Blackgenma

when you go to rank matches, go to custom and set the type from singles to team. because there is basiclally no lobby for ranked, I guess four people need to be standing by with the option selected for team. I havent actually tried a ranked team battle. If I'm gonna get in some of that action, it has to be during the weekend. if you guys want to get back into the game, the online comunity is no longer completly dead, there are a small number of americans still playing, and still a bunch of japanese players who kick ass on too. ol boundary lo is the gamertag I go online with, but it's my friend's account, not mine's. some times, when I beg him, he does online splitscreen with me, uasually one of us signed on as xX painless Xx or something like that. singles, team, points, masters only, as long as we're honestly trying to play well, it's all good to me. my favourite is singles though, it's the best way to see if your any good or not. teams is great when you get used to singles, and points is just for fun. last points match I had, all 3 of my oponents where attacking my master ghost at the same time, it was funny stuff. well, I DID get best master hunter, and for what it's worth, that isn't the best way to win a points battle. (the losers should've went after the guy in first place, not me!) still, it was funny as hell regardless. Paradigm or Valentine? which one, which one......

Did you guys know you could do ranked team battles? I did not know that, we should set some up some time just for the hell of it.

excuse me as I vent my frustration with sol.....again. OH MAN!!! I don't get it! how the hell can I suck with Sol more than other characters!? I mean WTF!? he's supposed to be my main, yet I'm still terrible with the mofo! I feel like I'm not even qualified to write guides. picked Ky up for 2 days and I was already getting better results with him than Sol. I hope concentrating on other characters besides Sol is the cause of my Suck. honestly, how unreliable can your drills be Sol? just HOW unreliable can they be? anti sol strategy: ARMORS! SPAM THEM! end vent. yeah, sorry you guys couldn't get someone better at the game to write these guides down. panda, would you happen to have any more videos waiting to be uploaded? I NEEDS THEM!!!!! Ky guide is up, next is paradigm or Valentine. don't know which, most likely paradigm or something. I hope I can put both of them up this week. EDIT: OK, I beat a skilled Japanese player three times in a row in a singles match with ex Sol, he even changed characters each time. I feel better now. interesting note, Sol seems to be in good standing against valentine, thanks to her imbalanced servant types, pencil guy is a big help, and you don't need use blades. blades are just some extra optional muscle if you see an opportunity to bust them out at the right time. Anyone notice how potent Heaven's Libra is? when it's out, KILL IT. use some mobile or ranged to help you. (Eclair can kill it before you can say "I see through you") I still suck with paradigm though. suck BAD. I would vent about him if I didn't see HN tapuu kick ass and take names with the good Dr. like it's nobody's business. HOW DOES HE DO IT SO GOOD!?!?!

Dr. Paradigm combos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qTYMPNRz8&feature=PlayList&p=4465865F0DCEC112 the input of the combos are as follows. (F) 8x, (L) (forward step) (G.O.o.H.) (F) j, 8y, (L) (forward step) (G. O. o. H.) (L) 2x, (forward step) (G. O. o. H.) (L) 8y, 2y, 8x (L) 8y, 2y, (F) j, 8y, (L) (G. O. o. H.) (L) x, x, x, MC, (forward step) 2x, (forward step) (G. O. o. H.) they are written down by the order they appeared in the video. Video by Pandaking. combo video on nico douga http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8044588 featuring Sol, Sin, Izuna and Ky. in the video, the player does a 16 hit 404 damage combo with Sol, the most damaging combo in the video, it's the second to last combo he does as EX Sol. Inputs Starting with the first combo by Sol in the video. I'm doing all the inputs for all the Sol combos. I might add the rest later. (L) x, x, x, 8x, 2y, y. 7 hits, 279 damage. the guy didn't Modern cancel the 8x into the 2y. It's good for real gameplay, and easy to pull off. (L) x, 2x, 6x, 2x, j, y, (land) 8y. 8 hits, 202 damage. (L) x, x, j, 8x, MC, air dash, x, (land), x, x, MC, (F) x, x, (L), x, x. 10 hits, 264 damage. the guy locked of after the 2nd MC and locked on mid free combo, so the combo remained a free combo even after locking on. I can't combo the x, into the j, 8x. (L) x, 2x, 4x, (right side step) x, 4x, (right side step) x, 4x, (right side step) 4x, 2x, 2y. 11 hits, 266 damage. the vid cuts off early, so I could be off about it. (L) 2x, 8y, (forward step) x, x, (left side step) 2x, (right step) 2x, (left side step) 2x, (right side step) 2x, 2y. 10 hit, 348 damage. cuts to Sin, Izuna and Ky combos. Ex Sol combos (L) x, x, x, 8x, 2y, *MC, 2x, (right side step), 2x, left side step, 2x, j, x, 8x, 11 hits, 350 damage. *MC so Sol never leaves the ground. (L) x, x, j, 8x, (MC) (air dash), x, (land) x, x, x, (step forward) x, x, (left side step) 2x, (left side step) 2x, (left side step) 2x, (right side step) 2x, (left side step) 2x, 2y. 16 hit, 404 damage. That's one huge combo... (L) 4x, 2x, MC, 2x, 2y, (land), x, x, x, 8y. 9 hits, 321 damage. the player took advantage of a wall for the last hit of the bandit revolver. I've got no Idea if these work in a real match, I havent tested any of them yet. I don't know if the last combo needed the wall to get the last hit, but it sure looked like it did. now go and see if you can do these cool looking and potentially useless combos in a real game! share your results! for what it's worth, some look useful for the most part, I'm most interested in the 16 hit 404 combo. GG2 community broadcasting play list. a series of playlist about GG2 from nico video! http://ch.nicovideo.jp/community/co7186 the first play list on the list is kimera cryin's own playlist. It's really the only one I have checked out so far, it's fantastic. great resource in general for GG2 game play for his technique as well as the technique of his highly skilled opponents.

Inspired by JJ's sad Sol game play in a masters only match, I'm going to do him a favor and write down some basic Sol combos, all the ones I saw him do didn't work. I have strategies in the guide, but maybe people don't want to wade through a giant wall of text, so whatever, I'll write down some super basic stuff that I didn't write there. Basic BnB that doesn't require tension for Sol. (L) x, x, x, 8x (L) x, 4x, 2x and x, 6x, 2x (L) 4x, 6x. 2x (L) x, 2x, 2x,(breaks guard) x. the last hit after the guard break will juggle. (L) x, 2x, 6x, 2x (L) 2x, j. x, x, x, or x, x, 8x (L) x, 2x, x (breaks guard). x, x, x, 8x. What not to move in with. (L) 4y and 6y. They are too slow, use (L) 4x and 6x instead when moving in. a perfect time to use 4x and 6x is after (L) x, x combo, and the opportune moment to side step is after sol's first two basic strikes, so guess the correct direction and hit them with the corresponding "brute force" attack. This can be jumped over, so don't get predictable and over do it. (L) 8x. The extra range this move provides may be tempting, but it is snuffed easily, so never move in with it unless your intention is to escape or something. Even if it does hit, your not going to get a big reward for it, at least not with out a modern cancel, which is something I have not tested. A good move to use on masters when they wake up. (L) 2x. If you feel they want to give you poke when you let them get up. go up to them while they are on the floor, time this just right and uppercut them the second the get up, if they block, Modern Cancel, if not, they're going to get hit. Juggle time for Sol. did you know? You can use a 2y from a (L) 8x apparently, I've seen it in a combo video that showcased it more than once. I haven't done this my self yet. the combo that I saw involving this was (L) x, x, x, 8x, 2y, y. 7 hits, 279 damage. the guy didn't Modern cancel the 8x into the 2y. You can apparently continue a (L) x, x, x with a forward step ((L) 8a) and do the (L) x, x, x, again. this is crazy hard to do, the window of opportunity is REAL tiny to step forward. That’s it. you want more advanced combos, refer to my guide. To close up, I will tell you one combo that does not work with Sol, so make sure never to use it. (L) x, x, x, y, j. x, x, 2y, y. Between the x and the 2y (Volcanic Viper) the opponent can recover mid air, making you waste tension and missing with the volcanic viper. Never do this combo, it is not viable. I'm going to try my best to get the Ky guide up as fast as possible, so consider this some filler until the thing gets up.

