The Gameplay

Here you will find a guide to hopefully help you not die a horrible death in this game.

Basic Tips

Let’s start with the basics since they can help you no matter what character you are playing. Further down I will get into the specifics of every character. If you have been playing for a while, you will probably already know most of these.

• Moving during your heavy attacks: Remember that your heavy attacks don’t just keep you in one place. You can move forward, left, right and backwards during them, so try to use this to your advantage by repositioning yourself away from a cliff or surprise your enemy with your range by moving forward.
• Feinting: Everyone except for the Conqueror can use feints. So here are a few ways you can make good use of your feints.

1. Bait out your opponents parry attempt in order to get him to make a heavy attack, which you parry.
2. Feint in one direction than go for a light attack from a different direction. Be careful when doing this against characters that can’t be interrupted during their Heavy Attacks like Shugoki
3. Feint your attack and go for a guard break right after.
4. Feint your attack and go for something unblockable like the shove or the long arm of the Lawbringer.

Number 1 doesn’t work very well if your opponents reaction time is fast enough to stop his attack. Number 2 and 3 work best when your opponent wants to parry you while Number 4 is less risky if they don’t want to parry you. You can also feint your attack if your opponent likes to do certain counterattacks like striking out of a side dodge with the Orochi in order to parry their attack.

• Know your enemy: Always watch how your opponent fights and adapt to it. I know this may seem obvious but I thought I should mention it anyway. For example: Feinting isn’t going to help a lot against an opponent who just spams light attacks and going for a guard break after a feint won’t help you if your opponent planned on countering by striking out of a side dodge
• Countering feints: If your opponent tends to feint a lot you have got a few options.

1. The safest option is to go for the parry but if your opponent faints in order to parry your strike you simply faint your strike that was meant to be a parry as well.
2. Block in the direction and wait out if your opponent feints and simply react to what he might do after he feints, this is best when you are out of stamina since going for a parry in this state is very risky.
3. Go for whatever your character can do out of a Dodge, depending on how you do it you can avoid getting hit by the attack and counterattack at the same time.
4. Simply make use of your light attacks in order to interrupt your opponent but be careful since you don’t want to trade hits, don’t try this against characters who have heavy attacks which become uninterruptible like Warlords.

• Reacting to light attack spam: If your opponent goes for light attacks no matter what try to block his light attack and use your own light attack right after without even taking the time to change the direction. This should make it so that your light attack comes out faster than their next one. Alternatively you can make good use of the attacks your character can do out of dodges if he has any or block him until he runs low on stamina and then start your own offensive. Of course parry him if your reflexes are good enough or if you can predict where he will attack next.
• Parry: Another obvious one, but it is extremely important that you can parry your opponent especially since you can parry unblockable attacks, like the zone attack of the Raider. Get the timing down by making use of the training mode and make good use of it since you can punish your opponent with Light Attacks if you parried a heavy Attack or a heavy Attack if you parried a light Attack. It also drains a lot of their stamina and also knocks them to the ground if you parry them while they are out of stamina. You can tell if you parried a light or heavy Attack by the sound and effect of the parry. If you parried a light Attack both will be more intense.
• Getting ganked: In order to hold your own against multiple opponents you should try to play safe until you get revenge and then beat them up as long as you can profit from being uninterruptible and the shield you gain. Watch out for guard breaks from the side as well as unblockable attacks. I also extremely recommend throwing your opponents against each other in order to avoid one attacking you while staggering the other one as if you threw him against a wall.
• Ganking: Since normal attacks are easily blocked from the side, you should try to go for guard breaks and unblockable attacks unless your opponent is leaving himself open by attacking your teammate.
• Throwing your opponent against walls: It is easy to forget but try to throw your opponents against walls if you get the chance in order to stagger them long enough for a heavy attack. This can be useful in order to use some of your characters harder hitting heavy attacks as well as to drain your opponents stamina.
• Dodging: Dodges can be a great way to avoid your opponents attacks if you are having trouble blocking or parrying them. Make good use of it against your opponents attacks but don’t forget that you can’t counter guard break attempts while dodging.
• Reflexes: I know this isn’t really advice but I should mention that reflexes are playing a huge role in this game to the point where they can largely influence how you play, so I will mention multiple strategies further down for slow as well as fast reflexes. Of course your reflexes will become better and you will get more used to the ways characters move while playing this game.

