Fighter
The Immovable Object
The noble shield knight who laughs in the face of danger. He also, might be the strongest.
Valrik is the tank. He has the toughest idle armour on the roster, a shield that turns projectiles around, and a grab that lets him carry someone across the arena and use them as cover. He is also the fighter people forget to walk behind. Do not let them remember.
Valrik's idle armour is a step above Rostam's. Standing still, he shrugs off jabs, Powerballs, Freya's basic arrows, and even Kinto and Feng's chain finishers and sprint attacks. It only breaks to genuinely heavy hits.
Then he raises the shield, and it gets better. Energy attacks bounce back at whoever threw them. Physical hits drain your energy instead of your health.
The catch is the word front. Every shield Valrik has covers the front only. A hit from behind drops it and staggers you. So the whole game with Valrik is facing the right way, and the whole game against him is getting round the back.
W (hold) free to hold, drains when hit
Raise the shield and keep it up as long as you like. It costs nothing to hold. Energy projectiles reflect straight back at the thrower. Physical hits drain your energy one for one instead of hurting you. When your energy hits zero, the shield breaks and the next hit knocks you down. You can turn to face the other way while holding, but you cannot move.
D + ← or → 30 energy, then 10 a second
An explosive forward burst that launches anyone it hits as a projectile, then a charge with the shield up that knocks down whoever you run into. Steer the burst by holding ↑ or ↓ during launch. Energy drains while you run. Press the opposite direction, press block, or run dry to stop.
D + ↓ 10 energy, then a slow drain
Grab an enemy and hoist them overhead. Walk wiht them, run with them by pressing S. Hold them in front of you as a human shield by pressing W, and anything that would have hit you hits them instead. Or throw them as a projectile by pressing A. Energy drains while you hold, and faster if they mash attack to fight free. Goes through armour and shields, and it can grab someone who is blocking.
D + ↑ 10 energy
Five stages. Three wide swinging punches, a drop kick that lands you crouched, and a shield swing that launches. Cheap for what it does and your best way to turn a shrugged jab into damage.
Tap A. Each landed hit leads to the next.
The finisher is the heaviest basic hit on the roster and knocks down, turning the target into a projectile.
His sprint attack and his fast-jump air attack both come with the shield up, so they reflect projectiles on the way in.
In the air, A = Overhead downward slam
Sprint, then A = Heavy shield swing.
Sprint, jump, then in the air, A = Heavy aerial shield swing.
Sprinting into a Powerball is a legitimate plan.
Specials or attacks that flow straight into the next: