Magaki

Been a while since I've been active on DL. Glad to see Kiba is still around. Anyway, here are my thoughts so far. Wolf mode itself: 6D now consumes as much wolf gauge during startup than 4D;7D,8D and 9D. Big nerf. I first thought that the wolf usage while airborne was responsible but no, it's really the 6D you use beforehand that is responsible for the noticeable wolf gauge consumption during our basic combo routes. Hitstun nerf on w236A seemed pretty big to me but it's actually not because brjA>w5C>w236A>5D>3C>236C still works just fine in the corner. It might be a problem if done very late in the combo though without canceling it into another wolf canon. Another thing was that w236A>5D>5C isn't a thing anymore which was the cheapest sideswap combo we had wolf gauge wise. However, now brjA>w5C>w236A>5D>3C>236C>5B>jBBC (2048 dmg) is a thing midscreen and is much stabler than in CPE so that might be our go-to sideswap combo off an S starter midscreen now. w236A hitstun nerf barely affects us considering those points. wjA same proration as w5A. Great buff. wjAA and wjAAA back to having 100 proration. They gave it the same proration as wjA in CPE. Minor buff. Noticeable base damage increase in wolf mode. Same with human mode actually. However, every characters got more health so would need to compare if the base damage increase results in higher damage compared to before or lower ones based on the % of health the combos remove. Wolf canon combos feel very wonky to me now. They also consume a ton of wolf gauge now. Would need to experiment with it more to see if the wolf gauge less is worth it or not. In CPE, the damage you dealt on some starters compared to the gauge you lost was so worth it that you had little reason to not use them unless you simply wouldn't have enough for mixups afterwards. P2 seem to be down too somehow ? It does a whooping 1000 base damage now but the P2 is just awful. We might be back to CP1.0 wolf canons P2-wise. Can't tell and don't know how to calculate it. Airdash use up more wolf gauge but only slightly more. An IAD and a jump forward both uses up the same amount now even though the jump forward is in the air slightly longer due to wolf having the highest base jump in the game. Minor change and doesn't change much to be honest. h4D got a big recovery increase. Can't do h4D>w66D and stuff like that anymore. It's just a tool to position yourself now. Now for more technical stuff. Seems that wjA now pushes back father on air hit and not as high as it did. Routes such as brjA>w5C>6D>wjA>5D>5B>2C>jB>djDABA>run w5B or 5D>5B afterwards worked on Ragna but not Litchi so what was universal is now character specific. Will make a list later but this might be our go-to combo now with S starters midscreen. Deal less damage than hj214B>9D wjBA routes but consumes less wolf gauge while offering corner carry. brjA/w5A>w5C>6D>wjA>5D>5B>2C>jB>djDABA>5D>5B>5C>jBBC (1761) Same thing with brjA>w5C>6D>wjA>slight run w5B>wjAABA though it deals less damage. Wolf grab>drive cancel midscreen is very interesting though. Big nerf however for wolf grab in the corner. But you could get 3,5k in CPE before so that was way too good hahaha. ---------------------------------- Human mode: 6C and 6B change drastically reduces the time we can stay on the ground to combo though, we can use 236A and loop it for N starter to get more back. Noticeable base damage increase on a lot of his moves. 236C pushing farther means that stuff such as Throw>236C>5C>jB>djDABA>follow up etc doesn't work anymore because they are pushed too far away. Or might be character specific. New 6B is amazing but the horizontal is awfully short. Can't manage to link 6C>5A on standing. 6C>2A on crouching works just fine. Wasn't it supposed to be +5 ? 5A should link if it's still 6f startup. Unless it's +4 but in that case, 2A shouldn't hit unless it's 6f startup instead of 7f like before. Will run some tests I guess to figure it out later. Can't find much use for 5C>6C so far. 6C(1)>delay 3C>236C seem to be a thing. Could be interesting. 3C had same prorations as 2C and 5C in CPE but now, it's back to being slightly worse than the two latters. jC was supposed to be an S starter in the loketest but is back to being an N starter now. Can do stuff like jC>RC>jC>5C>6C>3C>236B~236B>1D4CA>etc Rewards on jC>RC seem better than in CPE. Not a fan of the new CT mechanics. Add way less damage than before. Might not be worth it anymore except for 6C(1) FC>CT combos.