The characters:

Here I will give some advice on how to play as and against the different characters.

Warden:

Playing as the Warden:

The Warden has a very good moveset that can keep the enemy under pressure. Make good use of your ability to dodge and then shoulderbash your opponent. He also has rather fast light attacks especially the top one which also serves as your crushing counter strike if you get the timing of your opponents attack right. Your heavy attacks from the side can do quite a bit of damage but the top heavy almost doubles this amount but in order to hit with it for sure you will have to either parry one of your opponents light attacks and immediately follow up with your top heavy attack or guard break your opponent and throw him against a wall in order to stagger him long enough or hit him with a fully charged shoulderbash. Then there is your zone attack which has got good range, damage and speed and can Chain into your Chain finisher. Since the attack comes from your right side I recommend feinting a left or a top heavy in order to get your opponent to leave himself open. The shoulderbash mixup should be rather selfexplanatory but just in case: When you start your shoulderbash you have 4 options:

1. You can simply pull through with it and follow up with light attacks preferably from the Side since that allows you to Chain two of them together. You can also go straight into the next shoulderbash after hitting with the Lights.
2. You can charge it and follow up with a top heavy, note that after a moment of charging you become uninterruptible
3. Cancel it and follow up with a guard Break.
4. Cancel it the same way you cancel heavy attacks in order to counter your opponents move. You can cancel the shoulderbash at pretty much any Point so you can use this to See if your opponent will dodge or not.

Number 4 is especially useful when your opponent tries to strike out of a side dodge since most characters are unable to deiner them while number 2 is the most save since you can See if your opponent Dodges too early and if he doesn’t you can simply cancel it.

Playing against the Warden:

Since the Warden is very versatile he doesn’t have too many weaknesses that you can use to your advantage. If your reflexes aren’t good enough to block them I recommend you to keep your guard position either top or left in order to block his light top attacks or his zone attack. As for his shoulderbash mixup you will have to rely in reading your opponent for the most Part. If he tends to charge his shoulderbash or feint it into a guard Break you can immediately light attack him in order to Interrupt him. You can also Interrupt his unblockable top heavy with Lights gut bei careful not to trade Hits.

Conqueror:

Playing as the Conqueror:

My playstyle with the Conqueror doesn’t involve a lot of charging but if you choose to do so I recommend to use that attack to counter your opponents with your superior block during the startup of your heavy. If your opponent just keeps on avoiding you just stop your charge with a dash and change your strategy. If your opponents reflexes are good enough to parry your heavy attacks you can cancel your heavys into the full block stance and immediately shieldbash your opponent for a free heavy attack. The shieldbash of the Conqueror has two different variations. The one that you do out of your full block stance or after a heavy leaves your opponent open for a heavy attack and can knock them into walls while the one you do after a dash can’t knock your opponents into walls and only leaves them open for a light attack. The Conqueror also has a nice advantage against the Warden since if you go into full block stance after he hit you with his shoulderbash you can block his light attacks.

Playing against the Conqueror:

The Conqueror can be a pain if your reflexes are slow but you should get used to it. Depending on how much your opponent relys on shieldbashes you will have to make good use of your dash attacks if your character has any. Most of the time a Conqueror will follow up with a shield bash after a heavy sometimes even when you dodged the heavy so keep that in mind, but since this shieldbash is a little slower you shouldn’t have a problem reacting to it. Don’t dash to early though since some Conquerors are going to wait for you to do that in order to guard break you. Spamming some light attacks against shieldbash focused Conquerors can help a lot as well.

