I actually would’ve been good with this. I always thought Wulf’s instinct was “boring” in S1 only because players were making it boring. MyGod was the only pro player who used it properly IMO - when he popped instinct he took a lifebar, guaranteed.
Basically Sabrewulf got faster and did less damage?
Infil, I totally agree with what you say. But I feel like theres another factor to consider which is IGs vision of an accessible and fun game outside the FGC. These changes are great in terms of tier but don’t you think it leaves his instinct only good for those who know some higher level stuff?
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Nah, not really. Lots of characters have “complicated” instincts (Aria, Shadow Jago, Kan-Ra, etc). With Wulf, all it really means is sometimes you press HP+HK if you want to stop doing what you’re doing, and do something else. You don’t really need to know complicated setups and advanced mixups to get some benefit from it.
Good stuff man I never get tired of watching your videos. 
Also I agree 100% about IG’s take on Wulf. Low damage, more “tools”, it just doesn’t make sense he’s a Werewolf a rushdown, in your face, straight forward character. He’s only an “issue” when he gets close. I’ve watched the entire cast season 3 re-balances (I don’t know how many times) thinking maybe I jumped to conclusions about him being severely nerfed. I say he still got the shaft. I really don’t get IG’s take on that he gets low damage because he can juggle. For those like myself that can’t juggle or use feral cancels correctly we really got screwed. Plus not every character should be a juggler, people think Wulf is “boring” to watch that might be for some but I never get bored with watching others play him personally. There are plenty of other characters to choose from with “style” and “flare.” Wulf has style in his own way or at least he used to.
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Loose speculation, but I have higher hopes for Jago-Wulf post-rebalance than currently.
Jago could never zone out Wulf previously, and that’s probably not going to change here. Instead of sweating the mixup now, whenever Jago finds himself on the back foot he might be able to just sit there, hold downback and wait for Wulf’s…what, three frame traps maybe?, to subside, meanwhile just looking for mixups, and only really worrying about throws and throw baits. And whilst much of this could be said for the other way around, Jago can frame trap for longer, can shadow-cancel his throws, gets his overheads “for free” because he can cancel into a safe or even plus move, and has a little more ability to root out shadow counters thanks to a now pressure-relevant fireball.
I’m not sure Jago will outright win this matchup. Wulf probably wins the footsie game. But I’ve never liked the Wulf matchup as Jago, and the above speculation (which I’m happy to be shown reason on) makes it seem much more manageable to me. (Though this might also speak to my lack of a great game plan for Jago vs Wulf right now.)
Again, something rubs me the wrong away about an unsafe, reactable overhead. If Jago can situationally find goddamned plus-frames off of his overhead, I’m perplexed as to why Wulf has to eat a punish off of his. I might be missing something, but the risk-reward seems out of wack, even in context of the rebalance.
I also just don’t think Wulf is really Wulf anymore without an unreactable mixup to speak of. Not that I want to go on a deep dive into the Killer Instinct lore, but Wulf is a big ■■■■ dog, his shtick is meant to be that of the all-in, impatient champing-at-the-bit canine. Not to mention that with Wulf out of the contention for “hard mixup character”, oddly enough I’m having a hard time thinking of other characters who fill the void: there’s TJ, maybe Orchid, and…? Not that I want to get into the habit of remarking on what IG “likes” in their combat designs, but it almost seems like someone has it in for unreactable high-lows that lead into the combo system.
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It’s because Wulf has better tools at that range than Jago, including hamstring, overpower (which is faster than Jago double roundhouse and can’t be shadow countered), running uppercut, a forward dash that goes through people, and a cr.LK that is +4 on block and can trap people forever until they reversal. If Wulf also got a safe on block overhead mixup after that I think it’d be way too much. He already controls that space so incredibly well that I think he should have to take the risk.
It’s not just the frames that matter. Riptor has a slow 28 frame (or whatever) tail flip that is minus a billion on block, but a) it hits people anyway and b) it needs to be unsafe, even though it’s slow.
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This is a great discussion. It’s good to see people having a civil exchange that’s actually about the substance of the game. But maybe we ought to actually wait and play Sabrewulf to see how the changes affect him in the wild before we go too crazy worrying about them…
The people asking for a damage buff ON TOP of Feral Cancel are being a bit greedy. Just because you don’t personally use FC doesn’t change the fact that other people are breaking the game with it lol.
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Riptors overhead hits because it can crossup, you rarely see it hit in front to start a set.
I just sincerely feel like Wulf got screwed big time in the rebalance changes for S3. So he learned how to play Basketball, and has a divepunch. Big woop. He lost sooo much more, and those two changes don’t make up for it.
