Kensei rework? | Forums

[VeniVidiViciBra]

Am I the only kensei main who is concerned about the upcoming rework? I know kensei has his problems but once you main him for so long (just like any other hero) you know what works and what doesn't and how to counter every hero. I actually like kenseis kit and I don't want them to take away his strengths. I guess I'm just worried about them taking away his signature stuff. Now if they just add some stuff like an opener on top of what he already has that would be fine with me. Thoughts?

[Vakris_One]

I get where you're coming from. I'm a rep 19 Kensei and I know him like the back of my hand. To be honest by the time it has taken them to get a rework scheduled for him I have already refined my playstyle with him based on what works and what doesn't. The two new heroes are like finding an oasis in the desert for a Kensei, they actually attack! And attacking means I can use my dodge strikes as an opener into the Kensei's awesome mixup game. The one true enemy of the Kensei is the turtle and the amount of turtling in the game has significantly reduced with Season 4 because of the new heroes being focused on attacking and everybody wanting to play them.

He does need an update in order to have an option against turtling, however I hope they don't mess with his existing kit. His kit is actually really nice the problem is that turtling is a had counter to the Kensei and it makes him really easy to deal with. With the rework they simply need to give Kensei an option so that he is able to be a threat under any circumstances rather than getting incredibly easily shut down by his bad matchups.

[UbiJurassic]

We're hopefully have some good news for Kensei mains everywhere regarding the rework that will put your minds at ease for his upcoming changes. While he does need new moves and animations to get him on par with other members of the roster, the identity of the Kensei is likely something they are looking to keep intact.

[CandleInTheDark]

I get where you're coming from. I'm a rep 19 Kensei and I know him like the back of my hand. To be honest by the time it has taken them to get a rework scheduled for him I have already refined my playstyle with him based on what works and what doesn't. The two new heroes are like finding an oasis in the desert for a Kensei, they actually attack! And attacking means I can use my dodge strikes as an opener into the Kensei's awesome mixup game. The one true enemy of the Kensei is the turtle and the amount of turtling in the game has significantly reduced with Season 4 because of the new heroes being focused on attacking and everybody wanting to play them.

He does need an update in order to have an option against turtling, however I hope they don't mess with his existing kit. His kit is actually really nice the problem is that turtling is a had counter to the Kensei and it makes him really easy to deal with. With the rework they simply need to give Kensei an option so that he is able to be a threat under any circumstances rather than getting incredibly easily shut down by his bad matchups.

Kensei is one of the heroes I want to try out some time, maybe when they have dedicated servers in as I don't intend to do the vs ai grind I did to rep up five heroes for dominion. The thing I probably would struggle with is every hero that is not an assassin I tend to play like assassins lol using their dodge attacks as whiff punishes, I would likely go to his side dodge way too many times so it is also finding the time to change my style of play.

[Alustar.exe]

I was actually thinking this the other day that when they do the be rework modifications I'm gong to have a rep 20 peacekeeper I have no idea how to play XD

[mrmistark]

I was also thinking the same thing yesterday when I wipped him out (when I’m playing real crappy, I’m very good with him so it’s a huge confidence booster lol) and I was also hoping they just add a very simple opener. Honestly he does need an opener, but I too have played with him so much that selfishly in my head I’m just like: hey can you just make his dodge attacks much harder to parry? I can work around a turtle as long as I can get the finisher to mix-up haha

[Vakris_One]

Kensei is one of the heroes I want to try out some time, maybe when they have dedicated servers in as I don't intend to do the vs ai grind I did to rep up five heroes for dominion. The thing I probably would struggle with is every hero that is not an assassin I tend to play like assassins lol using their dodge attacks as whiff punishes, I would likely go to his side dodge way too many times so it is also finding the time to change my style of play.

Actually Kensei lends himself very well to an aggressive counter attacker playstyle. Successfully punishing someone with a dodge strike then allows you to seamlessly flow into the Kensei's top heavy soft cancel mind game from where you can both soft cancel into a side heavy or GB or hard cancel into a top light. There's plenty of mind games to be had from a successful dodge strike. The problem is that his side dodge lights are slow and very telegraphed once you catch on to the fact that he moves his body in the opposite direction of where the hit will come from. And of course if the enemy doesn't give you that opening and instead waits for you to make a move your options are ridiculously limited. You basically only have the top light to rely on but that's pretty much useless against players that know it because you cannot bait them into parry attempts by feinting your heavies - they'll sit there and be mildly amused as you burn your stamina for the kicks and giggles of it. He could do with being given the ability to feint his dodge strikes from all directions.