If you check this website: http://www.displaylag.com/video-game-input-lag-database/ You will notice that actually, 5f of input lag is pretty good compared to other games. As for your issues online, you might want to either play against people closer to you, fix your connection or lab it up in order to better recognize when you can identify a move you want to block on reaction.

5C>6C gatling though, that sounds more like something we will use to extend ground combo rather than for pressure unless the pushback is reduced. Minor but still a buff. 2B makes Azrael's DP whiff brjA makes it whiff too ?! Shit tier DP confirmed. If spacing is all we need to make it whiff, okizeme will be particularly easy against him pushing the matchup in our favour. 3C>236B ground hit works Saw it a few times but didn't remember right away that was a thing. Anyway, 3C>236B combo on ground hit when you needed air hit before. Might be either because 3C floats higher or 236B is faster. air hit 2C>CT works. This can be a very very interesting way to go straight afterwards into 5D>w5C>wolf canons combo for high damage.

Definetely yes. Whether it's to play a unique character to learn new aspects of the game, have a very competitive character or need a sub for rough matchups, Valk is a great and very rewarding choice. In fact, there aren't really any reason to not play him at all due to how good he is other than preference so if you like him, don't hesitate. Execution-wise, he's really not as hard as people often mention even if you plan to go into the most optimized combos. Though, I've played him for years so I might be quite biased. Learning neutral and optimizing your wolf gauge use will most likely be the most important part of his learning curve but then again, so is any character that uses unique ressources. If you want a place to get started, I would suggest you to first go check the wiki and read carefully his move list in order to know what to use when. Moving around in wolf mode and familiarizing with it is also very important. There are a few useful movement options you can test like: Transform in wolf mode>jump>airdash>jD Or what we commonly refer as w66D. If you did it right, you will do a big leap across the screen. And that's just one of the many things you can do in neutral. Once you feel like you're understanding him better, I would suggest you to check Kiba's strategy guide ! If you still got questions or need help for something specific, feel free to post on the Valk board. We aren't a lot but we are all quite friendly and always glad to have newcomers willing to join the wolf pack !

Linking the recent Hima matches to back up some interesting stuff or applications: hjB>djB>j214B ender. Looks much more interesting for both oki and wolf gain because jC pushes the opponent down on air hit meaning they land before you. Not really something that bring significant advantage but it's definetely welcome. Also keep in mind this whole combo was done on a S STARTER. Not sure about the combo time being shorter but for Valk, it's definetely longer than before. Either the combo time is actually longer OR they buffed Valk's untech time on several move. w5A>w5C(645)>6D>wjA(750)>5B(919)>5C(1145)>jB(1283)>j214B(1459)>9D>wjB>(1563)>wjA(1601)>5B(1668)>2C(1700~)>hjB(1800)>djB(1845)>j214B(1862) Used up ~35% wolf gauge at a glance which is pretty damn good. Finally for the ender, I will guess that h8jBB214B won't really put us in the perfect distance to make rolls land right before us so we might have to walk backward a bit instead which is not really an issue and give slightly more wolf gauge back. 6B's horizontal range is bigger than it looks like. Not something new in CF but 5B>IAD wjB>(wjC) looks like an interesting option if the opponent respect in the corner. Never thought about that before. Near corner air throw still unstable it seems. 5C could have probably worked though. 2A>2A>6B on barrier block makes 6B whiff. I might be wrong mind you but doesn't it look like we got our old 13f backdash back ? Can't really magically count frames with the naked eye but it looks like that's the case to me. 5B>5C>236B>236B (2017) Pretty sure we do slightly less in CPE. Airhit 236A>6D>wjA is a thing midscreen 6B is air unblockable. Need to air barrier block it. Looks like air super does around 1k min damage now. So they removed the min damage buff change on Sturm but kept the air super buff. Before, the air super min damage was 160+160+400 for 720 min damage. Now, it looks like it's 200+200+600 so 1k min damage. Valk's EA for people who didn't see it Airdashing in wolf looks like it removes like what, 5% wolf gauge ? Was expecting something worse. Hardly a reason to stop using w66D. Same min damage than humain air super on wolf air super wj214X still has long untech time to get a knockdown from really high If j214B>9D>jD>jC works, the untechable time midscreen is much bigger than in CPE then Very interesting route. Too bad he dropped it

