What's new

Lord Raiden General Discussion Thread

Zviko

Noob
Players who know the MU wouldn’t let you get to the storm cell part because they flawless block and punish B31, so having B31 2+4 armour break is not really meaningful.
I mean, I can do that too but even pros don't flawless block every gap every single time. Also, we are talking about on hit, not on block. Why would I even do storm cell on block after that string.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
Players who know the MU wouldn’t let you get to the storm cell part because they flawless block and punish B31, so having B31 2+4 armour break is not really meaningful.
I was talking about B31 on hit. I don't mind the gap on block, it is what it is. My issue is that there's literally nothing Raiden can do if the opponent breaks after the 1. Even if you know the opponent is going to break, you can't finish the string or cancel into any kind of special move for damage. I feel like there should be a trade off where if I can choose to go for less damage, but have it be guaranteed damage.
 

Mandolore1123

Man of Science Who Wields the Living Lightning
I was talking about B31 on hit. I don't mind the gap on block, it is what it is. My issue is that there's literally nothing Raiden can do if the opponent breaks after the 1. Even if you know the opponent is going to break, you can't finish the string or cancel into any kind of special move for damage. I feel like there should be a trade off where if I can choose to go for less damage, but have it be guaranteed damage.
You can fly cancel and get the knockdown pressure. If they break then their defense bar recharges far longer than ours so we definitely have the advantage. I get that it’s stupid that you get punished for hit confirming but it is what it is. Your suggestion to armour break will only apply to TW and doesn’t apply to any other variation, hence why I said it was meaningless
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
You can fly cancel and get the knockdown pressure. If they break then their defense bar recharges far longer than ours so we definitely have the advantage. I get that it’s stupid that you get punished for hit confirming but it is what it is. Your suggestion to armour break will only apply to TW and doesn’t apply to any other variation, hence why I said it was meaningless
It wouldn't just apply to TW, I'm talking about the 2+4 part of the string. Even if it didn't armor break, if it could just complete the string and not whiff, giving the additional damage, that would be fine.
 

Mandolore1123

Man of Science Who Wields the Living Lightning
It wouldn't just apply to TW, I'm talking about the 2+4 part of the string. Even if it didn't armor break, if it could just complete the string and not whiff, giving the additional damage, that would be fine.
I guess if they sped up the startup on the last hit you’d get the hit fast enough before they reach the ground, though this would be a pretty minor change. I can get behind it but I don’t see much usage for this beyond allowIng TW to not have to spend bar to state safe on hit. I say that this only applies to TW because only TW gets a meaningful use out of this change, the other two variations have 0 reason not to hit confirm into summon lightning to both get the armour break and get more damage, especially since the hit box of DB2 was buffed. And if you want to use the string in TW, might as well bait the break and not do storm cell, or react with fly cancel and let them waste their bar, or just do B3 stand alone which is slightly safer, and grants massive hit advantage for you to jail into another mix. Again, not saying I don’t want buffs, I just feel that the 2+4 itself is just pretty useless in general, and even when they buffed it to come out on block, they never actually addressed why this string is problematic in the first place, which is the huge FB gap and that even if you try to stagger you’re -9
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
the other two variations have 0 reason not to hit confirm into summon lightning to both get the armour break and get more damage, especially since the hit box of DB2 was buffed
Summon Lighting doesn't connect. At least not against Jacqui. They drop out of the B31 too fast.
 

B W1zZ

Noob
A 3rd variation. No idea why this wasn’t added in the patch when literally everyone else in the game has one.
This variation isn't as bad as people make it out to be (that's always been the case with Raiden in general) but you do have to be on point, tight with your frames, and have solid matchup knowledge, which in my opinion is why it has it's reputation. People want easy gratification and don't want to put in the work using the tools available without calls for buffs or excuses. I think it could use a little help though.

I would want to see meter burn jo push whiffing issues fixed (happens when you are in the corner), and jo push/lightning rod being less negative on block, faster startup, or even added pushback on block.

I also think B31 shouldn't have a gap, 321 gap should only be flawless blockable, and that F3 shouldn't lose to a low profiling poke. S3 being a mid or a frame or 2 faster startup would be nice as well, but it's still possible to jail it off of D3 on hit and anti air crossups.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
This variation isn't as bad as people make it out to be
All due respect, I think it is. I'm always super hesitant to complain, but the 3rd variation is completely redundant. There's no reason to pick it over the other two other than just to try something different. No corner carry, worse mobility, worse damage, no additional safety. And the Lightning Rod doesn't actually offer any better zoning or setups. It doesn't offer any better matchups. There's just no reason to pick T&L right now.
 

