have a couple of OCs that use pinning top-rope maneuvers as their finishers, but I'm generally having a hard time getting them to land in the way I'd like. They're usually too close to the ropes for the pin to succeed and (despite the relatively high logic rating), they don't go for them as they "go-to" finisher as often as I'd like. Is there something I need to do to make this work? Or should I avoid top rope finishers altogether?
1. Rope Breaks: Like Ares said, it's extremely hard to avoid the rope break issue without turning rope breaks off entirely. And that comes with its own set of issues but you may be okay with that. I went years with rope breaks off in FPR and only recently switched back for FPW. I have rope breaks off for tag team matches.
Aside from assigning a top rope move to follow a corner move, there's no way to reliably guarantee that your top rope finisher won't yield a rope break, especially if it's a pinning finisher (like a moonsault, for example).
Your best bet would be to use a top rope finisher that doesn't pin on it's own. If you have a move like a senton, then your wrestler may actually drag the opponent away from the ropes after the senton is hit and before the pin. I think "Discretion" is the setting that controls that but I'm not 100% sure.
2. Top rope move frequency: In terms of having the wrestler attempt the top rope finishers as much as you want, I think that's just kind of up to testing and your own preferences. Very few of my wrestlers have top rope moves as finishers mainly cause I don't create that many high-flyers compared to other styles. However, most of my wrestlers have top rope moves that are either specials or can finish matches.
(Also, keep in mind that sometimes a wrestler will be down but not necessarily "eligible" to have every top rope move performed on them. Like your wrestler may want to instead do a move that will hit a dazed opponent if the opponent is going to stand up dazed. Fighting style "Jump range" factors into this issue too.)
What I have been doing for my edits over the past year is not setting the top rope move in the move's logic category but rather, using a top rope move that is triggered by a taunt.
For example, my edit Naja Mask is a snake wrestler who takes to the skies fairly often.
Here are two of his priority logic chains that work together for his top rope special strategy.
1) Neck cut taunt -> Twisting Moonsault (0/100) (Small/large damage)
2) Twisting Moonsault -> Pin (100/100) (Small/large damage)
The second priority is there in case the opponent was face down when the moonsault hit. That way Naja will still go for the pin since he can't rely on the "auto-pin" nature of the moonsault on a face down opponent.
The first part of that priority is the key here for the issue of move attempt frequency.
- First off, I only want to see the taunt trigger the moonsault later in the match which is why I have it set to 0% at small damage. It's at 100% later in the match so when the taunt occurs, the moonsault is always attempted. That, of course, is totally dependent on whether Naja is close enough to the ropes. Sometimes I'll see him do the neck cut taunt but not do anything after cause he's not near the ropes. That's okay though, he's feisty 😁
- Because I have the Neck Cut Taunt as the trigger for the moonsault, the key is what logic setting I have for that taunt. When I do taunt set-ups like this, I tend to set the taunt (for opponent down) at a logic value between like 12% and 17% depending on the edit's overall logic settings and testing. A more rare top rope move I only want to see once every few matches will get a lower % (maybe even below 10). If I want to see the top rope move once a match, setting the preceding taunt at like
- I have the moonsault set to 0% in the logic category where you set the top rope moves to downed opponents. That is because I
only want the moonsault to happen after the taunt. I never want the moonsault to happen on its own. I find that not only does the preceding taunt add some flavor to the finish, it's also easier to control the frequency of this situation from the Taunt logic area rather than the top rope one.
- Also, if you have a special skill like Stardom or that has Stardom in it: the preceding taunt will add more damage to the move.
2 - Stardom........................Cost: 15 Points
(Involved with crowd support and repeats popular moves.)
Requirement: Using a performance when health is at zero
increases the power of the following attack by 20%.
You may also want the "Superstar" special skill since it combines Stardom with 1-Hit Finisher:
8 - One Hit Finisher................Cost: 15 Points
(Extremely effective finisher.)
Requirement: Use your Finisher the first or second time in a match.
Effect: The offensive power of your Finisher is increased by 150%.
14 - Superstar - 90%...............Cost: 25 Points
Effect: "Stardom" + "One Hit Finisher".
Anyway, hope this helped! 😎
