Rc3 Saberfighting Guide

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Moviebattles 2. A Guide to the Lightsaber: How to -

Written by SeV aka Hexnire aka Grophrane

Introduction
Basic Techniques
Sabering Philosophy (How to get better)

This guide is not going to be complete, and will not make you over 9000 times better in game. It will provide pointers and tips/tricks, plus basic knowledge of fighting and simple, basic thinking that will enable anyone to become very skilled in the game. I have not put weeks, months or whatever amount of time, into this guide. Only one evening, very late, it was conceived because it would be easier to redirect people to this guide than to teach them the basics in-game.

Part 1: Basic techniques

SWINGBLOCKING

Swingblocking is first, very basic and fundamental it is:
To do a swingblock, attack, then let go of the attack button and hold block for the duration of the swing, then repeat.

Theory behind Swingblocking:
Regenerates bp faster, not able to be mblocked, defense while swinging.

Tips/Tricks: I always advice people to practice swingblocking in combo's aswell as single swings as this is the best way for you to retain bp and keep your defense high as you wear down your opponent. (If you need to practice comboing, don't do it on a pillar/wall, do it on the dotf throne panel or similar objects. It will make your saber react properly and will allow for you to practice fast comboing (Remember swingblocks). KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR LOSS OF BP, if you loose a chunk of bp when it is done, you have hit block and attack at the same time. Let go of attack first, then block. Keep your head calm under any circumstances.



MBLOCKING (Manual blocking techniques).

Advanced players take note, I will be covering an entirely different style of sabering in this section aswell as how to perform a normal disarming mblock.

First the DISARM: You press attack+block+direction key to mblock. Many people complain they can't get the timing right. Get together with a mate and practice until you get the timing down, then it will never leave you. (However, rarely anyone really uses it properly, and it is hard to use properly because of swingblocks, but even the best of the best are open sometimes...)

Direction explanation: If your opponent has attacked with an attack+A(left) attack, your mblock will be the same key combination.
''(To block a W+A strike I would go S+D and vice versa)'' (Thanks to Darc for contribution marked in ''). The same rules applies for every single mblock available and is easily learned. Just train your reflexes.

Now that we've somewhat covered traditional mblocking (Disarm), we're moving onto a fighting style utilizing only mblock for defense. (For use only vs other saberists, never in a gun fight, or where gunners are involved, 2v1 gunner and saberist vs saberist, is a no no). Only for saberist vs saberist.
I usually call it Killing style (He is the player who uses this technique ALOT, and if you've met him, you probably know he is good at it).

What you do to defend without bp loss is this: Hold attack+block, then let go of block to attack, then during the attack, hold block again. (Basically like swingblocking, but don't bother with timing your blocking since you already got mblock active so you won't loose bp like that). You can combo and attack normally with this style and there are many ways to utilize mblocking. You can hide a red attack counter and severely damage/kill your opponent instantly. You can blue them without worrying about swingblock bp loss (many ppl find blue hard to swingblock because it's faster than yellow, and they only use yellow, lol). I will leave it up to you to find out the various ways to use this style in saber duels, let me tell you, very few ppl use this style. I only know of 2-3 ppl who consistently use it, I can use it very well also, but I prefer normal style. Although I admit it's a fun style to use.


PARRYING (Perfect blocking, or whatever term you want to use!)

I don't care what term you use, but basically blocking without loss of bp (or decreased loss), is what this technique section is about.

Remember mblocking basics? Attack+A then you must mblock with attack+block+A.
Parrying takes advantage of the movement keys of course. (USE MOVEMENT TO AUGMENT YOUR DEFENSE, Movement is extremely crucial in defense and offense and can absolutely turn the tide of battle).

So the basic idea is, put your saber in the way of the enemy saber so that his saber hits yours. Your sabers' position varies depending on your style, but I must advice you to use your mouse to parry.
If an WA/AW attack comes up, you can walk DS/SD and look at it (literally look at the saberswing the enemy is performing, or the direction in which it is going to hit your defenses). This type of attack can also be blocked by walking A and looking to that side and up.

You must have gotten a basic grasp of how to utilize movement keys to help parrying, but ultimately, it comes down to 'PUT your saber infront of your body, so that the enemy attack hits your saber'. (Try timing it like mblocks, that way, it might work better (atleast you will get mblocking practice to some extent)).

