Need help with Valkyrie | Forums

[agentpoop]

Lately I've struggled using her after initially winning fairly often in duels. It feels like she simply doesn't do enough damage considering her speed. I can hit an Orochi with a heavy and get cut by his light attacks and be down still. Her guard break range is frustratingly inconsistent it feels like, it feels short and their are times where I swear the shield made contact but no guard break came. Her jab range is short considering she has a huge spear and her best aspects aren't doing damage such as her knock downs. I even have mixed up how I heavy someone, I'll guard break and start my zone attack, cancel before the second swing, guardbreak again and land another heavy to try and maximize my damage output. Only to get hit by one heavy from an Orochi or Nobushi and they took off more in just the one hit. I'm trying to do the dodge block bleed but the timing is so precise that the learning curve on it is brutal especially with faster characters. Even if I don't even try and bleed and just dodge to block the timing required might be the most precise move I'v tried in this game.

It just feels as though the effort you have to use to even compete with her in a duel isn't worth the damage she puts out. For someone with a big spear her damage should be at least on par with Nobushi just without the constant bleed attacks. Or make her defensive abilities more forgiving like everyone elses. DOes anyone have any tips on how to maximize her damage right now?

[agentpoop]

bump

[MangoUnclaimed]

I'll level with you. Currently, if you play Valkyrie, you will lose more often than you win. It's a hard fact that she's (one of if not) the weakest character in the game just now, with nice mixups and no damage at all to profit from them. The next patch will modify this somewhat, but her damage will still be laughable and you'll still need to land two to three Heavy attacks just to break even on a single Orochi overhead.

If you want to keep playing her, don't do the deflect-bleed attack on anything other than top strikes. It's inconsistent and I believe it to be bugged on the side attacks, with a tiny window where it actually counters the attack. Her mixups are key. Some of the best to keep your opponent off their guard is:

Light Attack or Lunge > Light Attack (new direction) > Sweep/Heavy Attack
Heavy Attack > Shield Bash > Sweep/GB
Heavy feint (cancel attack with X) > Shield Bash > Sweep/Guard Break (similar to the previous combo, but cancels the heavy to mixup the timings)
Dodge Back into Shield Stance > Shield Bash/Lunge OR Dodge Forward into GB
GB > Throw > Spear Sweep (Yes, you can spear sweep immediately after a throw for good environmental kill range)

You'll notice that all of these combos have alternative endings. The Valk is very good for mixing up how she ends her attacks and combos, keeping your opponent guessing and either Guard Broken or lying on the floor. A note for damage: a Top Heavy attack after a spear sweep is guaranteed if time correctly, so every sweep is worth a good 25 damage and a continued chain of mixups.

The sweep is absolutely key to her. Every combo should try to end and throw in a few bashes > GB or Sweep - this is where your damage will come from, as the free heavy attacl after each move will build up decent damage to most characters. In a Heavy > Bash > Sweep > Top Heavy combo, you'll land 50 damage. This is roughly equivalent to a single Orochi overhead, so I'm not saying it's balanced, but it will let you compete for damage more.

Again, the Valkyrie is just a bad character right now. I love her moveset, but the tradeoffs are currently not there - she has long recovery times, appallingly low damage and suprisingly slow chains. If you're determined to work with her pre-patch, though, the above movesets are nice and varied and will allow you to play mindgames with your opponent simialrly to a Warden - is she going to sweep or GB? Should I dodge or counter? Is this light attack combo going to end with a Heavy I should parry, or a Sweep I should dodge out of? At the end of the day, you'll still need to hit three times as often as your opponent will to win a fight, though.

[Duckbit]

Valkyrie is getting buffed next patch. Thank god.

[MangoUnclaimed]

Valkyrie is getting buffed next patch. Thank god.

I hope it helps. I honestly don't think it will. The changes revolve around making her attacks less punishable, but many other characters already have this bonus with twice her damage. At the end of the day, post-patch, the Valkyrie is still going to have to hit an opponent twice as much as they have to hit her for the same damage and a lot more stamina drain. And that's almost insurmountable in a game as defensive as For Honor - twice as many openings need to be created, twice as many opportunities for your opponent to punish you. At her core, until her damage is examined in the context of the other assassins (note: I don't think she should hit as hard as an Orochi but the gap needs to be lowered) I don't think she's every going to be a "good" character. Just better than she is.

[Eleanor-Ripley]

Exactly!
The patch changes will make her light attacks faster. But thats it.
The damage of each hit is still the lowest ingame.

[Tr1stesse]

Exactly!
The patch changes will make her light attacks faster. But thats it.
The damage of each hit is still the lowest ingame.

Might be so, but a good valkyrie player can give you some serious problems.
Am not saying she doesnt need any buff, but I kinda think that the " low dmg " is intended simply because she has so many ways to disable a target.
She has so many ways to trow ppl on the ground or stagger targets that it feels really strong if you chain it right.

[MangoUnclaimed]

Might be so, but a good valkyrie player can give you some serious problems.
Am not saying she doesnt need any buff, but I kinda think that the " low dmg " is intended simply because she has so many ways to disable a target.
She has so many ways to trow ppl on the ground or stagger targets that it feels really strong if you chain it right.

All of which are dodgable, and result in a free punish - if the spear sweep or shield bash misses, her opponent gets a free, uncounterable GB. You'll notice that neither the Warden or the Conqueror has that - neither of their bashes are punishable in that way, neither has a guaranteed response. The Spear Sweep is not getting any change to recovery next patch, either, so it's still going to be a problem. Essentially, I need to put you on the ground repeatedly to build up my low damage and everytime I do that, I run the risk of losing a massive chunk of HP in return. So, essentially, she's not ever going to compete with Warden or Conqueror - they hit harder and have the same area control/disable potential without the risk. It's that simple.