force fighting manual

[Hawke]

FORCE FIGHTING RANKING SYSTEM

By -=Shade=-

 

Table of Contents

Level Order

Level Goals and Requirements

Detailed Level Instructions

Rules, Technicalities, & Tier System

Compatible TFFA Teams

FF Techniques

FF Strategies

The Art of Grip + Post-Grip Strategy

GK Moves & Techniques

Meta-Game Techniques

 

Level Order

Levels R + 1-15

 

Recruit

Beginner Tier: Padawan(1) >> Jedi(2) >> Knight(3)

Novice Tier: Guardian(4) >> Master(5) >> Sentinal(6)

Proficient Tier: Elite(7) >> Defender(8) >> Assassin(9)

Advanced Tier: Sith Order(10) >> Butterfly(11) >> Manipulator(12)

Exemplary Tier: Destroyer(13) >> SithLord(14) >> Commander(15)

 

 

Level Goals & Requirements & Tags

Level R Goals:

Firstly, rank R is a constant throughout CLAN, all will remain rank R for at least seven days until they are accepted into the clan. After recruits are accepted into the clan it is their responsibility to seek FF Division Leaders to have their level gauged

Tags: *CLAN*Name[R]

 

 

 

 

Beginner Tier

 

Level 1 Goals:

Proper execution of a grip kick, pull throw, and the ability to pull &/or push from grips.

Requirements: none

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#P]

 

Level 2 Goals:

Ability to pull-kick and perform three-kick grip-kicks. Always using pull to break grips. Understanding of Strafe Jump.

Requirements: none

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#J]

 

Level 3 Goals:

Developing Grip abilities, improving defense, faster grips, and beginning to fan. Knows a bit of (anti) drain theory

Requirements: none

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#K]

 

Novice Tier

 

Level 4 Goals:

Mastery of pull-kick, Throw Pull/Push and Grip Kick balance. Movement patterns & a general knowledge of LS. Employs one anti drain technique,

Requirements: Participation in at least two ff tffas

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#G]

Application Factor: 20%

 

Level 5 Goals:

Rolling and sliding drains, Last-Second defensive maneuvers, Newb tactics evaporating. Beginning to employ defensive strategies vs anti drain. Learn one or two drain tactics.

Requirements: Participation in at least five ff tffas.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#M]

Application Factor: 25%

 

Level 6 Goals:

Improving vs LS, constant movement, less reliance on push, can employ at least one 2v2 tffa strategy. Employs at least two anti drain techniques, improving drain tactics. Understands yellow poke.

Requirements: Participation in at least seven ff tffas.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#S]

Application Factor: 30%

 

Proficient Tier

 

Level 7 Goals:

Fanning at pk. Starting to pull-throw-kick, strafe, and mix offensive strategy. Can employ at least three tffa strategies.

Requirements: Participation in at least ten ff tffas.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#E]

Application Factor: 40%

 

Level 8 Goals:

Solidifying Force management anti drain tactics (saber throw, speed, force jumps, seeing), a randomized offense, ability to effectively defend against pk. Can employ yellow poke and advanced saber throw technique and also has advanced flip kick knowledge.

Requirements: Participation in at least thirteen ff tffas

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#D]

Application Factor: 50%

 

Level 9 Goals:

Great emergency tactics, strong defense, pull-throw-kick chaining, solid vs average LS and DS. Knows all 9 ways to survive grip (push, pull, drain, rage, grip, absorb, protect, heal, & fallen) and why they work.

Requirements: Participation in at least 20 ff tffas & 5 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#A]

Application Factor: 60%

 

Advanced Tier

 

Level 10 Goals:

Hide + chase tactics with strafe jump, knowledge of map and how to manipulate it, ability to clear specific gaps with use of strafe jump, understands grip/drain range of efficacy, solid stun abilities, and beginning to employ advanced grip methods.

Requirements: Participation in at least 25 ff tffas & 8 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#O]

Application Factor: 65%

Foresight Factor: 30%

 

Level 11 Goals:

Ability to perform various fan & saber techniques, including swipe-kick, can employ various kick methods within a grip (air, thunder, under, over, side) understands splat/glitch/knockdown theory, can apply constant pressure, air tight defense, knows all force power ranges. Also a fairly fast warm-up.

Requirements: Participation in at least 32 ff tffas & 12 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#Y]

Application Factor: 75%

Foresight Factor: 40%

 

Level 12 Goals:

Ability to bring back in any situation (recover), automatic defense, crouch jumps, immediate warm-up.

Requirements: Participation in at least 40 ff tffas & 20 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#I]

Application Factor: 80%

Foresight Factor: 60%

 

Exemplary Tier

 

Level 13 Goals:

Ability to: manipulate opponent’s offense, pick apart drain locks and use hiltthrow for a single hit. Randomized grip methods, employs pre-emptive counter methods, rolling push/pull-throws as well as extended close-quarters manipulated throws.

Requirements: Participation in at least 50 ff tffas & 25 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#T]

Application Factor: 80%

Foresight Factor: 70%

 

Level 14 Goals:

Very accurate staff kick attacks, both jumping and grounded, max speed grips, ability to pull-kick from grips with ease (f*cking hard), consistently takes advantage of pull-throw opportunities in any situation, pull throws at least once in every match, precise aim, no-force-strafe-jumping fan techniques, ability to prevent opponent saber throw return with utility grip, and an automatic offense.

Requirements: Participation in at least 70 ff tffas & 40 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#H]

Application Factor: 90%

Foresight Factor: 80%

 

Level 15 Goals:

Ability to double-hit hiltthrow (quite possibly THE hardest tech). Ability to perform moving yellow poke (also VERY hard). Ability to counter all offensive techniques aforementioned with deadly force. All duels two minutes or shorter. Vast majority of duels are won.

Requirements: Participation in at least 100 ff tffas & 65 tffa victories.

Tags: *CLAN*Name[#C]

Application Factor: 100%

Foresight Factor: 100%

 

 

Detailed Level Instructions

 

Level 1:

This level is for people who have never full forced or have very minimal full force experience. In order for members of this level to reach their goals they must have their controls set up so that they are able to gripkick (sometimes if grip is too close to WASD or their arrow keys they are not able to GK). Their throw also has to be set up so that it is convenient for them to throw, aim, and push/pull simultaneously. They also need to learn the two basic breaks from grip, push & pull.

 

Level 2:

From here on in order to be in any level the member in question must be able to perform EVERYTHING in previous levels. This level is getting the particular member acquainted with pull-kick. The bread & butter of full forcing. In order to teach pull-kick you need to understand when a given opponent is pull-able. They are pull-able: when they are using drain, grip, lightning, speed, rage; right after they push or pull; when they are in the air or knocked over on the ground; or when they are swinging their saber. See PK at bottom. Members at level two need to understand how strafe jump works and what it is. They also need to understand that pulls are much more effective than pushes. Tell them you can pull 4x in a single grip while you can only push 3x.

 

Level 3:

Developing grip abilities means that now they have to start using new ways to move their victim around in grip. Instead of like, some noobish gk maybe they start yanking them this way or that, or doing something kinda fancy. Members at this level should strive to get out of grips faster. Their overall defense should be increasing as well. Also they should start fanning. The last goal for level three members is learning about the range of drain, and how you can use that range to anti-drain. Also they should learn how general anti-drain works.

 

-Congratulations-

This member is no longer a beginner anymore! They are working their way UP the FF ladder of skill!

 

Level 4:

What the application factor means is that for every time they have a chance to do something advanced they do so X% of the time. Mastery of pk is tough. In order for anyone to do this they need to undergo pk duel after pk duel. Refer to pk in the ff techniques appendix below. The major goal for level 4 members is understanding that an imbalanced offense leads to demise. They need to learn that if you're always gripping, their opponent will eventually catch on and be able to counter their gk every time. Same if they're constantly throwing, eventually their opponent is going to catch on and punish them badly for it. Level 4 members need to strive to balance their gripkicking and throwing. They also need to learn some advanced movement patterns. Proper fanning technique and just some general movement techniques. At this point they should be able to strafe. They also need to learn the basics of how LS'ers fight and how to counter that. They need to start employing at least one anti-drain technique as well. And lastly they need to participate in two FF TFFA's before they can progress to the next level.

 

Level 5:

The goals in this level is about working on their drain and their overall health management. The goal of this level is separating their game-play from noobs. They need to start draining efficiently. Not over-draining or missing drain opportunities. On top of developing their general health management level 5 members should learn a few last second maneuvers. To escape a final pk out of a grip you need to hold jump & backwards and then drain on the way down. To escape a final pk in general you need to crouch and pray they miss their kick. To avoid everything else you need to strafe jump backwards in a timely manner. All level 5 members are required to participate in three more FF TFFA's (5total) before they can progress to Level 6.

 

Level 6:

In level 4, members had to learn the basics of LS'ers and how they fight. Now they need to be able to fight LS'ers effectively and not get constantly owned by them. To do this teach them about holding grip on someone holding absorb, as well as push kick. They also need to learn the importance of strafing after hiding LS'ers as well as the efficacy of rolling pull-throws. Level 6 members should hardly be using push anymore in the same noobish way they used to. Instead they should strive to use push sparingly and effectively. Not as a method of stalling the duel. They should also be able to employ two anti-drain techniques vs other ds'ers. Along with learning to employ more anti-drain techniques they need to start solidifying their drain strategies. Along with all those goals Level 6 members are now ready to learn what poke is, how it works, and how effective yellow poke can be. Refer to Poke in the appendix below. Lastly the final goal for level six members is to fight in two more FF TFFA's as well as show they can employ at least one FF TFFA strategy.

 

-Fantastic!-

This member is now able to give anyone a bit of a fight. No matter how good or bad they may be!

 

Level 7:

The goals for this level is basically fine-tuning. Members at this level should start fanning at pk chains. Along with that they should understand how to manage their health and know when to stop fanning and to drain. What this does is shave off their opponents shield at no expense to them. At this point members should be mixing their offense a lot more. There are only three offenses, grip(kick), saber tactics (fanning), and ptk (which includes pk/pullThro). Members should be constantly changing their form of attack to keep their opponent guessing. The major skill to learn in this level is pull throw kick. It's simply combining pull throw and pull kick into one move. See appendix below for more information. The final goal to proceed to the next level is participating in at least three more FF TFFA's as well as employing three separate FF TFFA tactics in those TFFA's.

 

Level 8:

At this point members should start cleaning up their anti-drain techniques. This means minimizing health gained by their opponents and maximizing damage given to their opponents. They should be using a wide array of anti-drain tactics including: jump, throw, seeing, speed, & drain. They should also be striving to defend vs all pk assaults and to keep damage dealt to them by pk minimal. The major goal for this level is learning to execute stationary yellow pokes as well as learning to manipulate saber throw in close-quarters situation (bar or other enclosed spaces on map). Members are now ready to learn advanced flipkick techniques. Refer to flipkick and gripkick sections below. Lastly in order for level 8 members to move onto the next level they must participate in at least three more FF TFFA's.