here comes the Ky guide, the guide will only focus on Ky's personal skills and master combat. KY Kiske Basics Guide KY is unlocked by beating the games campaign mode on any difficulty. He has the same servants as Sin, but he has different personal skills and drastically different style of master combat. He also is the only master that does not have a minion. When it comes to master combat, Ky's a very technical character, who has a large and confusing mix up game unless your opponent is familiar with the character and his move list themselves. Despite his complexity, he's really no better than the other characters, he relies on stringing together long combos, and most do not require him to use tension. There are moves that can be blocked when stringed together, so he's not as good as he may seem, but he's not a bad character either. Ky has a series of pretty much endless attacks, but they work under certain circumstances usually. So example, his (L) x, x, x, x can be blocked after the first hit, EVEN IF THE FIRST HIT CONNECTED. I know, odd isn't it? So how do you make it work? Turn it into a (L) x, 2x, x, x. the 2x, what I like to call the magic grab, is what makes most combo strings work on hit for Ky. and if the guy blocks? he can side step right out after the first (L) x. so what do you do than? Well you can hit him with a 6x or a 4x, depending on what side he will side step to avoid the magic grab. You can also try coming in with different moves, like 6x for example, to throw your opponent off guard instead of the plain old (L) x, or (L) 2x. K has decent mix up game. I don't like Ky's (L) 8x, it can't really be combo'd into anything, and it isn't that fast. (L) 2x can be used as a hit confirm, or be made into a small combo that goes to Vapor thrust. (L) 2x, x, 2y. To use it as a pole and hit confirm, get REAL close to the guy, hit him with it, and wait for a bit, and combo into the standard (L) x into whatever. The combo I always use when I get a clean hit is (L) x, 2x, 4x, 6x, 2x, charged stun edge, of a j, x, x, x, combo at the end instead of the Charge stun edge. the second 2x is Ky launcher. When the first hit of your combo is blocked, don't do the magic grab; follow up with something else or back off. Take advantage of Ky's mix up. His 2y is a decent special move, it can be combo'd into easily, and can be used to counter the opponent's combo on block, mid combo. it really just like a volcanic viper, only worse. it has less range, less damage, and can't be done in the air. Not as reliable as Volcanic viper as a reversal (counter) either, but it's there, so take advantage of it. Stun edge is a quick projectile, it's pretty good overall, since it comes out so fast, it can catch enemy masers off guard and use it for your mix up game. Make good use of it. The aerial version kind of stinks though, I don't recommend using it. Stun dipper can be used in combos as a finisher and can catch opponents at a distance. That’s all I can think of for uses. Holy brand is a decent crowd control tool, but it's very hard to use otherwise. if your going to hit a master with it, you need to predict when and where the enemy master will sidestep. It can used in combos, and to move in a different way (L trigger side step, holy brand towards the opponent) honesty, it's very hard to use this move on masters effectively consistently. Special skills! His charged stun edge is a fantastic move in combos and killing servants, and it doesn't cost a lot of tension. Use it. The Soul diver (I think that's what it's called) is a defense buff for your units, it activates very quickly, knock back any opponents that are near by, is cheap in mana cost, and tension, and your nearby units get knock back resistance, like Sol's crimson Jackets, only Ky doesn't get buffed. I like using this skill; you don't really lose anything by applying it often to advancing forces as often as possible. His other skill, divine gaze, is a healing spell that also adds experience to your units, with no benefit to Ky himself. It cast a lot of mana to buy, takes forever to actually cast (5 seconds?), the radius around Ky that the spell effects is very small, the amount it heals is tiny, and only adds about half a level worth of experience for the units. To top it all off, it has a very long charge time. Don’t use it, it's terrible. Overall, Ky is a pretty good character, he's got reliable servants, every class of unit available to him, has a unique and tricky (but difficult to master) combat style, and can buff his unit defense up. Not a bad character at all. END OF GUIDE man I suck at this game.

I certainly wont be getting this book, not enough money to go spending it as I please. besides, it has a lot of Japanese text that I can't read. so I hope better quality scans come up, as well as some awesome GG2 related translations.

hispanics need to be from south america right? theres like zero chance of getting a GG character from that place. EDIT: well, theres that one guy from king of fighters who's from mexico (forgot his name, he wears green, has short hair and beard and has an eye patch) and not a total stereo typical Mexican guy, so who knows, but I still doubt it. (wait, mexico is in north america, what constitutes a Hispanic?) my parents are Hispanic.

ah! Suzaku, thanks a load for the Raven translations! the information regarding his gameplay and quotes in GG2 was very helpful, are you going to do anymore translations on the characters? if you are, I would love any thing related to GG2. again, thank you very much.

hey JJ, if your thinking of putting a brand spanking new CD into your crazy xbox that freezes all the time, and you risk potentially scratching the thing, wait to get a new Xbox. your on Boundary's friends list, the two of us will definitely practice with you, in masters only and servant battles (maybe at the same time if he doesn't mind the split screen). Boundary's real name is Raul, which is what I refer to him on these boards. he's way better than me at servant battles. you might not remember me, but we fought a series of matches before. I was Sol and you were Sin, I was talking to you on the mic, and I was winning big time. (LOL) the second or third match we did on underworld hill, I captured all the ghost in the first round, and sent my army of drills to your masterghost (I had nothing but drills out). During this moment I got on the mic and started shout to my drill s to destroy you in a very loud and silly manner "Yes my Drills! go, CRUSH HIM, destroy his master ghost, DO IT NOW!" or something along those lines is what I shouted. if I didn't win that match after such a display, I would've felt really stupid, so good thing I won. NeoVid, I see you have a gamertag down there, so does that mean when you get your copy of the game, you can play online? if thats the case, we must do battle in the future.

Gamefaqs says it's on the 25th. EDIT: next guide is Ky. I don't play him personally, but my friend knows the character very well. I might pick up Ky myself, he seems fun to play with. I really should get acquainted with every character, but I don't have the time to.

