Acceleration of Suguri 2/Kyoko

Introduction

Kyoko, the ice queen.

Kyoko is a relatively slower character, both in movement and attack speed. Some of Kyoko's attacks are also dual-part, or simply do very little/nothing on their own. Like her moves, Kyoko herself becomes more effective when varying her attack options. In general, Kyoko is not well armed for simply chasing the opponent down, but rather her gameplay is aimed more at strategic tactics or guerilla warfare. Learning to play Kyoko effectively requires patience and understanding of how all of her moves work, how the opponent works, and how everything works together. To some players it may seem that Kyoko is a challenging technical character, but the reality is that Kyoko can be as linear or dynamic as the situation calls for, and Kyoko players typically strive for an answer to just about any situation.

To play Kyoko you must utilize her various move sets while maintaining good positioning and meter management. Kyoko isn't a mindless one trick pony against everyone, unless the situation calls for it.

Normal Moves

WA

Autumn Rain

• Press WA [Beam]
  • Damage: 120 * 16
  • Wide spreading laser shots. Dash cancel point as soon as the last laser appears. Useful for destroying the opponent's ballistic or interrupting close range melee attacks. A relatively slow move, not recommended from far away due to the ease at which it can be absorbed -- unless the intention is to clear out enemy ballista. Can fire as few as one laser if meter is depleated. Use sparringly.

Glacier

• Hold WA [Ballistic]
  • Damage: 100 + 150 * 3
  • Ice puffballs. Dash cancel point immediately after any puffball appears. Can be held for up to three puffball shots. Hold a direction to rotate Kyoko while firing, allowing you to fire the second and third puffballs at different angles. The puffball(s) will become ice spikes on any impact, the ice spike itself becomes a stationary Ballistic attack that inflicts additional damage if the opponent runs into it. This move builds hyper meter per puffball and can be difficult/worthless for the opponent to absorb, making it a decent choice for meter farming -- though Cold Stream (dash + WA) builds meter much more rapidly. Use sparringly.

Cold Stream

• Dash + WA [Beam]
  • Damage: 240 * 4
  • Wide-Arc lasers. A staple move for Kyoko, especially when combined with Crystal (SP + WB). Builds hyper meter rapidly. This move tends to miss at close range due to the wide arc, and the outer lasers do not directly target the opponent. However, these lasers will bounce off Crystal. Once bounced off Crystal the lasers will power-up the Crystal, amd then the bounced lasers will then directly target the opponent's position instead of arcing. It should be noted that this move has moderate use by itself, though the effectiveness is drastically increased with bounced off Crystal(s). Dash cancel point immediately as lasers appear. If meter is low it will fire two lasers, if meter is depleated it will fire none. Use often, especially with Crystals.

WB

Ice Crystal

• Press WB [Ballistic]
  • Damage: 200 * 2
  • Small ice bits. Another staple move for Kyoko. The bits will autotarget the opponent after a few seconds. Builds hyper meter rapidly. Dash cancelable when second ice bit completes formation. If meter is low, can create only one ice bit. A second use will not cancel the first use, previously created ice bits will continue to act as normal and will not be removed by second use. This move has a lot of value because of the fact that it won't overwrite a previous use, because you can set many of them around the playing field making it more difficult to navigate through and difficult to dodge. Use frequently.

Ice Crystal (Held)

• Hold WB [Ballistic]
  • Damage: 200 * 7
  • Same as above, except more bits. Builds more meter. Dash cancel point as soon as the bits are formed. This move is highly valuable for both offense and defense. The ice bits are active attacks as soon as they are formed, allowing Kyoko to take shelter behind or inside the ice bit cluster. The ice bits will block attacks and melee advancements from the opponent. Much more valuable as a defensive "wall" than Water Mirror due to the ice bits lasting much longer than the satellites. Because the ice bit formation one at a time in rapid succession it can also give Kyoko some "cool down" time to lower heat while forming the bits. These bits alone can be easy to dodge, but when used in combination with other moves they become a real threat. Use often.

SP

Icicle

• Short Range SP + WA [Melee]
  • Damage: 80 * 5
  • Stabby ice. Not the best melee in the game, though still useful in some situations. Dash cancel point is after the ice and snow effect vanish from the screen. The damage makes this not worth while as a combo move, but the speed makes it great as a quick defensive tool or as a combo extender. It covers the close range blind spot that Kyoko would otherwise have, if not for this move. Situational use only.

Water Mirror

• Long Range SP + WA [Ballistic / Beam]
  • Damage: none (satellite) / 100 * n (reflected beams)
  • Reflector satellites. This move will act as a stationary ballistic, though they do no damage by themselves. They will reflect enemy beams which does static damage per laser. The reflection will convert the opponent's beam(s) into small homing laser(s). While this may seem useful for defense, the mirrors simply do not last long enough to be of much use. Often you are better off absorbing opponent beams by dashing through them instead of reflecting them. Additionally ice bits (WB) work as a defensive wall and as cannon fodder way better than this move. It's one saving grace is that it's practically instant, so it is often used at the start of the match in order to give Kyoko some initial cover to start firing other/slower moves, though very rarely used after that -- unless the opponent is extremely good at breaking/evading ice bits and crystals. Situational use only.

