Quote from the “UMVC3 VERSION 2013: THE FEEDBACK THREAD”
Taskmaster
Buffs:
Increase the hard knockdown duration on his counters/unblockable follow up ender and his forward throw. It is really tricky to get an OTG off of these things.
Decrease start up and recovery on his physical counters. Possibly give them a “holdable” property like Ammy’s counters BUT, make it like his arrows where you can hold them, but after a certain point, he just releases automatically.
JUST A LITTLE more hit stun on his arrows
this one is A BIT of a stretch…I can live without it Someone posted about giving his super counter a crumple state after…I kind of like that idea but it might make him a little OD
It’s hard (or maybe not hard) because Taskmaster is one of the most well-rounded and balanced characters in the game in my opinion. He’s super super solid, straightforward, and has no extremely overpowering bullshit. Granted, he still has really really dirty stuff, especially with certain assists, but it should be kept that way since it’s a team construction game.
You pretty much listed the only changes I’d make. His physical counters are useless, so some kind of change should go to those. I think extend the duration of them a tiny bit since there is such a small window for the actual counter), and maybe even combining them so it’s not low vs. high but just physical in general, like Ammy. I’d also increase the amount of time they’re on the ground so that you can OTG arrow with an assist to get a pickup.
If I could be greedy I’d love the recovery time on his arrows to be lower (like jumping M arrows), but that would probably make him way too good.
I firmly believe that if there is a patch, Taskmaster will be one of the top top tiers. His only bad matchups are Vergil, Morrigan, and sometimes Zero when he gets in on you, and those three (surprise surprise) are first in line for the ol’ nerfbat. I don’t find myself struggling at all against any other characters (except for Dark Phoenix, but who doesn’t). I don’t think Taskmaster is really up for any nerfs in my opinion, and I would probably be perfectly happy seeing him stay as is if he doesn’t get any buffs. Simply by changing the metagame of his bad matchups will make Taskmaster get better.
But hey, like I joked in the other thread, if Tasky has been studying a lot and uses his photographic memory to replicate spiral swords and gimlet, I wouldn’t complain.
Loll…good shit. Honestly, I think making his counters work on all physical might be a bit OD. I think it’s fair having to make the read on if they’re going high or low…Imagine against like Magneto or something he could just throw it out there without having to guess? People would complain that it’s impossible to mix him up and shit like that. I do agree, as should everyone else, that Taskmaster is the epitome of fair. I honestly don’t think anything is unfair about him except maybe his health? But even that isn’t a big deal. Not like Taskmaster is running trains through people. The things that can make Task OD rely on him being on point and most people either have him second or last. I just want him to be a little less of a headache to play in those 2 spots. With some more hit stun on arrows, his combo potential expands just a little/his current combos can be a tad bit easier. PLUS, it should make it easier for him to self OTG since arrow lifts are 1 frame >__>. And having counters he can actually do something off of will make him even more viable/ideal in any position.
My change list for Task:
-Reduce amount of jump frames. Task’s Jump is too floaty and leaves him far too vulnerable to airthrows. Reducing the floatiness of his jump helps improve his mixups and mobility and strengthens his zoning game. Change his jumping frames from 46 frames to 40-41frames or increase active frames on his jumping normals.
-Make his dash startup in 4frames instead of 6frames. The 6frame startup of his dash in comparison to the rest of the cast makes his plinkdash pretty ass in comparison when he was designed to be a strong footsie character.
-Reduce the recovery on grounded mighty swing.
-Give his L + M counters the same knockdown and scaling as Sharp Sting. (his super counter is fine, you can combo off it full screen with a lot of assists).
-Allow him to hold Guard Master H or reduce the recovery by 50%
-Increase hard knockdown time on grounded back throw. (this is a fairly stupid buff I feel though considering the strength of the Shield Skills OS, so I highly doubt we’ll get this).
-Slightly buff the hitbox on L arrows so it hits crouching Morrigan/Ammy/Phoenix properly.
-Make his jumping L angle downward(ie Firebrand), gives him better IOH and mighty swing mixups and makes jumping L useful outside of combos where it’s only use lies.
I think mixing some of your changes with mine would make Task perfect. I’m not sure about anything frame related…I’m not really knowledgeable in those departments.
In regards to his air movement, I kind of don’t mind it. IMO, Taskmaster doesn’t really need to be in the air that much anyway. After breaking my really bad habit of doing air arrows and jumping too much, I realized his ground game is waayyy too solid to go in the air under any circumstance that isn’t defensive.
Same with the dashing stuff…I’m not knowledgeable on frames, but what I will say is Task’s swing compensates for his dashing anyway…being able to plink dash might make him a LITTTTTLE too OD. I DO feel like his BACK dash should be buffed though. Sometimes playing Task, I feel like my only option is to go forward.
We can already cancel swing into an arrow to recover faster though
Yup, same thing I said originally minus the scaling…didn’t think about that
I think he should be able to hold all his counters for a limited time but I guess for the sake of being a bit more fair, I can live with decreases in start up and recovery on Guard Master L and M to be able to hold the H version.
Eh. I think increased HKD on his forward throw is more warranted. He can already get stuff off of it but it is too tricky. They might as well just make it consistent by increasing the knockdown length.
The whiffing arrows doesn’t really bother me…just means I have to adjust my game play for these characters.
Eh…I can live without this.
The only buff I realized I didnt think of….give him the headbutt he does after his unblockable follow up as a command normal with f.M but only make it comboable into Sting Master OR mighty swing.
With the things I said and the things you said that I agree with, I think Task will be complete.