OK guys, try not to get disappointed, because here comes the Raven guide, and to be honest, there’s not a lot to put on it. It’s simply due to the nature of the character, he servants are ALL useful, and there are limited strategies on how to play the guy in master vs. combat. I will at least try to give as much as I can. I watched Avatar Thine's Raven closely; his method of playing really works well, so I’m putting up here what I’ve seen others do and what I practice myself. As far as the other two guides I have already put down, I have went back and made some edits that were appropriate, like uses for humming sword for Sin and for some changed opinions for some of Sol's servants, so I might add to this later on too. I cover his master vs. master game rather decently, but there's not much I can say with his servant battles. Raven Basics Guide Raven is a downloadable character available for purchase for 400 Microsoft points. He offers a different style of master combat, and shares the same units as valentine, but has different personal skills. Raven has three basic servant types, and about four elite servants. His basic servants consist of Melee, Ranged and Magic types. Notice his types are unbalanced? He only has one standard servant type, and two support types units. As for individual abilities for each servant, they are all reliable and dependable to do their respective jobs. In my opinion, his servants are most vulnerable to other ranged units, similar to how sol is vulnerable to Armor units thanks to his similar servant type unbalance. Melee is annoying to fight, do good damage, and poison the opponent. Ranged deal good damage, and when are knocked down, they attack when they get up, they are reliable for a support unit. magics can slow enemy servants and masters, as well attack for decent damage. You’re generally going to use all of these three units when playing as raven most likely. It is worth noting that raven and valentine are the only masters to not have a standard armor servant, so in most cases, your going to be using the magic type servant. To top it off, all of raven's units are cheap, among the cheapest in the game, so mana shouldn't be a problem for filling up your army. Same as his normal servants, all of his Elite servants are reliable, and do their respective jobs relatively well. Raven has a Armor Elite, a Mobil Elite, a Magic Elite, and a Ranged Elite. The armor elite kills units with it's wide range sweeps, and heals a tiny amount for ever swipe. It is one of the best armor elites in the game for clearing out enemies. The Mobile elite can be depended on to take on enemies, it attacks mostly in the form of summoning minions, and can make enemies back off with it's melee skills. It’s minions deal good damage to ghosts. Despite being a Mobile type, it moves on the map relatively slow though (I guess it isn't so "mobile" now is it?). The Magic type is particularly strong offensively, it shoots these big black orbs that really hurt. It can also place a strange status effect that seals enemy attacks (but strangely, I have seen enemies with the status still attack, so I would probably say at the very least, it makes them less aggressive). a very good and dependable Magic unit. The Ranged Elite isn't so great, but it isn't so bad either, it does what it's supposed to, that is, shoot stuff with high damaging projectiles. it does high damage to ghost, and attacks consistently, and if something gets near it, it can attack with a Melee strike. It absolutely destroyed Sin's Quadro Baliff and a Heaven's Libra (this one in particular was killed super fast, the ranged elite never even stepped foot in it's magic field.) in a test I did to see it's usefulness, so it's a dependable unit for a ranged Elite. Now for his personal skills, exclusive to raven, he has 4 of them, 2 for masters, one for attacking servants, and a minion. His not there skill is a teleportation that teleports behind the locked on target, if you press x while doing it, you will do a unblock-able 6x kick. It can be dodged a verity of ways, so use it to punish for the best results. If it hits, free air combo for you. The next skill is a slowdown spell. It will slowdown the movement dramatically on the target that is locked on. It takes a while to use and can be interrupted easily, but it has long range, so do it at a distance. The opponent can still run away if you’re too far, and if you fight another Raven and he pulls this on you, your better off running if you can. I think a dispel will clear it up though. Slow fields are the next Skill, and it's primarily for wiping out servants. They make servants slow, and have the same status effect as Raven's magic elite. You can control the way raven throws the two needles with a direction and the l trigger. L trigger and hold back so Raven can throw them split apart, for large crowds. This is a helpful skill to help take servants. Raven's minion, the little Bird, is a weak minion, but, thanks to Suzaku's translation skills, I have found out that it steals tension form enemy masters. How annoying, that's just like raven to do something like that to you. I need to test how effective the thing is, but it steals tension from enemy masters and serves as a distraction for servants, that's it's purpose. It's a mobile type minion, but it does such little damage, I don't think it matters what type of unit this thing is. Master Abilities Now on to the personal actions of Raven, which are exclusive to Raven, unlike his servants. Raven has a distinct style in master combat, and doesn't have too much flexibility on how he should be played in that regard, but he has answers for most situations he's in. When playing Raven, he has very short range, and thus most not approach the opponents carelessly, or he will get snuffed. So the best way to attack is to punish and counter attack, and when in close range, smack the some (L) x, x and usually finish with a 4x without Modern Cancel (MC). His (L) 4x and 6x can be used to stop side steps, the (L) 6x will launch the opponent, can hit grounded enemies, but cannot be combo'd into from (L) x, x, x, x without MC. I think you can possibly pull an air combo off from (L) 6x with a MC. when you see an opportunity, like to punish a whiffed attack, move in with a (L) 8x, into x, x standard combo. DO NOT spam 8x, it is not safe on block, once blocked, the opponent can side step and punish. His (L) 2x is a launcher that has some invincibility, but has VERY short range, use it as a planned counter if you can, than jump into a air combo, no MC needed. His (L) 8x in the air is decent for punishing and moving in, and can be MC into his standard (L) 8x, x, x combo. Raven's hard attack ((F) 8x) is decent for crowd control, and breaks guard. All of Raven's special moves are needle-like projectiles. Y is a anti air, and launching projectile with decent range, it has some (short) startup time, but interestingly enough, even is Raven is interrupted mid way of starting animation, the attack will still come out, unlike his (L) 8y. if you MC the y special, you can follow up with an air combo. It can be side stepped. (L) 8y is a standard projectile, has startup time and recovery time. When the projectile actually comes out, it's pretty fast, and does a little over 100 damage when it comes out, and has good range. Use it to poke and punish when you see an opportunity, like sneaking up on an unsuspecting master. You can actually MC into another (L) 8y, so if your close enough, and you have the tension to spare, smack the opponent with another one. On an odd note, if you are as close as can be when you shoot this projectile, the projectile will miss the opponent, not that you should ever be that close when you shoot the thing. it can be interrupted and punished if jumped over. The last standing special move he has is his (L) 4y and 6y, three needles attacking his left and right respectfully. They are primarily to punish side steps (works really well against side step happy Izunas!) it can also offer up some limited and weak crowd control. It can be MC into other (L) 4x and 6x no problem. His mid air y special attack is a projectile that shifts its aim to its target. It can be used to punish, and to end air combos. Like the other projectiles, it can be MC into another air Y, so if they are in the air, hit the opponent with two (or three?) of these for extra damage. Raven's overdrive has short range, and cannot kill a opponent with full health (does about 400 damage). It hits all around him, and hit's opponents above him. If you want to catch some one with this, hit them with a (L) 2x before hand, and combo into it. There we have it folks. Raven is a character with a strong master and reliable servants. His fighting style is close ranged, and is good at pressuring and punishing, but his options are not the most diverse and he’s bad at crowd control. Overall, he is one of the easiest characters to play and perhaps one of the simplest. He's worth the 400 Microsoft points in my opinion, because he’s pretty fun and effective to play. END GUIDE Well there you go. Noticed I said he's probably the simplest character in the game? BECAUSE IT'S TRUE, and yet, he's still really good. Unlike Sol, he doesn't have a TON of options at his disposal for destroying opponents, yet he is effective anyway, and you don't need much thought with servant battles, since his servants are so good. I'm going to make a list on each character on who is the easiest and simplest character to use. So far I think Raven might be the easiest character to play, and Dr. paradigm the hardest. DAMN YOU Dr. PARADIGM .If I'm going to make a list like that, I'm going to have to play every character personally. I don't know squat on valentine. I might add to Raul’s Sin guide in the future, I feel it can be a lot more specific on master vs. master combat. I might take things out of Sol’s guide as well, because I ramble on some things that are not specifically just for him. In all honesty, I wish I could have put these guides in a better format for viewing. When I post all of the character strategies, I might actually make a new topic and put them all there, for easier viewing. Maybe I can even get a sticky topic at the Gamefaqs boards, and it shouldn't be a problem with the editing, since I’ve had so much time to edit here on Dust loop. So keep your Eyes peeled for some changes and maybe a repost or of some of the guides I put up. Stay tuned for more guides and advice and junk, and if you guys can, contribute to, comment, or challenge the stuff I put up please.

