kensei | Forums

[Lord_Cherubi]

I've said this before and will say it again: Kensei is the most balanced hero in the game and everyone else should be toned to his level. Seriously strong but in no way overpowered. He has many tools but every one of them you can counter if you know how.

He has a VERY fast top light so trying to deflect it (especially on console) is propably not the best strategy.

Light isn't guaranteed off his dodge attack. Again, it's fast but easy to block if you know it's coming (spammers).

Im rep 6 Kensei and while i can say he is extremely strong, even average players can sometimes rip me off my mix-up game if they stay on their toes.

The only thing in his kit that needs fixing is his UB feat which is horribly unbalanced but then again so is most of the active feats as we all know by now...

[Siegfried-Z]

I've said this before and will say it again: Kensei is the most balanced hero in the game and everyone else should be toned to his level. Seriously strong but in no way overpowered. He has many tools but every one of them you can counter if you know how.

He has a VERY fast top light so trying to deflect it (especially on console) is propably not the best strategy.

Light isn't guaranteed off his dodge attack. Again, it's fast but easy to block if you know it's coming (spammers).

Im rep 6 Kensei and while i can say he is extremely strong, even average players can sometimes rip me off my mix-up game if they stay on their toes.

The only thing in his kit that needs fixing is his UB feat which is horribly unbalanced but then again so is most of the active feats as we all know by now...

Thank you and to Vakris too. .
So many people here are not objectif about Kensei.
I am rep 103 on PS4 and Kensei main (even before rework) and while yes he is strong, he is in any way op.

He is just were devs want most char to be i think.
He has a rich and strong mix up but everything he can do is reactable!
Plus if you are a little smart and keep as most as possible your guard on your right because his zone is fast and then you know his ONLY way to engage is top light. . Then you realize he is really not op.

The pommel strike is soo slow and side lights are always parried compared to the free almost guaranteed triple Roch lights LOL

The funny thing is that i see many people saying he has so many tools compare to others vanguards etc but since when tools are meaning strong ?? Excuse me but valkyrie has a lot of tools and is she strong ?

Pk was the best char for a while before Conq took the first place and she was the strongest char without HA, Unblocable or special mooves. . She was destroying everyone just thanks to fast lights and fast zone !

So, i know haters gonna hate by hey haters try to think a bit more before hating pls.

[Maxime_Qc-]

I've said this before and will say it again: Kensei is the most balanced hero in the game and everyone else should be toned to his level. Seriously strong but in no way overpowered. He has many tools but every one of them you can counter if you know how.

He has a VERY fast top light so trying to deflect it (especially on console) is propably not the best strategy.

Light isn't guaranteed off his dodge attack. Again, it's fast but easy to block if you know it's coming (spammers).

Im rep 6 Kensei and while i can say he is extremely strong, even average players can sometimes rip me off my mix-up game if they stay on their toes.

The only thing in his kit that needs fixing is his UB feat which is horribly unbalanced but then again so is most of the active feats as we all know by now...

His top light seems so fast because of the way he throw it.... like...ain't every light in the game (or most of them and fastest of them) are 400 ms ? ...

It's just dumb that he got the only top light i can't deflect or even parry...

I even (maybe 50% of the times) succeed to deflect lawbringer first top light...

But never ever get it in kensei...

It seems that the red indicator appear AFTET you got hit !.....

[Arekonator]

Most lights in the game are either 500 or 600ms. Kensei got 500ms top and 600ms side lights, his soft feint lights are all 500ms. If you can deflect/parry LB top light, you should be able to do so with kensei at the same timing. Only 400ms lights are PK, zerker and rochi chain lights + the PK + shaman top bleed feints.

[Keef739]

kensei is the strongest character in the game right now. such is life.

The zone could use a mild nerf to its absurd range.

If youre using an ASSASSIN, the hitstun from a successful kensei side dodge attack makes it feel almost impossible to block the followup light, let alone parry it. Thats because assassins have a ridiculous limitation that prevents them from queueing a block DURING hitstun. The window of opportunity for them to block starts at the END of the hitstun and the resolutuon of the followup light is too soon after. This isnt kenseis fault. The hitstun isnt too long and the light finisher isnt too fast, assassin guard is just a poorly implemented handicap that makes blocking unreasonably difficult because their analog is dead during hitstun, and they have to take it FROM CENTER to block AFTER the hitstun ends.

anyways, other characters need to be brought up to the standard that kensei has set, not the other way around.

[Knight_Raime]

His top light seems so fast because of the way he throw it.... like...ain't every light in the game (or most of them and fastest of them) are 400 ms ? ...

It's just dumb that he got the only top light i can't deflect or even parry...

I even (maybe 50% of the times) succeed to deflect lawbringer first top light...

But never ever get it in kensei...

It seems that the red indicator appear AFTET you got hit !.....

