Soki - Capcom

"I am Soki - Slayer of demons, destroyer of darkness! I am the Oni of the Ashes!"

TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM BIO:

Soki, a young warrior equipped with easily identifiable blue armor, is on a mission to destroy the evil Genma. By absorbing souls of the Genma he defeats, he awakens the demon’s power within him and turns into the ultimate Onimusha. Soki’s real name is Hideyasu Yuki, but he was given the nickname of Soki in honor of his wild fighting style, which is similar to the Demon God’s style.

CHARACTER ORGIN

Soki is the main protagonist in Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams.  He is a strong warrior who possesses the dark power of the Oni, referred as the Blue Oni. Having learned about Hideyoshi's insidious scheme, he sets out on a journey to burn the Genma trees and defeat the Genma running rampant across the land. Wielding two swords with such grace, precision and power, Sōki is soon referred to by townsfolk as "Oni of the Ash". He is also called the "Black Oni" due to his extreme resemblance to the Oni God. Soki uses a variety of heavy broadswords and katanas.

 GAMEPLAY DETAILS

Power, range and defense are Soki's true strengths. His quick sword pokes can punish opponents who try to dash in recklessly, outranging most frontal offense with ease and allowing him to chain together complex combos thanks to the large area covered by his swinging blade. Though he lacks offensive mixups, he has super armor and counters to help him catch the opponent off guard. Because he is a little bit on the slow side, he tends to prefer to keep the opponent at medium range.

CHARACTER STATS

Difficulty:

Style:

Defensive power:

Offensive power:

Approach strength:

Combo ability:

Meter Usage:

Key Techniques:

Partner Options:

Special Moves

CHAIN

(DURING HEAD SPLITTER OR DEFLECT HIT)

While not exactly a special, Chain is what happens when H+M is pressed during the hitpause of certain special moves. This allows Souki to follow up said move with a fast double-strike that has different properties depending on the original move. Souki's F+H lunging stab can also be effected by this. Using Chain during the hitpause of F+H will cause Souki to charge through the opponent with a circular cut, sending them flying behind him.

HEAD SPLITTER

   
 HALF CIRCLE FORWARD + ATTACK

A very slow overhead attack. Souki reels back and then slams his sword down in front of him. This attack has super armor through the startup and will stagger on hit. Useful for forcing the opponent on the defensive although if the opponent has baroque it's unsafe to rely on the super armor, as the opponent can baroque on reaction and punish it. This attack can be affected by Chain, and the followup will launch. Be very wary of characters who have counter-specials and counter-supers, as they can cancel into these on reaction to the super armor.

SLAM

   
FORWARD DOWN DOWN-FORWARD + ATTACK

 

Souki pulls back and then charges forward with a shoulder attack. Like the helm splitter it has super armor through the startup with the exception of the light version. The light version causes stagger but has no super armor and is fast and fairly safe. The mid version knocks down and has more startup/distance traveled, and the strong version has the most startup, travels the furthest distance and causes wall slam. A very useful special for extending Souki's ground combos.

DEFLECT

    
HALF CIRCLE BACK + ATTACK

Souki takes a stance briefly. If hit by a physical attack other than a low or super he will stun the opponent and then slice through them for a counterattack. Has a large window for countering and causes the opponent to crumple when it hits, however it has limited usefulness due to it's inability to counter low attacks. This special can be affected by Chain and the followup will knock the opponent down.

SWORD PLANT

DOWN, DOWN + ATTACK

A quick stab at the ground. Hits low and will hit downed opponents. This is generally used to finish combos or deal more damage after a tag hit.

Hyper Moves

 SWORD OF PURIFICATION

    
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Soki tosses his sword out at the opponent, sucking them into a whirlwind of fire before directing the floating blade down to stab them on the ground. The last hit of the whirlwind throws the opponent up into a free fall, making it good in Delayed Hyper Cancels. Fairly fast and fairly safe, this super does average damage and is overall just a very decent attack. It's good in Delayed Hyper Cancels due to the height at which it throws the opponent.

ONI TACTICS

 

   
FORWARD DOWN DOWN-FORWARD + ANY TWO ATTACKS

A quick slash with the sword, imbued with electricity. This attack can be charged up 3 levels. Uncharged it staggers and can be affected by Power Slash to perform a double attack for around 9,000b damage. The uncharged hit can also send airborn opponents into a wall bounce. Charged to level 2, it hits twice for about 18,000b damage, and at level 3 the second hit triggers a huge explosion for an overall damage of around 25,000b damage. The second attack for the charged versions will come out even if the first hit misses. A very useful super if just because of the incredible damage potential it has for only 1 meter. The uncharged hit comes out fast and can be very useful in Delayed Hyper Combos due to it's stagger properties. Charging two levels already makes it very powerful and can easily combo from a lengthy assist such as Polymar's. The 3rd level of charge is useful for certain team combos and Delayed Hyper Combinations. If the uncharged blow is used on an airborn opponent, they will wallbounce and Soki can combo into a relaunch.

ONIMUSHA TRANSFORMATION

    
HALF CIRCLE BACK + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Soki grips his sword tightly and then in a flash of light transforms into the dreaded Black Oni. Control is given back to the player after the super flash and Soki's meter will slowly drain over time. Soki remains in Oni mode until he either uses his final attack or runs out of meter. When in Oni mode, Soki has hyper armor just like a giant character, and he cannot summon his partner. While hitting the opponent he draws out red, blue and yellow souls randomly.

Instead of calling out an assist, the P button will allow Soki to absorb the souls that are floating around the stage, which each have an effect on him dependant on their colour. Blue souls steal meter from the opponent - yellow souls restore Soki's life and red souls fill work towards allowing him to use his final attack.

This super has some interesting properties, but it's major weakness is that no matter what it will end up draining Soki's entire meter guage, which in the meter-dependant world of TvC is quite a risky move for any character. Still, the actual transformation process happens during a superpause, meaning that Soki can cancel out of normals and specials into Oni mode and continue the combo, guaranteeing that some souls will be drawn from the opponent and some damage will be done. Using the P button can absorb drawn souls but it can also be tapped to cancel any attacks into the start of the absorbing state, which only lasts for a split second. Using this technique Soki can relentlessly attack the opponent without having to stop, and is capable of stringing together some very long and damaging combos. When it comes to absorbing souls, the green and blue souls are probably the most useful. Getting 10 red souls will allow Souki to use his ultimate attack, which reverts him back to his regular state whether it hits or misses.

Another weakness of the Oni Soki mode is that due to Soki having a lack of mixup options, opponents can run away from him and he doesn't have all that much he can do to stop them, so it's always a good idea to combo into this super rather than just using it as soon as Soki gets 3-5 bars.

TRUE DEMON BLADE

(WHILE IN ONI MODE WITH 10 RED SOULS)     
BACK, DOWN, DOWN-BACK  + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Can only be used during Oni Mode while Soki has 10 red souls. Soki takes a sword in both hands and savagely rips into the opponent with them, finishing with a powerful X-slash, the ferocity of which shatters his own Oni mask. After hitting or missing with this attack he will return to normal and all his meter will be gone. This attack doesn't see the light of day often, because after landing the first set of hits and taking the time to absorb the souls required to use it, Soki most likely won't be hitting the opponent again easily if they're running away from him. If he did manage to build 10 red souls during the first combo into Oni Mode, then landing this super on the opponent will just about guarantee that at least one of the opposing team's characters is going to be KOed or at the very least take a huge amount of damage.



Assists

Assist

Soki's assist is his light shoulder tackle, however it doesn't retain the same properties as the original. It merely lifts the opponent off the ground a bit and knocks them back, but does not stagger or knockdown. Pretty poor as far as assists go, but it does cover a good amount of distance and has a large hitbox.

Variable Counter

Soki's Variable Counter uses the same animation as his launcher. It's quite slow as far as variable counters go, so one may want to think twice about calling Soki out for a Variable counter.

Variable Hyper Combination

when summoned to perform a Variable Hyper combination, Soki will use his Flame Sword super.

Combos