Suggestions for Shugoki Rework
So, in the list of characters needing buffs and changes, I've not heard many lists that don't include Big Shug. As he is my second most played character (and I've played since the closed beta) I'd like to throw in some of my thoughts on how to make him overall a better character to play with more options offensively while at the same time keeping his play style and making him less frustrating to fight against. I'd also like to hear what other Shugoki players think.
The first problem with changing Shugoki is almost undoutably his passive hyper armor. It means he often gets a free guardbreak even if hit by something that caught him off guard and makes him odd to fight, but at the same time is a key aspect of his kit. I've been thinking allot about how to change this without changing him, and I think I finally have some ideas.
First changes: his offense. Give him hyper armour on virtually everything he does instantly, but take away the passive hyper armour. Instead of having the hyper armour like say Highlander or Warlord which only starts after the feint window, let him have it the exact moment any attack starts, including his heavy charge up and his light attacks. Allow the passive effect to be a 25% damage reduction while his armour is up to make his trading even more favorable. Also, to allow him to still bait an attack and GB people out of the recovery, give him a unique delayable GB. I imagine it something like this: Shugoki leans slightly forward and gets hyper armour for up to a full second if you hold the button for GB. If you release the button, he instantly GBs the opponent. This means at Shug will no longer be able to GB punish an attack he failed to react to, but will still be able to eat unblockable knock back effects and punish them as well as punishing people who throw out unsafe attacks just as he currently does, but it will be more aggressive and preemptive instead of passive. During the animation however, Shugoki can be GBed himself. I would also like to see him be able to go into his Charge of the Oni after a dodge forewards to close distance on someone trying to escape, which is currently just too easy to do, especially since allot of his kit knocks opponents far away from him. I imagine him being able to charge forewards and cancel it at any time just as he does with his unlocked version now. This attack should stagger opponents long enough that if you time your cancel correctly you can guarantee a light attack. I would also like to see Shugoki get light-light and heavy-light combos to help him offensively, as well as be able to charge up the second heavy in a combo in the same way he currently can with the first. As a final change to his offense, and this one is pretty big, I would like to see him able to soft feint his heavies. For example, after he pulls back to heavy from above, he could instead throw it from the sides, and vice versa: if he charges from the sides, he can throw feint it into an overhead heavy. This could be done from the first or second heavy once he starts to charge them up. I have toyed with the idea of him being able to feint it into the delayable GB that I mentioned earlier or into light attacks, but I don't know if that may be a bit too much.