With some adjustments, 2XKO can become “a very great game.” The Evo champion talks about his experience with the fighter by Riot and reveals his tournament plans.
The hype around 2XKO intensifies again as the game is moving to the full release with its Season 1 and console launch. The promise of the next huge title for the fighting games community (FGC) enters the final implementation phase.
Thanks to the early access, we all can mess with League of Legends characters in the environment of a tag-team fighter. Pro players revealed the full depth of 2XKO — specifically in the officially supported First Impact tournament series.
Shamar "Nitro" Hinds is one of the active early competitors. The Dragon Ball FighterZ (DBFZ) legend and the Guilty Gear Strive Evo 2024 champion reached the top 8 in some 2XKO events, including DreamHack Atlanta.
We had a chance to chat with Nitro about various aspects of 2XKO and his plans on competing in it.
"I think that the game is good. I think that it will need some adjusting to become a very great game. But it's still in the early phase," said FlyQuest | Nitro in an exclusive interview for esports.gg.
“So I have faith that the game can be very, very good. Like one of the top games if done correctly."
Vibes of 2XKO
Nitro is widely known for his expertise in tag-team games, specifically DBFZ and fast-paced anime fighters like Guilty Gear Strive. It's really interesting to get his thoughts on what kind of vibes 2XKO gives him.
"It's unique in its own right. Especially character-wise. It has a lot of unique things," he said. "But I think that it is most similar to Dragon Ball — from the way the neutral works to the way offense works. It's also a little similar to a game called BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle."
He continued, "So I think it's similar to those two. Maybe even a little bit of Power Rangers in there, too."
Beyond the general mechanics, it is characters who create an atmosphere and give players proper tools to express themselves in a fighting game. Nitro has named one specific archetype as a cool addition to the 2XKO roster.
“I would actually like a character that is like Jack-O'. I think that would be pretty fun. Jack-O' is like an interactive zoner. She interacts with her items — gives them commands or hits them. And she does other stuff to them. 2XKO doesn't have that yet. But that would be pretty cool if they did.”
Nitro on balance and characters in 2XKO
Having the game in early access means the developers are still polishing the final version. Riot Games openly revealed their intention to release patches regularly and build a perfect balance for 2XKO. Nitro thinks the current condition is quite alright, too.
“Overall, the balance isn't too bad. There are problems with characters like Yasuo, Ekko, and Teemo. They kind of reign above the cast more than anybody else," he said.
“And then, characters like Blitzcrank — they're really at the bottom. You can tell they're really bad. But other than that, the characters in between, such as Darius and Illaoi, they're in a pretty good spot. Hopefully, the rest of the cast hits that spot.”
Another topic raised by 2XKO developers is the length of combos. Riot plans to gradually make them shorter. Nitro suggested a pretty interesting approach to this situation.
“I think it’s less about making combos shorter. It’s more like they need to decrease the damage output that these combos do.”
“Because a lot of combos kind of TOD you [Touch of Death]. So I think if they just toned down the damage, toned down the scaling a bit, it'd be okay.”
He also explained the reasons behind the game's long combos.
“Because the game is kind of based around… like, they have their solo combos, and they have their combos with assists. But the biggest thing is that characters have fixed hitstun moves. So it allows you to go over the natural hit decay that the game has. So they just keep comboing.”
Free-to-play and accessibility
2XKO took a relatively fresh path in the fighting games industry: Riot has made it free-to-play. Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8 also sell cosmetics, but these games require the full price.
“I like the fact that it's free to play,” commented Nitro on this monetization policy. “Because I get to hop on the game anytime. I get to hop on the game just by downloading the client. And just being like, hey, I really enjoy this game. Or, hey, I get to play with my friends for free. Which is always a good thing, right? Who doesn't like free? I do.”
He shared his thoughts about the accessibility of 2XKO as well.
“I think this game is both accessible and inaccessible at the same time,” Nitro said. “Only due to the amount of things in the game you have to remember. And the amount of focus you have to have on system mechanics and characters in general. And combos are not easy. Combos aren't easy in that game, either.”