B W1zZ

Noob
All due respect, I think it is. I'm always super hesitant to complain, but the 3rd variation is completely redundant. There's no reason to pick it over the other two other than just to try something different. No corner carry, worse mobility, worse damage, no additional safety. And the Lightning Rod doesn't actually offer any better zoning or setups. It doesn't offer any better matchups. There's just no reason to pick T&L right now.
It's a weird variation, and there are a lot of small nuances, different kinds of mixups, setups, and ways of controlling space that aren't present in the other variations.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
It's a weird variation, and there are a lot of small nuances, different kinds of mixups, setups, and ways of controlling space that aren't present in the other variations.

Would you care to elaborate? I actually do play T&L, mostly because I'm pretty casual and W/L doesn't matter much to me anyways, but can you actually show any advantages to playing T&L over TW or R?
 

B W1zZ

Noob
Would you care to elaborate? I actually do play T&L, mostly because I'm pretty casual and W/L doesn't matter much to me anyways, but can you actually show any advantages to playing T&L over TW or R?
To do that and show how all the pieces fit into a bigger picture I would have to put time and effort into some kind of detailed video tutorial, not sure if I want to yet. Here are a few match vids I made playing randos from like a month ago, I've made developments since and play a bit different now.


 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
To do that and show how all the pieces fit into a bigger picture I would have to put time and effort into some kind of detailed video tutorial, not sure if I want to yet. Here are a few match vids I made playing randos from like a month ago, I've made developments since and play a bit different now.


What I'm saying though is that there's very little that you did in those matchups that you couldn't have also done with either TW or Raijin.
 

B W1zZ

Noob
What I'm saying though is that there's very little that you did in those matchups that you couldn't have also done with either TW or Raijin.
It's a different set of tools with a different meta behind it and theres a lot I didn't do as well. MB lightning rod does offer additional safety, more times than not in my experience and can lead to some nasty conversions and sequences. Really depends on the matchup, against heavy zoners/runaway I prefer to use TW but can still manage vs most of the cast. All of the little things add up.
 

Mandolore1123

Man of Science Who Wields the Living Lightning
Summon Lighting doesn't connect. At least not against Jacqui. They drop out of the B31 too fast.
Really? However in any case the string is still problematic and I honestly don’t think that buffing the last hit will affect any meaningful change. I don’t mind it but until they fix what wrong with it there still isn’t much point in using that string.
This variation isn't as bad as people make it out to be (that's always been the case with Raiden in general) but you do have to be on point, tight with your frames, and have solid matchup knowledge, which in my opinion is why it has it's reputation. People want easy gratification and don't want to put in the work using the tools available without calls for buffs or excuses. I think it could use a little help though.

I would want to see meter burn jo push whiffing issues fixed (happens when you are in the corner), and jo push/lightning rod being less negative on block, faster startup, or even added pushback on block.

I also think B31 shouldn't have a gap, 321 gap should only be flawless blockable, and that F3 shouldn't lose to a low profiling poke. S3 being a mid or a frame or 2 faster startup would be nice as well, but it's still possible to jail it off of D3 on hit and anti air crossups.
It’s not about easy gratification. It’s about having tools that don’t conflict with each other and to allow Raiden to play the game. If you look at what I’ve been posting for the past year you will know I am the number one person who does NOT call for buffs, only fixes. T&L doesn’t work because there are so many problems with base Raiden and the variation does nothing to compensate for those problems. Not to mention the advantage you get from AMP rod is so bad and it stays out for far too short a time, and during that period you lose your launcher and F11, or any other string with a staff.
You also can’t jail into S3. The only instance you did was when your opponent is in the corner (ie point blank range) and he was clearly respecting the mid option. It’s a just frame jail and on top of that the move whiffs on crouch block at any range that’s not point blank. This issue has been here since launch and I think multiple people have made threads about this issue. It needs a hitbox fix. If they fix the hitbox then we can use it like you use it, but until then people will mash and Raiden will whiff and die
 

Mandolore1123

Man of Science Who Wields the Living Lightning
Not sure if this is known, but you can OS B12/DF2 and F32/DF2 in Raijin. So if you input F3~DF2 fast enough, if you space F3 wrongly and it whiffs you will get the overhead ender to come out, but if you connect F3 on block or hit the DF2 comes out; same situation for B12/DF2. Given that B12 options are somewhat limited due to the OS, I think we can use this for general offense to replace B12. Of course you still can't hit confirm into damage, and F3~DF2 still has a gap, but when they start to FB the gap this will open up staggers and F32 as well. What does everyone think?

