Is the kensei about to die? | Forums

[guor6800]

The kensei only problems is : he has to feint the heavy most of the times, and he's easy to parry him even the light attacks....withe the update 1.05 he become more fluid to play, but he remain a defensive hero like Conqu

In fact as a Kensei main i believe that he with Raider and Berseker are the only heroes meant to be aggressive in a totally defensive meta. Imo no need for openers. Just fix the awful turtle meta.

[PINKmattconnor]

In fact as a Kensei main i believe that he with Raider and Berseker are the only heroes meant to be aggressive in a totally defensive meta. Imo no need for openers. Just fix the awful turtle meta.

i hope they fix that turtle meta XD

[Herbstlicht]

Honestly - i am not the best player, but i see plenty of Kenseis around. And i love playing them. I mean: all matches vs Kensei feel fair and fun and most of the Kensei players seem to be well mannered as well. Besides, i played Kensei too a lot (and still do so at times) due to him being not only fun, but pretty stylish as well. Maybe he might see a revival when turtling got adressed somewhat.

[mathi4s]

What kinds of limitations specifically do you see the kensei suffering from? I'd be more than happy to pass along your thoughts on our beloved Kensei over to the team.

the following post nails it:

Every Kensei's attack is easily countered by simple blocking, block actually shuts down Kensei completely. His light chains are reset by block and his heavy chains are easily parried. To get to my Top Unblockable, which is called a starting point of Kensei's mindgames, I have to whiff 1-2 attacks, thus I start them mindgames being already low on stamina. Top Unblockable is easily interrupted by light attack or fast GB, so no reason for my opponent to even try to parry it whatsoever or to wait for me to soft feint it. Every TU followup is countered by block/CGB. Swift Strike is incredibly punishable, it's ridiculous to get a guaranteed GB from blocking such a slow attack. This attack is so "swift' that my opponent can recover from missed light and block-GB me. Superior Block is overnerfed, there's no particular reason to even use it now because parry seems to be more reliable. ZA is just godawful.
Despite this I'm not going to change him for any of the upcoming heroes

I would like to add that I hope your statistics are focused on duels and not mix stats from 4v4s or so cause the kensei might be good there. I don't know, honestly. But by god he is awfull as a duelist. I doubt anyone but the few diehard fans are still playing kensei in duels. They might actually be better by now then the average player which might affect the stats as well. Also it would help a lot if there would just not be a revenge mechanic in duells since as the quoted post said "Every Kensei's attack is easily countered by simple blocking" the Kensei has no choice but to give revenge to his oponent who only needs to be patient and block. I don't think anyone went through with a top unblockable since the release of the game because people can parry it reliably even while in a deep coma.

EDIT: For a moment there I thought that someone from Ubisoft was actually interested in kenseis problem. On second thought it looks more like a politically correct way of saying that "our statistics say that Kensei is doing fine, so **** off". But just in case I'm wrong: FFS fix the unsafe dash attackon block if nothing else.

[FIX.THE.KENSEI]

What kinds of limitations specifically do you see the kensei suffering from? I'd be more than happy to pass along your thoughts on our beloved Kensei over to the team.

Thanks for the reply UbiNoty...

In the current state of the game we all know that there are things still are working in progress and these things will improve future gameplay.

But let's take a look at what I find today when I try to play 1v1 with my kensei. And that sometimes frustrates me because I do not have the tools to face other classes ... And I think that mostly alll Kensei suffer the same limitations when we talk about attacking and defending ourselves.

We lack a good or effective opening combat, and our chains of light and heavy attacks are very slow easy to block, (I agree if my opponent is good and performs his parried) but the penalty we suffer until recovering from a blockade is Too high and almost ensures a free gb.

This forces me to play almost always in defensive mode, to avoid a counterattack from which I can not defend myself because I have been blocked in the previous move.

Our superior heavy attack is too well known and I can rarely use it as an offensive possibility, since its ease to be blocked, forces me to cancel it by consuming too much stamina.

Our zone attack is practically nonexistent, with insignificant damage.
In 1v1 if I am not attacked practically my only alternative is gb my opponent and at a good level of play, this is very difficult to happen as a first move...

