[Xrd] Zato - General discussion and changes list

[Teyah]

Okay let's get this forum moving. Zato looks pretty strong in Xrd, so let's get some basic info about him out there!

Basically, Zato (formerly Eddie) is a 'puppet' character who needs to summon his shadow, which acts as a secondary character you control, to be effective. With the shadow, you're able to control a large amount of space and set up pressure and mixup on your opponent.

Since Zato's basic moveset is based heavily around his #Reload incarnation, you can check out poon's guide to check out what to expect in terms of gameplay, combos, and the mindset you'll need when playing Zato in Xrd.

Here are the changes I've noticed in Zato, compared to his AC+R self (with Shadow Weiss, aka. #Reload shadow):

General changes

- Name has changed back to Zato

- Health remains on the low side of average, possibly slightly lower, but still higher than I-No who is in turn higher than Millia and Chipp.

- Still has the downward angled air hitbox that can cause issues with certain moves to whiff when Zato is being comboed (eg. Sol's VV knockdown kick at some heights).

- Air dash can no longer be aimed downward or upward and is back to XX/#R/Slash status.

- Blocking animation reverted to pre-AC - wings are no longer spread out in the air, possibly smaller hitbox.

- Can air block while flying without FD.

- Shadow now stays out after the SLASH screen - it doesn't have a win pose unfortunately.

Normals

- 5P, 5Sc, 5Sf, 5H, 5D, 2P, 2K, 2S, 2H, 6P, 6K, j.P, j.K, j.S, j.H are unchanged for the most part. Some moves have gotten slightly smaller but no huge changes on these moves at first glance.

- 5K now animates a little differently, he kicks with the inside of his leg similar to Ky's 5K. Functionally seems the same as before though.

- 2D looks visually different, almost looks like a shorter 2S now. Range seems slightly nerfed from older games.

- 6K slowed to ~24F startup, from 18F. Now causes stagger, similar to in #R. Unsure if this is special cancellable like in #R.

- 6H looks somewhat slower on startup, but retains lots of untechable time on CH.

- j.D has a new animation - now starts up faster (~9-10F), looks like it has more active frames, and hits slightly higher vertically. If j.K-H hits on an air opponent (no matter how high), it looks like j.D should now always connect too.

Specials

Invite Hell (22S / 22H)

- Now leaves behind a puddle, which you can use to summon the shadow from via 214H.

- Visually different, they now have a second colour in the inner spiral of the drill (red by default). Previously this was just a darker shade of whatever colour the drill was.

- Can not YRC 22H in blockstrings for continued pressure, need to RC.

- YRC 22H IAD j.S unblockables may not be possible due to old airdash.

Shadow (236H / 214H)

- No longer has access to AC shadow attacks, just pre-AC.

- Shadow can be summoned from puddles that are left behind from Invite Hell drills (214H)

- Shadow move speed is greatly increased. Easy to move the shadow behind the enemy and poke with -P- between Zato's normals, and move the shadow back in position during Zato's attacks.

- Shoukougeki (Shadow P) appears to have faster recovery

- Mawaru (Shadow K) looks mostly the same

- Nobiru (Shadow S) is a new animation, starts up about the same or slightly slower than before. Hitbox now has no horizontal reach, so the shadow has to be directly under the enemy for it to hit. Has what looks to be the same untechable time as #R Nobiru on air hit, which allows for a simple hitconfirm with j.D from high up hits. Still has huge untechable time on CH.

- Drill Special (Shadow H) looks to be the same as before - although it is not known whether it is low, low, mid (old shadow H) or low, mid, mid (FB Drill Special) for the 3 hits.

- Haneru (Shadow D) is now completely different - instead of being a slow overhead attack, it now hides the shadow for a short time, after which it reappears. Looks useful to make the shadow evade certain death situations, or to allow you to release buttons without having the shadow attack. Uses about the same gauge as a Shadow P attack.

- Deadman's Hand (63214D) - New move - command grab. Have yet to see it used, so no info on this.