Peacekeeper:

Playing as the Peacekeeper:

The Peacekeeper is extremely fast with her light attacks so try your best to make good use of that since almost no one is going to be able to parry you. Your engage by dashing forward and doing a heavy attack is fast but predictable so you can use that to your advantage and simply dash forward but instead of attacking with your heavy you can attack with your fast light attacks or your zone attack. Don’t forget to cancel the second strike of your zone attack since it is very easy to parry. Your sidestep strikes are relatively slow so only use them after you dodged an attack. Also don’t forget to go for that extra stab after your heavy attacks since the bleed damage is extremely helpful. You can also make good use of your ability to immediately cancel your normal heavy attacks into guard breaks by pressing your guard break button. You should also make good use of feinting heavy attacks in between your light attacks to confuse your opponent. Last but not least after a guard break don’t forget that you can still throw your opponents after stabbing them twice.

Playing against the Peacekeeper:

This is tough especially when playing a slow character. It depends a lot and I really mean a lot on your reflexes. If your reflexes are good enough to block her light attacks that is already a great help since if she simply plans on keeping on attacking you, you can just immediately start your own light attack after blocking hers I recommend keeping your guard to the right because of her fast zone attack and to keep it top when she is far away, when you realize that she dashes in your direction without going for her dash attack immediately block right since she is probably going for her zone attack. If your reflexes aren’t good enough to block her light attacks sidestep strikes are your best friend. If you don’t have any like with the Warlord or the Shugoki you will have to improvise by making use of your uninterruptible attacks or in case of the Warlord use your full block stance and countering her with it.

Lawbringer:

Playing as the Lawbringer:

The Lawbringer has good light attacks, range and unblockables. He also has a lot of health. Your sprint attack is very fast but also predictable so it is best when surprising an enemy from their flank or by starting to sprint a short distance in a fight. You can also make use of people trying to block it by simply running up to them and going for a top light attack since it is your fastest your opponent is probably going to have trouble reacting to it. Make good use of your shove since it is quite powerful. You can use it after dashing, hitting an enemy with your heavy attack without them blocking it and immediately after blocking an enemy attack which makes it great since you can follow it up with an unblockable light attack which your opponent has to dodge or with a guard break which is perfect if your opponent was planning on dodging. That plus the fact that your shove is uninterruptible makes it extremely useful. Be careful though since some opponents might have good enough reflexes to dodge your shove every time you try it out of a dash leaving you open for a moment. Throwing your opponents into walls is great since you can get a top heavy which stuns them and makes it easier for you to follow up with different attacks. If you parry your opponent you can either go for an unblockable which they can’t parry if you parried their light attack, a stab which is like your sprint attack and great in order to knock them into walls or into other hazards, a fast hit which stuns them and is really useful if you don’t have a lot of time to deal damage to your opponent and your zone attack which is awesome while surrounded since it becomes uninterruptible after a parry. The long arm is also a great move which leaves your opponent open for a heavy attack but also leaves you open if you miss. You can use the long arm best after canceling a heavy attack or after dashing to make your opponent think you are going to shove, but keep in mind that this move is also very dependent on your enemys reflexes.

Playing against the Lawbringer:

The Lawbringer has a great sprint attack which comes at you from the left but if you manage to parry it he is immediately out of stamina and you can punish him. His shove and especially his long arm can be punished by dodging and then attacking. His top light attack is his fastest so I recommend you to keep your guard there if your reflexes aren’t fast enough. When you get shoved and you aren’t sure if the Lawbringer is going for his light attack or for a guard break just take the light attack since if he manages to guard break you, you are going to be hit with a heavy attack and immediately shoved again.

Centurion:

Playing as the Centurion:

The Centurion is a very mixup heavy character who can maintain a great offensive. Pressure the enemy with a mix of guard breaks, punches and kicks. Try to guard break after a heavy when your opponent would usually expect a punch and don’t forget that you can immediately cancel a heavy attack into a guard break. Also be careful against characters with side step attacks since they might want to try the punch and immediately attack with that so instead of guard breaking instead of the punch go for the parry. Also be careful when fighting the Raider since he can immediately guard break you if you miss your punch or kick. As for the Shinobi you will have to use some serious mind games in order to catch him a few times with your attacks so consider trading with him when he wants to kick you since you have more health anyway.

