Kano (updated 3-12-06)

Kano is ranked #4 of 23 in UMK3 by popular consensus, however, in current competition, with upgraded combos, Reptile is fighting for this spot. He is the best sweeper due to his options. You have the knife uppercut which hits ducking opponents, very useful, the regular cannon ball 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 mandhandle 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 mandhandle 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.

Basic Juggles:
1. JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, aaHP, JK, air throw 7 hits 47%
2. JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, aaHP, knife throw 7 hits 40% (Knife uppercut 42%, mandhandle, 45%)
3. aaHP, JK, air throw 3 hits 31%
Advanced Juggles:
1. JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, deep JK with LK and charge LK, mandhandle, release for cannonball, 8 hits 57%(can be done midscreen on some characters)
2. (In corner especially against teleporters) aaHP, JK, aaHP, mandhandle, cannonball, 5 hits about 63%
3. JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, aaHP, JK, cannon ball 8 hits 50%
4. aaHP,HP, JK, cannonball 4 hits 43% (BP)
5. (in corner) JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, HP, mandhandle, cannon ball 9 hits 60%
6. (as close to corner as possible without being pushed back) JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, RH, manhandle, cannon ball 9 hits 66%

there should be thread like this long time ago

I second that

sticky plz

This is great and needs to be stickied...I look forward to reading this thread. I'm already a vet at UMK3 but there's always more to learn.

Play on kaillera...=)

Mileena (updated 3-12-06)

Mileena is considered a very low tier character, probably around 22nd of the 23 in UMK3, and third in terms of the three female ninjas. She has overall low combo damage, not much in terms of options, almost everything revolves around the roll which activates damage protection miserably. She, like Cyrax, requires a lot of effort to be a force in the game, and there are some expert players here and there who can use her, however she still just doesn't cut it against most top tier characters. Fortunately the female ninjas have strange collision boxes making it harder to juggle them, and maxed out combos are unlikely in most cases, watch for slip ups and counter based on their character design. Some characters cannot get starters on them at all, and both ground attacks after a JP or a straight up JK will whiff, however in the corner a lot of these characters are able to get starters on them, but still some cannot, it depends on how close you are when the jump attack connects. An underused tactic the female ninjas can abuse is by leaving off the last hit of their kick combos if the opponent blocks the first three, and pausing ever so slightly, then doing a HK as they try to rush in, which happens very often. Even if they don't it hits blocked which does slightly more chip damage than finishing out the combo and doesn't give them as much time to recover and counter, setting up other situations in your favor.

Female ninja basic moves:

The female ninja uppercut is average, 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 jab Stryker when he's ducking and blocking, and they good range. HP jabs have average range, 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. Their JK is one of the best in the game.

The Roll is an interesting and complex move to say the least with lots of uses. It is by definition a containment move as well, similar to that of Reptile's forceball, however Mileena's distance from the opponent and positioning is not always exactly the same making juggle combos for her difficult to guarantee. Mileena can run in sooner depending on what frame she is in when the roll connects. The roll can be used to prevent anti air cross ups if timed correctly. As the player jumps over you, buffer F,F,D instead of B,B,D and do the roll as they start the air attack, you will roll under them, causing the occasional forward flip towards Mileena reaction which is ideal, enabling better juggle combos. It is relatively easy to perform the flip towards roll by timing the contact just on the opposite side of the oppent as they fall, try this during punishment combos with aaHP,HP, B,B, pause, D, HK for the late roll and ideal spacing. The roll can also be used on a delay, so you can buffer B,B, D, wait a good second and then surprise with the roll as if you were the CPU and didn't have to perform any motion, similar to usage of Stryker's baton throw, which can abuse the same delayed button hit concept. There are many players who abuse the roll constantly, and pay for it, please do not be one of these players. It is possible to abuse the roll and be successful, it just takes good judgement on placement. The roll can also be used as a wake up to escape run jabs, smilar to Kabal's spin and Sonya's bike kick, but if it is expected, a simple kara jab will block it and set Mileena up for a punisher combo. The roll has a limit of 1 usage every other hit and is locked at 3 hits, so that means you can combo 2 legitimately. Also look for chances to use the roll in the corner, don't just throw out a random ball because of the likelihood of it being blocked, but watch for an attempt to uppercut and buffering B,B while jabbing at times.

