Is this confirmed? Previously, we were told PAX would be the Gamescom build. Nothing about new announcements. Would be nice to see a full trailer for the new character though.
I think if you buff his specials, that would automatically buff his Instinct. There's nothing wrong with his Instinct, it's the fact that once you get in, then what? Gamble on a throw attempt for 27% IF you burn MORE meter? Use a Shadow Triplax so you get armor and hope the opponent doesn't block (again burning more meter)? If you use a normal Triplax or any of his other specials following the invincibility, you're at disadvantage and/or completely unsafe.
I know the dash is designed to go through an attack and punish the opponent, but I'm looking at high level play here. When I see that Thunder has full Instinct, I'm going to play much more careful and do everything I can to prevent an opening. He'll have to cross me up, at which point I'd probably just jump to avoid taking too much damage.
Again, all theory fighter, but still.
I was very disappointed to find Skyfall was unsafe. Sure, it crosses up, but doesn't seem to be all that ambiguous. I think once you get used to it, you'll block it more often than not. But let's even say it's hard to block. It grounds the opponent and that's it. So you get wake-up pressure, but that's just a guess as well. I hope they don't use an invincible wake-up (assuming they have meter). Even if the opponent doesn't have meter, that's still not guaranteed damage by any means.
Also, as a side note. If the opponent has meter, you can't use Thunder's overhead or poke with a normal into any of his specials (aside from a tick throw). All of his specials other than Call of the Earth are either unsafe when blocked, or multiple hits, leaving them susceptible to Shadow Counters (Sabrewulf has the same issue).
That's not all that different from Jago getting a Shadow Uppercut after a throw, or mid-combo. It helps avoid a Breaker, but you're burning resources to do it and still only getting 27% (possibly more with the combo before it). It's basically just an alternate Ender.
That would be interesting, but maybe too good. I'd just do that throw all day into short combos that end before the lock out period is over. With throws now being harder to tech, that's almost free damage.
Again, this is all theory fighter. I could be wrong in every way, but I was right about all of Sabrewulf's shortcomings and I still haven't seen those fixed yet, so we'll see how things go at PAX...