Playing against the Centurion:

The Centurion is mixup heavy which you can use to your advantage by staying on the offensive. Try to get into his head and use your light attacks if you think he will go for a guard break instead of a punch. Be mindful of his guard breaks from his heavy cancels and his light attacks. It is very important to keep calm and use the next best chance you get to escape his pressure when he catches you once. It is for you decide though when the moment is right. Study your opponent and see if he tends to go for punches or for guard breaks. Also try to fight in open space since he becomes a lot more troublesome when he knocks you against walls all the time.

Gladiator:

Playing as the Gladiator:

 

Playing against the Gladiator:

 

Raider:

Playing as the Raider:

The Raider is a bit weak right now compared to the other characters but he shouldn’t be underestimated. His heavy attacks are extremely hard hitting but very slow, so you will have to throw your opponents on the ground, against walls and stun them in order to get them to hit. If you parry your opponents light attack you can get a free side heavy attack. Your stunning tap is extremely useful for that since you can cancel all your heavy attacks into it by pressing your light attack button. Your unblockable is great in order to guard break your opponent since most are going to dash out of it or try to parry your attack but keep in mind that this is very stamina consuming. The move is especially great when your opponent is out of stamina since they probably won’t interrupt you and if they try to parry you can simply parry them and it will knock them to the ground for a free top heavy. Your stunning tap out of a dash is very fast and great for punishing attacks that you dodged. You can immediately guard break after dashing which is also great for punishing attacks that you dodged or following an enemy who is dashing backwards. After a guard break I recommend always either throwing an enemy against a wall or hazard or going for your zone attack since the parry window is extremely small after that.

Playing against the Raider:

Try to keep your guard top in order to react to his stunning taps and be prepared for him canceling his heavys into it so don’t try to parry to often when you notice that he likes to do that. When it comes to his zone attack as well as his heavy attacks you should try to use your own light attacks in order to interrupt him but you have to be very fast with that. It is also easy to parry to early when trying to parry his heavy attacks so keep in mind to wait long enough.

Warlord:

Playing as the Warlord:

The Warlords has got a good full block stance, a lot of health and uninterruptible heavy attacks. He also gets a superior block at the startup of his light attacks but you shouldn’t actively use it since parrying is more useful. The Warlords headbutt is a great way to chip away some health from your opponent and to keep them under pressure but be careful since it is punishable if you use it too often. When you guard break your opponent and don’t plan on throwing them the only kind of heavy attack that will hit them for sure is the top one since it is the faster one from the Warlord contrary to all other characters. Remember to also make good use of the Warlords extremely high throw distance even if you don’t want to knock people of cliffs or into other hazards you can still knock them into walls over quite a high distance. I also recommend using his shield sprint especially when your opponent is out of stamina because it can then also knock them to the ground. The Warlord has a special parry which is quite hard to pull off because of the short time frame you have to do it. You need to press your guard break button immediately after a parrying and then press your light attack button. This combo stuns your opponent, drains their stamina even more and hits them for about one bar of their HP.

Playing against the Warlord:

The Warlords high throw distance is the first thing you will have to watch out for. Make sure that you choose the place you fight a bit more carefully against them. If you have to fight a Warlord at a place where he is able to throw you off avoid being guard broken at all costs. Therefore you need to watch out not to get yourself parried so I would recommend using a lot of light attacks and other fast attacks that don’t leave you open a lot. If you are already close to a cliff or hazard also be mindful of the Warlords headbutt which could knock you into them if you don’t watch out. The best way to deal with this really is simply using a lot of light attacks in order to interrupt his headbutts as well as his guard break attempts. Other than that be careful when he is using his heavy attacks since they are easily parried but uninterruptible.

Berserker:

Playing as the Berserker:

Your huge combo potential and the ability to feint even your light attacks with sidesteps can make you extremely hard to parry if you use that potential right. Over all you should avoid pulling through with your heavy attacks against better opponents and instead feint them and continue on with your light attacks. Feinting your light attacks into sidesteps can be great against opponents with fast enough reflexes to be able to parry your light attacks. The deflect of the Berserker isn’t very good so you should avoid using it and instead parry unless your opponent is a Nobushi since your guard break probably wouldn’t reach her after a parry in most cases. Parrying light attacks or knocking your opponent into a wall allows you to hit them with a top heavy attack which does a lot of damage. Nice little fact: Throwing your opponents as the Berserker damages them a little and throwing them forward drains more stamina.

