Kabal is far and beyond the best character in UMK3, and for that reason, I will get into a bit of counter Kabal strategies as well. He defines the top tier. There are many specific tactics that need to be used against him to stand a chance, and these tactics can be spilled over into general gameplay as well. He essentially dictates the match and really the only way to beat Kabal is to frustrate him and force mistakes. You really have to take advantage of jab canceling with block (kara jabs), in which you bait Spins out of the Kabal player, and the result will either be a snuff, a block, or a throw.
You should try to stay on the ground against him as much as possible because the Spin (formally the Nomad Dash but Spin will be used in common text) will get you every time, particularly in cross ups. Teleporting Ninjas Ermac, Human Smoke, and Scorpion can give Kabal a lot of trouble, with Scorpion having the least chance due to his low damage combos, also Sub-zero seems to be a good counter for him as well as Nightwolf. What makes Kabal even more dangerous is he can turtle as well as rush down, to both extremes, and mix it up in game constantly. Expert Kabal players can place jump away kick to fireball traps low enough to the ground to not be hit by teleport punches.
He has good damage combos starting from a knee lift, and good damage basic juggles off a simple Spin. Serious damage can be dealt in the corner with multiple JK Air Fireball (AFB) juggles. His rub jab pressure is unparalleled because of the Spin always lurking around, even though his damage was slightly reduced from UMK3, the ease of him getting 3 combos becomes very apparent when you don’t feel like being stuck under his run jab pressure and a Spin plows through your ducking LK. Counter run jabbing Kabal will usually result in you being thrown because of some awkward throw range priority in that situation. When a Kabal player begins his rush down specifically run jabbing like crazy, you might want throw out an uppercut before the first run jab even comes out, also try uppercut him when he lands after a JK and watch when he does his 5 hit combo because if it is even slightly slow the uppercut will miss and you can capitalize on him.
What you want to do as Kabal is run jab pressure as much as possible. Stick in knee lifts every now and then, watch for guard breaks and Spin, or combo, if you Spin, make sure you add a jump punch or jump kick to his autocombo. You can play keep away by doing low AFBs and watching for Spin opportunities if they leave the ground. His game pretty much revolves around the run jabs and Spin set ups. Corner run jab pressure should be in the form of double run jabs (LP,LP run, LP,LP run as fast as possible) and occasionally stick in a knee lift for his combo, but don’t do the pop up combo, do the 4 hit kick combo, as it does 24% vs 15% for the 5 hit, and the same rule applies if you get a Spin in the corner, and cannot push them out to set up a multiple JK AFB juggle, except you should add a jump kick starter.
You can stick a ducking LK in after the 4 hit kick combo in the corner, and if they attempt to rush out after the stun of the kick, this is a good chance to get a Spin, or a RH to a Spin in the corner, which can hit certain characters and make them end up standing and not in the air, and it is unblockable. Jump Kicks also can cause this scenario, so watch for it and make sure that they are not actually on the ground before trying a juggle combo when you will get his hook swords instead. Avoid using his longer combo strings on blocking opponents, even if you intentionally do not finish it you could get a free hit sometimes. Definitely avoid doing his longer combos for chip damage if you are not comfortable with positioning because it can easily result in a whiffed hit in the middle or at the end. This leaves Kabal wide open. If you’re going to combo chip, do the 3 or 4 hit kick combo depending on the character, and watch for players to unblock on the final hit guessing on you leaving it off, because if they get hit, that’s a free Spin on their way down.
Basic Moves:
Kabal’s run jabs are excellent, and compliment his rush down very well. His standing HK and uppercut are very good and useful, Uppercut can hit Shang while just ducking. His standing LK has about average range as does his sweep. His JK and JP and excellent in many situations, and his roundhouse is fantastic for long range anti air, keeping him out of snuff range. It’s up there with Kung Lao but not quite as good as Liu Kang’s which has height and distance. His ducking LK is a bit short on range, but on occasion you might want to stick a random ducking LK in between run jabs to entice your opponent to attack, and wake them up with a Spin. Take advantage of his own cross up ability, as Kabal often times will land next to someone without getting hit by a counter uppercut, and in from there you can sneak in a JP to combo.