No idea who told you that dude and no offense but that's DEFINETELY not how hitstun decay worked in GG. EVER. You're a good poster so I assume you either misunderstood something or you believed what someone told you. And to prove my claims, I'll provide examples you can all test by yourselves in Xrd (though, they aren't necessarily easy). Guard bar only affects 2 things. 3 technically in #R. First, guard bar only affects damage scaling once its below 50% (below 0% for Xrd. Obviously in Xrd's case, guard bar can have a negative value). Initial proration and forced proration are still applied though (you can test that with moves that got proration, RCs and obviously a full bar). Second, once the guard bar flashes, any hit will be a counter hit (Above 75% for previous games. Above 50% for Xrd). Third that only concerns #R IIRC. (Don't remember if it was in XX). If the guard bar is above 50%, raw damage is increased for a grand maximum of 100% its value. (Zappa's 2H did 60 dmg raw. 120 with full guard bar. That's the reason why Eddie was the best despite being the most nerfed character from XX to #R and why stunning was mad easy in #R thanks to the guard bar mechanic.) There are 3 mechanics to prevent infinites in every GG games since XX. Hitstun decay, gravity and pushback. Gravity and pushback are based on hitcount. Hitstun decay is based on a timer. Hitstun decay DOES NOT affect ground hit hence why infinites in GG only concern grounded opponent (Zappa is the only character to have at least one infinite in every versions. Can also mention Bridget that had one thanks to cS and yoyo and Jam's IAD infinites in #R on Potemkin standing only. Forgot which version for Bridget but I think it was #R too.) Xrd only: Timer is NOT TOTALLY affected by slowdown caused by RCs For all the tests below, the result will be the same with maxed out guard bar or not. Gravity testing: Here are two easy tests to figure it out using both specific supers that add a lot of hits that allow to combo afterwards. First test: Chipp's 236236K Do 2D>RC>6H Notice how the opponent bounce then fall. Do then 2D>236236K>RC the last hit(36th hit)>land>6H Do the 6H AFTER the slowdown or you won't even get the ground bounce. If you did it right, you will get a knockdown after the bounce. Notice how the opponent will bounce lower and fall like a rock. Second test: Ramlethal's Toranshi in the corner. Do 5K4K with Ramlethal in the corner. Notice how they float and fall. Do then Toranshi>5K4K (careful to not hit them OTG) Same thing as before, they will float lower and fall faster. There is a third test that provides plenty of examples using Elphelt's UB loop in normal stance but it requires character specifics explanations and is kinda long. I'll explain if someone want more tests. Pushback tests: Test using Elphelt: On a crouching opponent midscreen (can be done in the corner too but you notice it easier midscreen. Works well on Sol), Do (dash cS>fS>2H>RC) x3 Maxed out guard bar will make 2H launches so reduce it slightly if you want to test it with guard bar tweaks. Notice how with 12 hits, the pushback is slightly bigger than with 4 hits. Do then dash (2P>2P>2P>cS>fS>2H>RC)x3 Notice how big the pushback becomes indicating that the hitcounts is actually a multiplier to the pushback formula. Again, Elphelt's UB loop can be used as another test that also shows how pushback affect also air hits. Will explain if people want to. Hitstun decay tests: Test using Elphelt's SG-S link: If your execution is rather poor, I would suggest you to skip this test (second test is easier) as Elphelt's SG-S link is a tight (but worth it) link that requires doing SG-S as soon as you get the power-up meaning that input buffer will NOT help you making it an old school link (Manly HnK players will do it just fine though). More information here (Also, the damage value concerns 1.0. Still huge damage in 1.1 thoug.h 1.1 damage comparison on SG