Ok, after some practice and playing this game with my buddy for like 5 hours straight, I decided I'm ready to write up a Raven Guide, but not as of writing, expect to show up soon. playing as raven effectively can be kind of boring, I don't like playing with him, his style is very effective, but not very flexible. very limited with his options, even if all of his options work well. I'm talking about his performance in master combat, not servant battles. pretty much all his servants are useful, allowing him to be rather flexible in servant battles. I just don't find him as fun to play as Sol or Paradigm, who are my two main characters, Raven is my alternate. on an unrelated note, while fighting a bone biter alone with sol, I managed to kill him rather quickly it by tossing nothing but hunchback at it, while it kept it's focus on me. and all I did was block it's attack. this should be evidence enough not to underestimate the minion when used at the correct time, the bone biter was overwhelmed by 3 hunchbacks (and their subsequent explosions!). the idea of it is absurdly funny though. it's chili ball attack is what makes the minion shine. and about that Izuna combo I posted up there, don't expect it to actually work on an opponent who is familiar with it. I had a few masters only matches against my friend, and he never actually manage to pull it off on me, because I knew how it looked like. he always ended up doing the weaker version. EDIT:I take back what I said about Sol being the simplest of the cast. he's really rather complicated, with both his master ability and his servant play. his Rush game style that I've always seen (by kimera and panda) is overplayed, it can be easily dismantled, because Sol can't be everywhere at once, so tell your superior units to kill stuff where Sol isn't looking. I'm not saying the strategy those two use doesn't work (it does work), and they both are WAY better than me with Sol, but I've seen the rush strategy destroyed by paradigm, and they don't use all of Sol's units, and Sol suffers from it. theres untaped potential with this character's servants, I can SMELL it.

I was Playing With Raul today, and went on to watch some pretty good replays (they REALLY need to change the way the game handles replays, I need to see what the players are doing in the organ!) and it made me realize just how much there is missing from the community over here. I mean, there aren't even any character vs. character strategies. what might work well on valentine doesn't work so well on Dr. Paradigm and crap like that. shoot. and there ARE other players to play with online, they are just all in Japan, and it's a lag-fest when you play against them, so it isn't worth it. I know that almost no one care about the guides I'm putting up, BUT I WILL DO IT! I SWEAR! I'm gonna be playing with raven tomorrow and watching some videos, gotta do some home work on the bastard. I don't really know the specifics of his units yet, and to be honest, I have been neglecting practicing with him recently. anyway, personal note Izuna combo, exactly 480 if everything is done perfectly. 14 hits (opponent must air tech) x,x,x,MC,(locked off) x,y,(jump) x,(land)x,2x,(jump) x, 8y,(land)(time precisely) 8y potentially 558 damage and 19 hits with a well timed steel Wasabi at the end of the combo. falls down to 253 damage if you do not tech IZUNA IS BROKEN!!!!! I can't wait till I find out how to....ahem..."trick Izuna's prorate in his earlier moves to make some hits stronger" LOOK OUT GG2 JAPANESE COMMUNITY! HERE COMES 600 DAMAGE STEEL WASABI! can't stop this "PARALLEL MOVEMENT TRIGGER"!

Good to see you here JJJJJJ2. if you look a few pages back, you'll notice we were talking about you. About a page or two back, I posted a Sin and a Sol Guide focusing on the character basics (boundary made the Sin guide). I'm planing to have a basic guide for pretty much every character posted here in Dustloop. so if you wanna share some advice, go right ahead. EDIT You can Modern Cancel a Cyclone Burst into a combo. I had no Idea you could do that. Thats what Kimera Cryin did in that Comeback video I posted where he beat the crap out of Avatar Thine in the end of the match. Avatar Thine is a really good Raven player. I'm gonna learn from his Raven when I put up the Raven Basics Guide. so the next one will either be a Ky Guide (I hope PandaKingEX can put that up, otherwise, I'm gonna have to rely on Raul again.) or Raven