Crystal

• Press SP + WB [Neutral/Ballistic]
  • Damage: none / 30
  • Large crystal gem. By itself this move's only use is to block incoming ballistic or beam attacks, though innitially it is not an attack itself. Rather, this move reacts to Cold Stream (Dash + WA). Once one or more Cold Stream lasers intersect with it, the Cold Stream laser will ricochet off the Crystal and autotarget the opponent at high speed, powering up the Crystal in the process. Once a Crystal is powered up it emits a glow and is surrounded by a ring. A powered up Crystal becomes a stationary Ballistic attack that inflicts 30 damage when an opponent collides with it. A powered up Crystal also gains more "health", capable of withstanding more attacks/collisions from the opponent. So while the Crystal move itself does very little by itself, you will be using it very frequently in order to boost your Cold Stream's effectiveness. It should be noted that it is not necessary to stay close to your Crystals once activated, though advisable, because a Crystal has the potential to ricochet Cold Stream shots from anywhere -- even if the Crystal is behind the opponent when the Cold Stream touches it. By itself use sparringly, with Cold Stream use frequently.

Hyper Attacks

Hyper A: Summer Rain

• Execution: Hyper
  • Damage: 80 * n (lasers) / 100 * n (reflected beams)
  • Satellites and spread beams. This move tends to miss at far range due to the random array of lasers. It also does not do very much damage from afar due to the spread even if it hits. This move can also miss at point blank because the lasers fire from a distance in front of Kyoko. The satellites act identical to Water Mirror (far SP + WA) and can reflect/convert opponent beams, though the satellites do no damage alone. Not the greatest Hyper ever, but it is fast and there is a "sweet spot" where at the optimal range from the opponent a large number of the lasers will hit, inflicting heavy damage. The strength of this move is increased with reflecting many opponent beams. Can be dash canceled as soon as the last satellite is finished forming, about half way through the beams, decent shield duration after dash cancel. Situational use only.

Hyper B: Morning Dew

• Execution: Dash + Hyper
  • Damage: 100 + 150 *6
  • Glaciers. Basically just like the Glacier move (held WA), except it fires in the six cardinal directions. Not a whole lot of use. Can be dash canceled immediately after puffball creation, allowing for a long shield duration after use. Never use this.

Hyper C: Frozen Emblem

• Execution: WB + Hyper
  • Damage: 200 * 13
  • Ice bits. Basically like Ice Crystals (hold WB). This hyper is useful offensively for setting up large combo damage. And it is also rather useful defensively for setting up a quick barrage of ballistic while within the safety of a shield. A fairly decent use of meter, especially if you have two stocks of hyper (to use in combination with Frozen Forest) or are ahead of your opponent in the meter war. Can be dash canceled almost the same way as held WB, though the cancel point is slightly later. Almost no shield duration after dash cancel. Use moderately.

Hyper D1: Frozen Forest

• Execution: Short Range SP + Hyper
  • Damage: 80 * 9
  • Super stabby. Very fast, fairly damaging, decent range. This is Kyoko's main artillery hyper, since it's almost impossible to avoid if Kyoko is in range. It can miss if Kyoko is overlapping the opponent or they are strafing across her when used. However, for the most part this is the "guaranteed" damage Kyoko has. Ideally you would start a combo with this in order to force the opponent to burst a full shield stock in order to avoid heavy damage, which is done by setting up lots of Ice Crystals (bits) then pinning them down with Frozen Forest. Can be dash canceled immediately after the last hit. Good sheild duration after dash cancel. All around great offense and defense. Use often.

Hyper D2: Ice Age

• Execution: Long Range SP + Hyper
  • Damage: none (satellites) / 100 * n (reflected beams)
  • Satellite reflector ring. This move acts like Water Mirror (far SP + WA), except that the reflector satellites follow Kyoko. Again the satellites do no damage by themselves. The satellites have the same health as normal satellites, and reflected beams cause the same damage. Thus, there's almost no reason to use this. Never use.

Accel Hyper: Avalanche

• Execution: SP + WB + Hyper
  • Damage: 180 * n
  • Hail storm. Fills a good portion of the screen with a slow rain of very large Crystals, which always fall diagonally down-right. Because of the slow startup and slow projectile speed, it's easy to avoid in most situations. It's unreliable because the opponent can run away from the Avalanche long enough to Hyper near the end of the wave before being hit, or avoid it altogether. It's very difficult/situational to combo into, but possible. If your opponent is meterless, at high heat, and cornered into the wrong spot on the screen then you can smack them with this. Because Kyoko builds a lot of meter very quickly it's sometimes viable to test your opponent with this. Situational use only.

Strategies

vs Suguri:

vs Saki:

Vs Iru:

Vs Nanako:

Vs Kae:

Vs Kyoko:

Vs Hime:

Vs Sora:

Vs Alte:

Vs Tsih:

Vs Mira:

Vs Sham:

Vs Nath:

Vs Star Breaker:

Vs Sumika: