Garland: Character Discussion

[PlayaHatinIG-88 1]

Looked around and didn't see this anywhere in the NT forum so I figured it would be nice to start up a discussion on the Knight of Chaos, Garland.

Admittedly I'm probably not the guy you want starting these topics, but I saw the need and filled it. 

Garland as a vanguard is one of the more brute force style attackers of NT. So much so that once you get him some momentum it can be hard to stop him since he can basically blow through nearly any bravery attack once he has Deranged Soul. His ground and dash speed are a bit less than favorable, making chasing certain assassins a fools errand. That said, he more than makes up for this shortcoming with pure unadulterated rage and damage output. 

Garland has a pretty amazing kit that seems to be mostly focused on hard hitting slower attacks that can wall rush from a fair distance away. He has his ranged options in the form of Thundaga though, which comes out pretty fast and sends a bolt of lightning that moves slowly along the ground. The bolt will dissipate if it makes contact with raised terrain and will destroy lower poised projectiles on contact. Flare comes out a little slower but can destroy lower poised magical projectiles as well. This makes him quite good in the air. I personally can't decide if he is better on the ground or in the air, but I digress. While grounded Garland can use his Thundaga as a decent anti air, though his positioning is important for it to be effective making it somewhat situational. Twin Sword gains super armor so you can use it to trade hits fairly well and follow up with a long distance wall rush. Chain Cast or whatever it's called these days is an aerial attack that has decent range that can hit above, below, and in front of you. Use it to make your opponents rethink their approach and to knock enemies back. This is a good mid range interrupt on HP attacks with a long start up or as a mid range punish on HP attacks should you dodge them. 

Round Edge is a pretty good attack but it can leave you wide open if you whiff so dodge cancel your whiffs. It does damage in a 360 degree radius on the first hit (or the first few while Deranged Soul is active) so if you get surrounded by grounded enemies let it rip and you can hit stun enemies you aren't even locked on to. Again it does leave you open so use at your own risk. Garland's final bravery attack is a short to mid range attack that can be used as an anti air attack but the caveat to this is that it' vertical range is somewhat limited. So positioning is very important. It comes out fairly quickly so you can use it to interrupt startups if you time it right. Overall I hardly use it. But when I do I try to wait until I have Deranged Soul active.

Now on to my favorite part of Garland's kit. His unique Ex-skill, Deranged Soul. This skill has three effects. The first effect comes from simply pressing and holding triangle while near an enemy. If they don't react in time they will be caught in a Command Grab that will deal heavy bravery damage the longer you hold the button. If you can land this on an opponent fully you will receive stage 1 of his buff. This buff comes from momentum. The more damage you inflict the stronger you become. You deal more damage, have greater range, and gain super armor on nearly every attack. The buff will activate upon hitting an enemy with two or more full combo strikes. For instance if I use Thundaga twice and it hits both times I get Deranged Soul 1. If you do it four times you'll end up with Deranged Soul 2 should all of your hits connect. The caveat to this is that the attacks just have to hit.  They can be blocked and you will still receive the buff. Deranged Soul last for 20 seconds per level of the buff and after that 20 seconds you will revert to a previous level of the buff. You can then easily return to level 2 of the buff with more hits. You lose all stages of the buff when incapacitated. 

Lastly we will get into his HP attacks. Initially Garland has the HP attack Earthquake. This transforms his blade into a hammer and strikes downward and on contact with the ground creates large pillars of rock in an area around the hammer. You can hit multiple opponents with ease if they have bad positioning. It's fairly strong and if used on an aerial enemy will do extra bravery damage as you travel down too the ground with it adding to it's destructive capabilities. Next you have Tsunami. This attack fires out a large wave of water towards enemies in front and above you. One of Garland's better anti air options in terms of HP attacks. It comes out pretty quick too. Blaze is the third HP attack and with it you create a conflagration that will damage enemies in a 360 degree area around you in a small radius. This is good for taking out multiple players with the same attack. If you whiff this move is extremely punishable so it isn't advisable to spam it or use it randomly. The last attack of Garland's kit is Cyclone. The Cyclone comes out rather fast, has decent tracking (for a tornado) and is pretty tall so it can hit enemies fairly high above you making for another decent anti aerial option. 

Overall, if you like Super Armor and heavy damage you will like Garland. He has everything you need to make damn sure your opponents bleed.

What are your thoughts on Garland? What are some of his favorable match-ups? What are his unfavorable match-ups? When you play Garland, what Ex-Skills do you use? 

Edited February 17 by PlayaHatinIG-88

[Vector 4]

I absolutely love Garland. He's probably my second favorite character in this game as he's such a beast if he gets going, and it is quite easy to get him going if someone decides to make the unwise decision to scrap with you. Also I believe cyclone as the suck-in effect if I'm not mistaken which is very deadly in the 2v1.

[PlayaHatinIG-88 1]

I think Cyclone has weak tracking. Not sure about the absorb effect.  Wouldn't be surprised though.