Talos

*"This victory is for the people."*

 Age

**Talos** is one of the original six characters of Rising Thunder. As the representative of Greece and piloted by Xander Baccus, he is the main grappler in the series thusfar. Combining super armored attacks and earth-shaking grabs with his system's magnetism and Greco-Roman wrestling, Talos is a close-quarters juggernaut, imposing his will and towering above other combatants. His command grabs cover both the ground and the air, and his skill at closing the gap makes it difficult to escape his muscular presence. Talos is rated at a "Medium" difficulty level.

## Biography

### **Appearance**

Talos is a gigantic, burly mech made to resemble the famous Greek Hoplites, complete with "feathered mohawk helmet" on his head. **[needs citation]** His primary color scheme includes a primary yellow color, black secondary, and finally purple highlights and effects on his magnetic moves and engine in the center of his chest. It's worth mention that the color scheme of his feet give the appearance that he's wearing sandals. In combat, Talos carries himself like a Greco-Roman wrestler: he attacks with shoves and tackles, and his run animation has him rolling forward low to the ground with his hands, much like a low approach in wrestling.

### **Personality**

Xander Bacchus, Talos's Greek pilot, appears to fit the profile of your typical boisterous bruiser. He's nothing if not confident in his skills, and he seems to always feel assured of his victory. He's large and in charge, and he always has a reason for a good laugh, even in the middle of a fight. As his surname implies, he may be a fun-loving party animal when he's not fighting, enjoying a good drink and fun time with friends. Furthermore, his quip about putting "money on the table" hints at him viewing matches as a game-like contest or sport rather than a vitriolic duel. All together, this can help keep his confidence from seeming arrogant. On top of that, Xander stylizes himself as a champion of the people or a patriot in his own right; after all, Greece is cited as the birthplace of democracy, so it would make sense for him to represent the people when he fights.

This almost-arrogant persona, seemingly money driven and competitive nature, and patriotic viewpoint are similar in nature to stereotypical European football players and other European sporting archetypes.

## Moveset

### **Meter and Super**

If the opponent did not perform a grab immune action before the super flash, such as a jump, they can't escape the super. The moment it activates it grabs the opponent.

## Strategy

### **General Strategy**

Talos is a Grappler. He is strongest at point-blank range, where all of his attacks and command throws are a threat. However, getting in close can often be half the battle. When trying to approach a standing and active opponent, often your best bet is to simply walk forward on the ground without jumping too much. Dash if you're very far away or have a plan for when you get near your opponent, but never feel bad about simply walking and blocking. With grapplers, patience is utmost.

**Mid-range strategy**

Once you're in striking range of your opponent, but not close enough for command throws, that's when things can get hairy. Talos has some decent pokes at that range, such as Standing Far Heavy, Crouching Heavy, and even Spartan Kick. Only use Spartan Kick sparingly, or when you believe the opponent is about to attack you, as it is unsafe on block. Striking range should be close enough for the magnetic pull of charged Meteor Breaker and Titan Smash, making those viable options if used sparingly, similar to Spartan Kick. Remember that the chargeup animation for Meteor Breaker and Titan Smash are identical, making it impossible for the opponent to know whether or not they should jump or stay grounded. They can simply defeat the armor with a multi-hitting attack or a super however, so be careful. Similarly, Magnetic Buster and Spartan Rush can be a useful way to abruptly attack and close in on the opponent. If you only press the button once and don't do the followup attack, both are is safe on block, allowing you to execute close up offense directly after.

