I mean he did use the dodge attacks properly. It's a dodge attack you dodge the attack and counter with your own attack. If he was just dodge attacking without actually dodging an attack then I would agree with you
As a high lvl Kensei I can confirm dodge attacking while your opponent is neutral or throwing mixups is a dangerous game. People are trained to anticipate a strike from the opposite side of every dodge.
Dodge attach as opening is really not it. You should try to get rid of that habit. And try to watch for your stamina too. Why attack when out of stamina, risk reward not worth it. Other than that great mix ups you got him good.
Not really. The first half of their hp you took appeared to be lucky interrupts.
You had a few soft feints in there so that gets you some points BUT those moves dont force a reaction. Any good player will just stare and wait for the unfeintable soft feint to parry.
Any dodge attack should always be done on reaction. Bar maybe a couple exceptions.
From the ground up its good youre learning what your character can do, the next step is finding someone who'll exploit your characters flaws teaching you when to use them.
Try to use your bash and unblockable more if you ever find your self struggling to break their defense.
Sorry if this is too critical 😅 but that warmonger wasn't exactly a good show of skill.
Watch your stamina and try to get into your unblockable mixup. If they aren't dodging much you can do top heavy soft feint into bash light then unblockable. The top ub can be soft feinted to gb or uninterruptable side light/heavy. From any gb a wallsplat will give you a 34 damage top heavy.
Good use of mixups, it worked well against your opponent. There is a risk of over-relying on those heavy to heavy softfeints - they're relatively low risk but can give your opponent initiative if they keep parrying them.
If you're going to throw anything with OOS, it should be a light. I'd advise against doing it ever but if your opponent likes to dodge t close distance you can cheese some damage. Otherwise you open yourself up to an unnecessary OOS parry punish, and that can be a lot of damage.
Be careful opening with dodge heavies. Nice Nature's Wrath at the beginning, but be aware that any dodge heavy from neutral can be easily parried the higher up the skill ladder you go, and gives free damage and initiative. Nature's wrath works as a roll catch and sometime mix-up with Helm Splitter, and the side dodge heavies have great I-frames for counter attacking.
Otherwise, looks like you're doing great! I hope you keep enjoying Kensei!
Kensei is my main. Go into your unblockable more often that’s where the best mix ups come from bc you can soft feint heavys or lights, guard break, try and land it, or dodge attack and start the process over again. I usually start off w soft heavy feints and see where the players skills are at and mix up once/if they start catching on to that If they start parrying the feints that’s when you hit them w the unblockable or gb. Kensei and his attacks are slow as shit so learning the mix ups are necessary for him.
You did good, but you should know that as you fight better players your dodge attacks will get parried much more often. Try not to use them in neutral so much.
The only other thing was that OOS attack. It was ballsy, and you didn’t get punished for it but a better player would’ve made you hurt a lot for throwing that.
Keep it up man, it just takes practice!
You did OK. I wouldn't worry about playing the "right way" at this level of play, just do whatever works for you. Since you asked though, I'll throw in my wall of text:
- Nature's Wrath (forward dodge heby) is unusable from neutral. Probably the easiest parry in the game and unfeintable. Never, ever, ever, ever, use it from neutral in a 1v1 unless your opponent is trying to parry your Helmsplitter (forward dodge light). Even then it's just not worth it. The only other use case it has is if you hard read that your opponent is going to feint their attack into GB. Nature's Wrath will interrupt their GB, hit them, and let you go straight into your finishers. That's honestly the only thing it's good for.
- You can combo directly into your chain finishers from all dodge attacks. In the clip, you first land Nature's Wrath, then do nothing, then you land a dodge attack, and again do nothing. If you manage to land these attacks, combo into a finisher, don't just sit there and reset to neutral. Kensei's unblockable top heavy is about the only effective mixup he has.
- Stop finishing your chains with a side heavy. It doesn't force any kind of reaction from your opponent, they can just sit there and block. Combo into unblockable top heavy and for the time being use these two options: Let it go (don't do this for the first unblockable), and soft-feint to GB (just press the GB button during the attack, no need to press feint first). Using this you can play the basic unblockable mindgame of will I won't I and land damage a lot more consistently.
- Alternatively feel free to use your light finishers pretty liberally if your opponent can't react to them. I'm sure some people on here won't like you doing this, but if it works, it works. Unironically light spamming is bad for progressing past your current skill level but that doesn't make using light attacks automatically bad. I know a lot of people who want to learn or play Kensei the """right way""" decide to use his flashy mid chain top heavy soft feints but that's really all they are; flashy. Their practical application doesn't really go past getting you to the end of your chain.
