I want to open this with talking about the state of the game as I see it. Some of these things may be inaccurate, this was a beta from 2 months ago and there has been much movement in the character development front since then. Some things I say may not match up to videos that are currently out because much of my information comes from talking with Yoshi and Daishi and they are talking about things going forward in the newer versions of the beta/release. It’s also possible I got some stuff wrong, this is all from memory.
Let’s start with 66A I feel like this is going to show a lot of people the direction of the general design. This is a tracking midrange mid, with a brave edge followup. On block it’s unsafe and the BE is advantage. On hit it has advantage and the BE gives a combo. On CH I think it’s a knockdown you can’t combo off of (maybe tech trap) and BE is the same NH and CH. The BE is also launch punishable to just guard as well as being susceptible to GI’s of all kinds.
What this gives you is an interesting metagame surrounding this move. If you want to punish the move you have to throw out the punisher immediately, but if they BE you get CH into a combo. When you consider this is advantage on block it seems like it’s some wonder move and at a low level this will give patroklos players a great tool to use meter in order to get in range to do some damage. At the same time there is much depth seen in the high level applications of counters.
At a high level GI, autoGI and just guard (maybe even sidestep) will destroy you for randomly throwing it out, also throwing it out without some meter banked will be a free punish. The really interesting dynamic emerges when you consider that waiting around to punish what you can see on reaction leaves you not taking your advantage on block and creates this weird reaction time based situation where I have no idea how it will play out.
6BBB – This is MHM, first 2 hits NC 3rd combos on CH of any hit. If the last hit connects on any hit you get 66B+K into the ender of choice. On block the last hit is unsafe. The first attack also has very short range.
The first hit doesn’t stand people up on any hit, so if you hit someone crouching you whiff the 2nd hit and are open to free damage. Personally I think this move is dogshit, you can’t seem to hit confirm the combo so going for the damage involved putting your ass on the line to anyone who wants to duck out of the string high. Also even if you CH confirm you have to know
1B – This is a close range mid that looks like it TC’s , it has a BE that gives a 2 hit string which will combo if the 1B hits in a combo (in later builds). On block it’s advantage, on hit it gives a knockdown and combo (back hit grounds the opponent so it doesn’t always give a combo… maybe with BE?). I didn’t really tool around with the BE, I just know it works in combos in a later build from yoshi.
Anyone who was looking forward to 6B pressure is going to love this move. It’s advantage on block and gives him a great way to pressure once he makes his way inside. There is a good amount of push on block so you have to really keep at someone.
236B is a fast mid with a BE for a 2nd hit. On block the normal is unsafe and the BE seems safe to an unknown degree. On hit you get a knockdown that pushes back the BE does similar even against airborne opponents, after you can followup with 236K if a wall/edge helps to shorten the distance you push it away.
236A,B is a TC tracking mid… at least it looks like one. I didn’t use it for the crouching in the right place when I did use it.
236K is the biggest surprise of his whole movelist. If you hit in the air it leaves them right at your feet with you at advantage. I didn’t use it otherwise because it’s unsafe on block.
3B is maybe unsafe on block… hit gives combo of choice similar to 66B+K.
2B is a simple ground hitting mid.
4B is a high with some range, but I don’t see what it’s supposed to be good for just yet.
44B is similar to sophie 44B+K in it’s uses as far as I can see… Thinking back I want to find out it’s block properties and see if it’s got a BE.
3A is a TC mid with good range that’s not very fast. Advantage on hit and good tracking. Doesn’t seem to be unsafe.
2A is generic
1A is a slow low that does not hit grounded
6A I can’t remember what this does
44A is a tracking high that gives CE on all CH.
4A tracking move I didn’t really use
22A,A high, high series that knocks down and hits fairly quickly.
22B is a high with decent range that gives a CH combo and I don’t remember the NH property off the top of my head. On block forces crouch and gives small disadvantage.
33B is a TC launcher with a somewhat slow speed. I would guess unsafe, combos seem to be similar as after 66B+K
11B I don’t remember ever testing… it might be the same as 44B
A,A and B,B are both lacking range and if you tip hit them the followup will whiff. The moves as single pokes have good frames on hit so you can still use B and A at their tip range and mount offense on hit.
K is what you would expect from standing K, fast with good frames on hit and small/medium disadvantage on block.
66K is a tracking mid with decent range and speed. Knockdown in any hit and seems safe on block.
3K,K is a mid/high, combos on hit, unknown properties vs crouching. This is delayable, but I don’t know to what ends, especially considering it’s a string high and those are typically death at high level.
2K seems to be small disadvantage on hit, nothing you can’t work with though.
1K is great but I don’t quite see how to frame trap people towards it’s tip range… Maybe 236B or some kick I’m not using.
Besides those I have to say I didn’t tool around with his other kicks so much. Sorry.
WS A seems to be a fast tracking mid
WS B is a fast mid
WS K Tiger knee! Unsafe but gives combos on all hits. This seems like his goto punisher after ducking out of a high.
A+B is a mid autoGI into a high attack (That is an assumption, but it looks high)… I didn’t really tool around with the combo options on hit. You can charge it to extend the aGI window. This seems safe on block, but predictable highs will get you murdered so it’s still unsafe
2A+B is a low that knocks down on NH, gives a CH stun which leads to 66B+K. Also has an extra hit vs grounded that seems to give a free 236K as well as a few other enders.
Besides that I didn’t really find uses for his A+B/B+K moves after testing them initially so I didn’t use those much either. I do have to say his spinny sword and shield attacks with A+B, are probably going to be useful in combos for knockdowns you can’t get 66B+K guaranteed. Also I don’t think I tested any B+K attacks at all, so I might have missed some things.
His movement is really good everywhere with one exception, his backstep is total ass. Sidestep without quick step was so good I didn’t really use quick step until I was at some kind of big disadvantage and never lacked movement