Abi got way over buffed. Akuma, Guile and Rashid got a slap on the wrist. Kolin got clapped for no discernable reason. Ryu is most likely still garbage. Vega can never get a decent buff without taking a significant nerf.
Fun fact: If you play survival mode with Guy and you happen to have low health and then come across Cody, his entire health will be replenished because of the āgumā item he picks up during their intro.
Iām now on Zeku, before Iāve used Karin. Iām in UG, but I donāt play Ranked. I donāt care that much low level Akumas (Iāve fought many of them even with my Plat smurf account), but those who knows a thing or two about what theyāre doing. Raw demon flips are easy to beat,but those after a blocking normal (especially cr.mp/cr.hp) not that much. The number of options he has is pretty big, if your opponent doesnāt have a projectile invincible dp he canāt bypass the zanku. Cross under it isnāt an option if the Akuma player knows how TKed his Zankus. Crouch blocking is also risky because of palm and even if Iām able to block his options he will be right in my face,safely and sometimes he has advantage. Outside this my main problem against his aerial attacks is the input delay in this game where inputting a last second dp feels like walking in the mud and the poor AAs all around. Will see if the hurtboxes/hitboxes adjustments can help,but in general I feel pretty annoying fighting a character who can bypass the āstay on groundā rule without major issues. Akuma ground game isnāt that bad and there you have the actual best character hands down.
I wouldnāt say Rashidās neutral is meh. cr.HP, st.HK, st.mk and cr.mk are all pretty darn good. Theyāre no Chun buttons, but theyāre better pokes than a large chunk of the cast has.
DF after normal is a lot easier to deal with than the meaty one.
I am pretty sure that there are some options against it as DF is not that fast.
I know that Karin player that I play sometimes (he is better than me, has around 22k points) was checking every close jump/DF with her air TC.
doesnāt tk zanku leave him pretty vulnerable if you block it? But I agree, dealing with its aerial offensive is a pain in the ass, especially if your character doesnāt have a DP ora an air throw.
801 Striders stream yesterday was pretty insightful.
Review of my characters:
Laura
More honest outside of V-Trigger. But as soon as she activates it she turns into a giant cavewoman/female Necalli. Sounds really unga. Overall dmg nerf but more mix up potential in V-Trigger. I am excited to try out her new Thunder Clap combos.
R. Mika
The only character where I am absolutely not sure how the changes will affect her. Overall it seems like she is gonna be the same. Strider said the throw loop nerf isnāt a problem for her because of her command grab but I think it was a big part of her game so I am not sure. Lady Mika cancel into special will be interesting.
Chun-Li
Cool changes. Will help her out a lot imo but I am especially excited for her new V-Trigger.
Juri
Damage buffs are nice, but especially her V-Trigger will be insane now.
Menat
No notable changes, but the general changes to this game could be a big buff for her.
So overall I think out of these characters Juri, Chun and Menat are the big winners because they all have good neutral. Laura is still good as well.
I just donāt know about Mika. I will still play her but she might have to take the backseat and Juri could become my new secondary character.
I already have problems getting in with Mika in this season but in S3 it will be even harder I guess due to the general changes and her neutral game is not the best. Maybe Fuudo can show me the way.