 

Level 9:

Members at this level should be developing their escape tactics. They should be able to evade the majority of finishing moves their opponents attempt on them before they're ready for the next level. Another goal is being able to ptk chain. This means getting 2-3 ptk's in a row. Members should be able to hold their own vs most ls'ers and ds'ers. They don't necessarily have to beat most ls'ers and ds'ers but they should be able to defend well against them. One thing that members at this level should know before they progress is all nine ways to survive gripkicks. Pull is first and foremost the most effective way to break out of grip's and suffer the least amount of retaliation. Next is push though push is slower than pull (see push/pull below). There are three darkside force powers and three lightside powers that can also help in surviving grip kicks. Drain can reduce the opponents force pool to zero so they can't continue gripping. Grip can stop them from grip kicking you however they'll still deal 48damage if they hold their grip on you. Rage is also a means of surviving gripkick as it deals its own damage to you and protects you from all other damage (flipkick / choke). On the lightside you can obviously use absorb to get out of gripkicks however if you use it when you're about to get kicked, you'll still get kicked. Protect is another way to survive gk's because it reduces the kick damage enough so that you aren't killed. Heal is a great way to survive gk's because it leaves you with 1-2kick's health at the end. The final way, and probably the most risky is staying knocked down. If you get knocked over in grip, especially if it's the second kick, you should stay knocked over. It's harder to kick people who are flat as opposed to people who are upright. Members should memorize all 9 ways to survive gripkick. Finally this is where the TFFA requirements get tough. Members need to participate in seven more TFFA's, and if they haven't won a TFFA already, they need to win 5 of those 7.

 

-Amazing!-

These members have come an awful long way. Unfortunately the rate at which anyone improves from here is tediously slow!

 

Level 10:

There are many different places to hide when fighting. Members need to learn all the places they can hide to either avoid drain or avoid being seen. Their overall ability as a tactical fighter is directly proportional to how well they know the map. Part of chasing people is being able to strafe as or more efficiently than them so you can capture them. To do this members need to learn a vast array of gaps to clear as well as just knowing the most direct routes in moving from one room to the next. Members should also show that they fully understand the difference in range of grip and drain and what happens when either force power are used just outside of that range. When you grip just outside of range you undergrip, your hand flickers up for a moment and you lose twenty force. When you drain just out of range your opponent knows you missed the drain because their force pool didn't decrease, hence making them able to retaliate with a larger amount of force. Members stun abilities, using push and pull, should be very developed now and they should be able to show the different ways they can use push or pull to screw up their opponent’s offense. Members at this level should strive to use tricky effective grips that are hard to get out of. The final requirement for moving on to the next level is participation in at least five more FF TFFA's and have eight victories total.

 

Level 11:

Members have to learn various fan and saber techniques that they may not already know. These include yellow strikes, fine-tuning their yellow poke, defensive fans, offensive fans, and various fan starts. Swipe-kick is moving forward with yellow-staff and hitting attack and then immediately kicking right after. This works best on opponents who are knocked over however it can have the same effect on opponents standing up, just less chance of making the swipe hit. Members should also be using all six different kicks in their grips before they are eligible to move onto the next level. They should also have a full understanding of splat, glitch, and knockdown and how each of them work and how to deal with each of them. They should know how to apply constant pressure and never allow their opponent a moment to think about their situation. Members should have an air-tight defense by now that is very hard to break. At this level members should know the range on all force powers. They should also be able to be playing at their best shortly after they start playing JKA for the day. The final requirement for moving onto the next level is participating in seven more FF TFFA's and have twelve victories total.

 

Level 12:

This is it. Fulfilling the goals of this level is what separates the great ff'ers from the 1337. The ability to bring back is the hardest to attain. Whether it's a race, or vs. a LS'er who has 100force and hp and you have 17, being able to come back is one of the hardest skills to master. By now members should have automatic defense, where they don't have to think about what they're doing they just do it. Members should know to always crouch jump as a ptk could hit them at any moment. Members should strive for immediate warm-ups, being able to fight to their max by the end of their first duel. The final requirement for proceeding onto the next level and the Exemplary tier is participating in at least eight more FF TFFA's and having twenty victories total.

 

-Excellent!-

Members who have made it into the Exemplary tier deserve recognition of their achievements! These guys can probably own most people that play JKA.

 

Level 13:

Members at this level need to learn how to manipulate their opponents offense. Noticing how they approach them. If one enemy always approaches you with a rolling grip then it is their job to figure out the best counter and use their enemies offense against them. Members should also learn how to pick apart drain locks. This requires a lot of practice and observation of how drain works as well as being able to evade drain long enough to get out of a drain lock. The major goal for this level is throw. Members have to learn how to execute rolling push/pull throws. They need to learn the uncommon hiltthrow (see below). And finally they need to learn close-quarters manipulation and be able to show they know this. To do that, it is the job of the division leader to take them to an enclosed space and have the member in question control a level 3 throw until the timer on the throw hits zero. In other words the member has to keep it airborne the entire time and not let it hit any walls and let the blade come back by running the throw timer down to zero. Lastly to move on to the next level members must participate in at least ten more FF TFFA's and have twenty-five victories total.

 

Level 14:

This level is about improving old techniques and combining them to make some new ones. Members need to learn staff-kick control. They need to become capable of knocking down their enemy by observing their offensive patterns and placing staff-kicks where their enemy will be to knock them over. Members need to start gripping at the maximum speed at all times (see gripkick section below). Members also need to practice breaking out of grips with pull kicks. This is quite hard to do but it is possible. Members need to start pull throwing every opportunity they have, and at least pull throwing once every duel. Members aim should become more precise and accurate. One of the trickier goals for this level is learning to chase people and fan at them at the same time. This requires being able to fan while you are in the air while simultaneously tapping jump every time you land to continue propelling yourself forward without losing speed. It's pretty hard but after some practice it's easy. Members also need to learn how to execute utility grips. In other words they need to learn how to move their victim at the proper speed so that their saber doesn't return to their hand, rendering them defenseless and unable to break from the grip. Members should be able to fight without thinking about it before they are ready to move onto the next level. The last requirement for moving onto the next level is participating in at least twenty more FF TFFA's and to have forty victories total.

 

Level 15:

The final level. The goals in this level and all of the goals leading up to this level reflect everything that has been discovered in the small, tiny branch of fighting in JKA otherwise known as JKA JA+ Full Force Darkside fighting. Double-hit hiltthrow is very difficult. The spacing is very strange. Refer to technique appendix below. Moving yellow poke, I believe, is a technique no one has ever mastered before. So, it's all theoretical. What it is, is executing a yellow poke, while at the same time manipulating WASD during the swings to move in a straight line. The drawback to this tech is that it's hard to see where your enemy is. To counter all the above moves with deadly force you'll need to know moving yellow poke and need to have mastered aiming your staff kicks. From here to prove a given member is at level 15 they'll need to win the vast majority of their duels, quickly. They need to work fast and always keep their opponent on their toes. There should never be any holding back as the application factor is at 100% this requires absolute focus. They should never fall for the same thing twice either. In essence, level 15 gameplay is perfect gameplay. Members at this level will not have proven themselves completely worthy until they finish their 100th FF TFFA match and have at least sixty victories.

 

 

 

 

Rules, Technicalities, and Tier System

 

Everyone who joins CLAN is to remain Rank R for seven days or until they are accepted. This does not mean rank R + FF Rank, it means {CLAN}Name[R] ONLY. After they are accepted into CLAN they will be trialed and gauged for their FF rank.

 

The TFFA Requirements are absolute. This means CLAN is going to start doing a lot more FF TFFA’s!

 

The application and foresight factors are slightly detached from the rest of the level requirements. This is a fairly grey area and does not have to do directly with many of the skills I mentioned above in the level goals. Application means how much you apply of what you know. For example, a level 5 might know how to perform a rolling drain, but since their application requirement is 25%, I only need to see them execute one, one out of every four times. The foresight factor is a little more vague. This is the ability to not screw up twice in a row. As a higher requirement in level 13 refers slightly to the foresight factor. It’s basically how often you will perform pre-emptive maneuvers and how much of the time you’ll do the same silly thing twice.

 

Other Technicalities:

Members will only be able to move up one level per day at the most. Also, everyone will start anew in duels hence making the need to tffa even more important, provided anyone wants to rank up. Every time a member ranks up they will be given 20 minutes time to learn what their new level goals are and how they will reach them.

FF TFFA's will be set by FF Division Leaders. If none are present, go ahead and TFFA and screenshot it afterward and an FF Division Leader may or may not deem it official.

 

Tier System:

There are five tiers total. Each tier has three levels that progress from less skilled techniques to more skilled techniques. There is no special rank-up process from tier to tier, ranking up to the next tier is the same as ranking up to the next rank. First Tier members are not allowed to participate in FF TFFA's. Each tier has its own colour.

Tier 1: Green

Tier 2: Yellow

Tier 3: Cyan

Tier 4: Blue

Tier 5: Red

Basically all this means is that depending in which tier you're in your ff rank matches its corresponding colour.

 

Compatible TFFA Teams

 

This is pretty straight forward. Tier one cannot participate in FF TFFA's.

All participants in all FF TFFA's must be within the same Tier. In other words, there cannot be one team with a Tier 3 member vs another team with a Tier 2 member.

 

With this in mind, the way Tier FF TFFA matches work is that either both sides must have the same ranks, or they must average out. To average out one team must have the first and third level of the tier while the other team has two second level participants in the tier.

 

Examples of what work:

Guardian&Master vs Guardian&Master (same ranks)

Guardian&Sentinel vs Master&Master (averaged ranks)

Elite&Defender vs Elite&Defender (same ranks)

Elite&Assassin vs Defender & Defender (averaged ranks)

-->and so on!

Examples of what DON'T work:

Master&Sentinel vs Sentinel&Elite (imbalanced teams)

Elite&Elite vs Master&Sentinel (even more imbalanced teams)

Elite&Elite vs Defender&Defender (More than one Tier represented)

 

As long as all inter-clan FF TFFA's follow the above guidelines they WILL count towards everyone's records.

 

FF Techniques

 

Strafe Jump:

Strafe jumping is the technique through which you can accelerate your speed in the air. The basic forward strafe is simple enough. Simply jump, hold forward and left or right and turn in the direction your hold. So W+A+Right+Jump. The key to maximizing your rate of acceleration is in the turn. There is one golden turning speed. Turn faster or slower than this speed and your acceleration decreases. It takes some time to get down but once you got it it will be your main form of transportation! Also strafe jumping works great for saber fighting since you can gain more distance when performing aerials.

