Member
today is the day I got 2 1vs1 contracts...nice I thought, I like 1vs1 and 2vs2 most.
Playing my hour of the game...
16 games total
8 of them against wardens
6 of them against peacekeepers
allmost all fights against the wardens ended in a lose. Not because of the zoneattack or their top lights, I manage to defend against them pretty good. Its more the shoulderdash combo I struggle with. Cant dodge it(I get grabbed) and cant counter GB it (get the dash right into my face), it seems to be a luck based situation on my part with almost nothing to lose for the warden. Any advices how to counter that effectively?
Peacekeepers...I saw some prestige 8+ who did nothing but light attacks and zoneattack, thats what their class seems to be limited to. Not in a rush...they took their time. Didnt attack twice in a row, were playing defensively overall, couldnt break their defense. Feints dont work, they dodge and punish you or they use a light attack which is faster than everything I could do anyways, therefore interrupting my plays easy. If you try to shieldbash them as valk they easy dodge...that doesnt work to break their defense. spearsweep? they dodge, I lose hp. Nothing seems to work.
Sometimes I ask myself: why do i even bother attacking a full defensive and quickresponsive player? I try to adapt to that and play defensive myself and I manage to parry some of the random executed single light hits from the PK. But its like...I only manage to parry 1 out of 4 attacks,..since they are totally random. As i mentioned above, most of the time they hit me faster when I try something to break their defense. Or do a random auto attack myself (they are slower and they have it easier to parry, which happens quiet often...so...offensive play isnt really an option since that only ends in punishment)
I was enjoying this game from the beginning on, but today I had almost no fun at all playing these 1vs1 matches. (even if I didnt lose all of them. Today might not just be my day.)
Overall, Iam more of the guy who enjoy playing a class at its fullest. I try to use every move and mix the set up if its rewardable(some moves against assassins for example dont work in 95% of the time bc they dodge and counterattack, so in some matchups I might only try it once to surprise), Iam not a dumb attacker whos just waiting to get parried and roflstomped by the enemy...Iam the kind of guy who just dont like to wait for the enemy to make a move that I can counter and punish him...that would be boring...but seems to be the most effective way to win at the moment.
Member
I'm going to assume you were playing Valk the whole time because that's the only one you mentioned using. Against warden you have the advantage of a dodge attack. When he bashes, dodge by itself will still open you up to a guardbreak. But GBs can't interrupt attacks so your dodge attack counters this. However he can also choose to feint the bash, and if he does so he can parry your dodge attack. If he starts doing this, you can guardbreak him or if you just want to be safe in general, unlock and double back roll as a rule of thumb whenever you see the bash coming. If you choose not to roll away when he bashes you either have to have lightning fast reflexes or it's basically a dice roll.
As for PK, you cannot try and trade with her. Being aggressive, a good PK will always win trades because her attacks are faster. This is less so with valk because you have higher range and your attacks are quicker than MOST characters, but even so you should play cautiously. Especially if she's right on top of you, do not try and trade. Play defensively. If she lands her first light the second is usually guaranteed but all others are parryable. Keep your guard stance to the right as default because that's where her zone lands. Try to keep her at a distance, and often times she will eventually resort to the gap closing lunge - it always comes from the top, so punish this every time by dodging or parrying. Keep in mind that characters dodge in the direction of an attack, so try often to feint an attack and then be ready to parry her dodge attack and punish her. This will also cause her to use the dodge attack less often and open her up more to attacks.
When playing aggressively you should only use maneuvers that are not guaranteed to be punishable. As Valk, this is easy because most of your attacks, when parried, don't permit an opening for a guaranteed guardbreak on your opponents end. Few characters have this and Valk is one. I don't play her so I don't know the details, but pay attention to this and use it to your advantage when taking risks. Otherwise, feinting and guard breaking are safer ways to try and be aggressive. That being said, this game is all about reaction. Aggression itself is not all about going in for combos, it's about forcing a move from your opponent so you can react to it, much like chess.