loops is here ) SG-D>[walk slightly>Powered SG-H>46H]x2>Powered SG-S The SG-S link here works just fine Adding however a THIRD Powered SG-H makes it impossible. It appears that after around 4 seconds, SG-S link can't be done anymore. With maxed guard bar, same result. SG-S link is stil impossible after 4 seconds. No matter what the starter is, that 4 second rules seem to be absolute. Test using Chipp's corner combo: Much easier than previous example. Chipp's key part of his tensionless corner combos concern jD>j236P If he can land that in the corner, his knockdown and vortex is guaranteed. Most basic corner combo is: cS>6P>cS>2D>236S>623H>jD>j236P>46~P (155 dmg on Sol) Thing is that like SG-S link, jD>j236P won't combo once hitstun decay kicks in. Therefore, just doing dash cS>6P>cS>6P>2D>236S>623H>jD>j236P Result in j236P whiffing Again, exactly like SG-S link, after 4 seconds, the combo becomes impossible. To prove that hitcounts doesn't matter, here's a combo with the same hitcount as cS>6P>cS>2D>corner combo but it won't work due to being slower On a crouching opponent: dash cS> link cS>link cS>2D>236S>623H>jD>j236P drops cS>link cS is a one frame link. Because of the link, jD is done after 4 seconds making j236P whiff. Meanwhile, like with Elphelt's fS>2H, both the latter and Chipp's cS>link cS will whiff if any hitstun decay kick in proving that hitstun decay does NOT affect grounded opponent with the following combo: dash cS>cS>cS>RC>dash cS>cS>cS>RC>dash cS>cS>cS (9 one frame link in a row. 50 bucks for anyone pulling it off in a tournament) Also, Chipp's cS>dash cS is impossible proving that microdashing (during recovery for instance) and hitting CANNOT be done on the same frame. Yes, some people said it was possible before. Test using Chipp for long combos: This test requires using Sol as it contains character specific. Works on other characters too while others require small delays or removing a specific jP. Just stick with Sol as it's pretty easy as long as you do everything fast. The air combo to do max damage on opponents with low health is something like: ...>jK(2)>jK(1)>jS>djP>jP>jP>jK(2)>jK(1)>jS>tjP>jP>jP>jK(2)>jK(1)>ender A combo midscreen using jump installs as a punish would look like: ...>cS>8>2H>22S>jK(2)>jK(1)>jS>djP>jP>jP>jK(2)>jK(1)>jS>tjP>jP>jP>jK(2)>jK(1)>ender Which works. The best ender to get damage while using tension is: jS>Kunai super>land>dash cS>5H>236236K (230 dmg on Sol with full health. Will kill him if he got 28% health or lower) Again, midscreen, it works too. The longest and most damaging combo Chipp got requires using the air combo I mentionned along with jD>j236P On a cS starter, it will look like: cS>6P>cS>2D>236S>623H>jD>j236P>46~delay 4>jK(1)>jK(1)>jS>djP>jP>jP>jK(2)>(delay) jK(1)>jS>tjP>jP>jP>jK(2)>jK(1)>ender Except that here, the last jK(1)>jS will result in jS dropping. Ths prove that even after the 4 second limit, hitstun decay keep increasing after set intervals. If you wonder how to get kunai super afterwards btw, the ender is jK(2)>jD>Kunai Super>etc (Kill Sol if he got 37% heath or less) Due to the increased gravity, Lots of kunai will hit after jD while it's generally just 5 of them on much shorter combos. TLDR: Hitstun decay is based on a timer. Gravity and pushback are based on hitcounts. Guardbar only affect damage scaling and got nothing to do with hitstun decay. Hitstun decay kicks in after 4 seconds IG and keeps increasing afterwards. How much and at which interval is unknown. You can't microdash and attack on the same frame. Chipp's optimized combos got longer. AGAIN. Less character specifics though thank god. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'll post my thoughts concerning points that were adressed about balance either later today or tomorrow as some requires rather lengthy replies like why Faust can FD cancel his j2K and use it for IOH setups while other characters like Chipp and May can't.