“But there's also the thing where I just want to hop on with a friend and just hit special moves over and over again. And do auto combos. I can! They let us do that. So, I think it is both accessible and inaccessible.”
Input in 2XKO
The fighting game by Riot follows the modern trend of simplified inputs. The developers do not use the motions, like quarter-circle. Nitro revealed that this aspect is not the best for him in 2XKO.
“I won't lie, I would rather have quarter-circles. I would rather have actual inputs. But I do see the appeal for the special inputs. I see it," he said.
“For me, I find [the traditional input] easier. Because I've played with quarter-circles my entire life. I find it a lot easier to just do the input, rather than do down.”
“Because there're a lot of instances where I would like to input a special move from down-back. But the special move is a forward+special. So, I can't do that. Instead of doing a quarter-circle forward, I have to do forward and then the thing.”
He continued, “Or even an assist. It’s forward+assist. For one of the assists, I have to do forward-down+assist, instead of holding down, quarter-circle+assist.”
One of the pretty common issues of simplified inputs is mixing movement with your forward/back+special.
“It does happen to me a good amount. Especially on a character like Teemo, who has a lot of special moves. You need to input spin a certain way so you don't get slingshot because his slingshot is neutral special. And his spin is forward special. But if you mess up the timing even a little bit, you will get spin.”
2XKO esports tournaments: Official support
While League of Legends and VALORANT have their dedicated esports series run by Riot Games, the company has chosen a different approach for 2XKO. The existing tournaments receive the official support for hosting 2XKO events, including the biggest Majors.
“I think that's a great thing. Putting more prize pools in tournaments like Frosty Faustings coming up, which they put $50k in, I think that is great, honestly," he said. “And it's free to enter, which is even better. So, anybody can just boot up and enter.”
Sponsored by FlyQuest
One of the traditionally big topics in the community is sponsorship for top players. It unlocks extra opportunities to focus on training and competing.
Nitro represents FlyQuest, one of the biggest organizations in esports — which also has a great League of Legends team.
“I personally love FlyQuest. I'm really, really glad that they sponsored me. They've taken great care of me for the past two and a half years. I'm going to try to do my best to make them... I guess, make them proud in multiple games, like Strive, 2XKO, and maybe upcoming games that come up."
"They've been good to me. And I know they love Riot. So, I know it would be really good if I did good in 2XKO.”
Nitro to compete in Strive and 2XKO
It’s great to know that Nitro doesn’t put Guilty Gear Strive aside, especially with version 2.0 coming this year.
“I play both. I play 2XKO and Guilty Gear currently. So, every tournament that I go to, it will be for both games.”
Marvel TOKON is one of the highly hyped games planned for release in 2026, and Nitro thinks it should be a great title.
“I think the game... Even though it does need work because there are certain things that look unfinished or could be adjusted — I think it could come out to be a really good game and something very special. It's not going to be Marvel 4 [Marvel vs. Capcom 4], like the Marvel players are hoping for. But it's going to be an anime fighter with Marvel characters. And it will be pretty cool to see what characters they enter into the game. I think it should be cool.”
Nitro at tournaments and on Twitch
Seeing Nitro competing at big events is a treat! The player revealed his plans for this year.
“I do plan on being at Frosty Faustings XVIII, and I plan on being at CEO, Combo Breaker, and EVO,” confirmed Nitro. “I might be going to EVO Japan, but that remains to be seen. And then, other tournaments down the line that I will need to make up my mind for, but we will see.”
You can follow Nitro’s stream on Twitch.
“I play Guilty Gear a lot on my streams, again, at Nitrony01. I also play 2XKO. And I play a lot of variety games: RPGs, such as Final Fantasy, Metaphor, and Persona, or random horror games with my friends and things of that nature. If you want to pop by, come see what I do, you know where to find me.”
The Season 1 and console launch for 2XKO is planned for Jan. 20.
The first Major, Frosty Faustings XVIII, happens from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1. It’s a great opportunity to witness top-level 2XKO competition, including Nitro's matches.