The Nomad Dash (Spin) is Kabal’s most important special move. It’s collision box and collision start up are very large/fast and ultimately can be considered broken to an extent. The only things that can beat it out are usually accidentally timed jump kicks, or intentional Run/Jara jabs that turn into accidental throws or snuff the Spin early enough. There are a few other moves here and there that can beat the Spin, but generally not timeable. You can throw Kabal out of the Spin from any distance with perfect or lucky timing as usually the Kabal player does not instantly hold back to prevent throws, but expert Kabal players will not do random Spins if they know it has a chance to be blocked. Expert Kabal players also tend to have a “Psychic Spin” ability in which they know exactly when you let off your guard.
The Spin can also punish essentially any blocked combo hit with some exceptions, such as final hits where it is disabled or logical recovery deficits that prevent it from reaching in time, for example it can punish Nightwolf’s combo that ends in a standing HK, but not Sektor’s. So if your opponent end combos mid-string, learn which strings can and cannot be punished. Specific examples to come.
Utilize the Spin as a nearly perfect anti cross-up tool by performing the motion (B,F LK) backwards, as (F,B) and hit LK as soon as they cross Kabal’s axis or in more ambiguous situations, a really quick reactable normal input is still possible though the potential for failure increases a bit. It is in your best interest to get good at performing the motion while ducking, as that is it’s most useful feature during cross ups, lowering your Hurtbox, but even still, this generally is not required as the Spin hits a frame earlier on an airborne opponent.
Use the Spin as a Juggle after an anti air HP, or a high contact AFB to set up big damage mid screen juggles. After an anti air Spin, it is easy to get 42% on just about everyone except Shang Tsung with aaHPHP, JK AFB, after this you can often times do a ground fireball on certain characters (Kano, female ninjas) which keeps them pinned down because they cannot duck it, if they jump, try another Spin. If you Spin on the ground, a generally good damage combo is jump punch starter, 5 hit pop up, JK AFB.
The Spin has a limit of 1 usage per combo, and 1 hit before it is locked, breakable to 2 with gc. In MK3 he could Spin twice consecutively during the Fatality Dance Dizzy recovery animation, however that was removed even though it was blockable on the ground during the animation. It was, however, useful for catching opponents in the air then getting to the other side for better corner carry setups if necessary. Opponents can Block or escape during the post-Spin Dizzy or mid-air fall with Special Moves (or Air Throws).
The Spin is disabled when your opponent is already in the Spin hit reaction, is in recovery frames after a Blocked Sweep, HK or LK as well as after blocking an angled Jump Attack due to special attributes, so Kabal cannot counter these moves with the Spin. It is also disabled while your opponent is in grounded Jab recovery frames, so you cannot snipe with Jabs and cancel to the Spin during confusion. Of course, gc is an exception for this, a 1 frame execution.
If you decide to go for tactics over damage, you can do a deep bleeding JK instead of the fireball, and go back into run jabs, even if it is late and gets blocked and this sets up more chances to get another Spin. If you Spin someone in the air who has an air move, like Sindel, or an air throw, once they drop out of the Spin they can escape the drop with that air move, so don’t waste time and let them drop if they are too high or they will be able to surprise counter you.
When you do a pop up combo with Kabal, sometimes the combo lags slightly depending on where they are when the first hit happens, and it looks as if the uppercut isn’t going to come out. If your opponent releases block to capitalize the uppercut will hit. Spin them as they are falling, but do it somewhat low to the ground since you only have one hit in memory for the combo. Let them drop out and then do aaHPHP, JK AFB, but make sure they will not be able to drop-counter. The point of doing this is because the remainder of the combo will now do full damage, and the Spin will also have done a whopping 1 pixel of damage, for a total of 45%. This also works in a much simpler scenario, after a grounded JK. When it connects, immediately do a Spin when you touch the ground and Spin them before the hit the ground, afterwards you can do his aaHPHP, JK, AFB for 59%, vs 36% with the damage protection. Use the Spin on occasion as wake up, but players with counter Kabal knowledge know to bait that wake up Spin with a fake run jab, canceled to block.
