Evo Kage - Tips, Tricks, and Other Useful Strats.

With VF4 we noticed an increase of Kage users in the VF circles and VF4E has made our resident ninja just as popular. This thread will be for our most knowledgable Kage addicts (IMF, Ice-9, etc.) to have a spot to air out the latest and greatest of the hooded phenom. If you want to do a move specific post, favorite combos, poke strats, stagger set-ups, good general set-ups, or any other good strategies, then please post them here for the new and old Evo players to view. Kage may be well-known and loved, but there is a shortage of concise VF4E Ver B information gathered anywhere on the net. That is with the exception of movelists of course. Any information you guys/gals can give here would be greatly appreciated by all Kagemaru fans. Lets get the ball rolling.

What is the specifics (Weight, stance, etc.) for this combo to work? I have done it once on Akira, but massive amounts of luck was on my side. /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
++ -> + -> -> ++ -> ++

 

Nice. Thanks Myke.

 

The hot new easy and reliable evo combo is apparently:

--> , -->

The final hit is a sidekick, but you want to hold DF to ensure you get the sidekick and not the df+K ground attack.

Other kage stuff that I've seen that is useful:
Kage's back turned attacks are really really good. Turn away and do 8 way walk to zigzag in and out of the screen to bait a reaction from the opponent. If they accomodate and their attack whiffs, quickly tap d+K to get a crumple, then combo with df+K+G.

If you are in a neutral situation, try b,b+P, then backturned uf+K. Standard finisher if the backturned flipkick hits is P,K,G --> kickflip. Tack on an extra punch if the float is sufficient. If it's blocked, kage is not only safe, I think he has a slight advantage. Do a backturned d+P at this point to interrupt anything the opponent might try. The backturned d+P pretty much works like a typical low punch, meaning if you score one as a MC you can go for a throw or FC uppercut.

Finally, if you're near a wall, the backturned P+K,K will jack them high up into the air before they bounce off the wall, setting up essentially a high-float-wall-combo. You can follow with damn near anything. I've seen P,P,b+P --> df+K+G.

uhm, that's it for now.

 

Good stuff CreeD.
Here is another of my faves. I saw IMF do it, so I must give him credit for inspiration.

++ -> + -> ++

 

You can also tack on + and get an extra hit many times on a bounce after most floats finish. This seems common with most characters in Evo for some reason.

 

"Here is another of my faves. I saw IMF do it, so I must give him credit for inspiration.
++ , +, + "

LOL /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

<starts to feel self-conscious> /versus/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

Some generic kage combos and tricks:
the uf+K+G -> low punch -> DP is near ideal damage (especially vs heavier opponents) but if you're ambitious you can also get uf+K+G --> d+P --> F+P+K,P ... and uf+K+G --> d+P --> b+P,K in open. I think.

Do an elbow into jumonji stance, and if it's blocked try the P+K sabaki to stuff the opponent's reaction (if they like to react with a jab or mid punch).
Hold P+K after the crumple and you go back to normal stance. From here most kage players do a simple df+K+G for decent damage, but if you're ambitious do + (it needs specific tight timing) --> +,, ... not sure how far this combo goes... up to lion?

Note that since this is a crumple combo, and since the opponent is left facedown and head towards... if they tech roll you can backstagger them with a well timed df+K sidekick. After the sidekick stagger, probably the absolute safest bet is df+K+G.

What if the opponent reacts to the blocked elbow with the usual boring low punch? Use K+G, which also beats dodges pretty reliably for a crumple. Combo with another jumonji K+G.

The standard df+P combo is
--> --> -->
But if you can manage stances, you can end closed (?) stance combos with --> ground kicks. It's also fairly damaging to do +,, --> --> .

For FC uppercut, the standard combo is , but I think you can sneak in a low punch before it. I'm sure someone has some maximum damage combos for it.

 

in one of the ps2 evo recordings.. kyasao does

,+ -> ,, -> ++ -> ++

on shun i think .. was pretty stylish ;]

the normal kage TFT u see in most japanese clips is:

,+ -> +,, -> , -> ++ -> + -> +

dunno why it works really.. most people just know not to tech roll after that ++ since it leaves them so close

 

heh, no worries. The combo is in fact old news, like VF4a, and has been the #1 favorite for all kage players afaik =P

But keep experimenting and stuff. If you haven't yet, check the kage section of my VF4c combo guide, they all still work as far as I know in evo.