The only 400ms attack Kensei has is his hilt bash. But that comes 600ms into the top heavy animation.
afaik there are no indicator bugs with Kensei. If there was the competitive community would have found it and noted it long ago like when Shaman had one.

kensei is the strongest character in the game right now. such is life.

The zone could use a mild nerf to its absurd range.

If youre using an ASSASSIN, the hitstun from a successful kensei side dodge attack makes it feel almost impossible to block the followup light, let alone parry it. Thats because assassins have a ridiculous limitation that prevents them from queueing a block DURING hitstun. The window of opportunity for them to block starts at the END of the hitstun and the resolutuon of the followup light is too soon after. This isnt kenseis fault. The hitstun isnt too long and the light finisher isnt too fast, assassin guard is just a poorly implemented handicap that makes blocking unreasonably difficult because their analog is dead during hitstun, and they have to take it FROM CENTER to block AFTER the hitstun ends.

anyways, other characters need to be brought up to the standard that kensei has set, not the other way around.

No he's not. He's A tier in duels. Zerker is considered the best duelist atm.

reflex vs standard neither is 100% better than the other. Reflex guard is not subject to guard switch recovery. Meaning they can gb/cgb, attack, and dodge instantly after switching. Where as standard guard heros can't because they have guard switch recovery.

Both standard and reflex can be trapped into a hitstun. The conditions on how that happens varies. But on both if you happen to eat a hit that you failed to block in time and then try to switch to block the follow up during the hitstun both guard types will eat the follow up hit. The only time this isn't the case is when standard guard heros abuse a guard switch bug that lets them ignore the 100ms switch delay that every hero has. And because the bug lets them ignore the switch delay they can block instantly.

[OhHowSheGoingEh]

Kensei needs a nerf all around. He should lose his HA, and his side dodge attacks. Hes a vanguard, not an assassin so why does he get a better attack than assassin's? He's not a heavy yet he has hyper armor.
The warden doesn't have a dodge attack, he doesn't even get a dodge gb, he gets hyper armor on a charged shoulder bash which usually get punished anyways.
The raider doesn't get any hyperarmor if my memory is correct, though he gets a dodge gb and you could argue the stunning tap is a type of dodge attack (I myself don't consider it a dodge attack.)
The Kensei also needs to lose his chilling stare feat. He's a vanguard not assassin's why does he get a debuff feat that targets and lingers on the enemy AND affects his allies with the debuff feat as well. The unblockable feats needs to go too, it basically god mode for the duration of then feat.

[ArmoredChocobo]

Kensei is ridiculous, he’s an Assassin in Vanguard’s clothing.

Top heavy from neutral? You’re totally gonna punish th- nope it’s a bash, eat some guaranteed lights.

Ok you’ll surprise him with a fein- nope he used Swift Strike late into his dodge and effectively got a double dodge, you eat a Heavy AND a light.

He just did swift strike and is doing a finisher top heavy so you’re gonna dodg- no he GB’d you.

Ok this time you’ll interrup- nope he feinted into side heavy with hyper armor.

Ok this time- he feints into ANOTHER Swift Strike.

Ok n- feint Light.

Well now you know ALL his tricks so he can’t possibly- he let the finisher play out as you were busy guessing.


Playing as a Kensei feels like I’m cheating.

[ChampionRuby50g]

Kensei needs a nerf all around. He should lose his HA, and his side dodge attacks. Hes a vanguard, not an assassin so why does he get a better attack than assassin's? He's not a heavy yet he has hyper armor.
The warden doesn't have a dodge attack, he doesn't even get a dodge gb, he gets hyper armor on a charged shoulder bash which usually get punished anyways.
The raider doesn't get any hyperarmor if my memory is correct, though he gets a dodge gb and you could argue the stunning tap is a type of dodge attack (I myself don't consider it a dodge attack.)
The Kensei also needs to lose his chilling stare feat. He's a vanguard not assassin's why does he get a debuff feat that targets and lingers on the enemy AND affects his allies with the debuff feat as well. The unblockable feats needs to go too, it basically god mode for the duration of then feat.

Wardens SB is considered a dodge attack, because you can dodge enemy strikes with it and landing it confirms a light attack. I’m pretty sure you can dodge enemy attacks with raiders stunning tap too, which deals damage thus it is considered to be a dodge attack.

[Keef739]

No he's not. He's A tier in duels. Zerker is considered the best duelist atm.

Kensei has a good matchup against EVERYBODY including zerk.

If you deflect (suprblock) his chain is interrupted, and if you get a clean dodge you can trade uninterruptibles (not ideal). This means dodges are fully viable (unlike most assassins vs zerk).

Since you can safely dodge, you never have to parry to punish his aggression, which means he cant punish your defense with feintGB (unless you dodge too late to string the attack). He has to dial back the aggression and try to bait your dodges for parries.

Kensei can delay his dodge attack so long that you never have to commit to a bait if youre paying attention, and you can still string the dodge attack in reaction to a GB attempt.

Now youre back at neutral, and kenseis neutral kit is miles and leagues ahead.

ez game