Sabrewulf Season 3 Rebalance Thread

We sure didn’t.

I do not agree, even a little. 95% of what she did in S1 was still available, and then some. Not even close to as big a change as Jago Instinct or Fulgore Meter in S2, or even remotely on the level of Spinal and Maya’s S3 reworks.

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Haha, Wulf projectiles confirmed. Pretty sure he will cough furballs by the end of s3. Lol

So jumping slash is so slow it won’t combo off of magic series or a cr mp? That is a HUGE nerf to wulf because it takes away from the hi low mixup. Wulf is a character that is full of 50/50s and if the overhead is so slow that you just crouch block and react to when its thrown out, the move isn’t going to be worth the risk of using anymore just to end up -7 sitting right in front of your opponent.

To compare it to Jagos overhead is like apples and oranges because his will most likely be followed up with a laser sword, wind kick, or fireball which he will be able to cancel out of. Now Orchid has a slow overhead that will be followed up with rekkas that she can now cancel out of too. Along with booty grenades to keep her safe.

It’s hard to look at that list and not think wulf just got nerfed into garbage tier when you look at the “buffs” and not seeing too much utility in the additions. We’ll see how the dive slash works out, but if you are making full screen runs at your opponent with wulf you’re doing it wrong lol.

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Hm, that is very subjective. The thing it almost seems like you are saying, is that the fun thing in fighting games is being rewarded for reacting to things (i.e. pure execution, identifying the threat within a reactable window and busying one’s self with the routine that beats it), as opposed to risk/reward-driven decision-making or getting reads on your opponent (which requires you to think, analyze your opponent and moderate your own behaviour accordingly). The thing about the former is that it seems more reminiscent of action-adventure game combat: an enemy swinging at you is basically the game giving you a deterministic task to carry out (i.e. counter or jump out of the way and then punish) so that it can reward you by calling you the chosen hero or something, when all you did was react fast enough and follow instructions. The thing I’ve come to enjoy about fighting games is that they ask so much more from you than that, and in turn the fulfillment from coming out on top is more intrinsic.

But I’m grossly simplifying your point of view. When you’re defending against Wulf’s pressure and you’re forced to look out for two or three barely reactable mixups, there’s still probably a decision-making element in managing your mental stack and prioritizing what you’re looking out for in the moment, since looking out for all possible mixups is going to weaken your reactions. I suppose part of my issue here is that my mathematical brain prefers cleanly reactable or unreactable moves as a rule, since not only does it make the analysis cleaner, but taking the focus off of reaction tests makes it easier to explain to the newcomer that fighting games aren’t primarily about reacting to things. (We’ve been here before, but I think one of the biggest accessibility barriers bedeviling fighting games is that people think they need 2-frame reactions to keep up, when in reality there probably isn’t a frame of difference between the reactions of pros and their own.)

I guess the other thing that worries me now, though, is that to beginner-intermediate players, Wulf’s frame traps probably don’t exist, and they’re counting on hitting crouching jab a few times or something into a surprise jumping slash in order to get their openings. When I think about how I started frame-trapping as Jago, it was all double roundhouse and MK xx laser sword: basically do this short blockstring that puts me at +1 or +3 at the end, then either do the same string again or do an overhead. It’s really spaced-out and allows you to mentally separate the execution of the thing that gives you frame advantage from the thing you do to take advantage of it. It also allows the opponent to react to the fact that they’re at frame disadvantage, and it’s very shadow counterable, so it’s not what competitive Jagos do – but it’s an intuitive and tractable starting point, a kind of “frame trapping 101” that Wulf doesn’t really have. My concern now is that beginner players aren’t going to find Wulf as accessible, because the jumping slash openings aren’t as free and it’s not clear what the BnB beginner pressure to take its place is.


Anyway, this definitely isn’t the hill I want to die on, which I hope was clear from early on. I’ve never been a Wulf player, but from afar I had a view of what the character is, and since the changes seem to take that away it seemed like he was losing a lot, so I figured it was worth building out that case and seeing where it went. If Wulf players end up being relatively happy with the direction IG is taking Wulf in, then it’s probably fine – and hey, as someone who struggles with the Wulf matchup, I’m probably a fool to be asking for his mixups to remain as potent as they currently are. :stuck_out_tongue:

It looks like an aerial version of jumping slash to me. There’s a kind of consistency to that.

I wouldn’t think of making jumping slash reactable as making the character “slower”. As Infil said, Wulf’s mobility has been made more rapid and versatile thanks to the buffs he’s getting. Making his mixups reactable doesn’t affect the speed of the character so much as the potency of his offense.

Wulf’s walk speed is among the fastest in the game, and the changes to his (fast) dash only seem to affect how quickly he can attack out of it, which once again is more of a nerf to his offensive potency more so than to his speed.

Well that actually depends on how you look at it. In S1 Sadira largely got her damage off of Unbreakables, ergo her nickname, the Unbreakable Aracnid. Her whole design was centered around the fact that she had high mobility, highest juggle potential, but low damage and to compensate that, once Instinct was activated, she could utilize unbreakable or nigh unbreakable combos.

Many of us Sadira mains, whether good or bad, depended on Unbreakable Instinct set ups to win matches.

When S2 hit with the advent of Sadira’s unbreakables becoming breakable along with air juggles becoming breakable, it did alter how we played her.

