Anyone else feel like Talim's lethal hits are just... not great? I don't think every character needs to be pumping out lethals all day, but hers are so arbitrary and just not very useful, especially not reactively. I feel like you have to be specifically going for one -- and not in a natural way, like a "I really want to hit this" sort of way. When you would be better served doing other things.
44B: Not a reactive low crush, but certainly a good one, especially since it's on a move which is all around one of her best normals.
6(A+B): The... mildly useful one. It leads to good reward, but it's very slow, so actually punishing a whiff with it is somewhat of a miracle.
A+B: Universally rewarding for everyone, Talim's is no different.
BT A+B: A nice scare tactic, but in most situations, people are either going to be ducking this move or blocking it. Good newb trap lethal though.
44A: If this were a 2D game, or a game without weapons, this might be a useful whiff punishment tool for hitting an extended hurtbox against a long range move. However, this is a game with swords, so when the HELL are you going to be able to hit someone's body with this move after a whiffed high except against another Talim? Also the reward is garbage.
WNC~K: If WNC actually worked against verticals, maybe this might be useful. However, you get MORE damage going for WNC~B~B into an air combo I think. It's just very unrewarding. If this was just a general whiff punish lethal or something, I would be like okay, but it's too specific and the move just sucks at stepping.
1A+B: The idea of pushing someone to a high guard crush and then getting constant rewards for high crushing is great in theory. Except, Talim isn't the best at dealing guard damage. More so, if you know how to RE stuff, she is the best character for HEALING guard damage, because she hits so many times. The reward is decent at least.
WNF B: I mean... you were going to explode them anyway and get a combo after the crush. I admittedly haven't tested this lethal too much, since I find it not to be the most practical thing to break guard with. Still, not great.
66B: Would be great... in theory. If it were as fast as Sophie's. However, not at all.
3A+B: While I don't think this is terrible, as I do think 3A+B is an okay normal on it's own, at the range Talim would be using this move, she is in range of so many characters' far faster moves, so hitting this is just inpractical.
Low-life Running K: Well... if your super doesn't HEAL you out of range of this lethal, you do get a nice mix-up as you run in...
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Am I missing one? I can't remember. But yeah, her lethals just seem so bizarre to me. Again, I don't think every character needs to be built around lethals, but hers just seem specifically underwhelming, not only the move choices, the lethal hit conditions, but also the rewards given for each.
I don't think just because two characters share a similar move, that they should be identical -- I hate that stuff. Too many fighters try for the homogeneous crap these days. That said, I've been playing Sophie a bit, and boy, her lethals just make... so much sense. Her whiff punish is fast enough to actually do it, and stems from a 8-way run in the three back directions, ones you would likely be doing if you made something whiff. She can react to highs and easily do 236K to get a lethal. Her equivalent to Talim's 66B does 40 damage just as a poke, is 18i instead of 22i and reaches further in a faster amount of time.
