Yes, she’s really mobile, but that doesn’t mean anything to a smart player. For example, a Kan-Ra player is gonna but bugs in her way so she can’t run. Glacius can destroy any forward mobility she has by simply jumping backward and hitting LK. Even a halfway decent Jago can blow up every single forward-moving option she has with a well-placed medium wind kick (which, btw, is safe). Also, when characters like Orchid and Glacius get their opportunities to perform mixups, they can still be neutral (if not plus) even if everything they do gets blocked. Riptor does one tail flip and she’s screwed. Now, I’m not saying I have a problem with a character having a yolo move. I like the fact that Riptor has to get inside her opponent’s head in order to get damage. It’s just that other characters don’t. In lieu of nerfing other characters, if we really want Riptor to be competitive, her “strengths” need to be much stronger.
Sometimes optimized combo damage isn’t just heavy attacks. Light linkers with heavy doubles usually nets higher dps. Riptor and most other characters can get 40%+ with no meter, albeit it’s easy to break.
Plus, if you can open a combo with heavy tail flip it should automatically dock a good 5-7% from their life bar.
Of course, that being said, I’m always for damage buffs for the Dino girl lol
Regardless of what strength you use, you’ve still gotta work hard for good damage with Riptor. Still though, you’re right. The dino army must rise. I find the best way to git gud damage with her is by manual-ing crouching HP after you land a tail flip. Most people (at least for now) will lock out on it since it’s break window arrives so late. I’m still working on a combo that maximizes Riptor’s damage output, but for now I have: Heavy Tail Flip, Manual cr. HP, Shadow Shoulder Charge x2, HP Autodouble, HP Linker, HP Autodouble, etc. until the KV meter reaches max. I don’t remember off the top of my head, but I believe it dealt around 80%. I could probably do better if I manual cr. HP off of the HP linkers.
If they wanna play smart then we need to simply play smarter. You don’t have to go running wild at them like crazy, you can approach carefully if you must. Glace may have his ice lance kick and jummping back but he also extends his hit box. Meaning you can use your firebreath to stop him. If he keeps this up he’llbe backed up into a corner and so long as you don’t get hit by anyway wake up, just open him up and he’s all yours to brutalize.
Jago is indeed a tough customer and one that can be hard for Riptor because he’s good with defense and offence, but like everyone else, if you’re smart about what you do and keep him on his toes your good. but definatley do not get cornered that would be a death sentence.
from my experience even if I don’t have a the highest damage output with Riptor a good combo is just enough in that if I can stay next to them and keep them in one spot all those little bits of damage will matter.
I play characters like Cinder who, when compared to Glacius are much weaker damage wise, but if I can keep them from hitting me and keep hitting them, it won’t matter how much damae they do by the time I’m far ahead while they’re in the danger zone. But that can only be acheived if you’re careful.
Everything you’re saying is true. However, hitting Glacius’ jumping kick hitboxes with run forward fire is pretty darn tricky. When I go into that matchup, I use run very conservatively and just try to block everything he throws at me and jump out of his shatters. The matchup is still in Glacius’ favor, though. As far as Jago is concerned, that one favors him, too. Riptor almost NEEDS meter in order to get out of his pressure (especially in instinct). While we’re talking about it, I do have one idea for a potential buff. I’m not sure exactly what the hitboxes look like on Riptor’s normal clever girl, but what if they made her go super low profile? It wouldn’t be a straight up invincible reversal, but she would just duck under highs and mids when she uses the move. That way, Jago wouldn’t get to force her to block on wakeup as often.
Clever Girl already has upper body invincibility, it already avoids highs and mids (depending on their box)
Riptor’s crouching Fire into a Fire Chain is her strongest Opener and it gives the opponent potential damage for bonus pts to your combo. Heavy Tail Slam is her second strongest opener and her best opener for KV efficiency but it leaves no white health. Clever girl isn’t Upper Body invincible, it’s High Crush which is kinda funny because Riptor’s hitbox is so large that it makes Clever Girl not the best High Crush attack but it does get the job done 70% of the time.
As for her damage output. Indeed it is low in comparison to Sabrewulf, TJ Combo, Jago. However, her super fast Resets give her Raw Damage. If you can pull off 2 crouching HPs and 2 Tail Slams in one Combo the opponent already lost +30% on top of the 45-50% combo you ended on them. During Instinct!? oh jeezus. In Instinct Riptor’s resets completely change, it’s not about Tail Slam anymore, it’s about cr.HP Flame-Chains. They do 19% raw damage and leave enough White Health for an automatic Level 2 combo. If You begin using her Fire chains as Resets Starting with her cr.HP during Instinct her Damage Output would end the Round in 1.4 Combos.
There are no “mids” in this game; just overheads, highs, and lows. 
A buff I’d go for, if not the risky carpet, is to increase the white damage from most, if not all, fire attacks, at all times and give it decent chip or greater white damage in Instinct.
