Dreize

GG's limey. Would have played more but I gotta head out for a bit. P.S - I owe you an astral.

Sure, hit me up with an invite if you're interested.

I'm having similar feelings actually. Thankfully there are still several unanswered questions/hope.

Assuming of course that it does work (which we don't know for certain yet) it will only help a very little bit. I have a few ideas that I'd like to test out though... At any rate, best case scenario at this point would be: They didn't mess with his w[j.B] like they said they would and we can use that for mix-up instead. I suppose it's about time that Valkenhayn players actually used that normal. Combos routes might need to be dumbed down a bit off of those starters, but if what Errol said is infact true (about them not changing the proration of Valkenhayn's wolf normals) then all his other stuff should be fine. Wasn't BBCP 1.1 streamed or something, did they show any Valkenhayn footage?

People are definitely going to be dropping this character. I on the other hand am not dropping Valk/never dropping Valk. Weird. If w[j.B] got nerfed from a N starter to a S or VS starter he should not be getting the same combos as he was pre-patch. Plus the nerf was listed on their official site. Maybe they changed their mind or something? I wonder if that's even in the realm of possibility. Hmm. Lmao.

I mean...I guess this is one way of patching a strong character? Take away his combos so that he can't really do anything when he gets a hit. Uhm. Anyways, you can take a look at his twitter: https://twitter.com/takenokox0 assuming of course that you can read Japanese. It's not just brj.A that's looking useless right now, it's w[j.A] in general (outside of combo filler, perhaps). I see no point in spending wolf meter for a 3 hit combo that does no damage/has no corner carry/and leaves you with negative wolf meter. w[j.B] isn't looking too hot either. It seems like one of my earlier suspicions proved to be correct if I'm not reading this incorrectly. w[5C > 236A] now works because of the start-up buff?

Looks like my biggest fears regarding his changes are finally starting to show their true colors. But hey, maybe this'll be just like the CSEX ---> CP transition. Maybe it all looks really bad but everything will end up being okay....right....guys? When I said "How much shorter can they even make our shortest combos?" I was honestly hoping for more than 3 hits... Thanks for the info though, Errol. By "same combo" do you mean the combo before the patch or the same 3 hit combo listed above? Just what we needed, hah.

I definitely agree with the notion that they really wanted to fully embrace Valkenhayn's wolf mix-up in this version. Heck, wolf brake w[j.A] is actually in one of his challenge mode combos now. And his challenge #30 is impossible without the Wolf Sweep Loop which also requires the wolf brake. Plus the new wolf normals, of course. Regarding this patch, the wolf gauge cooldown nerf will effect his wolf mix-up. He'll most likely be able to do less of it because of this (the severity of course will entirely depend on how much they changed it). And even so, there are still plenty of possible changes that they could have given him (5D throw/head invulnerability nerf, disallowing certain normals to be geschwind cancellable, give a start-up nerf to w[236D], less hitstun on w[j.A], removing wolf cancellable properties from 5A/2A, 6B/6C less + on block, disallowing him to cancel into geschwind wolf on whiff, etc the list goes on) that wouldn't directly effect his mix-up too much. Instead they went for silly/random stuff. Maybe they want to keep him top tier, maybe they just didn't want to change him too much. This might explain why they did random insignificant stuff, to feign actual change. I of course don't know the real answer.

Yeah, of course, we don't know. The 5 key unanswered questions regarding his changes are, in my opinion: Collapsed: Questions: w[j.A] is already an S starter though. Nerfing the damage from a 2k combo to something like 1.5k or 1k seems a bit redundant but I'd take that over nerfing the combo starter time any day of the week because combo potential > combo damage.

Has another one been scheduled? The OP is still the same as before.

