Nuxia is an interesting character with great mix-up potential but, unlike most of the roster, her unique tools are locked behind specific situations rather than being available at the ready or viable from neutral. Because of this, I feel she is the weakest of the Wu Lin faction. I was only able to take down multiple opponents with her in Breach due to my experience with the basics instead of being able to take advantage of her unique offense.
The changes I recommend for Nuxia are the following:
1) Change Heavy Finisher Manipulation to Heavy Manipulation
I feel Nuxia’s Heavy Finisher Manipulation shouldn't be locked behind chain finishers because that and her Traps are the only things that make her special and both are very hard to pull off at higher levels. Heavy finishers tend to be parried which leaves the Manipulation mostly viable in ganking/team battles. The Manipulation should be available with any heavy if the player holds down the heavy attack button and successfully connects with a heavy.
2) Zone Attack as Chain Starters
I would make Nuxia’s Zone Attack a Chain Starter as well to provide more mix-up options. If an Unblockable Stun Attack is added then that can also be a cancel option for the Zone Attack. These changes would help her land more Traps.
3) Speed Buffs
My first impression of Nuxia was that she was slow for an assassin and I still find that she is not as quick as the others. While her light attacks and running speed are fine, I recommend the following:
3a) Give her dodge and dodge attacks a 100ms speed buff to boost her mix-ups and their overall viability.
3b) Increase the speed of her heavy attacks by 100ms. They are too slow for an assassin and don’t offer much viability for her Heavy Finisher Manipulation.
4) Give Nuxia More Tools
Overall, Nuxia’s kit is very limited which makes her feel like a very basic assassin. When you look at her moveset in the menu it is relatively small compared to a lot of the roster. Below is all she has going for her:
- Heavy Finisher Manipulation – unique tool locked behind chain finishers.
- Traps – unique tool locked behind specific situations.
- Cancel Zone Attack with a Trap – see above.
- Light dodge attacks.
- Light deflect.
- 400ms light attacks.
- All moves except her Zone Attack are chain starters.
The extra tools Nuxia could have are the following:
- 4a) Dodge Manipulation – These are Heavy Dodge Attacks that connect with a Manipulation on the first blow. Nuxia would be able to attack from all directions with this tool. The move would also have the following benefits:
- Feintable.
- Cancel with a Trap.
- Cancel with a Dodge/Dodge Attack.
- Top variation is Undodgeable and has Hyper Armour.
4b) Unblockable Stun Atttack/Bash/Kick
Since her Traps are difficult to connect with I would give her an Unblockable Stun Attack with the following additional traits:
- Serve as a chain starter.
- Guarantee a light attack.
- Can be used in the middle of a chain by replacing a light or heavy attack.
The move would compliment her Traps since you need to manipulate or read your opponent to connect with them. Stunned opponents tend to go on the defensive instinctively which would provide more opportunities to connect with the Traps.
4c) Cancel Attack Recoveries with Dodge.
Allow Nuxia to cancel the recovery of her standard attacks, chain finishers, and dodge attacks with a Dodge/Dodge attack. This will allow her to apply and maintain more pressure and give more openings for her Traps.
4d) Cancel Zone Attack with Dodge
Allow Nuxia to cancel her Zone Attack with a Dodge/Dodge Attack. The more options to confuse her opponents the better.
Final Thoughts
While I’m not a fan of 400ms light attacks due to the ongoing light spam issue, I would let Nuxia keep them until her rework or buff. I’m sorry I had to use these terms this soon but, in my experience, she was the least threatening character on the battlefield and the least picked character of the Wu Lin faction among the other players. However, when I did give her a try she began to grow on me a little but her weaknesses will need to be addressed before I consider using her on a regular basis.
Below is a video of me using Nuxia in Breach. I managed to get a few traps in but I was no expert with her:
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