If jumping slash is going to be reactable, it needs to be safe. It’s his only real means of opening someone up.
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These changes were definitely done to appease all the crybabies complaining about how op sabrewulf is. you can see this in the fact that some of these changes are just plain unfair. -35% damage on shadow eclipse? “Oh wait, you can juggle because this is marvel vs cap on 3” ALL ender damage reduced, unlike most of the cast which just had a few moves nerfed. And worst of all they made his instinct useless. Every character gets something unique and awesome with their instinct. Glaciers gets his armor and jags gets to freaking heal. But poor old Wulf gets feral cancel, which they nerfed as well. And to make things worse they throw in a painfully half-assed looking new move, probably thrown in to make the changes seem fair,which doesn’t look like it will be of much use at all.
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Wulf was the perfect Rushdown, but now it looks like he’s going to be sidelined for riptor or jago
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So Jagos wind kick that travels the entire screen isn’t broken, but for is op and needs nerf?
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Yeah, he’s a werewolf. Hes supposed to fight wildly and unpredictably like a rabid dog, but now it’s like they want you to hit and retreat. I don’t get it. They say “85% of what you will be doing is the same” yet they are practically changing the entire game mechanics and, changing the way entire characters play.
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Yeah I’ve noticed that too. They’re changing all the season 1 characters to be more in line with Iron Galaxy made characters, and it’s ruining the game.
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“But I’m not an expert on balance” neither is Iron Galaxy apparently. They think “rebalancing” means changing the very mechanics of how a character plays
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Jago has not had a full screen wind kick for a long time…
Just as a note, it isn’t necessary to respond in individual posts to each person’s comments. You can just tag them all in a single post, or quote them individually and they’ll get the notice as well.
Many enders across the entire cast got nerfed, including a lot of characters’ damage enders. Wulf is not unique in this, and in general the character dealt quite a bit of damage to begin with.
Characters get things that are useful to them - not everyone has a flashy or spectacular instinct. Riptor just gets insane range on her tail and bigger/more damaging flames. Aganos gets a peacemaker that does almost nothing to help him on his weak defense. S2 Glacius got a hit of armor that half the cast could blow through in a single move. Thunder just gets an invincible dash that is only moderately better than the dash Saberwulf has at all times.
Yes, some characters do have better instincts than others, and S2 Wulf’s was the best of the bunch. But it wasn’t the best because of the damage buff (though that certainly helped), it was the best because of the absolute shenanigans that feral cancel let you pull off. The damage was the icing, but feral cancel is the core of what made Wulf so overwhelmingly powerful in instinct. Even with the refresh nerf, feral cancels are still very, very, good. Just because something isn’t immediately overwhelming or spectacular doesn’t mean it isn’t quite good. Hisako’s instinct isn’t particularly scary at low to mid level - it’s only once someone starts chaining counter-hit naginata normals and command grab resets that it actually begins to shine.
Really? An unreactable dash through, the best command normal in the game (overpower), one of the best frame trap buttons in the game (cr+LK), fantastic throw range and fast, long range normals isn’t good enough? There’s more to opening people up than just hitting them with ■■■■ that can’t be seen - in fact a goodly chunk of the cast relies on tools other than unreactable high/low/left/right mixups to get their damage. They manage just fine, and I think you’ll find Wulf will as well. Being reactable isn’t the end of the world, and doesn’t mean that it will now never hit anyone ever again. People get hit by Jago’s overhead all the time. Heck, people get hit by Hisako’s rekka overhead all the time.
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And both of those are safe situationally. What does Wulf have outside of run?
A standing overhead normal? Nope
A safe mixup? Nope
He lost two frames on his dash, which will make a big difference on his dash through left/right mixups, and eclipse and shadow eclipse don’t auto-correct on dash through anymore.
I still don’t understand why people ever press buttons after a cr.LK, either. If you don’t press buttons after orchids lvl2 mid rekka, or lvl2 overpower, why would you press buttons after a CHIPLESS normal?
Crouch block him and you’re good.
Made moderately harder by the fact that he can dash through you on your wakeup, and always has the option of dash->meaty throw. And cr+LK frame traps are great for counter hitting attempted throw techs. No one’s trying to “push buttons” against a cr+LK string - they’re trying to tech the throw they suspect is coming.
And being “situationally” safe is not super impressive. That overhead that Hisako can wrath-cancel? Loses to mash throw every time, and there’s nothing she can do about it if she wants the mixup. Not everything you do on offense should be safe, even if it is reactable.