I’ve noticed alot of stuff like this coming around so I’d figure I’d try my hands with a few tips.
First off: Juggles. Juggles are basically combos that can be done to keep your opponent in the air. Some characters have gameplay who take advantage of this. Sadira and Cinder especially. At first it may seem intimidating because people feel helpless but when you realize what juggles are, they’re not as scary as they look.
Here’s a few pointers:
1-We all know combos have 5 elements: Openers, Autos, Manuals, Linkers, and Enders.
2- Openers are obvious everyone who has played this game long enough knows this. Autos (AKA Auto-Doubles) are two hits you press any button after an opener or linker and it happens. Manuals are different however if you wait slightly longer to do manuals then just pressing buttons you do a one hit attack that can make it harder for opponents to break you. However fun fact; that’s not just what manuals count as.
Let me make an example: If you do Fulgore’s eye beam ender and then go for a forward heavy attack punch attack that attack counts as a manual and you can still break him even when it happens, I’ve not seen a lot of people try to break this in the years I played KI and I find it perplexing how even seasoned players don’t know this. Espeiclaly players who’ve played since S1-S2.
In juggles Manuals are baisically a bunch of manuals stringed togeather after an opener, some examples I can use best is Cinder, a good juggle combo can go from this. There’s a few examples but let’s say Cinder knocks you into the air after a fired-up fire-flash.
(FIRED UP) Fire-Flash—>Light-Trailblaxer—>Diagnal-Up+LK----->HK----->Trailblazer—>LK…etc.
Once your opponent is knocked in the air your light trailblazer will be your manual, now because cinder’s light-trail-blazer brings him travel upward if you press LP+LK you break Cinder’s air-combo. Even if Cinder hits you twice in a row if he was traveling upwards with Light-Trailblazer it still counts, right off the bat you already have two chances to break. Even after this anything Cinder does in the air that is not a counter-breaker, you can break it.
Whether the opponent is standing on the ground or juggling you in the air, if you were knocked up there to begin with and getting juggled, you can break it. By this point you simply have to recognize what button your opponent is pressing. This applies to everyone, including Sadira who earlier today put me in a whirl-wind of hurt, lol.
In this instance you can check out @Infilament guide I recall he has gifs or images that show you what some of those attacks may look like, or you can go into training mode and press buttons with the opponent you’re having trouble with.
FLIP-OUTS.
Ok this one is a bit iffy for me because honestly because after a flip-out anything can happen here. Flip-Outs don’t make you as vulnerable as some might think. In flip-outs all it’s doing is just quickly setting you back on the ground, a similar thing happens if people were to try and counter-break you out of a juggle but you don’t break them. The recovery is almost instant and this I can understand is where the scary part comes.
Once the flip-out happens you as the defender have a few options but it depends strictly on what your opponent is trying to do:
Block: Believe it or not, after a flp-out you can still block the next attack or if the opponent throws out a move that you can poke with a light normal, you can hit them out of it. Personally from my expeirnece I suggest blocking and be ready for a mix-up. Again it’s a bit iffy and they can be harder to defend against once you flip-out but at least you can still do something right after. To better demonstrate, let me tell you a story:
When I use one of my mains Riptor, one favorite attack is using clever girl than doing a flip-out now because my flip-out is a light kick I can get broken if my opponent times it right. Not only that but if I do manage to flip them out, I have to throw out my next attack to be something they will likely fail to guard against, if I throw out a light punch while crouching and my opponent crouch-guards, he blocks the attack successfully. Now if I throw out an attack that takes longer like say a heavy normal they can either block it easily, or if they’re feeling ballsy, they can just throw out a light normal, poke me out of it and then hit me with their own combo. Even as an attacker you have to be careful with flip-outs.
KI is a game that always keeps the defender and attacker in tangem, unless it’s an opener, an ender to a decent combo, or an Ultra/Ultimate you can DO something about the situation even if the opponent is mopping the floor with youe face you can still flip things over and fight back.
I speak from experience but this honestly something I wanted to get off my chest and share with people.