Playing against the Berserker:

The Berserker relys heavily on his combos but he his range is very short. You can use that to your advantage by dashing backwards keep in mind though that the Berserker still has 2 different attacks where he jumps after you so be careful and don’t try to dash backwards while you are in the middle of his combo, chances are high that he will hit you then. Your best chance is to parry his attacks if you can’t then you will have to stop his combos before they even begin by using light attacks or if he tends to start his combo by striking out of a sidestep you can feint a heavy and try to parry him.

Valkyrie:

Playing as the Valkyrie:

You have a very small amount of health so you will have to make good use of your speed. Using your full block stance is not only great for your survival but also is a great means of attack. Use your full block stance and then dashing forward and guard breaking your opponents is also a great alternative instead of the normal charge. When it comes to your combos I recommend either going for the leg sweep or for finishing it with a light attack from the left instead since it will stun your opponent. Your zone attack has great range and is quite fast just be sure to cancel the second strike since it is easily parried. Also keep in mind that if you miss the leg sweep you are going to be open for attacks for quite a bit so make sure to mix it up a lot what you do.

Playing against the Valkyrie:

The Valkyrie is extremely fast but predictable. Her engage is always top and I don’t know why but Valkyries have a high tendency to attack either left or right other than their engage and they rarely attack on the same side twice so you can use that to your advantage in order to predict their attacks and parry them. It is especially easy if you are playing an assassin since you can simply sidestep with the right timing in one direction, if you get it right you should get a deflect and if you don’t you should at least dodge her attack just don’t forget to immediately attack afterwards since she will probably continue striking. This can also work as the other characters it is just harder and you will only block instead of deflecting so just put your block in the direction of your dash and you should be fine since your block will stop her combo, she won’t be able to leg sweep afterwards.

Kensei:

Playing as the Kensei:

The Kensei is a bit harder to play because his light attacks are slightly slower but more damaging so it is troublesome to initiate his chain but once you get either a strike from your forward dash or from your sidestep in you can immediately get into the Kenseis top heavy attack mixup which is his strong part. You can similar to the Raider immediately guard break after dashing forward which is great for surprising your opponent. After guard breaking your opponent you can either knock them into a wall and follow up with your unblockable or hit them with a side heavy attack and follow up with your top heavy attack mixup.

Playing against the Kensei:

Kenseis mixups can be tough to deal with so you will have to wait until the very last second before trying to parry his unblockable and if he decides to attack from the side from there keep calm and don’t try to parry too early. His forward dash attack is his only really fast one so if your reflexes are too slow I recommend you to keep your guard there especially when he is further away. His sidestep strike is a bit unusual since it comes from the opposite side compared to all other sidestep strikes but it takes quite long and is easily parried just keep in mind that it has a lot of range. Other than that don’t underestimate his guard break speed and range since him dashing forward and guard breaking you can happen very quickly.

Shugoki:

Playing as the Shugoki:

The Shugoki is extremely unusual compared to the other characters because he is extremely slow but can take a beating because of his uninterruptible stance which needs to recharge after getting guard broken even if you counter the guard break you will still lose your stance. Without this stance the Shugoki loses more health but luckily for him the Shugoki has the perfect attack to counteract that: his headbutt. Whenever you hit your enemy with either a light or a heavy attack you can afterwards press your guard break button in order to headbutt them which stuns them, knocks them back and drains their stamina which is perfect in order to recover your stance. Knocking your opponents against walls can allow you to use your Oni-grip in order to regain health and deal a lot of damage to your enemies. This attack is especially useful when ganking someone because your teammates can still damage them while you grab them.

Playing against the Shugoki:

The Shugokis uninterruptible stance can be quite troublesome to deal with depending on what character you are playing. Most Shugokis will try to trade hits with you or guard break you while they have their stance. Use their slow attacks to your advantage and predict what they want to do. Don’t forget even if they counter your guard break they will lose their stance and when they are out of stamina they can’t recover their stance. If your reflexes are fast enough I recommend you to parry their light attacks or if your reflexes aren’t fast enough you should try to sidestep their light attack and then attack. Since the range of their light attacks isn’t very big you should be fine no matter which direction you choose.