OK! I asked my friend Raul to type up a Sin guide! here it is. Sin Basics guide Sin is an extremely simple character to learn seeing as he does not have many combo options. He has very effective long rage poking style that will deal loads of damage with very few attacks. His tribe arsenal consist of all basic unit types, and three elites. His swordsman (Melee unit) has average attack and defense. It is meant to be an all-around unit with no exceeding capabilities. Gauntlet Body (Armored unit) is a very sturdy unit with exceeding offense and defense stats. It has a launcher that is effective on units, but techable by masters. Springblock (Mobile unit), though it is a weak unit, excels in it's specialty. It has the ability to weaken armored units' defense with it's Steel Antler skill, making this unit a deadly force against all armored units in the game. Wise Man (Magic unit) is considerably weak in both attack and defense power, but does the job as a support unit. It is able to heal and supplement the offense and magical defense stats of your units. Twin Trigger (Ranged unit) is a very good support unit. It is quite lacking in defense, but it makes that up with offense and range. It has a three consecutive shot skill that offer quite a bit of protection. These units are deadly to masters in groups, but can be taken out with ease. Convict Hammer, Quadro Bailiff, and Heaven's libra (Armored, Ranged, and Support unit) are Sin's elites. Convict Hammer has an aura that will increase the attack of all nearby units and can also use dispel, so enemy buffs and minions will not be a factor in a battle involving Mr. Convict. The amount of health that this unit has is very high. When it all stacks up, this unit is very dangerous and is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Quadro Bailiff is Sin's elite ranged unit. Though considerably weak, it offers a big advantage with ranged attacks. It has some set-up time in which it readies itself for attacks. It is very easy to predict his attacks since he gives you warnings, along with very long 'stare' times. Overall, it is a decent unit with decent stats. Sin's magic unit, Heaven's Libra is one of his most useful units. It has an ability to place canes that lower enemy defenses dramatically. Anything caught within the cane's magic field will not be considered a threat to any of your units. It literally turns anything and everything into GARBAGE defense-wise; this including enemy masters. It also has the ability to raise ally attack speeds. It is a great unit in any scenario with good stats. This is definitely the first elite you would want in the fray. When it comes down to the melting pot, sin is an easy master with good units. They do not suffer any serious flaws and are pretty effective. Sin can accomplish his objectives in a very flexible way. The effectiveness of his strategies depends on the skill level of the player, but that can be said about all characters. He can be played as an offensive character, or defense. Sin's skills are extremely useful on any situation. Patecatl Stain restores the life of any allies it passes through. The amount of health that is restored is no joke (you almost give your unit(s) a complete heal, assuming they are your basic units). This makes this skill extremely useful for assuring your mana does not go to waste. Phantom Barrel takes the life of nearby units and turns it into a powerful projectile. Though strong and useful, I don't find myself using it very often. Exciter is an attack buff that turns sing into a killing machine. This is a must bring to every battle, seeing how it makes sin turn into a broom, and the enemy units into dust. Sin plows right through them in a matter of seconds. As for Humming Sword, it is a mobile minion with a high stun rate. From the limited testing I've done with it, and what little I saw a skilled player do with it, it has some uses. It stuns enemies, including masters, and pokes for decent damage, so it can be an effective back up for Sin. It can also capture ghost quickly. Master Vs. Master can go either way for Sin. His abilities give him a deadly advantage at a distance. The effectiveness of his pokes can be devastating as he can link them with easy to time combos. They do not require extensive skill and/or timing to pull off and can do up to 300+ damage per combo. Sin's major flaw is his close range attacks. If an opponent happens to be right next to him he is easy bait. An example of this would be a Sol standing next to sin. Sol's Locked-on x attack (his kick) will go through all of Sin's close range options, so maintaining your distance a must at all times. END OF GUIDE TA DAH! hope you enjoyed!

well, crap. to be honest, the only reason I decided to post anything at all was because I said I would. I forced myself to type something up, and it was a huge head hurt, organizing and thinking it out all in my head what I was going to say, and running back in my memory to what works or not with Sol, it wasn't easy at all. I then got carried away, and before I knew it, I kept adding more and more to the guide, so now you see the version that is pretty much final (EDIT: NOT) . besides, I was tired of alway asking for information, yet never giving any out (yeah I know no body but me asks stuff about this game but whatever, lets forget about that detail.) I didn't know you only had concrete knowledge on Sol though. I knew he was your main, but I thought you'd know other characters better. what a shame. at the very least, please give us something on Ky, I'm sure your probably the best american Ky player, and I remember you saying he was your main once. if not, I'll just bother Raul (Boundary) to help me with a mini guide. as for you other guys, I'll deliver a Sin guide next, either that, or maybe i'f I'm lucky, I can get my friend to type it up, as he has an account here, and I plan to get my all my info from him anyway.

good stuff. I added stuff to the Guide, thanks to your post on capture cannons. keep in mind that most good players cut off the ghost in front of the enemy master ghost all the time. both players tend to do it to each other at the same time, so in higher level play, it is simply a way to slow down the opponent, as your gonna have to deal with the same crap on your end most likely (the videos I posted with Thine and Kimera showcase this) also I wrote this in my updated guide post, but I'll say it here again. you can destroy capture units with capture cannon on by hitting them repeatedly. they are NOT invincible. I think your right about Sol probably being the simplest of the cast, but I don't think he's been used to his full potential yet. all the good Sol's I see play in one fashion, but I think the game is flexible enough to allow players find way alternate strategies that no one has explored yet. it could be possible, seeing as other characters like Ky have recently become more dangerous by utilizing his tools more effectively.

:toot:yes, sounds good, I didn't expect a comment from someone who hasn't played the game yet. thank you for your concern

....whut? no comment on my guide? did it's length intimidate you? if he's gonna be pulling 300 damage hard attacks and volcanic vipers, without telling us how, we don't need him online.

in that comeback video, Kimera Cryin air dashed right out of a Cyclone burst. Is that possible?, is that some glitch he abused? he isn't pulling a....geez, should I say it?....a.....FLAMEMASTERAJ HAX!? (300 damage Volcanic Viper my ass! what the hell is a "parallel movement trigger" anyway? never heard of such a thing in my life. where did he get that term from, did he make that up?)

