ContagiousPow My issue lies in the fact that especially on ring simply back stepping is neither always an option nor does it consistently work. It puts you in a situation where you, the one who's trying to counter, is completely exposed and close to the edge of the ring simply because your opponent decided to dash in. Furthermore, people usually only have to expect around 2 strupper cubes as punishment for dashing in since their opponent does not have enough space to set up more and get free choice over when they want this event to occur. Even on pit where you can just disk jump away, you are unlikely to get a punish in plus you just moved yourself to an unadvantageous position and lost all your momentum. And all of this is not even considering inconsistent knock back for the defender and the potential value an attacker can get from a cube spam (plus he can also react while dashing in).

All of this makes for a scenario in which the best option for the defender is to also equip stubborn and also dash towards their opponent when he does the same. This is a pretty unsatisfying way to counter the shift stone imo, which is why I think this stone (which I also have been using for a long time now and is quickly gaining popularity) could use some more intuitive and dynamic weaknesses and punish opportunities.

KHE06K7Y9XSZ I do agree that when someone is backstepping directly backwards, it is hard to manage positioning on top of that, but what I was specifically referring to was circling to put yourself in an advantageous position. It seems like you have an issue with the knockback reduction, but that is what makes stubborn unique in my eyes, it encourages aggressive play, and an experienced reactive player can circle to abuse its headlong strategy.

ContagiousPow I absolutly agree, the knockback reduction is what makes stubborn so fun and unique. But while it improves the game in many aspekts it also provides opportunitis for static, boring and borderline abusive strategies. In my opinion the game could drastically profit form stubborn only working on ungrounded objest, as it would not only allow for counterplay, but even more importantly add more depth to both players decision making.

Picture this: You are fighting someone on ring and get them cornerd on the edge. They are wearing stubborn and have enough HP to tank a wall, so the obvios choice for them will always be to dash in and try to react to your attack while at it. While this is functional, I feel like the game is at its best when both players got a multitude of valid options to choose from the to calculate with.

Now lets imagine that stubborn only works on ungrounded structures. The defending player now has a choice to make: dashing in will protect him from certain death, but if you decide to attack with a grounded structure all it does is shorten the window for a reaction. If he choosed to wait on the other hand he could probably rts your grounded structure but would have a harder time dealing with a strupper for example. This way this minor moment becomes a aplit second decision about life or death, requiring your opponent to consider what he thinks you'll go for, how he evaluates his own chances at reacting to your attack, what he thinks you will attack with, and making you have simular considerations on your side.

This could make stubborn a lot more interesting and balanced for both players in my opinion, as it switches from giving you a superior alternative to an additional option to consider.