NorCal Joe's Guide to Risk vs. Reward and the Sinestro MU:
Over the course of my time with Injustice, I have played Nightwing, and only Nightwing. I have played many fighting games over the course of my youth, but Injustice marks the first fighter I have ever taken to a competitive level.
I have been grinding the Sinestro MU with Nightwing for the last 8 months. Between the Nightwing nerfs and the Sinestro buffs - the MU hasn't become any easier, but I have learned many, many things about Nightwing, about Sinestro and about fighting games in general. That is what I am going to share with you in this thread.
So let's get started.
THE GAME PLAN:
Before you sit down to fight any character, especially Sinestro - you need to be going in with a gameplan, specifically this gameplan: Corner and apply pressure.
Nightwing's game plan isn't "I'm going to use this mixup" or "this tech will blow him up." That stuff is great for what it is - it will expose players who don't understand the MU or Nightwing as a character, it will expose players who have shitty defense or catch people with their pants down. What happens when you fight a player who isn't getting opened up? What are you going to do when you can't throw him, you can't seem to get a hit, and he's not swinging on your frame traps? The first time I ever threw cross up j2 flipkick at PR Balrog - he fucking blocked it. Can you imagine how mind fucked I was when my sickest mixup that EVERYONE gets hit by was blocked? It immediately sent the message home - I can't rely on my opponent to give me the game.
When you play Nightwing in Injustice - you need to understand that in many cases - the key to consistent success is actively outplaying your opponent. You're not getting your wins on autopilot. The best way to do this is with immaculate pressure best achieved by placing your opponent in the corner.
From this point forward you are going to think of this game as a collection of resources. The resources you are going to be hoarding are:
1. Meter
2. Health
3. Time
4. Space
These are precious resources, made even more so precious by the nature of this match up. Every bit of your risk/reward will be weighted against the above. Every spacing consideration, every combo you execute, every time you want to challenge a wakeup or go for a cross up - you will consider all of the above. If you don't know what I am talking about or you don't understand these 4 things - that's fine, I will discuss each of these things in depth as we continue, but for now I want these engraved in your mind.
Fighting Mid Stage:
Zoning characters in Injustice love holding back. Dashes are extremely punishable and they will work to exploit this. You must understand that dashing is your reward for blocking, not vice versa. You will walk. However painful it may be. So long as Sinestro is holding back, you will hold forward. What we are doing here is hoarding the most critical of resources in this MU - space. When you walk forward you are claiming all that is behind you for your own. Initially, it may not seem like much, but very quickly your opponent will realize he is walking himself into the corner. When this happens, you force him to commit to something. This is where the MU is won. Space control.
When Sinestro stands his ground you have to consider your spacing. You want to fight this MU just outside of Sinestro's jump arc which coincidentally is approximately his b12 max distance. Your best tool in this matchup is the Escrima Spark. When spaced and timed correctly this can be used to simultaneously duck and disrupt Sinestro's fear blasts. This may also be used as a tool to harass Sinestro's ring charges. By throwing Escrima Sparks you begin to condition your opponent to be more reserved with his horizontal space control efforts. However - Sinestro will beat this option with Boulder outright. He will get damage. He will get trait charge. He will recover space. This is counter productive to Nightwing winning the MU. When you see Sinestro begin to throw boulders, you must recognize that you are conditioning this behavior. This opens the window for Escrima Spark Dash Cancels. Boulders are absurdly unsafe. Boulders have incredible start up. Traitless boulders are a cry for help. An appropriately spaced Escrima Spark Dash Cancel to whiff a boulder - is a full combo and a corner carry. This is what we want. This is how we win.
If I'm making it sound easy, it's because I am. The reality is you will have to make critical reads at this range consistently. Both Escrima Spark and Wingdings - your key harassing tools, are beaten by one move - Boulder. Should you make one bad read on an Escrima spark - you're eating a boulder and giving Sinestro trait. Should you miss your spacing with wingdings - you're eating a fear blast, being sent to full screen AND allowing Sinestro trait. Should Sinestro READ your wingdings - you're eating a boulder, being sent to full screen AND allowing your opponent to build trait. Should you lose anywhere in your neutral game - Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. You're back to square one and that much closer to declaring bankruptcy.
"but Joe! when do I get to press buttons?!"
There may come a point when Sinestro will get sick of your Escrima Spark/SparkCancel horseshit. This is when boulders aren't working, this is when fear blasts aren't working. This is when you aren't giving the match away with wreckless dashing and whiff punished b2s. The best example of this I can think of - B2 loses outright to Air Fear Axe. Our best footsie tool is negated entirely by Air Fear Axe. I have personally witnessed b2 whiffing straight through Sinestro. The problem is that b2 is only a functional normal so long as your opponent stays grounded. b2 loses to jump ins, b2 loses to Air Fear Axe. b2 however, spaced correctly - beats Sinestro's b12. b2 also works wonders for punishing opponents attempting to dash in.
Alternatively, Nightwing can jump into the air with j3, and then delayed cancel the whiff into wingdings. j3 is arguably one of the best air to air normals in the game, unfortunately it's hitbox and Nightwing's jump arc means that Nightwing has to already be on top of his opponent. You will have to make the read, and if you make an incorrect read - you must follow up with MB wingdings to make yourself safe. This however, effectively ends your pressure. It should also be noted that j3 will lose to neutral jump fear axe if you're looking for them to jump forward. The read has to be spot on. Getting consistent reads with j3 will be key to convincing your opponent that his Air Fear Axe is figured out and he'll have to beat you honestly.
