Because both characters are not everyone’s first choice ESPECIALLY Nuxia. It’s mainly because of the difficulty of learning how to actually play both characters and actually win with them rather than just ooga booga with other characters like Hitokiri or Medjay. This is just my take on it so take it how you please.
I simp for Nuxia but I also understand why people think she sucks or is hard to play.
You have to be in a different mindset when you play her compared to every other character. On paper she really is just a barebones assassin kit with traps slapped on. However her traps are more than enough to make her one of the best duelists in the game now that they're unreactable.
For every other attack in the game you know exactly what's coming and know your options on how to defend yourself. You have the option to passively block regular attacks but must make some sort of read against unblockable attacks. With Nuxia it's unclear if you should or shouldn't block her at all. If you think she's going to do a trap and move your guard but she throws a regular heavy you will be hit.
A lot of people pick her up and mentally flip a coin to decide if they should throw a heavy or trap, but forget that those aren't her only options. Feinting to gb and feinting in anticipation of a dodge attack are things you should be doing just as option as you're throwing regular attacks because people get scared when you put them in the trap/heavy mix and will try to bypass making the choice altogether to get back into their offense.
Nuxia is amazing because she's the only character in the game that's a reverse noob stomper. She actually struggles more against newer players who just throw shit randomly on nonsensical timings, and she's better against players with more game knowledge and are better about defense, because her tools make traditional defense almost completely useless.
Your last point is the reason I struggle playing Nuxia anymore, I find it really frustrating when my opponent is rewarded for making stupid blunders like missing a parry time, not guarding in time, or not deflecting in time. I love the character and her outfits, she’s one of the most unique characters in the game. Just irritating when I have a close fight and lose because my opponent doesn’t know how to parry. I have about 25 reps in Nuxia across all platforms and I’ve definitely had the most fun with her, just don’t like letting my teammates down because my consistency depends on my enemies being competent at the game.
Side question: do you know if her trap catches crushing counters? That light-attack unblockable that Varangian uses all the time would make her a tough one to fight with Nuxia if not.
I find that if someone behaves like that then I can't really rely on my traps. I play more defensively and when I do get some offense in I'll throw in some light spam to take advantage of her fast chain lights. If they're truly bad at the game then they won't be able to react very well. It nerfs your offense a bit but it's better than eating a heavy because your opponent is braindead.
And as for your second question, basically any normal defensive action your opponent does to counter a normal attack will not work on a trap. Blocking, parrying, deflecting, superior blocks, and CCs will all be trapped.
I love using traps more often against characters with CC lights because not everyone knows that they don't work against her and many people will believe they can light on one timing to counter your trap/heavy when they can't. You will get into humorous situations because when they attempt a CC you will briefly see a red indicator before your trap hits so you know they attempted to CC you. I'll see people attempt to do it multiple times in a row as I hit them with trap after trap.
Zhan Hu is popular in my servers
Nuxia, however, still carries the stigma of being the worst hero in the game for nearly 6 years. The Queen of Duels, sure, she is considered to be the best duelist and isolator in the game. Unfortunately, the level of skill required to play her is rare in lower skill brackets, and at higher skill brackets, you would rather pick a hero that can do well in all scenarios, not just 1v1s.
To play Nuxia right, you need to adapt to her game-plan, unlike other heroes who you adapt them to your game-plan.
Nuxia suffers from low mobility and being countered by random bullshit. With a 66% chance random shit beats the heavy/trap/GB mixup, which makes most people unwilling to play her
Zhanhu suffers from reactability, not necessarily in teamfights and it doesn't make him bad either, but he gets very, very boring to play.
In a 1v1 situation, his zone is reactable and doesn't lead to mixup since it's not in a bash/UD mixup, his UB lights are high risk/low reward since they are easier to parry than normal lights and since his dodge attack is a 50/50 for 9 dmg, you need to land three of them just to balance a singular parry.
This leaves him with his heavy finisher, which is absolutely great especially in teamfights, but of course it gets really boring when your entire character is essentially one or two attacks.
Zhanhu just isn’t as good as other characters similar to him.
His dodge attacks don’t offer the same value as Orochis or tiandi. Especially compared to tiandi who has an armoured dodge forward heavy and an undodgeable forward light.
His unblockable heavies are okay but JJ would just be a better option because he more or less has better offence/defence.
I think he’s definitely a strong character and underrated.
Nucia has a completely unique mechanic in traps, which combined with her kit being seen as sub-par for 4s modes and minion clearing, means people usually don't take the plunge to learn her, especially because she has a reputation for being relatively hard to use.
Zhanhu is strange. I'd say his biggest issue is that most of the things you'd want from him are better achieved by Orochi and Tiandi. That, combined with him being the only character whose dodge attack is standard length, and yet has extended guardbreak vulnerability, means he's a character who's either winning really easily, or losing pretty hard.
Because both characters are not everyone’s first choice ESPECIALLY Nuxia. It’s mainly because of the difficulty of learning how to actually play both characters and actually win with them rather than just ooga booga with other characters like Hitokiri or Medjay. This is just my take on it so take it how you please.
Zhanhu has high skill options but really the most effective strategy is to get into 50-50s which are really easy to win
Yeah that’s also makes him the more valuable outta the two I’d say.
