A discussion of why Kensei is not viable in 1v1 duels and my suggestion for change | Forums

[Kitsune..]

anyone know what kensei changes are coming?

Nothing specific was said yesterday, still, while looking at LB buffs, I think we might hope for a decent opener at least. My guess is that we might hear something about incoming changes during the next stream, at least zerker's buffs will be discussed for sure, so why not kensei's aswell... Anyway, I feel hyped a bit, even small changes can do significant impact if applied in right places.

[Manlorey]

Why buff Kensei, when you can nerf him instead.

[Epoqx]

Why buff Kensei, when you can nerf him instead.

Ok.

[Kitsune..]

I wonder if it could be helpful to get parry as a chain starter
Also it could be nice to be able to soft feint the ZA i guess.

[Manlorey]

I wonder if it could be helpful to get parry as a chain starter
Also it could be nice to be able to soft feint the ZA i guess.

Kensei needs a better ZA, simple as that, or at least having the existing ZA speed up just like they did it with the Valkyrie. The current Kensei ZA with it ridiculous application of view-turning is just a meaningless move as it is easily avoided or parried - that is another disadvantage Kensei has compared to other chars with viable Zone Attacks (PK, Warden, Orochi, even Raider), it only works under two conditions: a) your enemy is not paying attention/low skill level, b) your enemy is a bot. Well, Kensei does excel fighting against bots, so I guess its all fine like wine.

[Kitsune..]

Kensei needs a better ZA, simple as that, or at least having the existing ZA speed up just like they did it with the Valkyrie. The current Kensei ZA with it ridiculous application of view-turning is just a meaningless move as it is easily avoided or parried - that is another disadvantage Kensei has compared to other chars with viable Zone Attacks (PK, Warden, Orochi, even Raider), it only works under two conditions: a) your enemy is not paying attention/low skill level, b) your enemy is a bot. Well, Kensei does excel fighting against bots, so I guess its all fine like wine.

Absolutely, still I don't think we will get something completely new anytime soon. Most probably they'll speed it up, hopefully they'll reverse it to make the first attack hit forward. Still it would be nice to have a possibility to soft feint it, many of us are hard cancelling it anyway.

Parry as a chain starter looks a bit OP for me now, it's like a guaranteed Top Unblockable on each parry, meh. I should've thought of it earlier