It's not as hard as you think, or as simple as it looks, even more so with RC3... but hopefully RC4 will be different in a good way.


COUNTERING (Attacking right after you parry a swing)

That's the reason this was put after parrying, obviously.

To perform a counter, parry then attack right at the moment that his swing hits your saber (the clash sound?), and choose a direction. If you do it right, it will be a fast hit similar to those of a combo or halfswing. If it failed (at sometimes it might), you will do a slow, normal attack.

Uses: Use to break enemy combos/spam, against enemies who are happily dodging your attacks and then coming in with their own attack and running away again. Taking a counter whilst running really hurts...

IMPROVEMENTS/MOVEMENT!
In random order, I cba.

Walk and hold block at the same time to regen bp faster than when only holding block and moving.
Moves slower, so watch out for that.

Walk during attacks to minimalize the damage done to you by counters and sudden attacks/interruption attacks/combos that are 1 swing longer than you expect etc etc.

Never ONLY hold block, vary it, you need to move fast sometimes to gain the advantage on the enemy, and sometimes you need to sit back and become a stone-like fortress of defense and counters.

Watch your opponents movements/attacks and start to read his patterns (most players have patterns which are extremely easy to read...)


NUDGE (What the hell is that, or the vet will say, OMG GAY)

It's not really anything that serious, but it used to be more potent, alot more potent. But let me explain what it is first. (In the sabering world, not getting nudged by a gunner when he runs into your swing and your attack gets nullified/interrupted, not that kind of nudge).

Enemy saber, yellow stance. Your stance is red. You walk into the enemy until your saber and his saber clash (made easier if you know how to use your mouse for attacks/defense as mentioned earlier). When the sabers clash, press attack (Like countering mentioned earlier, and a fast attack will happen if you do it right). You can combo this, you can use this after you just used a 4 swing combo, then use another 4 swing combo, then this. (You can combo perfectly fine when nudging).

Why nudge then? Nudge gives you the ability to quickly launch an offensive assault whilst rendering the opponent unable to attack in a normal fashion. (I will explain how to own nudge in a minute). Nudging basically also, when your sabers clash, makes your oppoent unable to attack properly (His attack will be interrupted by your nudging into his saber, or your fast combo hits).

How do you get rid of the nasty facehugger. Well, if you suck and he's a good facehugger, you loose. You gotta have some skill to be able to handle ppl who use this kind of style, as they will generally know what they are doing. 1 is to time your slap with their attack (Since they probably won't swingblock in their nudge). DO NOT, NO. Rly don't do it, attack if you're getting nudged. You gotta wait for a moment when you're not under a combo siege, then unleash your own combo.
Watch out not to defend completely for too long, use counters to break his combos. (What is called 'spam' by many people). If you don't attack him, he will eventually get AP (Attack power/ACM/Attack chain multiplyer, whatever). Which will make his attacks drain alot more bp.
Use proper movement aswell, or do something unexpected.
__________________
"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you." -Lao Tzu

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THE MOUSE!! (Cheeseh!)

Using your mouse can impact your sabering significantly...for the better.
One tip I give to many newbeginners and pro's alike, is this. 'Try looking a bit more down with your mouse'. Crosshair on neck, or lower. So that you can get a better look at the enemy hits, defend better, attack better. (I find it easier to parry in close quarters combat when looking down to get an angle of sight on his attacks).
You can also use your mouse to make your attack hit faster, or appear to hit fast, then hit a little later (Optical illusion). Simply by moving your mouse in different ways, experiment yourself, you lazy bum!


AP

The glow around your saber indicates your saber style, yellow, red, green, white and so on.
If this glow grows bigger, it means you have AP.

Theory of AP: If you get a number of bodyhits on your opponent and negate his bodyhits, you get AP. In layman math terms. +1 bodyhit if you hit your opponent, -2 if you get hit and it registers as a bodyhit. Different styles have different amounts of bodyhits required to unlock AP.

Here are some estimations (Might not be exactly accurate, but approximately).

Blue (Unsure) 8, yellow 7, red 3, staff 4, duals 4. (Might not be exactly accurate, but you get the idea! You must get f.x 4 bodyhits for staff, and everytime you get hit and you don't parry it properly, you get -2, hence you must avoid getting hit by bodyhits and score bodyhits in order for this to work. It currently is a bit messed up but RC4 will make this system much more clear and more used. (AP is the reason why dodge/evasion/hit and run styles are popular.


