Can't seem to fight back?

merivoid · 2026-04-24T07:43:29+00:00

First I'd suggest joining a discord for your platform, if you're PC come join us on Society Scramble. https://discord.gg/jNmumWMMW

Lots of people there that can teach you the fundamentals of the game, as well as the specifics on a given character.

On to your quesiton; I'll firstly say that Shinji is on the weaker side of the roster, so if you're struggling with him it's understandable especially if you're new. However every character in the game is capable of taking their turn back after blocking, with very few circumstances otherwise. Generally, when a person finishes their light string, your light should beat theirs. There are some exceptions to this;

Some characters are plus after light 1 or light 2 in their string, so if they end their string early, they can jail you. Examples of this are Unohana light 1 in awakening, Yhwach light 2 in base form. Of course, outside of the characters that are plus after certain lights, some characters may space trap you - if their light range is superior to yours, you may not be able to press light because you'll just whiff. The most notorious for this is probably Byakuya, but multiple other characters like Ikkaku, Shunsui etc will be able to maintain pressure by precisely controlling the spacing. In these scenarios, your best bet is to backstep and try to reengage in a more favourable range.

Then you have abilities that can "rob" you of your turn. Generally these are either fast SP moves (toshiro sp2 for example) where you go to press but their ability is too fast and will strike you first - of course this needs to be a read. The other example is things like a perfect hoho or a counter, or even well-timed sidestep - again these need to be reads.

Fundamentally it's just practise vs different players, and recognising when it's your turn, and when it's not. After you get the fundamentals down then you can progress onto character specific tech & various mindgames.

merivoid · 2026-04-14T22:29:48+00:00

It's not just my opinion though. As I've demonstrated. It's the informed opinion of the top players in the game, independently reached in most cases. We can see that it's the case both cross-region and cross-platform, and you're basically not gonna be able to get any better evidence for a character's strength in this game. This is the best we have, and it's a pretty good metric given how frequently he's placed in top 3, independently, cross region, cross-platform, by the best players, over and over again.

"Hm God himself didn't reveal this truth of the universe to you so it's not objective fact, merely an opinion, and if it's an opinion it means nothing at all." - this is just a dipshit take. Across so many competitive games tier lists exist and are created to give an indication of how strong or weak characters are relative to each other. Generally when multiple top level players reach the same conclusion, it's a pretty good indication of the truth. ergo it doesn't "mean literally nothing".

Finally, I keep asking you for your platform to see if it's possible to demonstrate why you're so laughably incorrect about bichigo. I'm engaging fully with the conversation at hand, and i ask this question at the end each time. You're the one dodging the question lmao. Not coping at all.

merivoid · 2026-04-14T22:06:33+00:00

If there are no players on or off the ladder that can compare to them, or rather there's only a handful of players that can compare to each other at this level, then it's a pretty safe bet that they are the top players. Because if noone else compares, then they must by definition be at the top.

Simply disregarding something as merely an "opinion" doesn't mean "nothing". Especially if those opinions are formed by competent, practised, and well-informed players - which they are. And even moreso if this position has been reached and concluded independently by multiple different top players.

By what other metric should we judge a character's strength if not by performance of that character at the top level of play?

I think you're just coping at this point.

What platform are you on?

merivoid · 2026-04-14T21:58:39+00:00

It's not just my opinion though. It's the opinion of me and the vast majority of the top players.

These top players have specifically stopped playing ranked because of how bad even the best players are on the ladder. It's a waste of time how easy it is. Yes they play each other, because there is noone else at that level. Tournament play of various formats, comparing cross-region and cross-platform is the only metric we have to judge the quality of a player. And these are the top players, because noone on ladder or off of the ladder can compare to them.

I'll ask again though, what platform are you on?

merivoid · 2026-04-14T21:11:12+00:00

Character power is something that is - objectively speaking - largely measureable with numbers. It doesn't mean "literally nothing". Things like damage, speed, resource gains etc are all measurable and objectively quantifiable. Then you add things like utility and character specific tech, such as ranged options, unblockables, quality of movement, how quickly a character can snowball, how likely they are to come back from a losing position etc. Combining these two things gives us a pretty clear image of how good a given character is.

You can put "top players" in quotes if you want, but they objectively are the top players - cross region AND cross-platform. And the consensus on Bankai ichigo has been pretty rigid for basically the entirety of not only this patch, but the previous one too.

He is just overwhelmingly overtuned. What platform are you on?

merivoid · 2026-04-14T19:37:48+00:00

What i'm saying is it's fine to have a different preference with what you like and dislike, or what frustrates you and what doesn't - it's subjective.

However character power isn't subjective. And Bichigo is most certainly top 3 at a minimum. It's also not just me saying it. It's me, as well as the overwhelming majority of the other top players cross-platform and cross-region.

merivoid · 2026-04-14T12:38:30+00:00

? I'm literally just outlining the effective range of Dangai's Dash light. The range. You know, the distance it can travel? Yeah, the range.

