What's new

Question - Commando commando kano is my main but wow is he out gunned

No mix ups or 50/50, most of his moves (including the grapples he's supposed to specialize in) are very punishable and low in damage, and he's just so slow. Just because throws are unblockable doesn't mean they are super effective against everyone. Because he has no real solid combos or any real way to open up opponents, he relies heavily on his parries and grapples. Parries are pretty much a hit or miss. It's really about prediction which is just a fancy word for guessing. That means parries are unreliable. He only has two input throws. No air to air throw, no ground to air throw, just a forward and backward throw. His input throws, which are the heart of this variation, are unreliable as well. It may seem as if these throws are hard to avoid, but as long as you keep moving, and don't take any risks that can be punished, it's extremely hard for the throws to be landed. I don't know how to accurately describe how commando kano is underpowered, but I just feel like he is at a strong disadvantage against everyone else. I sound salty as eff right now, but this feels like injustice all over again. I like using grapple types. It's fun to rush in and body slam people. I think it's a cool twist to just doing combos. That's why I used Bane in the beginning. It was fun to do those throws, but if any of you played bane, you would know that it took months of character balances to make him truly playable and competitive to the rest of the roster. I believe this is almost what's happening to commando kano. Just because throws are unblockable, doesn't mean they're a reliable bread and butter type of attack. I find myself launching knives just to stay in the fight rather than rushing in and attempting a throw. Go try to play with him, you'll understand.

Edit: just an update, I'm actually beginning to think that commando kano is the absolute best character in the game. But we shouldn't discuss this matter any further, lest he get popular and everyone decides to use him like kj and scorp. We don't need that. Hooah for the under dog sleepers.
 
Last edited:

juicepouch

blink-182 enthusiast
you have to play mean oki, that's where your damage is coming from. Commando is the wrong kano to play for big flashy combos

play for the knockdown and make them respect your pressure, then grab the shit out of them

learn gaps to know when to use parry, and don't parry constantly

he just takes a fair bit of thought to use effectively, gotta make good reads and be intuitive. He'll take longer to play at max potential than a character who can abuse yomi level 1 because he has to deal with bs to get his game going
 
you cant simply grab, you got to open them up with normals and use the hitstun for a throw setup. a good thing you can do is d4, run, d3, grab. you can mix the grab with normals, like f3, its safe and catches everything, including ducking and jumping. if the opponent counterpokes after f3, you can preemptively cancel it into parry.

first of all, you gotta spam knifes though. you can use the opponents need to finally do something once they got in to your advantage. like, run in and grab/set up grab when they are at jump distance waiting for the next knife. if they tend to react quickly to your run, just run up and parry.

if you go for grabs or parries depends if your opponent seems to be the button-happy or defensive type.
 

Shania Twain

That Don't Impress Me Much
sadly...this is the case with arguably half the roster. I look for multiple patches and several of these characters with long periods of time where they can be punished a buff. I think this would give them at least an edge. I think this would be better than nerfing anyone. On the flipside...if you get good with one of these underdogs you will get quitalities. I got my first one the other day, during a Brutality with Kitana against a subzero. it's not my fault he used kombos everyone knows and ducked and blocked my overhead and I had time to sharpen my fans and do the exmove. so...I can't speak for kano but playing against enough over used characters will just make you better at fighting against them. sometimes you just have to think that way.
 

DOOMSDAY-15RUS-

i'LL DESTROY YOU ALL
i like commando because it's all about mind game, all mixups finish 0 on block so u have many options like, catch the guy (EX for Armor), parry or another block string. 4 parries make 70-80% damage, for opponents it's very risky to try hit u after ur block string. kano is pretty fast and knifes have a very good start up. I just want have a good anti air grab, beucase choke works but not all time and be able to avoid fireballs with air charge
 

Phosferrax

Original Liu Kang cop.
No mix ups or 50/50, most of his moves (including the grapples he's supposed to specialize in) are very punishable and low in damage, and he's just so slow. Just because throws are unblockable doesn't mean they are super effective against everyone. Because he has no real solid combos or any real way to open up opponents, he relies heavily on his parries and grapples. Parries are pretty much a hit or miss. It's really about prediction which is just a fancy word for guessing. That means parries are unreliable. He only has two input throws. No air to air throw, no ground to air throw, just a forward and backward throw. His input throws, which are the heart of this variation, are unreliable as well. It may seem as if these throws are hard to avoid, but as long as you keep moving, and don't take any risks that can be punished, it's extremely hard for the throws to be landed. I don't know how to accurately describe how commando kano is underpowered, but I just feel like he is at a strong disadvantage against everyone else. I sound salty as eff right now, but this feels like injustice all over again. I like using grapple types. It's fun to rush in and body slam people. I think it's a cool twist to just doing combos. That's why I used Bane in the beginning. It was fun to do those throws, but if any of you played bane, you would know that it took months of character balances to make him truly playable and competitive to the rest of the roster. I believe this is almost what's happening to commando kano. Just because throws are unblockable, doesn't mean they're a reliable bread and butter type of attack. I find myself launching knives just to stay in the fight rather than rushing in and attempting a throw. Go try to play with him, you'll understand.
No mixups? No solid combos?

