Bossguy

I use the default console layout, which is the D button setting for arcades. Honestly, though, I don't believe that there's such thing as a "best button layout." It's really what works best for you. You just need to choose a setting and stick with it, and you'll adapt to it, no matter how unwieldy it may feel.

Yes, approaching Ky blatantly from the air without the shadow is a very bad idea. I would recommend to avoid challenging Ky shadowless from the air most of the time. Always keep the IAD over his SE a threat, though. Keep him on his toes. Drills don't get used much aside from block strings compared to other MUs. His air SE poses a big problem because the trajectory of the projectile is awkward and can't be easily blocked by drills. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use them solo, but I generally neglect them shadowless. With the shadow out, it's still not a very good to use drills. It's much better to approach Ky with the dash jump flight method and right before you attack from the air having the shadow poke the opponent with -p-. This is extremely strong against characters such as Ky, less so Axl, and sometimes Faust, because it renders their ground anti-airs pretty useless and you can also avoid most projectiles. If they try to challenge you in the air and you anticipate it, you can always Nobiru. Zato has much better options in neutral against Ky, so I honestly don't see much use for drills besides protecting against 236K, which you can always just avoid with instant flight.

If you get predictable with your summons, Ky can destroy you in a heartbeat with his CSE. Try to fake a summon and then IAD twoards him to punish an attempted SE if he gets predictable. A safer option is to use dash jump flight to close the distance between you and Ky while he's firing projectiles, or hovering in place with instant flight. You generally don't use the traditional advancing method with the drills against Ky. Either take to the air, or if you have the time, go underground. Even if it's a regular SE, you generally want to just maneuver around the projectiles, because Ky can YRC and use his Stun Dipper (236K) to either hit you for a CH or kill the shadow. You have to always be mindful of his 236K at all times in neutral. Flight is a very good tool against Ky. Use it often, but don't abuse it.

I play this MU a lot, and I honestly don't use flight or BTL much. In my opinion, once you take to the air against Milia she immediately has the advantage over you. She can either take out the shadow and then challenge you in the air or go straight to you. You have to guess which route she'll take, and one wrong move in neutral can mean the round. Likewise, if you use BTL she can get in very quickly and take out the shadow, leaving you stuck helpless in the ground. Instead, I would dash around and control the ground with -p-. Force her to take to the air, and then you can anti-air her or merely dash under her.

I was able to play at an arcade while I was on a trip to Japan, and Zato seems pretty much unchanged. Puddle summon takes an extremely negligible amount of meter. I didn't notice anything different with his j.k. The unblockable doesn't seem to be of as much use, but damage seems to still be good, but a little less. The shadow takes longer to recharge after a drill, I think. Forgot to use his 6k overhead, so I don't know if the stagger increase is still present. I think that Zato is still a very good character.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say that drills shouldn't be used without the shadow, I was merely stating that they can be unsafe if you become predictable with them. Probably should have phrased my comment better.

I am not a good Zato by any stretch of the imagination, however, here are a couple things I noticed in your gameplay that you did consistently and got punished for: 1. Spamming drills in neutral. Later in the matches with Marvisto he realized what you were doing and countered it. Drills are very risky in the neutal wiithout your shadow out! Use more normals. 2. Keeping an eye on your shadow gauge. A couple times you tried to unsommon your shadow, but since the gauge was depleted you got a 6H instead. Marvisto punished you. 3. Dead angling. I know that Elphelt's pressure is difficult to get out of, but you resorted to dead angle too many times. The Elphelt baited you and you lost fifty meter as well as a good chunk of your life. 4. Using 2H to poke out of pressure. While this worked in some cases, this is not a good idea. 2P is a much safer option. Also, I watched some of Jonio's stream and BTL YRC is indeed still there in 1.1. Phew.

Discuss the match-up here. I faced a good I-No last night and I don't know what to do. Summon doesn't seem free, drills are extremely unsafe, and once you're knocked down it's pretty much the round. I'm having a real hard time knowing when to summon the shadow against her and what to do when I'm stuck solo. How do you deal with her?

Nice, jk buff is great, as well as the reverted Eddie gauge. Quick question, is the puddle summon consuming guage still present?

Thanks, that's really helpful even if I didn't ask the question, haha.

Those changes don't seem that bad. An extra second is much better than I was expecting. @Pen_Ninja: I'm guessing it'll take as much as -HS-. This is probably my least favorite change out of them all, but oh well.

Ouch, those nerfs, particularly puddle summon using meter and slower regeneration of the Eddie gauge is really going to hurt. I hope at least it recharges during 22H/22S. I'm guessing that it stops recovering during DF. Zato got hit hard.

Aww, thank you. I'll try depending more on Nobiru.

Thank you. This was helpful. I'll try that out.

Yep. That's why I started playing him early. I really like him so far. NE is weird at first, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.