Combos that were our bread and butter such as Opener > Manual > Instinct Web > Shadow Widow’s Bite > Web > manual > Shadow’s Widow’s Bite > Ender, while still possible became too easy to break.

The instigation of the Special Landing Recovery, prevented a lot of set ups while using Web Cling (tossing a LWB in front and attacking at the back) as you were hit with the recovery.

On the flip side, her extended range of air juggles, Shadow Web Cling, and target combo gave us several new options.

So from a certain point of view, it did feel like she was overhauled. On one hand she retained her high mobility and juggle potential, and on the other she lost most, if not all, her unbreakable combos and certain set ups. For many of my fellow Sadira players, it DID feel like we were playing with an entire new character. So in our opinion, it did feel like an overhaul.

This is why some players like CDjr completely abandoned her.

As I mentioned earlier, at the end of the day, I found that I loved her even more in S2 than I did in S1, and I’m going to go nuts with her in S3.

Thank you Keits and Co! :smiley:

She was not built to have unbreakables…

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True, the unbreakables were an accident, something they never anticipated to that extent. Sadira was a heavy air mix-up characters, and she was doing a lot of damage out of combos, because air combo breakers weren’t there, so her mid combo damage was lower than others, but still she was dominant.

Sadira wasn’t “redesigned”, IG and MS aims for a fighting game with the always present rule of two players interactuation via combo breakers and so. Unbreakables weren’t a thing, because if you consider unbreakables a pivotal part of any character gameplay, and removing them it’s a total rework, then Jago has been reworked too, due the unbreakables they quit from him.

Sadira was broken, and unchecked, she whould be top 3 in all tournaments without effort. Just think in Marvel vs Capcom 2 Sentinel-Storm-Magneto…

If people like CDjr left when S2 launched it’s because some people doesn’t like combo breakers in KI(which its ridiculous) and they want a SF/Marvel: Long combos for big damage without interruption. Sadira wasn’t playing this in S1, and when in S2 she was forced into play the combat rules of this game, some people get upset

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Not true. What she wasn’t built for, but became a happy accident was jump canceling openers.

I don’t agree. I don’t think there is a single way of looking at her S2 changes and calling that “complete overhaul”.

Tough times if you relied on unbreakable mega-damage with a character designed for low damage in S1 because it never got fixed. But that is just one aspect of a character made of up of 300 things, 95+% of which did not change.

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No. The unbreakables were not intended and to think they were is to assume DH didn’t know the basics of game design

The animations say different. Even watching some of the people play the S3 build to me he looked slower.:-/ Personally I didn’t see any buff other than the stagger, but that’s just me.

Orchid and Hisako are faster than he is. I just jump to or away from an opponent with Wulf.

I’m hoping S3 will have a straight forward rush down character. One can dream.

Well then you should enjoy being able to modify your jump arc with the new diving slash. But also, I’m pretty sure that repeated dashing will move Wulf forward faster than jumping.

Orchid is also a rushdown and footsie character with well above average mobility. Hisako’s dash moves her far, but her walk speed is terrible so she lacks fine control over positioning. If you’re trying to make the case that Wulf is slow, these aren’t the best comparisons to draw.

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Huh. I’ve been faster than Wulf all along and I didn’t even know it :disappointed_relieved:

In all seriousness though, a great forward dash alone does not a “fast” character make. Hisako can be bursty, but is very limited in other ways. She manages space primarily with her long normals, not with her actual movement. Trust me - Wulf is by far the “faster” character, and none of S3’s adjustments will be changing that fact.

Orchid has the fastest walk speed in the game its been said and even though I’m not an orchid player I can feel a huge difference. Same with Hisako her walk speed yes is slow however her dash is crazy fast and again playing her you can feel it. With Wulf its the opposite. I’m not trying to make a case with anything I’m just saying IMO playing him he’s very slow for being a rushdown. I don’t know game mechanics like when the discussion of frames come up. I’m just going by play. Each character feels different in play and Wulf is slow to me. S3 to me looks no better.

I have to “dash” 3 or 4 times to get where I need to be vs jumping 1 or 2. :confused:

Lol, Like I mentioned above to Fnrslvr its about play and feel. Her walk speed is slow yeah, but her dash and overall play are not. I NEVER touch characters that have quarter circle commands but I did with her because she felt great and she’s fun. Even though I’m quite horrible with her lol.

I’m not sure what to say to you, dude. They’re making Wulf’s run faster and his hamstring travel further in season 3; otherwise, any further speed increases might make Wulf silly and busted.

Wulf’s jumps travel further, but they take longer, and not moving as far with a single dash allows you to commit to travelling less distance than you have to with, say, Shago or Hisako. (Seriously, shooting waaaaaay past your opponent because you wanted to dash in close with Shago is inconvenient.)

Lol don’t worry about what to say to me. We just agree to disagree. :slightly_smiling:

Sure. Maybe you should look into picking up Orchid, quarter-circles aren’t insurmountable by any means.

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I’m a rush down character at heart. Which is one of the many reasons why I clicked with Wulf. Now with updated KI I do want to try more characters but quarter circle commands are difficult for me to perform. :frowning:

Well, whilst I totally believe you can get them down, you could also just switch on combo assist to do away with most of them.