How do you use the combat deck?
I know how to use the combat deck, in many various ways actually, I'm simply inquiring however how others on here utilize their own combat decks.
Feel free to discuss.
As an example I know someone who tried this strategy. Every attacks animation in a Sequence (main combo) was to the left and the alternates we're all to the right. It confused me at first but then I realized what he was doing. Essentially it gives you the opportunity to have 8 openers that all come from different directions. It however limits your options a great deal I feel though.
There is much more strategy to it then that i believe just as attack height, range, movement, speed. And Consideration for your opponents abilities is a must, and preparation for said abilities is paramount. But there are other preferred modes of play.
Mine would be the "get out of jail free card" strategy
more discussion on that later....
And you?
Feel free to discuss.
As an example I know someone who tried this strategy. Every attacks animation in a Sequence (main combo) was to the left and the alternates we're all to the right. It confused me at first but then I realized what he was doing. Essentially it gives you the opportunity to have 8 openers that all come from different directions. It however limits your options a great deal I feel though.
There is much more strategy to it then that i believe just as attack height, range, movement, speed. And Consideration for your opponents abilities is a must, and preparation for said abilities is paramount. But there are other preferred modes of play.
Mine would be the "get out of jail free card" strategy
more discussion on that later....And you?
Comments
That being said, here's an example strategy I use:
Khalt Boxer
Gimmick: Only basic punches (no Charge, Guard-Break or Doubles)
Jab, Hook, Uppercut. Alt-Dodge Punch
Direct Punch, Cleave Punch. Alt - The other Dodge Punch
Stretch Hook. Alt- Haymaker
Wallop Alt-Rolling Uppercut
Stats: Don't bother with much Strength or Dex; most of this deck doesn't scale much. Instead pile into Endurance, Life and Shards. You'll be Absorbing a lot while you apply constant pressure so you'll need that high shard generation to Shockwave yourself out of combat after every rush.
Tactics: Open with Stretch Hook or Wallop at range (they're both surprisingly long ranged and Wallop will hit low). Wallop can be used consecutively to hammer opponents that repeatedly try sweeping or WWDP in; sometimes I'll Wallop, back-up a little and Wallop again, it works more often than you think. If you're closer, throw the Dodge-Punch, it slips jabs and does decent damage. The 2 dodge punches are good to work into the basic combo anytime you expect an opponent to interrupt; most of the fast moves in the game are avoided by the dodge-punches and they can alternated back and forth by continually using your Alt attack to create non-stop evasion (they also hit low so they will catch slower sweeps that might be used to interrupt).
Weakness: Doubles, Grab-Punch and Fast Sweeps
Some Doubles can be slipped with the Dodge Punches but not all. Also the Doubles are hard to Absorb.
The Jab-Hook is usually fast enough to break most charges but Grab-Punch is too fast.
The third attack of line one (uppercut) and the second of line two (cleave) will catch slow sweeps but the fast ones get through.
This deck is some-what effective but its definitely not easy to win with, especially against high-level players with the typical meta; but when you DO win, its extra satisfying.
As for "getting out of jail free", I would suggest putting a few points into your Tension Shards, especially with Khalt. The Absorb is fairly easy and you can fill your shards quickly, allowing you to Shockwave out of trouble whenever you want.
Recently however I've been trying to unlock all the moves so I've been shifting through different schools and that's been fun. I just use the deck until I've unlocked the moves I don't have yet and then I search through my recent encounters for a new school to see if they have anything to teach me. It definitely takes some getting used to figuring out what the deck is supposed to do or what strings you're supposed to use with their deck.
It always feels a little gross at first because none of the them are structured the same so my natural inclinations from the previous deck carry over and it feels really sloppy for a while.
I highly recommend it though if someone is new to the game. One it's a great way to start slurping up all the moves and mastering all the styles, and two it also functions as a good learning experience for getting accustomed to fight with and against different fighting styles (both actual in game 'styles' and different individual approaches).
It's also good for learning the sword moves, which are the most difficult to learn in my experience.
Still no calbot though.
An example would be to place a heavy kick at the start of a quadrant and then building all the other combos to end in that particular quadrants. I then make my alternates either rotate the opposite direction back or to allow a faster transition to the quad with the heavy kick.
Sometimes I'll make a deck that leads a certain way. For example making a deck with heavy attacks on the bottom quads with medium/light alts that lead me back up. Then I make the top quads very fast attacks that lead down and alts to stay at the top it give me mixups for people blocking or gold linking.
Other times i've messed around with creating a deck were a portion of the deck reflects back and forth between the same quads so that I can alternate into into a different set of moves that reflect. This way even though It can be limiting it gives the illusion that I had hidden moves that the opponent might not even see till the end or as a specific counter to them trying to adapt to the first reflecting quads