Kosaku

## Introduction

Kosaku is a more defensively orientated character with mostly projectiles to work with. His combo damage is about average but his real strengths are in taking advantage of his bombs manipulating enemies to take damage from them. He is a very difficult character to play but can be very fun due to his challenging moveset and many explosions.

## Strengths/Weaknesses

**Strengths**

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* Can do some great setups with the first bomb skill, resulting in free combos if used properly.
* His contact bombs become near impossible to avoid when "the man in the photo" is present.
* He can do big damage with simple tricks that even experienced players may fall for.
* His DHA, Bites The Dust resets the position and cooldowns of everyone on the map, also reverting transformations such as Made In Heaven, and Ultimate Life Form Kars.
* His R1 has super armor on startup and is unblockable, unlike Kira's.

**Strengths**

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* Should he lose Stray Cat he is near defenseless; He cannot use 3/4 of his skills, and has no safe way to retrieve it.
* His damage output is relatively low compared to most characters, and relies on gimmicks and explosion pressure to keep opponents in check.
* Stray Cat's protection is very hit or miss, and has a high cooldown, making him pretty vulnerable to rushdown characters.
* "Impact Ignition" is basically useless, and his other skills (other than R1) are essentially unconfirmable safely.

## Commands

**Style/Other**

The First Bomb!
 ON GROUND WHEN DOWNED IN AIR OK
Arguably Kosaku's best move and his best challenge tool as well. Not only is his  skill armoured and unblockable, it also tracks sidesteps, letting him occasionally challenge sidesteps fairly well both offensively and defensively. It's not abusable, however, if predicted and backdashed your opponent can get a full punish on you. Additionally, the armor does not activate instantly, so don't try to use this a get out of jail free card when you're trying to recover stray cat and your opponent is waiting to punish you.

**Skills**

Contact Bomb
 + / +  ON GROUND PROJECTILE IN AIR OK EX SKILL CHARGEABLE
\*Fires a chargeable, explosive air bubble with mediocre homing capabilities but decent damage.
* Charging it will trade speed and tracking for damage and spread, fully charging it takes roughly 3 seconds and can shave off nearly half a health bar.
* The explosion can also be detonated early with Kosaku's  skill.

An important skill for Kosaku, Kosaku recovers from the move at a reasonable rate so provided you aren't already close to the opponent its an alright tool to pester with, especially in 2v2s if your partner doesn't mind losing some health.

**Ex version**: Contact bomb launches an air bubble automatically charged to max size. Can be useful in a pinch like all air bubbles, be wary of harming yourself or your teammate.Impact Ignition Bomb +  ON GROUND PROJECTILE CHARGEABLE
\*Your other air bubble skill
* Can be charged like Contact Bomb for the same sacrifices and benefits, with the additional boon of more trajectory changes proportional to the size.

More powerful than Contact Bombs but the fact that Kira can't move while using it and loses control over its tracking if hit while using the skill makes it significantly less useful and less versatile than Contact Bombs for zoning and damage. However, the greater control and manual detonation can make it useful for more precise zoning on larger maps.This stone is a bomb!
 +  ON GROUND PROJECTILE
\*Places a bomb on the ground shortly in front of Kosaku
* Must be manually detonated

The cornerstone of Kosaku's mind games. Unlike Kira's version of this skill, the location of the bomb is invisible to your opponent. With some keen maneuvering and strategy its easy to lead your opponent into losing a sizable chunk of health to this skill. Just as with the other bombs, be wary of blowing up you and your partner as well.Stray Cat's protecting me now!
 + / +  ON GROUND PROJECTILE IN AIR OK EX SKILL
\*Kosaku is protected from the next next non-projectile, non-DHA attack by an air bubble from Stray Cat
* When triggered, pushes the opponent back and spawns an explosive air bubble in between both you and the opponent.
* The air bubble will then explode on next contact or through a manual detonation.

Another really important skill for Kosaku, lets you run around for a bit without worrying about getting hit and will remain active for a long time. In short its a bit of insurance to let Kosaku get out of a tough spot. The fact that you're still able to use other skills while its active means there's little reason to not use it when available.

**Ex version**: Same as the normal version but activates quicker.

**Dual Heat Attacks**

Bites the Dust
 +  ON GROUND
Kosaku activates Bites the Dust and rewinds time back 10 in game seconds, and resets everyone to roundstart positions with flash bursts and flash cancels recovered. Mostly for utility, as Kosaku's DHA can't kill but does come with an assortment of unique effects including the ones mentioned above. Notably it will revert any transformations such as GER and Ultimate Kars as well as reset any and all cooldowns making it especially potent to use against characters with powerful but slow to use skills such as Time Stop and Heavy Weather. It ​will also restore health to Kosaku and his teammat
This DHA will also revive any retired opponents albeit with a sliver of health

## Combos

**BnB**:  ➜   ➜ Hold  \*collapse ➜  ➜ .

**Alt BnB**:  ➜   ➜  ➜  \*cancel ➜  ➜ (air) .