I just played about 20 matches with Moe the other night and it was like like 13 to 7 him, I even beat Kabal with Sindel one match. Moe's better than me, and he's a lot better than you. "Ed Boon has really big eyebrows" - however funny, it does not apply, because there are people with bigger eyebrows than him, you're not saying he has "the biggest eyebrows" "we" (most of us) are saying Kabal is the best in the UMK3, because there is no one *else* in the realm of their MK existence who is better. Perhaps that will get you to understand it better. I certainly can say Kabal is the best as "fact", because he is, that's not an opinion as it can be proven simply through tournament play alone. Now I'm not talking about combo damage in general, but if you want to, Kabal can do as much, if not more damage than Human Smoke. I do enjoy using Human Smoke and Ermac (even Reptile) a lot more than Kabal (most of the time) but for the sake of arguement, here's some number crunching.
Example Human Smoke's best most common corner combo, using a containment to allow an easy set up, harpoon, HK, LP, RH, harpoon, HK, D+LP, D+HP, JK, RH, run in HK = 11 hits 63% (more is possible in other situations but again, if you get a harpoon in the corner, this combo is always possible and the most effective, however RH to spear is not totally reliable so going with an aaHP you drop the total damage a bit)
For Kabal his most common best corner combo is: Spin, (we'll use a jump punch starter in this case of having to push, run, jump over in order to get in position all entirely possible as I do it all the time), PS, HK, LK, HP, HP, D+HP, JK, air fireball 3X, 13 hits 68%, even if you leave off one set of JK air fireballs and finish with a HK or roundhouse, it's still right up there with Smoke (61% and 62% respectively).
In a situation where you have a punisher combo or anti air combo, near the corner, Kabal can easily get aaHP, spin, aaHP, JK air fireball 2X run in HK, which is 8 hits 86%, and it's also entirely possible to get a full 3 X air fireball for 100%+ on the Scorp, Smoke, Ermac, Kano, anyone with an air punishable move. Even if Kabal is facing the corner you can get aaHP spin, run back underneath and do the same. And if you spin too near the corner for another aaHP, just JK, air fireball, JK, air fireball, HK, for 7 hits 80%, even try sticking in a roundhouse. Smoke has one nearly impossible 100% combo that works only on the robot ninjas, and he has an 83% that is doable on the punishable characters in the corner, but unlikely. If you wanna talk the most common Smoke anti HP, or midscreen punishers, you got aaHP, harpoon, HK, LP, harpoon, HK, D+LP, D+HP, JK, RH, run in HK, 11 hits 61%, or midscreen aaHP,HP, JK, teleport punch (if left out combo will do more damage in the long run but nearly impossible to pull off) harpoon, HK, D+LP, D+HP, run in HP, JK, air throw, 11 hits about 68%. Kabal midscreen punisher standard is aaHP, spin, aaHP,HP, JK, air fireball, 6 hits 49%, some characters you can get 3 aaHPs, 7 hits 56%.
Now if you look at Ermac, who is far and beyond the king of damage and juggle combos, why is he ranked in the lower end of the top ten? Because he doesn't have an air throw. According to the "depends on who's using him" logic, Ermac should always be number 1 because he has the biggest damage combos in the game. From what I've read here, people agree than Smoke's air throw makes him superior enough to even go beyond other characters in terms of tier rank. If you agree with this, then you have to then agree that tactically speaking, Kabal is superior to Ermac AND Human Smoke, even if he doesn't have an actual air throw, because his spin acts as an air throw the same exact way as Human Smoke's does, except you do the move differently, instead of jumping at someone (risking being counter-counter air thrown against someone who scouts the initial counter) Kabal doesn't have to leave the ground, and it sets up 42% rather than a 16% air throw. It's that simple. Application and experience over glitz and glamour. Chicago would be proud of me.
But....when you're talking midscreen and ground starting combos, Smoke's ground game is more damage by an average of 15%, but it's also harder to connect ground combos with Smoke than it is with Kabal, or should I say, it's a hell of a lot easier to get ground combos with Kabal than it is with Smoke. Kabal maxes out around 44% off a grounded spin, while Smoke can get 55% on just about anyone starting with a knee lift or harpoon.
Tactically, Kabal can avoid being hit by air counter teleport punches by doing his airfireball very low to the ground, and he can easily spin teleporters out of the punch if they are doing it more for manueverability than offense. Kabal's pressure is far greater than Smokes because of the spin, that is a given and if you can't see that you need to play more people. You can sit there and block all day, but that's all you're going to be doing.
If you can say that Kabal and Smoke are better than the rest as fact, you then have to agree by the rules of mathematics and tiering, that Kabal is better than Smoke, otherwise you're just talking about who you like the best, and not who actually IS the best/most powerful. I don't know if this thread was meant to be about the most powerful specifically in terms of combo damage, but in the character as a whole.
Live life, like Kabal is gonna be the best, because he's gonna.
Matt
wow