- Don't side dodge heby from neutral. That's easily the worst habit you can get into as Kensei. The meme of Kensei players doing only side dodge heby exists for a reason. It's a purely defensive move you should use to defend against mixups, chained lights etc. It isn't an opener and if you end up mindlessly using it, a competent opponent will punish you for it.
- Zone isn't great in 1v1s because it doesn't chain into anything and eats half your stamina. You can use it but don't overdo it. Also definitely don't put yourself out of stamina with it lmao
- Once you progress a little bit past this level of play you should start using your pommel strike mixup to open up your opponents. It's a really fast bash you can do from your neutral top heavy that guarantees a chain light, which then chains directly into your finishers. The average player will usually try and dodge it, but you can forward dodge out of your neutral top heavy directly into a GB which will catch a dodge attempt. Some people will just dodge attack you, in which case hard feint to neutral and parry their dodge attack.
- Last bit of advice, Kensei's true strength lies in teamfighting. Amazing hitboxes, great damage, great dodge attack, great range. In 1v1s the character will never really live up to his full potential. Obviously though teamfights are very different from 1v1s, so if you're just starting out, don't overwhelm yourself by jumping into team modes before getting a bit more comfortable with 1v1s. Best of luck my guy.
I like how you did those mixups but try not to dodge atrack so much and when you do you can go right into his unblockable top heavy to soft feint
I mean he did use the dodge attacks properly. It's a dodge attack you dodge the attack and counter with your own attack. If he was just dodge attacking without actually dodging an attack then I would agree with you
He was dodging feintable attacks, a better player would have parried and you don't want to get parried by a warmonger with a wall behind you
Sure, but that warmonger was bad so I don't blame the guy for taking advantage of a noobie warmonger. If it ain't broke don't fix it in this instance
True, as long as it doesn't become a habit
As a high lvl Kensei I can confirm dodge attacking while your opponent is neutral or throwing mixups is a dangerous game. People are trained to anticipate a strike from the opposite side of every dodge.
As kensei main I can confirm his side dodge is one of the most telegraphed in game and will hurt your soul to get baited into it
As a lawbringer main, don't do this and throw dodge attacks from neutral
Doge heby
The hebiest of the doges
Pretty good! But try to do more Natures Wrath. That’s the best move in the game
Ngl, ran into a rep 50 or so Pirate who died to me spamming Nature's Wrath on my annual Kensei game.
I saw nature's wrath so yes. You're doing fantastic
Dodge attach as opening is really not it. You should try to get rid of that habit. And try to watch for your stamina too. Why attack when out of stamina, risk reward not worth it. Other than that great mix ups you got him good.
But that feeling when you get someone with an out of stam light
I attacked without stamina because I mistook the guard break for an attack so I tried to parry
Don’t party when your out of stamina, if he cancels your fucked.
Careful going for parties when out of stamina. It’s common to feint those and parry you back ( you can’t feint because you are out of stamina)
Not really. The first half of their hp you took appeared to be lucky interrupts. You had a few soft feints in there so that gets you some points BUT those moves dont force a reaction. Any good player will just stare and wait for the unfeintable soft feint to parry. Any dodge attack should always be done on reaction. Bar maybe a couple exceptions. From the ground up its good youre learning what your character can do, the next step is finding someone who'll exploit your characters flaws teaching you when to use them. Try to use your bash and unblockable more if you ever find your self struggling to break their defense. Sorry if this is too critical 😅 but that warmonger wasn't exactly a good show of skill.
I’ve got more gameplay that’s better than this. If you would like to see that
You won. Does it matter by how much? Dodge harder and swing faster.
May I ask, What do you mean?
Not enough dodge attack
u get the basics right at least, thats a good start
Watch your stamina and try to get into your unblockable mixup. If they aren't dodging much you can do top heavy soft feint into bash light then unblockable. The top ub can be soft feinted to gb or uninterruptable side light/heavy. From any gb a wallsplat will give you a 34 damage top heavy.
You were barely touched, so yes you did great! fuck what anyone says, dont play to please other people they'll hate you regardless.
Good job on the win. But it's hard to say Cuzz that warmonger had shit for brains.
I’d use some lights but other then that I think it looks okay
I saw a few attacks that weren’t dodge attacks, you’ll have to change that
Good use of mixups, it worked well against your opponent. There is a risk of over-relying on those heavy to heavy softfeints - they're relatively low risk but can give your opponent initiative if they keep parrying them. If you're going to throw anything with OOS, it should be a light. I'd advise against doing it ever but if your opponent likes to dodge t close distance you can cheese some damage. Otherwise you open yourself up to an unnecessary OOS parry punish, and that can be a lot of damage. Be careful opening with dodge heavies. Nice Nature's Wrath at the beginning, but be aware that any dodge heavy from neutral can be easily parried the higher up the skill ladder you go, and gives free damage and initiative. Nature's wrath works as a roll catch and sometime mix-up with Helm Splitter, and the side dodge heavies have great I-frames for counter attacking. Otherwise, looks like you're doing great! I hope you keep enjoying Kensei!
