So, there we can have serious talk about his gameplay.
So far, as far as I see, Raam has good footsie game, brutal damage, phenomenal grab setups, and a surprisingly better defense game than he looks.
If Raam starts doing good reads, his meterless grab deals huge damage, and he can really lock down in place his opponent and bully him with the threat of his HP. His QCF P reachs really far, but it’s unsafe on block, so he has to be careful opening his opponent. Placing Krylls in the opponent it’s a really amazing tool, and coupled with his instinct, he can one chance BIG damage combos.
I have to still use properly his Kryll shield, and his running command grab requires some experimentation.
Also I like his stomps. Mental games come here, giving us 3 options: Flip Out, Hit, and fake. Also consider counter break. This can lead to really discouraging mental games, not allowing the opponent to ever try to break him, because if he gets a lockdown, he can finish the fight quickly, specially with stored instinct
I don’t play grapplers and RAAM isn’t going to sway me. BUT WOW!!! The
tools this guy has is going to give people freaking nightmares. Both
Aesthetically and Mechanically.
I think his actual model looks ok, but his Instinct is so interesting and graphically well done.
Now mechanically, he is literally beast and he can also play like
one. He’s one more grappler with a flip out? A grappler with OTG
attacks? A Grappler that can passively chip down your damage!? Dawg!!!
Some Top Thunder players and some Zangief players coming from SFV are creaming their pants right now!
I’d love to get on this, but given the monster size of this game’s update, it’ll be some time before I get it downloaded to try him. I’m thinking though, IG may have gotten him out just in time to barely squeak in under the deadline radar for EVO’s added content policies. So he just MIGHT be playable at EVO.
He seems super interesting. Another character with only 3 AD’s (and a single linker) means he’s actually probably going to need that one-chance damage. His normals are all either super slow, or seem to have really tight cancels if you want to get into the combo game. I think he’ll have some difficulty opening people up if they’re not quite in his preferred range.
His down+HP is amazing. 8 (or 9?) frames, magnificent hitbox. Probably second only to Maya’s down+HP. Kryll reversals also mean he’s not going get bullied by people sitting over his head the way some of the other big characters do.
Kryll reversal going to be super annoying. Anti-cross-up AND made of projectiles. I hate projectile reversals…
That command grab is amazing. It was the first move I tested, and I was literally just like “how is this not broken???” until I played around with him some more and found out how difficult it his for him to actually get a normal combo. The grab is almost as fast as Hisako’s light influence, with like 5 times the range. And it leads to what’s essentially a grab vortex, which seems incredible to write. Because of the range on it, I’m thinking command grab resets will probably a thing, even though he seems to combo at a fairly far distance from the opponent. Only downside is that it’s not very active, so is likely to lose to other command grabs.
His instinct is going to be bloody annoying. I had a devil of a time meatying him with all those kryll flying around It also makes him harder to break - pretty much have to break solely by audio cues if he manages to get you in a combo.
No idea why it didn’t occur to me, but yeah, that fake should be good for baiting timing lockouts to try and guarantee some extra damage and/or the lockout. Might only be practical off the medium or light versions though, given the reduced hit stun as you increase the strength of the grab.
So raam’s OTg stomps can’t get timing lockouts. It’s either you fail the breaker strength or you get the break. So someone can just mash either L or M after a throw and succeed.
Funny thing about raam vs stoneflesh. Apparently if you’re stomping gargos with stoneflesh and he explodes the stomps bypass it and gargos gets smacked.
Finally, KI gets a true heavyweight, burly grappler. I always felt this was an archetype that was yet to be fleshed out in KI, and as soon as I heard the rumor he might be coming, I silently wished he’d be filling in those shoes. He’s basically all I expected him to be and more. He has the amazing command grab, with great reach and startup and damage, he has the moving command grab with armor, he has the anti airs and defensive moves to be a moving wall and he has the tool to force his opponent to need to come to him.
He’s the zangief KI never had, and much more, and I freakin’ love it.
The stomps look to give him great mind games. He seems really limited, combo-wise, only one opener, always unsafe on block, and only one linker, but that advantage ender that puts a swarm on the opponent together with the stomps on hard KD enders should make his 1-chance game really good, IMO. If played right, I feel he has the tools to be a nightmare once he gets in on you.
Can’t wait to see some decent level gameplay of him.
Oh, yeah, hadn’t tested the instinct when I posted earlier.
Holy ■■■■, it’s gonna be hard to deal with. Really hard to actually see what he’s doing, turns his running grab into a much bigger threat, and especially makes his charge unblockable a big thing, when he can walk while charging.
You just wanna run away whenever this thing is on.
There there’s the constant potential damage =S once instinct is nearly up, if he catches you he can one chance for 50%+
Mine has been uploading for like four hours or more, however I was able to start the game in-progress while it downloaded and RAAM was one of the first to be playable.
I’ll be honest - for the moment this move is my biggest problem, instinct or not. I keep trying to just neutral jump punish it, but then you get caught on trip guard for pushing a button in the air. And I keep trying to trade heavies with it, and just wind up watching as he barrels through it and grabs me anyway
I’ve actually had the best luck just throwing the blasted thing…his own throw doesn’t come until very late in the animation of the run, so you can just beat him to the punch half the time. Even Hisako’s stubby throw seems to beat it outright.
Why? The opponent is clearly visible and bright through the Kyril…Raam is a bit camouflaged but thats intentional to hide is 3 ADs and 1 linker…and easily telegraphed stop juggles that can be broken.
He may be strong but he needs a lot of help compared to the rest of the cast…you said it yourself the dude is hard to start a combo with.
Yeah, I just checked that, and I know you can play some characters while others download. Raam is now available on my game so I’m trying him in training mode right now!
The best part, I’m a combo breaker edition owner, so normally I have to wait a WHOLE WEEK to play the new characters, but this time, IG is so benevolent, I don’t have to wait at all! Thank you @developers, you guys have made this the video game Christmas miracle!
My initial impressions are that he’s a LOT like Zangief, but I think he will be absolutely merciless in the right hands. I’m really interested in playing him. That instinct will make it really hard for anyone to break his combos without guessing and his Autos will do soooooo much extra damage during that, he’s a monster, and taller than Gargos. He’s almost the tallest in the game.
Im just curious as to why…i seen were some others were saying it as well. I see why they did this though…he needs it that edge 2x per match due to as you said…easy to break and will need that one chance break damage.
I still dont understand the command list for Decimation though.
Im sure he is gonna be hell in Ranked for the next few weeks…just like Gargos has been. LOL
Unlike Gargos, I think Raam will be interesting to play AND fight against as opposed to the one-way misery that is Gargos. Raam, by design though i think won’t make the immediate splash that Gargos did because he’s designed, in my opinion , for slow, thoughtful play, mind games and setups. Not quite the yolo, spamming mess that Gargos is built around.
A Preliminary thought I’ve had… I kinda wish they had gone the Gief route though and given him a good ‘get off me’ style jab. That’s just a super early, hour of fiddling opinion of mine though so it’s subject to change.
I really like the design from both angles though and it’s nice to see a slow, thoughtful playstyle introduced. Thats what he seems like any way. Based around short combos and command grabs, he only feels super hectic once the instinct is active.
One thing that makes me sad is that, at least on the surface, he’s going to struggle vs zoning, making the absolute ARMY of Gargos even more annoying to deal with, but his ability to run through the portal punches might make it was more manageable.
I think I’m going to try to really dive into him and get a feel for him and see how he does out in the wild.
It also makes him harder to break - pretty much have to break solely by audio cues if he manages to get you in a combo.
