Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-118.211.8.204-20150302141811/@comment-73.19.129.12-20150918021012

Gsimenas wrote: 2. I don't recall anything about them being one-hit. They were awfully difficult, but since it's said that a party needed quite a few healers (and enough heavily armoured people) to fight them, it would be strange if they could kill anyone instantly. And with the introduction of Sword Skills, the difficulty of Jotunheimr is supposed to have diminished. Heck, Kirito's gang managed to get past Thrymheim with just 7 people (though the monster population was low at the time, but the floor bosses were all still there and if they managed to beat those with only some effort...).

4. Yuuki's attacks mostly focus on speed, while Kirito's attacks are more power oriented. I can't imagine Kirito getting that many openings to use high combo skill. Especially since he needs to be in a specific position after a skill to activate a chain and I doubt that Yuuki parrying his attacks at high-speed would help him with that.

5. I don't get how that's an argument. You can't assume that a character will be stronger just because he was the only one shown in a dire situation. You'd have to assume how well Yuuki would do for comparison, and there's no evidence to support either that she'd do better or worse, thus it would only be speculation and not an argument. And even if you do want to take that as an argument, I can counter that Kirito does better under extreme circumstances by bringing up his fight with Heathcliff. Basically, he screwed up so hard by deciding to use a Sword Skill during that fight (even though he was fighting the guy who created all of them) that if Asuna hadn't taken the blow, he would have died without landing a single hit. How's that "gets better under extreme circumstances"? 2. This is what was said: "The three-faced giant was close enough to be frightening. It would catch up in just a few seconds. If they were to be hit with those iron swords, the lightly armored Kirito and Lyfa would lose all their HP in a single hit."

3. Kirito uses feints, he most likely can get a couple openings.

5. Kirito was already facing an uphill battle against Heathcliff. Heathcliff could use sword skills as he pleased, Kirito had to exercise caution when using sword skills, So Kirito would likely had to do something drastic to win. Using a sword skill in hindsight may of been a bad idea, but considering Kirito last duel with Heathcliff it was a resonable decision. He was able to get past Heathcliff's defense with a sword skill the first time they fought.

Besides in the battle with the quarter floor boss the Skull reaper, Kirito one of the two main fighters (the other being heathcliff) that took charge before anyone else did. Even though Skull Reaper cold kill players in one direct hit Kirito still took charge, overcoming his fear. So even if the instance where Kirito made a mistake during the Heathcliff battle he still operates better when he has to (in serious situations).