Damned Fang (623S)

- Recovers much faster after the explosion, allowing Zato to do midscreen Shadow -H- unblockables. You even have enough time to run up and fly j.H to UB at midscreen now.

- Looks visually different on whiff and on hit. Two arms sprout out of Zato's body and grab the enemy.

Break the Law (214K)

- Looks similar to #R and AC, where startup is fast and recovery is slow. Can be made much more safe with YRC to cancel the recovery.

- No longer has Shadow Gallery followup.

Shadow Gallery (Air 41236S)

- 2nd hit now knocks down again, similar to pre-AC - but only at midscreen.

- 2nd hit causes wall stick if close to a corner and is techable after the enemy slides down the wall a bit.

More to be added as more videos surface.

[NitroNoodlez]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7jSBcX9IX0

At 2:05 the Zato player manages to get a 1 hit shadow gallery to connect in the corner (with Nobiru assist). Maybe he could have gotten a better followup with a better starter than Mawaru?

Edit: New shark super uses all of the Eddie gauge and it continues to attack even while Zato is blocking. It ends if Zato is hit though.

[JG]

The damage that you get after an Unblockable is enormous in this version, seem to be almost the same amount of DMG after an UB setup on #Reload.

Shadow S, now doesn't look so good... especially on the pressure side. Is sad that move doesn't have any horizontal hitbox. Also, i don't like the fact that we lose the shadow D overhead... This mean no more double UB setup like the ones on #Reload, Slash, AC, AC+R Why!!!!

Love the fact that we can make appear Eddie where a Drill was. This will help a lot to iniciate presures when the opponent is far away.

I hope that they find a way to do Shadow Gallery into unblockable setup.

[president]

nerfed nobiru range is not that bad. worth the trade for the higher walkspeed and drill summons.

[Leopold]

Finally a thread for this, cant wait for it!!

Oh is the new shadow S the big shark bite animation?

[president]

- 6K slowed to ~24F startup, from 18F. Now causes stagger, similar to in #R. Unsure if this is special cancellable like in #R.

#R 6K was not special cancellable, but caused stagger and had an FRC window.

- Can not YRC 22H in blockstrings for continued pressure, need to RC.

This shows 22H YRC. Is that because it whiffs? That's still good enough to have it out there I guess.

[edollarports]

Yeah, you can YRC, just not while the opponent is in stun.

[NitroNoodlez]

Finally a thread for this, cant wait for it!!

Oh is the new shadow S the big shark bite animation?

Yeah, it's the giant shark bite. Despite the lack of horizontal range it still looks good and leads to big damage.

[Mr.Biscuits]

I'm almost 100% sure that 2K hits low. I have seen the yellow "!" several times during Eddie pressure while Zato is doing 2P > 2K.

Bob was doing some really grimey shit with Break the law > YRC > throw. 6K > YRC > throw. I think he also did Shadow gallery > YRC > throw. lol

Also corner dust wall stick into unblockable setup!

Shark super also seems have the same amount of reps no matter how much Eddie meter you had when used. Super seems cool but the intervals where the shark comes out seems to be way too long.

Far drill into instant summon > nobiru seems really good. Essentially you get immediate free pressure off any drill knock down.

[Bausey16]

I wonder if Zato can summon Eddie from a puddle after a drill knockdown, quickly move Eddie behind the opponent while they're still down, and then do -K- (or another shadow move) on wakeup in order to sandwich the opponent between Zato and Eddie for pressure/mixups. Not sure if this would be worth doing, or if you would even have enough time to set this up without the opponent escaping.

[Mr.Biscuits]

I wonder if Zato can summon Eddie from a puddle after a drill knockdown, quickly move Eddie behind the opponent while they're still down, and then do -K- (or another shadow move) on wakeup in order to sandwich the opponent between Zato and Eddie for pressure/mixups. Not sure if this would be worth doing, or if you would even have enough time to set this up without the opponent escaping.

This has been displayed some what in videos that I have seen. Zato player would summon Eddie and move it just a bit behind and pressure with 2K, 2S, -p-.