The timing of our dodge was increased, causing the Kensei to slow down to avoid some spam attacks. The dodge ability was our great alternative ... ´´our buff`` but was modified after the first 1.03 update (kensei hide nerff)
How to break a defense based on total block and spam push? Only with gb or light attack?

We do not have as other heroes a free block, (total block button), or bleed out to apply after a light attack... And I do not know the ratio of victories of kenseis in relation to other heroes in the individual duels or fights, but I am sure that you do not see much of us in the 1v1 by the evident limitations that suffers in attack before other classes.

A total block, spam push + ligth attak, infinity shield push, or simply an opponent who carries me from one point to end of the map and throws me down in a hole, without hit me or attacking me once ...is frustrating during a duel.

A curious fact or example, to observe is that a Conqueror for example, can apply his spam shield on a Kensei, without this one has time to recover and dodge the next blow of shield....Because the timing of the conqueror to spam is shorter than the recovery time for a dodge with the Kensei ...

In the mix of 4v4 the shortcomings are better concealed by the existence of companions and extra help ... But having in a faction a hero who practically can not participate of duels 1v1, does not seem fair.

I surely forget other details but, I hope these comments along with other comments in this post. We can contribute to improve the gameplay of our appreciated Kensei.

Regards

[MasterChiefPON]

As a Kensei bro, i'm still disapointed. But he isn't the only char who need help.

Once they'll fix turtle meta, u'll see how we gonna rule.

I think the same, when they add chip damage it's going to be: Better try to parry me or you are going to eat a lot of chip damage.

At least I hope so, right now when I fight a turtly enemy it's like: He just blocks and throw lights, just throw lights, if he tries to parry mi lights put some heavies in the mix to confuse and parry his lights to make damage.

[dekot11]

While we haven't talked much yet about a potential Kensei update, if we see that he is suffering relative to other heroes in terms of win-loss ratio we'll definitely take a closer look at him and see what needs to be done.

Yup Kensei is dead. Who cares about W/L ratio? A hero can dominate new players but not be viable at higher levels of play.

[Brologna_Xeno]

I'd like to see better Stamina mileage for no-Gear 1vs1. Lower Stamina cost for attacks, hard feinting, and soft feinting. Would like to see Kensei have a little less Stamina punish so it can adequately change-up attacks @ idle, but maintain capabilities once it's broken through.

As the lowest health Vanguard, I'm puzzled that Lawbringer sprint speed is twice as fast. Why is Kensei's movement speed so slow compared to other heavier heroes - and slowest of the Vanguards?

His second light (the No-Dachi piercing thrust attack) is a mess. Ubisoft recognized this and consequently removed this second hit from Swift Strike and Helm Splitter.

But why not buff the attack instead? After all, the Valkyrie's buff provided a much faster second light, and Lawbringer's buff gave them a quasi-guaranteed light following a shove. I think Kensei's second light deserves similar treatment. His second light is too easy to parry. If blocked, Kensei is thrown back to idle, where they are at their weakest.

The hyper armor of Kensei's Zone Attack suggest it could be used as a hit-trade, but it's damage is so low that even used as a hit trade, Kensei comes out with a net loss.

Swift Strike, everyone knows about the guaranteed Guardbreak on block, it's crazy to attempt this attack against a formidable opponent (in fact I wish I could disable Swift Strike so that i'd stop accidentally using it out of habit. Every time I use it I'm thinking 'Woops, this is going to hurt,'). Its only viable as a counter against slow attacks, or against a group of enemies who are heavy-attack-spamming.

and I'm pretty sure I've seen my Kensei land a superior block on Swift Strike just for the enemy to recover in time to block that Swift Strike attack. That... seems wrong.

Maybe they could give us Raider's side-dash GB, and we can soft-feint/cancel a SS into a GB <3 ..or just let us cancel it

[Kitsune..]

For a moment there I thought that someone from Ubisoft was actually interested in kenseis problem. On second thought it looks more like a politically correct way of saying that "our statistics say that Kensei is doing fine, so **** off". But just in case I'm wrong: FFS fix the unsafe dash attackon block if nothing else.

I'm still hoping that they are interested, but won't be really surprised if noone of them reads this thread any longer

[guor6800]

i hope they fix that turtle meta XD

Fingers crossed brother!