The Spin can plow through a standing HK or LK after Kabal is knocked down, so watch for that, and you can also counter just about anything with the Spin after you block. You can also break out of the wobble frames (not the Spinning frames) with any special move, but Kabal players should never allow this to happen. It should also be noted that in the corner, if you throw your opponent being as close to the wall as possible, a well timed Spin is free, however depending on the bounce of the opponent, it can result in either a grounded, or air born scenario, so be careful on your follow up. After certain throws, the Spin is a free counter, where something like an uppercut would be. Male Ninjas and Liu Kang for example, have vulnerable throws near the corner, even a low air throw. Also remember that a Spin near the corner results in a set up for the corner jab infinite. You can try to use the Spin to interrupt counter attempts on broken or blocked combos. It’s not a guarantee, but it works often as a 50/50.
Eye Blast (Previously known as the Eye Laser and later known as the Gas Blast) is Kabal’s Fireball and another integral move in Kabal’s arsenal. You can use it to zone because Kabal can instantly touch the ground after a low AFB, or you can use a high one to knock a jumper down, in which case you should watch for the chance to get a free air Spin, setting up and easy 56% combo. You can use the AFB to bait an uppercut counter on a jump in and avoid the contact, enabling you to then run jab pressure. Nightwolf can give Kabal trouble at times, but if you notice they are reflecting your low AFBs, intentionally do one that will go over, or through Nightwolf’s head and Spin him. Use the AFB in corner juggles to extend them up to 3 times on anyone with the right timing, being high JK contact, low AFB contact, re-jump, repeat.
You should never use the ground version of this move except to extend a combo, but only use it if it’s going to finish them because the recovery is long and Kabal is vulnerable depending the range, anywhere from around -10 to +12. Some characters cannot Duck the Eye Blast. There are no true normals in arcade MK games. Everything collides based upon specific box detection, and some moves just happen to operations as Mids. the closest to a true mid projectile in the game would be Reptile’s Forceballs, as no one can Duck them. Kabal, Shang Tsung, Kano, the Female Ninjas are among those who are hit while Ducking.
It is extremely useful to perform this move as an “instant air” on the way up from a jump which can be tricky. You can perform the move by buffering with a jab, for example, to hold you on the ground, or while you’re in the air on the way down from another jump, hold Up and tap Back Back then fire, and this can give you some control as to how high you want the AFB to be. If on the ground, press B, and then B (and hold)+UP+HP to get it as low in the air as possible or thereabouts. You don’t have to press the B, B any more quickly than on the ground or in the air, in the air you will notice the buffer window more. You should be able to hit most characters in neutral with it. It adds an element of surprise and countering it virtually must be predicted, however you may find yourself abusing it and getting caught on good guesses. It is also a useful tactic to use the AFB movement as an air back dash to get him safely over projectiles on jump backs or to bait attacks on jump ins.
The Ground Saw is generally useless and used more as a mind game, but it is very risky as it’s always reactable. If you do happen to catch someone with it on the ground, you can’t do anything after it anyway because they can block. If you get someone with the Saw in the air as they leave the ground to jump over it, you can Spin them and do his bread and butter combo for 53%. The Ground Saw has a limit of 2 hits before it is locked and has no truly useful comboing scenarios. If Kabal is hit or Blocks at anytime while the Ground Saw is out, it will disappear. On turtling opponents, try the this after doing an AFB and it will catch them or at least stop them from advancing. Otherwise, stay away from it, it just has a very poor set of properties that make it counter-intuitive with everything from the move input itself, to frame data. You might even notice from time to time that you will accidentally perform the move due using Run tapping as a dash mechanic while being crossed-up. The Saw is disabled while the Spin is active, post-Spin Dizzy animation, or drop out duration of the Spin is active, this was also changed from MK3.
Kabal can relaunch combo the Robots, Sheeva, Unmasked Sub-zero, Nightwolf, Jax, Kung Lao, Sonya, Kabal.
Special Moves:
Nomad Dash (Spin): B, F, LK (0%, Hit Limit 1. Containment leaves opponent relative to collision position. Opponent can Block or do special moves to escape Dizzy animation or when falling out of air. Juggling an opponent that falls out of Nomad Dash in air resets Damage Scaling but not hit counter. Disables the Ground Saw when active)
Ground Saw: B, B, B, Run (10.8%, Hit Limit 2, cool down is variable dependent on when it disappears from screen and will stay on screen until a combo finishes, disappears if Kabal is hit or Blocks, has containment aspect but attacks on ground are blockable. Juggle scenarios are possible.)