 

Flip Kick:

This is performed by being in a close enough range of your opponent, holding forward, and tapping jump twice. There is a limit to how long you can wait between the two taps. Similar to how your double click method works. You can do it really fast, or do it sort of slow. For flip kick, you don’t have to hold forward the entire time. You only need to press forward during the two consecutive jumps. While you’re in the flip kick motion, you can determine in which direction you will move yourself. If you flip kick and hold back, you can go as far backward as 10feet! Or, if you choose to hold forward, you could be flying towards your victim for yet ANOTHER flip kick all in one swift motion. You can also strafe from side to side inside the flip kick, or use a force power, or just not do anything at all and land where you started the flip kick.

 

Side Kick:

This is performed by being in closer range of your opponent, and tapping left or right, and jump once. It’s execution is slightly faster than Flip Kick. Side Kick will always have a knock back effect, whether the opponent does it in grip, or if you do it while they’re simply standing up. The knock back in side kick, however, doesn’t make up for its biggest drawback. When side kicking, your force regeneration method is halted, leaving you wide open for a grip, or attack. When side kicking, it’s usually best to strafe away from your opponent once the kick is dealt. A quick side note: Both flip kick and side kick take about 10force to use, just with flip kick, it regenerates while you're in the air as opposed to sidekick which doesn't let your force regenerate until you land. Another reason why you might use side kick is because it’s simply easier. You only have to hit jump once making it faster to pull off. It’s important to beware though, of how close you are to your opponent when you're flip kicking, and being able to judge if they can relatiate.

 

Wall Running:

There are two forms of wall running. One is running straight up the side of a wall & the other is running up and across it horizontally. For running straight up a while if you’re in the fray you should space the time between taps when you first start running, this gives you a higher starting point, and if you press jump before the end this also gives you the edge on air. The reason you’d want to jump off while in the fray is because this gives you a speed boost horizontally too that could help you maneuver away from your opponent down below. The second variation of wall running, running along side the wall can also be manipulated. Just two days ago I found out that if you hold back while you’re running on the wall you’ll tend to stall and not move across as much, where as if you hold forward you will go a bit further horizontally. Holding back would be a great way to trick your opponent into thinking you’re going to land further ahead, and setting them up to do something they think is pre-emptive to which you can then get them instead. On a more obvious note you’d hold forward when running away from your opponent. Especially around curved walls this is a great idea. Because you don’t take more time to go the extra distance, what happens is you actually move across the wall faster when you hold forward. This should give you an edge on the chase game.

 

Force Push:

This is a simple enough move. It takes 20force and is 1/4 slower than pull. The reason push is slower is because it has a longer stun. When ever you push an enemy, no matter what even if they have on (absorb), you will always stun them. Being stunned means being incapable of doing just about anything for about ¾’s to a full second. During this time you’re opponent is wide open to almost any attack; throw, flipkick, or fan. Overall, force push is a simple offensive move to throw your opponent off, and leave him open to attack.

 

Force Pull:

This move, like push, takes 20force also, however is slightly faster then push. This has a slightly shorter stun enabling you to make an attack faster after you execute the pull. You can pull four times in the entirety of a grip compared to its slower counterpart, push, which you can only use three times during the entirety of a grip.

 

Pull Kick:

Executing this move at first will seem difficult. But as you use it more frequently it will become a second nature to you. A Pull that brings your opponent to you can be performed in a lot of situations. You can pull your enemy towards you when they’re in the air, knocked over, using a force power, or swinging their saber. When you’re pulling for a kick you should generally be looking directly at them. Once you pull on them they will come flying towards you. About half a second later, immediately perform a flip kick. If they were knocked down when you pulled, they will stay knocked down when you kick. If you kick early when they were knocked down, they might slide beneath you from the previous pull and end up behind you, knocked over. If they were airborne when you pulled them, there is approximately a 33% chance you will knock them down. When they’re knocked down you can perform a second pull kick immediately. Remember earlier when I told you that while you’re in the middle of a flip kick you can perform another force move? Well you can begin a Pull Kick assault by constantly pulling inside the flip kick, to start your next pull kick in advance and close the gap betweens kicks. This makes for extremely fast and effective pull kicking.

 

Vertical Pull Kick:

This is pk'ing someone directly above you. To do this you need to learn the timing, where to aim, and how to kick. The timing is slightly longer than a normal pk and you should generally aim above them so that they land at your feet (if you aim ON them they will land on your head!). The kick should be an air-kick. This is simply pausing longer between the jumps in your flipkick. The longer you pause the higher up you will execute your kick. Air-kicks can also be utilized in GK's.

 

Throwing:

Imagine your crosshair is a laser pointer. When you throw your saber it will rotate around its middle and move in the direction of your crosshair. Whatever surface your crosshair may be on the saber will move there. So if you saber throw to a far side of the map and then look at something closer the blade will backtrack to the new destination. With some practice you can start being able to control the blade in an accurate manner and eventually be able to navigate it in close quarters. After a while you'll learn that your saber throw can be very agile and that you can trick your opponent into looking one way and then hitting them from behind. When you're throwing to hit someone you need hit them from an unguarded side. These days if you start throwing to the side of them they'll know you're trying to hit them from the side and change their direction accordingly. Using the uncommonly known agility of saber throw you can start off all throws by aiming directly at them and then shifting the blade to a separate part of them at the last moment to hit. With much practice you'll see how effective this tech can be. Eventually you'll be able to win entire duels using ONLY throw!

 

Toss Kick:

This move should be simple enough to follow if you read the other two leading up to it. Toss Kick is simply pull tossing and kicking at the same time. It usually works best when your opponent is stationary on the ground backing up or prepping for an attack. Landing a good toss kick means that you have to be close to them as you toss so when you pull, first they get hit by the saber, then pummeled by a well timed flip kick. Otherwise the whole thing could go all wrong if you miss one or the other. If upon executing a toss kick and your victim gets knocked over, you have enough force to do it two more times. Although after the second time it starts getting risky so by then it’d just be easier to push them away after two solid toss kicks. Toss Kick will usually deal around 30shield damage and 20 hp. This is why it’s so dangerous; two in a row is 100 off your victims health. It’s possible to perform this in the air, though sabers usually have better defense up there. I recommend against it in recreational duels, but if you’re really getting competitive, go for it and learn to use it on your air born opponents.

 

Drain:

Frustrating for your opponents, vital for you. Level three drain is necessary unless you are using an aimbot, in which case level 2 drain would suffice. Draining is pretty easy, just bind a key (preferably shift so that only one finger, your pinky, uses drain) and execute. There are many strategies concerning drain including when to drain and how to drain. Most of these are situational however some aspects of drain should be memorized. For example, when you drain someone they will have more force than you have at the end of the drain. It balances out because you begin regenerating your force before they do so if you were to constantly drain someone enough times you would put them into a drain lock. Another key thing to know about drain is that based on the number of people you drain, the hp received is multiplied that many times. The smallest drain you can make uses up 4 force and recovers 5 hp. I highly encourage learning the time it takes to drain certain amounts of hp as a common mistake among noobs these days is over-draining, or using more force to drain than they need to. As a result, their opponent’s possibly get a force advantage or at least do not have to worry about you having much more force than them (since most noobs over drain until their force pool reaches 20).

 

Hilt Throw:

This is a fun little trick that can only be employed in JA+ versions 2.2 and up. What you do is you bind a key for the command “/amhiltthrow2.” Then you throw your saber in front of you and strike this key. What happens is it will go in the direction it was originally meant to, however it will fly upward and around in some devious direction, & it will cause saber damage! In order to aim this fun trick you have to hold forward and left. This levels its path out and makes it a straight jab. However the tricky part about this is that now your crosshair has moved 2/5 of the length of your screen over to the left. This is very useful for hitting people while they’re knocked over or those who are constantly crouch jumping. Another interesting point about this move is that the hilt throw allows it to travel through walls. Who knows, with enough practice you might be able to slice them runners as they round the corners! ;-)

 

 

 

Full Force Strategies

 

Introduction:

In this section I’m going to cover the subtleties of full forcing. This is where concepts shift away from fact based aspects of the game itself and delve into the slight nuances of fighting. I’m going to cover offensive and defensive positioning and movements and what they could mean.

 

Copy-Cat-Catchon:

Now this is a very unique aspect that can be seen in most ffd’s, especially between opponents that are close to each other in skill. The premise of this concept is simple, when you do one offensive be it grip, ptk, or fan and you stick with it, your opponent is almost always sure to follow suit. Why this is cannot necessarily be determined however I feel it stems from an slight ego-complex as opponents fight each other that goes something along the lines of ‘ah so he’s trying to *grip me? Well I’ll show him up with my own *grip!’ *ptk or fan can go in there also. Using the CCC to your advantage is simple. You start one offensive and when your opponent begins to follow suit you begin counter measures. An example would be if your opponent likes to use yellow fan a lot you can kind of wave your yellow fan in front of them a few times and if they bite then you have an opponent fanning at you. From here you can grip or throw at them for some easy damage. With grip you simply perform a pre-emptive pull and go for the ptk or fan. With ptk you crouch jump and hope for the drop while simultaneously attempting a utility grip on them to ensure victory.

 

Dead On Run:

This is where during an ffd you just run at your opponent. Not fanning or draining or using lightning or having rage on, just a run. By doing this you excite your opponent. They see you coming closer and prepare and consider what they want to do next. Typically this would be a ptk or a pk or maybe even a grip but whatever it is your opponent is comfortable and at ease with your seemingly soft offensive. Prior to your opponent’s reaction you have a few choices to choose from. Crouch jumping is probably a good idea or a roll for that matter. If your opponent is slow enough you can try and grip them but this is unlikely. In my opinion the best use of a forward run is to disorient your opponent. To do this you begin running at them and about 8-10feet away you veer off course. From here you can try to surprise your opponent however this is unlikely to work seeing as you can only run so fast.

 

Side-Side Shifty:

By changing your movement from forward or backwards to either left or right you create a slight time gap between you and your opponent. This is because your opponent is basing their movement on your current movement so they’ll throw or swing their blade based on the direction they last saw you moving. Because of the ping gap between you and them this enables you to dodge most of their attacks. A good example of this would be dodging red swings or DFA’s and what not. After you dodge an attack you can retaliate with a pk or perhaps a swipe of the saber however typically the opponent will move away from you as soon as they saw they missed their attack.

 

Sticky Crosshair:

This is where you keep your opponent and their attacks in vision at all times. The only times you’d do this is when you are close to death. Keeping your crosshair on their saber / person at all times will greatly increase your chances of survival because you’ll immediately be able to break from grips or dodge pks as well as have an increased chance in blocking their saber offensive. You also use this technique to circle your opponent. You shouldn’t be circling your opponent with WASD unless you’re doing a gripkick. Instead you should circle your opponent using A or D while simultaneously turning in the opposite direction. If you’re constantly moving and switching up your movement patterns it will confuse your opponent and help you win.

 

Berserker:

This is a technique coined by Spektr. Originally it began as an anti drain tactic however I decided to change its meaning. To berserk is to constantly attack your opponent with no regard to your health. The idea is that you will be able to kill them before they kill you. Players tend to berserk when both opponent’s hp are low or their opponent has them in a drain lock and is trying to kill them. Most berserking consists of moves that don’t require much thought or use of keys such as fanning or staff kicking or flipkicking. Ptk’ing and gk’ing aren’t typical berserker techniques however sometimes gk can be used when the player is in a pinch.

