These latest round of buffs have not significantly helped Raider in any meaningful way. As such Raider is still in a weak state (and is actually weaker competitively, as a Raider using glitches is far more devastating than what we have now). As the slowest attacker in the game currently (tied with Shugoki), Raider has no jab or fast attacks and yet has no type of armor or protection, no guaranteed followups on anything, is incapable of applying pressure, and has no effective strategies for winning, barring parrying light attacks (which should be noted is not exclusive to him, as Warden, Shugoki, Kensei, and Lawbringer are equally capable or better at performing).

So to help Ubisoft along the right path, I am proposing the following changes be made to Raider.

-Zone attack and Raider's fury should receive Hyper Armor at 500 ms into his attack.

-Stunning Tap should receive Hyper Armor for the entire duration of the attack.

-Reduce the time an enemy spends in Hyper Armor by 200 ms following a Knee-stun.

-Reduce Raider's recovery from throw by 100 ms.

The zone attack and Raider's fury are a slow, highly telegraphed attacks that leave Raider vulnerable even within his own successful chains. By applying HA at 500 ms into the attack it should reduce situations where enemies knock Raider out of his attack by simply using quicker attacks (and thus completely invalidating Raider's chains). By ensuring the HA begins at 500 ms into the attack it also ensures that it cannot be used as a reactionary tool for effectively trading blows. The HA is simply there to ensure Raider doesn't get knocked out of his long, telegraphed attack by a barrage of lights.

Raider's Stunning Tap suffers from taking excessively long to connect (800 ms at its quickest, and 1200 ms at its longest) given the damage done, inability to force exhaustion, huge punish followup from being parried, complete lack of attack speed, and lack of guaranteed followups. By giving it HA through the attack, Stunning Tap could be used as a tool to break into Raider's combos and keep them going. It effectively fails as a tool for trading since the only guarantee is 18 damage, leaving it lacking compared to many other HA attacks. It merely allows Raider a way to break into his opponent and offer a chance at chaining attacks.

By giving both of these attacks some HA it helps ensure Raider's speed is not the huge hindrance it is now. He is not designed to act as a trade machine like Warlord, but instead use his HA to carry singular attacks through, and open opportunities to continue chains to recover from any potential health deficits .

Reducing the time the enemy spends in HA after a knee-stun is a necessity if Raider is ever to effectively use his knee-stun mechanic effectively. If Raider follows it up with a single light attack he can be GB for free. If Raider follows it up with a chain of light attacks he can be interrupted by a 500 ms or quicker attack. If Raider tries performing a light into Raider's fury he can be punished by either of the above methods. If Raider doesnt followup with an attack then in all situations a Stunning Tap would have been more effective. No matter how you slice it Raider can be (sometimes harshly) punished for successfully dealing a mild 30 damage. This issue has effectively killed any chance of knee-stun being a useful item in Raider's kit, as it is never worth it compared to stunning tap from GB.

Finally Ubisoft should reduce Raider's recovery from throwing an enemy by 100 ms. This change would allow Raider to consistently be able to correctly punish a wall-splat with a side heavy. This issue is honestly infuriating as Raider main. Watching Raider throw away upwards of 200+ damage in a single duel because reasons unknown is absolutely unforgivable. No one else suffers from having a perfectly setup wall-splat fail at such consistently high amounts, why should Raider. He already has otherwise terrible options from GB. There's no reason it should be allowed to remain an inconsistent bull-**** guessing game of trial and error.

I am aware of the fact that changes are going to be slim until the defensive meta changes arrive. I would however like to point out that all my proposed changes, barring stunning tap, are actually caused by Raider being aggressive. No amount of additional chip damage or OOS punishment will solve these glaring issues in Raider's kit. These issues with sustaining offence will not be "fixed" by the defensive meta changes. They need to be properly fixed or else Raider will continue to go in circles, dealing damage but being unable to properly defend himself from being dealt more.