Kitana is a mid to high tier character in UMK3, Her damage was drastically reduced due to the fact her Fan Lift activates damage protection, and if you connect her fan in a combo any hits after it are also damage protected so you’re best bet is to try and not use the Fan Lift unless it’s used for dramatic anti-air prediction. In punisher combos you’re better off try to go for the aaHP’s without the fan to air juggle resulting in about 50%. Run Jabs are her game, the Female Ninjas have really great placement on their Run Jabs, and remember to abuse the hell out of double Run Jabs with her. Remember to use the sneaky 3 hits of the kick combo, leaving off the last B+HK, and lacing in a standing HK if they try and capitalize on what they think is a broken combo.
Mid screen, vs all characters except the Female Ninjas, Sindel, Sonya and Shang Tsung you can stick an unblockable sweep at the end of her Fan Combo, for example, JP starter, HP, HP, B+LP, F+HP, Sweep as soon as you possibly can is 41%, and very easy. Vs Sheeva requires a little more specific placement and timing without a Jump Starter before the combo. This is possible vs all characters in the corner but she has other options for slightly more damage Vs some. Her overall comboing ability is limited from the ground and even with the Fan Lift, low to average damage. Her best bet is unscaled punishing extending with the Fan Toss into the corner.
Don’t forget about the weird hit boxes the Female Ninjas have which can make certain juggles more difficult, and also a lot of characters cannot do their HP beginning to a combo if they get a starter, possibly lowering their overall damage effectiveness helping her slightly but not much. Kitana has some throwing tactics as well, along the lines of Cryax and Robot Smoke. Her throw ends early and your opponent is very close to you so can run in and attempt another free throw depending on if they are doing to try and jump over you or not, or go right into Run Jabs, or run behind them before they get up and attempt a cross up of sorts, try and stick her kick combo in there as well. The biggest boost she’s had since the last cycle of game releases is the usage of her Instant Air Fans (iAF) which optimize her air time, speed of release and recovery.
Female Ninja basic moves:
The Female Ninja Uppercut is average, can hit Shang and Kano while just ducking, nothing to write home about, their standing HK is great for far away jumpers trying to stay out of range for anti air HPs, it doesn’t have as much height as some other characters, but the collision detection is a good distance from their body hit box, so it has good priority. Their LP Jabs hit lower than most so they can Run Jabs Stryker when he’s ducking and blocking, and they good range. HP Jabs have average range but hit much more consecutively than most. Sweeps are silent which is a plus, and they have some distance to them, however are slow on recovery compared to the fast sweepers leaving them potentially open. Ducking LK has some decent pointiness and distance, standing LK hits a bit lower than usual. Their roundhouse is very close range, better off going for a standing HK on jump ins, but the RH can often be used in run underneath jump in situations because the placement is perfect for that. Their jump punch has limited range and is close to their body, bad for cross ups on ducking blocking opponents.
The Fan Lift is not as good as it was in MKII, a bit slower and activates Damage Scaling. If you look at it from the perspective that “free damage is free damage” then fine, use it, but I would say avoid using it unless you scout a jump in from a distance, however the most damage you’re going to see mid screen is about 28 – 30%. She gets OK damage from it in the corner off practical juggles, but nothing compared to her MKII damage. It would have been fair to not have damage Scaling on the Fan Lift but kept the Scaling on the post Fan Toss hits, or perhaps some combination where damage Scaling happens when you use Fan Toss after the a Fan Lift before it, but I’m getting off the point here and this might cause crazy damage work arounds. Whenever you might not be rushing down with her, always remember to buffer the Fan Lift so you can perform on command if you so wish to use it. It is possible to get an glitch cancel aaHP before a Fan Lift but it is not very practical, however the normal limit of hits before the Fan Lift is disabled is 0, meaning you can’t combo anything before it under normal circumstances.
