=============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guilty Gear 2: Overture Basic Multiplayer Strategy Guide. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Guilty Gear 2: Overture FAQ (version 1.34) By Tobal360 (gabetobal@yahoo.com) September 8, 2011 =============================================================================== Preface =============================================================================== I decided to write a FAQ regarding multiplayer for this sleeper title, due to its wonderfully crafted and carefully balanced, but overlooked gameplay engine. It’s the first Action/RTS hybrid I’ve ever played, and the best one at that. With this guide, I hope readers can enjoy the game engine to it’s fullest. Note that this guide does not touch upon the campaign mode, only the multiplayer aspect of the game. --------------- version history --------------- Version 1.34 - updated September 8, 2011 - Adjusted some raven stuff. - re-wrote a segment on tech chasing with Sol Version 1.33 - updated April 16, 2011 - added a combo For Sol, and added to his VV paragraph and conclusion - reformated and added to Sol's hunchback paragraph - added a bit of information regarding Ky's launcher and fixed information on vapor thrust - fixed some language and gramer in Raven's section - Minor grammer fixes Version 1.32 - updated june 19, 2010 - added a small paragraph about counter-bursting - fixed some information on sin master abilities - added a combo For raven. version 1.31 - updated june 07, 2010 - Added a pargraph to Sol's master section, touched up some information and language there too. version 1.30 - updated March 25, 2010 - Completly rewrote Sin's servant section. - rewrote some paragraph's in Sol's master section, regarding Pencil guy, blockhead, and the conclusion of his servant servant guide. - changed the paragraph concerning Ky's divine gaze spell. version 1.25 - updated March 17, 2010 - added a small paragragh about emergency commands. in section 4 of general basic strategy version 1.24 - updated february 23, 2010 - added a few things in Sol's master section - added to queen's and engulfer's paragraph's, as well as a slight addition to Gigan't paragraph - added a paragraph about servant levels in section 4 of part "I" of the guide. - added a combo tip to Izuna's master section. Version 1.23 - updated january 26, 2010 - added a few things to many character's sections. Version 1.22 - updated december 28, 2009 - revised and rewrote many small parts of Sol's section. - minor revisions to Ky's and Paradigm's section. Version 1.21 - updated december 21, 2009 - added a new combo for Sol Version 1.20 - updated december 18, 2009 - re-wrote the paragraph on cyclone blasts, and got more indepth into the subject of baiting cyclone blasts - touched up a few things on fighting enemy masters - completely revamped the item paragraphs, and made it into a small section of it's own. now it covers all items in game. - touched up some minor things in Sol's master abilities section - added another question in the F.A.Q. section. - added a "2 vs 2" section - added a "points match" section Version 1.04 - updated December 15, 2009 - added information about Moblies and range units in the "command and look after your army" section - re-wrote the paragraphs on Sol's dragon install. the information on the subject is more accurate now. - changed some language in the paragraph on Sol's hunchback unit. - touched up and added a few things in Ky's section - minor touch up on raven's section. Version 1.02 - updated December 7, 2009 - fixed grammer mistakes, changed some language in general strategy - rewrote and rearranged some parts in Sol's and Valentine's sections - added to the F.A.Q. section version 1.00 - released on December 3, 2009. ------------ abreveations ------------ (L) = lock on. (F) = free mode. this means the input is done witout locking on. MC = modern cancel MG = Master Ghost *The numbers* I use numbers to represent directions pushed with the anolog stick. the directions on the keyboard's number pad indicate the direction to push in anolog. for example. 789 456 123 Say I wanted to input a bandit revolver. I would say (L) 8y. the 8 represents "up" on the anolog stick. the 2 represents "down" on the anolog stick. 4 and 6 represent left and right respectfully. 5 would represent the nuetral position. =============================================================================== Table of contents =============================================================================== ************************* A. General Basic Strategy ************************* 1. Basic rundown of multiplayer 2. Organize and Prioritize to Decide Your Actions 3. Operating the Organ 4. Command and Look After Your Servants 5. Using Your Master Effectively I. Concerning the transportation of units II. Killing designated enemy servants III. Master vs. Master fights. IV. Items 6. 