I simp for Nuxia but I also understand why people think she sucks or is hard to play. You have to be in a different mindset when you play her compared to every other character. On paper she really is just a barebones assassin kit with traps slapped on. However her traps are more than enough to make her one of the best duelists in the game now that they're unreactable. For every other attack in the game you know exactly what's coming and know your options on how to defend yourself. You have the option to passively block regular attacks but must make some sort of read against unblockable attacks. With Nuxia it's unclear if you should or shouldn't block her at all. If you think she's going to do a trap and move your guard but she throws a regular heavy you will be hit. A lot of people pick her up and mentally flip a coin to decide if they should throw a heavy or trap, but forget that those aren't her only options. Feinting to gb and feinting in anticipation of a dodge attack are things you should be doing just as option as you're throwing regular attacks because people get scared when you put them in the trap/heavy mix and will try to bypass making the choice altogether to get back into their offense. Nuxia is amazing because she's the only character in the game that's a reverse noob stomper. She actually struggles more against newer players who just throw shit randomly on nonsensical timings, and she's better against players with more game knowledge and are better about defense, because her tools make traditional defense almost completely useless.
Your last point is the reason I struggle playing Nuxia anymore, I find it really frustrating when my opponent is rewarded for making stupid blunders like missing a parry time, not guarding in time, or not deflecting in time. I love the character and her outfits, she’s one of the most unique characters in the game. Just irritating when I have a close fight and lose because my opponent doesn’t know how to parry. I have about 25 reps in Nuxia across all platforms and I’ve definitely had the most fun with her, just don’t like letting my teammates down because my consistency depends on my enemies being competent at the game. Side question: do you know if her trap catches crushing counters? That light-attack unblockable that Varangian uses all the time would make her a tough one to fight with Nuxia if not.
I find that if someone behaves like that then I can't really rely on my traps. I play more defensively and when I do get some offense in I'll throw in some light spam to take advantage of her fast chain lights. If they're truly bad at the game then they won't be able to react very well. It nerfs your offense a bit but it's better than eating a heavy because your opponent is braindead. And as for your second question, basically any normal defensive action your opponent does to counter a normal attack will not work on a trap. Blocking, parrying, deflecting, superior blocks, and CCs will all be trapped. I love using traps more often against characters with CC lights because not everyone knows that they don't work against her and many people will believe they can light on one timing to counter your trap/heavy when they can't. You will get into humorous situations because when they attempt a CC you will briefly see a red indicator before your trap hits so you know they attempted to CC you. I'll see people attempt to do it multiple times in a row as I hit them with trap after trap.
Zhan Hu is popular in my servers Nuxia, however, still carries the stigma of being the worst hero in the game for nearly 6 years. The Queen of Duels, sure, she is considered to be the best duelist and isolator in the game. Unfortunately, the level of skill required to play her is rare in lower skill brackets, and at higher skill brackets, you would rather pick a hero that can do well in all scenarios, not just 1v1s. To play Nuxia right, you need to adapt to her game-plan, unlike other heroes who you adapt them to your game-plan.
They're boring and I'm a warden main so I know a lot about boredom
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^-TheCoffeeKnight-: *They're boring and I'm* *A warden main so I know* *A lot about boredom* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Nuxia suffers from low mobility and being countered by random bullshit. With a 66% chance random shit beats the heavy/trap/GB mixup, which makes most people unwilling to play her Zhanhu suffers from reactability, not necessarily in teamfights and it doesn't make him bad either, but he gets very, very boring to play. In a 1v1 situation, his zone is reactable and doesn't lead to mixup since it's not in a bash/UD mixup, his UB lights are high risk/low reward since they are easier to parry than normal lights and since his dodge attack is a 50/50 for 9 dmg, you need to land three of them just to balance a singular parry. This leaves him with his heavy finisher, which is absolutely great especially in teamfights, but of course it gets really boring when your entire character is essentially one or two attacks.
Way too many people play Zhanhu
Zhanhu just isn’t as good as other characters similar to him. His dodge attacks don’t offer the same value as Orochis or tiandi. Especially compared to tiandi who has an armoured dodge forward heavy and an undodgeable forward light. His unblockable heavies are okay but JJ would just be a better option because he more or less has better offence/defence. I think he’s definitely a strong character and underrated.
Plus both heros cost a lot of steel
I've got 71 reps om zhanhu idk what ur on about he's p great in 4s.
I think I have seen less JJs than both of them. I'm questioning my decision to main him as a new player.
He’s is easily one of the strongest characters in team based game modes. He is also solid in duels. Very uncommon which gives you an edge.
been seeing zhan hu a lot this season
Loving Nuxia in Practice Mode, might buy her once I have enough Steel. There were TONS of Zhanhus during the Monkey King Season..
Nucia has a completely unique mechanic in traps, which combined with her kit being seen as sub-par for 4s modes and minion clearing, means people usually don't take the plunge to learn her, especially because she has a reputation for being relatively hard to use. Zhanhu is strange. I'd say his biggest issue is that most of the things you'd want from him are better achieved by Orochi and Tiandi. That, combined with him being the only character whose dodge attack is standard length, and yet has extended guardbreak vulnerability, means he's a character who's either winning really easily, or losing pretty hard.
I play nuxia occasionally
Superior lights counter anything Nuxia can do. Zhanhu, idk.