Alright, since no word from Panda, I'm gonna stick to my word and post what I know about each character and their general strategy in servant battles. this is beginner friendly, as I am not too great of a player myself. Sol Badguy Basics Guide Sol Badguy is a relatively simple character to learn, yet difficult to master. He is a primarily offensive character; his theme is being a strong master, but having weak normal servants. In low-level play, this is not too big of an issue, but the higher the competition, the more glaring his servants weakness become. Sol has to do most of the work he himself, and his skills are based around self-buffs. Sol has 3 regular servants consisting of Melee (Drill), Armor (Blade) and Ranged (Pencil Guy). Sol doesn't have a standard Mobile or Magic type servant, making him vulnerable to armors. He has 5 Elite units, Melee (Firewheel) Mobile (Engulfer) Armor (Gigant) and 2 magic types (Red Queen and Blockhead). For the most part, Sol's Elites are pretty effective, and is one of the only three masters that have a Melee Elite, which I like to call an "anti master" elite that is good at combating an enemy master. Sol basic strategy is to rush the opponents like a madman, trying his best to control as many ghost as possible and finding a clear path to the master ghost as fast as he can. Because of his weak tribe (army) Sol doesn't want his opponent to build up a strong army, so he has to deny the opponent of ghost to build up mana. Sol's units are also not very cheap in their cost in mana, so you want to have as much as you can get. In the beginning of a match, your going to want to know what you want to control, and where you want to slow the enemy servants down. You pick your drills destination as fast as possible, and when they spawn, you pick them up right away (either 2 or 3 of them) and place them where you want them, whether it's to have early control of a ghost, or to slow down enemy forces, both is desirable. If you want to slow the enemy down, place them at a ghost directly in front of the enemy master ghost. Unless you separated each and every drill and tell them to stay at the ghost you plan to drop them via the organ menu before they spawn (yes, I have seen a player do that, it was impressive) your going to want to tell them to stay put using right on the D-Pad right when you dump them off. All characters use this strategy, but it is absolutely essential for sol, and he'll be doing this through out the match. When playing as sol, you transport your units where they are needed the most manually (meaning you yourself pick them up and dump them off) and when you aren't doing that, your either killing a bunch of servants your self, or attacking the enemy master. Consider your servants main purpose to capture and maintain ghost, and to inch closer to the enemy master ghost (and you speeding up that process). Your primary concern is their safety, meaning you kill whatever might slow them down, or kill them. For the beginning of the match your best off spamming drills, and unlocking the Blade, but not using them yet for the first round, or at least until you see fit. Spamming drills and placing them where you want, as well as protecting them is effective, you need to make holes in the opponent's defenses. If a large group of servants are slowing down your drills, or a very strong few (like armors) the last thing you want is for the drills to die. You either pick them up and dump them to the closest ghost that is closer to the enemy master ghost and go back to kill the enemy servants, or you tell them to retreat. Remember that servants have an advantage when fighting at a ghost that is theirs (defense boost) so even if you don't have the time to save them at the moment, they should be able to hold their own for a while when they retreat provided there isn't a master attacking them. There isn't much to say about drills, because you pretty much have no choice but to use them. They are pretty weak, and have two different attacks, a switchblade attack that hits upward (hey, it helps with juggle combos!) and a more powerful charge were it sticks it's drill into the opponent, making them fly away. The damage output is nothing to write home about. When upgraded with blackhead, its drill becomes massive (read; disproportionately huge), and does more damage. With the upgrade, it receives powered up melee attacks. The upgrade doesn't help them too much, because the unit's primary problem it that they are pretty stupid, and un-aggressive, and the upgrade doesn't change that unfortunately. Still, you have no choice but to use them, luckily, their stupidity does not allow them to be overtaken by mobile units at least; the drills will soundly defeat them. A good technique I have seen in using drills are leaving one at every ghost you own. So If the enemy want to get some free mana by stealing a ghost that you passed or are not currently protecting, they have to deal with your drill first, slowing them down. Blades are a lot sturdier than the drills, and also a lot slower, so be sure to pick them up! When I use sol, I always unlock blades before any of the elites, as they are a great help in sol's army long term, just keep in mind to make good use of them, as they are expensive. When upgraded with blockhead, they have these flaming pinwheels on them, hitting whatever is close to them, called offense cloak or barrier. That's all it upgrades Blockhead provides for the Blade, it's actually better than it sounds. Pencil guys are Sol's Ranged units. Ranged units are strong against Melee and Magic, and as far as this guy goes, he's not as offensive based as Sin's ranged unit, or as defensively powerful as Raven's and not as annoying as Izuna's, but he has some tricks up his sleeve. Besides shooting enemies with a gun, and saying funny puns ("I'll give it a shot") its hits will poison the enemy, and it can toss stun grenades. Remember that these guys are back up for drills and blades, like any other range unit, and are not designed to be sent at a horde of Melee by themselves, even against the likes of valentine and raven (who's two out of three normal forces are weak to ranged) because an enemy master can just swoop along and take them out no problem, not to mention they capture ghost slowly. Pair them up with drills and blades to make your forces more substantial. They’re also not bad protecting the master ghost with a few drills. The blockhead upgrade makes the gun really big, and makes shots explode and damages multiple enemies when the bullet hits. Basically, when your sol, your running all over the place to maintain the map. Use Sol's dragon install as a tool to kill servants quickly when it is at 100, or to give you an edge against other masters. (USE VOLCANIC VIPER ON THEM!) Sol’s dragon install changes depending on the amount of resources your units have accumulated, resources are represented by the gear symbol underneath you maserghost health. Resource is collected when your normal servants fight. For every 25 resource you have, the stronger the dragon install becomes, 100 dragon install being extremely powerful. I’m not sue about the lower level dragon installs, but you cannot dispel Sol’s 100 dragon install, so don’t be afraid to use it, because he enemy can’t get rid of it. Your special moves are enhanced in that mode, your volcanic viper does 300 damage on a clean hit, and it good chip damage. Your sword has extended range, and you can lock opponents down with (L) 4x, 6x, sidestep repeat, and your gunflame travel much faster, can be fired more rapidly, and comes out insanely fast. Your overdrive does over 1000 damage in 100 dragon install, so bust it out on an elite unit for a quick kill. If your in a pickle, and need a power boost, as long as you have 25 install, go ahead and use it, it can save you when used in opportune moments. When facing other masters, or a large group of servants, use crimson jacket, particularly in a combo of (L) x, x (activate crimson jacket) when you start up crimson jacket, it's initiation hits whatever is around sol, it can even be used by itself to snuff incoming attacks. if you want to get a free combo off that, use (L) 8x to slide into them, and modern cancel when you hit them, allowing you to combo a (L) x, x, into whatever you see fit. Crimson jacket is a self-buff skill that will raise Sol’s defense and provide some knock back resistance for a limited time. The knock back resistance and increased defense will allow you to be more offensive, and the increase in defense is significant. If you want a super crazy strong Sol, use crimson jacket while using dragon install. It will give you good results. Unlike dragon install, this can be dispelled, so investing In a mouth zipper is a smart choice. Sol's Minion summon "hunchback" is a Mobile unit. It’s not extremely useful, so you never really need it, but it can help you in confrontations when taken out at just the right time. When facing a group of servants that has a lot of units that are weak to mobile, in other words; Armor and magic servants, it performs pretty well in providing you and your servants back up. It’s chili ball attack shocks enemies, does good damage to armors and magics, and holds them in place, so you can combo them whilst it's attacking with chili ball. The effectiveness of its attacks are increased when it's fighting magic and armor, to the point where it can make fighting those servants much easier. I once killed a bone biter at full health with nothing but tossing hunch backs at it, and it died relatively quickly considering it was under attack by minions. It has quick recharge time, so you can have up to 3 out at once. When you summon it, Sol tosses it like a little ball, and it hurts whatever it hits, and when it disappears from being out for a certain amount of time, it will blow up like a bomb, but if it's killed before that point, it will not. It’s role in master combat is minimal, due to the fact that it is slow and is not very aggressive, but it isn’t something master can simply ignore. You should draw the enemy master's attention away from the hunchback and pressure their back against the unit, so they can get smacked (hopefully with chili ball instead of the Melee attack) and provide an opening for you. There are also times where my opponent ignore the unit, precedes to combo me, and gets interrupted by the hunchback mid-combo. Overall the unit is helpful, and is not too expensive in terms of mana to purchase and tension to summon. The elite servants that are the easiest to use are Fire wheel, Red queen, and Engulfer. Fire wheel is very strong Melee elite unit. It shouldn't have problems against most units, and isn't something a master would want to fight when at a ghost of it's own. It gets from point A to point B relatively quickly, if there’s something you want to tackle a master with for backup, this guy is your prime candidate for it's damage output. An effective Elite to bring out for the extra muscle it provides. Red queen is an offensive magic type. It travels the map super fast, captures ghost quickly, and fights well, not to mention she does great damage to armors and is VERY cheap. Her health goes down by itself, so she wont be around on the map for long, which is why she's so cheap. According to the game, she increases the defense of allies around her. Not a bad choice for a first elite to bring out. Engulfer is Sol's only mobile, and moves around the map just as fast as fire wheel does, and it's no slouch at fighting either, though it is not as strong as fire wheel. He tears through armors with no problem, so if armors are giving you a problem, you want this guy. He has the ability to seal the enemy master's item slots, so he can help a bunch when facing enemy masters, as they wont be pulling out special skills or items on you, and it can lay the smack down on them to along with you. Gigant, as I stated in my earlier rant about it, is not good to use. He is an enormous armor unit that costs a large amount of mana, and is reliant on upgrade Kits, which cost additional mana. With out the upgrade kits constantly being fed to him, he is a very slow and weak unit. He already costs 400 to unlock, and is even more expensive to summon on the field, and when you get him there, unless you want to keep him at your masterghost, it is going to take him forever to get anywhere without a mobile kit, which already costs 100 mana to purchase. He is extremely slow with out a mobile kit, and he is a very high profile unit, the enemy can see him coming a mile away. The upgrade kits are temporary and cannot be compounded, so when you use a kit, he's stuck like that until he reverts back to his original form. I'm confused as to why Arc system work made this unit as unwieldy and expensive as they have, it takes a lot of effort to make this guy useful, and it is a shame, because it's a very unique unit, there is none other like it in the game. It’s upgrade kits actually change the type of unit it is, in other words, using a Mobile upgrade kit turns the Gigant into a