I believe Task needs some improvements on his underrated moves like sword master and counters. My suggestions:
1- improve damage on swordmaster on hit: there is no reason for only 50k (10k if full scaled) on a slow and charged move with no followup. Maybe make it unscaled damage like Spencer’s vertical grapple, or add a wall/ground bounce effect.
2- work his projectile counter as if the sword hits the attacker make them soft/hard/spinning knockdown
3- make his projectile counter, when doing it on beams and other projectiles that can’t be returned, do a different animation that don’t leave him unprotected.
I wouldn’t mind losing it for combos, with a command grab or actually better yet… an unblockable version of sting master would be awesome, of course it would have to be extremely slow ala firebrand… meh…
A command grab would benefit his game plan making him really strong.
To be honest, that is probably one of the worst possible trade offs. Task needs Sting Master for combos/making Shield Skills safe more than anything else. The only other buff to Task that I wouldnt mind seeing is his Headbutt from his unblockable follow up as an overhead. That would be way more of a benefit than taking away a move just so he can have a grab.
we didnt have sting master back in vanilla, so i dont see why we should be missing it if we trade it for something arguably better. Sting master makes the combo strings safe… thats true, but its not the back bone of tasks combos/offensive, a command grab could potentially make him a “better wesker” (minus the teleports), we can already pass through a lot of projectiles with shield skills, it makes sense (IMO) to have somekind of real danger when you have Task really close. Right now if you dont have the right assist, once you are finally close to your opponent, blocking low disarms almost all of Tasks options, you only get, grab or lows frame traps, which is good but not cheap enough.
He needs cheap stuff too…
Better yet, keep sting master, and give a new command grab, take away my laughable “unblockable” and we are “even” in the eyes of capcom…
@Hecrob
Taskmaster did much more damage to compensate for no sting master in Vanilla.
His arrows all did 177,500 instead of 135,400, which is roughly 40 less per full arrow charge. Also, the super scales in damage now instead of barely scaling in Vanilla. His normals also scaled to about 20 percent in Vanilla, compared to 10% now in Ultimate.
I think his minimum damage scaling should be increased to 15% to make up for the slight excess in damage nerfs from Vanilla to Ultimate.
Yeah I sorta kinda can agree with that. But if that is the case, nerf his xfactor damage boost to compensate. Getting decent solo damage with Taskmaster is a headache. You’re lucky if you can hit around the 900k range solo with 2 meters and to break a mil your execution has to be ridiculous AND it might still be character specific.
I personally think that maybe a few tweaks to his hit stun deterioration and/or hit stun might do the trick more so than increasing damage across the board now that I think about it. If you look at where the damage in his combos come from, it’s from j.M, j.H, arrows, shield skills, and mighty swing. Increase the hit stun on those moves and give his down arrows a slightly greater pop up on OTG’s to make his arrow lift not 1 frame, side specific, and character specific, and we solve his damage problem. Plus, we can get some more extended/cuter combos lol.
Taskmaster’s damage output is fine tbh. If you run on him on point he does 800k for 1 bar off a crL, 1 mil off a DHC which is above the average 700-750k that most characters do. His specials scale at 20%, which is pretty good damage at the end of combos(ie Jam Session extension has 6 arrows for 60k, along with the Sharp Sting and Jam Session itself, around 80-90k at max scaling iirc).
I don’t agree with him getting a command grab either. His throw game is strong as it is and it works well as a frame trap low/throw game with the Mighty Swing OS.
What buff I would find cool is removing his current Sword Master unblockable(lol@ making the headbutt overhead when you can pushblock the move and the startup is ass and the followup will always be blockable), and giving Task the ability to charge Sharp Sting for an unblockable like Firebrand can. But that would be too strong and stupid, which isn’t really the direction the game should be going at.
No no no, I meant as in taking that move and making it its own move. Like how they took the ender for the unblockable and made it Sting Master. I mean taking the headbutt move and making it a command normal. f.M since b.H and f.H already have moves assigned to them. If you look at what makes Taskmaster threatening in neutral, it’s really just the threat of getting hit low or grabbed. ESPECIALLY solo. Even when locked down by a point Task, he gets what…like 2 more options? I guess I’m looking at it more from a solo Taskmaster POV since I typically play him anchor or with Spencer assist which doesnt do much in terms of opening up. Based on what this thread has discussed, I feel like this would be good for a patched Task:
Buffs (Note: anything that is italicized is still “up for discussion” so to speak but of course they can all still be discussed)
-Give his counters and unblockable the same knockdown and scaling as Sting Master
-Less start up and recovery on his counters
-Buff start up on his backdash to give him a reliable/viable back wave and plink dashes
-Chargeable/“Hold-Down-Able” counters for a limited duration OR just on his projectile counter and make the duration of the physical counters a little longer
-Reduce amount of frames in the air to deal with his “floating”
-Buff the hit stun on j.M/j.H/mighty swing/shield skills/arrows or nerf the hit stun deterioration on them for longer and more damaging combos
-Give his down arrows A LITTLE more pop up when used as an OTG so his arrow lift isn’t character/side specific
-Change the animation on his projectile counter OR allow him to block immediately when he counters beams. He is really vulnerable and has to spend a meter to stay safe after making a read >_<
Nerfs (Gotta balance it out right?)
-Decrease health to 1.05M
-SLIGHT damage decrease across the board ONLY to compensate for adjusting hit stun/hit stun deterioration. That way if he gets more damaging/extended combos, the damage doesnt skyrocket
-Decrease xfactor damage buff for the same reason as above