Black Death (Kurourushi) First-Look Guide

Media

Community guide

V1.76 Black Death and Cursed Partners overview

Use the update overview for the big picture, then use a private server for the actual timing work.

Open media reference

Black Death is the kind of Style that makes a public server look like somebody dropped a jar of insects into a blender. The payoff is pressure from several angles; the cost is that clones and swarms are useless if you cannot tell what the opponent is reacting to.

Base buttons

The community move list names the base kit Festering Strikes, Detach, Chokehold and Roach Swarm, with Earthen Insect Trance as the special. The exact hit-confirm route is version-sensitive, so start with jobs rather than a fake damage number:

• Festering Strikes: your close-range check. Learn the last hit and its recovery before adding a summon.
• Detach: use it to create a second angle, not as an automatic escape from every hit.
• Chokehold: hold it for a real confirm; throwing it into a moving target is how the bugs become decoration.
• Roach Swarm: place it where the opponent wants to walk, then take the space it leaves you.
• Earthen Insect Trance: treat the special as a tempo change. If you activate it while already ragdolled, you are donating the scary part of the kit.

The first private-server drill

1. Use only M1 and Festering Strikes until you can end neutral without mashing.
2. Add Roach Swarm, then wait. Notice whether the dummy blocks, dashes or walks around it.
3. Use Detach after the opponent commits, not before. You want a second target on the screen when they have already chosen a direction.
4. Add Chokehold as the punish. If it misses twice in a row, remove it from the route and go back to spacing.
5. Awaken only after you can keep the camera on the real body.

The V1.76 and V1.77 notes also show why old Black Death clips age badly: clone limits, injury, endlag and Roach Swarm damage were adjusted. Read the version note, then test the one interaction that your combo actually depends on.

Black Death is not a “press every button and win” Style. It is a make the opponent look in three places, then hit the fourth Style. If that sounds fun, it is worth learning. If you want a cleaner first kit, start with Vessel.