 

++ -> + -> ++, no longer works. You have to end it with ++,+ now. Slight change in Version B.

++ -> + -> +, still works and it is Open only as you said.

 

Myke: The Kage thread and uk-guy's FAQ's are a good read, but due to some move input changes in version B, changes from VF4vC to VF4E, and overall changes in hit properties I felt we needed an Evo specific thread. This way people can look for information dealing with only Evo and not have to wade through VF4vC stuff as well which can make it a bit confusing.

Also, about the IMF combo. I saw IMF do it before anyone else in Kage vids so I can only give credit to what I have seen personally.

 

[ QUOTE ]
The standard df+P combo is + -> -> ++ -> ++

[/ QUOTE ]

I find + -> -> ++, to be more reliable and it's the same damage.

 

re the TFT staple combo:
dunno why it works really.. most people just know not to tech roll after that f+K+G since it leaves them so close

The f+K+G slams and is therefore hard to tech roll. In order of difficulty, tech rolling works like:
easiest to hardest -
-standard TR at the end of a non-slam combo
-standard TR at the end of a combo where the final hit leaves you spinning in midair
-standard TR for hits on the bounce (this is why the low kick in that combo doesn't get tech rolled... it's not that it's hard, but you need to predict it and then react accordingly by timing your roll. This is also why some people will eat 4 df+P hits after certain shun di knockdowns)
-TR for an early slam hit (i.e. the b+P in wolf's b,f+P+K --> P --> b+P combo)
-TR for a late slam hit (i.e. after the third hit of akira's shoulder ram --> AS3, or after the final hit of the cartwheel in a kage TFT combo)

So anyway, the kage shouldn't get away with the final d+K, but the cartwheel itself takes practice to TR.

The knee, P, d+P+K, kickflip is an easy way to land 70-80 points. Depending on the opponent's weight you can get more mileage with the following tricks:

Time the kickflip late vs light and midweights, if it hits at the last possible instant it will do full damage

Vs heavies, if you skip the jab you can pretty easily land a low-to-the-ground kickflip for max damage.

Vs. Light and midweights, you can add 3 points of damage to the combo by doing the more difficult d+P+K --> m-rising knee --> db+P,K,G swipe cancel --> kickflip. In general, for combos that have a d+P+K and a knee... the knee and d+P+K are interchangeable. Be aware that skipping the punch makes the combo easier and is pretty much just as damaging, and also be aware that this combo can be QR'd/TR'd meaning there's no okizeme potential. Worse, after a late kickflip or dragon punch, the opponent can use instant recovery to punish kage as he lands. The classic example is an akira player QRing that db+P,K,G combo and then landing a double palm before kage can do anything about it.

For ring out potential, kage can do TFT --> earliest possible d+P+K --> P --> d+P+K --> f,f+P+K+G. But in evo the rings are larger and f,f+P+K+G doesn't shove as far. So a variation I saw recently was d+P+K -> P -> b+P --> PPb+PK. There are probably even more efficient ones.

 

d+P+K,K is indeed more reliable. The difference in damage is slight but maybe worth mentioning - 12 pts for the last hit of d+P+K,K vs 18 pts for a dragon punch. You never know when it'll be decided by just 6 pts /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Since I have the document open anyway, I might as well post the ideal df+P combos from version C (none of which look anything like the combo we're discussing) -

df+P followups
--------------
>> db+P,K,G -> d+P -> ub+K+G [72 pts]
[LW, closed stance]
>> P -> f+K+G -> df+K (ground attack) [76 pts]
[LW, open stance]
>> f+K+G -> df+K (ground attack) [76 pts]
[MW up to lau, open stance. Delay ground attack for max damage]
>> db+P,K,G -> ub+K+G [73 pts]
[HW, closed stance]
>> P -> ub+K+G [64 pts]
[HW]

 

For some insane ring out potential try...TFT ~ d+P+K ~ b+P,K ~ P ~ d+P+K,K...that's the combo that Plasma used to ring me out from the middle of Dural's stage in the last Toronto tourney /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.

 

i think this is up to shun or lion.. dunno maybe up to kage for weight

i do believe TFT -> d+P+K -> F+P -> F+P -> d+P+K,K has a bit more potential.. i know those helix-kicks are insane tho for ringout ;]