New Aganos here, advice appreciated

Hello good KI community, I’ve just started playing Aganos and I love him <3 <3 <3.

I’m on a tight budget now so I can only afford to buy a couple more characters, and I’ve been very interested in Aganos, and now that I tried it convinced me to try hard to get better with him.

I also love his design, he looks so emotional, like some kind of protector of life who loves all living things.

Anyway guys, any advice that would help me to understand him better would be much appreciated.

Regards

One of the most important things to know about Aganos is that you gotta be aware of how many chunks he has at all times, it’ll save you or get you killed. I like to usually keep at most two chunks, if I have any more then I like to use them as one of his different options (wall placement, peacemaker club, his various projectiles) so that way I’m not over encumbered by them.

Learn when to chunk up with him as well. outside of his Payload Assault ender, usually his safest time to chunk up is after either a forward throw or a max distance sweep from him. Most other situations can be punished for your efforts. So I’d say try to get into the habit of chunking up after those two situations.

One of the other important things to get down with him is to learn how to use his anti-air options. Learn to react with both his back+LP and his crouch HP. People love to jump at Aganos, so make sure you swat them down like the flies they are :grin:

In regards to stuff like blockstrings, usually any normal into a light Pulverizer will be your main tool to use. This can be shadow countered though so try to mix it up with using some of his other normals (like for example, stand LK > stand LK > stand MP as a blockstring) to help throw off their shadow counter timing.

Aganos jump MK is not only his crossup, but is also his fastest air normal so if you go air to air with someone at close range, try to use that normal the most. His jump HK also makes for a good neutral jump normal as the hitbox for that actually reaches a good distance below him.

If you end up having any other questions, then feel free to ask for more advice. Myself and the other Aganos players are more than happy to help you out in anyway possible!

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@GalacticGeek @UKTyrant

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Pay attention to spacing with your pokes - many of his attacks push the opponent away from him, even on block (s.LP, s.LK, s.MP, s.MK, and s.HK.) - this can be useful for setting up throws for chunking, since you can push many characters out of their own throw range, preventing them from throwing you in turn (also, don’t forget that many pokes can segue into combos on hit). Generally speaking, if the opponent blocks, I like to use s.LK because this puts them into the aforementioned ideal throw range. Alternatively, you can follow it up with a s.LP, and then s.HK, instead of doing a throw, which will push your opponent far away enough on block to prevent most counter-attacks (but not all) and allow you to plan your next move. If you hit with the s.HK, it’s even better, as it pushes them back further, can potentially cause a wall bounce, and is great for setups (such as an immediate shadow payload assault follow-up, which can be used for wall-crashing, wall-setups, or for getting chunk-armor).

Here are some other spacing facts:

  1. c.MK reaches further than s.MK, moves Aganos forward as well, and lowers his hitbox.
  2. Pulverize (all strengths) actually moves your opponent closer to you, on hit or block, unlike many of his other moves. On block, if you’re not careful, this can actually put your opponent into their own throw range to throw you so be mindful of this!

Use Aganos’ c.HK often, as it’s 1 of his only 2 low attacks (the other being c.HP with the peacemaker). It’s fast, knocks the opponent back, hits twice (mid, then low) and can cause a hard knockdown on the 2nd hit for a free wall or chunk. You can even use his f.HK (which can be pressed repeatedly to march towards the opposition) to try and confuse your opponent into thinking you’re doing the ground stomp while also moving you forward - and you can use this to bait shadow counters or to simply push them into a corner.

Aganos has some of the best normals in the game. Do NOT neglect them!

Another anti-air option that @RFGCAtsumachi didn’t mention is the medium payload assault, since it arcs differently than any other projectile in the game and pushes your opponent back far enough for a free chunk or wall in most cases. At a distance, even on block, it can still give you enough time for the free wall or chunk. Also regarding projectiles, Aganos payload assault (all versions) can be used to destroy most other projectiles (there are a few exceptions) - so use this often to create openings your opponent may not expect!