Other mid-range options include neutral jumping (jumping directly upwards) and attacking them with the maximum range of a jumping attack as you fall, which can be difficult for the opponent to punish. You can attempt to jump towards the opponent of course, but do so thoughtfully, preferably only when you think they're going to attack you with a move that you can jump over, and that they won't recover from in time to defend against a jumping attack easily. Otherwise, they can counter you with an anti-air or reversal, all of which are a single button-press away in Rising Thunder. Conversely, your anti-air options are also only a button press away, and Talos has some solid ones. Be prepared for their attempted jump-ins. Should they jump in while you aren't attacking, you can fairly easily react with a Titan Smash, which has an enormous hitbox and will surely catch them if they jumped towards you too late. If they jump over one of your ground attacks, or you simply weren't expecting them to jump at you, you still may have time to do a Spartan Kick or a Meteor Slam as they fall, which should prevent their jump-in attack with your super armor, and then counterhit them. A well-timed backdash can also evade an opponent's attack. If all else fails, just block! As a grappler you have the distinct advantage of being in a good position should your opponent place themself close to you, even if they do so with offensive momentum. Again, patience is key. Never feel bad about blocking, even when taking chip damage from specials. Talos has a lot of health for a reason. Many of these defensive tips and options are just as useful should your opponent knock you down and attempt to attack you as you get up, even should they attempt to cross you up. Just block or use your attacks in the opposite direction.

At mid-range, many opponents will begin to play a "run away" game, where they constantly move or jump backwards away from you. This can seem frustrating, as it does, in fact, nullify most if not all of your midrange options. However, in the long term, the opponent is actually doing you a favor, as they will eventually reach the corner with nowhere to run. This is a position that is quite favorable for Talos, so it is often worth it to just be patient with a flighty opponent and "walk" them into the corner, where you can then force them to deal with your mid-range and close-range offense. Consider any gained ground as a minor victory, even if it doesn't immediately lead to damage. Just be wary of smarter opponents who run away, only to move back towards you with an attack suddenly.

**Close range strategy**

Once you've managed to close in on your opponent - or they closed in on you and you blocked their pressure well enough to gain an offensive opening of your own - Talos' strong close-range game begins. Since Talos' ground throws are a large threat, especially when he has a full super meter, you can expect many opponents to plan their defense and escape around avoiding his throws. As a grappler, your job is to take advantage of this frame of mind to hit them with one of your other attacks while they worry about your throws. Then after you've done this a few time and conditioned them to fear your non-throws, you hit them with a throw when they're on defense.

The most common form of throw escape is for the opponent to jump. Since jumping animations are throw-invulnerable from frame 1, a throw will whiff against a jumping opponent even if it looks like the opponent is still on the ground, in the "windup" of the jump. This makes it the optimal solution for avoiding ground throws. Of course, Talos has a variety of responses to this. Titan Smash is the most obvious one, though it can require you to predict your opponent's jump, as it might not catch them on reaction if they get too far away before you press the button. More all-purpose solutions include many of your Close normals, including a simple string of Standing Close Lights. These will often hit an opponent as they jump up, and will also hit them even if they don't jump, unlike a throw. If you hit them, Close normals, Standing Far Light, and Crouching Light can all be cancelled into specials or other normals for respectable combos. Even if they block, you can cancel your Light attacks into further pressure. You can do other quick mid-level attacks to keep them from doing anything, go low with Crouching Medium or Crouching Heavy, jump towards them for a high or a crossup, or do a "tick throw." A tick throw is a technique where you hit the opponent with an attack, and then attempt to throw them as soon as they recover from the hit or block stun.

Be careful with your pressure though. Any opponent with a proper reversal, such as Chel's Crush Breeze or Edge's Judgment, can use it during any gaps in your pressure no matter how small to counter hit any following attack that you do. As such, it can sometimes be worthwhile to halt your pressure briefly and hold back or down-back to block, especially if you've seen them use a reversal at a particular point in your pressure before. A blocked reversal is almost always a chance to do a massive punish combo on your opponent. Talos especially gets a lot of opportunities for this, as a reversal tends to be the other most common way in which opponents will attempt to avoid his throws. Even if they use Kinetic Advance to cancel the recovery of their reversal, their recovery will be slow enough to where you can defeat most of their options with a quick Light, to either score a hit or continue pressure. So consider waiting a moment and blocking sometimes, when you would normally try to throw the opponent.

