Under Night In-Birth/UNIST/Enkidu/Strategy
Strategy
At round start Enkidu's first priority is usually to find a way in. Dash block is usually the universal answer but Enkidu's dash block is kind of terrible, so many characters can keep him out indefinitely if he tries that. Enkidu's counter also seems like strong tool for getting in, but it actually works differently in every match-up, so sometimes it's not. VS most characters the followup will pull in opponents as long as you didn't counter a projectile, but sometimes (for example vs hilda) you just need to be totally point blank. 236[B] is a little slow, but it travels far and fast so it's an option. 3[C] is also pretty slow, but it's projectile invun and cancelable on block so vs fireball characters it's a fairly strong. Jumping and using 236x to alter your jump arc and cover your landing is ~okay~ vs characters or players who can't anti-air it very well, but even if they just block it's not an overhead and it's always negative. Honestly Enkidu's strongest approach option is just to commit to a run for some time and then block manually, rather than using the traditional dash block method, this side-steps his terrible minimum dash distance and while it's still a big risk, especially against many of the dedicated zoning characters, it's not straight suicide.
Once in there's not really anything fancy about Enkidu's pressure and mix-up options. He can delay his normals to catch mash and charge a few of them to delay even more. Charged 5C and 6C are overheads, but they're slow, you'll need to mix them up by chaining into lows like 2C or force function to make them relevant mix-ups. Enkidu's throw is pretty notable for how far it tosses the opponent, if you don't throw them into the corner you'll more or less have to work your way back in, which isn't the kind of reward Enkidu usually wants. This means you largely don't want to go for throws until you have them cornered, but it also means an opponent familiar with Enkidu probably is looking for throws less, so you don't want to remove it from your game plan really. Assault instant j.B is pretty hard to react to, you don't really want to go for it without vorpal for a CS or in round end situations tho since it's negative on hit.
Passing link into 2A works just as well for Enkidu as it does for most characters. Passing link into 5A is a bad idea, since 5A is 2 hits it takes a long time to recover from. Starting pressure with 2A is good, since you can stagger it and it's a low, but if you do just know that whiffing an A normal for advantage is now basically off the table. When canceling into specials on block, the first and second hits of 236A/B(>6A) are sometimes safe, depending on the MU and the spacing. It's not a great go-to but it's okay, and even when it's unsafe you can always go into more hits of the rekka to dissuade punishes. The third hit (of either followup route) is always very punishable, although again it's a rekka so sometimes it's good to keep that option on the table. 22A is the go-to for when you want to be safe, and while 22B is only +0 that's as good as advantage in a lot of MUs, especially ones where an opponent's B normals aren't particularly good. You don't really want to get into the habbit of treating 22B like plus frames, but you don't really want to get into the habbit of treating it like it's negative either, keep an eye out and pay attention to how your opponent responds, enkidu often has a answer that leads to damage if you have a read. Canceling strings into 214x is good when you're fighting a mashy opponent, but you usually don't want to do it too often, 214x is effectively a DP in that if it gets baited you get punished real bad. 22C is really the only ex move worth doing on block, it's plus 3 which is enough room to breath and it's as good as you're gonna get without a CS so you better learn to like it if you don't already. Enkidu doesn't really have a huge need for meter in other areas anyway, so saving meter for extending pressure with 22C isn't a terrible idea.
