I am SO fucking pissed right now all I want to do is break things, I am at the point in the story right now where you first fight Shao Kahn with Liu Kang and seriously I cannot fucking do this the most i have managed to get his hp to his 1/2 and he just rips my fucking shit . I tried doing it on easy and it was exactly the same... SO WHATS THE STRATEGY FOR THIS BITCH?

Keep away from him fullscreen, then when he throws the arrow or hammer teloport+Uppercut. 

this?

What I did was basically just stay at a distance and play defensively until Shao Kahn does one of his taunts and then used the Dragon Kick to dash in and get a short 2-3 hit combo. Same basic strategy applies if you fight him with any other character.

Cheese it.

Double dash towards & jump over him, then bicycle kick until you have enough super for your X-ray worked for me.
Jump over the hammer & low fireball under the arrows if you're at full screen.

I play Sonya. I can beat Kahn pretty easily on medium just pattern recognition with his projectiles then arch kick his stupid face. On Hard + Its just get sooooooo fucking cheap I hate it.

Teleport and uppercut.

For that particular fight I just spammed low fireballs, he couldn't keep up with them. Otherwise you just need to take your time and don't go too crazy. Do avoid jumping in too much between the shoulder jump and almost all of his attacks having super armor its almost useless. Bicycle kick is your friend as well, don't just spam it though since the downtime is pretty bad if it whiffs. I hated Khan every time I had to fight him just take your time and you should get through. Also not sure if it works on Khan but sticking close to Goro on 275 in the tower stopped most of the more annoying attacks worth a shot at least.

I just spammed projectiles.

Basically.

The key really is just that you have to be patient. Use up the full time. Kahn has way too many unblockable attacks to allow for extremely aggressive strategies, imo.

"Basically.

Characters with fireballs = spam them from a distance.

 

"

Yep.  Good old MK II cheap tactics still work. God bless you Mr. Boon

Honestly, I found him much harder in older games, and thats because most of his attacks did about 1/3 damage. Now things seem ok so long as you can avoid his xray (and the same holds true for kintaro)

In normal story mode you can easily beat Shao Kahn with low fireball spam as Liu Kang.

Pretend your playing ST and go O. Sagat on his ass.

TIGER TIGER TIGER TIGER

Bicycle Kick spamming fucks him up pretty nicely.

" Bicycle Kick spamming fucks him up pretty nicely. "

spam low fireball and if he gets close kicks

he's slow...jump over him a  lot and when he misses you can capitalize.

Alright then so:

Shao Kahn's Charge Attack on the ground-just block or jump over it. You can't do much else.
Shao Kahn's Anti-Air Charge Attack-If you're on the ground, you can punish him after he misses. Don't go for jump-ins or he'll use this attack, unless you're crossing-up.
Shao Kahn's Overhead Hammer Smash-Block high, although he won't be doing this much, especially if you're crossing him up right.
Shao Kahn's Hammer Swing-One of his scarier moves. Decimates jump ins and early and late cross-up attacks, and he combos after sometimes. It's also, however, going to get you a fair bit of damage. On wake-up, he does this attack to take out jumping opponents. If you cross him over just right, you can combo him afterwards. Try to get him in a place where you can do the same thing after (so jumpin punch, uppercut is a way that helps with every character).
Shao Kahn's Spear Attack-Not really that good, just a projectile. Jump over and punish if you can.
Shao Kahn's Hammer Throw-BE WARY OF THIS ATTACK. This is the attack that makes people scared of Shao Kahn. It's unblockable. it stuns and hits hard. If he wanted to, he could chuck another one after the first and it'd stun you again for infinite damage. But he's nice, so he doesn't. Make sure you're ready for it. Jump over it, and it'll leave you a big window for combos.
Shao Kahn's Tyrannical Taunt-Just combo the motherfucker. He has a tendency to do this before he's about to die in the first round of arcade. Just kick his sorcerer ass.
Shao Kahn's Fucking Hammer Smack Attack (X-Ray)-If he has X-Ray, he can do an unblockable attack that can do 52% damage. Basically, he hits this and you lose that round. It depends on distance as to what you should do, although teleporting is normally best. If he is close, dash in and duck. He should jump right over you. If further away, try jumping back or jumping forward and hitting him out of it-delay it a moment before the attack comes out or the armour that this attack gets will beat you. You can also rely on some X-Ray attacks to get you out of it, as well as some armour-breaking moves.