Definitely for Flame Breath and Flame Carpet, not sure on the other abilities, perhaps scaled white damage per move or according to the KV level.
I’m convinced her fulcrum of Hit 'n Run revolves around her breath, though I can’t prove it quite yet. (well, 40-60% combos with Flame Breath linkers, but those are telegraphed inputs and in combo.)
She just needs incentive to put it out there more.
Players need to feel like they can poke a Breath or two in the neutral game to allow their Hit’n’Run to flex because there is white damage to “chain” said Hit’n’Runs together.
Wulf and Thunder are much more attractive for the damage they do in their resets, Riptor needs her telegraphed heavies to rake up the damage because her alternative resets are too punishable relative to Wulf and Thunder against the majority of the cast.
I would accept some special properties added to her claws/talons with the above Flame Breath buff while in Instinct. However, I think if balanced right, the way we can store white damage with the Flame Breaths, she can hit 'n run stack some large potential damage and won’t need anything else. Look how powerful Cinder becomes when using his Burnout Enders. ( He’s a hit’n’run with a “between combo” linker with his Burnouts, Riptor needs something similar with her fire.)
I don’t mind if it’s similar to Wulf’s if she gains some chip damage against blockers while in Instinct. I believe if we keep that bonus to just claw based attacks, ie, LP and LK can chip damage (even if very minor) and Talon Rake gains more chip damage, it may allow enough to feel unique in spite of being similar.
Heck, can even allow a 5% damage increase to claw/talon moves, but not needed with a fire buff. Her pressure to block string till a throw is awesome but I’m cool for some incentive to get the opponent moving instead of blocking against Riptor during Instinct.
It’s only in his favor if you don’t get close to him at the start of the match. Once you’re in is face you can beat him so lon as you’re careful to not give him any room. This includes possible wake up attacks from him and what have you.
I definitely like the increased White Health for Riptor on her fire attacks, however I don’t want any damage nerfs to it while in Instinct. They definitely need to buff her Predator stance lk because there’s 1 option to counter it and everyone knows it.
As for a S3 game changing Buff, I want them to do something with her Plasma Claws. I don’t quite know what…but something. Make the fact that her claws are Plasma Hot something represent itself in her Attack scheme.
Her plasma lined claws are reminiscant of Fulgore in some way so maybe that means Fulgore should have something heat related indicating the plasma? ;p
Just kidding.
To be honest I think if they did do that though I’d be relatively ok with a light damage nerf to her instict fire since it’s function as a multi hit still works.
To be honest unlike the other buffs that one doesn’t seem as drastic and won’t really change how Riptor plays too much.
So, I’m back with a thought on a potentially subtle buff: improve shoulder charge on hit such that heavy manuals are accessible. Currently Riptor can frame trap maybe even more effectively than Jago, but Jago has the distinct edge of being able to throw out an opener (medium or heavy laser sword) without giving up frame advantage on block, and can get heavy manuals off of said openers (pushback permitting in the case of medium laser sword). I’m not even sure that I can get a medium manual off an up-close shoulder charge as is. This improvement would allow Riptor to very seamlessly mix in headbutts with her strong predator cancel-driven frame trap pressure (which she can do already), and get a strong follow-up if one happens to hit.
The other thing I wanted to bring up, is that the damage scaling on Riptor’s linkers seems a bit weird, at least compared to other cast members I’ve tested. I’ve posted details of it in the bug thread because I’m leaning towards thinking it’s unintended – so you can go there if you want the details – but if it isn’t, then bringing Riptor’s damage scaling progression off of linkers into line with Jago’s would be a buff. (Although technically you’d just be asking for a damage buff at that point, but maybe that’s a good idea? I don’t know, I haven’t been learning Riptor for long.)
It’s only in his favor if you don’t get close to him at the start of the match. Once you’re in is face you can beat him so lon as you’re careful to not give him any room. This includes possible wake up attacks from him and what have you.
Even up close, it’s still smooth sailing for Glacius. He has all kinds of ways to get out of flame carpet pressure and predator stance pressure for free. It’s hard to force him to block when there’s literally never a situation when he absolutely has to. Is there a flame carpet down? Just liquidize to the other side of Riptor. From there, it’s just a 50/50 mixup of whether he grabs you or puddle punches you. Also, Riptor has a lot of cool frame traps, but not a whole lot of true blockstrings. That means Glacius is never more than one puddle punch away from turning the tables and making Riptor’s mixup HIS mixup. I don’t want to have to guess and preemptively block to try to bait out a reversal when I’m the one who should be at advantage. Couple that with the fact that Glacius is too tall for Riptor’s most effective tail flip shenanigans, and you have one of the most busted matchups in the game. Sure, I can sorta figure out ways to pseudo-tiger knee it, but that just makes it more obvious. That, and Glacius can still just puddle punch it.