A couple weeks before Season 4 I actually started playing the Peacekeeper and the transition from Kensei to her was rather seamless for me. All I had to do was get used to having a usable zone and being able to actually use my lights. The only different thing was knowing about her optimal wall splat combo, her bleeds and her soft cancels. I think I mentioned before how it made me feel like I had been training with weighted clothing and in a higher gravity when coming from the Kensei and picking up the PK felt like I was finally allowed the freedom to take off some metaphorical restraints (or rather the limitations of the Kensei's kit).

Go on Candle, join the Kensei life! It'll be frustrating, you'll want to throw up on more than one occasion but it will make you a Super Saiyan with the PK afterwards

[High-Horse]

Actually Kensei lends himself very well to an aggressive counter attacker playstyle. Successfully punishing someone with a dodge strike then allows you to seamlessly flow into the Kensei's top heavy soft cancel mind game from where you can both soft cancel into a side heavy or GB or hard cancel into a top light. There's plenty of mind games to be had from a successful dodge strike. The problem is that his side dodge lights are slow and very telegraphed once you catch on to the fact that he moves his body in the opposite direction of where the hit will come from. And of course if the enemy doesn't give you that opening and instead waits for you to make a move your options are ridiculously limited. You basically only have the top light to rely on but that's pretty much useless against players that know it because you cannot bait them into parry attempts by feinting your heavies - they'll sit there and be mildly amused as you burn your stamina for the kicks and giggles of it. He could do with being given the ability to feint his dodge strikes from all directions.

A couple weeks before Season 4 I actually started playing the Peacekeeper and the transition from Kensei to her was rather seamless for me. All I had to do was get used to having a usable zone and being able to actually use my lights. The only different thing was knowing about her optimal wall splat combo, her bleeds and her soft cancels. I think I mentioned before how it made me feel like I had been training with weighted clothing and in a higher gravity when coming from the Kensei and picking up the PK felt like I was finally allowed the freedom to take off some metaphorical restraints (or rather the limitations of the Kensei's kit).

Go on Candle, join the Kensei life! It'll be frustrating, you'll want to throw up on more than one occasion but it will make you a Super Saiyan with the PK afterwards

Using Kensei's zone for the armor and canceling into a GB during their recovery works like a charm. It's no 400ms strike from nowhere but catches a lot of people off guard.

[CandleInTheDark]

Actually Kensei lends himself very well to an aggressive counter attacker playstyle. Successfully punishing someone with a dodge strike then allows you to seamlessly flow into the Kensei's top heavy soft cancel mind game from where you can both soft cancel into a side heavy or GB or hard cancel into a top light. There's plenty of mind games to be had from a successful dodge strike. The problem is that his side dodge lights are slow and very telegraphed once you catch on to the fact that he moves his body in the opposite direction of where the hit will come from. And of course if the enemy doesn't give you that opening and instead waits for you to make a move your options are ridiculously limited. You basically only have the top light to rely on but that's pretty much useless against players that know it because you cannot bait them into parry attempts by feinting your heavies - they'll sit there and be mildly amused as you burn your stamina for the kicks and giggles of it. He could do with being given the ability to feint his dodge strikes from all directions.

A couple weeks before Season 4 I actually started playing the Peacekeeper and the transition from Kensei to her was rather seamless for me. All I had to do was get used to having a usable zone and being able to actually use my lights. The only different thing was knowing about her optimal wall splat combo, her bleeds and her soft cancels. I think I mentioned before how it made me feel like I had been training with weighted clothing and in a higher gravity when coming from the Kensei and picking up the PK felt like I was finally allowed the freedom to take off some metaphorical restraints (or rather the limitations of the Kensei's kit).

Go on Candle, join the Kensei life! It'll be frustrating, you'll want to throw up on more than one occasion but it will make you a Super Saiyan with the PK afterwards

I might well try that, I was set on getting Shaman to 7 but honestly I want to wait for the tracking fix before using her on a more solid basis and even so she isn't replacing Peacekeeper as my main so I used the double xp period to close out the rep point I was on. I definitely have a set few heroes but there might well be something to what you're saying over playing with weighted clothing since one of the things people have said for a long time is that being a good Kensei player makes them a better player overall in terms of how hard they work to get anything..

[High-Horse]

I might well try that, I was set on getting Shaman to 7 but honestly I want to wait for the tracking fix before using her on a more solid basis and even so she isn't replacing Peacekeeper as my main so I used the double xp period to close out the rep point I was on. I definitely have a set few heroes but there might well be something to what you're saying over playing with weighted clothing since one of the things people have said for a long time is that being a good Kensei player makes them a better player overall in terms of how hard they work to get anything..

I think it's mostly because Kensei relies entirely on fundamentals. Parry, dodge, feints, timing all need to be perfect because they don't have anything else.