KFM, need help against blade master

[dragoshan]

Hey KFM players,

I figured out pretty much every class, I know my chances against them. I sometimes win, I mostly lose :D

But there is one class I ALWAYS lose against, the blade master. I cant figure him out. If I attack, he blocks and stuns me, if I parry, he breaks my parry and stuns me. If i *cricket*ing manage to somehow stun him, he *cricket*ing breaks from stun and stuns me.

I cant get near this *cricket*ing cheap style of play, what the *cricket* am I supposed to do, curse him?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I can even hold my own against blade cancers, but bm seems impossible for me as a KFM.

 

 

[dragoshan]

Actually, I need help with many things related to pvp in this game.

The opponent always seems to have its target on me, but my mouse keeps *cricket*ing up with me and I miss alot of combos because of this.

Grappling a target puts me on top of him and i remain there even after grapple ends, and i have to backpaddle after this, cant q/e, only backstep. Kindda awkward and game breaking for me since i lose alot of time and opportunities with this backpaddaling.

 

Also, most of my keys have horrendous input lag in arena, nothing happens when i press the desired keys.

Steaming off.

[Kutsuu]

Keep in mind I'm a BM main so my perspective is what KFMs have done to kill me. KFM is not a favorable matchup for BM. 

 

Don't use your counter while you're in melee range of the BM because they can kick you for a stun. It's better to use Q/E/SS while in close proximity. However, you can sometimes catch them being greedy and trying to get more damage on you if you counter JUST as you come out of a CC. Keep in mind that their boot stun works if you ground counter, also.

 

They can use Q/E a LOT - E does not set a cooldown for them while they're in draw stance, but takes them out of draw stance, so they can do things like SS(draw stance)->E(basic stance)->Q(draw stance)->E(basic stance)->4(draw stance)->E(basic stance). However, most BMs will Q-E-SS in rapid succession which can be pretty predictable. Their SS and Q/E each have 8s cooldown (except E in draw stance of course). 

 

Use your counter when there is distance between you, especially if you see the BM use SS because they will often follow that up with five point strike (charge, daze, then knock you up) which can be countered and has a 36s cooldown. Neither of their main gap closer/CC abilities (rush and five point strike) go through your counter.

 

Their scorpion move (z pull) penetrates deflect, but can be countered by your block or iframed with SS if you are fast enough. 

 

Many of their combos will utilize dazes, so be ready to F out. You can prevent a ton of damage if you F out of a daze mid-combo, especially if they've used their usual tech chase move in the combo.

 

Their only stuns are Rush which is a charge attack from Basic Stance (2s stun 30s cd), Raid which extends CC by 2s and is available only in Draw Stance, and Flicker which requires Draw Stance (2s stun 24s cd). It should go without saying that you should learn to recognize draw stance vs basic stance so you have an idea of what skills they can use.

 

They can only stun you for the first .5 seconds of block during which they are parrying. This is the time to either use an ability that pierces deflect/parry (such as your Tab knockup) or wait a moment to attack. Block is vulnerable in that it only works from the front and it also readies your Triple Kicks. You can often start a combo from their back if you Q or E and follow it up with a CC move. If the BM chooses to block while you're in melee range, punish them with triple kicks and start a combo. 

 

BMs will take the daze version of their tab against KFMs in most cases, which means you should expect to get dazed during your stun combo when they tab out. Be ready to F. 

 

When they use their ground counter after you've knocked them down or air combo'd them, you can LB into it and immediately counter - your counter will take precedence. They are also able to use a quick get up skill from knockdown just like your Tornado skill - if you attack them during the animation, they will be knocked back down. 

 

Make sure you're tech chasing their F roll. Most KFMs use their Comet Strike for this. 

 

Most BMs take Blade Call (big AOE damage) instead of the grapple break version of Flock of Blades against KFM. If they use Blade Call on you, don't be afraid to grapple and get some head butts in for sustain. Just make sure you do head butt early enough in the grapple that the grapple timer does not reset - it's VERY VERY easy to counter when the timer resets. Pummel always resets the timer so don't use it. 

