Now I know Kyoshin isn't the hero that needs a rework the most, but I was watching some Ghost of Tsushima videos and felt inspired, so here goes.
INTRO AND GOAL:
This rework aims to make the character more fun and intuitive to both fight with and against, also trying to make his kit feel more complete by building upon his smooth flow and animations, as well as his Yokai aspect and strong anti-ganking tools which was his original intent. With his kit being as limited as it is, I took the opportunity to take this rework quite far, meaning this is a VERY major rework and likely beyond what we could realistically expect. However I feel like Kyoshin would greatly benefit from these changes and additions, and they might even be needed to make him a truly interesting character to play.
My goal here is to turn Kyoshin from the stale and frustrating hero that he is now, into the stylish and respectable hero that he deserves to be.
KEY ISSUES:
Scarce and Boring Main Chains:
Kyoshin's entire moveset currently revolves around the following mux-up:
Start with an opener -> throw either the bash you have to dodge or a heavy that you can't dodge -> either follow up with Kaze stance and return to neutral or return to neutral immediately -> rinse and repeat.
While there are some cool techs and moves you can pull off, your main offence is extremely limited. While not bad in a competitive sense, it makes for a moveset that is very boring and stale to play with, and is boring and frustrating to play against.
Kaze Stance Problems:
While a cool move on it's own, Kaze Stance has proven to be a key point of frustration for a lot of players in team fights. The unblockable, feintable heavy from neutral with an extremely long stun time with the follow-ups, combined with the fact that Kyoshin basically cannot be touched while setting up this move, promotes extremely frustrating and unhealthy behaviour in team fights. I know Kaze Stance technically has stamina drain now, but at 5 stamina per second he can hold this stance for almost 25 seconds before running out of stamina. It takes only 4 seconds to completely replenish his stamina bar if done so just before exhausting himself, so it might as well not exist at all.
Kaze Stance also has the issue of not working properly as a recovery tool or chain continuer due to what I believe is a bug, which I'll get into later. Kyoshin technically has an infinite chain with the Fujin Force follow-up, but it again provides for very stale and uninteresting offence whilst being incapable flowing back into is main chain, forcing the player to return to neutral if they want to use those.
Unfun Feats:
While not as major as the previous problems, players have expressed a dissatisfaction with Kyoshin's first 3 feats.
The tier 1 and 2 combined give too much of a health lead when used, adding to the feeling of unfairness whenever fighting Kyoshin, especially considering one of the main way to utilize these feats, crushing counter lights, is already a controversial ability.
His tier 3 in turn has limited use and feels uninspired compared to his other feats.
MOVESET CHANGES:
Kyoshin now has a 3 hit chain, you cannot chain more than 2 lights or 2 heavies in a row, so all basic chains:
L-L-H
L-H-L
L-H-H
H-L-L
H-L-H
H-H-L
- This was done to add more options and variety to his moveset, but primarily to make the 'bash-undodgable' mix-up less accessible. Only being able to throw 2 of the same attacks in a row is balanced out by the bashes Kyoshin has, and makes him stand out from other 3 hit chain characters. This way there would also be no real need to make new animations as the existing ones could still be used, though new ones would be nice.
-Lights do 12-13-14 damage (was 12-14)
-Top heavies do 25(700ms)-27(700ms)-30(800ms) damage (was 24(700ms)-30(800ms)), finisher top heavy loses undodgable property, becomes unblockable instead.
- The opener and chain top heavies were kept slightly faster to give more of a reason to use them over the side heavies. I switched out the undodgable property for an unblockable one to allow for more mix-up options and decision making. It also doesn't make that much sense for a top slash to be undodgable.
-Side heavies do 24-25-26 damage (was 24-30), finishers stay undodgable, all stay 800ms.
- While the "orange-blue" mix-up is technically still present, it is now more limited in both damage and accessibility, combined with the additional unblockable option this should be far less stale and frustrating to go against and use.
-Lights no longer crushing counter.
- This was done primarily because it's not a very fun or intuitive move, I want his counterplay aspect to revolve more around Kaze Stance which I'll talk about in a bit. It's also a fair nerf to somewhat compensate for the new moves he gets.
-Opener and chain bash are unchanged, Aoarashi (chain bash) can be used after opener and chain attacks.
-Aoarashi Follow-Up now follows chain order and chain light damage (was 15).
- These changes again allow for more options and mix-ups. The 15 damage for Aoarashi Follow-Up made sense before as it was a chain ender, but this is no longer the case.
-Haninei (forward dodge heavy) has significantly increased forward movement and can now be feinted.