Holy crap, was that part 1? I'm sure there are things I haven't yet covered, but what the hell it took an hour to write and it's very late, but I'll carry on for your sake! (NO I CAN'T WRITE IT TOMORROW! THIS IS SPARTA!).

OVER 9000! Oh wait, where was I..oh yes. Don't expect this section to be long, but expect it to be the very basis for good swordsmanship (But really, I'm just stating the obvious).

Listen well, if you wish to be highly skilled as a saberist, it is a very simple process. Observe good players, imitate them, use their attacks and combos, and movement to some extent, or learn to beat them. Train, train and train some more. Practice all the basic techniques I've mentioned in part 1 so that no technique is unknown and you are able to use multiple styles of playing. (Countering defensive style, mblock defensive style, nudge offensive and so on). You must combine all your knowledge and experience into one continuous flow of attacks and reflex parries/nudges/slaps/mblocks/counters, move properly, always use swingblock when possible, even in combos.

The most important part of all this, is, ultimately, to find your own style. Do you like to combine yellow and red? Do you like to use mblock defensive style and sneak in some hidden red combos. Do you parry an attack or evade it (As far as possible), do you counter the attack or mblock it. Do you suddenly start running into the enemy and giving him a good slap, followed by a yellow DFA?
It's entirely up to you, define your own style and improve it. Fight against all the great players out there and try to beat them by knowing and analyzing their styles and knowing what you do wrong. Know why you get beaten and improve your weaknesses. Practice... I could go on about this, but you get the point, hopefully. Observe, question, inquire why did he win. And watch very carefully.

THE SPECIAL ZONE

Do you sometimes experience effortless pwnage, you suddenly mblock and slice an enemy up, then kill the other saberist that was trying to backwhack you with a red counter combo.

A state in which there's no surface thoughts (I gotta parry more, for example, or, I gotta focus on this and that). But deeply and instinctively doing exactly what is required, fast and effective.

Remember this state, cherish it, and learn to return to it at will.

This doesn't only apply to this game, all games, sports, IRL skills, have this zone.


THREE STAGES

Theory, practice, flow.

You learn something in theory by reading it in this guide or somewhere else.

Then you practice this, you fight your battles whilst being mindful of the point made about defense and mouse movement, and so on.

Then it becomes a part of your subconscious and it flows effortlessly out of you and you don't need to practice this anymore, it simply happens on its own accord.


A few tips to close it up (Just what I can think of, I'm sure more will pop up later, but wth).

1.Use blue overhead to chase opponents who run from you
2.Don't spam mblock, use it instinctively
3.Use saberthrow on a gunner, run around a corner, then run forth and push the gunner down, then pull your saber and kill him.
4.When low or on no fp at all, wallrun vertically or horizontally until you get bailed out, or get a chance to kill the opponent.
5.When low on BP, run, hold block for a brief period of time, then run again, rinse repeat.
6.When low on FP/BP, don't panic, stand back and regenerate, or plan an offensive (with a cool, calm head, not heated, or you will fail).
7.You can use cg_thirdpersoncameradamp 0.009 to get an idea of how to parry. (It makes your camera not follow your char as fast as possible, it will stay behind a little bit. 0 makes the camera stand at one place whilst your char moves around. Default is 0.3. I don't recommend this command for normal combat/gameplay unless you really like it!


Can't think of anymore tips, but you can just find your own.


With this, I will end this text about Moviebattles sabering, I will probably go to bed now!

I hope you enjoyed this guide, and that it will be helpful for you.

imo very very useful

yeah,but i don't like you when you're copying seV's exellenct work;(

U dont like acrome? How rude

whos acrome? i don't even know him;D Springrolls ftw

Him? D: Her*

Eveybody loves Acrome >

yap yap :< just copieing cause its very good and by fare not everyone is registerd in the mb2 forums . I dont say i wrote that^^

Well,tbh you don't need to registred to read that.

You know, sabering guides < practising yourself... always...

Oh really? Who says that?;P Once again WTH IS SOME WORDS HERE ON POLISH?

dunno anyways same for me here