Hey im a noob and this is my first post here and i was hoping that some people could help me out. I’ve been playing ken for quite some time now and hes easily my best character. Ive been trying to figure out groove to play him in. I know N is good for rush down, but i like K for damage boost. Recently, ive used alot of S for my yama and i was wondering if ken is any good in S. Thnx
ps. props to kcxj for a really great ken faq. I incorporated some of that stuff and my game got alot better. :karate:
Ken
A groove and S groove is the best groove to use for him.
I would have to say that if we are all talking about the same Ken, then C is his best groove, hands down. Two shorts confirmed to super? That is beastly. His cancels are mean as hell, and he sucks in S because you can’t roll cancel the funky kick- his best poke. So fuck S. As for A he isn’t bad, if he is your best character, then by all means take him to A. He has an easy A-groove (f+hkxn), and he builds good meter. Really if you are going to play A Ken is out though. Have to make way for Blanka, Bison, Sakura, and Vega. So really Ken should be played in C. Damn sure not S.
S-Ken is a beast. Dodge kick attack gives him an evil far s.HK that knocks down. 
Not bad for a move with more range than Cammy’s far s.HK. Run lets Ken follow up after his knockdowns really easily and kick level 1’s are awesome for chipping people to death. If you actually land your level 1’s in your combos…
-d.LK xx shinryuken
-cross up j.MK, land, shinryuken
-j.LK/j.LP, land, shinryuken
… you set up a really tricky ambiguous cross-up afterwards by holding up on the joystick. If you hold it as soon as possible, you end up behind the guy when he gets up. If you hold it late, you stay in front. This is really hard to block, nevermind reversal dp/super in the right direction. 50/50 chance of landing your low short combo every time.
Combo into the punch level 1 and you get a free un-tech-rollable ambiguous j.MK opportunity. d.LP/d.LK, d.LK, level one punch super, slight walk forward, super jump MK.
Anyway, it’s the player, not the groove, that makes the character. A-Sagat sucks big time but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have good tricks and tactics he can abuse. Experienced player’s A-Sagat > newbie’s C or K-Sagat any day of the week.
Go for S-Ken if you like him I say. Forget anyone that tells you otherwise.
my thread is not dead! THanks for the tips ppl. But since i posted that, ive been using ken in K. what do u guys think of k ken?
I use K-Groove and flip in Ken for Geese when I’m getting crushed with Geese. However, I’m prolly worse than you are. K Ken is not bad. He has a pseudo roll, but no RC’s. I can’t do it with too much consistency, but JDing while jumping in and in general is a necessity to be good. Also, you need to set up either a guard crush or 2x c.LK->2x QCB+K (His most damaging super) while enraged. Most opponents will be extremely cautious when you have meter. But the gist of K Ken is to JD enough to make opponents change their normal anti-air patterns and enough to get enraged twice as a Ratio 1 character before dying. You also want to connect 1 super before he dies and he’ll have done more than his fair share towards helping you win.
Oh yeah. Ken’s command roll goes fireballs as long as you do it early. It’s really helpful for any groove Ken against Guile’s Sonic Booms. C-Ken may be the most popular Ken, but he doesn’t even need the LP+LK roll outside of RC kick, RC fireball, and roll to escape RC cheese. I really like K-Ken actually. Combo into raged punch super --> :wow:
JDing jump-ins is for scrubs btw… (like those Japanese players on the Kinha site). Ken has a flaming shoryuken. Use it! (Jab shoryuken against K-groove always though)
edit: Oops, you meant to JD when you jump in yourself. I misread. Anyway, that’s probably not something to be abused too much as well. I know with K-Geese it’s ridiculously cheap and powerful though. JD practically any anti-air, FREE falling j.MK, Deadly Rave. Cheesy as hell.
k-ken is dope. low jump rh, jab uppercut is a godsend (haha). freakin some crazy rushdown for k ken, same with k ryu if youre feelin friskay.
tight k ken stuff.
Also, does anybody kno good ken v sagat/hibiki/rock strats? I get alot of those matchups (my friends like those chars)
In my opinion that basic gist of those matchups is patience and footsies. Jiggle while poking and trying to bait punishable wiffs. Once you get the knockdown from punishing a wiff is where k ken really shines i think. Once you get the knockdown, you can start up your rushdown. Dont get too predictable with your jab patterns or jumpins, someone like sagat will punish you hard for not being creative.
When raged i like to use what i call patient rushdown. I do attack, but i dont just run in swinging blindly, thats what they are expecting. Work the guard meter with short run d.MK’s when the chance presents itself. If they whiff something really obvious or punishable, go with a quick d.mkXXsuper. This is all pretty basic stuff, hope it helps.
Wrong game. :xeye: Ken mostly has to press far s.HK to punish in CvS2. d.MK xx super isn’t the all range beast move it is in 3S. When you don’t have super, you can punish Chun’s blocked kick super with a sweep xx command roll/whiff LK hurricane/whiff rdp+K. If they whiff something totally unsafe like a Tiger Uppercut, close s.LP, link d.HP xx level 2 does the most damage out of anything. If they’re whiffing just moves though, far s.HK is usually the best you’re going to get. You’re lucky whenever you can get a sweep in (like if Rolento just barely whiffed his sweep). d.MK xx super, practically never.
Hold back on the stick whenever you block Cammy’s Spin Drive Smasher super. If you don’t hold back but continue to block low, she always goes behind you and it’s annoying. By walking back, you make her stay in front so s.LP, d.HP xx super or close s.HK xx shoryuken is easy.
edit: Wait, nevermind anything I said. I forgot you guy’s weren’t talking about C-groove Ken. If you only have level 3’s then, ya, go for it. d.MK xx shippu super to punish everything for big damage. It combos even at max range too (although you lose a couple hits).
do hibikis generally use the qcb+p move?
COs the other day i was playing my friends hibiki. Whenever i see him running at me for that move, i bust out my lv3 qcb qcb+k :karate:
ANybody kno how to beat rock? I know someone who plays a mean, very solid rock
A groove and S groove is the best groove to use for him.
Not bad for a move with more range than Cammy’s far s.HK. Run lets Ken follow up after his knockdowns really easily and kick level 1’s are awesome for chipping people to death. If you actually land your level 1’s in your combos…