The Teleport/Drop Kick is a very slow attack and should be used as a total surprise, perhaps no more than once a round, it is easy to scout, predict, and counter, and any time you can use it in a combo, you could do 2 or 3 more hits with something else resulting in higher damage.

The Sai Shot is still spammable as it was in MKII in terms of speed, however it is not as effective. The Prophet says "It looks like she's aiming at airplanes or something with them." What he means is, they are way too high in the air when she releases so they are easy to avoid, and he would be right. You can still try to spam them, use them in combos as well, for zoning, etc. You can charge HP for the sai shot while run jabbing with LP, if you see them try to jump out of the corner you can jump back and release HP hitting a sai shot knocking them back into the corner, and you can also try to juggle again before they hit the ground.

As far as I have tested, Mileena can only relaunch the robot ninjas, and Kung Lao, even Sheeva can always block her relaunches, others may be possible, as I sort it out I'll post it.

Basic Juggles:

1. punch starter, HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, aaHP, drop kick 8 hits 37%
2. punch starter, HP, HP, HK, HK, D-F LK, JK, sai 8 hits 40%
3. roll, R, aaHP, roll, R, HK, 4 hits 24%

Advanced Juggles:

1. aa(HP,HP), roll, RH 4 hits 31%
2. (from ground up directly infront of opponent or a cross up jump kick), JK, roll, aa(HP,HP), JK, sai shot, 6 hits 39% (leaving out the sai shot might make the combo easier and will result in about 5% less damage and this can be applied to all other combos ending in a sai shot)
3. (off a flip towards Mileena punisher set up) aa(HP,HP), roll, aa(HP,HP), JK, sai shot 7 hits 41%
4. aaHP, JK, roll, R, aaHP, HK 5 hits 42%
5. aaHP, JK, roll, JK, sai, 5 hits 44%
6. aaHP, JK, roll, R, aaHP,HP, JK, sai shot 7 hits 50% (doable on male ninjas, Kano, Jax, Stryker, Sub-zero, etc)
7. (near corner) aaHP, RH, roll, R, aaHP,HP, JK, sai shot 7 hits 52%

very nice, i really want to see this thread sticked

Very good thread, your time is appreciated. I vote for a "sticky" as well. The final arcade I recently found a UMK3 machine for was removed. For the most part, the strategies work for the characters that are in MK3 as well; correct?

for the most part, yes, but, in MK3 characters like stryker dont have some of their moves (like his gun). but as i say, they shuld work, pretty much.....

is there one of these for Reptile, Liu Kang, Sektor, or Sub-Zero? i dont feel like searching through pages to find out since im about to go to bed. if not then can u do Reptile next? if so then thnx :)

i think stryker will be next

if he is, u may need strats for all the MK3 series, (he had moves he didnt in other games, like gun in UMK3 up and double grenades in MKT)

still, ill go with the majority, sticky this thread.

Very nice in-depth character FAQs

Maybe you guys should think of submitting them as individual Character FAQs to gamefaqs.com. I noticed there are hardly any in the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 section. Only one for Scorpion and one for Human Smoke (both of which are nowhere near the level of the guides posted above).

Keep up the nice work guys Let's hope this makes Klassic MK even more kompetitive!

the faq is only for umk3 characters as far as i know.

Awesome work here!

Sticky time!

For now we're just going to do UMK3 characters and properties, every character will be done eventually, complete with a video tutorial for displaying tactics and combos.

More to Kano (26/09/2005)

Due to its sweep insane speed, you can bait opponents more than you will think. Normally everybody expects you to sweep twice in a row and the best way for punish Kano in that situation is to jump just after the 1st sweep. Just sweep once and aaHK them.

