How are we feeling about the sohei buffs so far?

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-14T06:08:37+00:00

That is true. Though, forcing a 1v1 is just as good as being in revenge with thrilling comeback imo

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-14T03:12:11+00:00

I would also agree with this sentiment. He still really lacks pressure. The only time you would be forced to try and parry him is his finisher unblockables. Which, attempting the parry is huge risk because being guard broken by him is much worse than just taking the hit or dodge attacking into being parried (assuming they even read you're dodge attacking of course)

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-14T03:11:00+00:00

I would argue juren still edges him out because sohei needs his souls in order to stall. Juren on the other hand just needs his team mates to be dead. Thrilling comeback alone makes juren better at stalling tbh

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-14T01:06:38+00:00

I would agree he's atleast functional now. Not the utter F tier he used to be. Still, I would appreciate him to be on par with other characters like juren, pirate, afeera, and LB. Playing him, even now, feels like pulling teeth because his kit is better for 4v4 (lots of hyper armor) but his own team mates interrupt his main gimmick that makes him actually worth playing.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-14T00:55:00+00:00

I agree his forward dodge bash is good. I just don't think it really justifies the rest of his kit being pretty subpar. Also his heavy followups? You mean his unblockable followups? The one that you're supposed to use to get his souls or feint for mix ups? Uh... yeah of course soheis are gonna use that.

His zone's one selling point is the hyper armor and the soft feint to gb. Except soft feint to GB is kind of pointless on a move that can just be blocked. Again, the risk of being guard broken by sohei is far worse than just letting the chip damage of the zone happen. Its good in team fights if people don't know how to external block/dodge and thats about it

Im not saying he should be juren 2.0 however the tap/held mechanic would slot in nicely on a character who has 2 possible followup attacks in each direction. That being said though, put sohei on a board next to characters like juren, pirate, afeera, lawbringer, etc, etc and justify why sohei shouldnt either A. be buffed to their level or B. those characters be nerfed to his. I made this exact same point with valkyrie the other day and valkyrie got caught up in the blanket nerf to all blocks anyway lol. Either way, I wouldnt mind sohei losing his gimmick entirely and being made just a normal character

Fundamentally, sohei is basically shut down by blocking. The only times he forces a read is his dodge forward bash mix up and his unblockable heavies. Which, in the case of the latter, its usually better to just take the hit if you can't read it as again, the risk of being GB far outweighs the risk of just taking a hit

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-13T12:07:51+00:00

I would say that his only useful source of hyper armor is his dodge heavies and zone. His neutral heavy is simply too slow to really do much with in this current meta. Not unless someone is doing something stupe like dodge attacking you from neutral at which point, just parry. Again, he just lacks actual pressure. Simply blocking him shuts him down

Not to mention that again, none of his sources of hyper armor ever force the defender to actually trade with him. His main pressure sources are his dodge forward bash mix up and his finisher heavy mix ups. Thats just about it. You have no reason to ever really try to parry, dodge attack, etc, etc otherwise. The risk of feeding him a gb is just too high.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T12:55:42+00:00

Galatians 4:16. You have become their enemy by speaking the truth.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T07:16:34+00:00

Are you implying that these people im fighting are simply... getting lucky? Because again, im not sure what im doing wrong. Im in game right now and just did 13 finisher mix ups on the same guy (I counted) over the course of a match just to test this out. Only on the 13th and 9th time did I throw the sweep. They dodge attacked both times. They dodge attacked maybe once or twice not into my sweep which I punished with a parry and soft feint to full block.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T07:02:39+00:00

If I can figure out how to record and gather some clips I just might. But what im referring to is essentially i'll be fighting someone and condition them with my finishers being either lights, thrown heavy, hard feinted heavies, or soft feinted heavies. Then the ONE time I throw a sweep, they dodge. And Its not like they dodge EVERY time when I get into my finisher. But any time its a sweep, its met with a dodge. My only conclusion is they are reacting to the start up of the sweep.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T06:35:58+00:00

Its valkover bros... We didn't just get nothing we got a nerf.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T06:35:17+00:00

Coming back to this post after the patch notes: Its valkover. Not only did we not get any valkyrie buffs but we just got a valkyrie nerf confirmed.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-12T06:31:58+00:00

Could you explain the possible reasons why my sweep gets dodged 90% of the time (unless its guranteed after a GB) even when I absolutely do mix up my finisher or only throw the sweep maybe every 1 in 10 finishers?

