I’m going to assume you’re talking about the Kensei here; for the record I believe that chains do not need to be aimed at the same arc, so while his unblockable attack is always a top arc attack, the other two might not need to be. I don’t know if you’re still playing the Conqueror, but the first two attacks of that chain are able to be blocked or parried. The unblockable overhead can still be parried (which will cost the Kensei a pretty large chunk of stamina and leave you for a free hit or guard break typically) or dodged, though those require more specific timing. If you’re playing the Conqueror still, his “all-guard” shield stance should make the first two hits easy to block as well.
Not every attack is interruptible, and some are only interruptible by heavy attacks, so keep that in mind. Sometimes the better option is to defend and punish versus trying to counter-poke.
I know I sound like a broken record at this point but the way to improve at this game is practice practice practice. Learn what works in particular matchups and what your opponent’s character wants to do, as well as how your opponent is playing the character. I faced a Peacekeeper last night who was extremely grabby (because the PK can stab you to apply Bleed during a grab), and also liked to use the forward-dash bleed stab.
I was able to adjust my play when fighting this particular player, as I am familiar with both of those moves and why they are strategically useful. I focused on teching the grabs as well as blocking high, and continuously poked them with lights, applying my own Bleed, and before they knew it they were eating a heavy attack and getting executed.
On the contrary, when I have been playing AI modes to complete my Contracts and Orders, I tend to struggle against the Conqueror. All the Conqueror AI needs to do to beat me is block while charging up heavy swings (hold RT); after parrying me or blocking me a single hit takes off close to a third of my Nobushi’s health! I need to work on that matchup in particular.
Typically games like this are best played with others who you can communicate with, but that isn’t always the case. I played with a group of guys last night after being invited by someone I used to play Gears UA with, but even though we were a four-person group we lost more than we won. We had a lot of difficulties where people were not calling out enemies (in particular when they let enemies run from them during Elimination or Deathmatch modes) and swinging wildly around teammates, which caused several teammate deaths or staggered a teammate, then allowing the enemy that teammate was attacking to get away or complete a revive.
I expect I will be on tonight should anyone want to play.