One point of advice is that you can use the V.Cannonball as a "Shoryuken" move. Think of it as the "Ken" of UMK where he cand get off opponents by hitting them in "reversal" style. Also there is in fact a difference on the 2 cannonballs. The LK version is VERY punisheable by standing Hk`s, Hp ́s or Lp ́s and even combos. It isnt good for wakeups also.

The V. Cannball can punish ANY and EVERY HK/LK whiffed or blocked at long/medium range. Just get the right timing dowm. Safe and rewarding.

To keep in mind too is about the tactic of landling with the V.Cannonball ontop the opponents posted by MK2Kungbroken. Male Ninjas and Sindel ́s uppercut can easily counter this. Also you can deceive your opponent and an almost sure throw is guaranteed. They normally dont block and try to punish the whiffed Cannonball without holding the proper direction. Risky not very rewarding but good to keep an eye against other Kano players.

Never try to "over-throw" a jumping Human/Robot Smoke. They will grab you for sure if they are played by a high level player.

Back walking and turtle players can be caught off guard by a running and rising JK. If you succed a Knife Upper can hit but is risky. Jus sweep after that.

Another Juggle:
(as close to corner as possible without being pushed back) JP, HP, HP, D+LP, D+HP, JK, Standing HK, V.Cannonball 8 Hits, 54% easy and safe.

Matt where are the vids? Can we post this at SRK and Cv and FF.com?

give us tutorial videos! must have tutorial videos lol.

that is probably the only way to make these guides better, u kno when your gonna get them up on internet or not?

that is all, ty.

Hanzo has a tutorial vid for Kano he can post it here, but we'll eventually post our own.

Hanzo, not all of your tactics are guaranteed, or specified as such, also, how come Mileena got 2 DPs when Kano got 3? I wrote even more for Mileena =( (remember guides are going to be updated from time to time)

Lex use to have a guide on srk, but it got deleted. The Prophet saved his stuff, he didn't finish all the characters, but I'll look it over when I get a chance and see what other stuff he might have listed that I missed, I'll add some of the perdanent mentionables in your post to Kano and label it as such.

Please don't write up any characters before I do, I don't want this thread to get confusing, this goes for anyone, I want to keep some order here.

i think no vids will be released until we list everything for that character ...

