Hey look, in a game where decent players are difficult to find, we have a request to buff a new character that hasn't had any time to be developed by somebody who can play well. Cool
I picked up Squigly 2 weeks ago and haven't found her in need of buffs. In my team of Squigly-Peacock she's the better option (so she' on point) and sometimes when I feel less magical I'll throw Parabutt in there (who I've used a bit in the past, moreso than Squigs or Peacock at least) and Squigs is still better.
She has some really useful tools, and Draugen Punch is one of them. I'll throw out a George's Day Out assist, forcing them to jump, and while I do so I start charging Draugen Punch, opponents only ever do 4 things in this situation:
- Get hit by George, sometimes getting a single projectile hit out of it
- Jump over George and do nothing
- Block George or jump back
- Jump over George and go for attack (usually jump-in)
If they go with the first then woo free damage, if they make the same mistake a lot then a silver chord gets me a conversion (although this only really happens repeatedly against scrubs).
If they go with the second one then I get a free charge of my Punch Stance moves, including the sing attack which brings the camera forward and grants instant Super Sing -> Full Combo as a counter to virtually every ranged thing in the game bar some supers, if they do so repeatedly then I can just go in for a jump grab instead of holding my charge, granting me charge, grab damage, and often throwing them down onto George for extra (I haven't tested yet, but a conversion might be possible too).
Blocking George or jumping back gives me a free charge, usually if they do this they're zoning or playing keepaway, so the charged sing is exceptionally useful. It also grants an opportunity to charge the kick stance if they do this repeatedly.
If they go for an attack then I can just unleash my Draugen Punch, which is no longer 17 frames of startup long as the stance has already been entered, dealing damage, granting knockdown on level 2 and a counterhit while giving me breathing room against characters that generally excel up close (thus why the player jumped in instead of blocking or jumping away).
The fact that I've been doing this with quite a bit of success and I'm not exactly top tier material should be enough to say that Squigly doesn't need any buffs. I'd say she's better than Cerebella (who's on my main team and I have spent considerably more than 2 weeks with), and on about the same ranking as Parasoul and Peacock (possibly lower than Psoul, but not by much).
Also inb4 I get a Dime_X essay or something that says something like "yeah but that's only with a specific assist character" Parasoul has her tears, Painwheel has her spike things, Valentine has crosses (less than fullscreen range, but still functional with a small dashup, alternatively HK Savage Bypass could work), Filia has HK Hairball, Bella has HP LnL and Double has Butt-Thrust, plus even if your opponent starts punishing your assists Squigly is equipped with the ultimate punish-punisher; Silver Chord.