Meter

Shadow Meter

Killer Instinct has two resource gauges that are central to the game. The first is your shadow meter, a blue bar on the lower-left and lower-right of the screen.

Example meter builds using Jago's close HP. Top to bottom: 1) Jago on block 2) Opponent on block 3) Jago on hit 4) Opponent on hit
Shadow meter is functionally equivalent to SFIV’s super meter, except you are only allowed to hold two stocks as opposed to SFIV’s four stocks. Also, with the exception of Fulgore, there is no use of shadow meter that requires the entire bar to be full; all uses of shadow meter use only one stock at a time. Each stock of shadow meter will flash white when it is full, giving you quick visual feedback.

You build shadow meter primarily by attacking, but also by playing defense. All normals and special moves that hit your opponent or are blocked will award you with a move-specific amount of shadow meter. Interestingly enough, a blocked move gains more meter than a move that connects. Similarly, when you are on the receiving end of a hit or blocked attack, you will build shadow meter, though generally less than when attacking. You do not build shadow meter for whiffed moves, including normals and special moves, and you do not build shadow meter for combo breakers, either on offense or defense.

Jago can build a whole stock of shadow meter if the opponent blocks five fireballs. His opponent will build about 60% of one stock by blocking them. Jago would need to throw seven fireballs to build the same amount of meter if they were not blocked.
Shadow meter builds very fast in Killer Instinct compared to SFIV. Specials and normals build a decent amount of meter in general, but this is multiplied by the fact that all characters will be often converting stray hits into combos containing many hits. However, because you can only hold two full stocks, you are expected and encouraged to spend your shadow meter regularly and in creative ways.

There are two primary ways to spend your shadow meter.

Shadow Moves

Shadow moves are powered-up versions of your special moves. To activate a shadow move, perform the normal special move input, but instead of pressing one punch or kick, press two punches or two kicks. It does not matter which of the two punches or kicks you press, as there are no shadow moves which gain different properties or trajectories depending on the buttons used. You can also use three punches or three kicks to execute shadow moves if you prefer, which is helpful for players using an Xbox One controller's macro buttons. Each shadow move consumes one stock of shadow meter; if you do not have a stock of shadow meter available, attempting to input one will execute a normal special move instead. KI uses an input buffer to execute shadow moves even if the buttons are not pressed on the same frame.

Because you spend a stock of shadow meter to perform shadow moves, you might think they are basically like SFIV’s EX moves. In reality, they are more like a combination of SFIV’s EX and super moves. Like EX moves, shadow moves often gain strong additional properties, like added invincibility, faster startup speed, fewer recovery frames, more damage, or added range. Like super moves, shadow moves announce their activation by temporarily freezing the screen, giving the opponent time to plan his defense.

Thunder uses his long-range 5+0 shadow Call of the Earth to hit a grounded opponent. Jago uses 3+5 shadow Wind Kick to punish Glacius's  +MP Ice Lance, which is -8 on block. (sound)
Because shadow moves cause a screen freeze, that means, like supers and ultras in SFIV, startup for a shadow move is broken down into startup before the freeze, and startup after the freeze. When discussing shadow moves, we’ll use the standard notation of 3+1 to mean that a move has 3 frames of startup before the screen freezes, and then 1 frame of startup after. Unlike SFIV, where most supers and ultras are 1 + n, where n can be very large, shadow moves in KI will often be slow before the freeze, but very fast after. If a move has 0 frames of startup after the freeze, that means your character cannot change his pre-freeze state when the move begins to hit you. For example, Thunder’s shadow Call of the Earth command grab is 5+0 startup; 5 frames of startup before the freeze, but it activates instantly after. If you are in range and haven’t jumped before the move is announced, you are guaranteed to be hit.

There are two important points to note about shadow moves that do not apply to EX moves or super moves in SFIV. First, all shadow moves hit 5 times on hit or block with only two exceptionsTJ Combo's shadow Powerline can be stopped on the 4th hit, and Kan-Ra's shadow Whirl hits 10 times., and each shadow move will hit with a different rhythm and timing that is important to learn.

Be careful during super freeze. Anything you press will come out.
Secondly, the shadow move screen freeze does not ignore your opponent’s inputs. In SFIV, during a super or ultra screen freeze, any button you pressed would not be registered by the game, but in KI, these inputs will be queued up and executed on the first frame following the shadow move freeze, including jumps, dashes, normals and specials. This means executing a counter move is very easy (simply input your move at any point during the freeze), but it also means that there is no saving you if you tried to press a button or input a dash during shadow freeze. If you notice yourself getting hit by a lot of shadow moves in KI, this is likely the cause, and it will take some practice to remove your SFIV feeling of having a safety net during a screen freeze.

If special moves in KI are good, then shadow moves are even better. Unless a move is fully invincible, like Jago’s shadow Tiger Fury uppercut, it is almost always safe on block at the very least, and will likely have some combination of upper body, lower body, throw, or projectile invincibility added to whatever invincibility the base special move has. Most shadow moves execute so fast after the freeze that they hit you grounded in prejump if you try to jump away from them, so you're forced to block. For example, Jago's shadow Wind Kick is lower body invincible, throw invincible, projectile invincible, travels about 60% of the screen in 5 frames, and is +1 on block. Shadow moves also have some unique properties when used in the middle of a combo, which will be discussed in the Combo Breakers section.

Can you even play defense in this game?

Shadow Counters