2 vs 2 matches 7. Points matches 8. Taking advantage of Replay mode. 9. A Quick Summary On Priorities, Tools for Practicing and Closing. ************************************* B. Character Specific Basic Strategy. ************************************* 1. Sol Badguy I. Sol Badguy Master Abilities 2. Sin II. Sin Master Abilities 3. Izuna III. Izuna Master Abilities 4. Dr. Paradigm IV. Dr. Paradigm Master Abilities 5. Valentine V. Valentine Master Abilities 6. Ky Kisk 7. Raven ********* C. Extra. ********* 1. F.A.Q. 2. Credits & Special Thanks 3. Legal Info =============================================================================== A. General Basic Strategy =============================================================================== All right. I’m going to give some information to help you understand how to play Guilty Gear 2 Overture and use its game engine to the fullest. I’m linking to the game’s U.S. website so you can download the instruction manual and get the most basic explanations of the game’s system and how the different characters and tribes basically function from it. I will try to explain how you apply the game’s tools in actual game play. Lets start with just what this game is all about. Link to the instruction manual PDF: http://aksysgames.com/gg2/system.html The game’s single player content is primarily a glorified tutorial to prepare you for the game’s Multiplayer. The Multiplayer is Guilty Gear 2 overture’s primary focus, much like many RTS and fighting games. This guide is focusing on the multiplayer and how to get better at grasping the game engine. After covering the genreal strategy of multiplayer, I'll cover strategies for every character and their respective armies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. A Basic Rundown of Multiplayer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m going to give a very, very basic description of how multiplayer works. If you already know how multiplayer works, than feel free to go ahead and skip this section. So what are you supposed to do in Multiplayer? The main focus of multiplayer battles is to destroy the enemy master ghost while protecting your master ghost. You can also win by critical downing the enemy master four times, but that’s not the main focus of the battle, and is more likely something you achieve while trying to destroy the enemy master ghost. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, but it’s primarily done through summoning and contracting servants, capturing ghosts, acquiring mana, and reaching the enemy master ghost with your servants and crushing it. Your master cannot capture ghost easily, and in most cases cannot damage the enemy master ghost while there is a barrier on it, that’s what servants are for. Servants can capture ghosts quickly and destroy the barrier on master ghost, and your master can damage the master ghost properly once barrier is destroyed. The power of the enemy master ghost’s barrier is also reduced the less ghosts he has, so capturing ghosts is vital as it helps for that purpose as well. Your going to need mana to purchase things in the organ including servants, so don’t bother trying to skimp out on capturing ghosts, because it will guarantee your loss. So summon servants, tell them to do stuff, like capture ghosts, and get you more mana, and when they run into enemy servants, they fight, and you help them kill those servants too. As far as the enemy master goes, he is something that you cannot ignore. Masters are the most powerful unit in a tribe, and although your objective is to destroy the enemy masterghost, ignoring the enemy master will give you tons of headaches, and will make things much harder to deal with. You CAN avoid confronting the enemy master for the most part and still win, but that’s extremely hard to do and will require some top notch strategy on your behalf, and if you had top notch strategy, you most likely wouldn’t be reading this basic strategy guide. There is something very interesting concerning the masters of tribes. They are the largest threat to your tribe, but the are also the greatest liability of their tribe as well; needless to say, the same applies to your master. Masters can dominate any single unit in the game, and can destroy a majority of your servant’s single handedly, while transporting his servants around the map, dumping his troops at ghosts that are deep in your territory, slowing the advance of capture units and your servants and giving you all the headaches that you are giving him. So you’re going to find that, time-to-time, you’re going to want to kill the bastard (and he’ll want to kill you as well of coarse). When the master dies, it’s extra bad for the tribe for a number of reasons, which is why the master is a huge potential liability. Killing the enemy master is good for you for a number of reasons. First of all, he stops giving you trouble temporarily, second of all, you can kill his units without fear of him raining on your parade temporarily as well. Thirdly, his master ghost receives damage from its master dying (or as the game calls it, receiving a “critical down”) and it’s barrier also is reduced, each consecutive death will do more damage to the master ghost and reduce the barrier further than the previous death. This allows you to take advantage of this, and if his master ghost is unguarded, you can go there, bring some units, dump them off (tell them to stay with the d-pad) and proceed to beat it up. If it’s the third critical