Hozaku In-Depth

Note: Preview/WIP (Work In Progress)

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Hozaku (ほざく): [Koto (Wonder)] [Ryoku/Chi (Power/Knowledge)]

Leitmotif: Rinne ni Michibikite (輪廻に導き手, Guide to the Samsara)

Character Voice: Mitsuaki Madono (真殿 光昭, Madono Mitsuaki)

Hozaku's In-Depth Move List.

Stats:
Attack: (2.5) (Normal), (3) (Power Drain Gauge full/Mukuro Ouja Sairin/Ruten Kouga'an), (4) (Power Drain Gauge full + Mukuro Ouja Sairin + Ruten Kouga'an)
Health: (2.5)(10,400)
Footspeed: (3)
Weight: (2.5)
Guts: (2.5)
Attack Boost: (3)
Run Speed Rating: (3)
Air Dash Rating: (3)

Nutshell:
Rush at your foe with multiple un-burst-able setups to stockpile debuffs on them while buffing yourself up, plowing over them with momentum in your favor.

Hozaku is a rather high-risk-huge-reward character that can focus on both frame traps and achieving very high damage from both combos and zoning alike. A huge majority of his moves can inflict extra damage from a full PD gauge, a power-up Super Move and a buff from one of his Ultima Drives, offering some of the best meterless damage there is in the game with all those buffs combined. There's also the dangerous fact he can inflict differing status aliments to cripple his foes in various ways as well, making him a brutal monster with powerful match control added with the ability to grapple on his moves for a lot of un-burst-able damage. However, added with his somewhat low health, and weak damage outside of buffs and meters, Hozaku is very much momentum based. He also can lose his buffs as quickly as he can get them since he relies a lot on his Channeling Spell, so management is a vital key of importance. Most people who enjoy Tohru Adachi's high damage capabilities can easily get a kick out of Hozaku.

Playstyle:
Balanced, Offensive, Zoning, Frame Traps, Wakeup Offense, Grappler, Snowball

Movement Options:
1 Double Jump, 1 Air Dash, Wall Jump, Backflip, Run-type Dash and Crawl.

Hard Counters:
2E
4D
6E
j.2E
3F
Gaigashuu (F version)
Kakusenkou
Gaiga Jinretsu
Shouten Zanjaken

Critical Hit-based moves:
Mukuro Eibatsu
Gaigasetsu
Gaisoushuu
Zanpenretsu
Gaisou Danken
Netsuja Kouressa

Moves with Hard Counter Recovery:
Gaigashuu (F version)
Mukuro Eibatsu
Mukuro Enseki
Gaisousetsu
Mukuro Shibaku
Gaiga Jinretsu
Shouten Zanjaken
Yami Mukuro Saikai
Ryuugai Jagokuten

Split Cancel-able moves:
Kakuzanga
Kakuzantou
Mukuro Shissou
Mukuro Eibatsu
Mukuro Enseki
Mukuro'utage
Kakusenkou
Mukuro Shibaku

Specialty 1: Shoukan Kougeki (召喚攻撃, Summon Attacks)
Summon Type: Judou (受動, Passive)
Summon Species: Shuuchuuyose Jumon: Shichinagi (集中寄呪文: 紫血薙, Channeling Spell: Violet Blood Mower)
Summoning gauge lowers when channeling is hit during certain attacks. If fully lowered by 6 units, Summon Break ensues and channeling is unavailable for 8 seconds

Summons Violet Blood Mower, giving Hozaku access to use certain moves with.

*If him or his Channeling is hit while the Channeling is still visible, Hozaku will lose one unit of his Summon Gauge and the Channeling will disappear.
**Hozaku's Summon Gauge Unit total is 6 units, and thus his Summon will take 6 hits total and will be normally disabled for 8 seconds.
*Summon attacks can be disabled temporarily if you are silenced or in Summon Break.
*Summons count as a separate target from the summoner, so it's possible to hit both Hozaku and Violet Blood Mower at once with certain attacks.
*It's possible at times to call your summon once more as soon as it disappears from getting hit, even if it leads to a Summon Break.
*Hitting a summon will register the attack landed on it as blocked, and thus some cancels that only work on hit may not apply.
*Some Summon attacks start from the current position of the Summon if it is already out, leading to some attacks from interesting angles.
*Should one be sandwiched in between both Hozaku and his summon, blocking position and orientation is based on Hozaku's position from his opponent, and not Violet Blood Mower's.

However, a special touch (or more like power with a price) from Violet Blood Mower:

*Once either his Overcharge Art Mukuro Kou'ou, the Super Move Mukuro Ouja Sairin and/or the Ultima Drive Ruten Kouga'an are active, then a Summon Break or silence will cause Hozaku to lose both of these buffs and must perform the said moves to gain them back again.
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Specialty 2: Power Drain (パワー・ドレイン, Pawaa Dorein)
Power Drain gauge fills up as certain attacks are landed; when Power Drain gauge is full, Power Drain moves are boosted in damage for a short duration; gauge will deplete slowly over time if energy is not gathered on time or will deplete fully if full after 7 seconds; gauge will cooldown for 8 seconds after usage of Mukuro Kou'ou, Mukuro Ouja Sairin and/or Ruten Kouga'an

Power Drain allows Hozaku to absorb a portion of the damage of certain attacks for a special gauge a bit above his Dream Power meter in the form of uniquely pale-colored orbs that gravitate towards the center of his person.