 

Save your tab for the Blade Call combo. A good BM will knock you into the air then trigger blade call, which begins doing damage after 5 seconds. Once you land and F roll, they will tech chase the F roll. IMO you should just tab immediately when you drop out of the air combo and GTFO. Blade Call is a 1 minute cooldown and is really their only tool to do a huge burst of damage to you. You can live through a 6 second stun/daze combo with ease as long as it's not in a Blade Call.

 

Umm this is all I could think of right now. Again take it with a grain of salt since I'm not a KFM player and I'm a scrub BM (1800ish). 

[dragoshan]

Wow mate, thats a very insightful and well written post. thank you very much.

[Kutsuu]

Hope it helps!

[dragoshan]

Is it possible that blade dancers are exploiting some kind of bug? All of them are immune to everything 100% of the match.

I've fought a lot of bd's in the past, but they always had a moment of weakness.

Now... all i see when fighting them is resist to everything, even KD.

Thanks in advance for any help/input

[PatchKid]

Main thing to remember about BMs is don't charge into them when they back off.  Good way to get parry stunned.  Lumber up to them all nice and casual like and use RMB to stun them.

 

When I fight BMs, it's a game of Q/E and RMB.  They will have no choice but to blow their TAB escape early in the fight because you will constantly stun them with RMB.  In fact, you can sometimes charge in with RMB and immediately hit RMB after to stun them as long as their spec doesn't immediately stun you after parry.

[InfinityParadox]

Eh, you should be wrecking most BM's. The trick to beating them is to rarely block; actually, you shouldn't need to blow at all unless you're blocking your back for their stun - in the higher tiers there's a bit more to this. What you should do is stun kick and burst them down with 3RF or LB2 after they've wasted their tab (the move where they spin to get up). Remember, most BM's fear you more than you fear them. They WILL block simply because of how much you can do; be patient and bait it.

[dragoshan]

Thank you all for the replies. 

I am now confident against blade masters and this just shows me I dont know how to play decently yet.

Blade dancers, on the other hand... Are cancerous for me.

 

As a side note, I speced grapple to heal me on hit, but it only works like 20%-30% of the time. Is this ability buged?

[Seyd]

All in all, it's a skill match up. Both classes are about evenly matched (about 60-40 in favor of BM). It's a yomi game, so you gotta know when to bait the BM properly since he'll have an easier time stunning you at range.

 

When you see the BM go into Draw Stance, expect that he's going to use 5 Point Strike, which will stun you and knock you into the air. So you gotta calculate the distance and moment of impact and counter that move so you can set up a stun combo of your own. Same goes for Soaring Falcon (boomerang looking skill that pulls you to him) which is a lot easier to counter since it has a bit of delay. The hardest move to counter is Rush, which has 0 delay and comes at you super fast. You can't E or Q this skill so your only option is to tab or get lucky with a parry. I suggest after tabbing you E/Q behind the BM or SS, because chances are he'll do either 1 of 2 things. He'll either SS and get some distance to set up for 5 point strike or Soaring Falcon, or he'll attempt to parry your next attack at point blank. Either way, with your tab on cooldown he's going to attempt for another quick stun combo. If he's in draw stance, prepare to counter it. If he's blocking, wait .5 seconds then go in and stun him with RMB and proceed to lay waste.

 

One last piece of advice is to never randomly use your parry. It's a good way to get punished due to how low the parry time is, which is a free set up for the BM (same in his case, but his parry lasts longer). Remember that it's a mind game, so assume that whoever tabs first loses.

[dragoshan]

Thank you Seyd

I lose  even if the opponent tabs first, input lag is unbearable and cant pull proper 3rf (only happens in pvp)

I noticed rush is unblockable, and thats the first move a bd usually does.

What gets me its the seemingly infinite resists this class has.

But thanks to your advice, I might be better prepared next time. (supposedly, the destroyer has the same invulnerability frames, but i never had a problem against them)