PLAYSTYLE

Rush down, then use Mode to finish them off, or coax the enemy into prime position and transform into a powerful new character.

Kars makes use of his high speed and good jumping tools to rush the opponent down and chain as many small combos together as possible. His main move in this state is 214A, a hopping kick that rockets the opponent across the screen for a wall bounce. It can be done as an air-to-air, and gives ample time for his next mix-up. While he has other moves, such as various slashes and teleports, they are very situational and don’t see much use due to their recovery.

As Kars builds meter, he has some decisions to make: He can spend the meter to finish rounds with his Mode 1 (make sword specials unblockable) or 2 (makes ALL sword moves unblockable). He can also do a large combo, or attempt his transformation. With the right positioning, he can 214A the opponent and then GHA to transform while they recover. Once transformed, Kars gets a new, much more complete moveset. While Kars loses his mode, he gains a collection of projectiles, a long range anti-air, Hamon moves for combos, and a very annoying flight abilities. This mode is quite a bit safer, as he cancel certain moves into flight. His no meter and 1 bar damage goes up, but max damage is about the same.

While Kars feels very basic compared to his transformation, players will have to decide if losing Mode is worth the transformation. Transformed Kars is a much more polished character, however, that benefits from character unfamiliarity in match-ups. That being said, setting up transformation can be hard as the position must be perfect, which can be very difficult when the opponent knows this. Kars is a solid character that that has to make hard decisions about what his goals are, and how he’s going to get there.

PROS

• Fast movement speed.
• Solid set of normals.
• Mode allows his sword attacks to be unblockable.
• Strong rush-down for Regular Kars.
• Can transform into a new character to change-up his tactics.
• Transformation brings a very solid, safe, and annoying moveset.
• Unfamiliarity with transformation can give advantage over opponent.

CONS

• Most moves aside from 214A for Regular Kars are very situational and don’t see much use.
• Mode only really useful for unblockable attacks and is more rarely used than the other Mode characters.
• Transformation locks him out of certain moves and Mode.
• Due to positioning or a wary opponent, achieving transformation may take a lot of work, or risky behaviour.
• Guaranteeing transformation consumes all 3 bars.