that they donât jump.
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@lHagenl Iâll edit the OP to reflect your input. Thank you!!! *bows *
Oh for your pre-round strats, I actually do the same thing, lol⊠Typically I dash back to get spacing, and watch what the other opponent does. Those moments actually are extremely important.
VS Thunder:
I am pretty sure he can dash through physical attacks while in instinct.
VS Fulgore
This is a horrible MU. He has every tool needed to just kill Ra. Make sure you spend a lot of time practicing combo breaks vs him and hope that he is not counter break happy.
If you get caught in his vortex, try to block his projectile and shadow counter his mixup. This will work 1 or 2 times.
Get a shadow trap on the field asap and use it to protect yourself. It might save you from teleports.
You can also put a swarm on the field and move forward a bit, so it protects your back.
If he decides to do a raw teleport, just whirl into the direction where he was, when he started the teleport. It will beat all his options, trade with it (DP) or make his attacks wiff, but be careful, he might just fake a teleport.
Best way to end the first round
When you are still combing and they are dead or logged out:
Carry them to the wall with whirl linkers and do a whirl ender. Throw them after the wall splat and do a cr.HK. They will be slowed at the beginning of the next round and you will have a trap on the field. Dash away and you can safely setup your swarms at the beginning of the next round.
I am still thinking about whether it might be a good idea to do a shadow spike instead. You will start the next round with a great assist, but you have to stay in itâs area and it would be a disaster if you get hit.
VS Rash
There are more options vs wrecking ball
AA clutch is very good if they ball in from far.
When you are cornered and they ball, block it and use down back HP. Works most of the time. The options already listed work too, but I havenât tested j.LK yet.
Also, swarms beat wrecking ball MOST of the time (random game is random) Put as many on the field as you can. They will also bait Rash into eating them. Answer that with a spike.
OP is updated. Please feel free to make any suggestions or test anything out.
VS Kim Wu
Whenever she has dragons she will cancel her Dragon kicks into an air attack. Just jab after blocking the Dragon kick. It will beat all her follow ups. Needs further testing.
Shadow whirl works well too + it recaptures for a full combo. Need to test whether normal whirl works.
EDIT: forget it. I just learned she can cancel that move even if it whiffs
I still havenât developed a fight plan vs Cinder.
Putting swarms on the screen doesnât work for me, because he just ignores them.
I am little lost in that MU.
Is AA clutch they key in neutral?
VS Cinder, Scarabs are mainly used for defense against Fire Blobs(?). If you do decide to use Shadow Scarab, heâll have to work his way around it. If heâs still throwing blobs to eliminate the Scarabs, Sand Spike works, or the Shadow Sand Spike would be even better because of the curse.
Most Cinders jump alot (obviously, lol), because they work aerial attacks and crossups in their game. If youâre stepping on a sandtrap, you can sand dash under some of his aerial attacks, to gain space. If the sand trap is in front of you, Cinder has to be high enough to avoid df+HK.
Bait his flash kick as often as possible, just be sure itâs not the flame version. Most Cinders will try to flash kick you when they see you doing something like cr.LK up close and after a hard knockdown.
If you want to do AA Clutch, youâll have to do a good read so that you wonât get punished during the recovery frames.
You want to trap him more often than most characters, because if he can jump, chances are he has a means of escape. Trapping him gives you a better chance at landing Clutch. If trapping doesnât work, cursing alot (no pun intended) tends to even the odds.
Iâm not going to lie, I use Shadow Spike and throw air Scarabs right above it, forming a wall. Some may call it lame, but it helps deal with some of Cinderâs crazinessâŠ
I canât tell you how important b+HP and st.HK is with Kan-Ra. Iâve literally used st.HK to âmaskâ the incoming Clutch, and my success rate has been about 70%. The percentage is higher if thereâs a Scarab above the opponent, even better if itâs a Shadow ScarabâŠ
Hardest MUs for me right now seem to be really good ARIAs, Riptors, and FulgoresâŠ
I got hit with some Riptor tech I havenât seen, then again, I donât really fight many good Riptors but this guy was strong. Basically itâs a throw setup involving her mortar. Sounds simple, but when youâre forced to either block and get thrown, or attempt a counter and get hit, then continue a combo with the manual mortar into a longer combo, things can get sticky. Sacrifice seems to be the only real way out, but with proper spacing, Kan still ends up in the same area. You canât even backdash your way out, because Riptor can easily force a Hard Knockdown and reset the setup. Perhaps popping Instinct then doing Shadow Clutch would work, but the window to do it is so small. Riptor is outside of Shadow Whirl. Shadow Spike might work, only if sheâs not blocking, which can easily be remedied before the spikes start hitting.
Of course, Iâll be doing some lab work, and Iâll post my findings here.
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Iâm not going to lie, I feel like Kan-Ra actually has a decent MU vs Gargos. Even against people who have the guy down to a science, I was able to pose a major threat. How have you guys been fairing out vs Gargos???
I donât really like it myself. His portal punches are a pain in the behind when youâre trying to zone. Perhaps I shouldnât be trying to zone Gargos then.
Yeah you can rush him down for the most part. Just be mindful of his air grab, and instinct. Everything else doesnât really pose a threat⊠Well, his ground command grab shenanigans can maybe pose as a threat if you donât know how to deal with itâŠ