Orochi:

Playing as the Orochi:

Use your agility to your advantage. You can dash backwards to go into your storm rush and cancel out of it if your opponent doesn’t leave himself open. Your light attacks are also quite fast especially your top light attack. You can parry your opponents and immediately follow up with your top light attacks, this is especially useful against characters who tend to be out of your guard break range like Kensei and Nobushi. When dashing towards an enemy and attacking you attack automatically from the top so be wary of that but that attack can’t be dodged other than with a roll. Your zone attack is quite fast and can’t be punished unless parried. When your enemy is close to you while you are in your storm rush stance you can cancel the storm rush shortly after it starts and then simply attack from the top instead with light attacks. When your opponent is out of stamina and you manage to guard break them you can throw them to the left or to the right in order to hit them with two heavy attacks in a row. Now that hurricane strike is uninterruptible you should keep in mind that the shoulder bash of the Warden after his light attack is fast enough to still interrupt you.

Playing against the Orochi:

The Orochis speed can be extremely hard to deal with so be sure to keep your guard top if you can’t react fast enough to his top light attacks. Be careful when he is using his storm rush because unless he already ran a certain distance with it, he can cancel it into a guard break or stop it and attack from a different direction so watch out when you want to parry it. If he uses sidestep strikes a lot try to feint a top heavy attack and then parry him.

Nobushi:

Playing as the Nobushi:

Since you have the longest range in the game as well as fast attacks you can try to zone people so that they can’t get in range to attack you. If that fails you still have plenty of options like your kick which you can follow up with a light attack which makes your opponent bleed. You can use this kick either after using a light or a heavy attack or out of your hidden stance. This can be extremely since even if your opponent blocks your heavy attack you can still kick them in order to get a light attack in. Since you also deal more damage while the enemy is bleeding you can try to be a bit more agressive during that time especially with your sidestep heavy attacks as well as your zone attack since those are extremely fast and deal a lot of damage just remember to cancel the second strike of your zone attack.

Playing against the Nobushi:

The Nobushi can and will be a pain to deal with most of the time. This character is where you need confidence in your reflexes. Remain calm and block, dodge, deflect or parry everything she tries to hit you with until you are close enough to hit her with some of your attacks. Since when you parry her she is probably going to be too far away to guard break her, use this time in order to get closer or if you parried her light attack see if you can get a heavy attack in. I recommend you to usually keep your guard on your left in case she tries to use her zone attack or top if she is very far away. Don’t try to sidestep her light attacks because even though they are stabs, if she stabs in the direction you are dodging in and you don’t get the deflect she will hit you.

Shinobi:

Playing as the Shinobi:

The Shinobi has a ton of ways to attack the enemy which is his greatest strength the obvious downside is his HP though. You should always stay mobile and use your instant ranged attacks that you get after kicking or flipping backwards which you can then use to immediately roll in to kick your opponent and get another free heavy attack in and put more pressure on your opponent. Your double side step works great against all kinds of mixups and push attacks and your ability to always get a light attack in after a melee hit enhances your damage even further. You can also hit your opponent with a melee heavy attack and then flip away even if he blocks it which is a great way to stay mobile just don’t do it to often since you might get parried depending on your opponent. Your main source of damage is probably going to be surprise attacks in 4v4 game modes but in a 1v1 your best bet is going to be punishing your opponents mistakes with kicks, getting the free heavy attack from that and then pressuring them.

Playing against the Shinobi:

The Shinobis mobility can be a real pain to deal with so you will always have to be prepared to block his ranged attacks if he is charging, flipping backwards, kicking or kicking after a roll. If you have the health lead you can consider trading with his kick just make sure that you dodge the kick from his roll afterwards. Try to bait him into being careless and use every little gap you can find to get some damage in.

THE END:

Well this is it from my side, if there is anything I forgot or you would like to see added to this guide just tell me and I will add it.

Thanks for Reading