Kensei: Tips for Countering Unblockables? | Forums

[Sir--Gawain]

Hey folks,
So I'm finding quite often that an enemy Kensei (or a team of 3 or 4 of them) are incredibly hard to beat, even if all they do is hold up and spam R2. Kensei has a whopping THREE unblockable combos that are incredibly easy to pull off— he doesn't stagger when you block him, so there is no time to interrupt or dodge since the person who blocks is the one who gets staggered, and his sword has an incredibly long range.
What am I missing? Is there some function that improves the dodging so you actually move more than a few inches? I know overheads should be dodgeable, but the Kensei's unblockable overhead also has really hard tracking. And what about side sweeps? his sword is too long to dodge backward, and the sweep is too wide to dodge side to side. You can't interrupt with a guard break, either. So is there some obvious thing I'm missing, or is Kensei just ridiculously overpowered?

[RezonNeo]

Parry his R2 swings. His combo will stop. Go do your advance tutorials.

[SethUnleashed]

i have done a lot of testing against the kensei yesterday and i have seen 2 things so far:

the kenseis attack-tracking seems too good ... trying to dodge his chain attacks is, depending on which side they come from, harder than timing a deflect, which is just not right

unblockables are NOT deflectable (this is true for all unblockables, not just kensei) but i always tried to deflect his top-heavy as its rather slow, but yeah -> doesnt work and its never explained if this is intended or a bug.

[Ezcendant]

You can dodge it, you just have to wait until it's closer to landing. Most people dodge the moment it starts glowing and have technically finished by the time it starts its actual attack animation.

You can also parry, but the window is smaller since it's an unblockable.

I find the easiest way is to just punch him in the face with a light attack. It's unblockable, not uninterruptible.

[Arekonator]

Small question regarding the kensei unblockable
I play warden and i can parry it no problem (unless i mistime it because how long windup it has), but it seems i can not use my crushing top counter aganist it. Is that how it works or i am simply doing it wrong? Also, do you think its intended or not?

[Vakris_One]

Hey folks,
So I'm finding quite often that an enemy Kensei (or a team of 3 or 4 of them) are incredibly hard to beat, even if all they do is hold up and spam R2. Kensei has a whopping THREE unblockable combos that are incredibly easy to pull off— he doesn't stagger when you block him, so there is no time to interrupt or dodge since the person who blocks is the one who gets staggered, and his sword has an incredibly long range.
What am I missing? Is there some function that improves the dodging so you actually move more than a few inches? I know overheads should be dodgeable, but the Kensei's unblockable overhead also has really hard tracking. And what about side sweeps? his sword is too long to dodge backward, and the sweep is too wide to dodge side to side. You can't interrupt with a guard break, either. So is there some obvious thing I'm missing, or is Kensei just ridiculously overpowered?

Kensei only has one unblockable attack - the top 3rd heavy strike and two unstaggerable attacks - left or right 3rd heavy strike. Unstaggerable means he won't stop his attack if he gets hit. You can however block his unstaggerable attack.

The unblockable attack can only be initiated as long as the Kensei finishes the 3rd strike in any combo as a top heavy strike. Keep in mind that guardbreaks count as the first part of a combo - meaning he only has to do a second strike and then he can go for the unblockable.

What you can do against the unblockable:
● You can parry it
● You can side dodge it if you time it right
● If you have a fast character you can hit him with a light attack and that will disrupt his unblockable

What you can do to prevent him from doing the unblockable:
● Block his combo before he gets to it
● Try to dodge or counter his guardbreaks

What you can do against side sweeps:
● block them - if he dodges to the left, guard to your right. If he dodges to the right, guard your left side. The attack comes from the opposite direction of his dodge.
● dodge them - if he dodges to the left and you dodge to the right his blade will miss you if you got the timing right. Vice versa: if he dodges right, you should dodge left to avoid his side sweep. This also works against the Orochi's side sweeps and the Raider's unblockable swing that always comes from his right side. It's all about getting the timing right.

[Altair_Snake]

Also, I think the second light of his chain, the thrust, can be dodged in any direction. Not I've tested or got good at it.

Some nice tips, here.

[Sir--Gawain]

Kensei only has one unblockable attack - the top 3rd heavy strike and two unstaggerable attacks - left or right 3rd heavy strike. Unstaggerable means he won't stop his attack if he gets hit. You can however block his unstaggerable attack.

The unblockable attack can only be initiated as long as the Kensei finishes the 3rd strike in any combo as a top heavy strike. Keep in mind that guardbreaks count as the first part of a combo - meaning he only has to do a second strike and then he can go for the unblockable.

What you can do against the unblockable:
● You can parry it
● You can side dodge it if you time it right
● If you have a fast character you can hit him with a light attack and that will disrupt his unblockable

What you can do to prevent him from doing the unblockable:
● Block his combo before he gets to it
● Try to dodge or counter his guardbreaks

What you can do against side sweeps:
● block them - if he dodges to the left, guard to your right. If he dodges to the right, guard your left side. The attack comes from the opposite direction of his dodge.
● dodge them - if he dodges to the left and you dodge to the right his blade will miss you if you got the timing right. Vice versa: if he dodges right, you should dodge left to avoid his side sweep. This also works against the Orochi's side sweeps and the Raider's unblockable swing that always comes from his right side. It's all about getting the timing right.

Thank you, this is very well-thought-out. I'll keep trying the dodges, I'm just used to games like Dark Souls where you move A LOT more when you dodge, not the tiny sidesteps that this game seems to have. I'll give that another shot and try to improve parry timing.

[TouchFluffyTail]

Good kensei juse use unblockable after they slammed you in a wall, any unblockeable in open spaces its a secure bait, kensei can cancel it anytime and go for a throw or light attack so dont try to parry it you will eat the bait.

[MidnightVanilla]

Hey folks,
So I'm finding quite often that an enemy Kensei (or a team of 3 or 4 of them) are incredibly hard to beat, even if all they do is hold up and spam R2. Kensei has a whopping THREE unblockable combos that are incredibly easy to pull off— he doesn't stagger when you block him, so there is no time to interrupt or dodge since the person who blocks is the one who gets staggered, and his sword has an incredibly long range.
What am I missing? Is there some function that improves the dodging so you actually move more than a few inches? I know overheads should be dodgeable, but the Kensei's unblockable overhead also has really hard tracking. And what about side sweeps? his sword is too long to dodge backward, and the sweep is too wide to dodge side to side. You can't interrupt with a guard break, either. So is there some obvious thing I'm missing, or is Kensei just ridiculously overpowered?

You can backwards dodge the top attacks and side dodge the side attacks. You can also Parry the unlblockable moves and counter it. Heavy attack at the right time will parry any unblockable move (that isnt a grab) Kensie is really easy to fight against he just hits hard but very predictable.