Nightmare's weakness(es)

[Phragonist]

I have a very high lose rate vs nightmare, regardless of what character I am. What is nightmare's weakness? How do I need to play against him to beat him? I'm hoping there is a simple solution like, play more defensive/offensive, sidestep, or something like that, but I'm doubtful that the answer will be that easy. Anyway, what is the counter-strategy to nightmare? Nightmare players, what do you lose to most often? Thanks

 

[Solo]

Nightmare is very unsafe, quite vulnerable to JG due to being a single hit character, and has trouble getting people out of his face. I know this is very general but I can't exactly give you precise weaknesses. Just stay close to him and watch out for 6K or iagA. He doesn't have any quick mids minus 3AA but 3AA is very unsafe and it's easy to JG the second hit.

 

[Sett]

If you're in his face he's gonna punch you or grab you. Some of his punches can be ducked.

 

[Thermidor]

Punch?? Grab??? This ain't SC4 it's about them kicks and shoulders

 

[Engared]

He still needs to throw and punch. But 66K and. 3K is quite awesome.

 

[KingAce]

NM's weakness is simple. Don't duck, turtle, block+punish=profit. Most times NM catches you because you're being aggressive. You know he baits you out then backdashes into 3b, or catches you stepping. Just wait patiently JG some shit and punish.

A seasoned NM player will throw you, but you'll probably defeat most NM players online if you do this strat. Of course if you use a character with excellent punishment your chances of winning are higher.

 

[Nine-L]

Yeah, the block button is Nightmare's weakness. Whether you're holding it or tapping it.

Also, don't whiff, you'll get eaten. Oh, and 99% of his stance transitions are unsafe, be it GS or NSS. Characters with quick 2A/2Ks can annoy the shit out of him too.

There really isn't much of an excuse for losing to Nightmare at all. In my experience, most people lose just because they're scared shitless of what's coming next for absolutely no good reason.

 

[JustinAkatsuki]

The number one rule imo when facing nightmare is to never ever..turtle too much...if you let NM harass you with throws, backstep, and unblockable cancels all day then it's GG's to ya.

 

[Phragonist]

So some people say block button is nightmare's weakness, others say never turtle ... ಠ_ಠ

 

[Wandrian]

His guard pressure is pretty high, so turtling too much gets your guard burst'd. Pick up on the individual player habits as soon as you can. Quickstep and punish if they use 3B a lot, use tech crouch moves if they like to whore out agA. Some other specific attacks you can punish fairly easily if you recognize them:

3A2A: Try a jump B or jump K attack with a 9 input, many characters will be able to jump over it and smack him out of it.

A+B: Grab the mofo, stab his toes, or block and punish since it's so negative(-20 is enough to punish with any decent launcher).


1A, FC A+G, FC B+G, 2[K]: Block all forms of 1A unless your guard is about to pop, block/jump/break his FC throws, jump 2[K]. Never block low on anticipation, you'll eat his much nastier mids if you do.

1K: If your health isn't critically low, jump out of the way. Don't block it unless you're one poke away from death because he's setting you up for a low/mid/throw mixup at that range and all his other options are *MUCH* scarier than 1K(FC 3B, RO throws, GS B...).

Grim Stride: Poke the mofo out of it with your best fast low if you expect him to do it.

CE: Never do anything that leaves you recovering long enough to be hit by it and commit to your first choice of action immediately. If you second guess yourself, you'll eat the full damage of it. The guy is on the defensive? Be ready to throw when he has a full bar and gets off the ground, a ton of bad-to-mediocre Nightmare players love using it on wakeup as a desperation move.

4KK, 4KkA+B+K: Crouch the second hit, immediately punish with your choice of FC/WS attacks. Punish faster if he does the BE version, the third and fourth hits strike mid and lead to nasty followups(if not an RO).

GS kA+B+K: If he knocks you down, immediately tech to the side and block the first hit. After blocking the irst hit, crouch the attack throw and attack with your favor FC/WS attack while he's recovering. Careful not to get hit by the attack throw though, it has a deceptively lengthy period of time when you can still be hit by it while trying to punish it. If he knocks you down in a corner though, he can use this attack as many times as his meter will allow and there is nothing you can do about it.

 

[Nine-L]

So some people say block button is nightmare's weakness, others say never turtle ... ಠ_ಠ

Blocking ≠ turtling.

 

[0VincentRayne0]

NM doesn't have a sole weakness. it's up to the player. some are too aggressive. some space and turtle themselves. so it's up to you to adjust to the individual NMs that are out there. dodging his moves is the best overall advice i can give you. his 4KK, 4K(BE), etc. interrupting. poking him to make him go into a mistake out of frustration. that's what i do. an i super rarely lose to NMs.

 

[Engared]

Nightmare is shit. The players have been making him look good until now.

 

[Yachiyo]

Nightmare is shit. The players have been making him look good until now.

They use him a lot!

I try to go straight for Nightmare, I find if I start by playing defensively he just continues his / dual hits. Then comes the out of nowhere.
He has slower moves so whenever I see him preparing something I usually just with Pyrrha or Pyrrha Omega

When you start guarding he grabs you and throws you and makes you spin, when you side-step his horizontals knock you back, try to run to him and kick straight away to knock him over () then do vertical attacks downwards or diagonally down (some characters)() , and twice in succession when he gets back up:

 

[JustinAkatsuki]

Nightmare is shit. The players have been making him look good until now.

Imo Nightmare would probably be A tier status if it wasn't for just guard and possibly back step G nerf which im not a fan of.

 

[Solo]

I wouldn't say A tier, risk/reward isn't on his side. I'd say Mid, Upper Mid at most.

 

[Nine-L]

Backstep being terrible is a big reason why risk/reward isn't on his side. That and the throw damage making the throw/mid game that's supposed to be his BnB into a total punchline.

JG needs to die as well.

His guard break game into GS B GS B GS K BE LOLOLOL is the best thing about him. That and the weird ability he seems to have to just terrify your opponent. I don't care, if I'm doing GS transitions and not getting interrupted, you've been mindcrushed for literally no reason.

 

[0VincentRayne0]

Backstep being terrible is a big reason why risk/reward isn't on his side. That and the throw damage making the throw/mid game that's supposed to be his BnB into a total punchline.

JG needs to die as well.

His guard break game into GS B GS B GS K BE LOLOLOL is the best thing about him. That and the weird ability he seems to have to just terrify your opponent. I don't care, if I'm doing GS transitions and not getting interrupted, you've been mindcrushed for literally no reason.

don't forget him having the most damaging wall combos besides Asta's no brainer was combos.

 

[Nine-L]

Oops, yeah, you're right. The crush game and wall combos.

 

[Engared]

I believe he's lower mid. C at best. He just has too many weak match-ups now compared with the previous patch.

If backstep remains the same, he needs some significant help in certain areas of his game such as more hard knockdowns and potentially tech-traps (you can look at my wishlist for some ideas). If the backstep gets buffed again, then only his throw damage needs to be buffed cause then he can go back to his old style of gameplay of making you whiff.