Once the opponent has been hit out of the air and punished for using reversals a few times, they'll become a lot more reluctant to do those things as liberally as they once did. At which point you can almost walk up and throw them for free as they defend on the ground. A good opponent will constantly vary up what they do to try and escape your offense, however, turning it into a true guessing game. However, at close range, its a guessing game that is stacked heavily in Talos' favor.

### **Kinetic Deflect or Kinetic Advance**

While Talos is a beast on the offense, with highly damaging combos and powerful resets, he's severely lacking in defense. He's slow, and his only move that his immediately armored on start-up is his Forward Heavy, so he is very weak if pressured. His only real defense is his naturally high health.

Kinetic Deflect allows him to break combos and reset the neutral, giving him some breathing room. Against powerful rushdown characters, such as Edge, this can be a life saver.

However, you are giving up Kinetic Advance for this, which allows Talos to combo off his Meteor Drop and Titan Wreak, and perform some devastating combos. Kinetic Advance is very scary on Talos, as it allows him to essentially make any of his moves safe or give him a relatively free get-in on the opponent.  Kinetic Advance likewise allows for rapid regeneration of his devestating grabs and useful Gamma Moves, which can be extremely critical since Titan Smash is Talos's main anti-air option.

Both Kinetic gives Talos benefits. Choosing between them is up too you on what you feel the match-up needs.

### **Matchups**

#### **Main cast**

##### **Edge**

Edge is a difficult character to play against. Edge has the ability to put on a lot of pressure and do some good mix-ups which can punish Talos if predicted. Edge also has the ability to do many combos out of a cross up so being aware of what edge can do after a cross-up will help. Edge can be punished if they are read and punished accordingly. When fighting Edge it can be beneficial to take Kinetic Deflect to prevent combos and to be able to capitalize on forcing a neutral again. Spartan Kick ( Forward + Heavy ) can be used as a reactive move to stop edge from charging in and will allow a combo to be performed.

##### **Dauntless**

Dauntless has a very ground heavy game and most of the combos will be performed starting on the ground. A passive playstyle focusing on reading and reacting with a Spartan Kick ( Forward + Heavy ) will allow for good combos and damage to be done. Alpha ( Meteor Breaker ) should be used to punish excessive blocking. Watching out for Dauntless' abilities such as Vandal hook and Revolving hook is important as they can be used to bait a player into attacking allowing Dauntless to punish.

##### **Chel**

Chel's strength comes from zoning, primarily from her fireball.  Therefore, neutral jumps and Spartan Rush will help getting some fireballs without being hurt. Be careful when jumping near a Chel because Beta (Crushing Breeze) is used as an anti air and is very effective. Blocking a Chel's special ability (Dancing Wind) will allow for a grab combo punish. Playing aggressive in the neutral and forcing Chel into the corner will allow for big combos and bigger punishes.

##### **Crow**

Crow's throw lots of fireballs in the neutral and can do many cross-ups and combos starting from the air. Blocking and using beta ability (Titan smash) as an aerial punish is important for slowing Crow down. Being aware of Crow's possible mix-ups is important to allow the ability to predict and use Spartan Kick (Forward + Heavy) to punish. Crows biggest flaw is his get up options, therefore a knocked down Crow is an easy Crow.

##### **Talos**

Talos dittos require patience and knowing how to punish slow moves, knowing what combos can punish is important to winning this match-up. Like Crow, Talos is limited on his get up options.  Due to Spartan Kick (Forward + Heavy), one typically shouldnt rely too greatly on Talos's normals for combo opening when fighting another Talos.  Using grabs and Meteor Slam in particular when at close range can help prevent him from capitalizing on a knocked-down state

##### **Vlad**

Vlad is one of the easier match-ups because of his flying mechanic is easily punishable with beta ability (Titan Smash) .While Vlad can use Cosmonaut Liftoff as an effective way to get up and can also be used as an anti-air, blocking a Wake-Up Cosmonaut Liftoff will allow big combos and an easy punish.