Stryker
Stryker is a mid tier character, between 13th and 15th, with seriously powerful combos. He is a major zoning character and has a lot of different and useful specials moves. He can be a major force in the right hands, but like all other skill-to-use characters, he is ultimately defeated by top tier characters. He has a larger than average juggle zone, so he is massively vulnerable to punisher combos off his Baton Throw, not many characters can relaunch him, and he has huge juggling potential with the riot gun. His ducking blocking collision box is really small. He can't be run jabbed by many character, but likewise, for whatever reason he can't run jab many of them either. Try to stay on the ground with him, he doesn't really need to leave the ground to win much like Kabal and Reptile, unless you are juggling.
Basic moves:
Nice range HK, solid uppercut that can hit Shang and Kano while they are just ducking, a trait shared by some other characters, good range sweep, good range HP jabs, slow, deceptive hit area roundhouse which can be used as anti air but only in extremely circumstantial situations, if you can hit the Roundhouse as anti, you're better off doing an aaHP,HP to riot gun, dashin, HP,HP and try another riot gun, etc, average range, but quick ducking LK, excellent range JP good for wide cross ups if they are available, nice JK very similar to Jax.
The high and low grenades are essential to his zoning. Make sure you mix them up and try to guess when they are going to jump to knock them back down with the high grenade and keep them second guessing themselves but try to never throw out a grenade that will totally miss or you'll get punished. They are great anti air and anti counter turtling since they can hit very high and very depending on distance. Only use them in combos if you plan on terminating a combo for whatever reason.
The Riot Gun is very fast, and not always easy to punish depending on how close the opponent is when he blocks so often times it's safe to throw out randomly but make sure they are going to run into the tail end of the contact so Stryker's recovery time is shorter incase it is blocked. This sets up the chance to counter a rush down on their way in. Simply put, don't use it in close range if it's going to be blockable. It's good for wake up or after a knock down and the person is suspect to jump away out of sweep range. It is fast enough to counter virtually any close range attack for a simple psychological punish. It is a juggle machine because it counts as containment in air, similar to Cyrax's net but inside they wobble away from you so you need to utilize the baton dash sometimes to get close after it, setting up juggles.
The Baton Trip is virtually worthless unless it used as a surprised last resort hit to win a match because Stryker recovers at almost the exact same time as the person does when they get up and hold down, and he can be uppercut for chip by everyone for free after it at the very least, and Kabal for example, can connect an uppercut on him for free or spin him for free if it connects.
The Baton Throw is a very interesting move. It for some reason, like Sonya's leg grab, has it's own self damage protection properties. It's normal damage is about 19%, if you connect more than 3 juggled hits before it, it will do 5%, if in a pop up combo, it does 3%, .5% on contact and 2.5% on the landing. Weird. Anyway, it's great for early anticipated cross ups, so if someone goes to jump over you, if you buffer the F,F you can snag them as soon as they leave the ground, uppercuts in general can be used the exact same way, but there is a zoning advantage for Stryker by using the baton throw. It is MASSIVELY punishable since it's kind of slow and can be blocked from such far range at start up, it's better to stick to using it as long distance anti air or anti cross ups.
Stryker has two infinites. One is semi, the other is true. The semi infinite is his cross screen aaHP,HP riot gun, which cannot be done to every character, for example: Shang Tsung. His true infinite is in the corner, any variation of jump attack, aajab, riot gun, so, for example: 4 hit pop up, JK, aaLP, riot gun, probably the easiest and most effective incarnation of it, occasionally there might be times where Stryker is too close and a straight up JK can be useful. Make sure you allow enough push back off the jab to create distance when the riot gun hits, preferably on the way down towards the end, reducing recovery time, allowing Stryker to JK later, landing sooner, jabbing sooner, repeating the infinite ideally. The infinite can be starter off his regular pop up in the corner, or if his other infinite is forced to terminate you can attempt to continue infing with the true inf off it. For doing his cross screen infinite against some characters, it is a good idea to do aaHP, run cancel, step in, aaHP, instead of aaHPHP. On the male ninjas for example, do his pop up combo, labor B,F so he actually takes a full step in but do it soon enough after the pop up so they land on the riot gun instead of being hit by it at all too late, baton dash-miss, and repeat, this way the character is low enough to ground to get hit by the gun in a good position but still be close enough to continue cross screen juggles. If you do the HPHP they will be too high for the riot gun to connect right. You'll notice the best way to get this is to have the gun connect well after it's been fired, essentially landing right on top of the gun's collision area. This way you have started elapsing the time it takes inbetween uses of the gun, which is very brief, but it's crucial in this combo.
He can relaunch the Robot Ninjas, Sheeva, and Kung Lao.
Basic juggles:
1. aaHP,HP, baton throw, 3 hits 32%
2. aaHP,HP, riot gun, baton dash (misses), uppercut 4 hits 36%
3. jump punch, HK, HP, HP, LP, riot gun, run in, aaHP, JK 8 hits 50%
Advanced juggles:
1. jump punch, HK, HP, HP, LP, riot gun, baton dash, (misses) aaHP,HP, riot gun, repeat til corner, up to 80%+ depending on the opponent on how far from the wall you can begin, and for example 90%-100% on Jax as well because you can get 3 aaHPs on him.
2. in corner (HK, HP, HP, LP, JK, aaLP, riot gun, repeat til satisfied or capable, and terminate with any variety of attacks)
3. aaHP,HP riot gun, baton dash, repeat for inf.

Side note to whoever is moderating this thread, throw at least a Dragon Point to psykosonik as he reviews each one of these and adds suggestions here and there.

For the interested : www.fightingfanatic.com in the tutorials section.

Chapter 1: Kano already out.

Chapter 2 around the corner! Maybe this weekend.

Also I wanted toremind you MK2Kungbroken that NOTHING is either safe or guaranteed in MK games and you should know it by the time being so your comment is out of place I think.

I ́ll take your other comment and will not post anymore here.