 

Stone Demeaner:

This technique can be very useful when fighting someone. The premise is simple, you have no tells. Most everyone has a tell and all this is, is the body language interpreted when a player shifts from offensive to defensive mode. Example, if you got staff kicked for a solid 150damage chances are you’d back up, roll to the side, roll backwards, jump away, or really do anything that communicates ‘omg I need hp!’ If you used this technique instead of showing your opponent any of that you’d just continue on the offensive as though their attack was just a scratch. From here your opponent may believe that their attack in fact didn’t do all that much and may take a defensive or at least conservative offensive pattern. After this is accomplished they’ll become wide open to drain. You’d do this as opposed to flipping shit and backing up because when you do that your opponent will just know you have low hp and will immediately employ anti-drain measures. Conversely you can use this technique to confuse your opponent and make them think that you are wounded. Say the staff kick really was just a scratch for about 5-15 shield points you could then run out as fast as possible and backward strafe away from your opponent in an attempt to shift them into anti-drain mode. From here you could use flaws in their anti-drain / finisher technique against them without much regard to their 30-50damage attacks.

 

What to do When You Get Knocked Down:

On this topic I am going to go over a variety of situational scenarios for when you get knocked over during combat. Really the only pro to being knocked over is that it makes you about 40percent harder to flipkick which is why staying knocked over in your opponents gripkick may sometimes procure your survival. However usually when you were knocked over in a gripkick it is best to wait until a time to snap-break out of the grip and to do that you simply target-jump-pull. Target gets the opponent in your sights, jump lifts you up + pull makes the up&pull one swift motion. Now when you get knocked down in normal combat your options open a bit. If you have very low hp I suggest pressing A or D (left or right) while holding drain. First looking at your opponent then looking in the direction that you pressed. First you gain needed hp to survive a pk or saber throw, then you turn 90degrees in the direction you pressed such that you begin rolling away from your opponent (and quite possibly subsequently evading a follow up saber throw.) roll-drain-dodges are usually a pretty good option. Another option might be to press forward which is great for catching noobs off guard who think they’re going to fan you while you’re down. However this can be easily countered with a crouching approach. In this case only use the forward up combined with some directional influence because during the upward animation your character actually moves forward so it is possible to up and maneuver slightly around your opponent to knock ‘em down from the side. Then you have the back up option. Typically this is a bad idea because you’re stationary during this animation and you’re quite vulnerable to attack. A great way to use this up actually is to while you press back grip your unsuspecting opponent and yank em around a bit then place them directly behind you such that you knock them over at the end of your back up approach. I find this to work fairly well quite often. You can also use the back up approach in the same sense you could use a forward up approach in relations to knocking over a foolhardy noob. Finally there’s more or less the safest approach which is crouch+push or the normal up. This gets you up much faster than the rest of your options and can be easily combined with a push or pull depending on whether you’re offening or going for the pk. You can even crouch-pull-kick in the same motion but you need to have pretty quick fingers for that! Hope this helps you out when you get into one of these situations and you’re not sure what to do!

 

Animation Manipulation:

There are some animations in the game that glitch up somewhat and others that you can simply play around with. For the playful ones I’d like you to consider an extended kata. By this I don’t mean a kata that continues dealing damage after it’s done, but instead holding the final animation. In order to do this let’s say you have staff, then you do a butter fly. At the end of the butterfly if you repeatedly hit jump you’ll hold the final animation of the bf. Practicing this you will learn how to hold this animation whilst jumping from place to place. The trick is separating when you jump and when you influence your direction because if you try to influence your direction when you land then you inherently screw up the animation and break into a run. You can also do this with dualies kata as well as the long jump (my personal favourite). Next there is manipulation of the roll and staff kick. Though you can’t see it when you roll in the same direction twice, the second roll to everyone else shows you still in the final animation of the first roll. Surely you’ve seen this around on servers before and it does look somewhat odd. The way this can trick your opponent is because when ff’ers are approaching someone who is rolling they’ll know when their roll is going to end by looking at a few things, one of them being which animation they’re at in their roll, another being time, whilst another being distance. By rolling the same direction twice already they’re 33% less able to determine where your roll will end and to an extent where it began. There is an inherent pause between rolls however it is more or less negligible as this pause doesn’t actually negate the trick you’re going for. Another animation similar to this is the staff kick. If you staff kick forward more than once the kicks succeeding the first kick will be invisible to your opponent! While they still appear to you on your screen, to your opponent you appear to just be in the staff stance, though perhaps looking a little edgey. This can be a great tactic to use against opponents who are on the prowl fanning around as this can trick them into thinking you’re open mean while you knock them over thanks to that invisible kick and gain the upper hand!

 

Rolley-Polley:

Here I’m going to cover everything you could possibly need to know about the roll. Rolling is a very versatile way of movement, it’s faster than a run and you have great turning abilities. First I’m going to talk about defensive uses of the roll and then I’m going to go over offensive techniques with the roll. The primary defensive technique with the roll is evasion. We use it all the time to evade pk’s and saber throws as well as grips and oncoming fanners. Most people don’t know this but the roll can be combined with drain! How about that?! Drain rolling is a very, very effective way of dodging your opponent while simultaneously racking up your hp. In order to do this you simply press drain right before you roll and this way you’re draining during the entire roll. This is great for those pesky anti-drainers who like to hide around corners as well as just being able to catch up to those dodging your drain in the first place. For LS’ers zorb-rolling, or rolling with absorb on, is very effective in frustrating their opponent and gaining force. What happens is the opponent sees the roll and wants to pk however because the LS’er has absorb on they miss their pk and instead feed the LS’er 20 more force points. When you’re fighting an LS’er that likes to spam zorb-roll the best way I find to get them is to turn on speed and start fanning at them crazily. Typically this gets them to stop that annoying zorb-roll and, if you’re good at it, destroy a considerable portion of their shields as well. Now on to the offensive roll. The most common example is gripping your opponent whilst rolling. I find the best way to roll is side to side for this approach and also employing a pre-pull at your opponent right before the roll helps in giving you the first grip. By pulling your opponent you disable their ability to grip you because of the stun. It’s best to vary which way you roll each time to keep your opponent guessing. Forward rolling grips are usually the least effective I’ve found. Another less known technique is the push/pull throw roll. In order to do this simply begin by throwing your blade towards your opponent, then right before it’s going to hit them push or pull while simultaneously going into a roll. With the roll you can advance or evade your opponent depending on how much hp they have. Typically you should evade if you think they’re going to go for the drain and you should advance if you feel you’ve got a nice offensive flow going and that you can continue keeping them under pressure. The reason anyone would do this as opposed to just running backwards or forwards is because it’s easier. To just pull throw roll in a direction is easier than running in a given direction as you pull and throw because in the first case your roll just moves you automatically while in the second case your fingers are a little more tied up! There is also the very uncommonly used pull/push throw roll grip. You read that right, a pull throw into a rolling grip. This can be devastating to you or your opponent. You need 100force in order to do this because the throw is 20 and the push/pull is 20 as well and 100-20-20 leaves you with only 60force (exactly how much force you need to grip your opponent). In order for this to really ever be effective you have to be very fast with your kicks as the 60 force points in your pool before the grip will not allow enough force for a finisher pk. Finally though this is never really used you can perform a lightning roll. To do this you simply press lightning before a roll and aim your crosshair. In theory I’m guessing this would be best with level 3 lightning seeing as level 2 lightning is fairly long range and you wouldn’t necessarily need the speed of roll to ensure contact.

 

Raged!:

This power gives way to many new techniques. The most popular of which is surviving GK, so I'll start with that. Before that, I'll explain the mechanics of rage first. Rage is expensive, it requires 50force before you can use it. Also you need at least 10hp to use it. Consider rage simply as the two Lightside powers, Absorb and Protect, both acting on your hp. Depending on your level of rage it will absorb slower with a higher level, and faster with a lower level. Suffice to say level 1 rage is more or less suicide. So with level 2/3 rage it slowly absorbs your health while also essentially nullifying all the damage dealt by your opponent converting it all to 1, more or less. Rage also accelerates all attacks and your movement, as well as increase the damage of your attacks (rage + certain katas are insane!).

 

When it comes to Raging out of GK there are two ways to go about doing it. Before the choke (the right way) or after the choke (you get the picture). By choke I refer to the point at which you're getting gripped where a significant amount of hp is taken away by choke dmg (around 42-44ish). If you rage before the choke you'll have that much extra hp by the time you de-rage. If you rage after the choke, your hp will most likely be somewhere in the low 20's high teens, in which case, your chances of survival are dim. As a rule of thumb try not to rage with less than 75force. (25 after rage for a quick drain before/right-after you derage)

 

So, when it comes to raging to survive GK, rage BEFORE the choke dmg is done. Usually you can get in about 2 pulls before this point so if at first and second you dont succeed, use rage! Regardless of when you rage (though raging BEFORE choke does give you MORE LEEWAY) de-raging is key. Usually if you rage someone in the middle of their GK they'll continue the entire GK, and then proceed to PK and throw. Wait until they've relieved their forcepool or until you've managed to strafe away (which btw is easier since rage accelerates your movement) such that you are out of their range of drain before you de-rage. Then regenerate force and drain when you get the chance and voila, you'll have successfully raged out of GK (and most likely raged your oppoenent in the proccess .

 

Next I'd like to tell you about a new anti-drain technique I've discovered with rage. Say you're anti-draining your opponent and you know their hp is low but that also their drain is imminent. Simply with 100force activate force speed & rage and charge them. They'll likely counter with a GK, let them do it, then hold forward and tap jump repeatedly whilst looking in their direction and you'll be able to pummel them with flipkicks before they can do anything about it (IE a 2nd GK or some other counter.)

 

Rage also works great vs unsuspecting people in FFA when combined with katas. Most single attack+alt.attack katas with rage do wonders, as well as dualy and staff katas.

 

Another interesting technique with rage and speed is called rush. This is where you active both rage & speed prior to beginning a FFD, then when you start your force pool is reset to 100 but the effects of rage & speed are still there, from here you have until they both wear off and 100force to rush your opponent (trying to GK with speed & rage is difficult, you move SO fast that you can break the connection easily if you're not careful!)

 

Rage also works against LS'ers that spam pk, if you get knocked down vs an LS'er with pk and have level 3 rage, just activate it and let them pk you two more times, then de-rage. You'll have lost a net hp of about 33 yet the LS'er will think they've dealt you 60+ (since that's 3kicks total) and not only that, but the LS'er will be a lot more offensive and liberal AND they'll have wasted 40 points from their forcepool (which is really good if they're zorbwhores)

 

There are many other uses for rage as well but I won't cover all of them here.

