How to avoid special 3 attacks

The title pretty much says it all. I keep loosing my arena streak, or just fights in general, by special 3 attacks. I have gotten opponents down to below 10%, with my champs at %90+, but because the special 3 attacks cannot be blocked... well... I think you know. One special 3 attack and my champ goes from 90% --> 0%. I find it ridiculous and infuriating. Personally I would ask for special 3 attacks to be removed from arenas, but I know that will never happen. Anyone have any ideas how to prevent opponents from activating special 3 attacks?

Also, I should add that I know the easiest way is to use a champ who has power drain. However, there are still a lot of champs who don't, so please don't give me some answer like: "Just use a champ with power drain"

Thank you for all the help!

Comments

Championcritic

or you can just be more defensive and bait out special 1 and 2 lol.

Etjama

or you can just be more defensive and bait out special 1 and 2 lol.

Lol, arenas at a certain point just become a suicide run. Go in with all you got and hope it's enough.

dot_ditto

The title pretty much says it all. I keep loosing my arena streak, or just fights in general, by special 3 attacks. I have gotten opponents down to below 10%, with my champs at %90+, but because the special 3 attacks cannot be blocked... well... I think you know. One special 3 attack and my champ goes from 90% --> 0%. I find it ridiculous and infuriating. Personally I would ask for special 3 attacks to be removed from arenas, but I know that will never happen. Anyone have any ideas how to prevent opponents from activating special 3 attacks?

Also, I should add that I know the easiest way is to use a champ who has power drain. However, there are still a lot of champs who don't, so please don't give me some answer like: "Just use a champ with power drain"

Thank you for all the help!

I've used this tactic mostly successfully ..

When facing a champ you think isn't going to bait a sp1 or sp2 ... change your combo up .. use just M-M .. then parry, and repeat.

Medium attacks give less power compared to the damage they do than Light attacks.
Light attacks are what's feeding your opponent with power .. stop using light attacks, and you'll notice a diffrence.

Using a standard MLLLM combo, and the opponent will usually reach their special 3 about same time you reach sp2.
however, with MM combo .. you both rise in power level about the same .. meaning if need be, you can do a final MLLLM + sp3 combo burst and hope that kills them (it usually does)

Pancake_Face

or you can just be more defensive and bait out special 1 and 2 lol.

once you get to a certain point they legit don't throw there specials and wait for the sp3 its really dumb and have lost my arena streaks multiple times to that so i know what this guy means

SummonerNR

For those final matches where you get Max'd Thanos/Kang teams until you reach Streak=15, you can being some champs that have Power Drain, Power Lock, Power Steal, etc. Dormy, Starky, Psylocke, Magic, Vision's, etc.

Or even some champs that can “Eat” an SP3 without taking any (or much) damage (Cage, Iceman, Gwenpool, etc)

So that you can survive them even if they are not being cooperative by being baited into using their SP 1/2.

Better option might be to use “unbalanced” (improperly named “sandbag” option) during matches somewhere after Streak around 8 all the way up thru Streak=14 match (bringing 2 semi-higher champs along with 1 champ that is bare minimum still Rank 1/1).
Opponents will at least be close enough to you (just 1, maybe 2, ranks higher than you).

Once Streak=15, then can go to full strong teams again.

unknown

This content has been removed.

Aryl_Hamin

There is a common tactic called "baiting".

It consists of baiting out sp1 and sp2 so you don't get whacked with an sp3.

I believe Dave has some good vids on it.

SupperHero4Sales

It's a useful tactic to bait opponents to activate their Special Attacks and position them away from the wall but away from your own wall.

Medium and Heavy Attacks will effectively push your opponents back a few meters. Furthermore I noticed Heavy Attacks contempt most opponents to dash forward with an attack if they are cornered so beware of accidentally ruining a Charge-Up combination all because Heavy Attacks leave the Champion exposed for Attacks. Instead for successful chance of hitting with Heavy Attacks - dash backwards and begin the Heavy Charge animation and hope that the opponent dashes forward (unless you have a larger Champion that steps into Heavy Attacks)

Knowing the Range distance of all Champion Special Attacks help you acknowledge where to stand to avoid all Damage. Some of the Special Attacks cannot be avoided although you can Block to reduce most of the Damage. Never allow the opponent access to Special Attack 3 regardless if they are AI or Player since there is a small chance they achieve Perfect Special Attack causing increased damage.

Abilities can help with mitigating some Special Damage such as Limbo for Magik and others. Power Sting will only cause damage if you activate a Special Attack while Power Sting is within its duration so it's important to monitor all Buffs and De-Buffs on screen.

Lastly using Power-Control Champions like Vision can be incredibly useful if your opponent can quickly generate Power for their Power Meter. Hyperion is one Champion that requires lots of Special Attacks to defeat opponents. Using a Champion like Dormammu with Power Lock and/or Power Drain can prevent Hyperion from reaching his full potential.

Remember to always hold Block and try to Parry/Dexterity as much as possible to trigger Stun then following up with Attack Combos.

Artic_Towery

The title pretty much says it all. I keep loosing my arena streak, or just fights in general, by special 3 attacks. I have gotten opponents down to below 10%, with my champs at %90+, but because the special 3 attacks cannot be blocked... well... I think you know. One special 3 attack and my champ goes from 90% --> 0%. I find it ridiculous and infuriating. Personally I would ask for special 3 attacks to be removed from arenas, but I know that will never happen. Anyone have any ideas how to prevent opponents from activating special 3 attacks?

Also, I should add that I know the easiest way is to use a champ who has power drain. However, there are still a lot of champs who don't, so please don't give me some answer like: "Just use a champ with power drain"

Thank you for all the help!
I've used this tactic mostly successfully ..

When facing a champ you think isn't going to bait a sp1 or sp2 ... change your combo up .. use just M-M .. then parry, and repeat.

Medium attacks give less power compared to the damage they do than Light attacks.
Light attacks are what's feeding your opponent with power .. stop using light attacks, and you'll notice a diffrence.

Using a standard MLLLM combo, and the opponent will usually reach their special 3 about same time you reach sp2.
however, with MM combo .. you both rise in power level about the same .. meaning if need be, you can do a final MLLLM + sp3 combo burst and hope that kills them (it usually does)

Thank you, this is super helpful!

shadow_lurker22

or you can just be more defensive and bait out special 1 and 2 lol.
once you get to a certain point they legit don't throw there specials and wait for the sp3 its really dumb and have lost my arena streaks multiple times to that so i know what this guy means

Yeah I've kind of given up on arena due to this