General
Khameleon will begin the match in one of three “Disguises” at random— Jade, Kitana, Mileena— and will change to the next disguise every 7 seconds as listed in the aforementioned linear order (unless she is locked in the animation of a certain disguise’s move such as a throw, during which the animation will play out as normal and immediately change Khameleon to the next disguise upon finishing). Each separate “Disguise” variation will grant Khameleon one Summon (K) and one Ambush (F+K), both of which are exclusive to that variation. Players can choose to automatically enter the next disguise by holding the Kameo button after performing an assist in their current disguise; alternatively, the player can change to the next disguise by performing her universal “Broken Mirror” (B+K) assist, an Ambush which covers the lead character in a glass shield for roughly 6 seconds and halves the damage received from the opponent’s next attack whether on hit or block. This assist costs half of the Kameo Gauge and has no cooldown window, refilling the gauge at a very fast rate moments before Khameleon has even activated the shield.
(NOTE: This buff may also cause certain abilities performed by the affected lead character to inflict less damage.)
“Alternate Disguises” (D,D+K) calls Khameleon onscreen similarly to Broken Mirror— Khameleon will automatically change to the next disguise in the default order, but then will begin changing disguises from that point on in reverse order (Mileena > Kitana > Jade) unless this Ambush is performed again to change the rotation back to its default order. This assist has the same gauge cost and lack of cooldown as Broken Mirror but refills the gauge at a slower rate in comparison.
All of Khameleon’s Disguise assists cost half the Kameo Gauge to perform; her Ambush assists all have virtually no cooldown before recharging at a very fast rate. Additionally, her Summon assists all recharge at the same moderately fast rate (roughly 8 seconds), although slightly varying in cooldown— while the Jade & Kitana disguises have fast Summon cooldowns, the “Roll” Summon in her Mileena disguise has a slightly delayed cooldown before recharging, waiting for Khameleon to vanish offscreen or walk away after being blocked.
Khameleon’s forward throw has a unique attack animation in each different disguise, each of which slightly alter the throw’s properties— while both the “Jade” & “Kitana” throws are only +7 on hit and send the opponent fullscreen, the “Jade” version does the most damage at 13% whereas the “Kitana” version does a standard 11%. The “Mileena” throw is the least damaging version at only 9% damage; however, this throw is +31 on hit and resets the opponent in a standing state at default neutral distance. The Kameo button can also be held during a forward throw to change Khameleon into her next disguise automatically after the throw animation ends, making it effective for an offensive player to end a sequence with Mileena’s throw and quickly reset their pressure by changing into “Jade” & jailing their next attack into Glaive.
Jade
In her “Jade” disguise (indicated by a green gauge & a glaive icon), Khameleon gains access to the “Glaive” Summon, a Mid boomerang projectile that hits once on its way towards the opponent and again behind the opponent on its way back to the player; the player can also slightly alter its trajectory by holding Up or Down with the Kameo input. The lead character will be locked in the Summon animation momentarily as the glaive is tossed but will recover quickly and allow the player to move freely before the glaive returns. The first hit is +3 on block at close range and has enough hit advantage to automatically guarantee the second hit as a natural kombo if it connects; this first glaive hit may also be linked into another attack as a kombo, which can then be extended by the second glaive hit (although the hit reaction of this linked attack, if timed too early, may cause the opponent to recover fast enough to block the second glaive hit). This second hit is still very advantageous on hit and block, making this assist very useful for easy hit-confirms as well as block pressure, although unlike Sareena’s “Kia’s Blades” assist, hitting Khameleon before the projectile returns back onscreen will disable it from returning and causing a second hit to occur. Performing certain special moves such as buff/debuff type abilities (i.e. Nitara’s “Blood Sacrifice,” Quan Chi’s “Zone of Power,” etc.) before the second glaive hit has connected may reset the kombo counter and allow the opponent to block follow-up attacks that would normally link into a kombo after the returning glaive connects.
This disguise also gives Khameleon access to Jade’s klassic “Glow” as an Ambush, calling her out to cover the lead character in a purple aura that makes them projectile invulnerable for roughly 6 seconds. This buff will carry over even when Khameleon switches to the next disguise, but will disappear if the lead character is hit or blocks an attack.
