Mortal Kombat 11 Kabal Guide Featuring Curbolicous

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate has one of the most extensive rosters in the franchise. Each character has a unique kit and attributes. It can be challenging to pinpoint a preferred one, let alone master a character out of the bunch. But that is what professional players do; they put hours upon hours of work seeing what a character is capable of and what they might be lacking when it comes time to play them at a competitive level. You might not be looking to challenge for top 4 finishes in international competition, but knowing your character inside and out will greatly help you in online play.

Here at DashFight, we want to give you all the tools you will need to play a character like Kabal to its best, so we recruited the help of professional player Dominic "CURBOLICOUS" Curbelo to bring you the very best guide for the character. Feel free to watch the full video below, as you can come back and read over this text guide to finalize your training.

Curbo's Kabal Guide

Kabal's Best Buttons

The Best Buttons are the key moves for the character. Either as players or opponents, you are likely to want to use or see these in play since they offer the best neutral, anti-air, and pressure value.

• 1 - His fastest jab attack good for staggers, and punishes. It is high, though, so be wary of micro ducks.
• 2 - Similar to 1, one of his best punishers, great for sneaking in a hit mid opponent strings.
• F2 - A quick mid with good pushback and hit confirm.
• B4 - Farthest reaching normal, a great checking tool to keep people off your space.
• F4 - Not a lot of range, but great for counter poking if you feel they will duck you 1 or 2.
• D4 - Much like B4, you can keep people off your space with it and can open up a few follow-ups.
• B1 - A good mid hit confirms that follow into Krushing Blows or other strings.
• D1 - Fastest mid and can be followed up into two very different strings, meaning a bit of mind game can be squeezed out of it.

Kabal's Best Variations

Since players can now use their custom Variations in tournament settings, there is no excuse not to learn what goes well together. So here is Curbo's Kabal variation specials ranking:

1. (Air) Slight Gas (BF3)
2. (Air) Close Slight Gas (BF3, B)
3. (Air) Far Slight Gas (BF3, F)
4. Hook Grab (DB4)

Kabal's Gameplan

Gone are the days of smashing buttons and spamming that one combo we learned five years ago. Instead, if you want to compete or impress your mates, you have to go into each match with a Gameplan to carry through to victory. Here are your key principles:

• You will want to check characters with your mid attacks since they also have good range. This also means practicing whiff punishes.
• Your Krushing Blows are abundant, and most are great damage.
• You will want to control the stage with your mobility and timing changes.
• You only have one way to reach opponents, your jump and slight gas. Meaning that at a certain distance, Kabal's power is greatly reduced.
• A few of your strings will be slow; opponents with good micro ducks or quick blocks will punish your hard.

Kabal's Best Strings

No one wins on the back of single punches. Having a memorized list of the Best Strings you can use and change throughout the match will vastly improve your chances of coming out ahead.

• 1, 1, 1
  • Safe on block, you can condition your opponent to block and then punish with throws.
• B1, 2, D2
  • You can use it to punish opponents pretty frequently.
• 2, 2, 1
  • A great string to stagger opponents.
• F2, 2, 4
  • Has good pushback and can lead to a Krushing Blow if you think your opponent will try something on the last hit.
• F4, 1+3
• 2, 3

Kabal's Bread and Butter Combos

Knowing how to adapt to the changing landscape of a fight is important. That is why Combos play a crucial role in letting you shape it and extract the most out of your inputs. Here are the combos you should be looking to pull off:

Mid Screen Combos:

• 1, 1, 1, BF3, DASH, S4, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3, 2, 3, D4
• 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3, 2, 4, BF3, DASH 4, DB2, B4
• F2, 2, BF3, FJ1, BF3, 1, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3, 2, 3, DB2
• F4, BF3, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, 2, 3, DB2
• B1, 2, BF3, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, 4, DB2
• 2, 2, BF3, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3F, 2, 3,  DB2
• B1, 2, D2 KB, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3F, 2, 3, BF3, 4DB4
• D2, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3F, 2, 3, BF3, 4DB4
• DB4 KB, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ2, BF3F, 2, 3, BF3, 4DB4

Corner Combos:

• B1, 2, BF3, 2, 3, DB2, AMP, FJ3, BF3, 1, FJ2, BF3, 1, 2, 2, 1
• B1, 2, D2 KB, 2, 3, BF3, 4, DB2, AMP, FJ3, BF3, 3, 3, 2, 2
• FJ, DB4 KB, 2, 3, 2, 3, BF3, 4, DB2, AMP,  FJ3, 3, 2, 2
• D2, 2, 3, 2, 3, BF3, 4, DB2, AMP, FJ3, BF3, 3, 3, 2, 2
• FJ3, D1, 2, 3, BF3, 4, DB2, AMP, FJ3, BF3, 3, 3, 2, 2

Kabal's Guide Conclusion

Kabal's speed is his titular power in-game. A long list of combos and combos extenders also make him a very hard-hitting character and one to fear in the game. But even the quickest man of all the realms has to contend with a few drawbacks. Mainly that of facing well-prepared opponents. You want to make the most of your attacks to follow-up with powerful combos whilst avoiding getting zoned out of your optimal range. If you can do that, Kabal will reward your patience and talent.