Eye Blast: (13.8%, can be done in air, “instant air” version can be done on the way up for optimal frame data [B, B{hold}+UP+HP or hold Up, B, B, HP, can buffer input with jump, Jab, Sweep, Block etc])
Auto Combos:
- HP, HP, D+HP (3 hits, 13%, +50f, Launcher. Last hit can whiff on blocking opponents after Jump Punch Starter if not timed properly.)
- HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP (5 hits, 15%, +50f, Launcher. Can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents after Jump Punch Starter if not timed properly.)
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP (4 hits, 17%, +3f, mid screen knockdown. Last hit can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents if not timed properly.)
- HK, LK, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP (6 hits, 17%, +3f, mid screen knockdown. Can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents if not timed properly.)
- HK, LK, B+HK (3 hits, 18%, +13f, mid screen knockdown, can otg in corner with cLK or Spin mid screen and corner if only the last hit connects. Does not have a tendency to whiff like the rest of his combos.)
- HK, LK, HP, HP, HK, B+HK (6 hits, 18%, +13f, mid screen knockdown, can otg in corner with cLK or Spin mid screen and corner if only the last hit connects. Can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents if not timed properly.)
- HP, HP, HK, B+HK (4 hits, 19%, +13f, mid screen knockdown, can otg in corner with cLK or Spin mid screen and corner if only the last hit connects. Can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents if not timed properly.)
- HK, LK, HK, B+HK (4 hits, 24%, +13f, mid screen knockdown, can otg in corner with cLK or Spin mid screen and corner if only the last hit connects. Use this combo in corner pushback range for the highest damage option. Last hit can whiff mid combo on blocking opponents if not timed properly.)
Basic Juggles:
1. Spin, nJK, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, JK, AFB, 9 hits 41%
2. aaSpin, aa(HP,HP), JK, AFB 5 hits 42%
3. aaHP, Spin, aa(HP,HP), JK, AFB 6 hits 49%
Advanced Juggles:
1. near corner, Spin, nJK, HK, LK, HP, HP D+HP, JK at peak, pause and fireball before you hit the ground, then JK, pause slightly, AFB, JK, AFB (you can get at least 2 JK AFB on every character) 2 volleys is 11 hits 56%. 3 is 13 hits 70%
2. aaSpin near corner, aaHPHP (outside of skate range) JK, AFB 2x or 3x depending, can result in 72-100%, on 2x, stick in a running HK at the end, for 86%.
3. Spin, nJK, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, R, aaHP, JK, AFB 10 hits 44% (works on male ninjas, jax, Stryker, and Sub-zero, Nightwolf, harder on others)
4. aaSpin, JK, aaLP, JK, AFB (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 5 hits 50%
5. aa AFB, Spin, aaHPHP, JK, AFB (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 6 hits 56%
6. aanJK, aaSpin, JK, aaLP, JK, AFB (on male ninjas, Jax, Sub, Stryker) 6 hits 61%
7. aaHP,HP (glitch/just frame cancel to Spin), aaHPHP, aaHP, JK, AFB (on Scorpion, Smoke, and Ermac block teleport punch especially easy) 8 hits 62% or also just do a single aaHP, then pause to get a higher Spin, and finish the combo as normal for 56%
8. JK (grounded) Spin, wait till they fall out of the Spin, HP, HP, JK, AFB 6 hits 59%
9. (blocked teleport uppercut) aaHP, Spin, JK, JK, AFB 5 hits 51%
10. (blocked teleport punch, Mileena Telekick and Kano's Cannonball) aaJK, Spin, aaHPHP, JK, AFB 6 hits 58%, and if they land on the ground many times it will not be blockable, or it'll hit as a wake up, so do a b&b ground combo of choice
11. JK (grounded) Spin, wait till they fall out of the Spin, HP, HP, JK, AFB 6 hits 59%
12. aaHPHP (gc, again easier than you would think) Spin, aaHPHP, aaHP, JK, AFB 8 hits 62% (BP)
UMK3 Strategy Guides
UMK3 Combo Guides
UMK3 Character Guides