Akira Sendoh Build, Abilities and Combos

I've seen many questions about Sendoh these days, here's something that I came across as I play him. I'm not the best out there but I hope these information helps.

Cost effective way to build Sendoh

Talents to spend to make him playable

1. Backhand Switch (6 Books)
2. Jumping Jelly (10 Books)
3. Layup Pass (10 Books)
4. Flying Block and Chase down Block (6 Books) This skill is really good however if you're good at defence concept, this just makes you better. Think of it as a boost to your skills rather that something overpowered.
5. Double Pump Layup (10 Books) ** if you have extra, do consider Skill up Ultimate after layup Pass as they're useful in clutch situations.

From the above, you will need a total of 42 Skill Books to make him good. As for making him playable and effective having Backhand Switch, Jumping Jelly and Layup Pass is good enough.

Your next question will be, given that I have these skills sets what should I do in game or how can I play this character to its maximum potential?

The answer is simple. As a Sendoh player, your role is really versatile. Your primary job is to create chances for your team mate. Knowing the above, try to map your mind to think like this each game.

1. What's the objective to win? Identifying the primary objective before the game start allows us to perform better because we are aware of what we need to do and the winning condition of the game.
   1. If we have Mitsui / Monkey, how do we enable them to play better? How can we create chances so that they can get wide Open? Are they being double teamed? If they are score some points and then do a layup pass for wide opens
   2. If opponent has Mitsui or Jin or Monkey how we can contribute in defence.
   3. There's a hanagata in the opponent team, will my Jun be able to reach him? If yes, man to man if no then play zonal def to help out.
   4. Our rebounder loses rebound? Try boxing out so he can get it comfortably
2. Can your opponent follow your movement?
   1. If they can follow your movement then consider passing more, there are 18 seconds each possession, try to use about 10 secs before shooting, this way you can prevent them from scoring and you can defend less.
3. Do my team mates have high ability skills?
   1. While it's impossible to check once we're in game, we can roughly guess how high their ability points are. If you have a wide open team mate that misses 2 shots back to back, chances are he's only playing with Lv 3 abilities. In this scenario you should stop passing to him after he make the shot. You can take 1-2 shots until you got ganked up and then you pass back to him to create something.

Combos for Sendoh

This is pretty basic. The most common combo for Sendoh is

1. Fade away - > Guard Stance -> Backhand Switch ->
   1. Pass if team mate 3pointer / C is wide Open
   2. Normal Shot if you're wide Open
   3. Forward Stance - > Fade Away if you are too near to Center who can block you
   4. Jelly Layup if Center is out of position
   5. Layup Pass if your 3P is at the other end of the map with opponent faraway
   6. Double pump if opponent C is in position and is Alone in the basket
   7. Normal layup. Usually after one or twice of Jelly layup, Center's reaction will be too fast to block your normal layup.
2. Guard Stance - > Drive -> layup pass
   1. Repeat 1-2 times and if opponent loosen up just layup otherwise look for open and take free 2pts

This is how I usually make my attacking decisions, there may be more combo but all the scenarios above are good enough for you to play decently

For defending switch to Guard mode for blocking shots and forward mode against dunks and layups.

Ultimate Assuming that you have upgraded your ultimate, use Forward Stance ultimate when you are up 1 v 1. Reason is because in Forward Stance the ult is harder to block and it has more knock back.

In a situation where there are 2 people guarding you, go with Guard Stance Ult. This will almost immediately ankle break your defenders and it all depends on whether the dude in the paint can block it.

Abilities and Traits

Abilities

1. Super Bounce for Blue
2. Any 2 point based Ability (steal | block | resistance)
3. Green: Can choose between Jump / Reb | Resistance , Control | Block , Gather Power | Jump Block (future)

I personally choose block as I try my best to contribute in defence however the cons is on a bad day where I misses all my blocks and opponents are good in defending as well, I tend to miss most of my interfered shots. Therefore based on my experience here's what I think will help you decide.

Go for Jump and Reb if you plan to get SH Sakuragi in the future, this ability can be shared with SH saku and Centers. If you're using this then you can contest for rebounds as well.

Go for Resistance and Control if you play 3Pointers, 3Ps like shio mitsui and etc needs the resistance to make contested shots.

Go for Blocks if you want to be the all rounder that can block with any characters.

Traits

I personally use,

1. Air Contest
2. Blocked Shot
3. Team mate Trust

Reason being, I always try to contribute in defence and i know how to find Wide open to make easy 2s.

However traits such the one mentioned below works well too

1. Dash and Rebound (with Sendoh's Jump and Reb Stats he can decently get rebound as well)
2. Excellent Pass (Great when we create space for team mates to shoot open 3s)

If you ask me, I'd prefer us to maybe max air contest and then just level the rest until 3 and save the mats for Swingman which will be introduced in Season 3. This will be a good trait for Sendoh.

The other Abilities

1. Fast Break - This ability is prone to getting blocked by Maki but this is a good time wasting skill. First move all the way to the end of the map. When your defender is 2 steps behind you do this. -> Fast Break -> Forward Stance -> Dribble 2 step -> Drive and you will be in the range to do a fadeaway. You can do the back hand switch if you need to stall longer but that's totally up to you.
2. Fast break fadeaway / Jelly Layup - This is not bad, good for ankle breaks into scoring but not so useful in my opinion
3. Negative Layup - This is a must-have as it's not easy to block double pump negative layout. Sendoh can fly all the way to the 2 point spot using it at the right locations. I seriously do recommend getting this but only after the core skills are built up.

Offensive Positioning when playing with Sendoh Due to Sendoh's flexibility in offence, he himself is a threat at any point of the map except the 3 point range, this is to say that so long as you leave him open, he's very likely to score. So how do you enable Sendoh to play his game?

The concept is simple, when you're attacking, just stay away from him as much as possible. Rotate to potential open spaces for free shots and he will very likely pass the ball to you. For 3p Shooters, always stand near the wings or the Corner for open 3s, if you're not open just reset. For Rukawa, Nobunaga, Hasegawa just stay near the High Post for wide open 2s or potential to dunk.

Whatever you do just don’t crowd the paint and get your opponent in position to block to his double pump.

Here are some good knowledge which can help with your positioning during the game, knowing where to stand in the game is important. https://www.coachesclipboard.net/3on3Plays.html

With reference of the above offensive knowledge Double Low Post Pick and Seal is good for formation without 3p Shooter while the rest is really good with a Shooter in the team.

Shutting down Sendoh

1. As a Center, try not to get too far from the paint otherwise he will just start spamming Jumping Jelly. Once you're out even by one step, he's free. So the best positioning is Inside the Paint near the Low Post. This way you can shut down his shots at the short Corner or if he decides to do the fade away after backhand switch.
2. As the direct defender / rival, stay out his cone when he's doing his fancy moves. If he attempts to fadeaway, try not to block unless you're really close to him. If you are 2 steps away, just interfere. he will miss about 40% of the shots. The reason behind going for interference than block is because he can switch into a double pump layup. You will definitely miss the first point due to your position but you should have enough time to block the second point layup. Or even if he passes to his center for a dunk you can cover.
3. As the other defender, you should always guard the other person and just believe that your team can shut him down. Your positioning should be near your rival, and somewhere in between the free throw line or high post unless your direct rival is at the wing waiting for 3s. This way you will not leave someone wide open and you will kill him off.

BBall Glossary Court: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Basketball_terms.png

I hope this information is useful to the sub.