Mobile unit, and it will display mobile unit attributes (travels faster, attacks more rapidly, has an advantage over armor units). If your going to use it, it does well at your master ghost with an upgrade if your losing the map. I recommend never using the ranged upgrade though, it is far too unreliable, and has a good chance at hitting absolutely nothing, wasting your mana. if you somehow manage to get it to the enemy master ghost without the enemy master noticing or servants guarding it, give the Gigant the range upgrade, and watch it annihilate the master ghost. When placing him to defend the masterghost, in most cases, the Melee upgrade is the most effective against normal servants, hits a wide radius around it for big damage, also the best choice for dealing with masters. Mobile against armored normal servants. for elites, I'm not too sure, but the armor upgrade does the most damage to other armors, so you can experiment with it on other elites or normal servants, as I have not tested everything there is to test on the upgrades. Blockhead is a elite magic unit, whose primary functions are to upgrade and to support Sol's standard units. It can transfer health to normal servants at the cost of it's own health, it upgrades normal servants to enhance certain features, and it shoots out a spray of energy ball-like projectiles that hits with a wide radius. Basically, it makes your normal servants more formidable. The upgrade it gives varies from unit to unit, but the upgrade for the Blade and the Pencil Guy are very good, making them much stronger and reliable. The Drill, however, not so much, because even though their attacks are stronger, they are still as stupid and un-aggressive as they always are. For what it’s worth, you'd rather have are strong stupid drill than a weak stupid drill. Though some may advise against using certain units, all of them do have their advantages; I don't believe there is JUST one-way to play each character. The way I have seen PandaKingEx and Kimera Cryin play Sol, they Rush, and they Don't use Pencil Guys, Blockhead, Hunchback or Gigant (well, I've seen Kimera use it for mastghost defense, but that’s all.) they are the most effective Sol's I've seen, but I believe you can make use of servants they don't use (at least Blockhead, Pencil Guy, and Hunchback. I don't know about Gigant.) Sol seems a relatively simple character, but that really not the case, the methods of play I've seen seem like they can be destroyed by good servant play (I saw Kimera's Sol absolutely destroyed by Guilty blood's Paradigm. all Kimera did was spam drills, and eventually, Guilty blood unleashed the armors, and it was all over. different story when Kimera played as Valentine) in order to compete with other characters in servant battles, I believe your best off using as many tools as Sol has, and he has a lot of them, So be bold, and give his shunned units a chance and come up with some crazy strategies. Otherwise have fun hunting down masters over and over. At least there’s no debate Sol can accomplish that no problem. Master Abilities When it comes to master fights, sol is a close-range fighter, so you’re going to want to stay in the opponent's face. Sol has the best poke in the game, his (L) x kick. it will pretty much go through everything as long as it is pressed fast enough and he is close enough to hit. It beats out Izuna's and Raven's pokes no problem, and they have among the best pokes in the game. Sol has a wide range of moves available to him; the only problem is that all of them have short range with few exceptions. (L) x is not the only move you can come in with, some times it's better to come in with (L) 4x or 6x to stop them from side stepping, even to stop them from coming in. they Can be combo'ed like so (L) 4x, 6x, 2x, 8x - my favorite! I call it the "bandit revolver" combo! (L) 6x, 4x, 2x, MC, x, x, *2x, into whatever you want. *You can side step if you want. (L) x, x, x, 8x, 2y, y – this is not related to the two combos above, but I like it too much not to put it up. It’s a cheap combo that easy to do and delivers good damage, with the potential to add more damage at your leisure. You don’t need to modern cancel to connect 8x with 2y when juggling the opponent in the air with 8x. Gun flame juggles the opponent, and it's easy to hit them with a bandit revolver after it, so a decent and cheap combo would be (L) x, x, x, y, 8y. It’s cheap in tension and does good damage. It’s fantastic for it's crowd control when dealing with servants too. Don’t forget his brute force (lock on 4y and 6y) is great for catching people when they want to escape you BnBs! A good example is when someone blocks your (L) x, x, x, so instead of finishing the combo, do a (L) x, x, 4y or 6y. Guess the right direction where they will try to side step and they'll get punished. it is easiest to escape Sol's (L) x, x, x after the second hit, so remember that. if you don't want to risk a miss with brute force, just stop at the second hit and side step. it is also fantastic to use when you predict the opponent will sidestep. If you didn't know, after the first lock on x, you can press 2x for a punch that has good guard break properties and can be repeated, a good combo would be (L) x, 2x, x, (break guard) and hit them with whatever you want. I recommend a (L) x, x, x. it’s simple and it works. The way to approach a master is either 1) walk towards them, 2) dash towards them 3) run to them, 4) jump towards them, 5) air dash to them, 6) bandit revolver to close the gap and attack them at the same time. Don't underestimate the ability to jump and air dash, as it is the only way to dodge and counter attack certain moves, like horizontal attacks and projectiles, Ky's Stun edge is a good example. Speaking of Bandit revolver, it covers a lot of distance quickly, and cost almost NO TENSION! It can even be used for escaping. the Bandit revolver has great guard break and does chip damage, so toss it at the end of a blocked (L) x, x, x, and it should break guard. An excellent special move for Sol. Tossing out a gun flame to oncoming opponents is good too (for example, when they run at you), but otherwise, gun flame isn't a reliable zoning tool. Gun flame helps for crowd control as I said before though. (It hits enemies directly behind and to the sides of Sol too!) When used sparingly, you can catch an opponent off guard with it, so don't think it's completely useless outside combo. An interesting note is that it can cancel out just about every normal projectile in the game, including Ky’s charged stun edge, which is more than twice as strong in damage output. The Volcanic Viper is probably the biggest reason why Sol is such a deadly Master. It is a reversal of sorts, it's a jumping uppercut that can go through attacks (it has uninterruptible frames) and does lots of damage. It can be EASILY combo'ed into, but it cannot lift opponents in the air all of the time ((L) 4x, 6x, 2x, 2y is a good example of a bad combo for Volcanic Viper) Sol can even do it in the air, which is crazy. to use it as a reversal, block an attack and right afterwards, hit them with a volcanic viper. air reversals can be done too, recover in the air from a combo and if the opponent is in the air too, you can smack them with a volcanic viper very quickly. you can do a y after the volcanic Viper without MC too. Break Down is a good aerial stomp, it has an explosion when Sol lands, so it's a good crowd control tool, and it can hit master's from behind if done correctly. Toss out a hard attack (8x while in free mode (locked off) it will break right through the opponent's guard (in most cases), and does good damage and has good range. Useful fact about sol's hard attack, it does good damage to ghost and master ghosts. Give them a good smack with it. You can go bananas on a vulnerable master ghost by hitting it with the hard attack, then modern canceling it into another hard attack, and repeating it until you are empty of tension. It’s also great at damaging servants and providing crowd control as it sends servant's flying. I've seen combo strings along the lines of (L) x, 4x, 2x, MC, x, x, x, into whatever, I'm guessing you can extend it or change it how you please. This is a pressuring thing I've seen PandaKingEX and Kimera Cryin do, it seems...like a block string to scare the guy into thing he can't escape or something, leading to a guard crush perhaps. I really don't know, but try it out and see what you can do with this pressure game. You can mess with the guard break punch in different ways too, such as: (L) x, 2x, 6x, 2x into whatever you please (the animation for the 2x in to the 6x looks really cool by the way. spin around!) a good combo that takes a lot of tension, but does great damage is (L) x, x, 2y, x, x, 2y, y. it is untechable, meaning the player cannot escape from it once they are in it. Takes about half they're health away, along with half of your tension. Another major way that sol damages opponents and gains tension at the same time is juggling masters with (L) 2x uppercut, side stepping to the left, and 2x again. Repeat until they float very low, than finish it off with a Volcanic Viper. You can put this in a combo, such as (L) x, x, x, (F) walk forward, x, y, (L) (left side step) 2x, side step, 2x, and continue the juggle and finish off with a 2y. The (L) 2x uppercut itself is a good anti air tool; it whacks enemies right out of the air, so pull it out on jump happy opponents if you don't want to spend tension on a Volcanic Viper. The first combo regarding the uppercut loop is a little difficult and may be unpractical unless you master it, so here's another way to combo into the uppercut loop. (L) x, x, x, 8x, MC, x, x, 2x, (start loop, when they are low enough, finish off with a volcanic viper) if done correctly, you'll do around 320 damage and have plenty of tension thanks to the uppercut loop. You can apparently perform a (L) x, x, x, (step forward) and follow up with another x, *x, x. I have done this before; it is VERY hard to do consistently. Another opportunity for the uppercut loop after the*x, you can also side step before you input the x if you want. Sol can also perform an air combo loop on air born opponents. Launch them in the air, jump after them and do (L) x, x, x when you land, jump, air dash, and do it again, because you'll find that the last hit of the air combo causes the opponent to ricochet of the floor. You can do about 3 air combos in a row with this method I believe. When your opponent is out of tension to burst, and you have full tension, make sure you’re close to them, and do a (L) x, x, (Tyrant Rave) for a guaranteed kill. Tyrant rave is Sol's overdrive and is done by pressing A and X button at the same time in case you forgot. Can only be preformed with max tension. if you want to run away from a fight, hit the opponent with a (L) 8x, and blast drive out of there while they are on the floor. You can link a volcanic viper from a 8x, and also continue juggles with a MC from a 8x. Remember that Sol has a ton of options and tools for taking down masters, and doesn't just have to be aggressive, he can be played other ways too in master fights. He’s very flexible, and has a wide variety of high damaging combos. His Servants are bad, and it can’t be helped, but they are not useless and neither are his personal skills. With proper strategy from the player, Sol’s tribe can be a handful to deal with, and Sol himself is able to get a lot done, provide great support and lead the tribe effectively. END OF GUIDE EDIT: I looked up some of the recent GG2 vids uploaded on Nico video, and found some great stuff, including a great technique that these players used with the Rapid fire item. First, A video that showcases the graphical effect that the update has added (despite the update PDF claiming that there was no changes made and that it was simply to prepare for the Europeans who would play on Xbox live.) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8105715 next, is an INSANE comeback in a very epic match between avatar thine (raven) and kimera cryin (Sol), I will link the last round, where the comeback takes place, but I recommend you watch the entire match, linked on the upper parts of the page. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8116893 it is also worth mentioning the technique used in the video above, where your used rapid fire, and if the opponent blocks it, you go in his face and do a hard attack, while he is pressured with the rapid fire still. it's pretty much a guaranteed hit. another thing worth mentioning is that in the match, raven used his not there skill, and Sol countered with gun flame, and got a clean hit. I forgot what round it is, but it shows how the hit box behind sol is put to use with gun flame. another match between Kimera and Thine. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8109457 theres also a video with Kimera's view. here it is. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8117689 Kimera died too much, he was starting to take over the map too.

