General Tactics
Blockstrings
Blockstring theory with Ky is relatively simple, it's easy to be creative and effectively apply pressure in ways you see fit due to his many lows and frame trap options. As a base, you'll want to start with 2P or 6HS, since they're positive on block. From there you can choose to approach for a throw, or start lacing in low attacks like 5K, 2K, 2S, and 2D to catch people attempting to jump, throw, or DP. If you want to frame trap an opponent that's trying to mash out of your pressure, 2P > c.S and 2P > 5HS are great tools that lead to lots of damage. The goal is to convince the opponent to block patiently, then throw them.
Ky is a character that has many tools to reset pressure with and continue his blockstrings, including 6K, 6HS, and his strong jump cancelable normals (2HS, 2D).
Okizeme
6HS
- Ky's standard tool for setting up over an opponent. It's strength is based on it's very short amount of recovery (only 2 frames), crazy amount of advantage when blocked (+15), and potential for high meterless damage if it isn't blocked. Simply using it over a knocked down opponent is risky however, since it's easy to see coming and punish with a reversal. The trick is to time the 6HS early over their wakeup, you want the last few active frames of the move to hit just as they stand up, in order to take away two of the opponent's options at once! To understand this we just need to look at the frame data a bit, here's an example against Sol.
- Sol's Wakeup (face up) = 25f, Volcanic Viper startup = 5f. 6HS startup = 23f, 6HS active time = 10f, recovery = 2f.
- So, if you use 6HS 6 frames before Sol starts to stand here's what would happen. 6HS starts up in 23f, Sol wakes up in 25f. At this point Ky is eight frames into the active part of 6HS, and Sol has stood up. If he chose not to reversal, the last two active frames of 6HS will hit him, and you'll either get a high damage combo, or pressure. If he chose to reversal, VV starts up in 5f, and 6HS only has 2 active frames and 2 recovery frames left, so you'll recover in time to block. In this situation, the window of error is only 2 frames, so it can be hard to pull off consistently.
- 6HS's largest weakness is Blitz Shield, since if you're timing your oki correctly your attack will be rejected. Timing your 6HS even earlier so that it completely whiffs is something you can do to trick an opponent that relies on this since it can be hard to tell if the attack is correctly timed or not.
Charged Stun Edge
- CSE is Ky's other standard Okizeme tool that's easier to use than 6HS. After knocking an opponent down, using CSE over them is a good way to force the opponent to block in a lot of situations. It pushes them backwards quite a bit with each hit, and can be safer for dealing with reversals since you can stand further away from the opponent while you use it, unlike 6HS. It has it's weaknesses though, as it's not as rewarding on hit as 6HS, less advantageous on block, can be low profiled by many moves, and has slow startup and recovery. If used too late, characters like Sol and Ky can reversal low profile it with Grand Viper and Stun Dipper for a punish. Faust can even simply crouch right under it.
- YRCing CSE is a good way to remove many of it's drawbacks and also set up a high/low airdash mixup. Just be careful of reversals before the projectile actually hits.
Durandal Call Charged Stun Edge
- DC CSE is Ky's ideal Oki in the corner, and a standard setup from midscreen using 2D > Split Ciel. This functions very similar to CSE oki, only slightly better. There's less pushback, more chip damage, more frame advantage, and it lasts a bit longer.
j.D
- A somewhat gimmicky way of setting up Oki. It can be used to force the opponent to block if done early over a knockdown, and is relatively freeform in how you can choose to act from there. Possible options are airdashing over the opponent (see Ain Special), firing an S Stun Edge through it, double jumping and going for an ambiguous crossup, YRCing for a falling high/low mixup, and simply landing and continuing pressure. Despite it's versatility, it can lose to a lot of different things, such as Blitz Shield, airthrow, or 6Ps/anti airs.
Tips and Tricks
- The Ain Special
- Coined by commentators after the Ky player of the same name, it's performed by knocking the opponent down with 2D, and then placing a j.D over their body and airdash YRCing as they stand up. Once Ky has landed from his airdash, immediately input 3HS. If the opponent didn't block successfully, you'll get a launch combo for high damage. If the opponent did block, you can safely disengage with Stun Edge, or Split Ciel. You can also use this without the YRC to cross up the opponents block and reposition yourself behind them, but without any followup combo.
- Fast DC Charged Stun Edge
- 236H YRC > 66236D
- From full screen do CSE, YRC it, then quickly run in front of it and place a Split Ciel. This allows you to cover lots of space very quickly and is very useful versus zoners.
- "Psychic" Ride The Lightning
- In Xrd, Ride The Lightning can be a threatening reversal option to many characters due to it's invuln and forward momentum. However, it's unsafe on block and has mediocre startup, making it quite a commitment on wakeup. One way to mitigate the risk is to buffer it on wakeup to punish unsafe okizeme. As you're standing up watch the opponent and input a half circle backwards, if at this point you see an unsafe setup, quickly input forward and HS. If you don't see any punishable situation occuring, simply hold your block or crouch block depending on what the opponent is doing. Your RTL's might start looking psychic since you'll be cutting down on execution time and using it to react to good situations to use it in.
- "Unblockable" Sacred Edge
- Perform a regular Stun Edge, YRC, then Sacred Edge immediately.
- If the opponent was not blocking before the super flash, then they will get hit by the regular Stun Edge during the super flash. Hopefully the Sacred Edge connects afterwards too! This doesn't do much damage, but it's a nice way to catch opponents flinching when they are low on life.
- Falling j.D Grinder Summon
- Jump, and just before hitting the ground, use j.D. A grinder will be left in the air, but it'll be low enough to the ground to send a grounded SE or CSE through and still get a powerup. This way you can summon a j.D for air coverage, and get a grinder that's useable in the air or the ground. If you use Split Ciel, you can then get two grounded DC Stun Edges.
Fighting Ky
- Ky's Neutral
- Ky's Okizeme
- Ky's Offense
- Ky's Defense
- Vapor Thrust is lacking as a wakeup reversal because of it's slow startup, poor horizontal range, and hitbox that doesn't hit near the ground. Test your character's options against it, such as Sol or Venom's 2D, to see what ways you can set up okizeme while baiting reversal attempts at the same time. Keep in mind that Ride The Lightning doesn't have these limitations, with 50 tension Ky has another option. One of Vapor Thrusts strengths is that it hits on both sides of it, making some crossups risky.