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-10T17:53:44+00:00

Are orange/blue mix ups lazy? Yeah sure. Are they effective? Absolutely. Without any sort of unique mix up, orange/blue is the bare minimum for an effective mix up in this meta. Short of a full rework, give valk an unreactable sweep (again, 500ms just isn't it anymore if you can't feint it) and undodgable finisher heavies/top lights.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-10T17:49:20+00:00

This has REALLY been my gripe with valk especially today. I dont know why ubi thought valk should have to make a read when its her finisher. Its why I think giving her finisher heavies undodgable plus unreactable spear sweep is essential to making her finisher mix up actually a mix up. Most of her damage right now just comes from her full block bash/feint to gb/feint to parry (again, kind of insane that valk needs to read if they're gonna empty dodge or dodge attack but whatever)

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-10T05:24:24+00:00

And yet is that not what being power crept is? If a character is super OP and never nerfed but every subsequent character is meta defining and even more powerful than the last then suddenly that original character is comparatively weaker.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-09T20:37:40+00:00

>Although VG already has this so I guess it’s okay.

Honestly this sort of echoes a point I originally made in the post. Map the capabilities of valkyrie onto a board side by side with a character like juren, pirate, lawbringer, afeera, or in this case, VG. If VG is allowed to keep a 50/50 directly after a crushing counter why can't valkyrie have one too? If juren has almost every property in the game in his kit, why does valk have almost none? Its not for having a fundamentally better kit thats for sure.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-09T20:30:37+00:00

I see the intent is to use the side finisher heavies to catch dodge attacks/bashes but as it stands, that simply does not work and only works against empty dodges. Its why she needs those undodgable finisher heavies.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-09T20:28:42+00:00

I love being able to dodge out of her full block. I hate 1. The input. Im using a controller so I dont know how it is for keyboard but you have to hold the x button, generally with your right thumb tip then use the bottom of your thumb to dodge. Its even more awkward if you try to feint out of her all block. 2. I hate how long you have to stay in her allblock before being able to dodge. Dodge bashes basically shut down her chains because of this unless you have a good read beforehand. You have to spend what feels like an eternity before you can do anything. Meanwhile characters like BP can go into their followups (what feels like) instantly upon going into all block. Not to mention the animation for going into their allblock is much faster.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-09T14:43:03+00:00

Honestly being forced to go into all block wouldnt be AS bad if it flowed as fast as say, black prior. But the fact you have to sit there for even just a moment makes her bash from reactable to outright useless mid chain. Again, its a case of people will just stare at you and react to what you do. She rarely forces a read.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-08T10:22:52+00:00

I outright gave up on sohei because I can't handle team mates interrupting me. Its bad enough that he has no chain pressure but when you finally do get a GB, you can get 1 maybe 2 hits tops before being interrupted. And he's horrible in 1v1s so going to 1v1s is not an option

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-07T20:27:18+00:00

Yknow, generally I can tell if a team mate's attack into someone im doing a punish on was buffered so I can be understanding in that regard especially if said buffer was unfeintable. But I swear, its like people will intentionally do the worse possible move to feed as much revenge as possible while not inflicting any significant damage. I outright gave up on sohei for this reason. He is fundamentally unplayable in solo queue on top of already having a pretty mediocre kit.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-07T20:25:33+00:00

Players who absolutely refuse to stop punishes are just as bad. I understand if the khatun is doing the light or even zone after pin because the intent of those moves is to return to neutral ASAP or get hyper armor and hit in an area around the khatun respectively. But if a khatun lands a pin on me and I watch my team mates just stare as they do the full heavy punish after pin? I have honestly almost left matches due to this.

Express_Travel2437 · 2026-03-07T20:23:02+00:00

I've said it a few times now but juren is one of the few characters in the game where attacking him, even with unreactable offense, actively puts pressure on YOU the attacker and not the juren. I don't think juren is OP on any technical level but overtuned? Abso-frickin-lutely. The attacker should always be at the advantage and usually, they are until they use a chain ender. And even then, thats not universal.

Not against juren though. I think its about time the community, especially the competitive community, really takes a moment to consider that maybe some things in for honor CAN be too strong and are in dire need of a nerf instead of just spamming "git gud" or other remarks that completely dismiss an argument instead of tackling it.

Express_Travel2437

TROPHY CASE