There were some interesting points that were brought out since last time I posted but honestly, there is no point to even reply anymore once you see posts that are basically: "STFU and fite me. I'm better so I'm right" "You're stupid" "I'm not stupid, you ARE !" Just lock this topic once and for all because it's just gonna degenerate into gamefaqs-level soon. If someone still want to talk about the (valid, logical and developped) points that were said here, we can just make another thread and copy them there for further discussions. Also guys, let's just not talk about rushdown. It's one of those terms that are so vague that everyone got a different definition. For some people it's getting in, for others it's a character archetype that is the opposite of zoners and just with those 2 definitions, there are plenty of variants. That's like one of the most basic and redundant trap in FG talk. If you want to talk about one character's ability to get in (Faust by the way is pretty bad at doing that by himself. Why do you think his airdash and run sucks ? His acceleration on his run is bad too specifically to make microdash pokes and dash FD break not that efficient.), just talk about him getting in. Not rushdown. It's especially the case in GG. You don't have ANY true zoners. Even characters like Axl and Venom need to get in and pressure the opponent to truly get their game and mixup going. That's a constant in any GG and that's why you don't have carbon copies of v13 or Dhalsim in it who want to be as far as possible in order to win with the least amount of risk.

To be fair, you can't really blame people for reacting the way they did. When you notice a thread with the title "Suggested tweaks and oversights", you're expecting to find serious and sound arguement. Should have pointed out that rather than being suggested tweaks, it was just a wishlist. Fairly certain if you read your first posts again, you will notice you could have elaborated and worded several points much better. That and let's be honest, some comments are hilarious. I mean come on, ZEUS INSTALL !! If he got Last Edguy and give as much fuck as Raoh, I would drop Elphelt for Ky right away hahahaha

I think you're severely underestimating both defensive options and DPs in GG. Explaining that does take a huge amount of time which I don't mind doing but before, I would like to ask you something that most certainly will allow everyone else here to better understand your mindset: Why do you think that being able to whiff cancel DPs with a PRC isn't an issue ? See, DaiAndOh asked whether there was a game that allowed you to whiff cancel DP and he got an answer: +R and a list of those whiff cancelable DP. But you see, most of the time on dustloop, people would just say "hurr durr whiff cancelable DP. That's so dumb it's like offense shouldn't exist. Devs are silly and incompetent. Plz nerf." and leave it at that. Just a simple rant. That's NOT what happened. People legit thought about the reason WHY those characters should be given those unique defensive options and just by digging a little bit, you get that those moves got very specific restrictions and are by no means unbeatable meaning that it's a fully assumed design choice. But even with that, they are still great options that requires a hard read for most of the cast to beat it. Which is actually also the case of DP RC in Xrd being already a very strong option. If you hard read a DP RC and commit to it. And if you indeed were right by having it whiff, then that means that you fully grasped all the defensive options your opponent had and made a choice that was right in the end. This is the most basic definition of skill and smart play. And that's a choice that is much harder than you would think. Especialy in a game where most of the cast got 3f jump startup making fuzzy jumping a very strong option which requires specific situations to punish it and even if you punish it, only a few characters can really get rewards high enough to make you regret that or simply completely shut it down. If you just consider whether an opponent will do DP RC or fuzzy jump, a basic situation with 2 outcomes, your only choice most of the time is to either bait one or the other. But not both. You need to choose one specific option and commit to it. There are characters that competely shut down all those options and they are given a very specific name because they can do just that: Setplays. A setplay character is hated because he's a character that wants to play Solitaire. He just does his own thing and force you you to choose one option amongst a lot of other ones restricting you severely. In that case, how is DP PRC not the same thing ? If the moves hits or is blocked, you get a RC. Otherwise, you get a PRC and both players go back to neutral... How is that any different from setplays ? You're just playing solitaire here like them. There is no interaction with the opponent. You're just doing your own shit and you don't give a fuck about the opponent. And to top it off, RC in Xrd are very strong in EVERY aspects. Both for defense, neutral and offense. Yes, PRC startup is still slow. Not 1.0 slow but still fast enough to make you safe in plenty of situations. Now let's compare that to the examples of whiff cancelable DP in +R and whether it would make sense following that logic for Sol to have VV being PRCable -FRC got no slowdown and the FRC window is affected by hitstop making it much more complicated to use in practical situations than it looks like especially when you're not actually hitting on the first active frames but much later. -Does Sol die in 2 mistakes like Chipp and Bridget ? -Does Sol have a random mode change mechanic ? -Is Sol tension-dependent like a certain robot ? -Are Sol's ways to get tension restricted and unique ? I would also like to point out that while it makes perfectly sense for Bridget and Robo to have a FRC on their DPs in order to be able to compete with the rest of the cast, on characters like Chipp, it's clearly too much as you're dealing with a top tier character that, unlike the 2 formers also get huge rewards on DP RC with one of the best neutral and okizeme in the game. So lemme ask once more, if you take all those considerations into account: Why do you think that being able to whiff cancel DPs with a PRC isn't an issue ? And finally, once you're done writing an elaborate answer, here's the final question that is or should be this thread's goal based on its title: Would that benefit the game ? PS: Would actually any Ky and/or HOS expert give their opinions concerning followup FRC and charge FRC respectively after a DP ? Not just their uses but also the risks they bring and some typical punishes that could be done on a hard read. Don't want to be rude to other people who shared their thoughts concerning them of course but I would like to hear more opinions concerning them (And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.)

