Combos performed by Raptor Sentry
Stun Route for last combo inspired by ‪@Jhunhoonjoa‬
Music: "Tech Slave" and "Meat Grinder" by Karl Casey ‪@WhiteBatAudio‬
Most of these combos don't display anything new, but the point of it all is to demonstrate the impact of the recent Air Minute Spike damage nerf - 50% damage reduction for all versions.
As one can observe, combos that utilize multiple Air Minute Spikes (more than two in total) - both EX and non-EX - do not deal anywhere near the colossal damage they used to do in the past. Aside from the obvious that it's due to the damage reduction, the other element that occurs with damage reduction is the significance of the onset of damage scaling, meaning, the more Minute Spikes that you apply to a combo, the more the damage scaling can work against you.
A bold face example would be the last combo. Although 101 Hits was achieved, the resulting damage was 1002. Not only is that way less than what 100+ hit combos used to deal, but the highest hitting combo happens to be the weakest one in this compilation.
This can also mean that it's time for me to finally retire from the 101/103 hit TOD combo series I've been doing; the 16 hit double DP finisher I devised required a stunned opponent to have eaten at least around 500 damage to secure a kill. Now, getting a stun combo to do 500 may require a more hefty amount of resources. Additionally, 475 damage at stun used to be the minimum threshold to guarantee a follow up kill. Since 2.10, the threshold has been raised to somewhere between 480-490.
My take is that the 50% damage reduction is a bit excessive, if they wanted to reduce the damage then 25% reduction would've been fair (IMO). This is not with regards to TODs, but more importantly, combos outside of that. K's non-death combos were understandably questionable in the damage department, but EX Instant Air Minute Spikes helped with that. But, now the debate can be made about regarding it all as moot.
On a plus side, the above demonstrates that the multiple use of EX Air Minute Spikes in TODs can be regarded as not only optional, but can be disregarded entirely. As shown in some of the combos (especially the first), keeping things "straightforward" guarantees optimal damage. Plus, based on what I've explored thus far, the finisher of CD, 236AC-6B, cl.D, 4B, 236AC-6C, 4B, 236C-6D, 2A~6B, 214D, 623A xx Chain Drive xx Climax can be deemed as the new "ol' faithful" - the overall damage remains solid, and it's easy to do. However, not sure about before, but the finisher will not work on tiny characters.
So for all of you who are still on the fence with messing around with K' TODs, this is the best time for you to finally give it a try.
Lastly, regarding the final combo, scooping someone up with 236A~6D after 2144BD does not work on tiny characters.