I agree, but NRS doesnt seem to. Seems like a good chunk of the cast has pretty safe 50/50's. Regardless, mixing in the low special in that string from time to time will definitely be a necessary risk in bone shaper.
i agree that 50/50s shouldn't be safe but if pretty much everyone has safe 50/50s its kinda shitty when its unsafe
This is pretty much the problem and something I observed:
Shinnok's low damage and zoning output does not nearly make up for the fact that everyone in this game has teleports and/or vortexes/50-50s you have to guess on. Anytime I fight a Scorpion? I struggle, just because Scorpion doesn't need to respect anything I do. He doesn't have to. Blocking is really the only way I get him to hang himself (though Scorpion is slightly ridiculous in this game).
If anyone gets up on him and bullies him as well? Only armored move is EX shoulder, and in a game where now getting knocked down is gonna get you killed you sorta need a breaker. I often find me losing the most when I get put into the corner. Armoring an interactable sometimes is how I only get out.
Kinda sucks.
So many characters can rush you down and ignore zoning or spacing tools. In Bone Shaper I simply find F2,2 so awkward to use. If the opponent jumps, not much I can convert off of and half the time the 2 whiffs after.
Scorpion has an extremely fast raw standing overhead, way better meterless damage and if Inferno is played, gets 40 I believe into a reset for 1 bar. A teleport, a spear, and don't get me started on the Inferno demons.
Shinnok is supremely underpowered in comparison. Meterless damage is equivalent to around 22-28%, no standing raw overheads in any variation and aside from 1,1,2,3 he has no overheads except in Bone Shaper Bone Shaper (And even that is easy to see coming because it's the only one he has.) and can only do so much off a low unless in Bone Shaper where he gets the added strings. Even using meter in combos is not that great. Only way Shinnok gets really great damage is off resets from EX grab and F2,2, 1+3 in Bone Shaper, the only 50/50 he has outside of the Imposter vortex.
Necromancer is just straight up messed. Flick, Summoned Fiend and Judgement Fist all get beat by run. (You can do at least one meaty flick) If you see a run coming you can do an amulet strike, but if you just did one of the above you do not have a choice but to just hold that. I also just do not like Judgement Fist that much, I find me almost never using it and only doing so when the opponent feels confused or doesn't know the matchup on a knockdown. Most people with a character like Erron Black will just Armor Slide through and not give a single fuck. I even get counterzoned simply because their projectiles come out faster.
I actually wish (not asking for a buff) that Flick had a larger hitbox so Shinnok actually could play a zoning game. Startup on so many specials seem so slow to the point that your safest bets are hellsparks and flick and has I think only one safe string by itself in Bone Shaper. (You can make strings safe in variations not named Bone Shaper by doing amulet if they stand and block it, or EX so they have to... but that is again another bar to use.)
I really think Imposter might just be the way to go just due to the extra damage, but no, he needs some extra shit clearly. What he has is clearly not enough and if he has no overheads, shouldn't that mean his damage should be way higher/strings be more safer? Why do we have to be punished when getting confirms off of punishes and whiffs is all we really can do sometimes?
He has some nice tools, (5 frame D1 and F2,2,4 is great) but those are just my current thoughts. I don't think he's BAD, but compared to the rest of the cast, he could use some oomph. I'm not crying for buffs or anything, but I don't think anyone would disagree he needs something.