@Marlow @Darth Mao @Trustful_Whale
 
Last edited:

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
Just kind of messing around, I wonder if "Truth & Light" would have been better off switching out Jo Push for that rolling thunder cloud move and float stance move. Obviously his combo potential would drop to almost nothing outside of the most basic string into special move, but at least then he'd have maximum setup and zoning potential, and he'd still have his Electric Fly for corner carry.

Still likely an unviable variation, but at least it would seem to have more synergy than what it has now.
 

Szkarad

( • )( • )ԅ(≖⌣≖ԅ)
Would be cool, but what about that exact setup you mentioned but with Jo Push and without the weird setup move where he puts his staff into the ground? I feel that that would be a decent variation for footsie, so we'd have V1 that's great fullscreen with TP, V2 that's great up close and V2 that's great at footsies. So the idea is that you'd poke with Jo Push at it's max distance, hit confirm amp, and if the enemy would be too defensive you'd pressure with the dot cloud. The damage would still be the worst out of all variations but you'd get I think 26%? for a combo

Obviously Jo Push would have to get fixed so you can combo off it's amp reliably
 

Mandolore1123

Man of Science Who Wields the Living Lightning
Would be cool, but what about that exact setup you mentioned but with Jo Push and without the weird setup move where he puts his staff into the ground? I feel that that would be a decent variation for footsie, so we'd have V1 that's great fullscreen with TP, V2 that's great up close and V2 that's great at footsies. So the idea is that you'd poke with Jo Push at it's max distance, hit confirm amp, and if the enemy would be too defensive you'd pressure with the dot cloud. The damage would still be the worst out of all variations but you'd get I think 26%? for a combo

Obviously Jo Push would have to get fixed so you can combo off it's amp reliably
Except Raiden in V1 and V2 are already great at footsies because of his great buttons. V1 and V2 all have moves specifically designed to create space and hence opportunities for whiff punishing. I think NRS should expand on the set-up potential of V3 with what @Marlow said earlier and just remove jo push and give him all the setup tools, and make it so the rod interacts with more moves. Then we would have 3 distinct variations: V1 with mobility and anti zoning, V2 with safety and discharge, V3 with setups and space control.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
Would be cool, but what about that exact setup you mentioned but with Jo Push and without the weird setup move where he puts his staff into the ground?
I like having the Electric Rod move though, because it lets you lock down the opponents movement. That way theoretically you could put the opponent in a position where the cloud is out, but they're in the bubble and can't move to avoid the cloud.

Jo Push is a tough move to put in a variation how it's currently set up. It seems pretty redundant to me, and with it costing two slots it's hard to match up and create any synergy with Raiden's other moves. If they could re-work the inputs so that Raiden can have Jo Push and that Super Bolt move (The one that replaces Electric Fly with that jumping punch thing) and maybe played around with the properties of that move, then they could make that into a 4th variation. That way you'd have:

V1 - Solid counter zoning/whiff punishing with his teleport and Storm Cell
V2 - Safety
V3 - Space control
V4 - Side switch and launching ability of Jo Push, damage ender of that Super Bolt move, while still keeping his armor breaker move. Ideally this 4th variation would have extra damage potential, but they need to rework some of the moves to make that happen.
 

Szkarad

( • )( • )ԅ(≖⌣≖ԅ)
Super Bolt I think deals less damage than default superman. IDK what the point of it is. Very cool looking tho
 

Szkarad

( • )( • )ԅ(≖⌣≖ԅ)
Yeah. I think it has the best brutality Raiden has as well. Would be cool if it was safe if held for maximum time, like Kollektor's mace (would be cool if regular superman did as well but whatever. I fear that Raiden might not be buffed ever again)
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
I fear that Raiden might not be buffed ever again
At this point I feel like he's mostly good. He's got two solid variations in V1 and V2 which compliment each other. Mostly I'd just hope for minor changes:

  1. Fix S3 (this goes for pretty much the entire cast). Adjust the hitbox so you can actually jail into it for block pressure, which seems to be what it was designed for. Otherwise the way things are right now S3 is useless.
  2. I'd prefer if D1 or D3 could reliably jail into S1. To me that should be a universal tool that all characters are able to do. Again, this could likely be fixed with a hitbox adjustment.