The Fan Toss is still a great move and she can use it almost exactly like she did in MKII. Remember to throw them low to the ground so she lands quickly and can block or counter. A commonly over used tactic is Fan Toss from full screen, run in behind it and expect to get some free chip damage. Against experienced players this is not the case. You will most likely get swept or even take an uppercut, or counter containment during your labored journey to small amounts of damage. What you might want to do is try a Fan Toss from full screen extremely low on the way down, followed immediately by her Wave Punch from time to time. That will get her in close to them a lot quicker, putting the Fan right over their heads as she lands and causing some hesitation to uppercut counter or standing up. From there it’s Run Jab city to kick combos, or simply a throw to beat out their counter move, or mash out a ground combo as soon as you land as well. Don’t over abuse this tactic because it is almost the exact same concept as running in after a Fan Toss, use both and mix it up, keep them guessing. If they jump to avoid the Fan Toss they will get hit by the Wave Punch, if you don’t do the Wave Punch watch for the jump in and set them up for a Fan Lift. Remember to only use the Fan in air, and never ever on the ground. Occasionally throw one high if you expect a jump in. Her style is almost hit and run but you can change it to hardcore offense anytime you get in close with those Run Jabs. You might want to try an early or deep jump kick, pausing to a late Fan Toss in order to bait someone’s counter, this way you can nip them with a Fan on a close quarters JK.
Instant Air Fan is a major boost to her performance. Learn how to properly execute and time the usage of this move to become more sudden and unpredictable. Mask the inputs with jumps, attacks, block, etc to keep opponents guessing, and follow up with pressure sequences. This move should shape your meta pattern of attack and once mastered, you can almost abandon other usages of the move.
The Wave Punch is a pretty neat move that is great anti air for jumping forward, straight up, or back opponents. It’s easy to scout and the D, B HP motion is easy to pull of instantly if you see someone so much as leave the ground. Battering someone down with Wave Punches can have the same psychological effect as air throwing someone on cross ups constantly, it forces the person to change their strategy, possibly to something they are unable to keep up with. You can use it for mobility to an extent, but expect to be punished for abusing it. You can sometimes juggle a LK or HK in the corner after her Wave Punch depending on the character and how high it connects.
Special Moves:
Fan Toss: F, F HP+LP or hold either P button and press the other to activate (13.2%, activates Damage Scaling. Cool down on hit, Block or whiff. Can be done in air, “instant air” version can be done on the way up for optimal frame data [F, F{hold}+UP+HP+LP or hold Up, F, F, HP+LP, can buffer input with jump, Jab, Sweep, Block etc]. Acts as a containment, pushes opponent away setting multiple Juggle possibilies)
Fan Lift: B, B, B, HP (0%, Hit Limit 0, activates Damage Scaling, containment pushes opponent upward and away setting up multiple juggling options)
Square Wave Punch: D, B, HP (16.2%, situational Juggle options in corner)
Auto Combos:
- HP, HP, B+LP, F+HP (4 hits, 25%, +17f, mid screen knockdown, whiffs on ducking opponents, can otg Sweep mid screen on most characters, otg cLK or Sweep all characters in corner, more options on Sheeva and others)
- HK, HK, LK, B+HK (4 hits, 23%, +11f, mid screen knockdown)
Basic Juggles:
- HP, HP, B+LP, F+HP, otgSweep 6 hits 41% (works Midscreen vs most except Female Ninja, Sheeva, Sindel and Shang Tsung)
- Fan Lift, JK, Air Fan, Wave Punch 4 hits 22%
- JK, Air Fan, Uppercut 3 hits 33%
- (in the corner) Fan Lift, JK, Air Fan, aaHP, Wave Punch 5 hits 25%
Advanced Juggles:
- NJK, HP, HP, B+LP, F+HP, sweep 6 hits 43% (all males except Shang midscreen)
- aaHPHP, JK, Fan, R, HK, 4 hits 49%
- aaHPHP, JK, Fan, Wave Punch, 4 hits 50%
- aaHPHP, JK, Air Fan, R, aaHP, Wave Punch 6 hits 53% (you can add an
extra aaHP on Stryker Jax and Sub-zero for example, or aaLPLP or some other
characters adding a little more damage 55-56%) - aaHPHP, JK, Fan, R, aaHPHP, JK or Wave Punch 7 hits 56% (BP)
- (corner) aaHP, JK, Fan, JK, RH, HK 6 hits 59%
- (start about half screen distance from the corner aaHPHP, JK, Air Fan, JK,
aaHP, Wave Punch 7 hits 60%
If closer to the corner, single aaHP is also possible and results in 6-7% less damage but more than acceptable damage for Kitana. She has many variations here and there on her juggles, these would be mostly ideal situations.
UMK3 Strategy Guides
UMK3 Combo Guides
UMK3 Character Guides