Last week, we covered half the cast in DNF Duel, laying out their pros and cons given the experience that we had. This week, we come equipped with even more knowledge to give you the latter half of the characters in the game. I’ve only done a couple of matches but…
Only a couple…
Okay, I’ve played a lot. I have a big tournament coming up and I wanna be prepared for it! But enough about me, let’s go over the rest of the cast!
Kunoichi
The mixup queen. Kunoichi boasts very hard to react, sometimes unseeable mixups, on top of the best mobility in the game, and some pretty damn good normals to boot. Her specials are overall pretty good, with the two most important ones being Toad Oil Bomb (214M) and Flame Tornado (236M).
Toad Oil Bomb is a very big fireball that has a hitbox upon the toad’s summoning, spitting, and fireball landing. It is good for neutral, combo extensions, pressure, and mixups. It truly does it all. Flame Tornado is functionally similar to Inquisitor’s Wheel, only you get to actually do mixups with it. Her two major weaknesses are her low health, and her relatively strict execution barrier. A lot of her combos are very timing specific and need some thorough practice before just jumping in with her.
Players to follow: Obelisk, Leffen
Launcher
The most classic and old school zoner archetype I’ve ever seen in my life. Launcher has about every projectile you can think of, for every angle, covering every situation. Her 5A is one of the best in the game, being one of the few buttons that can’t be dodge rolled period. Her hallmark move is X-1 Extruder, a comically large fireball that is extremely hard to dodge roll, does a very healthy amount of chip damage and guard gauge damage, and is +22 on block. Her pressure is very safe, her kit very fluid, and her defensive options plentiful.
Her one weakness in my opinion is her frame data. Aside from Extruder, she doesn’t really get to sit back forever and pressure people. Eventually, your opponent will get in, and it’s on you to figure out how to maneuver favorably in neutral.
Players to follow: LordKnight, Romolla
Lost Warrior
The unique character in DNF Duel. Lost Warrior doesn’t really fit into a set archetype. He grants the opponent a stacking debuff whenever he lands an MP skill. If the stacks reach five, time freezes, rendering your opponent completely helpless, and giving you free reign. He has very good damage, a good neutral game, and incredibly tricky moves that force you to dash block properly. He is also the biggest Guard Button check in the game, as he has a very easy way to cross you up.
Where he excels in offense, he lacks pretty hard on defense. He doesn’t have a true reversal, he’s tall, and his buttons are quite slow. Despite the weaknesses, he is enough of an offensive powerhouse to invest time into.
Ranger
One of the zoners of the game, and a super stylish one at that. Ranger has full screen normals that travel extremely quickly, confirms off of most hits with good damage, and has one of the best DPs in the game. He excels at space control and neutral, while also having a plethora of ways to close the gap. He is also one of the only characters to go from a special, back into a normal, and remain plus on block.
While he does have all this going for him, he lacks a particularly fast normal, with his fastest button being 10 frames. He also lacks a true overhead, which makes his mixup game something to be desired.
Players to follow: PapaLeoGG, Dekillsage
Striker
The queen of rushdown. Striker has everything you could ask for in a hyper aggressive character, and then some. She is the only character with reverse beat, and she can do it into and out of her command normals. She is the only character that can true string her specials as well, and she can do it in any order she wants, for as long as she has mana. She also has, in my opinion, the best DP in the game, because of the aforementioned special canceling. Her dive kick can be made plus on block, as can her air special.
She is also one of the only characters that has a primary gameplan of Guard Breaking you into death, taking upwards of 80% health from your opponent, on top of maintaining pressure through rebeat resetting. She doesn’t have a ranged option, and while her DP is ridiculous, it can be safe jumped and outranged, especially by sword characters, but if you don’t have 100 MP, you die.
Players to follow: ScrawtVermillion, Nashfan, Kazunoko Me!
Swift Master
If Striker is the pressure god, and Kunoichi is the mixup god, then Swift Master is the demigod of both. He isn’t quite as good as either, but he excels so well at both that it barely feels like a compromise. His main gimmick is his wind orb, which creates a suction effect where it’s placed. This enables very high damage combos, potent setups, and his 8-way dash, which allows for some messed up mixups. He has a lot of great normals, with his 2B being the star of the show. He’s also the only character that gets to use his DP in the air, which is powerful against characters like Kunoichi or Striker.
What he has in offense, he lacks in health. If you do happen to get the hit on him, make it hurt, because he won’t last very long.
Players to follow: Supernoon, Go1
Troubleshooter
Midrange is his domain, and you’re just living in it. Troubleshooter is incredibly oppressive if you’re anywhere within his range, and is quite well rounded, with no glaring weaknesses. His grenade toss is a bit slow, but controls a ton of space. Get on Fire has a comically large hitbox, and is your go to confirm and punish tool. His awakening opens up new routes that significantly buff his damage, and he, along with Berserker, get to utilize the “downside” of the white life hit to access conversion whenever he wants.
While he excels at the midrange, he struggles with super long range and super close range threats. He can get mauled fairly easily, and while his DP is strong, it’s fairly slow, and can be dashed through with ease if the opponent knows what they’re doing.
Players to follow: Fendo, CoachSteve
Vanguard
The leader of the Big Button Battalion. His specialty is his S and MS rekka series, massive, near full screen buttons that dictate the pace of the game on his terms and can be chained into one another. He does an absolute truckload of damage, and has incredible stopping power and anti-air to boot. He struggles pretty hard against rushdown characters, as his DP whiffs on crouching opponents, making for easy safe jumps. He also gets punished hard by dodge rolling, and has a ton of recovery on all of his buttons.
Players to follow: Flokey
The cast of DNF Duel is super deep and dynamic, and each character feels great to play, while also being quite unique in what they do. I hope you’re enjoying the game as much as I am, and I’ll be sure to talk more about it and compete a lot more in the future!