... I completely forgot about Bridget. Thanks for reminding me. But I'm not so sure about Ky though. Isn't the FRC happening just way too late to really be interesting ? I got a pocket Ky in +R because he's mad fun in that version but that's it. Only thought it was pure combo filler.

Elphelt video thread is just one page long but I need most links in it for future matchup analysis.

The reason why people behave this way towards you is merely because you're speaking of a concept that you don't fully understand and that they try to explain to you: Balance. When you think that let's say, a person is interesting, you're comparing that person to other people in your environment and mention that because he's interesting he's standing out. If that person is the only one you know however, saying that this person is interesting is meaningless. In other words, a comparison is only meaningful based on its context. When you consider that a character in a game is strong, you say that because he's strong compared to the rest of the cast. The goal of balance is to bring every character to a point where they all are as strong as any other (or at least, try to). To do that, you give both nerfs and buffs. If a character was very strong, you will give him nerfs and tone down moves that just allowed them to get way too much advantages against other characters (This doesn't only concern damage but also okizeme, mixups, etc). But at the same time, you want to give him some new tools that are not as strong as the previous ones but will allow him to make up for the weaknesses those nerfs brought or, at least, reinforce one of the character's strengths in order to make him more specialized. For weak characters, you will do the opposite. Balance is only there for one thing: To improve the game and give it more depth and dynamics. Nothing more, nothing less. Obviously, this is a process that can be either hit or miss where you can also do too much (Ram 1.1 being a good example) or just not enough (Elphelt 1.1 being barely changed for instance. She could kill you in 2-3 mistakes in 1.0 and still does in 1.1) What's the issue then with your wishlist ? The main problem is its purpose. You said yourself: "[ ... ] I want to not only bring up what I think are oversights in the designs of certain character's attacks[ ... ]" Are they truly oversights or are they actually properties that were added by the developpers on purpose ? Let's take other projectiles in Xrd as example other than Gunflame to illustrate that. Is Charged Stun Edge a move meant purely for zoning ? It's a projectile yeah. And technically, it hits thrice so it's great if you can make it come out without being punished. But if it really was meant for zoning, how come does it disappear on hit while Stun Edge S doesn't making the latter ideal for YRC ? Clear example of moves being designed to have clear uses. CSE is meant for oki. SE is meant for neutral. You can obviously use them in other situations if you want to. Exactly like how you can decide to use a flat screwdriver on a crosshead screw. You can just do whatever you want with them but then you're completely missing the point of a key element in high level plays: Optimization. Let's pick another example this time while still sticking with projectiles. Before, we had examples of a moveset where 2 moves had very specificuses. But there are also cases where a move is not allowed to be used in specific situations and the greatest example is Zato's drills. When you YRC them, the active frames are cancelled. Why ? Because you're not allowed to use them for unblockable situations. That's also why Eddie doesn't have an overhead move anymore. They didn't want to go in that direction with him despite the fact that he always had one. In fact, there is one iteration of Zato that clearly explains all those design reasons: Eddie in GGXX 22S FRC>6K meant that Zato did not require particular okizeme to go for an unblockable. The fact that -D- consumed a ridiculously low amount of shadow gauge made unblockables in simple blockstrings not only possible but still allowed to go for damaging combos afterwards leading into MORE unblockables. Those were particularities that only existed in XX and were