That's what I thought as well. But in terms of wolf regen time it's probably his wolf worst starter, and it's definitely his worst wolf starter in terms of damage. I will say that it is his best wolf starter in terms of mix-up potential though, which is probably why they did it. Midscreen BnB is extremely short and does about 2k, you'll end up using more wolf meter than you gain back as well. Corner BnB is is pretty short as far as corner combos go but it's definitely longer than the midscreen BnB and gives Valkenhayn a nice surplus of wolf meter. It also does around 2k as well. But yeah, I 100% agree and this is my main issue with the change, not having combos is a poor fix. Especially when there are other options that were clearly overlooked.

Ah, yes, of course. It's probably going to be a bigger issue midscreen, and with combos that involve several human --> wolf and vice versa transitions. Valkenhayn players may have to turtle/use human mode more before approaching as well. How big of an issue it is going to be is still up in the air of course. Right now I'm just worried about whether or not we still have proper combos off of a w[j.A]. And bingo was his name-o.

Overall it looks like he was nerfed in the patch with his two biggest nerfs being the wolf gauge & w[j.A] change. Doesn't look like he was nerfed too much though at first glance, but I suppose that we'll get clarification in the coming months when we get more details on the changes. Would have gone a different route with the changes regardless, though. There's been no mention of w[j.A] and w[j.B] using more wolf meter, just starter time being decreased. Which is a weird change when you really think about it, but we'll see. Yeah, sorry about that. Thought that it'd be a nice change of pace when I saw someone else do it. In hindsight it looks kinda juvenile.

Saw some guy do an ArcSysWorks interaction type thing which looked kinda fun a few pages back. This is how it would go if I was there. Collapsed: Meeting: ArcSysWorks Employee #78: Okay, so, we've gathered here today to discuss Valkenhayn changes for the upcoming patch. Anyone have any ideas? ArcSysWorks Employee #72: Oh, I do! Let's give his wolf gauge a cooldown for whenever he switches back into human mode. Dreize: Okay, sure. Not a bad change I suppose. Seems like we're off to a good start, what else guys? ArcSysWorks Employee #75: Oh, oh, I know! Let's nerf the starter time on his w[j.B]! Dreize: Err, why exactly? Valkenhayn has 6 wolf normals, w[j.B] is by the far the least relevant one and isn't used much outside of combo filler. Shouldn't we be more focused on his mix-up? ArcSysWorks Employee #75: Na, that's boring. Feigning actual change is much more fun. Dreize: .... ArcSysWorks Employee #78: Alright, alright, we'll add that change to the list. What else guys? Dreize: I think we shou- ArcSysWorks Employee #77: Let's do the same thing to w[j.A]! Dreize: Well, w[j.A] is Valkenhayn's worst wolf starter in terms of combo potential and he only gets about 2k off of it as it is regardless of screen positioning. Plus, it's already an S starter, he only gets a short combo off of it. Besides, aren't there more important things to focus on lik- ArcSysWorks Employee #77: No, no, no! People are always complaining about Valkenhayn's wolf overheads. w[j.A] is an overhead. We are nerfing it. Dreize: But is that really the most appropriate course of actio- ArcSysWorks Employee #78: Ugh, stop questioning the changes man. I want to make this quick. I'm starving and would like to have an early lunch. Moving on, what else should we change guys? Dreize: Well, we should probably take a lo- ArcSysWorks Employee # 76: I HAVE A COOL IDEA GUYS! You know his super cool sturm wolf distortion that nobody ever uses? Let's make it a catch super. Dreize: What exactly does that have to do with any- ArcSysWorks Employee #76: Aaaaaaannnnnnnddddd let's make the animation portion of the distortion faster! Dreize: What. ArcSysWorks Employee #78: Good thinking man, more random/pointless stuff! I like it! What's next guys? Dreize: Well, we should probably take away the head/throw invulnerably from his 5D. Then there's some of his geschwind cancellable normals/specials, plus the fact that he can do it on whiff is kinda silly. We could also give his wolf command grab some more start-up and remove wolf cancellable properties from a few of his normals. Not to mention the fact that his human 6B/6C could probably be adjusted a bit in terms of +'ness on block. Then there's his wolf brake IOH's tha- ArcSysWorks Employee #74: Boring, vapid, lame. Instead of all that nonsense you just mentioned lets just buff his grounded beast cannons by giving them less start-up time. Dreize: What....I don't even? Why?! What exactly are we trying to accomplish with this? ArcSysWorks Employee #74: It's not about accomplishing anything. Honestly I just like watching Valkenhayn zip across the screen super fast and with a start-up buff he'll be able to do it even faster. Sounds kinda cool, right? Dreize: No. ArcSysWorks Employee #78: Anyways, it sounds like a pretty cool idea to me. Who cares if it's random and doesn't address Valkenhayn's actual issues at all! Added to the list! And with that I'd like to conclude todays Valkenhayn changes meeting, good work folks! See ya at Quiznos! Dreize: Welp. Needless to say I was interrupted a lot in that meeting. I made a list of potential changes, and even though those changes would have probably hurt the character a lot more at least they would have made much more sense. Instead we got arbitrary shenanigans (aside from the wolf gauge change). Though I suppose that there are still a few questions that we need answered, so there's that. Nothing I can do about it though. Ah well.

