I admire players who play who they like rather than who they think they will win with. Otherwise I would have learned helena and christie a long time ago. But I'm strange.
I've heard ppl say chars "aren't viable" and won't play them for that sole reason which is dumb in a game where solid play will win ultimately. They're out there.
Most people do play who they like believe it or not. If you're thinking of tier whores, they fold once they get found out or realize that they'll eventually have to git gud anyway.
It's much more rewarding and liberating winning with a character who's considered bad than one who's considered top tier imo, especially if said match was against a top tier character.
w/ ein you have to play a different game. among other things, he doesn't even get free cancel mixups for free the way the vast majority of cast does & just has to play a respectful game. very rare for doa and players who stick w/ it are cool.
Raidou doesn't either but he is stacked with huge damage output however much slower. You have a higher risk of screwing up with Raidou than Ein by speed factor alone.
Like his WRK and Hokage throw, plus he's effortless to use moveset wise, although I think out of the 6 characters I use, Naotora plays the spacing game much better next to Mai.
Naotora does not play a better spacing game than Ein. Even Ein has stuff to keep others out more than Naotora. The issue is that certain Ein players want to play some sort of rushdown game with him and costing him neutral situations, so you don't particularly see it as much. The Ein people you see floating around within the net world are not actually the same as the ones you hear about.
Ein has some of the best spacing and keepout tools out of the cast. Despite his flaws in CQC, he still has his strengths making him a viable character all things considered. Also, a character like Ayane or Hayabusa, for example, may be better overall than someone like Ein, but still have to put in a lot of work to utilize correctly, whereas Ein is pretty much all fundamentals & patience.
By that logic, slower characters like Raidou and Bass would fit in that criteria lol. Well....would say for Bayman, but I still think Bayman is really good since he has a parry function while breaking some of his throws provide him advantage. Only downside is speed priority but even I don't think that's a big problem if he has proper reads in quite a ton.
Oh I meant it's easier, Naotora doesn't have the many style transition flaws Ein does since he was way better in other games. It's just way more simple to play Naotora this way because of her range, Ein is overall better but more tedious to utilize in comparison to say Ayane who can space way better and can fight up close. Naotora depends on whom she's fighting