Combos

Low Hit-Checks

COMBO 1

Crouching , then cancel to:

Inside max poke range, ()
113 damage, 190 stun (no knockdown; 376 with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

From max range, ~, juggle (or juggle )
170 damage, 270 stun, +60 V-Gauge (386 damage, 190 stun with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

Against cornered foe, ~, juggle ,
227 damage, 333 stun (ender dangerous against foe who quick-rises)

~, juggle ,
263 damage, 378 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; dangerous against foe who quick-rises)

~, juggle ~,
313 damage, 450 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Within a jump’s distance of corner but not flush, ~, juggle , ~,
346 damage, 495 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Karin’s main low threat is crouching , a solid low-hitting poke you’ll deploy often to check the opponent’s ground movement. You can cancel any crouching into Sappo dash into Orochi very quickly for a safe two-hit sequence. You can also cancel crouching into various versions of Mujinkyaku to stage a canned mix-up game: crouching LK Mujinkyaku is a decent low-hitting combo but is -5 when all three hits are guarded. (It’s -10, even worse, if the second kick of Mujinkyaku whiffs, which it will if you cancel to Mujinkyaku from the very edge of crouching forward’s range.) Thus, you really shouldn’t do crouching LK Mujinkyaku unless you’re fairly confident it will hit; using it requires an educated guess sometimes, but it’s necessary to establish a low threat. On hit after LK Mujinkyaku, Karin’s at +2, in great position to threaten with crouching again immediately. If you have success landing that poke sequence without getting Karin hurt for it, you can mix in the MK version sometimes for a three-hit combo into an immediate overhead follow-up.

If the Mujinkyaku variants are for situations where you’re mostly hoping for a hit but taking a mild risk, the variants involving Sappo dash into Tenko uppercut are for assured hits, like whiff/reversal punishes. The last variant listed requires a specific distance from the corner, about a jump away. This distance is necessary so EX Tenko in the juggle won’t pass under the foe’s floating body. It’s actually possible to catch this flush against the corner, but it requires frame-perfect timing on the EX Tenko juggle.

Normal Hit-Checks

COMBO 2

Standing standing , then cancel to:

()
128 damage, 189 stun (326 with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

124 damage, 245 stun

~, juggle (or juggle )
171 damage, 249 stun, +60 V-Gauge (333 damage, 189 stun with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

Against cornered foe, ~, juggle ,
212 damage, 294 stun (ender dangerous against foes who quick-rise)

Against cornered foe, ~, juggle ,
247 damage, 349 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

~, juggle ,
240 damage, 329 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; ender dangerous against foes who quick-rise)

~, juggle ~,
275 damage, 379 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

A two-hit light attack hit-check off an excellent poke that gives you time to confirm point-blank hits on the ground and to stage harassing, layered blockstrings against turtling opponents. Standing hits in four frames and leaves Karin at +3 on guard, so doing it again on block creates a natural frame trap that’s only beatable by invincible attacks. Karin’s also in good position to step forward after standing is blocked and attempt to throw, to poke low with crouching , or to fake a throw attempt and go for standing again. Depending on your foe’s (lack of) reactions, you might even go for walk-up standing/crouching or jumping cross-up .

When this two-poke sequence hits, in order to cancel the final linked standing into Just Frame Tenko, practice performing ~ as quickly as possible. Practice not just the ~ part but the actual motion, too, then perform the actual cancel from standing as late as possible. It’s helpful to perform Just Frame Tenko in any combo this way, but it’s especially helpful here to ensure that you get standing at the end.

COMBO 3

Crouching standing , then cancel to:

On standing foe,
228 damage, 340 stun

~, juggle (or juggle )
220 damage, 340 stun (408 damage, 270 stun with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle (then juggle )
227 damage, 340 stun (425 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

Against cornered foe, ~, juggle ,
269 damage, 394 stun (ender dangerous against foe who quick-rises)

Against cornered foe, ~, juggle ,
307 damage, 460 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

Within a jump’s distance of corner but not flush, ~, juggle , ~,
369 damage, 530 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

