Controversial opinion time?
I've been talking about this a lot on the IRC side of things and having used the character extensively both Pre and Post-Patch I can confidently say that Painwheel is probably the weakest character in the game. That is to say that her tools to deal with other characters are insufficient to deal with the ease for characters to convert air moves to full combos and that she has, more than any other character in this game, an absolute reliance on assists in order to effectively begin any part of her game.
Just to summarize the significant changes in Post-Patch Painwheel
- Slower Fly backwards speed.
- Less invincibility on air super.
It seems like a pretty subtle adjustment but I think these did a lot to highlight the main problems with the character. Slower fly backward speed means its harder for her to bait out the invincible assists that wreck her day and get out of range of characters like Parasoul who will easily jump jLP jHP into a combo. Less invincibility on air super means she can't throw out her air super in response to say a Cerebella Arm super and reliably beat it in response.
What you end up with is a character designed to be centered around air dominance that is swat down like a fly by every person who has a clue about the matchup. Flight, her main source of initiating an effective rushdown, is inherently unsafe and easily counterable and she has nothing else to effectively throw out in her neutral game to diversify her approach. Hatred Guard jHP just isn't reliable in these situations to deal with an onslaught of invincible assists and multihitting air strings.
This brings up I think a more profound problem with Painwheel as a character. She's a character designed as air dominance but lacks any specials beyond Fly that synergize with this aim. Pinion Dash, despite looking awesome, lacks any real use and her projectiles force her to be planted on the ground and leave no room for follow up after their release. Buer Reaper, her scythe grab, is VERY unsafe on block and only leaves room to follow up for combos in situations in situations where you have your opponent grounded or near the corner.
Now, I get it, balancing Painwheel's neutral game presents a sticky situation because her damage output and reset capability are among the highest in the game. She can also convert off of random hits much more effectively than the majority of the characters in the game. I understand why the Fly backwards nerf was instituted in order to help mitigate her power to simply fly backwards out of the range of offensive opponents however, in the current state of the game, she just lacks any tool to make up for that loss.
I point to the introduction of Undizzy to the system as a passive nerf to the power of resets and DHC strings across the board though. When this is taken into account I think what your left with is more than enough wiggle room to be able to take more liberties with the character and improving her base game.
Proposed Changes :
- More frames on j.HP in which you can absorb moves.
- Fly cancellable projectiles
- Something for Pinion Dash ... potentially hatred guard properties on either charge up or release based on level charged up to? Fly cancellable charge up sequence with the caveat that she cannot fly cancel the actual release?
In summation, Painwheel is an extremely solid character when she's able to get a hit in but compared to the difficulty of getting a hit with Painwheel vs. getting a hit with Filia whose reset game, mobility, and damage output are potentially just as strong it's clear that something needs to be done to make Painwheel a more viable threat.
The proposed changes do more to diversify her neutral game while understanding that the character should have inherent weaknesses.