Conqueror Full Block Stance is useless | Forums

[Neenufewnfue]

The advantages of the full block stance are completely outweighed by it's disadvantages. It has a very slow start-up time and it drains a lot of stamina, and the ability also renders you immobile meaning you cannot dodge. On top of that, no one will attack you in this mode because players will just wait it out and drain your stamina. The only attack you can do from it is a heavily telegraphed shield bash which any good player will dodge. As it is an ability that is meant to be used when you are being attacked by multiple opponents, you are not supposed to be activating it in 1v1's, and the same could be said for zone attacks. However, when you do activate it in a situation like that the other players will not attack you and will either wait until you release the stance or just try and GB you, and this is what really makes it a useless ability. This means that you will never be able to use the ability effectively as no-one will be attacking you when you are in that stance, so you will just have to release it or get guard broken or exhausted. As it is now it's just a complete waste of stamina and pales in comparison to the full block stance of the Warlord which is IMMEDIATE meaning it is very reactive unlike the conquerors and it also has a plethora of useful abilities too, such as guaranteed heavies and lights after a successful block and a fast headbutt.

However, after reading the recent maintenance post on the announcement forums I saw that both Warlord and Valk are getting the ability nerfed, in that the time it takes to activate the ability is now 200ms rather than immediately. This lowers it's usefulness significantly, yet I wholly realise that the ability is not intended to be a reactive measure and is meant to be used to defend when you are being attacked by multiple opponents, yet even so no one uses it in those situations as you can just parry very easily instead as a parry attempt will affect the attacks of multiple opponents attacking you. However, this is just my opinion on the ability, so I could be completely wrong and there could be some awesome hidden usage to the conqueror's full block stance that I'm just missing. I don't have any suggestions to improve this ability either because the suggestions I thought up can easily be considered too powerful.

[Sanctus_9]

It's not the best ability but it's far from useless.

1. It IS fast enough to be used reactively in many situations, or at least using reasonable prediction. If you time a shield bash as your opponent hits your defensive posture, you get a free instant shield bash. In most situations parry might be the better choice, but against a character who cannot be parried after a guardbreak, this is a great substitute and gap closer.

2. You can cancel a heavy with it, into a riposte or shield bash. Heavy feint -> shield bash riposte -> Heavy -> Heavy feint -> Shield bash, repeat. This is great for prolonging your combo.

3. Since the only thing they can do when you use it is guardbreak, this is a great way to get them to make the first move. Go into defensive state, and as they get close enough for a guardbreak, or just as they start one up (if you have the reflexes) do a shield bash.

[Erindor]

It's not the best ability but it's far from useless.

1. It IS fast enough to be used reactively in many situations, or at least using reasonable prediction. If you time a shield bash as your opponent hits your defensive posture, you get a free instant shield bash. In most situations parry might be the better choice, but against a character who cannot be parried after a guardbreak, this is a great substitute and gap closer.

2. You can cancel a heavy with it, into a riposte or shield bash. Heavy feint -> shield bash riposte -> Heavy -> Heavy feint -> Shield bash, repeat. This is great for prolonging your combo.

3. Since the only thing they can do when you use it is guardbreak, this is a great way to get them to make the first move. Go into defensive state, and as they get close enough for a guardbreak, or just as they start one up (if you have the reflexes) do a shield bash.

I personally do #3 against light attack spammers.

I also use it to set up a shield bash when I'm low hp or right in front of the opponent, because an unluckily timed dodge can get hit by a fast attack.

It also helps close the gap against a Nobushi that likes to use the less predictable attacks.

It also seems to intimidate the more nervous players into changing their strategy to one you can personally counter more easily.

But I agree that it's not a particularly useful ability otherwise.

[Sanctus_9]

My only issue with Conqueror is the fact that the counter heavy is done the same way as the parry, just different timings. I often find myself doing a counterattack by accident instead of a parry, sometimes when I don't have enough stamina to follow through, or at no stamina, which causes it to be slow and easily parried. Due to the fact that this ability can be parried to begin with I think warrants its removal overall.

[TCTF_SWAT]

Conq's full stance does not drain stamina over time. Only on activation and blocks. You can also tech while in the stance. It's good for a quick full guard. It's also almost foolproof when an enemy has their back to a hazard since the only thing they could do (minus disable or unblcokable moves) is to Gb. And since when you tech Gb's you push your opponent back which causes them to stumble off ledges into traps.

[Aidames]

I personally don't find much use for it other than the occasional riposte shield bash. The only thing that bothers me is the ginormous delay between pressing the button and entering the stance. When I really need to use it (I'm being ganked), I can't because of the huge delay. Or maybe I'm just bad at it (entirely possible).

[Neenufewnfue]

I personally don't find much use for it other than the occasional riposte shield bash. The only thing that bothers me is the ginormous delay between pressing the button and entering the stance. When I really need to use it (I'm being ganked), I can't because of the huge delay. Or maybe I'm just bad at it (entirely possible).

This is the main issue I have with the ability. It's very hard to use it before an attack due to it's start-up time, using it to block attacks in any situation is pointless as you will most likely be parrying heavies in 3v1 and it isn't fast enough to be used when blocking lights.

It's not the best ability but it's far from useless.

1. It IS fast enough to be used reactively in many situations, or at least using reasonable prediction. If you time a shield bash as your opponent hits your defensive posture, you get a free instant shield bash. In most situations parry might be the better choice, but against a character who cannot be parried after a guardbreak, this is a great substitute and gap closer.

2. You can cancel a heavy with it, into a riposte or shield bash. Heavy feint -> shield bash riposte -> Heavy -> Heavy feint -> Shield bash, repeat. This is great for prolonging your combo.

3. Since the only thing they can do when you use it is guardbreak, this is a great way to get them to make the first move. Go into defensive state, and as they get close enough for a guardbreak, or just as they start one up (if you have the reflexes) do a shield bash.

What someone said earlier in this thread is that you can wait for them to GB you so you can counter that, yet they don't have to Gb you at all because you aren't moving, so they can just do an unblockable on you instead or just wait until you're bored and release the stance. They can also bait you into shield bashing by using feints if they want to. Also, they talked about feinting heavies, which the conqueror can't do so I'm questioning the validity of their statement. If they are however talking about the heavy cancel into full block stance, it would have made more sense, which I understand is useful sometimes.

[ParadigmFringe]

uses for conq full-block:

FEINTS. Conq doesn't have a feint like the other classes. instead, he can only feint by activating full-guard during heavy startup. this helps when people are sidestepping your heavies after your shield charges. at this point you can hold it (zerk, orochi, valk, and PK sidestep-attacks) or immediately shield charge out of it (Warden, LB, Raider, Warlord tend to GB here) to stop GBs. you can also hold it and side/backstep out as well, so you have options

FASTER STARTUP THAT YOU REALIZE. full block is fast enough that you can get it IN BETWEEN peacekeeper light attacks, and i don't mean between light attack strings... i mean between the first and second light attack of the PK L>L>H combo. also works in any spot on the orochi L>L>L combo or the zerk infinite.

STAMINA. this is the only thing i SORTOF agree with. as a conq, i usually get in a few hits or swings and back off quickly with a full-guard>backstep. that's pretty much the only reason i ever let off the second heavy of his H>H string... to feint it with the full-guard and back out. this is more about knowing your character's limitations than anything else. the conq just plows through his stamina reserve, so you have to be proactive in managing it.