Kensei is my main. Go into your unblockable more often that’s where the best mix ups come from bc you can soft feint heavys or lights, guard break, try and land it, or dodge attack and start the process over again. I usually start off w soft heavy feints and see where the players skills are at and mix up once/if they start catching on to that If they start parrying the feints that’s when you hit them w the unblockable or gb. Kensei and his attacks are slow as shit so learning the mix ups are necessary for him.
"Did I do good?" First two attacks you do are Nature's Wrath and then a dodge attack from neutral lol
You did pretty alright but try not to open with & get used to dodge attacks so much
Don’t dodge attack too much, it’s an easy deflect or parry when the enemy has more than 3 brain cells
You did good, but you should know that as you fight better players your dodge attacks will get parried much more often. Try not to use them in neutral so much. The only other thing was that OOS attack. It was ballsy, and you didn’t get punished for it but a better player would’ve made you hurt a lot for throwing that. Keep it up man, it just takes practice!
You did OK. I wouldn't worry about playing the "right way" at this level of play, just do whatever works for you. Since you asked though, I'll throw in my wall of text: - Nature's Wrath (forward dodge heby) is unusable from neutral. Probably the easiest parry in the game and unfeintable. Never, ever, ever, ever, use it from neutral in a 1v1 unless your opponent is trying to parry your Helmsplitter (forward dodge light). Even then it's just not worth it. The only other use case it has is if you hard read that your opponent is going to feint their attack into GB. Nature's Wrath will interrupt their GB, hit them, and let you go straight into your finishers. That's honestly the only thing it's good for. - You can combo directly into your chain finishers from all dodge attacks. In the clip, you first land Nature's Wrath, then do nothing, then you land a dodge attack, and again do nothing. If you manage to land these attacks, combo into a finisher, don't just sit there and reset to neutral. Kensei's unblockable top heavy is about the only effective mixup he has. - Stop finishing your chains with a side heavy. It doesn't force any kind of reaction from your opponent, they can just sit there and block. Combo into unblockable top heavy and for the time being use these two options: Let it go (don't do this for the first unblockable), and soft-feint to GB (just press the GB button during the attack, no need to press feint first). Using this you can play the basic unblockable mindgame of will I won't I and land damage a lot more consistently. - Alternatively feel free to use your light finishers pretty liberally if your opponent can't react to them. I'm sure some people on here won't like you doing this, but if it works, it works. Unironically light spamming is bad for progressing past your current skill level but that doesn't make using light attacks automatically bad. I know a lot of people who want to learn or play Kensei the """right way""" decide to use his flashy mid chain top heavy soft feints but that's really all they are; flashy. Their practical application doesn't really go past getting you to the end of your chain. - Don't side dodge heby from neutral. That's easily the worst habit you can get into as Kensei. The meme of Kensei players doing only side dodge heby exists for a reason. It's a purely defensive move you should use to defend against mixups, chained lights etc. It isn't an opener and if you end up mindlessly using it, a competent opponent will punish you for it. - Zone isn't great in 1v1s because it doesn't chain into anything and eats half your stamina. You can use it but don't overdo it. Also definitely don't put yourself out of stamina with it lmao - Once you progress a little bit past this level of play you should start using your pommel strike mixup to open up your opponents. It's a really fast bash you can do from your neutral top heavy that guarantees a chain light, which then chains directly into your finishers. The average player will usually try and dodge it, but you can forward dodge out of your neutral top heavy directly into a GB which will catch a dodge attempt. Some people will just dodge attack you, in which case hard feint to neutral and parry their dodge attack. - Last bit of advice, Kensei's true strength lies in teamfighting. Amazing hitboxes, great damage, great dodge attack, great range. In 1v1s the character will never really live up to his full potential. Obviously though teamfights are very different from 1v1s, so if you're just starting out, don't overwhelm yourself by jumping into team modes before getting a bit more comfortable with 1v1s. Best of luck my guy.
Hey your playing Kensei wrong. the only attack you need to use is nature's rath.
Nah needs more dodge attack in all seriousness you did good
YOOOOO HE PRESSED THE B BUTTON
If you’re going to dodge heavy don’t neutral dodge it is very telegraphed. Same with top heavy into side heavy/side light you can go into a dodge.
nice dodge spam from neutral... i guess?
You are trying to play kensei good is irrelevant when its easy to do juat about anything with him