Board Thread:Versus Battles/@comment-26134263-20190504053618/@comment-38894999-20190505034518

Along with that, Kahuna is going to be able to tank most of Kirito's attacks due to entrenching himself in Tank Passives such as Tank and Defender. Tank alone reducing the effectiveness of every attack Kirito lands by more than 50%. He's also already aware of Skill Connect so he can simply create distance with Sludge when he sees Kirito starting to wind up a Sword Skill. Then use his range options like trees, his boomerangs Swoop, and simple shooting with Sludge to begin wearing the kid down. How would he even react to Kahuna seemingly fleeing, only for him to uproot trees and start abusing the abundant ammo that is the entirety of Floor 3?

There's also the idea that Spinning Shield would be better suited to blocking Kahuna's own Sword Skills than just some shotgun blasts, so Kirito could potentially be leaving himself open to get Stunned by Shadow Stitch, Upheaval, Numbing Impact or any of the others without a guaranteed block in the form of Spinning Shield. He could even goad Kirito into using Spinning Shield only to then hit right through with a Wraith'd Cyclone. Considering that, Kahuna would rather keep the fight to a melee in the beginning, then only get more aggressive like this once either his or Kirito's health has fallen at least a fourth of the way.