Annon-Guy: Any thoughts on each of the BlazBlue Rosters Astral Heat Instant Kills?
Lambda does get her own unique Astral in BlazBlue Alternattive Dark War called Yakusa-no-Ikazuchi.
They’re not really classified as Instant Kills, since Astral Heats can only be done in the last round of a match at low health. They’re closer to MK Fatalities in execution.
Instant Kills are exactly as the name implies. You can do them at ANY POINT during the match, and originally they ENDED the ENTIRE match, not just a round like in Xrd.
Yep, Missing Link played for keeps.
Though I do believe there were more caveats to execution of an Instant Kill:
The opponent caught in Killing World (a.k.a. Danger Time) had the opportunity to input a dodge or counter IK input. If they were faster, they could counter IK! Most people input IK dodge inputs on reflex, however.
IKs work either as a Guard Cancel “Gamble Attack” (the equivalent of an Alpha Counter/DeadAngle/Yellow Roman Cancel in Strive) or simply as a frontal attack. Their disjointed hit boxes can also clash with other attacks, so situationally if players clashed 3 times, traditional GG rules would push both players further away, resetting the situation to neutral. IK startup attacks also originally cost no resources, which was also true in the Accent Core version of GG Mode.
Assuming that the opponent successfully Dodged the IK situation, Killing World would end, but it also means players swapped positions on screen, much like Blade Locking in Samurai Shodown. It was also situationally possible to cross an opponent up immediately after the IK dodge, meaning the person who initiated the IK had their back exposed: opened to getting hit with a combo or counter IK initiation!
The method Guilty Gear X used for Instant Kills which set the standard for most GG games onwards up to Xrd, had a roughly equivalent amount of risk, though the older games had high attack hit boxes which meant some IKs would wiff.
By contrast, Johnny’s Joker Trick has now become a basic Overdrive in Strive, though he can be lethal with it, potentially.
I will make mention of Noel’s Valkyrie Veil and Hakumen’s Judgement, as they are actually Counter Traps. Meaning the opponent has to hit them in their initial state for the Astral Heat to connect. Rachel’s is similar though hers can be blocked.
Probably the strangest Astral Heat is Arakune’s, as he can adjust the angle at which the Astral can attack you, and can even warp and bounce around in that state to confuse players.