 

The Mechanics of Drain:

 

Intro:

Drain is in effect its own counter because with drain you can prevent an opponent from draining you! Soon you will learn about the exact force trade-off with drain and why this is in the drainer's favor. Then you will read how to use this knowledge to your advantage. Finally I'll explain how understanding the mechanics of drain will change your strategy while dueling.

 

Force for Force & HP:

You can drain only in increments of 5. You can drain from 100 to 20 (which is a full drain) or you can drain from 100-95 (which is a drain tap. There will be another section on this later). You can drain from 97 to 22, this is almost a full drain, and is also an imperfect drain (more on this later).

 

You can only drain in increments of 5 force at one point. You need at least 25force to drain so you can drain from 25-20. For every 5force of points you spend draining an opponent they lose 4force and you gain 4hp. If they do not have 4force to lose, example, if they have only 3 force and you drainTap them you will STILL gain 4hp. Understanding this simple concept that for just even 1 little force means 4hp to your opponent truly helps in realizing drain's true power. See examples A, B, and C below.

 

Example A, the DrainTap)

Your force points used for one drain tap: 5

The -maximum- amount of force you can drain from your opponent: 4

-The- amount of hp you will get should the drain connect: 4

 

where o = 1 force pt.

|oooo|o - Force used for drainTap (5)

|oooo| - Enemy's force pool (4)

|oooo| - HP Gained (4)

 

Example B, the Double-Tap)

Your force points used for one drain tap: 10

The -maximum- amount of force you can drain from your opponent: 8

-The- amount of hp you will get should the drain connect: 8

 

where o = 1 force pt.

|oooo|oooo|oo - Force used for Double-Tap (10)

|oooo|o - Enemy's force pool (5)*

|oooo|oooo - HP Gained (8)

*Notice that the force you TAKE from your enemy is LESS than the amount of hp you GAIN. This is because even if you drain 1extra bit of force from you enemy that would therwise fall into the next group of 4hp you would get, you still get all 4 for drainng just 1.

 

Example C, the Triple-Tap)

Your force points used for triple-tap: 15

The -maximum- amount of force you can drain from your opponent: 12

-The- amount of hp you will get should the drain connect: 12

 

where o = 1 force pt.

|oooo|o - Force used for Triple-Tap (15)

|oooo|oooo|o - Enemy's force pool (9)

|oooo|oooo|oooo - HP Gained (12)

 

Continuously Draining Someone:

Here I'm going to explain why it is that when you continuously hold drain on someone else their forcepower gets lower and lower while yours stays in the same range (20-35).

 

So, I'm going to go over this one play by play since this one seems to really be screwing up Spektr:

 

So, take two players, one with level 3 drain, put them both in main, facing eachother, 10feet apart. The DS'er executes a full drain on his opponent)

 

Before the drain)

DSer's force: 100

Opponent's force: 100

 

After the drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 36 (this is because 100 - ( 4 * ( (100-20)/5 ) ) = 36)

 

Before the 2nd drain)

DS'ers force: 35

Opponent's force: 46/47

 

After the second drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 34/35 (This is because 46/47 - ( 4 * ( 35-20)/5 ) = 34/35)

 

Before the third drain)

DS'ers force: 35

Opponent's force: 44/46

 

After the third drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 32/34

 

Before the fourth drain)

DS'ers force: 35

Opponent's force: 42/45

 

After the fourth drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 30/33

 

Before the fifth drain)

DS'ers force: 35

Opponent's force: 40/44

 

After the sixth drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 28/32

 

Before the sixth drain)

DS'ers force: 35

Opponent's force: 38/43

 

After the sixth drain)

DS'ers force: 20

Opponent's force: 26/31

 

As you can see when a ds'er drains someone their force tends to stay between 20 and 35. The examples above are of a perfect drain hold where you drain to 20 each time. Each drain shown above is a triple-tap drain, which is th one you execute when continuously draining an opponent.

 

Most force powers act in such a way that the user recovers from using the force power FASTER than the person upon which it is used. In other words, you can use pull or push before you grip someone to ensure you get first grip. If you gripTap someone they become slightly stunned during which time you can run in and sweep. With drain you don't stun your opponent as in push/pull or grip, not physically anyway. What DOES happen with drain is that you regenerate 15force pts in the time it takes your opponent to recover 10 or 11. You do NOT regen faster than your opponent, you simply regen BEFORE them. 5force pts before them infact. Such that the second time you drain them with a triple-tap drain, it's such that (15/3)*4 = 12 force taken from you opponent per drain. But if your opponent only recovers 10 to 11 force before each drain, their force pool reduces by 1 or 2 each drain. It is still unclear why some people recover 11 each time and othrs recover 10 eachtime. It could be because of the users alignment with the server FPS or something similar along these lines of this niche being serverside than a client setting that affects a person's regen.

 

What is clear is this, some people lose two force each drain making them easier to kill. This is because it would take half the time to get someone from 36 to zero if they recovered only 10force instead of 11. This is because you take away 12force each time you drain them so their force either reduces by 2 or 1 between drains. People whose force reduces by 2 per drain are easier to drainFall.

 

 

drainTapDancing:

Anything short of a 20 force pt drain will be known as a drain tap from here on out. Drain tapping is the art of holding drain only for a minute amount of time between enemy attacks. you need to be an experience drainTapDancer to evade and recover while someone is anti-draining you. Here mastery is simple: Learn how to recover 4, 8, and 12hp on command without fucking them up. Each one you need to drain ever slightly longer, with 4 you need to barely tap it and with 12 you need to hold it for a lil bit.

 

drainTap - 5force used to gain 4hp and take a 4force MAX

doubleTap - 10force used to gain 8hp and take an 8force MAX

tripleTap - 15force used to gain 12hp and take a 12force MAX

 

-Learn this timing-

 

Perfect vs Imperfect drain:

So as we discussed before everytime you drain you drain in increments of 5. Since you can't drain below 20 what you can do is drain town TO 20. you achieve this by draining when either your force pts end in 5 or 0.

 

If you had 29 force for example, and you went to drain, you'd drain down to 24. But if you had just waited an instant longer you could have drained all the way down 2 20 for a doubleTap drain for twice the HP of the failed single drainTap from 29-24, you COULD GO from 30-20.

 

Here the idea is simple, drain such that if ur holding drain you drain down to 20. Draining down to 21 isn't bad but if when you hold drain your force only reaches 23 or 24 wait a split second longer and THEN drain so you get that xtra 4hp and don't drain like such an idiot.

 

Life Leech Lunacy:

Flashy as the title of this strategy looks, all I am going to talk about here are the many uses of drain. I’m going to cover when to drain as well as different techniques to do while you drain including how to effectively drain-rise and drain-fall. Firstly, you must ingrain the times it takes to gain the amount of hp you need to gain, otherwise you’ll be draining blind (and most likely using way more force than you should and need to be using). If you get flipkicked once do not go and use a full drain on your opponent, that’s just stupid. Now, if you are fighting someone who is an experienced player, chances are if you survive a gripkick or lose a lot of hp, they will know. And when they know they might start employing anti-drain tactics. Knowing when to drain is key to surviving their barrage of trickery and sly offense.

 

If they are using throw to keep their force at zero then you must learn to evade their throw and keep them within range of your drain. Refer to the toss evasion section above. The best time to drain here is about half a second to a full second after their throw returns, but remember! Do not use a full drain because that will most certainly be a waste of force (considering they’ve onlyl had enough time at this point to regenerate 5-20force points.)

 

If they become very persistent in their efforts to keep their force at zero I suggest taking on a cautious offensive and looking for the times when they are vulnerable to an easy kill (IE no-regen due to force jump or other cause or saber drop) Another good thing to remember is that when your opponent has 0 force they can be pulled and pushed, pk’s anyone?

 

Using throws and pk’s against your opponent’s anti-drain will eventually force them to discontinue their tactics and attempt a drain themselves, at which point you can easily drain lock them, and possibly drain fall them, for the kill!

 

Just what the hell is drain rise and drain fall? These are new techniques I’ve discovered in the past couple of weeks. First I will go over drain rise.

 

Drain Rise:

Above in the drain technique section I mentioned that your force regenerates before your opponent’s does after you drain them. In order to drain rise you must first put your opponent into a drain lock. Next, you slowly space out the times between your drains so instead of holding drain down you press it slightly slower each time and for a lesser amount of time. This has the potential to keep your opponent in a drain lock whilst increasing your own force pool. The only reason you would ever drain rise is to approach your opponent with your own offensive without having to worry about a counter drain right off the bat (it also serves really well as an anti-drain technique). The easiest tactic to drain rise to is a toss kick, which only takes 40force. Next you can drain rise to speed (which would be very effective seeing as they should have low hp and force meaning that you could speed-fan at them for a few seconds before they can counter with grip!). Finally, though it takes a great deal of skill and usually a tad more force to start out with, you can drain rise in to a grip offensive, or up to 60force. The only perk here is that your opponent will ideally be unable to break out of your grip right off the bat and this will only give you a slight edge on the gk in general. However this can turn out to be a great tactic if their hp slightly exceeds that of a successful pk. In general drain-rising has many applications and perhaps the most difficult tech to perform with a drain rise is drain-rise to pk back to a drain rise hence dooming your opponent to imminent death.

 

Drain Fall:

This can be a very deadly tactic and is best used against those pesky anti-drainers. In order to drain fall you must first have a clear force advantage, in other words you need a lot more force points than your opponent. The process of drain fall is simple, you attack, drain, attack, drain, and attack. The idea is to keep your opponent locked up and unable to escape using force powers while simultaneously continuing to deal damage to them, rendering them doomed. The tricky part is draining. You must inherently know exactly how long each drain needs to be based on when the last time you drained was, in order to effectively drain lock them without over draining. If you over drain in an attempt to drain fall you will most likely fail to kill your opponent due to a lack of force. The easiest way to transition into a drain fall is using pk’s. Typically you can pk any opponent with zero force and if you have a major advantage in force points, you’re perfectly set up to execute a drain fall.

 

Toss Evasion:

Getting thrown at can get tough sometimes, especially if your opponent knows where to aim and how to space themselves. In times like these you need to have a solid plan of defense to avoid the throw. Dodging it coming head on is almost always a safe bet as staying still may give them the chance to pull throw. The rule of thumb here is simple, always keep your crosshair on the saber. Be careful though, if the blade is at least half a second away from you steal a glance at your opponent just to make sure they’re not trying to sneak up on you from behind using the throw as a diversion. Crouch jumping is a great way to amp up your defense as well. If you’re crouching mid-air with your blades lit and their throw in sight you’ll almost never get hit. The only blind spots when you’re crouch jumping are above and beneath you. Still even these spots are hard to attack considering the large block boxes your saber provides for you. Strafing is another great way to avoid tosses. If things are looking really imminent for the worst I suggest flocking to a wall for cover. By positioning yourself adjacent to a wall you cut off half the possible attack routes their saber has (provided that they’re not using a special throw that goes through walls!).

