Geoffmeister
PS4/EU Ermac main
While there are some good benefits to a cancellable teleport like Scorpions, I just don't see it working out for him, or changing his playstyle a lot.. besides he needs stamina for a lot of his combo's. I'd rather have Ermac being able to use pressure strings instead of being forced to play guessing games when there are other characters a million times better at that.- Lol wut?! He doesn't necessarily need it, it was just my suggestion which I think would give him another option to force pressure. With the amount of tools Inferno Scorp has, I don't see why not for Ermac! No biggie!
- A pushback/stagger would help his defence a little I feel. Only the fastest start ups would be able to punish fully if it is thrown out. Making it ever so slightly better against a percentage of the cast. Again, just an idea from my standpoint of Ermac GP.
- His only meterless safe Special gets whiffed on crouchblock (Soul Burst up, at -9), next best thing (Soul Burst) is -14
- one safe launcher (f21d2) which has a huge gap in it, the other launcher (112) is -10 on block (not counting f3, as the hitbox isn't reliable)
- If he wants to stay safe during mixups, his best option is EX Soul Blast: a knockdown for 18-22% damage, -5 on block
- has to spend a bar to get consecutive restands
in a game where:
- meterless safe specials can be -3 and combo-able for 30% upwards, or a mixup that's also safe
- safe launchers can be a mixup, or even plus. can be cancelled or special-cancelled
- you can enhance a special (creating a mixup in itself), leaving you at +14, guaranteeing either more chipdamage/metergain, another free mixup or a throw that's too risky for the receiver to try and tech
I think Ermac is 100% a fair character, the things standing out for him are Soul Ball, unfuzzy-able mixup starters, d4 anti-air, backdash and his JiP2. He can get high meterless damage only when he puts himself at high risk, the big downside is that he's unsafe on almost every one of his options and weak pressure. Unfortunately, with the latest patch, where I had hoped offense would be toned down a bit, the opposite happened and now Ermac seems to be lacking even more so. My requests for him:
1) Fix 1, b1, 22, f3 whiffing problems [Thread]
- Self explanatory
2) b124 special-cancellable, combos off the 4 with teleport midscreen
- a pressure mindgame, more meter gain, can use b124 for pressure with IASB or specials, more neutral game
3) EX Soul Ball at -9 (from -23)
- This could be a big change for him, best case: he has to hitconfirm this combo very fast, worst case: he'll lose pressure/get punished at the cost of a bar but Ermac at least has a chance to defend himself. It's one bar less he can use for a vortex set-up or armored Soul Blast.
- counterbalance: remove damage buff from EX Soul Ball, or cap the normal entirely at 6%, from 8%
4) Soul Burst (normal) at -11 (from -14)
- just a little bit safer to make the opponent work for a punish
- counterbalance: cap Soul Burst (normal) damage at 7%, from 9%
5) 112 at -6 (from -10)
- loses pressure, but unpunishable
6) Mystic: Force Choke & Ex Force Choke at around -18, from -24, meter drain working as intended
- just a bit harder to punish, easier to space with seeing how slow Ermac moves
editted 7) Spectral: levitate input to DU, instead of DDU
- just for execution, it's nearly impossible to levitate consistently into any of his mixups from neutral
Anything more than this I'd consider too much, this wouldn't change his playstyle too much and his weaknesses are still present. I think losing ~3% on all his BnBs and said specials in return for a little bit of safety is a fair exchange.
Still a decent character without it, but - in my opinion - having these options in high level games is a necessity seeing how poorly defensive play gets treated against everyone except for Ermac.
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