I know that Hisako’s Instinct is best activated close to the opponent to react, but I’m not sure how to best use it once it’s on. The possibilities of always-full-Wratch are vast, so I’m not sure what to prioritize.
I recently discovered that Heavy Influence can reach a level 4 ender with a very short combo, so this seems like an excellent option to meaty after a knockdown. In neutral though, I’m not sure what are the best tools that I don’t have otherwise.
Prioritize doing damage quickly. Use command grabs (or the threat of them) to reset the opponent repeatedly to melt their lifebar. Which reset you use will be dependent on the opponent and what they’re afraid of - the infinite wrath simply supplements that.
Hisako’s instinct isn’t really a “neutral” instinct - you want to pop it when close and stay in the entire time. If you get pushed out you aren’t going to get much out of it. Note: against instinct Gargos you can use the infinite wrath to repeatedly do cr.HK->parry. If he explodes your parry will catch it and you get the combo, and if he doesn’t then you just sweep him until he’s dead.
I’ve always liked doing stagger combos while in Instinct. Gets easy lock outs and then damage them.
I strongly dislike most uses of stagger combos - I think pound for pound they are the absolute worst use of the full wrath mechanic. They take too long and do too little damage, and against better players who know not to mash they will often not bait the counter so you never get the chance to go into the damaging AD loops. I say use them sparingly if at all - Sako has plenty of other ways to bait lockouts and punish break attempts.
Ok, that confirms my suspicion that you either pop it in close and make it count, or it’s far less likely to do its job.
I had an idea recently to help get in when you want to melt them: make them block something long range and with a fair amount of block stun, like st.HP, then pop Instinct and use the block stun as cover to dash in and start working them. Do you do this or have any setups for it?
Not really. If they’re in range to block st.HP, then they’re in range to take the full rekka mixup. In cases like that I try to open them up with the rekkas, and then if those get blocked I’ll pop instinct and hit them with a final up-close mixup.