down, you can most likely destroy it if you get there fast enough and provide the ghost isn’t well guarded. Given some time, the masterghost’s barrier will refill itself, so you must act quickly, before the enemy master comes back, and many a time, that may be impossible. The fourth and final benefit of critical downing an enemy master is that his fourth critical down will destroy his master ghost. Keep in mind that the opponent is fully aware of this and will obviously try to pull the same stuff on you for the same benefits. Killing enemy masters is a smart, and very powerful tactic, but you should not focus on that alone, unless you can absolutely destroy your opponent in master combat. So here’s a quick summary of the basic strategy of multiplayer. You purchase and unlock Servants to capture and control ghosts, these ghosts give you mana, so you can buy more servants and items to help give you an edge. You kill enemy servants and transport your servants to block the flow of enemy capture units to ghosts, and to slow enemy servants marches, while stopping the attempts of the opponent to do the same to you. All of this is to get your servants a clear path to the enemy masterghost, to destroy it, all the while making sure you don’t leave your masterghost vulnerable. Finally, you stop the actions of the enemy master by attacking him and killing him when you deem it appropriate, and take advantage of his critical down to push your forces more aggressively, or safely regroup. Remember, your primary objective is to make sure what’s going on in the map is in your favor at all times, and whatever you do yourself should not distract you from what is going on in the map. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Organize and Prioritize to Decide Your Actions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok, so you read the instruction manual and you understand the basic idea of how Guilty Gear 2 overture plays. Now, how do we play effectively? There’s so much going on at once, you can’t keep up with it. The easiest way to simplify the game is to prioritize what you should focus on. The game can be broken down to what’s going on in the map, and what’s going on in front of you. Both are extremely important, but there is an order to things. Consider it like this. What you do and where you go depends on what goes on in the map. With the exception of maybe the very beginning of the match, where you take preemptive action depending on your objective and the map your on, you will be using the map as your guide to your actions at all times. This means you NEVER ignore what happens on the map. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Operating the Organ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dealing with the map means dealing with the organ, something you will have to get used to doing on the fly, it just takes time and practice to know when and where you can pull it out. When your good enough, provided that you will not get destroyed by doing so, you can pull it out almost anytime, even if your facing an enemy master, just be brief about it, or you’ll die. There’s no short cut to handling the organ, you will eventually figure out the layout of the organ, and how to operate it quickly with practice. Since it is such an important tool for victory, I will give you a quick guide on it. Left on the D-pad will open the organ. Simply bringing it up will show a more detailed map than the mini map. From here you can see where your units are, and give them new orders, such as telling them to go to a new location, place them in groups, separate, or delete them. From here, if you press x, you open the purchase window. You can purchase items through 4 different tabs. The first tab is for summoning and contracting servants. The second tab is for buying the character’s personal skills, each set of skills are exclusive to every character. The third tab is what I call the permanent Item tab. You see how each stage has different times and weather effects? Well the significance of that, is each stage version has different Items available in this tab that, regardless of how much you buy, the Item will always be there for sale, in never ending supply. This is where you will find the usual healing items and such. Learn what each stage effect has available in this tab, as they are consistent from stage to stage. The Items in evening Bel Canto valley on this tab are the same as evening Illyria. The final tab is the random Item tab, where you will find items that are not in the permanent Item tab are. Unlike the third tab, this tab is not already stocked with Items; it will fill up with Items over time instead. And once you purchase an Item here, it will disappear, and you will have to wait and see if it comes back or not. The more effective an Item is, the less likely it is to spawn. You will see bananas spawn more often than resurrections. On the organ screen, if you press y, you will open the sell window. Here you can sell anything in your Item slot, even servants you picked up. This is good to use when you need mana and you have things you don’t need, or servants you don’t want to simply delete for no return on your mana. Get used to pulling