He can confirm any string on hit into ex ball cancel njp combo for around 35% every time. If you knock them down after a combo and get a grab you've done over 50%. Get them to the corner and it's a nightmare for them. Great range d4 to open them up to throws or combos when they get tired of taking throws. Then once you have the life lead, he outzones half the cast, so you get the lead and just start spamming knives, now they have to get in on the guy with parries and armoured unblockables.

His real problem is that his footsies suffers in this variation, and for some stupid reason choke is punishable on block, as is his commando grab string.
 

juicepouch

blink-182 enthusiast
No mixups? No solid combos?

He can confirm any string on hit into ex ball cancel njp combo for around 35% every time. If you knock them down after a combo and get a grab you've done over 50%. Get them to the corner and it's a nightmare for them. Great range d4 to open them up to throws or combos when they get tired of taking throws. Then once you have the life lead, he outzones half the cast, so you get the lead and just start spamming knives, now they have to get in on the guy with parries and armoured unblockables.

His real problem is that his footsies suffers in this variation, and for some stupid reason choke is punishable on block, as is his commando grab string.
but ex ball cancel is harrd... #skillgap
 
sadly...this is the case with arguably half the roster. I look for multiple patches and several of these characters with long periods of time where they can be punished a buff. I think this would give them at least an edge. I think this would be better than nerfing anyone. On the flipside...if you get good with one of these underdogs you will get quitalities. I got my first one the other day, during a Brutality with Kitana against a subzero. it's not my fault he used kombos everyone knows and ducked and blocked my overhead and I had time to sharpen my fans and do the exmove. so...I can't speak for kano but playing against enough over used characters will just make you better at fighting against them. sometimes you just have to think that way.
That's how I look at it. The under dogs tend to be top notch after a little while. I know scorpion's entire move list just from playing online with other people lol
 

Duck Nation

Dicks with a future
@Soulofsuikoden ran my ass the hell over harder than anyone else has, using Commando. Commando Kano is really legitimate, but don't expect to just run up to people with a grappler and land throws unless you've trained them to block already. This goes for any game. Kano has some great normals - use them to keep people in check, then start breaking their ribs when they're scared.
 
Choke in general is awful. It's minus 5 on hit and sends the opponent back to neutral. Commando players shouldn't be using that move at all.

One thing you need to learn is commando's option selects with all his tick throw normals, like down 3 and forward 3, 3. This is very important to learn for beginners. It is almost impossible to react to down 3 tick throw on block.

Just condition them to block low, abuse the shit out of b1 and force them to the corner. That's where most of your damage comes from.

As for parry, don't spam em. If you do use em, make sure it's the ex version, since startup is 2 frames faster.
 

BecomingDeath13

"You won't winter over?" Who the fuck wrote that?
Kano is a fucking beast. My bud from New York plays all three variations. Commando is his favorite. He can whoop my ass pretty consistently. I play SZ and it is hell sometimes getting in on him with cryo. I love playing him though because I level up more and more.

Trust me Kano is great in this game. When in doubt do his meter burn air ball. I can almost never avoid that tackle from it. Yeah his mixups suffer a bit, but he has plenty of tools to make up for it.

He has bodied my SZ and my Cassie (still a work in progress) easily.especially in the corner..... Holy hell, that ass beating.
 

villainous monk

Terrible times breed terrible things, my lord.
Learn his other 2 variations. Even no variation Kano. It will all come together after that. Commando cant be all rushed. You have to make them play your game and punish them when they wiff or turtle. Use his normals and b3,1,2 go d4 into "Sagat knees". D4 & d3 are key for command grabs. D1 pokes are fantastic lil set ups for choke but be ready for the wake up. Njp,4 in to either command grab is beast!!! Practice with him more. Do it daily. Ask for help. Keep reading online and see & fuse into your play style what everyone else is doing.

Commando is over looked by more top tier characters. Kano doesn't even have a overheard for the first time since MK3! Regardless. Play smart. Practice and play with a lead a few command throws and a well timed parry will have them thinking twice about shenanigans. Use knifes for zoning & when they teleport ex parry that shit!!! Don't give up, practice more and he'll win you some games.
 

DaiHuu

Nightwolf Mourner
Nah, Commando Kano is fine, doesn't need any buffs or any of that sort. He's Zangief with a projectile lol.
 
All of his string leave you at + on hit with your opponent in throw range. Some strings canceled into knife on hit leave them in throw range as well. Plus, most of his strings are neutral on block. Make them respect your option to follow these situations up with another string, and then you can start following up with a throw instead to open them up.
 
Commando Kano is fine.
Seriously. He doesn't need buffs and he's not underpowered.
His grabs do low damage? Fuck I didn't realize 20% for an unblockable was low. I must be behind on the times :coffee:
You know, after reading these tips and practicing a bit more, I'm finding that commando kano is not underpowered at all. He's actually fantastic and I'm glad I'm maining him. Just takes a different approach. And it's 20% with meter!
 

RoboCop

The future of law enforcement.
Administrator
Premium Supporter
What is the point of Choke? It's an unsafe High that's also -5 on hit...
 
Regular choke is very bad.. you can use it in combos but ending with Kano ball or command grab is better. EX choke is pretty useful though - it has armor so you can use it as a reversal that is tough to punish for many characters. Also EX choke is good for beating out people who neutral jump command grab.

Also come on.. this character's mixup is his strong point. 0 on block advancing normals, an unreactable command grab, and better close ranged armor moves than other variations.