~,
279 damage, 476 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

Karin’s standard grounded hit-check is crouching standing . Both strong punches have five-frame startup and leave Karin with a tiny advantage if guarded (+2 for crouching , +1 for standing). This opening gives you time to see the result of the punches, canceling into an appropriate follow-up on hit. Her basic bread-and-butter for an ideal mix of damage and follow-up potential is to cancel into Just Frame Tenko to launch, then juggle with immediate LK Mujinkyaku for two hits. At this point, perform HK Sappo command dash to close distance aggressively as your adversary falls to Earth. If the opponent quick-rises in place, Karin’s in position to keep up pressure with a meaty attack, low hit, or throw. If they use backward quick-recovery, you can walk forward a bit with them and attack. If they don’t quick-recover from the LK Mujinkyaku juggle knockdown, backdash after HK Sappo recovers, take a step forward, and Karin’s ready to jump just past them with a deep cross-up jumping against their normal-speed wakeup. On a successful cross-up (or meaty) anti-wakeup hit, you can simply go back into the same combo. Getting a couple of close-range exchanges immediately in a row with a stray extra hit in there somewhere leads to a dizzied foe, so Karin matches can snowball in your favor quickly. This setup works after any combo where you end with a two-hit LK Mujinkyaku juggle for the knockdown. Forsaking extra guaranteed juggle damage for a juggle ender that gives you guaranteed momentum is almost always worth it. Normally, unless you can K.O. someone by maxing out damage on a single combo, it’s better to keep positional and tempo advantage rather than dump resources into a combo that puts Karin back in a neutral position.

You can sacrifice positioning but pick up damage or corner carry in several ways. Any Tenko launch can end with Meioken for ease of knockdown, corner push, and a bit of V-Gauge gained. After an EX Tenko launch, you can juggle immediate LK Mujinkyaku to HK Mujinkyaku, no corner needed (though the follow-up portion of HK Mujinkyaku makes Karin a sitting duck if the opponent quick-rises after this juggle, so use it cautiously). And after an EX Orochi crumple, HK Mujinkyaku adds lots of damage and corner carry for no extra meter spent.

COMBO 4

During Guren Ken (V-Trigger ), standing , then cancel to:

~, juggle (then juggle )
249 damage, 363 stun (447 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

()
263 damage, 347 stun (461 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle ()
316 damage, 404 stun (482 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

Guren Senha is +4 on hit and an overhead attack, giving Karin an extra hit-confirm opening during V-Trigger. Standing has plenty of range to link after the whirling overhead and cancels for consistent effect into Just Frame Tenko, as in Combo 2. You can also easily cancel standing immediately back into Guren Ken to combo into the two-hit starter punch if V-Timer remains. Cancel Guren Ken into your follow-up of choice, even right back into Guren Senha to reset into another Combo 4 attempt.

Jump-Ins

COMBO 5

Cross-up jumping or frontal jumping /, standing , then cancel to:

On standing foe,
246/276 damage, 385/435 stun

~, juggle (then juggle )
245/275 damage, 385/435 stun (443/473 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle ,
319/349 damage, 479/529 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; dangerous if foe quick-rises)

~, juggle , ~
349/379 damage, 515/565 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Starting from about a jump away from corner, ~, juggle , ~,
419/449 damage, 615/665 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

~,
297/327 damage, 521/571 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

When your frontal jump-in or deep cross-up into standing is blocked, cancel into Sappo Orochi for safe pressure, or Sappo delayed Orochi to discourage immediate counterattack button presses. When the opponent has been conditioned not to immediately hit buttons by your blocked Orochi/delayed Orochi mix-up, you can simply cancel standing to LK Sappo, then go for a throw or close-range hit-check.

As a change-up against a particularly defensive adversary, you can jump in as normal, expecting your jump-in to be blocked, then land and perform delayed standing EX Sappo (fishing for Combo 8), standing (fishing for Combo 9), or crouching LK Sappo (Combo 10). The brief gap after the jump-in where Karin’s not immediately hitting with a blockstring can trick foes into thinking that a throw is coming, so they try to tech throw or jab late. Attacking like this (at off timings or by faking a throw) is one way to open up players who rely on solid defense and don’t poke aggressively or mash into the input buffer while blocking.

Grounded Counter-Hits

COMBO 6

Counter-hit crouching crouching crouching , then cancel to:

~, juggle (then juggle )
216 damage, 384 stun (382 damage with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle ,
279 damage, 464 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; ender dangerous if foe quick-rises)

~, juggle , ~
304 damage, 494 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Near corner, ~, juggle ,
314 damage, 519 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Starting from about a jump away from corner, ~, juggle , ~,
360 damage, 574 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

Crouching crouching can be used automatically in close-range situations where Karin might either beat the opponent’s poke or throw attempt to the punch. Crouching is her fastest attack, hitting in three frames and leaving Karin at +2 advantage when blocked. This makes a three-frame gap before crouching on block, which also leaves her at +2 blocked, and a four-frame gap before crouching if the whole sequence is blocked. On block, cancel either crouching or to Sappo, then immediate Orochi for pressure and chip damage, delayed Orochi to discourage errant buttons, or just let the dash ride and restart close-range offense. On counter-hit, the normals all automatically combo, giving you time to verify and link crouching canceled into special. Crouching is best here because standing sometimes won’t reach at this range.

COMBO 7

Counter-hit crouching standing , then cancel to:

~, juggle (or juggle )
250 damage, 405 stun, +60 V-Gauge (439 damage, 335 stun with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle (then juggle )
257 damage, 405 stun (455 with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle ,
331 damage, 499 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; ender dangerous if foe quick-rises)

~, juggle , ~
361 damage, 535 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Near corner, ~, juggle ,
373 damage, 565 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Starting from about a jump away from corner, ~, juggle , ~,
431 damage, 635 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

~,
309 damage, 541 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

Crouching can be linked on counter-hit into standing for a fat combo starter. You can learn to do this on reaction by focusing your attention for the “COUNTER” system message when you poke with point-blank crouching strong. If the system message pops up, simply hit for the link and cancel into your follow-up of choice. If your initial crouching strong is blocked, you can organically step forward and either throw or go fishing again with standing EX Sappo (Combo 8) or crouching LK Sappo (Combo 10).

COMBO 8

Counter-hit standing , then:

Link standing standing ~, juggle
253 damage, 429 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

Link standing standing ~, juggle , ~
313 damage, 504 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Link standing standing ~, juggle ,
342 damage, 564 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

for late EX Tenko, then juggle ,
309 damage, 458 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; ender dangerous if foe quick-rises)

for late EX Tenko, then juggle , ~
344 damage, 500 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Near corner, for late EX Tenko, then juggle , ~,
428 damage, 620 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

An edgy hit-check from standing into EX Sappo command dash. If blocked, Karin’s technically at a disadvantage if you let the command dash recover, and an attentive enemy can punish her. To counter this, you can perform late EX Tenko from the EX Sappo dash, potentially counter-hitting the startup of your foe’s punish attempt and launching them into a jugglable state. EX Tenko is also punishable, but at least this tactic will blow away their counter-attacks when they jump the gun. Also, showing the enemy that you’ll do it means you’ll get away with “empty” EX Sappo more often. When standing EX Sappo counter-hits, you’ll have a couple of choices to link afterward, all leading to heavy damage. You can either let the EX Sappo dash recover and then link standing , or you can tap late during EX Sappo for a late EX Tenko, which links and launches.

COMBO 9

From point-blank counter-hit standing , step forward slightly, then link standing , then cancel into:

282 damage, 465 stun

~, juggle (then juggle )
281 damage, 465 stun (479 with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge)

~, juggle ,
355 damage, 559 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge; ender dangerous if foe quick-rises)

~,
333 damage, 601 stun (requires one stock of EX Gauge)

~, juggle , ~
385 damage, 595 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Starting from about a jump away from corner, ~, juggle , ~,
455 damage, 695 stun (requires full EX Gauge)

This is primarily good for reversal punish counter-hits, like after Ryu or Ken whiffs MP Shoryuken in front of Karin. You won’t really be poking with point-blank standing otherwise in situations where it might counter-hit, since it’s -4 when blocked and not that fast to hit in the first place (at 10-frame startup). It gains power as a close-range poke when you’re going to V-Trigger cancel anyway. When you’re within a half-stock of a full V-Gauge, you can also poke with it into a basic option select by tapping on contact. If it counter-hits, you’ll gain enough meter for a full V-Gauge and automatically cancel into Kanzuki-Ryu Guren No Kata, and the screen freeze will give you time to see this and get ready to link after (most simply, with standing into Guren Ken). Another option select for V-Trigger activation is to poke with standing and press later than for a normal cancel on hit; properly timed, your late input will only work thanks to the extended hitstop caused when standing actually triggers a Crush Counter. Otherwise, use these combos if you happen to land counter-hit standing up close, like as a change-up after a deep jump-in.

COMBO 10

Counter-hit crouching (first active frame only), then cancel into either:

(sides swapped), juggle , juggle ()
227 damage, 350 stun (465 with Critical Art, requires full EX Gauge; against cornered foe, omit Sappo)

While backed into corner, (sides swapped), juggle , juggle , juggle ~, juggle
395 damage, 575 stun (requires two stocks of EX Gauge)

Karin’s other Crush Counter attack besides standing is crouching , a seven-frame gut punch into uppercut. Only the gut punch portion will Crush Counter; the anti-air portion of crouching has no special properties. If you counter-hit with the first active frame, crouching will launch the victim into a flipping backward knockdown like off of Ken’s counter-hit crouching . From here, if you catch them in time, you can juggle for good damage. Since Crush Counter crouching puts them into a free juggle state, anything will juggle (even stuff that normally has no juggle potential), and you can juggle with something that normally increases the juggle limit (like LK Mujinkyaku) without limiting the juggle right after. That’s why LK Mujinkyaku juggles into itself in some of these examples; that only works because of crouching .

Crouching LK Sappo is a good potential combo starter to use whenever you think you might get away with it. This is technically a disadvantaged situation but one that can work, depending on how conditioned your foe is. It allows you to immediately stage a secondary throw/low hit/frame trap mix-up. If the opponent is worried about your usual poke canceled into Orochi/delayed Orochi pressure, they’re less likely to punish you for trying. When crouching counter-hits, Sappo dash will make Karin pass under the opponent, so your juggle will have to be from the other side. Heading into a corner, if you have a situation where you know you can land counter-hit crouching (like the challenger whiffed a counter-hittable reversal), omit the Sappo dash and just launch them before juggling with LK Mujinkyaku. The corner will keep them close enough without Sappo, and Karin won’t cross under them and give up the position you worked hard to earn.

COMBO 11

During Guren Ken (V-Trigger ), counter-hit crouching crouching ~, juggle ()

This combo stems from counter-hit Guren Chochu, Karin’s safest V-Trigger special. On normal hit, she’s at +2, so on counter-hit, she’s afforded enough frame advantage to link light attacks. Depending on the timing, Guren Chochu after Guren Ken may counter-hit opponents sticking out counter-pokes late, wary of your Guren Ken mix-ups. This works hand-in-hand with Guren Senha (Combo 4) to keep enemies on their toes when your V-Trigger is going.

Anti-Air Combos

COMBO 12a

Anti-air ~, juggle

COMBO 12b

Near corner, anti-air ~, juggle ,

COMBO 12c

Anti-air ~, juggle

Just Frame Tenko and EX Tenko actually have decent anti-air properties, with active hitboxes that extend well above Karin’s vulnerable lower body. The only issue is that most frontal jumps don’t come from an angle that Tenko counters. Against jumps coming in deeper or directly atop Karin (almost at cross-up angles), Tenko ducks too far forward to work. Here, you’ll have to rely on the single active anti-air frame of standing , the late active anti-air frames of crouching , or EX Ressenha. But against optimistic jumps from farther out, Tenko can launch into a potential juggle follow-up. Most characters certainly can’t anti-air with a clean hit and then juggle a loaded Critical Art.

V-Trigger and Situational Combos

COMBO 13a

Crouching standing standing ~, juggle ()

COMBO 13b

Crouching standing standing ~, ~, juggle

COMBO 13c

Counter-hit crouching , juggle ()

With V-Gauge locked and loaded for Kanzuki-Ryu Guren No Kata, you can add bite to virtually any combo while transitioning into Karin’s fully powered-up state. Immediately after canceling a poke into , link standing and then cancel into your desired follow-up option. With V-Trigger activated, virtually any Tenko juggle can be capped with Guren Ken Guren Hosho to keep going in the same direction, or Guren Ken Guren Chochu Guren Hochu to switch sides. Pre-Tenko launch, you can also use V-Trigger hit-checks to go for a reset: confirm your starter and cancel with , link standing Guren Ken after the screen freeze, and then cancel into Guren Senha overhead, which leads to Combo 4.