Killer Instinct (2013)/Shadow Jago

Overview Strategy Matchups Resources

Introduction

Lore

A corruption of a formerly great hero's strength, Shadow Jago is a merciless monster who comes into battle with no restraint, growling like an animal and bellowing when he pummels his foes with an onslaught of relentless attacks. He seeks out all who oppose his Shadow Lord in order to defeat them and take their energy for himself and in preparation for Gargos' invasion. Fighting with a serrated sawblade instead of a scimitar, he shares Jago's physical strength and combat prowess. Through the grace of his Shadow Lord, Shadow Jago's powers have been augmented, allowing him to blink in and out of sight at will to confuse his foes and claim ultimate victory.

Gameplay

Despite his appearance, Shadow Jago is completely unlike Jago in many ways. Though they share many normals, Shadow Jago has improved mobility in a faster walk speed, teleporting dashes that can be cancelled into a dive kick, throw, or DP, as well as an air dive kick that lets him adjust his air arc for incredibly tricky approaches. He interacts with shadow meter far more than any other character in the game with his special Surge mechanic. By spending 40% of a stock, he can perform an enhanced special move with extra attributes, letting him make his mixups far safer and offering access to incredibly flashy combos. He is also, however, a far riskier character than most. He struggles to keep the pressure going without his meter and his special openers are all unsafe on block save for his overhead, which is slow, interruptible, and negative on block. This makes him a character whose risk must be managed carefully. However, he does have a very well rounded toolkit that allows him to play much more solid than many thank. Mix up your opponent, make them wish they could've blocked that dive-kick, frustrate them with your tricky movement and annihilate your way to an Ultimate.

Character

Strengths

Weaknesses

Variable playstyle: Shadow Jago has all the balanced tools of a shoto - a fireball, a forward-advancing move that can call out buttons and enemy projectiles, a strong low and decent, confirmable buttons. Shadow Jago also has extremely disrespectful moves, including a teleporting cancellable forward dash, that let him run into his opponent's face and dare them to deal with what he's doing. This allows for a switch between a balanced, grounded playstyle and the nutty playstyle of a madman to mess with your opponent's mental and catch them off-guard. Fireballs!: Unlike Jago, who can only throw multiple fireballs in Instinct, and Omen, who can only ever have one set of regular fireballs on the screen, Shadow Jago has no limit to the amount of fireballs he can have on a screen. Although they are faster than most fireballs, making it a little harder to approach behind them unless he spends meter on a Surge Air Fireball, this also means that flooding the screen with annoying hitboxes for your opponent to deal with is easy. This is on top of the fact that Shadow Jago can confirm off any fireball hit with a bar of meter by using Shadow Dark Demise, making him that much more of a threat. Slippery: Shadow Jago has many unique movement options, on top of his regular movement speed already being decent. He can use a low recovery (on whiff) dive kick to change his air angle, an air fireball to stall himself in the air, and a teleporting dash to get him out of sticky situations, making him exceptionally hard to pin down, let alone guess where he might be hitting you from. High damage, situationally: Because of his Combo Trait combining Omen's and Jago's traits, when Shadow Jago earns a lockout, he can dump heavy and medium autodoubles to rack up the damage. In addition, his instinct gives him access to Annihilation, a Raging-Demon-type move with relatively fast startup that chunks about half of your opponent's healthbar (less as his instinct is spent), allowing you to even the odds off a single punish.

