Member
Was dueling against a friend last night who was a Warden who was happy to sit back and found it quite difficult thus I was wondering what some of the better players' strategies are against a defensive Warden? Or just Warden in general.
A few of my observations from the match-up:
- I was having good success with Storm Rush but from wha I've gathered better players will parry it every time.
- His top counter meant I had to be sparing with the top light combo really just saving it for a follow up after a parry.
- Deflect felt kind of useless against him as he could always prevent Hurricane Blast with his quick light attack, and Wind Gust just didn't really seem worth it when I could land a 2 hit light combo off a parry with the possibility of a 3rd hit too. Any other options I should consider following a deflection or just stick to parry against Warden?
- His lightning quick light attacks meant reacting to light attacks with my light attacks was off the table since that only works when mine is faster, should I just block whenever I see a light attack coming from a Warden? As it seems so fast that deflecting, dodging, and parrying is either impossible or at least extremely high risk due to the window?
- Was trying not to go too overkill with GB > heavy but will definitely have it as an option against other Wardens, although his speed often lead to the double GB where we both push at almost the same time and it comes down to whoever got there first (which I understand they are fixing anyway).
- What attacks do I need to be aware of when dodging that can track or have an arc that takes away certain dodge directions?
So what are some of the ways to approach a match with a Warden? As in my limited experience he seems to match up well with the Orochi since he can punish top attacks and his light attack and GB speed seem to be just as or at least almost as quick so the Orochi's normal advantage in that area is negligible at best.
Junior Member
DISCLAIMER: I do not pretend to be the best player who ever played, or anything close. This is just from my personal experience thus far, so take it how you will.
Coming from the other side of the fence as a Warden who's been playing against a lot of mediocre Orochis, here's what I'd tell them:
- Don't come at me with top attacks. It is what I'm expecting above all else, and is just playing right into my best counter (Top Light Counterstrike)
- I can't win playing offensively against you. Don't expect me to chase you around or swing wildly at you - that just plays into YOUR hand, so I'm not going to do that.
- Because I need to be very defensive, I'm going to be ready for guardbreaks.
- If I see an opening, I'm probably going to exploit it with Top Lights or quick Zone Attacks. Those are my bread-and-butter to keep you on your toes.
- If I were better at parrying, I'd more consistently parry those side attacks of yours, guardbreak you into a wall, and then Heavy you.
- If I overwhelm you and get the upper hand in the duel, I'm going to try to combo Top/Side Lights with Shoulder Bash to more Lights, ad infinitum until you die from it or break out.
Member
If the Warden is capable... You can't actually win.
It's simply got a stronger kit than you do. Your only hope is that his skill level is much lower than yours, so you can win with the skill gap.
Deflect is useless except as an option select, and even then it's not that good. Always LIGHT, never HEAVY followup because it's way too slow. Stormrush is good ONLY if you do it virtually at the same time as his attack and you can actually reach him before the recovery time's up.
Member
One other thing I've noticed - which is something true of all assassin classes against Warden not just Orochi - is that his top light is so quick that it requires very good reaction time to block. Other classes can keep their guard high to mitigate this so it isn't quite so strong, but it's one other thing that tips this match-up in the Wardens favour.
