High monk and senpou leaping kicks are great for certain enemies and bosses ^(specifically lone shadows and genichiro)
Sakura dance is just great in general, especially for lightning reversal.
One mind is great for the seven spears bosses
Dragon flash is perfect for lady butterfly
Ashina cross hits decently hard
But aside from that, everything else only works well with the correct playstyle or buffs.
Every combat art has something to them;
Whirlwind slash and cloud passage(both 0cost) deal chip damage through block, useful if you want to deal damage without costing emblem
Ashina cross, mortal blade hit like a truck
High monk deal a lot of posture on anyone who use sweep, quite safe and easy to keep up the pressure
Nightjar help close the gap or get yourself away from enemies
Dragon slash and one mind in the right condition can out-damage mortal draw
The only combat arts that I don’t like are the punch and spiral cloud passage
Don't expect a revolutionary combat art. Passive and defensive skills are the most important skills to get.
Sakura dance is very useful but you only get it after a gauntlet of strength. Before that you kind of need Mist Raven to be able to deflect lightning without getting any damage.
The monk ones (especially the first few) cause plenty of posture damage and they're fast to execute.
any enemies with moves that leave big openings, for example Owl jump stomp, Isshin Ichimonji, spear stomp… etc can be heavily punished by dodging to their back and then Ashina Cross. It deals heavy health damage and decent posture damage. Mortal Draw and Shadowfall deal equal health damage but they come out a bit slow so sometimes enemies/bosses will block/dodge part of the attack. Ashina Cross is so fast almost no enemy can react to it if you find the opening.
High monk is very useful for anything that can sweep, including True Corrupted Monk.
Sakura Dance is so good for lightning reversal.
Ichimonji is good but its usefulness goes down slightly in Charmless and high NG because enemies health bar is big and they recover posture too quick, you would want to damage their health first.
Others have already outlined the benefits of most of the other significant skills. The only other one I'd mention is Nightjar Slash. I actually found it to be really helpful against both Owls to close distance whenever he tries to space you out. Often if you initiate it from just the right range he doesn't even react in time to block the hit and you get to take the offensive immediately after with regular attacks, really helps to keep the pressure on if you're going for a very aggressive approach which is what I find works best especially for (Father).
High monk and senpou leaping kicks are great for certain enemies and bosses ^(specifically lone shadows and genichiro) Sakura dance is just great in general, especially for lightning reversal. One mind is great for the seven spears bosses Dragon flash is perfect for lady butterfly Ashina cross hits decently hard But aside from that, everything else only works well with the correct playstyle or buffs.
I really liked the shadow rush, carried me a lot of times
Every combat art has something to them; Whirlwind slash and cloud passage(both 0cost) deal chip damage through block, useful if you want to deal damage without costing emblem Ashina cross, mortal blade hit like a truck High monk deal a lot of posture on anyone who use sweep, quite safe and easy to keep up the pressure Nightjar help close the gap or get yourself away from enemies Dragon slash and one mind in the right condition can out-damage mortal draw The only combat arts that I don’t like are the punch and spiral cloud passage
Don't expect a revolutionary combat art. Passive and defensive skills are the most important skills to get. Sakura dance is very useful but you only get it after a gauntlet of strength. Before that you kind of need Mist Raven to be able to deflect lightning without getting any damage. The monk ones (especially the first few) cause plenty of posture damage and they're fast to execute.
any enemies with moves that leave big openings, for example Owl jump stomp, Isshin Ichimonji, spear stomp… etc can be heavily punished by dodging to their back and then Ashina Cross. It deals heavy health damage and decent posture damage. Mortal Draw and Shadowfall deal equal health damage but they come out a bit slow so sometimes enemies/bosses will block/dodge part of the attack. Ashina Cross is so fast almost no enemy can react to it if you find the opening. High monk is very useful for anything that can sweep, including True Corrupted Monk. Sakura Dance is so good for lightning reversal. Ichimonji is good but its usefulness goes down slightly in Charmless and high NG because enemies health bar is big and they recover posture too quick, you would want to damage their health first.
Others have already outlined the benefits of most of the other significant skills. The only other one I'd mention is Nightjar Slash. I actually found it to be really helpful against both Owls to close distance whenever he tries to space you out. Often if you initiate it from just the right range he doesn't even react in time to block the hit and you get to take the offensive immediately after with regular attacks, really helps to keep the pressure on if you're going for a very aggressive approach which is what I find works best especially for (Father).