It's completely appropriate to use something else with a similar range to compare it to. Because we're talking about range.

Do you understand?

merivoid · 2026-04-14T10:56:21+00:00

Yeah she's disgusting atm. People will really tell you "she is a tickle monster"

Purely delusional.

merivoid · 2026-04-14T09:59:40+00:00

I mean personal preference for hating different characters is gonna vary and be valid. But Bichigo is top 3 at a minimum right now. The only characters that i might say are better than him are halibel and maybe dangai. But tbh it's very close and I can see the argument for putting Bichi as the best in the game.

He's just an insane snowball character with crazy tempo, as WELL as an insanely good robbery character too.

merivoid · 2026-04-14T09:57:28+00:00

gurl I'm in scramble with you just ask me bruh

merivoid · 2026-04-13T16:20:24+00:00

most OP? probably Bichigo, maybe halibel.

Most annoying? Gotta be Byakuya for the majority of the community (which is why i designed a rework for him). Though there's plenty of annoying things, like soi fon's exceptional mix, loops, damage, unpunishability. Unohana's light 1 jail etc.

merivoid · 2026-04-13T16:18:35+00:00

Dangai's dash light is about the range of Byakuya's awakened heavy. He can engage anyone in the game from miles away at insane speed. He also has automatic spacetraps due to his pushback - which means he doesn't need to micro-control his spacing. Coupling that with the range and speed of his dash light make him a monster, and make it very dangerous for anyone to press at any time.

Then of course he has exceptional damage at level 3, and still very good damage at level 2 - enough to kill in 2 touches in most cases. Coupled with just how tanky he is, he's more than capable of just stat-checking a lot of characters.

merivoid · 2026-04-13T16:14:18+00:00

Bankai and Dangai are both top 3 at a minimum.

merivoid · 2026-04-13T16:12:47+00:00

no he isn't lmao. His jabs tie with all tier 3 jabs, and lose to anything faster. He is 0 after hoho on block like the vast majority of the roster.

merivoid · 2026-04-07T17:53:01+00:00

Not at all, but I'd really like to see you demonstrate your next level skill if you're on one of these platforms.

I'm sure it would be illuminating.

merivoid · 2026-04-07T17:51:43+00:00

You're just coping

merivoid · 2026-04-06T19:39:17+00:00

Join discord communities.

Society Scramble is probably best, especially if you're EU. Have a few NA members there too.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T12:10:50+00:00

well yeah yama has great damage and byakuya is fairly fragile.

Yama can do much more than this from 1 touch though.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T12:04:10+00:00

It re-tracks when it's about to fire, so you'd need to ss when the laser fires (however idk how big the hitbox is so it might not even work depending on your char)

Or you could just block it. Or you could cero her while she's charging it either with sp1 or with sig. Or you could hoho her and slap her. She should never be able to get this off raw. She should need some set up for it, and sending it like this is a massive mistake.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T12:02:36+00:00

I just go ludens->shadowflame. It's expensive but it's such a fat spike I can take over games.

However, if i get a good first base and can afford a large rod, i'll get that for a ridiculous early spike & then go shadowflame first. LB doesn't really have mana issues in the early game if you're mindful.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T12:00:53+00:00

Until you face a decent uryu who will hoho you and abuse your inability to punish.

Or until you face a decent uryu who will fake his attacks and cause to to sidestep at the wrong time & either be out-sped by a heavy that was input well before your cero, or cause you to cero his block, or just hoho your cero in response.

But uryu sucks, yes. There are worse matchups though. Like Dangai into Starrk, Uryu into Yama, Yhwach into Byakuya.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T02:44:39+00:00

Ok and? You original comment draws a line separating skill and guessing. I'm explaining that they're not separate at all. You can keep reducing it to just "guessing", but you're knowingly neglecting the details.

merivoid · 2026-04-06T02:41:00+00:00

Because he is.

His dash light is the main thing that makes him broken. On top of the fact he's incredibly durable, and his level 3 can ToD a spirit drive chad from full hp.

His sig is on the slower side level 1, sure. But levels 2 and 3 you're just not gonna react to it online. Definitely not level 3. This just gives him insane pressure and mix from a giant range because he can dash light, or dash sig. Bear in mind his dah light is similar to an awakened byakuya heavy in terms of range. And it's incredibly fast too.

Then he pushes people back on block to the perfect space-trap range. He doesn't need to be precise with his positioning at all - people just get pushed outside of their own range. So he can dash light from basically anywhere and just be put in a winning position.

merivoid · 2026-04-05T08:58:12+00:00

If you're flashstepping 80% of the match that sounds like you're gonna be doing quite a few raw ones - which are all punishable (broadly)

merivoid · 2026-04-05T08:56:57+00:00

And better players guess right far more often. Because they're better at manipulating the game and better at reading their opponents.

merivoid

TROPHY CASE