How to get in with spark cancels:
To get in with spark cancels you need to condition your opponent to block them. This can be done by ducking a fear blast with escrima spark. Your opponent will be -18. This gives you the opportunity to dash in once for free. Immediately after dashing, escrima spark again. Now the mixup here is whether you are going to let it rip or if you are going to dash in b2. The mixup really isn't that special - if your opponent isn't afraid of the ground spark he can b12 punish your dash - but that's the mixup. For this reason, occasionally I will dash in their face and let an Escrima spark rip. I communicate to my opponent that I'm not afraid to do it. If he eats that second ground spark - at that range - you're in his face. His other option is to neutral jump axe or jump in on your projectile attack. The risk here is real - but the reward is the opportunity to work your opponent up close.
Fighting your opponent cornered:
Before we get started in how to fight your cornered opponent, let's talk about what it means to have your opponent cornered. Go to training mode. Push your opponent to the corner. Perform Staff stand 2. Back up until you are doing staff stand 2 at maximum reach distance. This is the default range for Nightwing players across the board. If you are having difficulty reading your opponent. If you feel even the slightest bit concerned about your ability to contain your opponent. This is where you will stand. Going forward into fighting your cornered opponent - I will not cover the numerous mixups, setups, cross ups or any other horseshit shenanigans - my objective is simple. Containment.
You have finally got your opponent cornered. Here is where you want your opponent. The single most important aspect of the match is containing your opponent to that corner. All of Nightwing's best mixups, all of Nightwing's high damage combos, all of Nightwing's effectiveness - relies on your ability to contain your opponent in that corner. Unless you got some great reads early on - you will be depending on this corner containment to win a favorable life lead precluding your opponent's clash.
"But Joe! I can't d1 from here! This is insane!" mashing d1 against your opponent isn't going to win you a game. j2 1f1 ground pound isn't going to win you a game. Remember, we're not talking about how to beat xXxYOLOSWAGMLG420xXx in some meaningless online ranked match. All of your mixups are failing you. This guy can't be opened up on defense. So how do you win?
By keeping your opponent contained, he can no longer whiff punish you. You are whiff punishing him. By keeping your opponent contained he no longer has the freedom of back dashing out of pressure. You limit his options so intensely that every decision becomes an unfavorable decision. Dashing forward? Eat a staff standing 1. Neutral jumping? Eat a staff standing 2. Whiffing a normal? Staff standing 1. Trying to jump out? Air to air j2. All of these strikes lead to full corner combo. You don't need to have incredible reactions because the staff does all the work. The spacing I described allows for a degree of forgiveness. Maybe you didn't expect him to attempt jumping over you three fucking times in a row? Well, you had the space to see it coming before you had to do something about it.
Another reason why we stand at maximum standing 2 range. Unless you are going for a MB F3 on your opponent's wakeup - back off a little. You do not want to give up the corner because you got hit with some stupid brain dead wakeup that in hindsight you should have seen coming. And the last thing you need is for your opponent to wake up with throw. Should your opponent wake up with back throw - you now own the least amount of space - your most desired resource.
Also, if you are standing directly on top of your opponent and they wake up with a jump forward - they've just got away with murder and the pressure is off.
Fighting the Clock. A brief overview of Risk vs. Reward and Fighting Traited Sinestro
In case you hadn't noticed a trend. Much of the discussion above pertained heavily to risk vs. reward. And so will the discussion revolving around fighting traited Sinestro.
A traited up Sinestro changes the entire matchup in so far that the risk vs. reward is heavily in his favor in so many indescribable ways.
So instead of going down every possible situation let's do some specific theory fighting.
You've fought the matchup correctly. You have the life lead up by 40%. Sinestro is at 30% health no longer has clash and he's just traited up completely. He has 3 bars of trait, 4 bars of meter and he's full screen. There is 35 seconds left on the clock.
In this situation. I would just walk forward. No dashing. I will eat all the chip. At this rate I am trying to exhaust his resources. He will burn his meter as I approach. He might even try to catch me walking forward with his trait - burning one of those as well. I will get close enough for him to jump in. I'll block the jump in. He might go for frame traps or unblockable setups. I want him burning that trait. The more mixups and frame traps he puts me in - the more I have him burning that trait off hoping I take a swing.
Sinestro's strings aren't difficult to block. They're just awkward. Start blocking in the standing position, - then block low. This works for all of his strings. None of them are really mixups. They're just awkward as fuck to block.
I will let him get away with murder. If he goes for a grab. I will try to late tech, otherwise I will eat the grab as well. I will take the 10%.
"Why Joe? Why are you letting him get away with all this shit?" Because so long as I have the life lead - I am going to win by default. If I play it patiently enough, the timer will do all the work for me. Eventually he is going to burn through his resources, he is going to make a critical mistake. He HAS to do something wild to make something happen before the timer runs out otherwise he will lose.
Does this mean every time Sinestro has trait I am going to let him walk all over me? No. Ask Cowboy how much I give a fuck about his trait if an interactable OTG gives it to him in the first 15 seconds. I go in. I disrespect it. I'll burn all the resources I have to get him off of it.
I'm cutting this short. I hope this is helpful. I'm very willing to discuss NW's bad MUs. I have ground out his bad MUs obsessively and have a considerable amount of experience with Cyborg, Black Adam, and Hawkgirl. Unfortunately I haven't played Injustice in nearly a month so my knowledge won't be relevant for much longer. Jago is a considerably better character than Nightwing. I'm enjoying having anti airs and walkspeed and shit.
