[HELP!] Kokoro vs Spammers, Uncertain Strings & Lags in DOA5U

[Kokomi]

I didn't want to resort to making a thread, but with the exception of Saber, (and occasionally, NightAntili, Flaming Muffin and a few more) probably no one else actually replies my post every time I raise a question. This is not a rage thread, but more of a fellow Kokoro brethren in need of SOME HELPPPPPPP. So, here goes.

After playing DOA5U lobby matches for two days now, I have come to conclusion I lost most of my Kokoro knowledge. It doesn't help that I get upset over a loss during casual lobby matches and that rage literally consumes me when I face my opponent, to the point where I can't give it my all because I am hell bent on -ing my opponents whenever I defeat them.

I find myself literally so afraid of throwing out Kokoro's variants, variants, and I miss out on possibly every good opportunities for juggles. And there is this feeling of me that is afraid of being held or blocked by my opponents if my strings don't hit. I tried at times when my opponents blocked, didn't help.

Then you have spammers, who keeps me frozen for ages, the moment I find myself unable to react to any pressure, I just block like a dumbass and then people all those free throws on me T_T. Every time I try to strike them out of strings, I get hit again.
And as much as I hate to admit this, I'm a failure at . The only time I ever got her chain throw correct was in training mode whereby I struck the final part by luck. Then there's this fear that I won't look good because I can't throw out good juggles like Emann on youtube does :/.

And then finally, oh my god, the lags. Even the slightest lag makes my turn in to a neutral , or maybe its because my directional input commands aren't good enough, I don't like really diagonal commands, probably one reason why I'm not doing well. Will someone care to help this fellow Kokoro brethren in need?

I've been away from DOA5 for way too long and now I'm just another beginner in DOA5U, hell, even most Fs and D+ people can pull off better juggles than I do.

Would be helpful if someone could explain Kokoro in a very theoretical way to me, the breakdown guide in the Kokoro was helpful, but I'd like a bit more elaboration if possible. I don't deal well with frame data and I personally think my knowledge of DOA glossary is severely limited. Till this day, I can't understand 98% of the glossaries in DOA universe ._.

And sorry if this comes off as a bit rude, but is it just me, or are Kokoro players slightly arrogant? 6 months back, I tried approaching several seasoned Kokoro players for advice under the PM system (not gonna point out their names) but it seemed like they weren't interested in replying me. In fact, I tried making casual conversations with one of them, and I got a cold shoulder :/.

 

[StrikerSashi]

Honestly, most people just don't know how to play her yet. She was heavily nerfed, so it's gonna take time to find tech that works well. She still has decent damage, but it's a lot harder to open people up. I'm trying out a frame trap play style to augment her mixups, and it seems to be working so far.

 

[NightAntilli]

When I have the game, I'll see if I can help you out. From the sound of it, it seems she got a lot harder to win with.

 

[StrikerSashi]

Yeah, I'm relying a lot more on delayable string compared to before.

 

[Kokomi]

Honestly, most people just don't know how to play her yet. She was heavily nerfed, so it's gonna take time to find tech that works well. She still has decent damage, but it's a lot harder to open people up. I'm trying out a frame trap play style to augment her mixups, and it seems to be working so far.

I knew she was nerfed but not to point where she isn't viable. Someone said Kokoro is still strong in DOA5U. Looking back at what I wrote, I realize I did this in the middle of the night where my emotions were all messed up *hides face in embarassment*.

If you say she's that badly nerfed, then I realize that on her juggles don't work anymore, I tried CB-ing some middle opponents like Hayabusa and Hayate last night, and did a on juggle for extended, followed by a , the didn't connect :/.

 

[StrikerSashi]

9P juggles still work.

EDIT: I did say she was heavily nerfed, but she's not unviable. She still has decent damage and mixups. It's just not as free as before. It used to be that you can pretty much open someone in 3 hits.

 

[o_YUE_o]

Well you see the thing about Kokoro is that she isnt all the great up close (for me at least).
So spacing with her ranged attacks such as 3P, 46P, 66P and definitely 1P.T is your best bet.
As for spammers, 2P the crap of them until they start low holding or crouch to block and then use 1T, this gives you the chance to launch into a combo (7K P6PP or 4P+K 9P 66P+K P+K P+K) which ever you deem worthy.
Also for her grab, it doesnt matter which way you input it, just go practice. Itll be second nature once you start applying it.

I'm on PSN btw.
If you have any questions let me know.

 

[Musourenka]

Note that 1T's stun is now holdable, so there's nothing that's 100% guaranteed afterwards.

