OMG....Aquaman is soooo broken...no AM in top 16 at Fall Classic, yet he's sooo broken...
Allow me to share some much need knowledge here....
First, before all of you undoubtedly blow me up.. Yes, I have fallen very short of just how good I truely am in tourneys. I have been plagued by Black Adam for months now in every major, and it was almost 100% guaranteed that TO's had 99999 Black Adam's in my pools/brackets. Black Adam has been the story of my tourney career post ECT Aquaman. After countless losses to Black Adam, I finally decided enough was enough and trained with Rico a lot. Finally, more ready for Black Adam, I head to TFC and get the other two MU's that I hate.. mainly because how I fight them is based off of ECT Aquaman and not what I have now. I have not ground those Mu's and it obviously showed. In the next patch, I will SERIOUSLY grind out the three MU's I am not comfortable with and then all will be well and again I will be right back in GF and top 3's/5's.
I have BY FAR the most Aquaman exp out of ANY Aquaman player. Most top players not using one of three characters get absolutely demolished simply because I have ground out most of the MU's and know how to abuse just how unfair Aquaman really is in those fights. No matter how many of you have gone on and on about "Tom doesn't know the Black Adam MU" let me remind you that Rico has CRUSHED every Aquaman 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 3-0 etc.... I am the ONLY one who has ever beaten him in a single tournament set and even most of my losing sets have been 2-1, 3-2 etc.. except for one GF set where I lost 3-1, 3-1. I also see so many Aquaman players say how they got the Harley MU, NW MU, etc etc.. then, in offline sets/tournaments vs the best players, they get the absolute shit beat out of them.
Why have I not gone online and ground out those MU's? Because online SERIOUSLY causes an illusion as to what to do, specifically vs characters like Superman which is the ultimate point here....
I have always wondered why Aquaman player use certain tactics offline and seem surprised by failure. I have often wondered how so many Aquaman players just DO NOT have the same success in top offline play vs the Harley's, Nightwing's etc that they all claim to "normally have". Now, I'm not talking about anything besides success vs the absolute best players, not just anyone and definitely not online no matter who you are fighting.
The reason why Aquaman's TRUE brokenness is not seen is because most Aquaman players mainly get Mu exp vs at least 80% of the cast from online and here in lies the issue..
I played TRY HARD today and the connection was bad enough for him to get away with absolute murder. After blocking a jump in, I couldnt even low block the B+1, it was literally guaranteed. At closer ranges, I had no chance of AA him unless I predicted a jump and mashed uppercut long before he even left the ground... there were so many things and many of you will indeed say "W/E tom.. adapt to online bitch" but will will totally miss the point, which is surely not winning or losing online lol... If I could get a guaranteed B+1 after a blocked jump in, I promise you that I would NEVER lose to any Black Adam lol.
A lot of what he did is what I see so many Aquaman players try offline, only to find out the truth.. THAT SHIT IS FOOLS GOLD...
I consider much of what he did to be EXCELLENT online strats, so I am here to educate you in hopes to improve everyone Aquaman game...
1. After a blocked jump in or neutral jump attack, mix up B1 with B2:
Absolutely terrible idea. Online, it can be easy to convince yourself that you are actually out smarting someone and "mixing them up" but this is the absolute furthest thing from the truth. You can EASILY block the low, and if there is no low and they use B+2, its easy to SEE the B+2 and high block. At the highest level vs the vest best, they will block this "mix up" 100%..
Even mixing up B+1 and B+2 at neutral will NEVER work. You can commit to blocking the low, then rise to block the B+2 on reaction.
2. F+13/F+1 then B+1 for a 50/50:
Great mix up right? FALSE.. Against well schooled opponents this will never, ever, EVER hit. The only TRUE mix up is F+1, then max delayed 3 or mix up with max delayed Trident Scoop. The problem is that you can see Aquaman recover from F+1 and know there is now no overhead coming. Even if you try to F+1 and then wait until you recover, and then B+2, its still WAY too slow and easy to guard. Well schooled opponents block F+1 and then remain in high block until they see the F+1 recovery, and then they low block, totally killing the safe "mix up". A player like Rico Suave or REO block this 100% of the time, these days my chances of hitting this "mix up" on players like this is 0.0%.
Using F+1 then max delay 3 or low scoop makes the mix up VERY hard to block. Also, F+13 or F+1 then B+1 BOTH lose out to MB B+3/F+3 where as F+1~delayed scoop does not. You now have a 50/50 that the opponent must guess on and where one option cannot be beaten with armor. A player like Rico FORCES me to use this mix up as its the only real 50/50 I have. When he guesses scoop, he punishes me with MB Lightning Storm for guaranteed 18% and I get knocked back where I must again chase him down. Even worse, I have to activate Trait in case he decides to B+23 me for even more damage. I am forced to lose 18% AND waste my Trait to protect myself from an even worse fate.
Online, in avg to worse connections, F+13/F+1 then B+1 is a TRUE 50/50. The command to low block will simply not come out fast enough if you wait until you actually SEE Aquaman recover from F+1. You must now guess the low and commit to it so that the command registers fast enough for you to block. This creates a false 50/50 and negates ANY MU exp you have where this is even 1% of your strategy.
Since top opponents FORCE me to use F+1~delayed scoop (which is unsafe), I at least get damage off of the safe F+13 which recovers at 0. You can confirm F+1 blocked and then confirm the 3 has hit, then you have enough time to MB FTD then dash in and B+12~scoop, F+2~1+3 for around 30%. This at least gives you one safe option when hunting a 50/50. Online however you can forget this. The odds of consistently hit confirming only the second hit of F+13 connecting, then reacting in time and getting the FTD command out fast enough after the confirm in an avg connection is near ZERO! This forces F+13~scoop/FTD in order to hunt an actual combo. This is the worst thing you can ever do vs top players offline, yet online it becomes a necessary in a lot of connections.
3. B+2~low scoop on block:
Worst idea EVER!!!! Even I use it sometimes online because for me, landing B+2 then juggling with B+12 feels almost impossible in most connections. Also, because half of the time ppl cant block it online even when they try lol. Now, some idiot will say "Tom you bum, after B+2 just input B+12 faster then usual".. True, but then go offline and try that same timing that you have now ingrained into your muscle memory and then tell me who the fool is.
Fact is that so many Aquaman players use these tactics and mix ups as a big part of how they get their damage. Then, when they FINALLY play one of the best players in the world AND that player is WELL SCHOOLED vs Aquaman, all of what you think works becomes "fuck... it doesnt work"...
Now, you can actually realizes that many of you do this, or sit in denial and say "Tom you scrub, we dont ever do these things, gtfo..".
Anyway, I wish you all the best in the next patch.
about the wakeups, guess i just have to deal with having bad wakeups, (cause i also use batman haha) if only aqua's backdash is as good as bats, or just make the if they could make d2 f3 or b3 counted as a wakeup with invinci frames, hahaha, yes the shield is slow on start and you can get stuffed easily, thanks for the tip, guess ill just have to play more carefully and patiently with aquaman!