*The total of the gauge is 12 units.
*Power Drain works regardless of either on hit or on block, but does not work against the Shield Guard, Just Guard or Just Shield.
*Once the PD gauge is full, all of Hozaku's Power Drain moves deal extra damage.
*In a tag-team setting, the orbs will still gravitate off-screen towards Hozaku if he happens to be tagged-out.
**Likewise, landing a Power Drain-based hit on multiple targets at once will be doubly or triply effective like so depending on how many targets have been hit.
*Should the gauge not be filled for a long while as Hozaku does not connect with a Power Drain move for 7 seconds, then it will gradually drain by 1 unit per 10 frames, and will then become empty, and Hozaku's damage output will return to normal.
**The gauge will completely will completely empty out fully if it happens to have been full at that time.
**The gauge will remain full for the full duration of Mukuro Kou'ou and/or Mukuro Ouja Sairin, and then the 7 second time limit will kick in once either move ends.
***If not full, the gauge still needs to be filled up through the usual effort even if Mukuro Kou'ou and/or Mukuro Ouja Sairin is in effect; the Super only keeps the gauge full, and does not automatically fill it up to max.
***However, once Mukuro Kou'ou and/or Mukuro Ouja Sairin ends and the gauge is empty after that move, then the PD gauge will undergo a cooldown mode for 8 seconds total before it can be filled again.
*Mukuro Kou'ou and/or Mukuro Ouja Sairin will not only keep the gauge at full, but it also doubles the amount of power Hozaku will absorb from his opponent only on hit.
**Both a full PD gauge and Mukuro Ouja Sairin activated can stack on each other to increase Hozaku's damage output massively.

***This effect can even be tripled with Ruten Kouga'an active as well.
****However, also with Ruten Kouga'an, the cooldown mode will apply in that, Mukuro Ouja Sairin and a full PD gauge if all three of those buffs are lost from a Summon Break or when silenced.
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Overcharge Art: Mukuro Kou'ou (骸皇王, Corpse Emperor King)

Powers up Hozaku via activating his Grayflame Diary for a brief duration to grant him:

*Increased power drained from his Power Drain-based moves by double the amount. This does not apply when activated during a Rithzen Overdrive.
*Increasing Power Drain-based moves' hitbox sizes and changing up their hit effects.
**This does not affect the damage of the said Power Drain-based moves, nor their attack level and proration values.
*While active, this keeps the Power Drain gauge full for the duration, only if it happens to be full at the time.
**Like with Mukuro Ouja Sairin, the 7 second time limit for the PD gauge to empty will kick in once the Overcharge Art ends.
***The PD gauge will also as usual undergo a cooldown mode for 8 seconds total before it can be filled again.
*This lasts for a total of 13 seconds with a normal Overcharge Art command, and 18 seconds with an Extra Overcharge Art command.
*This Overcharge Art's effects will be overridden by Mukuro Ouja Sairin whenever it's activated.
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Hozaku is an offensive snowballing powerhouse with plenty of summon-based options and strong self-buffs + Power Drain to blow over debuffed foes.

Pros:
*|Obnoxious Summon|
His Channeling Spell not only has a high amount of units, provides him with great extra command normals and many un-burst-able setups once they connect. These all add greatly to his footsies game as well.

*|Strong debuffing prowess|
Can inflict quite a few different status aliments via his EX Moves, Supers and Ultima Drives. He is one of the few who can inflict Fear very often, which can lead to a lot of Hard Counter combos. Under Ruten Kouga'an, these aliments can last longer to give Hozaku an even further edge.

*|Potent self-buffs|
Can buff himself very powerfully with three different buffs at once, which gives Hozaku VERY strong damage potential and also leads to strong comebacks, especially as an anchor in team comps. His Overcharge Art and Mukuro Ouja Sairin also increase much of his combo damage and versatility, and gives him life steal in terms of the latter.

*|Powerful pressure|
With all of his other moves in mind, Hozaku already can generate pressure from most of his other moves and solo tools which gives him stable reward on a number of stray hits.


Cons:
*|Low average HP|
Average-to-low amount of HP, which leads to Hozaku having little room to commit to a bad call.

*|Meter Reliant|
Not only does he have an average Attack Boost for his damage scaling rating, nearly a ton of his buffs and other stronger tools compete for the use of Hozaku's meter.

*|Very Summon Reliant|
Over-reliant on his buffs and his PD gauge to make him worth a threat, thus Summon Break and silence will severely cripple his power curve and potentially make his meter spending a waste.

*|Gaps in pressure|
Some if not, many of his moves are very punishable on block or whiff, preventing reckless usage on top of unsafe reversal options. Hozaku with this in mind also needs to be mindful of his limited high/low mixup game as well.

*|Huge-risk round-ender|
Has one of the more riskier Instant K.O. moves, due to whiffing it, means the foe will be granted a free Hard Counter in tight situations.
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