immediately taken care of in #R. 22S wasn't FRC cancelable anymore, -D- consumed a ton of gauge in #R and had its properties on hit nerfed while 2K>2D as a gatling was removed to make hitconfirms into knockdown harder. Why did they do that ? To improve the game's balance. Those choices were only made for the game's sake and that's how balance decision should be made. The reason why your list can't be taken seriously is something that Titanium already pointed out. It's not meant to improve the game but pure wishful thinking. Whether you consider a move to be godlike or shit is entirely up to you but if you do have an opinion about it and want to discuss it, you have to elaborate and provide reasons to explain why this move is bad while another one is good. Saying that 5K is not great because it can be beaten in very specific situations is as silly as saying that iron is not tough because water and oxygen make it rust. In fact, you don't seem to realize that your argument is actually a counterargument. If you need specific situations to beat a move in general, that means that this move is so good that you need to force the opponent to get around it. I'm certain this thread will be locked soon anyway but if there is one thing you should keep in mind, it's that if you want to talk about balance and possible changes, you need to understand that this kind of discussion should only concern the game itself. Not HOW you want it to be as this only concern yourself and no one except you care about that. Sol is fine as he is. Rather than talking of nerfing him or buffing him, why not take care of the main reason why some matchups are just bad in Xrd: Buff the low tiers and give them tools to compete with the top tiers. Then and finally then you can talk about toning down the top tiers when in the end you notice that some moves are still too damn good. Kinda ironic to ask for this kind of example in the GG section. Here's one: GGXXAC+R who got 3 DPs with FRC: Chipp's 623S, Robo-ky's 623H and Zappa's 623H with sword mode. Though, in +R's case, there are very specific reasons why those DPs are FRCable. Chipp's got 5f startup but it's only attack level 3 with an FRC on the 29th frame. This means that it's possible to block it, react to the DP being blocked and air throw him. Might seem like a waste of ressource in that case but it isn't because it's meant to be used with 50 tension. If the opponent blocks it, you're massively + and can pressure him. If the opponent makes it whiff with a backdash for instance, FRCing on whiff and escaping because the opponent is too far to air throw becomes possible. (It's kinda possible to actually punish him with air normals by hitting him between the invul and FRC window but that's to be honest a situation that happen mostly in theoryland.) In Robo's case, the DP got 3f startup (level 2 and 3. At level 1, it's only throw invul so who cares). The character overheat if he blocks or backdash too much. He can get 10 tension for every IB he manages to pull off. The FRC is here to help him in the same situations as Chipp. Except that +R Robo sucks and he really needs it while Chipp is top and burning tension for a RC for Robo is quite the commitment as it drastically reduces his options afterwards both in pressure and neutral. Finally for Zappa, you can't react while waking up to the summon you are given so his only wakeup invul moves that are guaranteed are backdash and super (which are both great) making Sword 623H a move you will mostly use in defense during blockstrings. Before, he could get nice rewards on 623H FRC (as far as I know, he always had an FRC on that move) but in +R, air sword combos are very unstable. However, the FRC window is on 13~16f for a level 4 attack meaning that it's possible to keep pressuring afterwards so it's a very strong defensive option. But again, so is Zappa's defense in general. There are also other examples of meterless reversals that require low commitment like Zappa's dog in defense or Baiken's Sakura FRC but they aren't DPs. Whether giving the option to whiff cancel DPs for the 3 mentionned characters is a good thing or not compared to just giving them something else defense-wise is competely debatable however.