## Revisions

Below is a list of changes to the character from version to version.

### Alpha

#### Build 1235

* Standardized block pushback caused by normal sweep attacks: Talos’ c.H
* Talos’ crouching Light attack startup has been reduced by 1 frame.
* Talos’ feet now become projectile invulnerable during air Spartan Rush.
* Talos’ fully charged Titan Smash (S2) no longer causes extreme pushback against cornered opponents.
* Smoothed out animation timing for Talos air throw, making it easier to identify the follow-up window.

#### Build 1263

* New S1 variant! Meteor Slam becomes armored immediately, but it cannot be charged or kinetic-canceled like Meteor Breaker.
* F+H block stun reduced to 17 frames. Talos is slightly negative after kinetic-cancelling this move into a forward dash.
* F+H no longer hits opponents behind Talos.
* Fully charged S1v1 has been overhauled with an updated animation and extended ground bounce to allow free follow-ups, similarly to fully charged S2v1. To compensate, its damage has been reduced from 250 to 225.
* Talos’ air throw distance against Edge and Vlad has been corrected to match the other characters.
* Raised Talos’ fist slightly in c.L animation to better convey that it can be blocked high.
* Cleaned up Talos S1v1 whiff and S2v1 whiff animations.
* Enhanced impactfulness of Talos normal throws by 200-800% (in metric units, of course).

#### Build 1292

* Slight pose improvement for Talos’ uncharged Meteor Breaker.
* Talos’ Meteor Slam and Meteor Breaker whiff animations have been shortened slightly to better convey their true recovery frames.

#### Build 1312

* New S2 variant! Titan Wreck becomes armored immediately, but cannot be charged or kinetic-canceled like Titan Smash.
* Standardized Titan Smash reactions for all characters, so follow-up juggles should behave more consistently.
* Pose and camera movement improvements for Talos’ Titan Smash, along with slightly quicker recovery after a successful grab.
* Pose improvements for Talos’ Overdrive startup.

#### Build 1330

* Reduced Meteor Slam active frames from 3 to 2, shortened range slightly, and increased whiff recovery by 3 frames.
* Reduced Titan Wreck active frames from 5 to 3, shortened range slightly, and increased whiff recovery by 3 frames.
* Fixed a bug that allowed Talos to escape ground throws during Titan Smash and Titan Wreck active frames.
* Slight pose improvement for Talos’ Titan Wreck.

Build 1341

* F+H range has been reduced slightly.
	+ *Dev Notes: We’ve been scaling back the ranges of invincible and armored moves over the last few patches, and it’s Talos' turn now. This update shouldn't change the way he's played up close, but should make it harder to use F+H from safe ranges.*
* Magnetic Buster’s initial hit stun and block stun have been increased by 2 frames.
	+ *Dev Notes: Canceling blocked Magnetic Buster into Meteor Breaker or Titan Smash now guarantees that Talos can become armored before he's interrupted by a light attack. Charging is still risky because the opponent can choose to throw instead of using a light attack, but this change makes the guessing game more balanced.*
* Slight pose improvements for Crow and Talos’ knockback reactions.
* Slight motion improvements to Talos uncharged Titan Smash reactions.

Build 1372

* Reduced Overdrive active frames from 3 to 2.
	+ *Dev Notes: Colossal Crush is meant to have some anti-air capability, but we felt the timing was slightly too lenient. This change makes it a little stricter, and less effective against well-timed backdashes.*
* Fixed a Talos uncharged S2v1 bug that caused extreme corner pushback under certain conditions.
* Kinetic-canceling Talos’ S3 clothesline ender should no longer negate his dash velocity.

## See also

* Talos guides
* Talos combo videos
* Talos mentors

## External links

Rising Thunder official forum:

* Talos! (general Talos discussion)
* Talos vs the world (Talos matchup discussion)