 

 

Clouded Toss Rejection:

I name this move after former force fighter Cloud. This technique can be very powerful if used properly. Conversely this technique takes a lot of practice and is very risky to attempt if you’re not good with it. For this the best saber choice is dual blades however any saber will work. With dual blades you can essentially knock a saber right out of the air using a simple neutral attack. With this technique alone anyone can massively improve their game. Mastery of this move makes you impervious to nearly all throw offensives. Here’s how it works! When you perform a simple forward attack with dual sabers at the point in the animation where the two blades make an ‘X’ you have a humongous hit box hovering right above & around that ‘X’. When a throw comes in contact with a hit box however it will typically clash and flicker before it returns to the thrower. What needs to happen is you need to trap their blade within the center of the hit box. You need to use the different movements you’re guy is capable of to trap your opponents blade in this cloud of rejection. This is where the hard part comes in. You need to know where there throw is going to be in the time it takes you to attack, crouch to a possible jump, to the release of crouch. By crouching on the ground you lower your sabers and consequently the giant hitbox. The idea to knocking it off while you’re grounded is to sneak up on the throw from below because as soon as you release crouch the attack animation should be almost exactly at the X stage where the hit box is the biggest. To reject their throw while jumping you need to be attempting it from below as well. First you jump, attack, and then crouch as soon as the X stage begins such that when you crouch you trap their blade above your character. Actually the hit box is above and slightly to the front of your player so keep this in mind when practicing this technique. For the jumping rejection their throw needs to be somewhat higher than a normal one. This rejection is best practiced on opponents who like to execute diving throws in attempts to take advantage of the blind spot above your player. Remember, when learning this move you just need to practice, practice, practice. The timing is very difficult due to the technicality of the technique itself combined with the mobility and agility of your opponents throw.

 

Getting a Grip on the Bigger Picture:

Below I’ve written a lengthy section discussing the mechanics of grip as well as some basic principles that make up a good grip kick. All of this information is useless to you if you do not understand where grip fits into the bigger picture. Here I am going to go over a few guidelines to keep in mind before you go and grip your opponent. First off ask yourself these questions: Are they expecting a grip? Is their grip defense really good? Are they really vulnerable to a grip kick at this moment, or is there some other offensive I can take, like a throw? What style of grip has worked on them before? Keeping these questions in mind I am going to explore with you the various aspects of given scenarios that should determine when and when not to grip. Gripping twice in a row is usually a bad idea. They expect it coming. Conversely repeatedly gripping your opponent helps evolve your grip start, a concept I did not talk about below. There are many ways to start a grip however the best way is when they’re not looking at you (IE Fanning). Now let’s talk about when and how often to grip! Most people have only 1 or 2 strengths. One of them is typically gk and the other may be pk/ptk or a saber offensive. When most force fighters become pressured they will usually resort to their strongest offensive, or the one that has the most potential to end a duel once and for all. This reaction is wrong, wrong, wrong. In order to have an effective gk you must gk sparingly. It has to be a surprise! They can’t be expecting you to grip when you’re about to grip, otherwise it becomes that much easier for them to break it! You need to fight heavily with the other offensive styles and make use of your other force powers! Every force power can be used offensively against your opponent, you just need to learn how to apply them. You can’t expect someone to just fall over and die as soon as you start really trying to gk them to death. It has to be unexpected and shocking. Really the point of what I’m getting at here is that you should only spend a fifth to a sixth of your time attempting to actually grip your opponent. The rest you should either be defending or attacking. Combine a scarcely used grip that follows the principles of an effective gripkick below and you have one hell of a strategy. Not only does it disallow your opponent to familiarize themselves with your grip and gripping patterns, but this also forces you to evolve your other forms of offense. I highly suggest refraining from grip altogether if you are unable to ptk, using it only defensively.

 

Grip Start:

Okay so you've decided to go for it! Here I will fill you in on some helpful strategies when it comes starting a grip. I find that using a short yank or inner revolution works best when starting grips. It gets them around you quickly and is a good means of disorienting your opponent. Sometimes as you're coming up to the grip if they are stunnable you can pre-pull and ensure that you get the first grip. When you grip start and yank/turn them one way and they immediately break, the next time you go for it try spinning/moving them the opposite way. If you find that you're constantly looking up to start your grips and they're constantly breaking them immediately by looking down, one really useful technique is to learn how to throw your opponent by quickly short yanking them upward. From here you have an airborn opponent flying high behind you that is most likely going 180 and pull at you. If you can time this correctly what you can do is grip toss -> 180 -> toss kick them as they pull. When they pull their saber defense goes out the window and since they are airborn when you pull they will still be able to pull back. So ideally this technique would go: 1. you grip toss them behind you. 2. you 180 throw and pull. 3. they 180 look down and pull (a saber throw directly into their face). 4. you kick (or pk or tk) for the ownage. Another strategy to get around those pesky down looking grip breakers is to start your grip with an under kick or a motion similar to this. This will mean they have to look up to the horizon or past it if you can keep them below you.

 

Finally when starting a grip a major thing to consider is how people break out of grips. As soon as you grip them so that you are removed from your vision they use the changes in the background to calculate where you are. This is what many would consider your mind's eye at work. You can manipulate this by first moving them, then moving yourself while keeping them relatively stationary. Think sticky-crosshair (from above) combined with grip and you should have a general idea of how this could work.

 

Now then, onto the toughest cookie of them all!

 

 

The Art of Grip

 

Key Facts:

-Upon gripping your enemy they auto-hover 10feet away from you.

-You run, roll, and jump faster than they hover away from you, enabling you to run or jump to kick them.

-Their only destination within the grip is ten feet in front of your cross hair.

-Obviously they cannot travel ten feet into the ground, hence as you look down, they come next to you.

-Grip deals 48damage, this is why three kicks usually ends the GK given that usually three kicks adds up to 52.

 

Grip in general:

Everything I'm about to talk about after his paragraph, is more or less technical mumbo-jumbo. Don't get me wrong though, reading on can give valuable insights to those who are bright enough to understand what I have to say. But for everyone who's not, let me say a few things about gripping in general. Gripkicking is all about tricking your opponent. When you move someone left they're either going to turn left and pull out, or wait for a more ideal opportunity where you might move them to where you're in direct view of them. No matter what one of these two things will always happen. The trick to gripkicking is getting the timing down. You want to move your opponent as soon as they start to turn and pull out. Then, and only then is when gripkicks usually end in your favor. Once you screw up their pull like that it is really hard to get back in the game and break out of a gk. Especially if you start moving them wicked fast thereafter. The only real thing to remember in order to gk well is to time the pauses just right, (and it varies from opponent to opponent) such that you move them when they move to pull out. Now, onto the mechanics of GK'ing and what makes a good GK.

 

A Train analogy:

Six times per second the server sends you packets requesting information on what buttons you’re pressing, and where you are looking.

 

Within the context of grip let us say that each packet request asking for where your cross hair is, is simply a track. And Six times a second new tracks are being made. It is only a train track in the context of gripkick because it is along these tracks that your victim’s motion will be governed.

 

As you move your crosshair about with your gripped victim you are a train conductor taking them on a wild flight through the air, making few pit stops for kicks. This is why if you just look everywhere at once your victim will stall.

 

Building these tracks in every which direction will cause your victim to stall. The GripScale Speed is simply not high enough for them to reach each track within one sixth of a second.

 

After every sixth of a second they are traveling to your next track.

Even spacing of the tracks, or for example a yaw’ed turn in gripkick will keep them at the same speed. Spacing the tracks little and big then little again will cause them to go slow, fast, slow.

 

This is a fairly simple concept if you can wrap your mind around it.

 

The bigger the space between any two tracks, the faster the victim will move. However they will only move this fast for about one sixth of a second and if you want them to move this fast the entire grip, you need to figure out the correct spacing that they will be able to follow your train tracks, but maintain maximum velocity. In other words:

 

Spacing the tracks out like this _ _ _ _ _ _ the entire grip means you’re turning to slowly and in turn they’re moving too slow.

 

Spacing them out like this

_ _ _ _

 

Will start them flying very quickly but only for one sixth of a second to the first track, then they have to go to the other track but only for one sixth of a second, and if you put these tracks on exact opposite sides of you (in other words if you 180 6x in a second) all your victim will merely do is shake in one spot unable to reach each track due to the long distance it has to travel.

 

This is why proper spacing of the tracks is crucial, Now if you put a big space like this, this is like a Yank grip here-

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

Note that the distance between the first two tracks is big however the distance between the second are small. The second two tracks are still very far from the original starting position giving the grip victim time to get ‘yanked’ over there at maximum velocity.

 

There is only one speed you should grip at, and that’s maximum speed. Using a combination of these yanks, and a perfect spacing of the tracks, you can move your victim at maximum speed and get in the kicks you need in and out like they never happened.

 

This is the mechanism which grip follows, once you understand this you are ready for where and when and how to gripkick which follows next.

 

But only continue on once you have gone in game and practiced the above to your own satisfaction and understanding, got it?

 

 

 

 

The four pillars which make a perfect grip:

1-Different kinds of kicks

2-Different directions of the kicks

3-Maximum velocity

4-Minimum stalls

 

With these in mind I shall go into each one explaining.

 

1-The four different kicks:

 

There are a few different types of kicks, there is normal flipkick where the opponent is infront of you(one you probably use often), & it’s counterpart sidekick (the other kick you probably use often) there are air-kicks, where, as I explained before you jump higher to the flipkick, (and airkick’s counter part) there are thunder kicks which is where you bring the victim on top of you, crouch, and side kick.

 

You know how the first two work, yet, let me review sidekick.

It is important that you understand that three sidekicks in a grip, if they some how live, WILL NOT GIVE YOU ENOUGH FORCE to pk afterwards.

 

Sidekicking the last kick will stall your force regeneration until you land, and if you sidekicked the whole way through, will leave you with about 0force if you haven’t ran out already. Sidekick takes 16force, normal flipkicks take 8 and they let you regen right afterwards in the air (if you’ve stopped gripping) This is why you should use sidekicks cautiously and only if you’re sure the victory will be yours.

 

Air-kicks. Airkicks airkicks airkicks how awesome these can be. Air kicking allows you to bash your victim without bringing them down to the floor, it is the only kick that does this w/ exception to thunder kick. These like the sidekick use about 12force given the fact that usually you’re force jumping before the second jump to reach them and flipkick. Airkicks should not be used continuously or your victim will catch on all they have to do is look slightly down and wait to counter.

