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as an update to where I am with Nobushi, one of the best tricks I've found so far for tripping up people's reaction speed is feinting lights with hidden stance into lights. I still get the majority of hits when the opponent is trying to start something, and against very passive defenders who only commit to safe unblockables (warlord, conq) the character is still impossible to get damage with and I just switch to Shugoki. Kick is pretty bad, only useful against players with very little experience fighting Nobushi who don't know when to look out for it or aren't used to it's sensory cues.
more and more players are starting to be able to parry sidewinder strike/viper thrust on reaction which negates a large part of Nobushi's side to side mixup. I don't believe sidewinder strike is feintable though I haven't experimented with it. If Nobushi's kick was feintable, I think she would be a very potent character, and I do think she has some strong matchups, especially raider. I also think she goes close to even with Warden, I would estimate the matchup as 5.5:4.5 or 6:4 in Warden's favor, which is hella nice because Warden is all over the place in the meta right now.
I think her worse matchups are conq and peacekeeper. Even using hidden stance against conq's shield bash is not enough to punish it, although if they go for a light attack afterwards as many conqs do you can beat it out with the light attacks from hidden stance. This will simply be beaten by shield bash into waiting, which will lose to none of Nobushi's options and retain conq's shield bash as a risk-free tool for initiating, similar to warlord headbutt. I really hope that fast safe unblockables are removed soon and replaced either with fast unblockables that are punishable on whiff or slower, safe unblockables that will be more vulnerable to counterpokes.
I kind of understand why they thought kick should be a slow unblockable that is punishable on whiff, because at the face of the game, Nobushi is very strong. If both players are making proactive plays and fishing for damage/advantage, Nobushi has a very strong kit in that kind of meta and the kick can just be an extra tool that you break out once in a while in 1v1 or more commonly in the gametypes with 4-8 players. I suspect that this is also why Nobushi was originally thought to be one of the strongest characters. I don't anticipate a shift to this kind of meta without balance changes to the game, as I can't currently think of any tools that punish the very binary playstyle of extremely passive defense (not committing to any kind of defensive move that could be exploited like parrying, deflecting, etc, focusing only on blocking, and guard break teching or dodging when necessary) and making only proactive plays which are very safe (shield bash, headbutt, playing shugoki at all) or very reliable (shoulder bash.) The only thing that succeeds against this type of playstyle is also playing a character who can play like this. Simply doing extremely safe, unpunishable offensive and defensive options.
Fortunately, I've lost to enough of these players that I tend to stay right below the MMR where they are commonplace, which is a level where Nobushi is quite strong and cool. If I go on a winning streak, I am temporarily placed into Conqlorden F*ckland and simply have to deal with it or play Shug until I lose my way out. It makes me sad, but the games where Nobushi's toolkit all come together in the best way make it worth it.
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Honestly I have such a hard time with turtling opponents. This game seems to be on a defensive meta where attackers get punished. There's not much you can do that isn't something basic like feinting into a GB. Or gaining some distance and whiffing a first attack into a 2nd attack or feint into parry. Her heavies can move her backward so doing that to be out of reach of their parry attempt can work. Having to go to hidden stance to kick is way too predictable because dodging left or right can't be punished by anything that isn't a heavy coming from that direction and if they are one of the 4 deflect classes the nobushi gets punished instead. Not to mention the huge stamina drain that kick is in the first place for the nobushi.
**** is rough, I'm starting to just turtle like everyone. Nobushi needs to be able to kick from a dash or charge or be able to cancel the kick or cancel into GB.
Junior Member
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I've used it enough to know it's a death sentence to use it if you and your opponent are both at 1hp bar because it's a free hit or a free GB if you dont follow up with cobra strike.Originally Posted by GorgonSausage Go to original post
Junior Member
I tend to rely on the side-mixups (probably too much). A lot of players, even experienced ones, don't really seem to expect sidewinder form. Feinting into zone attack might also be a good option.
Unfortunately, I don't think that Nobushi actually has any guaranteed options for initiating, other than getting a parry or waiting for the opponent to slip up. I think that's generally the state of the game right now for a lot of characters, so at least we're not alone. I feel like I need to spend a lot of time getting better at mind games, using feints/missed attacks/general footsies to bait out something that can be punished.
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Me? I play this game on PC.Originally Posted by Troupe2020 Go to original post
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Throw out that Heavy feint to light feint via hidden stance cancel to poke bleeding poke. At this point, I've only seen one or two people have the wherewithal to actually dodge a kick so its usually safe to throw if you get this far. Otherwise just Sidewinder once, if it hits, throw a second, then back away. Can even toss another Heavy feint and hit GB into a heavy and watch them cry 'cuz let's be honest when a Nobushi combo's you this hard what else are you going to do?
Once that light gets feinted there is really nothing anyone can do to stop you since its so dang fast and there is literally no way to react to it if you switch sides properly based on which way your Nobushi's body is aligned. And then the bleed is on. More damage for you. 1-2 heavies and most of the cast goes down and heads start rolling. preferably kick their head off a cliff for good measure.
