Why you need to learn to instaslash

I wanted to write a short post that I can link people to about why instaslash is so OP. If you don't know what it is read 4.1.3 from Bunnie's guide here https://deynarde.github.io/kag-knight-guide/knight-iv-expert.html#instaslashes

I'll give a brief description of what it is though: an instaslash begins with your character being stunned. This normally happens because you just blocked a slash with your shield. While you are seemingly still stunned you can start to charge a slash and you can release it earlier than normal (when the knight cursor is at 75%) rather than 100%.

(Actually what's happening on the server side is that your character begins to charge a slash the instant that the stun ends rather than you charging a slash when your client thinks the stun ends due to lag, but the details of why it works don't really matter for this post.)



The first reason this is OP is because if you instaslash then your slash will come out before the slash of the person whose slash you just blocked. That's very powerful because typically in knight combat if you're getting slashed repeatedly then you are forced to play defensively. You have to keep blocking and moving away since you don't have a chance of getting your slash out before the opponent. Instaslash changes that and gives you an offensive option to flip the fight in your favour.

The second reason it's OP is because of the above, you now have a way to fight without needing to win a slash timing. Out-timing your opponent is really difficult and there is no KAG player who can consistently win timings against the best knights. Avoiding risk in fighting is important. Why take a risk when you get into a situation you know you'll win in? With instaslash you have certainty that your slash is going to come first before the opponent since it's a mechanic you can consistently do all the time with the right timing. So one way to fight with instaslash is to move in really close to the opponent with your shield up, let them slash you and block it, then instaslash back. 95% of enemy knights will not be able to deal with this.

The third reason it's OP is because the opponent doesn't really have good options against it. The best option for them is just not to hit your shield in the first place - but it's really hard to be lethal enough to never get your slashes blocked by someone. Assuming they hit your shield and you are charging an instaslash, them charging their slash is just not an option because yours will always come out first. So the only real option is to move away or to jab. Moving away might not be an option in a lot of cases if you're close so they're kind of forced to jab. Jabbing in this situation is risky. It requires really quick reactions to anticipate an instaslash and to jab it due to the speed involved and the player seeing less animation frames due to the knight appearing to be stunned on the client-side. So a situation is created where you kind of need to jab someone who just blocked your slash - and if there's something to be avoided in knight combat it's jabbing a shield because good players will kill you from that mistake. What can be done with this in a 1v1 is to condition the opponent to always jab your instaslash to prevent it. Then, start mixing things up by remaining in shield some of the time. The opponent is going to jab your shield and this is an opportunity to kill them.

Finally, the fourth reason it's OP is because you can do it out of any stun in the game. The stun you get from blocking a slash is the most obvious, but there are many things in KAG that will stun you. For example, you can instaslash out of a fall stun, the stun you get from a bomb impact, or the stun from an archer arrow. This allows you to slash a lot faster in certain situations and this is a huge advantage. It creates a flow to the combat where everything that stuns you can lead into your next offensive move via an instaslash.

Hope that this was useful to someone.

 

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I'd like to see it turned into an official parry mechanic in KAG 2