Kano is a specialist character with the potential to be high tier, but due to trends towards easier to use characters in recent years, he has dropped to high mid. He is the best sweeper due to his options. You have the Knife Uppercut which hits ducking opponents, very useful, the regular Cannonball which is instantaneous, and the vertical ball is equally as useful, off a sweep. Air Throw is very good, but low damage, he can link his close range HK easily off a sweep as a wake up, so can Jax and Sonya, but Kano can get it on more and results in about the same damage mid screen for all three if they do. When rushing down, never go for any combo except HK, D+LP, D+HP, if you connect it, walk in, aaHP, JK, Air Throw, it’s 3% less than if you did it with HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, and when rushing in, the HP whiffs, so it’s worthless. If you connect a jumping HP, do the 4 hit pop up, aaHP, JK, Air Throw, for 48%. Kano has various air combo finishes for a variety of character scenarios. Always remember, sweep, sweep, sweep.
Basic moves:
His jump kick is nice and pointy, leaving little room to be countered by simple moves, his Uppercut has good distance but sucks if someone jumps to land in close or tries to cross up so you’re better off going with the Air Throw. His sweep is super quick, his standing HK is great anti air when you need it fast. His jabs have little range, his ducking LK is awkward and clunky but gets the job done. His jump punch is very round and ball like, easy to counter since the collision box is so close to his own. His knee lift is more like a close range low kick, almost as useful as Nightwolf’s obvious stomp. The roundhouse hits pretty high
and has average range.
The Air Throw can be abused much like Jax’s backbreaker. Sweep when safe, look for cross up jump kicks, if they do, jump straight up, forward or back, and Air Throw em back down, go right back into sweeps, run and knee jabs are good, don’t do too crazy on them they are easy to counter. Air Throw is ok to extend combos but only adds about 5-10% depending on Damage Protection or not. He has other options after his pop up which are better than using the Air Throw, however the Air Throw allows him to more easily go back into what Kano does best, and that’s sweep.
The Manhandle is really only useful in combos, it has almost no purpose other than a risky wake up mid game, and it’s rare you see it connect and it leaves you wide open. Players abuse it against scrubs because they don’t expect it and it has a psychological advantage otherwise due to the exaggerated manner. If you
do get the Manhandle miscreen, it is possible to juggle a LK, or Cannonball off it. Use it especially after corner juggles follow by a HK or Cannonball for extra damage.
The horizontal and now a vertical Cannonball are very useful in UMK3. Use the vertical ball particularly for anti air. From after a close blocked sweep you can use it to land directly ontop of turtling opponents and as soon as touch the ground you can throw, beating out any attack they try if they aren’t holding
back, and often times when you land on someone and they don’t try anything they aren’t holding the proper direction to prevent throwing anymore and it’s almost a free throw, or a 50/50 situation. You’re going to want to make sure that during Kano’s decent it is tricky to guess which side he will be on, or else this will not be effective. Don’t over abuse this tactic because it doesn’t take long to start scouting it and positioning for easy counters. It is a similar concept to Sonya’s bike kick however she doesn’t go into a real punishment mode off it. The vertical ball is also a good method of escape from run jabs, and is an ideal anti air move obviously, as almost nothing can stop it except Air Throws.
The regular Cannonball is a fast moving attack that you should use in close range as a wake up, or to counter virtually any standing attack within close range as well. You can also use it as transportation against turtles and zoners, it gets you right on top of them and sets up the chance for a wake up pop up
combo as long as you stay out of blockable range. You can also use it to extend combos as well.
The Knife Uppercut is a low hitting attack with some decent range. You can use it in juggles, as a wake up on ducking opponents, or sometimes as an anti air if you are too far away for a HK, or roundhouse. Kano’s recovery vs the opponent’s when it is blocked is very close to being the same, but Kano generally ends up
vulnerable afterwards.
The Knife Throw is a standard, no frills projectile, except it has quite a bit of start up animation before it becomes an actual object so it’s easy to avoid. It’s a bit higher than others, like Sheeva’s fireball, making it easier to duck, but it is a bit better at hitting opponents when they jump back. You should probably not use it in juggle combos, as there are better options than it in all situations.
He has three infinites in the corner that work on some characters, you can mix it into his corner combos off launchers. You can simply repeat the Manhandle over and over, which requires precise timing, and also, aaLP or HP, cancel to Manhandle works as well, but is increasingly difficult as they tend to still get
some push back, making it harder to complete.
Kano can relaunch every character in the game, like Ermac and Human Smoke. This is done by performing a launcher combo, jumping along with the opponent as they are flying, and as you are about to land, connect a linked HP, which is unblockable if they are close enough to the ground but are still considered in
air, and then the autocombo is free. It is useful against certain characters, as some are easier to relaunch than others. Difficult/pointless relaunch attempts are Stryker, Sindel, Female Ninjas, and Male Ninjas. Everyone else is pretty easily relaunched by Kano.
Special Moves:
Manhandle: D, F, LP (19.2%, damage does not read correctly or add to combo hits, limited juggle options mid screen, more in corner)
Cannonball: Charge LK 2 seconds, Release (14.4%, can punish moves that Upward Cannonball cannot due to Selective Disabling)
Upward Cannonball: F, D, F, HK (14.4%)
Knife Uppercut: D, F, HP (15.6%, limited juggle options in corner)
Knife Throw: D, B, HP (11.4%)
Air Throw: BL in air (9.6%, can be done without releasing Block)
Auto Combos:
- HK, LP (2 hits, 15%, +54f, Launcher)
- HK, D+LP, D+HP (3 hits, 19%, +54f, Launcher)
- HP, HP, LP (3 hits, 18%, +54f, Launcher, whiffs on ducking and blocking opponents)
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP (4 hits, 22%, +54f, Launcher, whiffs ducking and blocking opponents)
- HK, HK, LK, B+HK (4 hits, 23%, +9f, mid screen knockdown, can whiff mid combo or last hit depending on timing)
- HP, HP, HK, LK, B+HK (5 hits, 26%, +9f, mid screen knockdown, whiffs on ducking and blocking opponents and also mid combo or last hit depending on timing)
Basic Juggles:
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, Air Throw 6 hits 35%
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, Manhandle 5 hits about 32%
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, aaHP, Knife Throw 7 hits 42% (Knife Uppercut 44%)
- aaHP, JK, Air Throw 3 hits 31%
Advanced Juggles:
- HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, aaHP, JK, Air Throw 8 hits 49%
- aaHPHP, JK, Cannonball 4 hits 43% (BP)
- (in corner) JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, HP, Manhandle, Cannonball 9 hits 47%
- (as close to corner as possible without being pushed back) HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, Manhandle, Cannonball 7 hits 50%
Expert Juggles:
- (in corner) HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, deep JK, Manhandle, Cannonball, 7 hits 47%
- (in corner) aaHP, JK, aaHP, Manhandle, Cannonball, 5 hits about 62%
- (possible mid screen on some characters, requires Run Burst) HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, Deep JK, aaLP, Manhandle, Cannonball 8 hits 50%
UMK3 Strategy Guides
UMK3 Combo Guides
UMK3 Character Guides