And I agree that Kokoro isn't a point-blank range character. Something like right outside of close range seems to be her optimal range. She does fine at mid-range too.

 

[Kokomi]

The breakdown guide says she's a close range character tho :/. Apparently, lot of people said she feels slower as of now. I've been maining between Hitomi and Kokoro back and forth, and I think Kokoro got a lot harder.

 

[StrikerSashi]

Kokoro is godlike at jab range. 6P+K might be nerfed, but she can still open people up easily. Her range game gets beat up by characters like Ayane.

 

[FlamingMuffin]

She really can't open up people easily. All she has is her throws now that 6P+K is back to -8 on hit. Coupled with the fact Heichu is slightly less scary this time around, it's even harder to open up people.

To answer the OP, space and punish with 214P. Try and get a 33P+K in there to crush highs and some mids.

 

[StrikerSashi]

Those throws are still very threatening. Good guesses between delayed strings and string throws makes a lot of blockstrings 50/50s.

 

[FlamingMuffin]

Honestly, not really threatening. If they weren't holdable I'd agree with you.

Since Heichu P is garbage, and you cant PK out of Heichu anymore, it's just Heichu P+K and 2P.

Heichu P+K, if countered out of, only gives +9. Heichu 2P is good, no qualms about that. But both can be countered for a fair chunk of your lifebar.

DOA4 had her PPT (etc) best. Choose to go for the stun game at all 3 levels, or get small tick damage. Now, you're tunneled between two options. Couple this with the fact she lacks a low NH stun now at neutral, and it's harder than ever to get someone to open up.

 

[StrikerSashi]

You might not be so positive anymore, but you still have the option of going for a throw after Heichu. Holding is not free. As for people who hold immediately after Heichu P+K, well, that's a free throw punish. There's more than enough time to react.

The real nerf is that you can't delay the Heichu followups slightly to see if the other guy will immediately hold.

 

[FlamingMuffin]

You can throw yes, but it's just a bunch of guessing.

After a successful Heichu P+K, you don't have that much time to connect a launcher/CB. Thus most will try and buffer one in. If they immediately hold and block, they will block the launcher/CB. If you wait to see if they hold, you can miss your opportunity to launch/CB. If it gave you + 13, you'd be able to actually throw punish harder. 7T on HC isn't terrible by any means, but still.

Just my mini rant on her Heichu P+K lol.

 

[StrikerSashi]

They can't slow escape out of Heichu P+K, though. I always wait a bit before I either 7P or 7K anyways, so people who try to hold immediately and block are pretty free to me.

I agree with people holding mid punch or low after Heichu throw, though. You can't delay the Heichu followups or they'll be blocked and you can't reaction throw holds if you don't delay. It's a pure guessing game. A good guessing game, though.

 

[MasterHavik]

I don't play her, but I can give you some advice when adjusting to new changes you should spend lots of time with your main to make sure how good or bad these changes are and how it affects your overall game. What I saw here in your post was that your usual Kokoro game was working and not all the things you were good with are there still.

 

[ScattereDreams]

From what I've read, the main big issue seems to be muscle memory. Not being able to pull off her i12 throw 24/7 and dropping combo's. Naturally, after I launcher I'm able to look at the height and surroundings of the stage to come up with a proper juggle, but launch height for some launchers have been altered to where you have to map out combo's for enders/weight classes. So to deal with muscle memory it's best that you go into training and do her i12 throw and combo's until it becomes second nature or until you can (what I call free style) come up with your own mixup's and combo's.

Kokoro's biggest weakness is probably the fact that she's very linear, so people who know the match up will probably be stepping her strings alot. Against spammers, you have to play calm and look for a pattern, see if they're delaying certain strings, doing unsafe moves, or attacking/holding from disadvantage. The quicker you get out of defense, the better. Kokoro can play a heavy stun mix up game with 236P+G and similar attack throw strings that'll mind fuck your opponent. She can also play from mid range with 214P, 66P, 1P (like to bait out high crushes with 1p when players think the follow up is coming), and her best range to from afar 46PP.

 

[NightAntilli]

Kokoro is godlike at jab range. 6P+K might be nerfed, but she can still open people up easily. Her range game gets beat up by characters like Ayane.

I never had trouble against long range characters like Ayane with Kokoro. Kokoro is one of the characters that can work at all ranges. Used to be anyway, don't know how she is now. Long and mid range will highly likely not be a problem since she retained her long range moves. It's up close that might be an issue now, especially since her offensive has been nerfed, and her defense is still not so great.

Wish I had the game already so I could dissect her -.-