vs. Ezio

Nine-L

[10] Knight
This guy was definitely in the top slot for most common character I encountered online for a repulsively long time, but they all seemed to be terrible. Now that his popularity has waxed and waned and leveled out, I actually run into people who seem to play him to win rather than to use crossbows...

...And then I realize I know somewhere between "dick" and "shit" about this character. I (obviously) play Nightmare so I can usually get fairly far just on proper spacing and occasionally being psychic, but the need for actual character knowledge has arisen.

He's exceptionally annoying to me in close when he's being played well. I just can't get him the hell off of me. A lot of his crap seems to catch backstep, and as I said, I lack knowledge here so I'm not really sure where I can push a button in his face, if at all. And I hesitate to do so anyway because the whole match for him is just a fishing expedition for counterhits.

I can't tell if this character is legit or I'm just getting gimmicked. If they're gimmicks, they're the least gimmicky looking gimmicks in the game.

Just looking for any help at all. "Competent Ezio" is a totally new character to me. Hell, sometimes "Seemingly Awake Ezio" can throw me off my game. If there's some general anti-Ezio strategy, that'd be nice. Really specific stuff, also helpful. He seems like he has some not-totally-obvious frame-traps that I'm probably getting caught by, I think...?

Shit, that was a little more rambling than I wanted it to be. Sorry. Thanks for the time.
 
A big part of fighting Ezio is beating him on the 2-hit string mindgames. Many of his attacks are 2 hit strings that are unsafe on both hits, so you have to predict if they're going to do one hit (punish it) or both hits (wait and punish it).
66BB (and the BE) can be stepped to Ezio's left.
Watch out for 6K2 at the end of rounds. Huge damage low, unsafe on hit, death on block. FC 3B punish, or even RCC 3(B) if you're feeling fancy. (A) → NSS K or 4K BE punish on hit.
1A is WR B punishable.
1K (overhead launch kick) is completely safe, only -6 and forces crouch. Step and launch.
Duck the 2nd hits of 4AB, 66AB, and 6AAB.
4K BE/(A) → NSS K punish on 4B.
JG second hit of WR BB for 3(B) punish. Only -16 on normal guard and it tracks weirdly so stepping it isn't always reliable.
22AA is 3(B) punishable. First hit randomly whiffs against stepping opponents a lot.
44A is 6K punishable.
11A is -20. 4K BE/(A) → NSS K punish.
44B is safe, kills rolls, breaks in 7, and does huge damage on hit. You can CE it on reaction though so watch for it on wakeup.
11K is WR B punishable but blends with 22K as a mixup. 22K is completely safe and pushes back a huge amount.
Duck 66A+B.
Step or JG the last hit of BB BE.
CE is only -18 and forces crouch. WR B punish.
B throw rings out forward (very little range on the RO). A throw does more damage.

Beware of WR A. This move is amazing, especially against Nightmare who lacks an i12 punish.
 
Slade gave a lot of good general tips here. Keep him at an awkward distance where his dagger attacks whiff while you can foresee and punish his longer range attacks. Keep him out, don't get damage greedy. If he whiffs a crossbow you have 30+ frames to get in there and go something, even on block its -30.
Rolling is generally not the best idea due to being punished hard by 44B, 6K2 or even 66B.
22/88A is -15. 22/88AA is -23
Only idiot Ezios will use the Xbow follow up from 66A on normal hit, the move is incredibly safe on block alone and leaves Ezio in a good position for a mix up.
This may sound general but try not to leave yourself near a wall, with a bar of meter his wall combos can rival even some of yours.
Some Ezios will punish you going into GS with CE so be wary, its i13.
Be conservative with backstep, crossbow bolts add up or even worse, you can get caught by a 3B.
His crouched pokes are great, learn when the player usually goes into a 2A or 2K after a hit and 8B.
If you block 22/88K don't charge in due to the excellent spacing of the attack, he can 4B from that and completely dodge most if not all of your options if hes quick enough.
Learn to JG the 2nd hit of his wrB.
And beware of his throws, all of them do excellent damage and he has some really nice grab range.
 
In addition to everything already said, Ezio's wakeup game is where he shines.

His throws, combos, and most of his knockdown attacks give him great wakeup options minus 6bBE, which is an i15 70 damage punisher thats +10 on block and high.

His wakeup game consists of:
44B - Ezio wants you to block this. It rapes your guard guage and does a lot of damage on hit. The only way to avoid this on wakeup is to roll to Ezio's right or interrupt him, depending on the knockdown. It leaves him at -10 on block, so take advantage of it.
6k2 - Tracks roll for good damage + stuns you, putting you right back into his wakeup game. To avoid this, don't roll. Its punishable on hit and -30 on block. You could also try backrolling in some cases.
2a+b - Tracks roll fairly well and beats wakeup attacks, though some characters can roll out of it to some directions. Safe, hurts the guage, and does good damage.
a+b - Catches roll, good combo damage on hit, and leaves him backturned for a potential mixup of grabs and his godlike BT B+K. -16 on block, but can roll to avoid some punishment. 1K should stuff all his options if you block it.
11K - Catches roll, but some characters can roll out of it. Plus on hit, but -16 on block.
11B - Ezio will use this catch people who play dead, and it will also track some characters' rolls. It has many whiffing issues, but it is +6 on block and hard to JG off the ground. It also hurts the guard guage.

Ezio is a really underestimated character, but Nightmare shouldn't have too much of a problem. CE will really hurt Ezio's oki game.
 
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