- This move was very disappointing as a roll catcher, should now be more useful in that role.
KAZE STANCE CHANGES:
-Hakaze (light from Kaze stance) now deals 8 damage (was 6) and is enhanced.
-Hakaze (superior block) becomes undodgable, all other stats remain the same.
- I wanted to give each Kaze Stance follow-up a distinct purpose, and the light didn't really have one yet. The light I turned into the main option for duals, as well as against heroes with recoveries that might be able to dodge away from other punishes. Now that this move is enhanced, when it is blocked it will not allow you to continue your chain into Fujin Cuts, same as the zone.
-Mujounokaze (Zone from Kaze stance) deals damage in a wider area around Kyoshin, in turn now now deals 6 damage (was 10) and counts as a light parry when parried.
-Mujounokaze (superior block) recieves hyper armor on startup.
- To tie into his strong anti-gank aspect, his zone is now a lot more viable in ganks and hitting opponents all around him. In turn this move is far less useful in a dual.
-Tengukaze (heavy from Kaze stance) now deals 20 damage (was 15), no longer chains into Fujin Cuts, can now instead chain into opener light or Aorashi (opener), as well as Fujin Force as before.
-Tengukaze (superior block) now deals 25 damage, still can only chain into Fujin Force or opener, loses undodgable trait.
- As described earlier, this move was far too strong before and needed a fair nerf. It is now changed from a confirm tool to an unblockable mix-up and chain restarter.
-Fujin Force can now be used from any direction to make up for the fact that it can't be feinted, still counts as all guard regardless of direction of attack, on hit (including block) Fujin Force can continue chain into opener, can be followed up with Aoarashi (opener).
- Fujin Force is now one of his his main ways of flowing back into his normal chain after using a Kaze Stance attack, and can now be used in any direction to actually make flowing back into his chain somewhat viable.
-Entering Kaze Stance now costs 8 stamina (was 6).
- I want Kaze Stance to be usable a lot more often with this rework, giving it more stamina cost should limit the ability to keep attacking continuously for a really long time.
-Passive stamina drain after 2 seconds increased to 30 per second (was 5).
- Being able to stay in Kaze Stance for so long was super unfun before, and served no purpose apart from being super unfun. This nerf means that Kyoshin will fully run out of stamina after 5-6 seconds of holding Kaze stance when entered from neutral, and should thus be a lot less oppressive. I want this move to be used as a recovery tool and chain continuer primarily, and not for annoying ganks.
-Kaze Stance recovery fixed, now starts properly with the animation, same as Black Prior and Conqueror.
- I'm pretty sure this is a bug, but despite having the same recovery cancel speed as BP and Conq according to the For Honor Infohub, it feels way slower and often doesn't work. There is a very noticeable delay compared to the other characters, which causes Kaze Stance to not work properly as a recovery tool when it should. I recorded and slowed down footage for all 3 characters and it becomes even more obvious. It appears the animation is working entirely as intended, however the all-guard doesn't actually appear for a hundred milliseconds or more, and you don't even need to slow down anything to check this. If you enter Kaze Stance from neutral you can throw out any Kaze attack before the animation or all-guard even shows. However, when trying to use a Kaze Stance attack emidiately after a recovery the all-guard still does not appear, but the animation does. When entering Kaze Stance from neutral the all-guard also appears immediately with the animation, when doing so on recovery you will notice a delay, and the all-guard will appear after the animation has already started.
-Kaze Stance can now be accessed instantly after opener or chain bash if the bash hits, cannot be followed up with any Kaze stance attacks for 100-200ms to make sure they are not confirmed and can be blocked.
- This is intended pretty much exclusively for anti-ganking and allows Kyoshing to keep up pressure against enemies while being safer. I don't want a 20 damage punish on each bash, especially when Kyoshin has so many. I also don't want to take away viability from his main chain, which is why no damage is confirmed.
-Any heavy can now be soft-feinted into Kaze stance
- This adds a reason to use chain heavies instead of the bash while allowing for more follow-up options, and can of course be used greatly against several opponents. Overall a very small change as you can already hard feint into Kaze Stance, but it should make playing Kyoshin a lot smoother of an experience.
NEW MOVE: 'Kasumi' - haze, mist (See diagram above for clarity)
On a backwards dodge light Kyoshin will step/dodge backwards and perform a left slice afterwards, comparable to Orochi's Riptide Strike and can similarly be used as a recovery/dodge tool. It doesn't dodge as far as Orochi but it turn gets some I-frames during the dodge. Kyoshin can however choose to hold and charge this move (here he will have the pose displayed in the diagram at number 2):
Uncharged=500ms, 12 damage, if parried counts as light parry.