General Tactics:
Do not run away. He will charge you down.
Do not stay close. He will beat you down.
The best place to stay is around a character space-an area where he will miss hammer attacks other than the hammer projectile, and you can punish stupidity, as well as dash in and duck for that troublesome X-Ray.
Don't use projectiles other than to chip and finish that round or match. Shao Kahn's super armour Hammer Projectiles will destroy your ones like a giant humping a dwarf.
Crossover on wake-up when you can and time it just right. It's the best way to do consistent damage.
Don't be afraid. He's scary, but you must face him like a man.
If you're Baraka, chances are you're already dead.

Fireball fireball fireball fireball fireball

occasionally block when he throws his spear or jump over the hammer.

Bosses in fighting games... sigh.

" @Lord_Yeti said:

" Bicycle Kick spamming fucks him up pretty nicely. "

This. "

Pretty much, and fireball spam also works.

" I am SO fucking pissed right now all I want to do is break things, I am at the point in the story right now where you first fight Shao Kahn with Liu Kang and seriously I cannot fucking do this the most i have managed to get his hp to his 1/2 and he just rips my fucking shit . I tried doing it on easy and it was exactly the same... SO WHATS THE STRATEGY FOR THIS BITCH? "

I've posted this in another thread but here.
Tips for Shao Kahn:   
1) Stay away from him!!! If you try to go toe-to-toe with him you're just asking for a beating. He can't do very much if you stay at least half screen away.
2) When he throws his spears duck but don't block. I've had some characters where the spears would fly right over me except when I blocked which means I took some chip damage. After you've avoided the spear just keep backing up.
3) When he throws his hammer jump over it. It's unblockable and you can't duck under it. It travels slower then the spears and also has quite a bit of recovery so adjust accordingly.
4) Once you jump over the hammer do any quick projectile or long range attack.
5) Unless your character has an attackless teleport (ie. NOT Scorpion.) Then just teleport when you see him starting to throw the hammer. Once you do that you're free to do whatever the hell you want.
6) He has two taunts. One is shorter than the other. The shorter one is when he points at you. Do a projectile or long range attack during this taunt. The longer taunt is when he has his hands on his hips. You have enough time to dash up to him three times and then uppercut ( or whatever else you want to do) from full screen.

This has worked pretty well for me.

" In normal story mode you can easily beat Shao Kahn with low fireball spam as Liu Kang. "

" @Ares42 said:

" In normal story mode you can easily beat Shao Kahn with low fireball spam as Liu Kang. "

This. "

Yeah in story I just did the fireball over and over to beat him with Liu Kang. With Raiden I just waited until he started to attack and then teleported and sweep kicked him. Got the tips from here. Cheesy, but Shao Kahn can SMD so who cares.

Spamming projectiles and jump-kicking him worked for all of my match-ups against him.

