Anti-Armor/Breakaway moves revealed on Kombat Kast

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1262840289045237763

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1263202057718099968

Aside from a pretty swaggy Fujin, a brief summary for those who didn't watch.

• One Anti-Armor/Breakaway move with different properties per character.
• New leveling augment system will add some life to the single player game (although a bit grindy I imagine)
• Briefly saw retrokade example of MK3 Church/Cathedral stage. (looks to be a pseudo-3rd projection of old stages, similar to what KI has)

Seems like a pretty good quality of life update overall (and we don't even know the other character specific adjustments yet either).

Also stream for Robocop and Sheeva this coming Monday!

 

I think a lot of the issues brought up in this post by @MachinayRequiem are going to apply to most of these breakers. What it really comes down to is just making a read. Right now, if I read that my opponent is going to break, I'll d2 and get a nice chunk of damage. Not full kombo damage, for sure, but usually decent damage. And now I have the advantage next to my opponent who can't wake up. With these breakers, I have to make the same read, just with the payoff of additional damage in exchange for giving up my oki options against the meterless opponent. And if you read incorrectly and they don't break, you've still given up your kombo, but you'll almost certainly be doing less damage than if you had done a d2.

When it comes to Fatal Blows, it's the same deal; it all comes down to a read. If you read your opponent is going to FB, you can use your move to break their armor and get some damage. But most Fatal Blows are full-kombo punishable already, so if you make that same read, you can just block and punish with zero risk. Using an armor-breaking move comes with the risk of mistiming or misspacing it and getting blown up, or having it blocked and punished. But there's very little risk in just blocking and punishing.

The major issue this doesn't address is that you can still get full-kombo punished by a character who breaks out of your kombo.

And it remains to be seen, but from what's been shown so far, it seems easy enough to avoid these armor-breaking moves altogether. For instance, with Shao Kahn, he's gotta spend meter and immediately go for the break. If you see that he doesn't go for it, then you're free to break without consequence.

So, overall, I don't believe this new mechanic will significantly alter the meta and I don't think it addresses the issues that most people disliked about breakers. If anything, it just adds one more level of complexity that NRS now has to balance between characters and variations. Characters like Jacqui still get to ignore it. Characters like Skarlet will still suffer from the breakaway mechanic while other characters will benefit from these changes substantially. The more I think about it, the more I believe it was a step in the wrong direction.

 

So Armour Break costs meter? I think I missed that on the Kast. Ok, makes more sense now. Thanks.

I think it depends on the character. Shao's does, but that's because it's based on an amplified special. I don't think Scorpion or SZ had to spend meter on theirs.

 

I think it depends on the character. Shao's does, but that's because it's based on an amplified special. I don't think Scorpion or SZ had to spend meter on theirs.

This is my original Q... If there's no risk or cost on the attacker's part, then why not just go for AB every time, Breakaway read or no read?
It feels like the only loss on the attacker's part is that they purposefully drop their combo to read a Breakaway and AB. But either way, they're kind of guaranteed a full combo or a chunk of damage. If AB doesnt cost anything, then why have Breakaway exist at all?

I'm not being argumentative here, I'm legit just trying to understand how this becomes a mind-game, or a risk-reward deal, if AB is free and the attacker has nothing on the table. For example, if you Counter-Breakered in KI, you drop you combo and open yourself up. Get the read wrong and you've lost your flow.

 

This is my original Q... If there's no risk or cost on the attacker's part, then why not just go for AB every time, Breakaway read or no read?
It feels like the only loss on the attacker's part is that they they purposefully dropping your combo to read a Breakaway and AB. But either way, you kind of guaranteed a full combo or a chunk of damage. If AB doesnt cost anything, then why have Breakaway at all?

I'm not being argumentative here, I'm legit just trying to understand how this becomes a mind-game, if AB is free and the attacker has nothing on the table.

Because Scorpion would still do a lot more damage with F3, 11, spear than only B3.

 

So Armour Break costs meter? I think I missed that on the Kast. Ok, makes more sense now. Thanks.

I mean it would be OP if it didn't. I didn't watch the Kast though so I can look it up, I just assumed it did or that would be wack.

EDIT: actually they don't. WACK.

 

This is my original Q... If there's no risk or cost on the attacker's part, then why not just go for AB every time, Breakaway read or no read?
It feels like the only loss on the attacker's part is that they they purposefully dropping your combo to read a Breakaway and AB. But either way, you kind of guaranteed a full combo or a chunk of damage. If AB doesnt cost anything, then why have Breakaway at all?

I'm not being argumentative here, I'm legit just trying to understand how this becomes a mind-game, if AB is free and the attacker has nothing on the table.

I think it will depend on the character. But the intended design seems to be to force a decision between, "Do I try to finish my kombo for maximum damage/setup or do I risk losing all that to potentially punish a breakaway". Using a breaker is always going to be less optimal against a non-breaking opponent than finishing your kombo, so you would only go for it if you think your opponent is going to break.