Charged=100ms-999ms hold, 600ms attack, 14 damage, if parried counts as a heavy parry, can be feinted.
Fully Charged=1000ms-indefinite hold, 700ms attack, starts draining stamina after 1000ms (15 per second), 18 damage unblockable, can be feinted, weapon will have a red glow similar to Shaolin when in Qi Stance.
Any of these attacks are chain starters and count as the first hit in the chain and can be recovered into Kaze stance. Kyoshin can only walk left and right while holding this move and can be cancelled while holding with the feint button. You can target swap this attack, but Kyoshin can be hit or guardbroken out of this move as well.
NEW MOVE: 'Mabataki heizu' - blinking haze
Using the power of the Yokai to become invulnerable for a moment.
Essentially the same as Kasumi except on a dodge forward input. This doesn't dodge very far forwards, but the I-frames now kick in during the attack instead of the dodge, accompanied by a subtle black mist effect.
Kasumi/Mabataki heizu Follow-up:
After any Kasmui or Mabataki heizu hit the top light follow-up becomes unblockable and deals 15 damage, second hit in chain.
- These new moves were pretty heavily inspired by Ghosts of Tsushima. They allow for more recovery and chain continue options while not taking away too much from Kaze Stance. while very similar, the 2 moves have I-frames on very different timings and can thus be used very differently. They also fit the character very well I think. The follow-up I added because it just feels very natural to follow up these moves with a top light from a realistic point of view.
FEATS:
Tier 1:
Removed 'Iron Lungs', replaced with 'Kiai'.
- Iron Lungs facking sucks, deserves to be shot, removed, and replaced. Kiai I think fits much better, kinda working like pocket sand from Ghost of Tsushima.
Removed 'Kagerou', replaced with 'Henka no kaze' - "Winds of Change", passive.
Revenge gain is increased by 5% when ganked, entering and exiting revenge cleanses and removes all negative effects.
- A more unique and fitting feat and an indirect nerf to Hakimore, though I honestly wouldn't be against revenge cleansing by default.
Tier 2:
'Hakimore' doesn't change.
- I really like this feat as it really fits his character both with the Yokai theme and as an anti-ganker. However, this feat is indirectly nerfed slightly with the removal of crushing counter lights and the Kaze stance changes. This feat should now feel a lot less oppressive with the removal of Kagerou as well, not giving the Kyoshin nearly as much of a health lead.
Tier 3:
Removed 'Hikari To Kage', replaced with 'Giman no kiri' - "Fog of Deception", active, 180 second cooldown.
A new feat inspired by Tozen from the campaign, as well the illusion powers Yokai are known for. This one takes a bit to explain fully, but the TLDR is that you can drop a smoke bomb and summon 2 clones that fight alongside you.
After the smoke bomb Kyoshin will perform a short animation where 2 clones are summoned from his body, but this animation will be obscured to the enemy by the smoke. These clones will then walk forwards and emerge from the smoke, coming from 3 different possible directions. If the player Kyoshin stands still or walks forwards or backwards the clones will spawn and walk forward to the left and right of him. If Kyoshin walks to the left during the animation the clones will instead spawn on the right and in front of him, with the opposite if he walks to the right. This way you can genuinely confuse an enemy on which ones are the clones and which one is the real player.
These clones will apear identical to the player, having the same nametag as well. Their health bars will visually match the size of the player, but in reality will only have 80 health each. The clones will only use basic chain attacks and bashes, but will only do 75% of the base damage. They will never use Kaze Stance or any dodge attack, with the exception of the forward dodge heavy wich they will use to catch people running away. For the rest they have the ai of a level 2 bot. While they wont feed revenge they will give revenge tag, so ganking still has to be done thoughtfully. For the rest they can be affected by any effects a player can be.
To help with utility, if the player Kyoshin is outnumbered the clones will prioritize the enemy player(s) that the Kyoshin player is not targeting and will split up if necessary. If there is only one enemy they will gang up on him and try to prevent him from running away, allowing the player Kyoshin to make an escape if they want to. The clones will dissipate back into mist after 30 seconds, or when the player that summoned them is killed.
- This feat should be more useful than the previous one, and should provide far more gameplay diversity and creativity. Heavily requested as well.
Tier 4:
'Mugen Houyou' doesn't change.
- Solid feat, no need for changes.
OUTRO:
Thank you very much for reading my proposal, it was very fun to make! Again, I severely doubt majority of this will ever be added, but this is what my dream version of Kyoshin would ultimately look like, but I am open to any and all feedback. I hope you enjoyed, and God bless!