" Alright then so:Shao Kahn's Charge Attack on the ground-just block or jump over it. You can't do much else.Shao Kahn's Anti-Air Charge Attack-If you're on the ground, you can punish him after he misses. Don't go for jump-ins or he'll use this attack, unless you're crossing-up.Shao Kahn's Overhead Hammer Smash-Block high, although he won't be doing this much, especially if you're crossing him up right.Shao Kahn's Hammer Swing-One of his scarier moves. Decimates jump ins and early and late cross-up attacks, and he combos after sometimes. It's also, however, going to get you a fair bit of damage. On wake-up, he does this attack to take out jumping opponents. If you cross him over just right, you can combo him afterwards. Try to get him in a place where you can do the same thing after (so jumpin punch, uppercut is a way that helps with every character).Shao Kahn's Spear Attack-Not really that good, just a projectile. Jump over and punish if you can.Shao Kahn's Hammer Throw-BE WARY OF THIS ATTACK. This is the attack that makes people scared of Shao Kahn. It's unblockable. it stuns and hits hard. If he wanted to, he could chuck another one after the first and it'd stun you again for infinite damage. But he's nice, so he doesn't. Make sure you're ready for it. Jump over it, and it'll leave you a big window for combos.Shao Kahn's Tyrannical Taunt-Just combo the motherfucker. He has a tendency to do this before he's about to die in the first round of arcade. Just kick his sorcerer ass.Shao Kahn's Fucking Hammer Smack Attack (X-Ray)-If he has X-Ray, he can do an unblockable attack that can do 52% damage. Basically, he hits this and you lose that round. It depends on distance as to what you should do, although teleporting is normally best. If he is close, dash in and duck. He should jump right over you. If further away, try jumping back or jumping forward and hitting him out of it-delay it a moment before the attack comes out or the armour that this attack gets will beat you. You can also rely on some X-Ray attacks to get you out of it, as well as some armour-breaking moves.General Tactics:Do not run away. He will charge you down.Do not stay close. He will beat you down.The best place to stay is around a character space-an area where he will miss hammer attacks other than the hammer projectile, and you can punish stupidity, as well as dash in and duck for that troublesome X-Ray.Don't use projectiles other than to chip and finish that round or match. Shao Kahn's super armour Hammer Projectiles will destroy your ones like a giant humping a dwarf.Crossover on wake-up when you can and time it just right. It's the best way to do consistent damage.Don't be afraid. He's scary, but you must face him like a man.If you're Baraka, chances are you're already dead. "

Look at the game settings, there is a story mode difficulty setting which might help as it's set to a medium/normal difficulty. In the arcade ladder you can just keep backing up until he taunts then teleport/jump to kick or uppercut. For the Story mode he tends to use the hammer more & it's rather infuriating though for Shao/Goro/Kintaro the quick jump to & kick to knock over then jump back to repeat while missing getting hit by them for tons of damage works. GLHB

spam bicycle kick, thats what i did

I just beat the final battle with Raiden on Medium difficulty. The technique I used is pretty simple:
When Kahn begins an attack animation, teleport behind him (down + up on d-pad) and follow up with a front kick (--> A or <-- A)/(--> X or <-- X). This avoids the attack and allows you to hit him fast, mid-animation. Get him down to around 15-20% health and use the X-ray to finish him off.

Give or take a few miss timed teleports, I'd say it worked pretty well, especially against that unblockable hammer throw.

I just jumped over him and sweep kicked the entire match.

wow you are really going to kill someone when you have to fight him again with rayden. that fight is 10 x's harder. the one with liu kang was easy.

" this?

http://www.formspring.me/jeffgerstmann/q/185066938077048008

"

picking a jump-front punch combo and using it over and over again works on shao kahn and the other bosses. actually, it pretty much works on all a.i. controlled opponents on normal.

Ok i just tried the jump punch, triangle triangle electro shock thing, and its not working on Kahn in my game. No matter how many times i try it.

Just spam special attack until he is dead. And stay away from him.   

Hmm, so many people saying you wanna keep distance =o I actually find him way easier if I just stay in his face, blocking and punishing.

" Just spam special attack until he is dead. And stay away from him.   

You think its bad now? Wait until the end of the game hehehehehee.

"

I got past the first fight in Story Mode just spamming fireball, it was pretty easy.

Try to beat that bitch with a non teleporting character, then you will have some REAL fun! If you can teleport it is easy as shit. Just teleport right after he throws a projectile then take him from behind. Rinse and repeat. He will be calling you bubba in the matter of minutes. 

Back Forward X him to death!!!

Got him, did the distance trick. Dodge his spears, when he throws hammer, teleport behind him and uppercut. And then quickly retreat backwards. Also used some sweeps when he got very close, and a few of raidens torpedo attacks.

Easy Mode!

couldn't be bothered reading what people said so far, anyway i had issues with him aswell, just stay far away from him and use teleports/charge/projectile moves whenever he taunts in fullscreen.. dont get close, then you die