At Evolution 2013, the world got its first glimpse at Thunder. Seemingly no longer a chief, it was nothing more than a tomahawk tossed at a tree and a voice. Fast-forward to Gamescom and all of our Thunder questions have been answered, but now we have a short teaser for a mysterious female character named Sadira. We don’t know much more than her name, but we can take a closer look at the teaser to theorize about how she plays.
At first glance, the new character seems to use thin wire that resemble the webbing of a spider. The wire allow her to attack opponents from the air in a way that no other current Killer Instinct character can. Some might say she’s another zoning character, similar to Glacius. While she may end up using the wire to attack from a distance, we don’t believe that will be her primary play style. Instead, she seems to be an aerial fighter.
In the teaser video, she knocks Thunder into the air, then follows him up almost like a Marvel vs. Capcom combo. She then knocks him away and uses the wire to quickly close in again and continue the combo, all while still airborne. But if the new character is indeed an aerial archetype, how does that impact the existing game engine, which has never featured an aerial combatant.
We already know that Combo Breakers can be executed from a distance. It’s possible to break long-range combos while fighting Glacius. Breaking an aerial combo from this new character should be no different. The real question is, how will her combos work? Was the launcher a special move or a normal, and can she use standard ground-based combos?
It’s safe to assume the launcher is some sort of special move that serves as an Opener, Linker, or Ender. This would allow her to chain normals into the launcher, launch mid-combo, or end combos with the launch. And if she has the ability to end combos with the launcher, it probably means she has ground-based combos in addition to her aerial raves. Just like how Glacius can combo from a distance, or at close range, this new character can probably combo from the ground or in the air.
With some of the new gameplay changes in the latest build of Killer Instinct, it’s now possible to create resets by intentionally dropping a combo and attempting to start a new one. However, if a combo is dropped in mid-air, how will this impact a potential reset opportunity? Using a bit of theory fighter, it could be possible for the new character to cross up an opponent with an attack as both characters reach the ground. As an aerial character, it stands to reason she has better air mobility than other characters, so it’s not out of the question to think she can create an ambiguous cross-up situation.
Sadira is expected to be playable at Tokyo Game Show in a few weeks. We should have quite a few answers there, and probably even more questions. Until then, keep you eyes locked on Prima Games for all of your Killer Instinct strategy needs.
