- En Guarde! Once River gets into stance, she forces the opponent onto the back foot with a powerful, looping mix-up that requires no resources - the opponent must hit her to escape! Each of River's pokes in Finesse stance will deal a solid chunk of damage in addition to allowing her to drain the opponent's resource, while her own remain safely un-used in her normal hand. Instead of looping her offense, River is also able to cash-out the situation by entering into Hyper Finesse stance, a much empowered version of the stance that doesn't loop into itself. Best of all, River's Hyper Finesse options are on par with most characters' super moves, but require no meter to use!
- Can't Touch This. River has a myriad of great defensive options that keep her slippery and difficult to pin down while running her own powerful stance offense. Her ability allows her to recur her dodges for free and she has access to a powerful, safe on block super reversal. The crown jewel of her defense is her special Z dodge, which against many characters, is an un-punishable dodge - often the opponent's best strategy against Z is to just dodge!
- Card Up Her Sleeve. River's stance allows her to not have to expend cards in hand or meter to run a powerful offense; this makes her playstyle very low-cost in terms of cards and meter. Best of all, on top of her already fuel efficient play style, her innate, X, Y, and ability all draw her cards! River is very rarely left without a couple cards up her sleeve.
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- Sting Like a Butterfly. River's damage output is very low until she is able to get into Hyper Finesse stance. Even within Hyper Finesse, her "damage cash-out" is only on-par with the average damage many characters get off a single super attack. This weakness means that River has to constantly thread the needle in a match, continually taking measured risks as she slowly pokes the opponent into submission - the opponent on the other hand can afford to take bigger risks against her, as they typically need to win far fewer combats to score the KO.
- Flowchart Foiled! Despite her ability to confound and frustrate the opponent in neutral, River's playstyle exudes a fairness that many other offensive powerhouses ignore. Her best options are locked behind potentially multiple turns of set-up as she attempts to snowball into her stance pressure. On top of this, unlike many other character's advantage states, River's stances actually give the opponent a lot of wiggle room. Especially moving into the late game, her opponents will often be able to set-up strong or highly rewarding counter-play to her basic stance mix-ups.
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