Unsafe: Shadow Jago only has one meterless safe opener in his overhead, which is incredibly slow, interruptible when cancelled off some buttons, and is still negative on block. You will otherwise have to spend meter to open somebody up safely, and you will never be able to get an easily confirmed safe grounded opener, meaning you have to learn to confirm your normals. Low damage, usually: While Shadow Jago's lockout and punish damage is incredible, his damage outside of such leave much to be desired. His DP isn't as chunky as Jago's, and his projectiles don't do as much damage as any other character does. This is off-set by his strong vortex, but it means you have to hit your opponent with a setup many more times than they probably have to hit you. Meter management: How Shadow Jago uses his meter will make or break a match-up due to his Surge mechanic. Shadow Jago is incredibly strong at any space of the screen with two full bars of meter, but has trouble controlling the pace when he doesn't have any to spend on a Surge. Tricky combos: Shadow Jago's linkers and autodoubles are all reactable to someone with a decent enough eye, meaning you will have to rely on their long cancel windows to delay combos and mess up your opponent's timing, or resets to catch them trying to break rather than just dialing in linkers and auto-doubles hoping for a lockout. Edgy: His theme, like Omen's, is a darker, growlier form of Jago's theme, and most of his named moves have "Dark" in the name. This might actually be a pro for the reader.

Character Data
Forward Walk Speed	44f to cross two large training mode squares
Backwards Walk Speed	58f to cross two large training mode squares
Forward Dash Duration	36f Can pass through 11-24f Invul 11-24f
Backdash Duration	41f Extra invul 11-24f
Pre-Jump Frames	5f
Jump Duration	40f
Landing Recovery	4f
Advantage Post Grounded Combo Breaker	+1

Normal Moves

Far Normals

Standing Light Punch
Stand LP/5LP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
10(2%)	14(3%)	--	1.6%	2.4%	Mid	5	2	9	15f	+4	+6	0	Chain
Identical to Jago's jab. Not ideal, doesn't convert into any of Shadow Jago's openers on its own.

Far Standing Medium Punch
Far Stand MP/5MP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Mid	7	3	17	26f	+1	+4	-2	None
Identical to Jago's far MP. Has the same usages as a close-midrange poke and shimmy tool, and can convert into Shadow Jago's main opener in Dark Drift.

Far Standing Heavy Punch
Far Stand HP/5HP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(10%)	--	4%	4.5%	Mid	11	3	25	38f	-3	+1	-6	None
Identical to Jago's far HP. Has the same usages as a midrange poke and shimmy tool, and is easily confirmable into Shadow Jago's main opener in Dark Drift. Also notable for moving his lower hitbox back just a tad to help with shimmying, just like Jago. Has a slight vacuum effect when used in juggles to make landing follow-up juggle specials easier. Combos into overhead on hit, but only within max range, as the overhead will whiff otherwise.

Standing Light Kick
Stand LK/5LK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
10(2%)	14(3%)	--	1.6%	2.4%	Mid	5	3	10	17f	+3	+5	0	Can be chained from cr.LK, but can't chain on its own. NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK THIS ONE LATER
Quick knee with decent pushback and range. Decent for shimmies, and combos into Dark Drift, but relatively hard to confirm.

Far Standing Medium Kick
Far Stand MK/5MK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Mid	8	3	18	28f	+3	+6	-2	--
Identical to Jago's far.MK. Has an uncharacteristically huge cancel window, just like Jago, and importantly combos into b.HK (overhead) on hit.

Far Standing Heavy Kick
Far Stand HK/5HK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(1%)	--	4%	4.5%	Mid	11	5	20	35f	0	+4	-5	--
Identical to Jago's far.HK. Decent poke, can anti-air and keep out larger characters with ease. Combos into b.HK (overhead) on hit. Be wary of pressing this up-close if you're trying to get the close version, especially as a manual, as a lot of the cast can low profile far.HK entirely by accident and get a huge punish.

Close Normals

Close Standing Medium Kick
Close Stand MK/clMK

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The standard to hold all meaties against.

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Mid	6	4	8	17f	+5	+8	+1	--
Identical to Jago's close.MK. A bit difficult to confirm, but links into any light on normal hit, and into a lot of stuff on counterhit. Low recovery and high active frames means you can meaty with this and still block a lot of slow reversals (Glacius Puddle Punch, General RAAM Emergence, etc). Can be low crushed, use with care.

Close Standing Heavy Kick
Close Stand HK/clHK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(1%)	--	4%	4.5%	Mid	9	4	16	28f	+2	+6	-2	--
Identical to Jago's close.HK. Decent meaty, huge cancel window to confirm with, combos into b.HK on hit. Be wary of pressing this up-close if you're trying to get the close version, especially as a manual, as a lot of the cast can low profile far.HK entirely by accident and get a huge punish.