As far as potential buffs go, I’m beginning to think she could really use more frame advantage to make more predator stance options true blockstrings. That way, every character in the cast would have to respect her shenanigans. All of the tail flip stuff would still be unsafe, but that’s fine. That’s just how the character is built.
In KI just cause you have the advantage doesn’t mean you’ll keep it if you don’t keep your wits about it. I assume in neutral a lot of fighting are like this. Just cause you have a guy on the ground doesn’t mean your gonna get a free lunch automatically, (unless your playing Blazblue but that’s something else) In a way you still have to guess wheather the enemy will wake up, go on defensive or jump away from you. The point is, once your corner Glacius and you’re careful he can’t do much against you, but ONLY if you don’t do anything that gives him the chance to fight back.
Technically speaking; the reason Riptor’s offensive capabilities can be overturned is because she can easily chase Glacius down, who by comparison literally moves at the speed of a glacier. and thus he can turn your mix-ups on you if you are not careful. His defenses are good because he is slow. Riptor’s offence you have to work a little bit because she’s so fast.
The whole point is to set him up so he doesn’t get a chance on you. When I play as Riptor or any character against Glacius I always follow this same basic factor. Get in his face and do your best to stay there.
Once I knock him down I wait until I see what he tries to do next. If he jumps, clever girl, he wakes up with puddle punch I block and punish. That’s just 2 examples and of course there’s a lot of different variables. The point is, once I’m close I try to remain patient. The reason Riptor’s attacks may not seem so strong in some instances has to do with the fact that she can get on an opponent much faster than the likes of Sabrewulf who is much slower even when running compared to Riptor.
The problem I see with buffing her is depending on what it is we’ll lose alot more. Would you like to be slower potentially to catch up to Glacius? would you like to trade off even more damage for a supposed better mix-up? These are the possible dangers with buffing a character is they may lose something more vital, that’s the way balancing goes. You can’t get something and then expect to keep other factors. Riptor may be better at staying on the offence with a better block string, but perhaps she’ll be slower, do less damage or her mix-ups may not be as good as a result. Buffing is always a trade. I play as Riptor quite often in fact she and Fulgore are the two characters I spend the mos time with. Not only that but I fight Glacius way more than other characters and I’ve even played as him a bit, so I have a pretty good understanding of Glacius, so I can offer some advice to you : )
The beauty of KI is that you have unique ways of playing a character, so maybe before we try buffing we should analyze the way we all play as her and maybe we can help eachother out? that’s one of the reasons I feel this forum should exist besides just askin the devs for stuff and debating opinion. This is a place you can ask for some advice against certain match-ups. If you’re having trouble against one character maybe someone else who has the same main may not have any trouble at all.
So what kind of style of Riptor do you play?
I have two modes in my style of play: Savage and Thinker: I think carefully about my own enemy wait for the right moment and once I have them on lock out, I get three seconds to go beserk and wreck them. However, until then I will remain patient and see what my opponents habits are.
You may not like to guess but the thing is, you should always be weary once you’ve downed an opponent as Riptor. You will technically always be guessing because in fighting games your opponent can be pretty unpredictable as a whole.
You make all valid points. I know it’s not impossible to win the Glacius matchup, but- without question- it’s a bad matchup. Glacius has some awesome natural mixups with fwd. MP, shatter, and his jumping kicks, and every single one of them is awesome for keeping Riptor out. It’s just that even if Riptor is able to get through all of that zoning nightmare, Glacius has a bunch of options on wakeup that make Riptor’s life suck even more. I don’t have a problem with having to suck a little bit to get in. That’s just how Glacius is built. It’s just that there’s nothing to make Glacius afraid of Riptor if I do get in. This definitely wouldn’t be as bad if Riptor could standing H. Tail Flip over him like every other character. Just that alone would make me breathe a sigh of relief.
As far as the danger of buffing one thing and nerfing another, that’s all up to the developers. They could just give one character a buff that only applies to this one particular matchup, because it is really bad for Riptor right now.
I’m not saying I should get to pile on the pressure whenever I want. Part of having a mixup game in the first place is giving the opponent a potential escape so that you can convert it to bigger damage. It’s just that a lot of characters have a little TOO many options to get out, many of them meterless.
You and I seriously gotta keep fighting the good fight for Dinosauria, though. Our character MUST be stronger one day.
The issue with buffing however, is that it doesn’t just apply to one match-up, but all match-ups. Riptor may do TOO well against supposed match-ups she wins against.
When it comes to rushdown vs zoner it’s a matter of distance and from there on out and will depend on the players and what their tactic are.
And yes we’ll definitley keep winning matches for Riptor, but as it is, she’s already pretty strong. Just need the right way to go about it. 
You can use medium tail flip to cross up Glacius instead of the heavy one.
True, just so long as she’s above his head in the right way you can do that.
I know you can cross Glacius up with any tail flip as long as you jump first. Are you saying Riptor can stand directly in front of Glacius, then use medium tail flip to cross him up?