 

Thunderkicks- Sometimes this is a good way to start a grip, yank them around then boom thunder kick them, I’m not gonna lie it is hard to do this on command quickly. Usually I get into a situation where I can thunderkick by accident. Thunderkick has the most ‘kick’ to it then any other kick, your opponent can either go flying out at an angle sideways, or up at an angle diagonally, and it’s usually as random to them as it is to you, that is until you master and understand how this works. This force pushing the victim back immediately after the thunder kick should be used to your advantage and be incorporated into your ‘train track’ otherwise you’ll be confused and stall then they’ll counter. Got it? Also, thunderkick is at heart a sidekick and does use 16force so watch your force meter there

 

Two gripkick methods:

 

Overkick:

Overkick was the first kick I learned, it’s like a whip almost. I still use overkick fairly often to start my grips. Overkick is simply using maximum velocity do bring your opponent over you, in as tight an arc as possible without having them bump you, and then kicking them. To repeat two in a row you have to be wary that the second you 180 them bringing them down the otherside of the arc you must hold back, because while you repeat the motion of their arc you’re still going to be airborne from the previous flipkick. And as explained before towards the top, the direction keys can help shift your momentum, and for the better when performing continuous overkicks as in this example- Overkicks should not be used continuously often, unless there is a wall there, or if they’re out of force, because it is simple to counter simply look down and pull. Overkick is something that will require a lot of practice before you start reaching professional speeds with it. Just because you may start out moving them w/ maximum velocity doesn’t mean you’re moving them in the tightest arc.

 

Underkick:

Underkick, overkick’s counter part is exactly what this is. To start you look directly downward and flipkick them, then you 180, hold back and then arc them beneath you and in front of you on the other side. Once you bring them to the otherside however it’s a good idea to not kick them again but instead to continue them moving and kick them later, while this may confuse normal noobs experts know to 180 and pull. Underkick, like Thunder kick, requires a bit of practice before you can do it on command.

 

With these six kicks you can manipulate your opponent within your grip at any time and mixing them up often is a good idea. Most pro’s have 2 or 3 kicks they prefer over the others however if you truly wish to improve you must master all six so you can use any of them professionally at any given time in any grip.

 

2-The different directions in which you kick:

This is a tricky concept however it is perhaps the most important and crucial to successfully executing any gk. For this you use the background as your ruler.

 

Most people counter grip now with a snap defense, in other words they sit and wait for you to come back in their sight and pull, or they sit and wait for you to stall, then they snap to where you are and pull. Both methods of defense can be overridden with a pro gk.

 

So to start out let us begin with some examples:

 

Example A (the bad one to not do):

 

You are in the SZ looking toward the ship, here comes your opponent. You gripkick him there landing your first kick on him, with the ship in the background, then you move him around in the air and (this is where you fuck it up) bring him BACK so that the SHIP IS BACK IN THE BACKGROUND and then go in for the second kick. If he used one of the above defenses such as waiting for you to get back in his sight he would easily counter.

 

Example B (Another bad one to not do):

 

Same as before except instead of bringing him back so that the ship is in the background, you bring him in for a left sidekick, however in the background this time is THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SAFEZONE meaning that they can only be in the same position they were the first kick with the ship behind them! It is important to be wary of your sidekicks and how they fit in to this overall goal of randomizing kick direction.

 

-Now I want you to re-read that paragraph three times until you fully understand the dilemma here, and then read this one.

 

Example C (The proper way to do this):

 

Instead of bringing them back to the same spot with the same backdrop for another kick, and also instead of using a different kick but BRINGING THEM BACK TO THE SAME SPOT, you bring them so that they are now let’s say, infront of you such that the right of the safezone is the new backdrop. It is important to randomize the direction of each kick in relation to the map. And the above examples explain just that.

 

Randomizing directions DOES NOT MEAN going 180, 90, 90 or some variation thereafter. Sometimes it’s ok to do a 90 but sparingly should you 180 to the next kick. It is just so expected these days these 180 gk’s and these angular 90degree turns. Instead you should start thinking in terms of 120’s 150’s 210’s etc etc, no more 90’s or 180’s as your key direction shifts.

 

I know this is a tough one to get but it is important to overcome today’s grip defenses.

 

3-Maximum Velocity:

There are two techniques to move your opponent. One is called yank, and the other is called turn/spin. Each technique has two sub-methods.

 

Yanking:

Yanking is simple shifting your view very quickly. What this does is immediately create tracks in a totally different place from where your opponent just was, without allowing for any tracks to be placed inbetween their old position and the new one. Because of this your opponent will move in a straight line. The two submethod’s of yanking are short yanks and long yanks.

 

A long yank is just pausing longer between each yank giving your opponent the time needed to actually reach the track you’ve created for them to move to before moving them to another track. In other words in long yanks your opponent actually reaches each track before they move onto the next track.

 

A short yank simply means you move your opponent before they have time to reach the track you placed for them. In other words instead of your grip victim travelling the full distance away from you to the track, you stop them from floating too far by creating another destination for them to be yanked to. Like in a long yank chain where you’re yanking your opponent at 90degree intervals you might wait up to a second between yanks where as in a short yank chain using the same intervals you might only wait about half a second. Imagine that with this example long yanks using 90degree intervals would create a larger square than short yanks utilizing turns at the same 90degree intervals.

 

 

Turning:

The minimum turning speed while still maintaining a maximum speed on your victim is approximately equivalent to a cl_yawspeed of 235. Or conceptually speaking, it is when your opponent is just barely outside your screen as you turn. There are two sub-methods of turning, one is outer revolutions and the second is inner revolutions.

 

Outer revolutions:

To understand this you must first recall the train track analogy, and then recall one of the key facts about grip, that your opponent will always try to float 10feet in front of you. The act of outer revolving your opponent is simply creating tracks around you in a circle that your grip victim is barely able to reach before going on to the next track. In other words this is simply keeping your victim on the outer most shell of which they can be gripped and manipulated around you. In order to memorize the speed needed to outer revolve I suggest typing cl_yawspeed 235 and then putting +left into the console. From here all you have to do is simply move your mouse right to counter balance the automatic spin to the left, and once you are able to keep your view free of turning then you have memorized the speed needed to outer revolve whilst turning right. Do the same thing vice versa except switching left and right and by the end of this you should have memorized the speed needed to outer revolve your opponent about you as you grip them.

 

Inner revolutions:

Understanding this is slightly more tricky but this technique parallel’s short yanks. Inner revolving your opponent is simply turning faster such that your opponent does not have enough time to reach each track when attempting to cut across to the next track they begin to spin in a tighter arc around you. This is a very weird concept to understand so I highly suggest experimenting in game once again playing the yaw speeds. The fastest speed you can inner revolve your opponent before you begin lapsing (and consequently stalling their movement) is approximately a cl_yawspeed of 310. In order to fully understand the concept I am trying to explain here I suggest going in game, bringing a partner along, and first putting into the console cg_thirdpersoncameradamp 0 (this effect is easily set back to normal by replacing 0 with 0.3  default). Next, set your cl_yawspeed to 235. Then grip your partner, and press on the left or right arrow key. Now observe the distance between you and them as you spin them round and round. Then increase the yawspeed in even intervals of perhaps 10 or 15 and take note of how each time they spin closer and closer to you, tightening their arc as they fly around you.

 

That covers the two motions of grip movement. I suggest straying away from long yanks as in long yanks your opponent has more time to identify their direction and calculate your position consequently abling them to break from the grip by the time they reach the train track. When it comes to inner revolving and outer revolving I suggest varying between the two as creating inconsistent radial distances between you and your victim will make it that much harder for your victim to break because now they have to figure out when they are being spun around you faster and shorter all the while moving at exactly the same maximum speed.

 

4-Minimizing stalls:

There is an inherent stall when you kick your opponent no matter how adept you get at this next method it is still there, and true professionals like me and, very few others, know how to take advantage of this inherent stall and counter any grip we come across.

 

Now this doesn’t mean you can’t work to make a difference in your own grip. Now comes perhaps one of the most mind boggling ideas of all, pre-kicking.

 

Kicking before you actually see your opponent, on your screen. Once you learn to do this your overall grip effectiveness will increase by three fold.

 

How this works:

Given the ping relationship between you, the server, and your victim, by the time you see them, appear on your screen, to the server, they’ve been there for about a second or so (pending on your ping on their ping) and to them they’ve been there about half the time, so pre-kicking takes advantage of the fact that while the game is close to real time, it is still not. And in order to take advantage of this you have to know exactly where they will be stopping along your train tracks and kick there ahead of time and immediately continue moving them. I’m not gonna lie this is perhaps one of the toughest yet most useful tools of grip I’ve ever learned. Props to Spek on this one- Pre-kicking in a grip is what will separate you from the noobs.

 

Conclusion:

Now that I have gone over these four pillars of how-to-grip you have to work. Every time you grip you have to be consciously thinking of these four pillars. Even if you start screwing up and losing DO NOT revert back to your previous gripkicks or habits they will only make you less able to move on. Old habits die hard I know but you have to work at this and make these four pillars the center of your new habits. It takes a bit of time, I know it took me some time, before I started incorporating these into my grips subconsciously, but until you are able to do this, you must be over flooding your mind constantly with these four pillars and constantly improvising where you see your short comings in relation to these four pillars.

 

Post Grip Strategy:

So three-four kicks just wasn’t enough to kill your opponent huh? Well that’s too bad, but don’t worry because there are a variety of techniques you can use to finish them off! Firstly you must realize that if your opponent did not pull or pulled a minimal amount of times, they most certainly have the force advantage. The most commonly seen escape is rocket jumping, or just holding jump (whilst locked in the grip animation post-grip) to try and avoid the pk and create distance between them and you so they become able to drain.

 

The easiest way to counter this defensive measure is to learn how to vertical pk. The timing is awkward but once you get this down it will make finishing opponent’s off that much easier. Next if they decided to roll or run away you have the ability to employ push and pull stuns. By stunning your opponent you render them incapable of draining to regain their hp as well as unable to push you further away. Mastery of the push-pull kick is difficult and is often times frustrating as it usually ends in failure the first many times you attempt it, however learning the timing when it comes to stunning can be very helpful when trying to finish off those annoying opponent’s who continuously slip away.

 

Finally you have anti-drain techniques. I suggest using a throw combined with a vertical pk as this puts you at zero force for the anti-drain, and if they decide to drain on the way down from their rocket jump instead of gaining hp they’ll get a throw straight up the foot and possibly a finisher pk to end it all anyway. The throw can be very helpful especially if you’ve already taken the liberty to shave off all their shields prior to the successful gk attempt.

 

Other tactics of post-grip anti-drain techniques include using sens + strafejump to close in on them as they drain you to attempt a normal kick for the win. Then there is pressing speed and not moving until they drain such that you speed up to them with a kick for the win. Then of course you can always drain and throw and continue to throw while your force is at zero (with good throw training ideally hitting them shouldn’t be too hard, but failure to make the throw connect could spell doom for you unless you know how to effectively reverse strafe and space yourself accordingly so that you are outside their drain range when the throw returns!) You can also use force jumps to keep your force at zero however this wouldn’t be very helpful when it comes to finishing off your opponent in the short run but perhaps an opportunity may present itself.

 

Lastly you have an illustrious long range anti-drain tactic that is rarely used. Otherwise known as level two lightning. While level one lightning does have the same range as level two (which is about half the length of ffa3) it is lacking in damage. Level two lightning can be held on your victim for up to a grand total of 17+ damage, which, if you’ve done your shield shaving correctly, should be more than enough to finish them off for the win!