If you anti-air with c.HP, you can immediately cancel into a medium ruin for an easy wall-crash, on hit, if you have walls up. Be careful though, as it can easily be punished on block. Light, heavy, and shadow ruin can work for this too, but in my experience, those can sometimes whiff, which is why I suggest the medium version - it’s more likely to hit and prevent you from being punished since it won’t whiff as often, if ever.

If the distance from your opponent is far enough, you can even “jump” during his natural disaster (simply press up during the move) to knock them down as an anti-air and give yourself good positioning. Be careful of characters with in-air projectles though, like Shadow Jago, who can use them to knock you out of your own jump. Even better, you can change the velocity of the natural disaster’s jump by pressing up and away at the same time, instead of just up - this can be used if they’re closer, to delay the hit, or even to purposefully whiff for a potential mixup (such as a throw they may not be expecting).

Put up walls constantly - it genuinely puts fear into the opponent. If it’s behind them, it’ll be nearly impossible for them to jump without getting wall-crashed, especially if you have chunk armor and/or shadow meter - the latter allows you to use shadow ruin, which is invulnerable to everything but throws on startup and that is projectile invulnerable AND has infinite armor until it hits. If you put up a wall behind you, it allows you to get a peacemaker quickly, which is fantastic for creating space and for recycling purposes, and if your opponent can teleport, it can be used to immediately trap them into a corner if they try to get behind you. Also be mindful of how many walls you have up, how much damage they’ve taken from wall-bounces and from when Aganos gets knocked down, as well as where they are. I’ve had numerous instances where I’ve put up walls behind me, because I knew there was already a wall further behind me off-screen - this has allowed me to set up a massive-damage combo (60+% or more, depending on how many walls you have set up) by exchanging sides with my opponent soon after - either with the exchange ender, jumping crossup, or the back-throw. If you have plenty of chunk armor, you can even use the walls to instantly make your opponent claustrophobic by putting walls on both sides, where you can constantly poke, punish, and wall-crash them to your heart’s content as they try to poke through your chunk-armor (be wary of grounded, heavy normals and throws though, as those ignore the chunk armor, but thankfully, don’t remove them). Also don’t forget that your walls can be used for wall-bounces with the s.HK for great setups (but also remember that it’ll do damage to your own wall in the process).

If your opponents try to damage your walls, it’s important to remember that the walls can take any combination of 3 hits from wall bounces or from Aganos getting knocked down - wall bounces cause 1 hit of damage against the wall it hits, but knocking Aganos down causes 1 hit of damage to ALL walls that are still standing. Many opponents will try to incorporate both into single combos to do as much damage as possible - try to break their combos to prevent them from doing this. Don’t be afraid to replace your already damaged walls with fresh new walls either - it’ll help maintain fear in your opponent by limiting their options and by giving you more options for resources.

One final thought on walls - if your opponent is already low on health on their 1st health bar, it might be better to use an ender other than the ruin ender, so you can still kill them, but save the walls for potential massive damage to end their 2nd health bar quickly. Furthermore, they can still be used for other resources as well (peacemaker, for example) and continue to keep the fear of them in your opponent.

Regarding the peacemaker - it’s really, really good. Many players like to use it to destroy projectiles or keep their opponent at bay by throwing it. IMO, it’s better to hold onto it if you can, because it makes for great near full-screen mixups simply by using s.HP or c.HP interchangeably while holding it - the former is great for hard knockdowns and anti-airs (and allows for setting up walls or really fast chunking) while the latter is great as a low attack. I’d recommend only throwing it away if you know your opponent’s going to jump or use a projectile, as this can lead into a full combo punish if you cancel the throw into a heavy natural disaster (since the throw staggers on hit). If they block the thrown peacemaker, it still knocks them back nearly full screen too, so it’s incredibly hard for them to punish, and still gives you time, in most cases, to re-chunk. Also, because of the new recycling mechanics, you can use the peacemaker to put up new walls WITHOUT having to expend your own chunk armor - it’s kind of like having an additional chunk to spend. So, technically speaking, you can have up to 4 chunks of armor, with a 5th chunk (your peacemaker) on reserve for other things. Your walls, since they can be used to get the peacemaker, can also be seen as a 6th, 7th, 8th, or even 9th resource - depending on how many walls you have up (which has a maximum of 4). If you’re in a mirror match, there could potentially be a total of 13 total resources in play for Aganos to use (since the other golem can also put up 4 walls as well), although this is incredibly unlikely to happen.

