Grabs are in a really weird spot right now. Most people will agree because of the inconsistent hitboxes, which isn’t much of a discussion. But the other reason they’re weird is what comes after the grab. Quite a few grabs launch the victim straight down, forcing them onto the ground and leaving the user in the air.
So, the grabs that launch the victim straight down are good because they let you combo, right?
No.
The problem with downwards knockback grabs is that the enemy is in a better position than the user is. The attacker will always end in the air, while the victim will always end on the ground. Remember, your ability to dodge in AO is balanced around whether or not you’re in the air or on the ground. Grounded players have much better movement options, but only because they have to deal with more AOE attacks. Whereas it’s harder to hit an airborne player, but it’s equally as hard for them to get out of the way of something.
You can start to see the problem here.
After waking up from the grab stun, the victim is at a MUCH better position than the attacker. While the attacker can only use another attack or block, the victim can dash out and block at the same time, giving them a surefire way of escaping any followup pressure, which the attacker has NO way of challenging because they themselves cannot dash until they touch the ground (which will usually take a full second). Or, even worse: if the victim has higher DPS than the attacker, they can force a DPS trade because the attacker can’t escape, and now the attacker is at disadvantage for landing a grab. And don’t even get me started on how hard of a time the attacker has if the victim has a katana or dual swords equipped.
We could give grabs more frame advantage for the user, but that’s going to get out of hand fast and benefit the user to an unneccesary degree. We could also limit the victim’s options after a grab, but that would feel lame and clunky to be on the receiving end of. However, the user at least needs SOME options.
the actual suggestion:
After a grab ends (any grab, so snares, rushdowns, weapon grabs, etc), the player who initiated the grab will gain a status effect called “Air Control” (name doesn’t matter). This allows the user to do any grounded movement option without having to touch the ground, so you can dash or T-jump while mid-air. This status effect goes away once you use any movement option (so you only get one dash or t-jump) or once 1 second passes (so you can’t save it for later).
Now the problem I described in the first part of this suggestion is gone. Now the attacker has the mobility to actually follow-up on their enemy and continue chasing them (or the option to escape a counterattack from the enemy), making landing a grab as rewarding as it should be without being an automatic win for the user (because you still have to guess what they’re going to do on wakeup).
[also this change actually helps all grabs, not just ones with downwards knockback, because this buff allows you to chase people after launching them horizontally or vertically with a grab]