Close Standing Medium Punch
Close Stand MP/clMP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Mid	7	3	14	23f	+2	+5	-1	None
Identical to Jago's close MP. It's nothing spectacular.

Close Standing Heavy Punch
Close Stand HP/clHP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	38(10%)	--	4%	4.5%	Mid	9	5	17	30f	-1	+3	-4	None
Identical to Jago's close HP. Will be your main heavy punish, as 5HK is unreliable and 6HK does less damage. Not amazing otherwise, cancel window is smaller than other heavies but still manageable. Notably only combos into overhead on counterhit.

Crouching Normals

Crouching Light Punch
Crouch LP/2LP

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Shimmies for days

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
10(2%)	14(3%)	--	1.6%	2.4%	Mid	5	2	7	13f	+4	+6	+2	Chain
Identical to Jago's crouch jab. Doesn't convert into any of Shadow Jago's openers on its own, but amazing for pressure - most notable for leaving Shadow Jago in range for a throw immediately afterwards without requiring a microwalk. Can also set up an auto-shimmy after a blocked 2LP with a slight walk-back into a button to make all characters but Thunder, Sabrewulf and Aganos whiff their throw and die if they try to tech preemptively.

Crouching Medium Punch
Crouch MP/2MP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Mid	7	2	17	25f	0	+3	-2	None
Identical to Jago's crouching MP. Has the same usages as a close-midrange poke and shimmy tool, and can convert into Shadow Jago's main opener in Dark Drift. Less risk of getting low-profiled, too.

Crouching Heavy Punch
Crouch HP/2HP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
32(8%)	38(10%)	--	4%	4.5%	Mid	11	2	26	38f	-1	+3	-4	None
A longer-ranged diagonal anti-air to make up for Shadow Jago's vertical DP, though its active frames leave a bit to be desired, requiring accuracy to land. Awful on the ground, though it does blockstring into overhead for what that's worth. Technically more damage than st.HP, but very slightly, and a lot harder to land as a punish by comparison.

Crouching Light Kick
Crouch LK/2LK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
10(2%)	14(3%)	--	1.6%	2.4%	Low	5	2	9	15f	+4	+6	+1	Chain
Identical to Jago's 2LK, except Jago's is -1 on block and this one is +1, ha. The light button you will be pressing the most. Combos into Light Dark Drift, making this your main 5f punish. Decent range, though a lot more pushback than 2LP, making pressure options a lot more limited by comparison.

Crouching Medium Kick
Crouch MK/2MK

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Low poke of monarchs.

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	26(7%)	--	2.4%	4%	Low	7	2	17	25f	+3	+6	+1	--
Identical to Jago's 2MK, except where that one is -3 on block, this one is +1. Ha Ha. Decent shoto-esque low poke (take care with low crushes), though range is deceptively short compared to other buttons. Confirms into slide with a bit of practice, combos into overhead on counter-hit, and frame-traps into overhead or heavy Dark Drift on block or regular hit, making for a strong low-high mixup too.

Crouching Heavy Kick
Crouch HK/2HK

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Don't let this get blocked.

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
36(10%)	44(12%)	--	4%	4.5%	Low	10	2	21	32f	+44	+44	-9	Hard Knockdown
Identical to Jago's 2HK. It's a sweep. Decent range, good for dealing characters who summon delayed projectiles (ARIA, Glacius, Gargos). Can get an easy cross-up safejump by holding up or up-forward after landing it.

Command Normals

Forward Heavy Kick "Gate Keeper"
Forward HK/6HK

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The win condition.