Also you can do far drill wiff (drill is behind opponent) YRC summon will be behind and lets you setup a sandwich.

[huber]

it's gunna be a good year

[Mr.Biscuits]

Going to use this post to put down combos as I see them. If something looks off let me know. I want to limit mistakes before I make an official combo thread.

Corner combo into Unblockable

corner buzzsaw hits > 5D(6) > 6P(1) >( c.5S) > 3-D- > 2P > 2D > j.H unblockable > Shadow Gallery > RC > TK. Shadow Gallery > 5D(6) > 6P(1) > c.5S. combo kills at this point. I would imagine the rest would be something like 5H(3) > 22H/5H (2) > 22S

Mid screen DP punish

c.5S > 5H(3) > 22H

Puddle is set under them.

Can RC 22H for better oki.

Post corner unblockable (meterless)

J.H + Drill Special > Shadow Gallery > J.KHD > land - S.J > J.KHD

Probably have to delay some inputs.

Corner carry knockdown with 50% Tension

2P > 2D > j.K > j.H> j.236236S

Possibly only works on wide hit boxes. Works on Faust for sure.

Corner Shadow Gallery Loop into unblockable off air super.

With Shadow out ( combo starter was 22S but I'm sure it would work with anything into Nobiru)

22(S) > -S- > j.H > j.(D) > -S- > Shadow Gallery > -S- > land - j.H > 236236(S) > -D- > J.H for unblockable.

Negative edging might be off since I'm only going by visual ques. I will eventually edit the combos so that it will only be notations and not names of moves.

[VonFox]

Everyone I've seen so far just seems to use "5D (6)" for 'sidedust'.

[Mr.Biscuits]

So you just do D hold forward? Thats perfect for placing little Eddie for -D-.

[VonFox]

Yeah I think it's the same idea as holding 8 for homing jump. You just hold 6 instead for the sideways followup.

[axel]

Eddie Drill Special is now -D-, -H- is the new move which hides Eddie for a while.

Or is there a mistake in the command list?

[Mr.Biscuits]

Just got confirmation from Stunedge that Land mine/ Drill Special is -D-. -H- is now break the law with Eddie. Now if you mess up a negative edge doing 22H you'll just get break the law.

Stunedge also confirmed that Zato 2K hits low like in reload. Burst safe low option! Perfect for doing Eddie pressure. 2P > 2(K) > -K-/-P- > Dash/jump into high/low/throw mixup.

I have been consistently editing my post above so make sure to check it from time to time. I have been adding combos as I find time to rewatch the videos featuring Ogawa.

[DylanS]

Do you guys think i should prepare for Xrd by playing Reload or +R with shadow swap?

[Leopold]

Do you guys think i should prepare for Xrd by playing Reload or +R with shadow swap?

Definitely DylanS, also if you can get your copy of +R now that is on PSN.

If you want a training partner let me know. I'm also learning him myself so we could both help out each other.

[DylanS]

Definitely DylanS, also if you can get your copy of +R now that is on PSN.

If you want a training partner let me know. I'm also learning him myself so we could both help out each other.

i already know how to play ac+ eddie, but because of his old shadow summons in Xrd, i'm not if i should play reload or +R and relearn him to prepare

[DylanS]

Definitely DylanS, also if you can get your copy of +R now that is on PSN.

If you want a training partner let me know. I'm also learning him myself so we could both help out each other.

i already know how to play ac+ eddie, but because of his old shadow summons in Xrd, i'm not if i should play reload or +R and relearn him to prepare. Does it not matter?

[Leopold]

i already know how to play ac+ eddie, but because of his old shadow summons in Xrd, i'm not if i should play reload or +R and relearn him to prepare. Does it not matter?

Most likely yes, since you'll need the old shadow moves. Either way I play both so let me know.

[Mr.Biscuits]

Just keep playing +R and adjust when XRD comes out. There's changes that are exclusive to XRD so you really can't practice. Keep playing +R and work on neutral.

[GreasyGyro718]

you have qcb+heavy for old #r summons