Similarly to the Baz thread, I am having serious trouble fighting people playing S.Kill, specifically when they just spam the teleport constantly. What is you approach to attacking him? Any specific character strategies? Every time I go at him I either A) miss entirely, B) get trounced, or C) luck out and hit him. Anybody figured out how to counter this guy?

As an S-Kill player, my main problem is fall and kick speed even with the kick gem. Essentially the times I am most vulnerable are when I have used up my teleports (so during 2nd fall and while kicking) - so people who are just hella fast can catch me pretty easily. Redacted and Kick do great but the guy I have the hardest time with is actually (and to me, surprisingly) Markman, mainly due to the angle and his mid-air special.

Also, remember that not only is S-Kill vulnerable while falling, he can't do anything for a bit after he lands as the teleport has a couple of frames start-up. So I'd guess a good strategy is to play defensive against s-kill, wait for him to miss then punish like mad.

Finally (in terms of vulnerabilities I know of), S-Kill has a haaaaard time moving towards you. He doesn't have any forward teleports (just up and back), so he's forced to kick his way to you, which opens him up as stated above and allows you to play quite defensively. Note, though, that by his nature he builds meter faster than almost anyone else so he does have that very strong air special if you wait too long and let him build.

Aside from that, perhaps playing as him for a while will give you a better idea of what he is capable of? Lose a bunch of times while playing s-kill and you'll be better at the game in general for it.

Yeah, selfconfessedcynic is spot on. Once you get a better handle on S-Kill's teleports and stop getting disoriented by them, he isn't nearly as scary. If you stand still, he'll air special you, so keep on the move and that special will rarely do anything. The ground special will be dangerous in the hands of good players, but you can still hit him in the legs and the timing is pretty tight on the parry anyway. He's arguably almost as much of a joke as Jefailey since he can't advance very quickly; his saving grace is that his gimmick is very smoke and mirrors and can give easy victories against inexperienced players. It either takes time to learn it, or go watch some streams and notice their strategies. If you want, go watch the EVO top 8, and see how Adelheid Stark (a very good S-Kill) gets completely dismantled against a Dive player who gets the right tips from his teammate.

So far I've been backing off and waiting him out. I'm doing OK with it. Most of my losses are my fault.

I've been able to beat S.Kill's by sitting in the middle all game and forcing him to come to me. I play Kung Pao, and her kick angle is so low, when I react to him coming, he's unable to quickly parry me. Seems to do the trick often enough.

I've had some good results with just sitting still until he comes in close enough and then pouncing immediately. It probably helps I play redacted since he's so crazy fast.

@squidc00kie: Redacted is a she :D - but out of curiosity, how do you take on Shoals with Redacted? I can't ever seem to beat Shoals when I play as her.

@selfconfessedcynic: Shoals with REDACTED is tough as the key to beating Shoals is to stay as low as possible at all times.

I've been faking him out. I act like I'm going in for a kick, do the dive, he teleports, I let the dive go, dive again, and hit the kick while he's in his kick animation. Basically, dive twice, then kick.

Also, how exactly does S-Kill's teleport work? It looks like it always gets him at the perfect height for a headshot.

@selfconfessedcynic:

Get your dive gem on! You can jump higher that her with it. She dives and hits that horizontal kick, you dive, and the match is over. Then SHE has to play the keep low game. I've never lost a game against shoals with this.

I have actually been having very good luck with Jefailey against S.Kill. As long as you properly control space around you, your only real concern is his air special, which you can watch for. S.Kill has such trouble bearing down on a character, its a lot easier to slow the match down and punish when they do try and attack.

I'm a Shoals guy, so my kick speeds are very slow (even with the gem). I usually stay away from Seth and build up kick factor. I have more luck using the horizontal kick over the second kick with seth and/or baiting Seth into making a mistake at the line.

Played him again today (hadn't played since last night) and beat him. Definitely found the advice here useful, especially just in understanding what's happening. I beat him with Shoals, which worked out well enough, even though I definitely didn't take him down cleanly. I still feel like I have to pay close attention to whats happening, so it's definitely not as reactive of a game as many other match-ups, but at least I'm enjoying fighting him now.

I just Fraud Detected an S-Kill with Shoals. On the final round he parried and went over me on the counter attack. Is that the result of something I did or did he screw up? Or maybe it's just the gems we chose making the math work out?

@mosespippy: Parrying Shoals usually screws things up for S-Kill like that because of the way she kicks.

Hey, I think I've seen ya on Steam before!

Anyway I'm playing a lot of Kick and, as him, I slowly creep my way inside and just probe fore a counter hit. S-Kill seems to have a hard time hitting a static target that gets in too close, so a lot of time it's just a matter of threading the needle and waiting for him to overcommit to get you out of his face.

The one thing that I feel you really need to look out for is for him to build meter, because his air special is ridiculously good (especially at hitting a static target; hence his counter to you slowly creepin' in). If you see him spamming kicks in the corner or playing keepaway, pressure him while keeping an eye on his meter. If you can rush him down before he gets (A), then you should be okay.

If he does get (A), stay mobile and wait for him to throw it out, then proceed as above.