Kensai - Bug or feature? | Forums

[Casper5632]

I have noticed that a kensai is able to completely avoid being hit by an attack if he does his strafe attack, even if its in the direction of the attack. Is there more to this ability, or can he just strafe attack with no risk?

[NHLGoldenKnight]

Kensei is one of those heroes absolutely frustrating to fight. I am only rep 10 Kensei but whenever I feel helpless using other heroes, I turn to Kensei.

So far, being one or fighting against one, his dodge attack is safest dodge attack in the game. Only time when I get in trouble is when I am fighting another Kensei.

Probably someone more experienced will give you better answer, but at least for me it seems that the way his dodge attack works is OP compared to other similar attacks.

Also, his regular attacks tend to go right through my block and same is happening to others trying to block me. Issue is pretty much ignored but it is definitely there. Same applies to range of his weapon which seems to have longer reach than its actual size.

Overall, imo, there are multiple issues with Kensei in terms of his ability to avoid almost everything when dodging and his weapon reach and strange bug when he hits through blocks that were already in good place before he even reach with his sword. Probably something with hit box that needs to be looked at.

[Casper5632]

Ever since I started playing I keep finding weird stuff happening like that. Kensai strafe slash avoiding attacks in that direction, guard breaks during heavy attacks landing, initiating revenge not triggering a free parry. My ping is pretty much always below 30, so I have no idea why the servers would cause it.

[NHLGoldenKnight]

Well, I am not sure how I can counter his dodge with my GB, because Kensei is always out of my reach thanks to length of his weapon and sudden change of movement which is strange looking anyway. Also, when I am playing as Kensei, hardly anyone can answer his dodge attack with anything else than block. Personally, I do think that his dodge is OP when compared to other dodge attacks ( Nobushi , Valkyrie or PK for example are barley moving to one side at all)) because of very wide angle of attack and size of his weapon. He covers really large area and can stay safe performing those attacks. And he his Vanguard which makes it even worse in a way.

[voiddp]

His dodge attack is easy parry, always expect that attack when fighting kensei, even from neutral, or as softfeint from starting top heavy and just parry it

[Siegfried-Z]

Ok rep 22 Kensei here .

As Sanglong says, break the distance. Just like you were Boxing against an Outside fighter like Ali and you were an inside fighter as Tyson

Dont Forget a thing, Kensei has no real way to counter a fast attacker sticking at him when you care about you're right and you're top (zone and top light) .. under pressure, hes gonna give you free parry by dodging.

For example i really struggle agaisnt a good PK or Conq sticking at me.. cant do a thing.

When i play against another Kensei, doesnt matter if i have my own Kensei or another Char i won almost all the time because i am really aware of his weaknesses.

Believe me if you just feint for nothing any side unblocables for example with Shaman hes gonna dodge, and his dodge is safe because it is a big one but it also means slow and eaaasyyy To punish with a deflect

Things To know :

Keep guard one your right as most as possible for his zone + GB when you block the first hit (most of them gonna feint after this first hit and then gb go through 90% of times).

Be ready for top light.

If he try to start a mix up with pommel strike etc by landing a top heavy just light or zone him if the char you play has one of these fast.

If you get hit by the dodge, just focus about the following light, most of them prefer To do it despite of unblocable mix up .
It comes 90% of times from the top and sometimes from your left. Rarely from the dodge direction.

If he land his unblocable, the Key is to be patient. There is a point from where he cant feint anymore, go in arena working on this moove To notice when.
If he does something before, then most of them feint for the side HA heavy which le an easy parry ! (Just be ready To delete your parry against good ones who gonna feint this feint for a side light sometimes ) .
In another cases, be ready to CGB or for the side light feint which can came only from left or right.

To end it up, i know kensei is strong and during the action it is often difficult to think about everything.

Just hope these tips gonna help ^^

But by beeing a Kensei (and valk) main from the begening, i have really no problem at fighting agaisnt kensei.

Every single things he can do is reactable.

[Vakris_One]

I have noticed that a kensai is able to completely avoid being hit by an attack if he does his strafe attack, even if its in the direction of the attack. Is there more to this ability, or can he just strafe attack with no risk?

His dodge attack properties are the same as any other dodge attack in the game. As with any dodge attack you shouldn't be trying to hit them out of it, you should be baiting them into a parry with hard feints.

And for the record, yes he can be hit during his dodge attack. I have tested this thoroughly myself:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8DcfhGJxIeA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H_RjQp6rUk0

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_GTNVz5UpU

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FDtS3it6olg

[NHLGoldenKnight]

To be fair, in first three videos, I think that you could have been few steps back and you still would get them without being hit. At least vs Shinobi and Conq. Not sure for Raider .

In case of Highlander, his tracking is completely ridiculous. He can almost always grab you as soon as you dodge initially, even if you slightly get behind his back. Used to be proud playing as HL, but after buff he received, I don't touch him anymore.

[Vakris_One]

To be fair, in first three videos, I think that you could have been few steps back and you still would get them without being hit. At least vs Shinobi and Conq. Not sure for Raider .

In case of Highlander, his tracking is completely ridiculous. He can almost always grab you as soon as you dodge initially, even if you slightly get behind his back. Used to be proud playing as HL, but after buff he received, I don't touch him anymore.

The point is that Kensei can get hit during his dodge attack and he receives absolutely no i-frames during the actual striking animation. Meaning that if a Kensei miss-times his dodge attack he will pay for it just like any other character who miss-times a move.

In the case of the Highlander, I dodged a bit too early but he also got really lucky as he grabbed me right on the cusp of my blade physically hitting him. A faster dodge attack like that of Orochi or Shaman would have gotten him. Kensei got undone there because his dodge attack animation is so slow.

[NHLGoldenKnight]

Oh, he can definitely get hit during dodge attack. Specially if you are in more narrow space and you can't keep the distance.

However, in open space and if you really know how to keep distance for dodge attack just to work ( I don't but sometimes I get lucky ), it is really hard to do anything about his dodge. Of course, you can block but it is hard to punish him more and eventually I wear down my opponent and get the kill.
Idk, I guess it is hard to explain but Kensei is my go to hero when I get frustrated and even though I don't really know how to play him well, I tend to perform much better than with my regular heroes that I know much better. For some reason, a lot of Kensei attacks just hit the target, like hot knife through the butter. Granted, I am talking about 4v4 and some high level duels would probably give different picture about Kensei, but in 4v4, Kensei is cutting down enemies like bamboo