If you’re fighting Rash then you save meter so you can react with shadow ND. Otherwise, block. It’s that simple really. Have him respect you if you have meter and punish.
I generally do know about saving meter for that specific situation, but in regards to blocking, with the wrecking ball reset I just described, it leaves Aganos with nary a window to counter-attack after a block. I couldn’t even use a shadow counter against it in the lab (it simply wouldn’t come out after the 1st blocked hit to counter the 2nd - he’d just throw out an attack instead). :’(
He does have to touch the ground after doing wrecking ball (and then optionally an air attack). He might quickly do another attack when he hits the ground, but he can’t just do wrecking balls forever in the air.
And yeah, like CStyles said, Aganos does have a perfect answer that works every time, which is shadow ND after blocking any wrecking ball. You need meter, though, which sucks if you get caught in that specific trap without meter. I think you really do just have to block until you get meter.
Sometimes Rash will be unsafe after wrecking ball in the air and you can AA flick him (if he hits at a weird part of his arc and goes up higher, or you leave block stun earlier). I don’t know if there is an easy way to tell when this situation happens in a real match, though. It seems kinda random to me and you have to make the judgment very quickly.
I really wanna encounter this!!
I find it sad that this is what most Rash players spam. As someone who actively avoids using wrecking ball because I personally think it sucks, the Aganos match up is hella fun. Aganos has to respect Rash’s HK range because it’ll avoid his armor and he has to keep an eye out for shadow big boot which will eat all his chunks. Meanwhile Rash can’t pressure him from the air like he can against the rest of the cast because he’ll get hit out of it, and Rash can’t yolo tongue or boot trap because the armor will go through it all. It’s a really fun back and forth… until you throw wrecking ball into the mix.