Part 19: Ninja Gaiden Black: Chapter 8
The military has stepped in to deal with Ryu after the Dworku incident, and so we face against new foes that have some new tools to cause trouble for us.
War Hammer
Moveset
Rachel's War Hammer. A Fiend Hunter's weapon, it is suitable for taking the heads off of Fiends.
My feelings toward this weapon is about the same as the Art of the Ice Storm. Largely useless as we get another weapon that is similar yet much more practical. The combos on the War Hammer are so few that I simply put the full moveset for Lvl 2 in the description (seriously, only two moves are added after leveling it up to max). Also if you've watched the Sigma playthrough thus far, Ryu's moveset is limited compared to what Rachel can do with it (makes sense, it's HER weapon), but even in that version the moves combined with Rachel's handling still doesn't make me like the weapon. This chapter is the first and last you see me use this thing.
Lunar Lvl. 3
Moveset
The max level for the Lunar, the Lion's Rage and Black Widow moves get an extra input, a 360 Heavy Attack is added, and most importantly the Izuna Drop technique is made viable with the addition of the awesomely named Lunar Explosion. And extension of the original forward Y attack, Ryu can now launch himself into the air with the second hit, and can either hit Y again to go down, or XY to go straight into an Izuna Drop. So much more useful than trying to catch an enemy mid jump due to the low chance of it happening consistently.
Strongbow
A composite bow made in Vigoor in medieval times. It cannot be pulled by people of average strength.
A permanent upgrade to our bow that is supremely useful. Aside from the clear increase in power and distance, the arrow no longer drops off after a point. Meaning no matter how far away your foe is the arrow will always hit where you aim. Other than that, it's still the same kind of weapon. Very little application in actual melee combat compared to all the other projectiles.
Humans
Vigoorian Soldier
With Tairon under alert, the SAT troops aren't enough, so we've stepped up to fighting the Vigoor Military. These Jin-Roh looking motherfuckers are significantly tougher, but it is fortunate that we fight these versions on Normal as opposed to their Very Hard/Master Ninja counterparts. The regular infantry with their bayonets have very strong defense, being able to block head on attacks including the Flying Swallow. Their guns are also automatic, so Ryu will constantly be in a state of hit stun if he doesn't remain mobile. Standing too close or even just landing in front of them from a Wind Path jump will trigger them to immediately grab and throw you to the ground. The approach and breaking their guard is the trickiest part. Well, that and another type of soldier that often accompanies them.
There are two varients of these soldiers. There's the Assault Soldier with their machinegun and bayonet, and then there is the RPG Soldier. These are pretty much the genesis of many player's gripes with the series being rockets fired from off screen. And they're hard to react to. Most of the time if they haven't fired yet, they will the moment you land back on the ground. Thankfully, they physically have to reload their rockets each time, making them vulnerable to your attacks during that time. They can't use their RPG to block your hits, so it balances out between the Assault Soldiers and their strong defense, allowing you some easy essence to chain into a UT.
Kunai Scrolls
