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Aquaman Trait Bug allows for "Aquaman Trait Combos"

Ben Reed

Marine Biologist
I haven't played much with this, but if this is really a feature and not a bug, it honestly sounds like overkill given how the rest of Aquaman has changed.

If it's intentional, I guess the design logic is to prevent people from just popping it whenever they gamble on a YOLO move that's not launch punishable, and instead to use it more like a Guilty Gear burst, to escape the very worst part of a combo or a really stupid 50-50 (like in the KF matchup in Inj1). And those situations probably ARE still worth the damage penalty in most cases, at least the ones where the chip literally does not exceed the actual combo damage.

But still, that kinda penalty really strikes me as way too harsh for a move that doesn't get you out of THAT many situations, on a cooldown that long, on a character who now commands far less frame advantage and meterless damage upon escaping a fuckup than he did in the previous game, due both to his own nerfs and new universal changes like air escapes and meter gain nerfs.

I'd wait until I hear authoritative word on whether this is a bug or a feature from NRS, but if it's intentional, man. I don't like it. If the trait's gonna be this bad now, I honestly would prefer that he got a whole new trait a la Harley. I'm not gonna drop him or anything, but...ow.
 
I haven't played much with this, but if this is really a feature and not a bug, it honestly sounds like overkill given how the rest of Aquaman has changed.

If it's intentional, I guess the design logic is to prevent people from just popping it whenever they gamble on a YOLO move that's not launch punishable, and instead to use it more like a Guilty Gear burst, to escape the very worst part of a combo or a really stupid 50-50 (like in the KF matchup in Inj1). And those situations probably ARE still worth the damage penalty in most cases, at least the ones where the chip literally does not exceed the actual combo damage.

But still, that kinda penalty really strikes me as way too harsh for a move that doesn't get you out of THAT many situations, on a cooldown that long, on a character who now commands far less frame advantage and meterless damage upon escaping a fuckup than he did in the previous game, due both to his own nerfs and new universal changes like air escapes and meter gain nerfs.

I'd wait until I hear authoritative word on whether this is a bug or a feature from NRS, but if it's intentional, man. I don't like it. If the trait's gonna be this bad now, I honestly would prefer that he got a whole new trait a la Harley. I'm not gonna drop him or anything, but...ow.
Its so early I hate to be prognosticating and I'm not opposed to buffing depending on how things go....but I honestly do see the logic in it for the reasons you mentioned.

Like you said: air escapes are now a universal mechanic. Adding Aquaman's trait onto that gives him even *more* defensive options than he already had...and it kinda sorta makes sense as a weakness given how trident rush chip works.

Given that you need a launcher to get the most damaging combos/juggles in the game and it forces your opponent to be aware to not dial in an unsafe string....I still think it will be useful in high level play once people adjust.

It just may not be a top 3 trait anymore.
 

Invincible Salads

Seeker of knowledge
okay, time to drop aquman u.u itsbeen fun.

ok maybe not, ill just get better at roll escapes....is it best to just mash those?

still an extremely solid character, just wish they'd reduce the damage he takes while traited.
 
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Redk9

Noob
With air teching, wager, and trait I can understand why Aquaman has to pushblock after using trait. Thats a lot of options to escape combos
 
I like Tom Brady videos but in the same opening combo that Black Adam did if Aquaman didn't use his trait BA could deal around 50%, so overall you saved yourself around 20% if I'm not wrong, and probably can save more or less in different Match ups, so it's pretty good trait
 

Ben Reed

Marine Biologist
I'm still at a loss to how this trait even works.
People give some confusing descriptions of it, but the way it works, literally, is this:

When you activate Water of Life, Aquaman temporarily takes dramatically reduced non-knockdown hitstun from the next attack (i forget whether it affects multiple attacks) he receives. To the point where strings that naturally combo on hit won't combo anymore. Aquaman will recover in time to block the rest of the string.

And he's allowed to pop Water of Life in any state while the game is in progress, even if he's in the air or flat on his ass from a knockdown. (Don't pop it there, of course; it does you no good.) So he can use the trait not just reactively, but predictively, to avoid punishes when you can't be launched by the first move in a punish combo. (e.g. b2, oh fuck it got blocked, pop 4)

So when people describe his trait as a combo breaker, that's what they mean. However, the effect only works on hitstun from attacks that don't knock down. So if you want to escape a combo with it, you need to pop Water of Life before you get launched.

Since the trait has so many drawbacks now, you need to be very selective of when you pop it. You should generally only reserve it for situations where you'd take way more damage from eating the combo or mixup than you would from taking the chip on block. I still don't like how the trait is right now, but I'm not ready to call it utterly useless/counterproductive now. Knowledge is key now to know when trait really is the preferable option in a bad situation.
 

rubmytaco

CarriedByClone
Uhmmm.. How about pushblock? I don't see this as being a bad thing. It just brings more depth to the trait.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
We could pushblock, but the character is meter hungry so it kinda blows to have to pushblock to make the trait do what it's supposed to do. But I guess it is what it is, better than nothing.
 

Invincible Salads

Seeker of knowledge
still seems pretty useful, it'll stop you from being launched or knocked down, and you can potentially punish your opponent if they used a punishable launcher, so this trait is still really useful.
 

M.D.

Spammer. Crouch walk hater.
We could pushblock, but the character is meter hungry so it kinda blows to have to pushblock to make the trait do what it's supposed to do. But I guess it is what it is, better than nothing.
Translation: It kinda blows to actually have some sort of balance instead of steamrolling 90% of the cast