 

Because Scorpion would still do a lot more damage with F3, 11, spear than only B3.

But it's not just B3, it's B3 into combo, at least for Scorpion.

Anti-Armor/Breakaway moves revealed on Kombat Kast

I have called for this exact change for months. It would only serve as a healthy alteration to the game. You sure about that? Have fun eating 60% combos because your opponent is furiously mashing d2 while you just barely input a jab

testyourmight.com

 

But it's not just B3, it's B3 into combo, at least for Scorpion.

Anti-Armor/Breakaway moves revealed on Kombat Kast

I have called for this exact change for months. It would only serve as a healthy alteration to the game. You sure about that? Have fun eating 60% combos because your opponent is furiously mashing d2 while you just barely input a jab

testyourmight.com

Sure if they breakaway. Did you read what ScreamQueen asked? If armor break moves don't cost anything and you don't have meter, isn't it better to go for armor break move regardless if you read breakaway or not. And my answer is no, it's not better because for some characters, meterless full combo still does way more than only armor break move. So it's still a read.

Not only that, some moves and I think it will apply to Scorpion's B3 as well even though it's faster, it probably still won't be fast enough to hit if they don't breakaway. So you aren't even getting a little chunk of damage from it. You get nothing.

 

Wakeup u3

Let this post be a hard lesson to all those who seek to look cool with the coffee emoji!

 

Wake up attacks don't have armor.

You're right my donkey brain for some reason mixed u3 invincibility with u3 armor.

 

Idk man I’ve had enough hits absorbed by breakaway armor to know you can definitely tag someone with a special cancel in most combos.

I still think youre wrong, I know that off every juggle with Liu, you either special instantly or they fall too fast. Cancelling a normal into the specials wont work. I labbed this in preparation for the patch last night. Unless youre talking about strings that launch and are special cancellable, I guess. Idk. Have an example?

 

What if you do your anti-breakaway move and they DON'T breakaway? Will it be like beforehand when people would prematurely end their combos with a D2, just with a different button this time?

No, Because now that breakaway have risk both players will have to respect each other's options equally. I take it ppl will now opt to finish their combos a lot more than going for the d2/armorbreaker while banking on the opponents fear from using breakaway so predictably.

 

Some characters have more than 1 breaker.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1263529139769937923

 

The only affect this will have on the meta is people getting punished by it in the first week because when to breakaway is muscle memory at this point.

After that.... well, pointless change.

 

Some characters have more than 1 breaker.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1263529139769937923

Well, that confirms that some variations don't have a breaker. Meanwhile, Jacqui and others still get to ignore the entire system with 30%+ unbreakable kombos. This stupid mechanic fixes nothing.

 

Well, that confirms that some variations don't have a breaker. Meanwhile, Jacqui and others still get to ignore the entire system with 30%+ unbreakable kombos. This stupid mechanic fixes nothing.

There are still other balance changes we haven't seen yet. Lets wait and see what's in the patch notes. Maybe Jacqui is new Shao. Hopefully.

 

Well, that confirms that some variations don't have a breaker. Meanwhile, Jacqui and others still get to ignore the entire system with 30%+ unbreakable kombos. This stupid mechanic fixes nothing.

Man, chill, at least wait for the patch notes, they will be changing the general balance as well.

 

Well, that confirms that some variations don't have a breaker. Meanwhile, Jacqui and others still get to ignore the entire system with 30%+ unbreakable kombos. This stupid mechanic fixes nothing.

You misunderstand the tweet

 

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1263513901637001217

She clearly says Kitana v3 doesn't have an armor break here.

 

Faith's starting to wane a bit, but at this point I can only imagine that certain variations, especially ones that already achieve good unbreakable damage won't have armor breakers. But now I can't help but feel that there was a less complicated way to address breakaway.

 

Faith's starting to wane a bit, but at this point I can only imagine that certain variations, especially ones that already achieve good unbreakable damage won't have armor breakers. But now I can't help but feel that there was a less complicated way to address breakaway.

I miss good ol' breakers.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

This is a huge fatal blow nerf.

Well I'm happy now hopefully there are more recovery frames after fatal blow cancels from Cage and Joker. I don't think adding that in was a good idea.

 

Man, why don't you guys just play street fighter. That shit has been the same since 92.

 

Well I'm happy now hopefully there are more recovery frames after fatal blow cancels from Cage and Joker. I don't think adding that in was a good idea.

I'm pretty sure that will remove literally all their usefulness.

 

Man, chill, at least wait for the patch notes, they will be changing the general balance as well.

The problem is that this change is independent of other balance changes, barring any sort of major overhaul that removes unbreakable damage from the game. It doesn't address the fundamental issues anyone had with the breaker system, while introducing a host of new balancing issues. Hopefully I'm wrong, but right now I feel like it was an idiotic and thoughtless design choice.