I want this to be true so bad, but I just can’t figure out how to apply pressure w/o Missiles or a knockdown, but Missle pressure has sorta large gaps and even the knockdowns seem to beg for Missiles - all of which is to note that Missiles don’t play as well w/ heat as pretty much anything else…
I DIDN’T TEST MISSILE ADV./BLOCKSTUN
I’ve said it a whole bunch on these forums, but I am not a smart man…
Welp I think I just found kilgores worst matchup. Spinal.
I imagine it will focus a lot around explosive missile and heatball, maybe surprise cross ups? Crazy af oki? Yeah thsi si a lab monster character as I suspected once I red the command list. I still have my rash for WINNING but this guy is going to be fun to unpeel.
I’m finding it hard to start any sort of up close pressure with kilgore. No overhead, no command grab, one short distance low option means its really hard for kilgore to find pressure opportunities once he’s overheated. Being able to land decent damage from a regular throw is great but it being his only good option for unbreakable damage makes it predictable. that plus the fact that he needs meter to recapture, makes the plus-on-block launcher/throw mixup even weaker. As of now, there isn’t really much going for him that the other zoners (Glacius,Kan Rah) can’t do better.
What special is + on block?
Heated metal ball is probably plus. At the very least it’s safe. I’m terrible at analyzing frame data.
Oh that one. Yeah, it’s -1. Free punish for raam in the corner.
I think cr.MK can probably be a low. I’m a little surprised it isn’t, but maybe they wanted people to be able to walk backwards against Kilgore. Which… I don’t really get, but okay.
Crouch HP probably can’t be a low.
Defending against throws is universally hard in KI, no matter the character, because stuff like neutral jump baits exist. So I think Kilgore will throw you fine. He also gets at least 2 speed ups with throw (throw itself + OTG guns), and if he throws you again after that he will be able to juggle for damage + cashout.
I think it’s his main offensive plan though. Overheated metal ball is good but not an “opening you up” tool. It’s more of a “try moving forward without getting hit by this” tool, and your opponent is free to just never try to walk forward to stop that. Which means Kilgore needs to be able to take advantage of a stationary opponent somehow, and I think his only real way to do it is throws and fwd+HP to get damage on people trying to avoid throws.
Also, overheated metal ball is shadow counterable so you don’t want to abuse it too much.
Heated m metal ball is great for getting in on zoning characters. Plus it will beat out any jump attack from what I’ve seen so far. Ill have to test it more against air to airs.
Only other option is to open your opponent up is by crossing up with metal ball which is hard to do
shadow metal ball will beat almost any other A2A unless it’s Shadow crescendo, or wrecking ball in which case kilgore loses. And shadow air orz from hisako. And mantis. And maybe shadow knee. Oh or any shadow dp will cause a trade.
Oh yeah and AA grabs or air throws will beat it.
Wish I had known that when I faced this aria in killer.
Opening up your opponent in the corner is gonna be slightly harder due to the metal balls being unable to cross-up.
Couple of cross-up set-up I found. Jumping mk, c. Mk into hk metal ball. (Works only at max distance)
Side note: as long as your not hugging your opponent using c. Mk into hk metal ball should cross-up
Grab, take a small step back then otg into hk metal ball. (Works on quick rise opponents)
You can quick rise after the first OTG so this won’t really work, unfortunately.
Oh duh.
I told you I am not a smart man.
F@$*. Just realized his metal ball is kind of character specific on crossing up.
M metal ball cannot cross up(unless they are crouching) raam, aganos, gargos, and glacius unless you do a knockdown on them then use it before they fully stand.
You can use h metal ball right next to aganos, gargos and still hit them.
Eyedol’s hitbox is weird and requires a specific range up close in order to cross-up with h metal ball.
Everyone else can be crossed up with m metal ball at varying ranges.
The best set up I have found so far off HKD is H rockets back dash C MK into heavy metal ball, crosses up and feels pretty safe cus the rockets hit just after the ball.
Also been playing around with the shadow ball stagger ender, i’m sure there must be good stuff off it. It’s strange that you can continue the combo or go ender-ender. It might be good to dash in throw for a decent 1 chance if you have meter. It also puts you at the right range for med metal ball cross up but not sure how good it as it’s very timing pacific and if they are holding fwd won’t hit.
Vid of above said setup added.
Just tried this against eyedol in the lab. Doesn’t work due to his weird hitbox. However, after the backdash and then immediately doing m metal ball will work.
I have only tried it on normal size characters, i’ll add the vid to original post I a bit.
Already tested m and h metal ball against the larger characters. Check my edit above.