 

So, to conclude, learn all the above tactics to the point where you can do each of them with ease and your opponent will have a very hard time staying alive post-grip.

 

GK Moves & Techniques

Moves

 

Pump-Fake:

This is a rather simple technique. Pump-faking your opponent is done by simply doing one short yank one way then yanking back the opposite direction right away. This causes your opponent to want to break the pull based off the direction they’re going with the initial yank but they miss since you yank them back right away before you get into view to be pulled. A particularly useful pump-fake I use a lot is pump faking my victim up and back down again. Most people when they see their initial direction is up will assume you plan to bring them on the other side of you and will 180 before they look down and turn. Since you bring them back infront of you and they 180’d pulled the floor they have their back turned to you making for a prime gk start. : )

 

 

Inside Turning:

This is different from both inner and outter revolving since it’s actually turning at an even higher rate of speed. Basically say if you want to bring your opponent 90-120degrees left or right. Instead of turning in that direction you turn rather quickly in the opposite direction until you reach the desired point on the other side of you. Instead of your opponent following an outter-arc or line around you they follow an inner arc that arc’s towards you and then to the desired point. Basically this is creating train tracks around you spaced so far apart that your victim curves toward them but since they’re so spread out they make an inside arc rather than revolving around you. Sorry this explanation kind of sucks, haha. This is useful because it causes your opponent to pre-turn the wrong direction since they see you turning one way but they end up on the other side of you.

 

Merry-go-Round:

This is called inverse revolving. What this means is that you move around your opponent while they stay still. Basically what you do is keep your victim still and orbit them either by keeping your crosshair on them and using left/right or looking down and using WASD to navigate around them. Personally I prefer WASD but using the sticky-crosshair technique has its advantages as well. To really screw up your opponent I’d suggest merry-go-round’ing one way and then changing your direction the other way. This is a good way to fake your opponent out.

 

Roll-Over:

A lot of people do this but as far as I know no one has ever termed it. This is actually a gk start. Basically you do a left/right roll, grip, and 180 your victim up and over to somewhere on the other side of you using an inner revolution. I’d suggest varying between 150 and 210 degrees so as to be unpredictable.

 

Techniques

 

Abeus’s Loop-d-Loop:

This is a nice technique since it utiltizes axial cross-overs making it difficult to break. There are two methods of doing this. The first is underkick’ing and then bringing your opponent back up over you to the other side (making a loop) and the second is Abeus’s method where you kick and run over the top of your opponent instead of 180’ing your opponent underneath you. After you run over the top of them you look up and back down again. Abeus’s method is slightly flawed since there is a vulnerability at the start but his arc is also tighter and more effective than the first method.

 

Livefyre’s intercept thunder kick:

This is a rather nasty technique that takes a fair amount of skill to pull off. Basically you start your gk with a long yank left/right and then you do a 180 yank such that your opponent will bump into you. Next you crouch and aim slightly above the horizon and time it so that when your opponent is directly above you, you crouch-sidekick (thunder kick).

 

Jundon’s axial-fake out:

This is a somewhat simple technique but takes a bit of practice to get right. There are two methods, upper or lower axial faking. Upper faking is where you bring your opponent underneath you and move around the top of them such that to break out they’d need to 180 one way or the other but since you continuously move over the top of them they have trouble finding which way to turn and break out. The second method is pretty much the same as the first except you bring your opponent on top of you and look down so that they stay right above you. Actually the second one is harder since you can’t look at your opponent. Anyway the technique is the same, you move left, right, forwards, and backward so mess with your opponent’s defense.

 

Spektr’s sector-gk:

This is a very nasty very difficult tech to pull off. So imagine there are three lines coming out of you; one straight out infront of you in the direction of your crosshair, the other two spaced out evenly 120degrees to your left and right such that they make an equilateral triangle. What you do is kick your opponent to get yourself airborn with the flipkick and bring your crosshair slightly up below the horizon and yank left/right 120 degrees to one of the other lines. Depending on which direction you yanked you hold back and left/right (if you yanked left you hold right and vice-versa) to momentum shift over your opponent essentially riding them in the air. Because you land on the other side of your opponent they will look slightly to the left/right of you when they go to break and will miss. This is an extremely nasty technique and should be used sparingly to maximize efficacy.

 

Shade’s throw-toss-kick (ttk):

This is a rather simple but effective technique I figured out about a year or so ago. These days when you yank your opponent up in grip they will usually 180, look down, and pull. I figured out two ways to take advantage of this. The first above was the pump-fake technique. With throw-toss-kick you grip your opponent and yank straight up, then you release grip such that they are thrown behind you. They won’t realized you released grip and will still 180, downlook and pull. Before they do this you 180 and look up and pull throw kick their counter. It’s nasty and also a good way to take away some shields off your opponent.

 

 

Meta-game Techniques

 

Introduction:

Some of you may be wondering, ‘just what exactly is the meta-game anyway?’ Playing at the meta-game means perfect game play. A flawless offense and defense doesn’t mean someone is playing at the meta-game. The meta-game skill level is about possessing the most effective defense and offense. The ability to make every successful offense attack the killing blow. The ability to not only neutralize the opponent’s offensive but also use it against them to break through their defenses./

 

Double Hitting Hilt Throw:

This, is probably one of the hardest techs, ever. Therefore it qualifies as a meta-game technique. In order to do this you have to be a ways away from your opponent. Then you just throw your saber at them, and if it hits, then execute hiltthrow immediately as it returns. The spacing for this technique is very finicky and often times the saber will come back to you and you'll just hiltthrow normally (dealing no damage). The trick is getting the spacing right and learning how to double hit. (works best on opponents who are fallen down).

 

 

The Shaded Laser-Sight Toss Rejection:

This technique, as far as I know, has yet to be applied to force duels. It is hard. This technique takes an insane amount of precision and accuracy. To conquer your opponent’s throw with your own is clearly a skill fitting for the meta-game. In late 2006 an old friend of mine, annoying too, Aberman and I were practicing the clouded saber rejection technique and at some point I decided to try something new out. We started throwing our blades at one another such that we tried to make them meet in the middle. Even getting them to interact was excruciatingly difficult. Eventually I had to lower my fov just in order to make the minute adjustments in aim needed to meet his blade. When this happens, when you are able to meet their blade with your own, typically what happens is both blades will simply bounce off one another and return to their respective owners. However, after much, much more trial and error I started to knock his blade right out of the air! How I did it I was never entirely sure. This will be the first time in this manual where I go from authentic for sure information to that of theorizing. The ability of one throw to cancel another indicates that the saber throw has a weakness against its own reflection. My best theory is that this saber throw rejection technique is only possible if you time your throw exactly such that your blade hits their own by coming at it from either above or below. I feel that a head-on collision of both blades does not allow one or the other to drop but instead simply return to the owner. Instead you need to aim your throw above or below the opponent’s blade and, using saber throw manipulation techniques, aim your blade to basically bump theirs out of the sky! Needless to say the impact this technique would have in the force fighting scene would be nothing short of ground-breaking.

 

The Nuclear Brink of Mystification GK Wonder:

This technique HAS been used before. Only true professional and experienced force fighters are really even capable of executing techniques close to the one I’m about to describe. The name of this technique sounds long but each word was carefully chosen by me. Nuclear here means central. If you know the basic atom structure, think of it as the gripkicker as the nucleus and the victim’s only space of existence in a spherical S orbital. For those of you that are not chemistry nerds just think of it as moving your victim the closest you possibly can to your character without allowing them to bump into you. This is where the word brink comes into play. Brink in this sense means the brink of the nucleus or the closest distance to your player model in which your victim can travel without losing momentum due to bumping you. To be straight up there exists no gripkick that will always work. After the second or third time you perform a gripkick exactly the same motion for motion your victim will just suddenly know where you are before the kicks and will snap out of it. However, there are movements that will always work, provided you vary the direction enough. In order to manipulate your victim in the nuclear brink (or closest egg shape of existence surrounding you) you need to be very, very skilled with your grip movement. To describe in words the myriad of complex details that govern such close range manipulation of your victim would be tedious. Instead I’ll just leave that part to the professionals who already know how to do this, whether they’re conscious of it or not. Moving someone around you with such proximity seems counter-intuitive to be considered as effective considering you’d more or less be visible in the fov at all times. The reason operating in the nuclear brink can be so effective is because your opponent has a very small distance to cover around you. Combine this with a top speed grip and you have one swirly-whirly mess of confusion on the hands of your opponent. But not even that is enough to consider it a meta-game technique quite yet. There’s more to be considered when utilizing this technique than simply trying to move them as fast as you can. Not only do you need to move them at different angles and positions before and after each kick, you also need to vary their speed. If they move at one speed the entire time they’ll catch on to exactly how far they have to turn each time the grip stalls and will eventually be able to break it every time. Now this is where things get trickier still. In order to compensate for this snap-defense evolution you must decelerate and accelerate your victim randomly throughout the grip. To decelerate or slow the speed of your crosshair creates potential for your victim to float outside the nuclear brink and enable them to easily snap out of your gk. Therefore in order to take advantage of acceleration and deceleration you need to utilize each movement in near instant time frames. Similar to creating artificial stalls but that don’t necessarily count as a halt a motion but a swift changing in speed. One last thing to keep in mind with this specialized grip kicking technique is that the best kicks to use for this are underkick and overkick as those have the ability to keep your opponent quite close to you but also keep them moving at the same time. Air kicks are applicable as well but to a lesser extent due to the potential of slowing down or screwing up the gk.

 

here is the manual in word format so you can understand the gk section better!

FF Ranking System v2.85.rtf

[Methos]

o.O

 

wtf is this shit?!

[Od!uM]

o.O

wtf is this shit?!

 

it would appear to be a guide on how to force fight, but since JP is a non-force server... i don't really see a point to it.

[Ordo]

Oh what the anglerfish in an SS uniform, this again? :/

[Ivaj]

You seem to have put a lot of effort into this Hawke. I respect that.

 

:fapfap:

[D4Rk3lEmEnT]

i only see a dude with too much time :fapfap:

[Hardy]

Geez if only you knew your school work as well as this.

 

I

[Sharp]

you expect us to read all that? they read the first 3 words and posted.

[Pengu]

I'm not going to read this, but I commend you on your efforts.

 

However:

 

The Nuclear Brink of Mystification GK Wonder

THIS IS THE COOLEST NAME FOR ANYTHING EVER.

[SierraEx]

:fp: :fp: :fp: :fp:

[Scorch]

To whoever said it's pointless because JP is a non-force server:

 

1. I'm too lazy to quote you

2. How bout causal fridays? People could practice then...

[Wookjedi]

To whoever said it's pointless because JP is a non-force server:

 

1. I'm too lazy to quote you

2. How bout causal fridays? People could practice then...

 

 

Good effort man!