I’ve played fighting games for quite some time now and I love trap characters. But Kan is intimidating, partially due to the variety of his moves but also because of how much he got nerfed from S2 to S3, which makes finding resources to learn from difficult to their varying relevance. What would you guys suggest are crucial aspects of Kan I and any other beginner should focus on initially? Like a simple game plan to get us going, maybe a setup or two off an ender or a certain move? Go to moves you find most useful? The Infil guide is of course great but it’s a lot of info all at once and it’s impersonal, which is why I’d rather hear it from the Kan-Ra user base first hand.
TDLR: High priority things to focus on learning as a new Kan-Ra player? Tips, good setups to start with, best normals to get used to, block pressure, etc.
I haven’t played much Ra since S3 came out but speaking from S2 experience 1st and foremost ALWAYS have sand so you have your only reversal. Always be careful of using sacrifice because it damages you and can put you in a ton of trouble if you space it wrong. Try and have bugs out as often as possible and when they jump into bugs be ready to recapture with Qcf punch or if they’re over sand df.hp for a combo.
My favorite mixup is off of the scarab ender with the shadow bugs over them, meaty cr.mp catches most attacks and most dashes, s.hk is good in the corner and s.mp works too but I use it less. they cant jump into scarabs, if they do catch them with qcf punch or df.hp for a combo, if they start blocking command throw them.
Most players will rush you at the start of a match/round to keep you from getting sand or bugs out, what i like to do is dash backwards as much as possible to buy time until it starts and if I have enough space, forward jump over therm with j.hp for a cross up or s.hk/cr.hk/j.hk to put out my sand.
Most of this stuff should still be helpful from what i’ve played as him in s3. good luck, I love kan-ra but he does seem alot weaker now 
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Personally I don’t think a beginner should be PLAYING Kan-Ra. But I’m not a Kan-Ra player so…
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Would Cinder be better than? Cause I’m going to try and learn one or the other. I’m a beginner to KI but I’ve already put a lot of time into Aganos and want to branch out a bit more. These are the types of characters who interest me. I think I’ve played enough fighting games to endure through the rough learning phase.
He is weird to get used to but i don’t think he’s too difficult once you catch on to what he’s all about. Definitely not a character you want to learn fighting games with.
NO. personally cinder is WAYYYYYY harder than kan ra, though i havent played much s3 cinder yet either and i dont like “charge” characters
Cinder is a charge character? Since when? I didn’t think anyone in KI was a charge character.
well, back forth/up down. you dont have to hold it at all. and cirnder does have 2 quarter circle moves.
I played a lot MK so I think I can manage the inputs. Kanra just seems a lot more my style, with CInder I just like the whole burning out limbs and the pyro bombs. But outside of that Cinder isn’t really that interesting to me. I like his slipperiness and mechanics. But Kan can be slippery too and everything he does is the kind of stuff I love to do in fighting games. He was the main reason I got interested in KI so my heart is with him.
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Stay tuned in Kan-Ra S3 general discussion
This thread will have more info for you.
Right on. Like i said, kannie aint that hard once you get used to him, I’m sure you’d do fine with past fighter experience. Cinder is really cool and I have played him a good amount but he’s too focused on juggles for me and i always drop his combos. still fun tho.
You play cinder though lol (I think he’s not easy to learn)
I think you’d have an easier time with Cinder. But you should focus on the characters that you really want to play. I consider Kan-Ra to be careful planning. Making use of all of your tools in unison. Once you figure out how to use all of your tools in unison, he’s a monster. Fulgore’s like that too I’d say.
Cinder is not a charge character btw. Just back-forward. And if you want my input on learning Cinder, I have two pieces of advice.
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Learning how you use Trailblazer efficiently and effectively is key.
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USE LOW INFERNO!!!
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Kan-ra can win most matches by just performing a block-string and ending it with the command grab. Then once they start jumping, you end it with something else.
Thats a good beginner strategy. If you do everything else right, you could easily make it to Gold with him.
(But if you are a beginner PLAYER, then i think you should finish this checklist first:
-Complete the dojo at least 3 times. try to get through the 3rd time without EVER mashing buttons.
-Dont ever guess break. Get used to learning opponents breaking patterns, and spend at least a little time in Combo-breaker training.
-Watch a tournament. Because it is fun, and you get to see what playing correctly looks like.)
As a Kan-Ra player, don’t. Unless you want to risk losing a lot for a beginner. Season 2 was hard to master his tricks and losing a lot as a beginner but in the end it paid off; now what they did to him in Season 3 is TWICE as much frustrating losing most of his damage and setups… You may try hard and learn all his moves, but everything you heard or saw about Kan-Ra back in Season 2 is no more.
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That’s the problem with S3 kan-ra. It doesn’t work like that anymore, because he is negative after every block string.
Seriously, there is no reason to not hold forward jump whenever he puts you in block stun.
Shadow spike is helping a lot with block strings, but you have to carefully set it up.
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I would say learn your normal attacks first. Pay attention to the range of each move, and then start incorporating specials into them if possible.
For instance, you’ll see some Kan-Ra players (myself included) use st.HP~qcf+K at a specific range. In the air, depending on the trajectory, I’ll use something like j.HP~air scarab, or j.MK~air scarab.
The question then becomes why are you using specific moves. Have options for doing anti-airs, pokes, or even block strings. Once you get better at that, start incorporating hit confirms. Did cr.MP hit? If so, what can you cancel into for a combo? If not, what can you cancel into to form a block string to stay “safe”?
Those are just a few things to think about. Start off small, and work towards building an overall gameplan based on what Kan can actually do, which will ultimately be based on your execution abilities. KI isn’t heavily execution based as other games are, so you shouldn’t find yourself stuck at doing certain things.
Let me know if that helps any…
I love your profile picture old Cartoon network was the cartoon network
Yeah, remember the KI pro league? I was amazed that I was able to beat you with my scrubby little Ra. By the way, that was a good RAAM mirror we had the other day. I would love to play a set with you in the near future 
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