Having a hard time figuring Venom out

[n00bdragon]

What does this character want? I can figure out most characters pretty easily. Nago wants tag you and blow his load. Anji wants you to mash after fujin. Axl wants you at the other end of the screen blocking. Sol wants you to be afraid of Wild Throw.

What does Venom want? He doesn't deal the kind of damage at half to full screen that Axl does, so pure zoning doesn't seem any good. If there's a particular setup that threatens to deal more than 100 damage I still can't find it. What's the "win condition"?

[Ed/Rinstan]

play with ur balls ;3, that is all.

[Kujou]

Venom is a zoner and an oki/pressure character. The idea is that you force the opponent to block on wakeup through meaty projectiles and then continue to bully them with strategic sets and layered pressure until they crack and try to escape or mash out, then you either just wack them down or confirm off them getting hit by a ball.

[pruitcake]

Knock them down and do nasty ball setups and make them guess for their life. If they get hit, then do it all over again. I'm sure the lab nerds are coming up with more optimal ♥♥♥♥ so low damage might not be an issue later on.

[Hellhounfd3223]

$$$$ There are some combos on youtube, they range from laughable nonexistant damage to 'okay that's decent...but the conditions r not gonna happen often". Alot of his kit seems to be designed to create distance, but little is designed to 'do anything with it'. He's really laughable to play against right now, we'll see what people comeup with though....he defintely doesn't scream casual friendly or pro friendly, but he's got a bit of both worlds but in a weird way.

tldr: Nobody knows yet.

[Kujou]

Low damage has kind of always been the thing since traditionally you were to build up risc with all the layered pressure (or just dark angel) and consistently hold advantage on oki with more setting. Once you get the momentum, then you can start slipping in your actual combo starters like c.s.

Venom's range advantage is challenged in a number of matchups here for sure, and his options to cover the more typical high angles have pretty much all been nerfed in some way, but what's there is there; you'll eat hs stingers all day if you think you can just do something on the ground when venom has had any time to charge, and if you're trying to be smart about it and just iad in, he has enough on him to at least hold the fort if you're being too predictable.

He's absolutely not as strong as he used to be, and in a game where some characters give you about 3 interactions to live his job got a lot harder, but he's still a fundamentally, exceptionally flexible character; work with what you've got.

[Emerald Lance]

He wants the same thing Millia, HC, Asuka, and Johnny want: to know you down so he can setup his mix on wakeup. If he can get you at full screen, he can zone really effectively.

[n00bdragon]

What's a good wakeup setup though? Just sticking a ball on top of people doesn't do much. The addition of a ball just means a bit more (scaled) damage on hit (and more scaling on any subsequent combo). He has instant overheads and a fantastic 2K > 2D which makes for a great high low mix but the reward is extremely lacking and doesn't give you enough time to set a ball. I watched some high level play yesterday and no one is setting balls. I didn't play Xrd, but I totally get that was his thing there, but if it's a thing here I'm just not seeing it.

[Str ange r]

Originally posted by Hellhounfd3223:

He defintely doesn't scream casual friendly or pro friendly, but he's got a bit of both worlds but in a weird way.

"Two lies and two truths, realities side by side"

Originally posted by Hellhounfd3223:

He's really laughable to play against right now, we'll see what people comeup with though....

"The Phantom will rise up"

[Parme]

Venom wants to command grab you because it is funny