yeah, in order to get the hang of things, you need both practice and learning by example. even when you read some of the very little info on gamefaqs and here, and watching some great videos, it eventualy comes down to practice. I think the only reason this thread is still active is because of panda. if he didn't post here, I wouldn't have bothered posting either. Don't forget about those character stratagies panda! just a sentance or two on each character would be fine if your feeling lazy. my buddy Raul (boundary) is pretty good, better than me, but he's no where as interested as I am with this game.

the healing rod was the only graphical effect that I noticed and the only thing different that I noticed in the update in general.The effect also is present in free missions, I noticed this in the mission "protect the gate". as for other items, I have not seen anything new. this also applies to anti-rods, which would have also have been a great candidate for a graphic effect. I'll do some testing later, but I honestly would like them to just release a PDF file so I can see some character changes. Some of the changes tend to be subtle, like Sol's brute strength special move taking only 10 percent tension bar reduced from it's previous 13 percent, same with hunchback summon and it's tension summon cost (13 reduced to 10 as well.) are good examples of previous character changes in older updates. EDIT:it always strikes me as a surprise when someone who isn't Neovid, Ayumu or Pandaking post in this thread, I kinda forgot that people read threads for the hell of it, as I do it all the time. this thread was more active just a few months ago, back in April, I never thought blazblue would kill this game so thoroughly for the american audiences, guess arc fans just want their fighting games huh? for those of you who want some good info on this game, some of the earlier post in this thread has it, including how to beat survival mode. don't be afraid to go digging in there. oh, and panda, before you forget, what is the general strategy for playing as each character in regards to servant battles if you do't mind posting that? for example, Sol is a pure rush down character, as I've heard you say and I have seen such in the few good videos online. Dr. paradigm is a mix between rush and defense (Hn tappu seems to play like that from the 2 matches I seen from him), while Valentine is a defensive character, and because I don't know didily about valentine, so I'm just going to go with that. give us a sentence or two on who each character is meant to be used in a general sense, I asked this because I don't know how Raven or Izuna generally work, and those are characters I'm interested in playing. I'm not bad with raven at all, I play him like I play sol, where I rush, just not as frantic, but I don't know if he's designed to do that. I am TERRIBLE with Izuna in general, I have some info on him from the time flamemasterAJ posted a very short guide on him, but thats about it. I don't know nuthin about the guy, because I never really sat down and tried to learn him like I did paradigm. due to the many servant types and master abilities for Ky and Sin, am guessing they are the most flexible of the group, do they have any specific strategy? you don't have to post this if you don't want to, I'll post my limited knowledge on each character if you can't be bothered with it. school starts soon, and until then I got NOTHING to do.