Question - War God Usefulness of Sword Shake

[Slavaslave]

Hey guys, since EVO I have switched from Sun God to War God and I am trying to learn all the tricks of a god. So far I have seen pretty much zero use for sword shake so I figured I would come here and ask my fellow Kahns if anyone uses it, and how.

I see the occasional use online as a "mixup" following some strings, but it is really easy to beat from my perspective. If I am not mistaken, even after cancelling it is negative so it cannot be used in place of air grab or to pressure in any way. The only use I have found is as a cancel to b122 when I am playing sub zero or reptiles who always raw slide on wakeup.

So, any of you war gods found a decent use for the special?

 

[DDutchguy]

Its main use in relatively high level play is for gimmicks. People will generally expect an overhead or low mixup, but may get tagged by the unblockable.

 

[Scott The Scot]

Is Sword Shake the unblockable thing that can be cancelled? If so then the EX version can blow up people who try to armour after B14~Mixup. Well, it might depend on the armour but I remember labbing the MU and that beat my attempts to armour the gap.

 

[Slavaslave]

Thats pretty much what I thought... Its sad, it has so much possibility to add variation to Kotal's offense. I guess it can be useful in the grandmaster MU, but even that is debatable because it has such a slow startup.

 

[Slavaslave]

@Scott The Scot I can see that, but at that point shouldn't you just MB the overhead or the low?

 

[Snibbor]

You can use it in the corner for meterless damage after F3,4 by cancelling it. Something like F3,4, DB3 (hold up), D1, F1B2xx DF2

You can also use it for baits if you think your opponent will armor the gap between the first hit and the actual unblockable, since when canceled it becomes safe. Can't think of any other use really

 

[Scott The Scot]

@Scott The Scot I can see that, but at that point shouldn't you just MB the overhead or the low?

Yeah I guess so. This is why you play War God and I don't lol.

 

[Second Saint]

It used to give him his highest damaging combos, but since they nerfed otg's, not so sure.

 

[Slavaslave]

@Sir Snibbor is that an old combo? I cannot make it connect, I'm labbing right now.

 

[Snibbor]

@Sir Snibbor is that an old combo? I cannot make it connect, I'm labbing right now.

I was just doing it yesterday, you need to do the D1 pretty late

If your problem is the DB3 whiffing, it does whiff against certain hitboxes, idk which ones exactly tho

 

[Slavaslave]

I read the D1 as a D2, oops.

 

[Tweedy]

It could land one time vs a good player. The risk/reward on it is still bad, so yeah..... I typically don't even try it once.

 

[Eldriken]

It could land one time vs a good player. The risk/reward on it is still bad, so yeah..... I typically don't even try it once.

Same. I've trained myself to forget that it even exists 99% of the time. The only time I really use it is if I've won the match and I'm full screen and don't feel like doing a Faction Kill. =P

 

[TheGangstaFace]

Use it in the neutral with canceling. It doesn't take stamina and it actually hits people trying to run in and even if they don't run in you recover fast enough

 

[Jeffrey Wolf]

It also gives his highest damage in the corner meterless, as well as giving you an armored cancel wakeup, if you don't want to use the slightly slower, safe Ex Saw. And yeah, as others have said, it lead to his highest damaging midscreen combos by a few percent (it used to be more). Plus, it's nice to have another mixup to end your strings with besides OH, Low, and Saw. I imagine you noticed Tekken Master using it for just that.

 

[Jeffrey Wolf]

If you're wondering what the corner combo is:

F34, Shake Cancel, D1, D1, 114, OH Sword = 31%

You can also end with Air Throw if you don't mind losing the corner for 32%.

This combo can be done without the Shake Cancel by SG and BG, but it's much tighter to hit.

 

[Slavaslave]

It also gives his highest damage in the corner meterless, as well as giving you an armored cancel wakeup, if you don't want to use the slightly slower, safe Ex Saw. And yeah, as others have said, it lead to his highest damaging midscreen combos by a few percent (it used to be more). Plus, it's nice to have another mixup to end your strings with besides OH, Low, and Saw. I imagine you noticed Tekken Master using it for just that.

yeah I saw that, its a mindgame thing I guess. In labbing it today though I realized the cancel is safe against sub zero's slide, so I guess in a way its a good safe string ender against opponents that can punish the OH/low

 

[FOREVER EL1TE]

You can use it to also like OTG for more damage. Like how tremor and goro do.

 

[Slavaslave]

only problem with that is its punishable even at full screen if the OTG doesnt hit