Kitana
In her “Kitana” disguise (indicated by a blue gauge & a fan icon), Khameleon gains access to the “Fan Toss” Summon, a fast projectile with 29 active frames that hits on the 9th active frame at earliest with a safe block advantage of -6; this projectile gains one more frame of advantage with each additional active frame until it reaches 13 active frames, at which point it becomes +3 on block (still adding an additional frame of block advantage for each added active frame). This fan projectile actually counts as two hits, the first of which only connects up close— at most ranges, only the second hit will connect, which is a High that deals 5% damage and causes a knockdown. At close range, the first hit is a Mid that will slightly elevate the opponent on hit and jail the second High hit on block; this first hit causes a restand by itself that can range from +8 to +14 depending on when it connects, as certain corner kombos may cause the second hit to whiff up close. The “launching” state (caused by the natural hit reaction of these two successive projectile hits up close) will allow for a juggle kombo in the corner, as well as permitting certain characters to convert the juggle into a full kombo from midscreen.
This disguise also gives Khameleon access to “Fan Lift,” an Ambush puts the lead character in an automatic command jump state from which they can access all of their usual aerial abilities. Players can also change this default version to the Close and Far version by holding backwards or forwards (respectively) after the assist input, giving them better control over their movement onscreen by allowing them to alter their jump distance. Fan Lift will place the lead character in this airborne state even if they are blocking when the assist connects. This ability allows a number of beneficial strategies on offense and defense; it can be used to close in on the opponent as well as create meaningful distance. Players can control the screen with projectiles and use Fan Lift to jump in behind or in front of them from fullscreen, which may lead into kombos or create pressure situations up close. In blockstrings, the assist can be called to let an offensive player basically jump-cancel attacks on block, giving them access to their aerial attacks for additional block pressure (although this may leave gaps in blockstrings that are prone to anti-air attacks). Fan Lift can also be used to keep an offensive player safe after performing punishable attacks on block, causing the character to jump away from the opponent at their desired distance and evade the opponent’s attempts to retaliate, or even jump out close enough to the opponent to punish them for attempting to counterattack. Lastly, this Fan Lift can create unique kombo states by interrupting the lead character during certain attack animations. Certain normals, strings, and specials can be interrupted by Fan Lift and prevent the full animation from occurring, which has the potential to leave the opponent in the proper amount of hitstun for connecting a follow-up kombo. The unique trade animation that occurs when interrupting a throw causes the lead character to be lifted up with the opponent instead of falling backwards, which creates the ability to convert a normal Back Throw (or an unblockable Forward shove) into a follow-up kombo for almost all characters, save for a rare few exceptions (i.e. Kenshi). Players can also perform a re-jump by using the Fan Lift while airborne or in the middle an aerial kombo (which can be done more than once in the same kombo) to “refresh” their airborne state and allow them to further extend their kombos.
Mileena
In her “Mileena” disguise (indicated by a pink gauge & a sai icon), Khameleon gains access to the “Roll” Summon, an 18f triple-hitting attack where Khameleon performs a two-kick cartwheel into a grounded ball roll that charges towards the opponent’s legs, launching them in the air on hit for a juggle kombo. The first two successive hits of the “cartwheel” animation are Overheads, while the final “ball roll” hit is a Mid that is -17 on block when connecting at any distance. Roll will not launch the opponent if the attack whiffs on (or before) the third hit, such as when hitting an airborne opponent. Roll gains invulnerability on its first frame when used as a Getup reversal, and does not lose its ability to launch, making this a very effective wakeup due to its faster startup and invulnerability window but is also a high risk due to its unsafe block advantage.
This disguise also gives Khameleon access to Mileena’s klassic “Sai” projectile as an Ambush, which calls her out to fire two airborne sais at the opponent that will only connect on an airborne or juggled opponent (providing a similar attack animation and hit reaction to Sonya’s “Square Wave” Ambush). This assist allows for easy kombo extension that can also makes transitioning into and out of Mileena’s disguise more seamless.
