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I played with Orochi really early on but left him to simply be a raider for big stupid fun... really wanted to see what armour could come out of it!
Anyway I digress, now that I’m back on Orochi, I’m finding lots of the new characters have hyper armour and plenty of the punishes I do end follow through with are getting taken on the chin, while I’m cutting them to ribbons they’ve got so much health and I can be over in one mistake. Any pointers? Do I literally just have to spend 10mins per fight picking them apart?
Senior Member
To answer the question in title: kind of.
Side feint into double top light is a good one, I don't see many Orochi's use it so it's still got the element of surprise. Top light combo is also fast enough to knock most hero's out of their heavies, so watch carefully and hit them when they try to open with a feint. Then feint a heavy into another double top light. You'd be amazed how often I see that work. Zone attack will knock most opponents out of their slower moves too, and Orochi zone is pretty safe (feint top before throwing it from neutral can help).
You can use Storm Rush to punish slow moves, but you need to have your spacing down (if you're too close, it won't work).
Don't use Riptide Strike.
One of Orochi's stronger tools is the deflect, but I've never been good with those...I don't play assassins >_> Light deflect is guaranteed damage, heavy deflect can be mixed up with a feint into guardbreak to catch a dash, but it's 50/50. Guard breaking immediately after a heavy deflect will usually catch your opponent in a dash too.
Orochi has a strong OOS punish too: throw to your right and get two side heavies.
Never use your side lights/heavies, and only use Zephyr Slash on moves that can't be feinted. I cancel Should Bash against Orochi's and catch their Zephyr with a parry a lot, and that's a free top heavy for me. It's pretty unsafe most of the time, and it's low damage too. 99% of the time you're better going for your top light combo.
Hope that gives you some ideas at least.
Senior Member
Good summary Jazz!
Only things I will add:
-orochi is labeled a counter striker and plays the best when used as such. Use a backward dash to create enough space for your opponent to wiff an attack and hit them with that rushing attack, whatever it’s called. I forget, but it’s back dodge and heavy. After this, it may not be “guaranteed” but I’ve never seen it be countered, go for a double top light. It has worked 100% of the time I have used it and despite knowing this move and attempting to block, dodge, parry and deflect all the times it’s been done to me, it is always to no avail. I’ll go on a limb and say it’s guaranteed.
- blocking against slower characters like shugoki and HL (may be others, never tested it) can also guarantee double top light as their recovery is super slow. Try it out after blocking slower recovery attacks. You’d be surprised how many times you’ll be guaranteed the double light.
- feint into zone to finish off the opponent works as well, you can do this with normal conditions too just be careful of stamina
- people tend to be GB happy when they see or bait out a dodge. Orochi has one thing going for him better than anyone else: his dodge attacks have an incredibly small window to be GB out of and is almost impossible to do upon reaction, rather a coincidence they GB you as you’re about to dodge. This catches a lot of people, as most other characters are easy to GB in dodge, even if it’s a dodge attack and thus it’s ingrained in most players muscle memory.
- DONT be predictable. When you get hit with the rush and double top light as described above, 100% of the time the orochi GBs or zones. Don’t be this guy. Don’t get stuck doing the same thing over and over. That is where orochi players hit their wall: when they allow themselves become predictable. I think 85% of matches against orochis have gone 0-2 me losing to me winning all the rest of the rounds, simply because they refused to switch it up and became so predictable. Utilize parry baits and
Fients.
- don’t be a super hero. Deflecting is cool and all, but ultimately parrying will always be superior compared to your deflects. Sure it’s a useful tool, but with a normal parry you drain their stamina AND do more guaranteed damage 100% of the time. There really isn’t a reason to not parry if you can. Save deflects specifically against the likes of light spamming aramushas, valks, ect. you must escape.
That’s about all I have to add.
Senior Member
Most players I see play Orochi the wrong way. Like he is an assassin that can pressure you by offense. Bad Orochi players are very easy to kill.
When I face a good Orochi I notice it immediately, someone who uses his deflect and counter attack moves perfectly. A good Orochi knows how to play against and react to the WHOLE cast of heroes.
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