out and putting away the organ after doing what you need to do, as fast as possible, and your game will improve immensely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. Command and Look After Your Servants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The basic strategy in using your servants relies on the map you are on and the servants you are using. Take time to familiarize your self with each map, and what each ghost connects into. Look for potential shortcuts for quick raids on enemy master ghosts. The basic strategy on pretty much every map is to spread your units through every route and potential opening to your master ghosts, which is a mutual route and potential opening for your opponent’s master ghost. Things get a little more complex in 2 vs 2 matches but even in that format, you are expected to take care of your side of the map, and to attack the opponent closest to you. In every map, it almost always boils down to your master ghost having 2 to 3 ghost directly next to it, and each respective ghost next to your master ghost has a path connected to it. So on the defensive end, prevent the enemy from advancing in those pathways that connect to ghost adjacent to your master ghost. But maps aren’t simply two to three paths ways, some paths intersect. It is those intersection that you want to keep an eye on, is if you are planning to have some fall back defensive strategy at all, separate a unit and leave it at that ghost which acts as an intersection. If there is a break in your defense and your opponent tries to slip past some units by using an alternate pathway, they might try to take advantage of an intersection that connects two paths. This way, you have a greater awareness of what’s going on in the map and thing are less likely to slip by you. Be aware of paths that lead to the enemy master ghost with very few ghosts in between yours and theirs. It can be a quick and direct ticket to victory or defeat. Vital pathways such as those should always be defended. Leaving behind a servant at some of the ghosts you have conquered is a decent tactic and can act as a safety net against an opponent who is trying to steal stray ghost from you. Don’t worry TOO much about servant types. It can confuse and distract you. As long as your servants won’t get annihilated, simply put together the servants that compliment each other’s weaknesses and send them out, they should do fine (armors and mobiles are a good example). Unless you see a big opening in your servant types (such as having only melee and range out, both vulnerable to armors), don’t go crazy with them. And if there is a weakness in your servant types, do your best to cover that weakness yourself. Only contract additional servant types that you are certain you can make use of effectively. An interesting tidbit of information regarding servant classes. Mobiles are strong against ranged units, but not to the extent of the armor and magic classes. It's something to keep in mind that the game does not infrom you on. All servant types, normal and elite, have 3 levels, and "level up" over time. when servants level up, their attack and defense increase, making them stronger. this may seem insignifigant at first, but this plays a big part in how much an advantage you have in late game. The longer the unit stays out on the map, the higher its experiance gets, and the more powerful it becomes. All units start at level 0, and progress to level 1, 2 and 3. this can be kept track of by the blue bar underneath a unit's health bar. the notches on the bar represent the levels. when the guage reaches past the first notch, they are level 1, and past the second, they are level 2, and when it reach the end of the bar, they are level 3. there is no other way to raise the level of units besides allowing it to go up overtime, regardless of how much it has fought or not. The only exception to this rule is Ky's divine gaze skill. the level up system for the servants gives you a reason to keep ypur units alive as long as possible, since they get stronger if you maintain them, instead of just replacing them. emergency commands! emergency commands are issued via the D-pad. up is to advance, right is to stop, and down is to retreat to the nearest ally ghost. these commands come in handy when you need to tell your servants to do something quickly and you don't have time to go in the organ; if your in the middle of a fight for example. these commands are not permanent, only orders issued though the organ are permanent; so be aware of that. These commands are only heard by those who are near your master, and you will know if they are folling orders via the symbol that appears over their head. red arrow pointing up if they are advancing, an exclamation point if they are staying, and a blue arrow pointing down if they are retreating. Elite servants can be brought out any time you deem necessary. That means you can bring one out in the first round you if you want. If you use it well, it can really help you push the enemy back, as well as do a lot of damage to an enemy master ghost quickly depending on the elite servant you use. Be flexible when commanding your servants, and make sure you protect them from