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
24(6%)	32(8%)	--	???	???	Mid	10	6	19	34f	+1	+6	-3	Forward Dash Cancellable on block or hit
Best range of any of Shadow Jago's normals, and comes with a lot of goodies. Easily confirmed, can be meatied to be plus or beat backdashes on wake-up, and it can be forward-dash-cancelled, which provides access to Shadow Jago's ridiculous mix off a long-ranged poke. Frame-traps into heavy Dark Drift and overhead on block, but only combos into overhead on counter-hit (or in Instinct). Also confirms into forward-dash DP on hit, which does more damage but only leads to a juggle if Surged. If you can get your opponent to block this move, you've made a good start on winning the round. Notably does less damage than his other heavies, so don't use this as a punish if you don't have to.

Back Heavy Kick "Dark Reckoning"
Back HK/4HK

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The bane of people who block.

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	24(6%)	--	???	???	High	21	2	26	48f	+31	+31	-2	Opener, Overhead, Stagger, Ground Bounce on Juggle, Cancellable off any button except 2HK.
Technically counts as a special (can be cancelled into but not out of, does not break armor, Spinal's Power Devour eats it), but the input is with a normal so this is going here. A large part of your mixup game, giving you 50/50s off any blocked normal leading into either this or heavy Dark Drift. Safe on block, letting you block, backdash, DP, or whatever else if they do manage to defend against this. The stagger on hit lets you easily link a Dark Drift manual for a hard-to-break entrance into a grounded combo that swaps sides (risky if this brings your back to a corner and they manage to break correctly), a normal that's easier to break but keeps you on the same side (and cranks the KV if the overhead was combo'd into), a combo'd throw or even a reset with something else. You can use this in a juggle too to extend it meterlessly due to its ground bounce property, but this is easy to break and is rarely worth it unless you're very willing to play the combo/counterbreak mindgame at a disadvantage or are sure that the extension would kill.

Jumping Normals

Jumping Light Punch
Jump LP/j.LP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	24(6%)	--	1.6	2.4	High	7	7	4	17f	+15	+17	+8	--
Identical to Jago's jumping jab, except it doesn't flipout. It's a decent reactionary air-to-air.

Jumping Medium Punch
Jump MP/j.MP

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
24(6%)	30(8%)	--	2.4	4	High	7	3	4	13f	+16	+19	+12	None
Identical to Jago's j.MP. Good-ranged air-to-air.

Jumping Heavy Punch
Jump HP/j.HP

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The Shanked Rago Special

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
19.7 (5%)	21.7(6%)	2.6 (0.7%)	1.3	2.1	High	17	3	4	23f	+13	+13	+10	Cross-up
Amazing harassment tool that can be used on the way up and still be plus if timed well, though can be negative if timed poorly. Good way to irritate the opponent with its ambiguity and 3-hitting nature, though its use as an air-to-air isn't as good due to the relatively slow startup and spinning hitbox.

Jumping Light Kick
Jump LK/j.LK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
20(5%)	24(6%)	--	1.6	2.4	High	7	8	4	18f	+15	+17	+8	-
Identical to Jago's j.LK. Decent point-blank air-to-air with a good hitbox, can also make a tricky jump-in with said hitbox and how little Shago moves with it.

Jumping Medium Kick
Jump MK/j.MK

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Make that reversal whiff!

Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
24(6%)	30(8%)	--	2.4	4	High	8	10	4	21f	+16	+19	+12	Cross-up
Identical to Jago's j.MK, except Shago doesn't get Jago's j.HP so this is his most reliable cross-up due to the 3-hitting nature of j.HP. Like Jago, can be made extremely ambiguous, and can make a lot of forward moving DPs whiff (Jago, Fulgore, Blade ARIA etc) under him. Also a decent air-to-air for characters that fly around but tend to stay lower to the ground as they do, like Mira, ARIA and Rash.

Jumping Heavy Kick
Jump HK/j.HK

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Damage	Counter-Hit Damage	Potential Damage	Shadow On Hit	Shadow On Block	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total Duration	On Hit	On Counter-Hit	On Block	Special Properties
30(8%)	36(10%)	--	4	4.5	High	11	11	4	25f	+20	+24	+17	Identical to Jago's j.HK, and just as good. High damaging air-to-air, extremely good move to jump-in and safejump with, and can be difficult to anti-air on some approaches. Use liberally.