Errol [url=https://www.evernote.com/shard/s613/sh/40252284-7e88-4e20-90c7-96c2f408554c/3bc6992cf5d5f4057a09c329413711a0]translated them List of buffs and nerfs to make it easier to understand for the first post (And some clarifications about possible translation errors or mistakes Hima might have made. Comments are in parenthesis.): + = buff, - = nerf, ~=unconfirmed or neither. In General: ~Combo rate might be the same in wolf and human Wolf mode: +Standing and walking forward doesn't consume wolf gauge (big buff to wolf footsies). +Cooldown wolf>human reduced. ~Walking back uses as much wolf gauge as before while idle. ~Wolf command dashes uses the same amount as before (Fixed 10% depletion+bigger drain). -Being in the air or using air options decrease the gauge further. -Canons deplete gauge rapidly (Big nerfs to combos, corner carry and neutral movement). Wolf moves: +w236B floats more. w236B>6D>wjBA route is easier than before. (Interesting. Might allow longer human combos by delaying wjA) +w214X make opponent fall slower allowing to combo afterwards with w5B. (Very interesting. If it's possible to combo afterwards to human mode, that's definetely a huge buff.) +Wolf grab got more untech and can knockdown now. (Big buff midscreen) +Air wolf grab wallbounces instead of a knockdown. Comboing afterwards could be possible. ~w214X changed from a spin state to a down on ground hit. (Was a down before so pretty sure it's a translation mistake and it now triggers spin state) ~Confirmed that after a w236A with S starters, 5B>2C is possible (Still important as a combo filler then.) -w5A's P1 is worse -w5C have a bigger knockback. w5C>brjA>h2C doesn't connect (had to be very close before which was rare anyway). Wolf loops could be harder. Unknown if it got a better float like 3C. -w236A,wj236A,w236C,wj236C float less. w236C>wj236C now impossible. Same for wj236A>wj236C (no mention whether it's midscreen or in the corner.) -Untech time on w236A and wj236A is reduced. wjBC>wj236A>wj236C drop. (Need more informations. canonjAC was guaranteed before so sounds more likely that it's not anymore if the combo is too long. Or could be due to the float nerf above. Big nerf either way to wolf canons into jC>Sturm.) Human moves: +3C easier to followup with. 3C>CT is possible. 3C>236C route easier. +6A could float higher. (Could make 6A CH combo more consistent) +6B new overhead. Gatling from 2A,5A and 2C and into 5D,4D and 2D. S starter with mediocre range but great proration leading to rewards as high as N starters combos. With examples being: 6B>D>[B>C>A cannons]>B>2C>(JB>JB>JC) (2750) 6B>D>[B>C>A cannons]>B>2C>(236B>1D>ACABC cannons> 214C) (3500) (Another translation mistake I assume) +CT faster. Can combo from 3C and 2C(air hit) now. P2 not that great though (So uncharged CT no longer 100 P2 ? Makes it only useful for the long untech then) +Air throw easier to follow up with midscreen. +CA pushes the opponent farther/got more untech. (Great buff) +236A more hitstun on CH. Frame advantage may be different. ~Old 6B is now 6C with old 6C being gone (Still more useful than 6C anyway). Gatling now from 5C and into 3C. (Nice) Now only +5 due to more recovery. (No longer a safe normal on meaty then) Air hit 6C now has the second hit float upwards. (Kinda like Ignis 2D I guess) ~h4D animation changed. Better for spacing but no longer can cancel while airborne. Can be used to bait DPs. Cancel from 2A and 6B now. (Need to see it to forge an opinion but previous h4D was only useful in specific matchup for the angle it gave to w66D so sounds more like a buff) ~No idea what 236BB changes mean. Either it got a new animation or they changed what he says. ~j214B wallsticks with guaranteed KD in the corner but same untech midscreen. Hops forward making it easier to connect. P2 buffed. Either has more landing recovery or stays in the air longer making it harder to follow up. -5C untech time reduced. 5C>wjA is tight midcombo but 5C>6C(old 6B) works on ground hit. No data on air hit.(This might be wrong mind you as 5C>jD>wjB doesn't combo already in Extend meaning that 5C>jD>wjA has to be done with either 1, 2 or 3 frames leniency when done early. So obviously, it becomes tight after a while.) -236C pushes away further. Can't follow up with 2C anymore. Same untech as before. Super: +236236C got 1k minimum damage and 1380 in OD. (Probably mean both 236236C and wj236236C as both dealt 720 min dmg. If it concerns wj236236C, the min damage buff makes up for wj214B>wj214C>wj236236C loss) +Sturm got around 1285 min damage. +EA is a reversal but is harder to combo with than Sturm.

Wolf regen freezing during hitstop has been a thing for a while. Became very noticeable in 1.1 tho. You can easily notice that with moves that got big hitstop like 2C or 6B in CPE. Also, looks like zoning is getting widely nerfed in CF. While it didn't really affect Valk that much due to his mobility, it could be quite expensive to get in against some characters because of that. If some nerfs make it in the final version (Thinking mostly of Rachel, Nu and Haz), it will be much cheaper to RTSD in some matchups. Definetely something worth considering I would say. Also heard that now, CT is much faster. That's some amazing news because our only uses for it in CPE was for FC 6B(1)>CT and corner Throw>CT combos. Maybe we will be able to find new routes using it.

As long as he keeps his vortex, doing less damage isn't an issue. In fact if it means having more stable and longer human routes, it's a trade largely in our favour.