Yeah, pretty much mAc. Not a fan, but there's still nothing I can do about it so there's no point in complaining too much. I'll probably just get over it in a day or 2 after I vent a little bit. Gotta move on.

It's not about what he deserved. It's about what makes sense. I would have loved to attend the meeting.

Valkenhayn changes randomly pulled out of a hat.

Was thinking the exact same thing actually. Wonder if w[5C > 236A] will connect properly, that would be hilarious. So basically these are the key questions that we have left regarding his changes: 1. How fast are grounded beast cannons now? 2. After transforming into human mode how long does it take for Valkenhayn to start regenerating wolf meter? 3. Is w[j.B] going to go from a N starter to a S or VS starter? Or is there some other possible option? 4. Is w[j.A] going to go from a S starter to a VS starter? Or is there some other possible option? 5. Right now this is our standard midscreen w[j.A] BnB - j.A > 5B > 5C > 6D > j.A > 5D > h[5B > 5C > j.A > j.B > dj.B > j.C] [2028 DMG, 16 HG]. How much shorter can they make this exactly? Will we even have legitimate combos off of w[j.A] now? This is probably the most important question. Sturm Wolf change seems to be a buff/nerf. Regardless, it's not particularly important either way.

If you ask me they pretty much dropped the ball on these changes. Only change that makes any sense. Need more info on these changes. Wouldn't have gone this route either way. Arbitrary changes that make no sense whatsoever.

Think I'll wait to see how things play out before expressing myself fully, but right now I'm a bit concerned about the w[j.A] nerf. A few of these changes seem extremely arbitrary (sturm change, ground konig buff) and they didn't even address the core issues with the character (his mix-up, for instance). Hmm, okay. I take issue with this nerf. I can only assume that our most common starter has now gone from a S starter to a VS starter? I don't even...what? Okay, I guess. Buff? Not a very good one and sort of random, but alright I suppose. I'm assuming that they increased the speed of the animation so that he gains less wolf meter back. Once again, kinda random and not even worth mentioning because of how unimportant it is.

BBCP 2/8/2014 Hazama vs Valkenhayn FT5 Valkenhayn vs Hazama l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l Part 6 l Part 7 l Part 8 l Part 9

0:05 THE h[j.A] ENDER, SO GODLIKE.

Scumbag Valkenhayn tactics continue to prevail. GG's to WaltzOfTheWolf and friends. Pressing so many buttons.

Since 2C is slower than 5B and has a longer vertical hitbox do the 3D command dash slightly higher then you normally would if you're going to be using 2C.

Yeah, Magaki explained it pretty well. I'd recommend getting used to 3D/4C. I suppose you're not totally off-topic either since this is the combo thread and you are technically asking about a combo.