I’ll add more for you as I think of it, but for now, I promised my mother I would take her to church for Mother’s Day. Good luck! I wish you the best! :smiley:

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Thanks guys @GalacticGeek @RFGCAtsumachi , your loving help really moves me <3 <3 <3

Today I took Aganos to ranked, guess what? I did good considering I started yesterday to play him.

One thing I realized, opponents are not very familiar with an Aganos matchup, in most occasions I felt I had an advantage cause my opponent didn’t knew much about what he could do. Maybe it’s just me though.

I need to understand better the Wall dynamic, practice it, get used to it. Is an unique feature that needs some time to adjust too

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No problem man, always glad to help out anyone that wants to learn the giant boulder man!

That’s a thing that you will run into a lot, is people not being familiar with him. I honestly feel like it’s not until Killer rank where people fully understand his advantages and disadvantages and then the game truly gets interesting for him. Fighting people who aren’t familiar with him is a good thing starting off with him as you have a chance to put to muscle memory some of the things Aganos needs to do like chunk up or place walls.

Walls will take some time to get used to. It’s an easy way to make the opponent take risks that Aganos is more than happy to capitalize on. Placing a wall behind someone is a good deterrent for people as they know they can be hit for 30% damage right away if you anti-air them with a Shadow Ruin (which I forgot to list as a notable anti-air for Aganos). An easy way to get used to placing walls is to use them to trap the opponent in the corner with you. Aganos has some of the absolute best corner pressure in the game due to the fact that his normals are amazing. Trapping people in the corner with a wall allows you to use your normals at ranges where the opponent cannot escape them without an extremely great read or using a shadow move to hit you. Try placing walls like that first and test to see what characters that works on better than others (Kan-Ra being one of the best characters to do this against as he is not great when cornered)

Oh, doing that is so much fun! :smiley:

Not when you’re Kan Ra unfortunately.

#ScarabsThenRunAway

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@RafaMang Hey there! Hope you’re having good times with Aganos. Make sure to check out the great tech vids by @FinchoMatic and @RFGCAtsumachi.

The only thing I might add is to watch a ton of “Season 3” Aganos’s gameplay footage from good players (you won’t necessarily be “upping” your game watching true beginners play as Aganos.) Although there are lots of good Aganos players out there, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of good Aganos players posting saved streams or youtube vids on the regular. The one guy that consistently puts his stuff up on youtube is @reeeek20 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTjXUSMU64XTZoVlOU9N4Zg/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0.
With this dude, you could literally watch hours of solid Aganos play against the whole KI cast.

Bass is doing a series of vids called “Rough Sets with …” and “Group Sets”, look for Aganos matches there, feel free to check out s2, but I’d stick with the ones that are specifically s3. Here’s a s3 set with LetalisVenator (@LetalisVenator). - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1zCtPpKs2Y

Here’s an Aggy vs Fulgore match

Lastly, look for and watch anything with Zergkiller. The dude’s a beast.




These vids should give you a great idea of using the tech often discussed in match context. Hope this helps!

Fight on!

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@RafaMang definitely take a look at the post above, it has a lot of great stuff. Even though Aganos loses in some of these vids, it’s just as important to see why certain players lost as him so that way you can learn from their mistakes just as much as you learn from the successes.

Thank you @iDoMusic4Media , I’ve been watching this videos for hours, and learned a lot. Aganos has a unique playstyle. To be honest I was looking for some high level Aganos gameplay on youtube, but couldn’t find much, so this channel you sent me is precious, thanks a lot man.

@RFGCAtsumachi I was thinking the same, I mean, even if he lost some of this matches he’s still a high level player and you can learn a lot from even his losses.

Thanks for the info guys