dying. If you see a large force that will certainly destroy a group of your servants, tell them to retreat, fighting at ghosts that belong to them gives them a defenseboost and will give them a better chance at surviving, or at least give you more time to get there and save them. If an enemy master is attacking them, making them retreat will cause the enemy master to waste time chasing them. While on the offensive, try your hardest to find or create openings to your opponent's master ghost. Some times players can get careless, so while they are advancing upon you master ghost on one side of the map, there might be an opening that they might not notice, and you can advance units at that point. You need to be quick to take advantage of this though, or you can lose the opportunity. Setting up a distraction is not a bad idea either. If your on the defensive and a ghost next to your master ghost is occupied by the enemy, if you decide to send a group of servants there to engage them, make sure you don’t leave your master ghost unattended. If your not willing to separate your units, just leave them at your master ghost where they have a better chance at putting up a fight. Number one rule is to never leave your master ghost at risk. Last bit of advice to give is, while the match is winding down, and you may be dominating the map, make sure you either have servants protecting your master ghost or are at least at ghosts adjacent to it. The enemy may try to pull a desperate win strategy where they drop a significant force at your potentially unguarded masterghost. Just having a small group of servants (and depending on what they bring, a reliable elite) can be enough to repel their attack and provide ample time for you to get there and contain the situation. You have no idea how infuriating it is to lose to such a tactic, so keep this in mind at all times. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. Using Your Master Effectively ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, we have seen and explained how what goes on in the map, whether it be in the mini map or the organ, should dictate your actions in the organ when commanding your servants, now lets concentrate on the meat of the game play, the master unit. As The Master, you control the most powerful unit in your tribe, but, unlike your servants, your not going to be sitting at a ghost, picking your nose while you fiddle around in the organ. You need to move around the map and either transport units, kill enemy servants and masters, protect your units, and create openings in your opponents defense as well as steal ghosts. There is SO much to master play on the strategy end, much of what you learn to do and use will come through practice, trail and error, experience and watching what other players do. I’ll try to give you some basic guidelines of what you should be focusing on. ----------------------------------------- I. Concerning the transportation of units ----------------------------------------- Transporting your servants and cutting off the flow of enemy capture units and slowing the marches of enemy servants, as well as gain early control of essential ghosts. One feature of the GG2 that give the strategy a deeper level of complexity is the ability to pick up and drop off your units, as well as emergency commands. In the beginning of a match, the first thing you should concentrate on is quickly giving orders and deploying servant as fast as possible. As soon as your servants spawn (they always spawn to your left first) pick them up and drop them off at key ghost, whether you pick up only one unit or three, the number you pick up depends on what you plan to accomplish. If your unsure of your skills, and are new at this, try picking only one up, than as you improve and get better, pick up two to three units at the start of the match. What you can do with the units depends on your strategy, for example, if you want to control a central ghost in the middle of the map before the opponent does, drop off the unit you picked up and tell them to stay there via emergency commands (right on the D-pad). That strategy is more along the lines of defensive. A more aggressive tactic, is picking up two to three servants at the start of a match, and dropping them off at ghosts adjacent to enemy master ghost, cutting off all their capture units and halting the marches of the servants. Or you can use do a mix of a offensive and a defensive strategy, by both getting early control of central ghost, and partially cutting off enemy units. Keep in mind that enemy masters will use similar tactic on you, so be ready to counter them. Some masters, such as Sin and Paradigm, can use minions to gain temporary control over ghosts. Transporting units serves purposes besides just getting a head start at the start of matches. You can carry and drop units mid battle to ghosts that you see open, but your servants aren’t near it, or are taking too much time to get there. If your units are halted by a big force, and you don’t have the time to fight them with your units, pick them up and dump the off at the closest ghost so they can continue on their way. You can go back and clean up the enemy servants you left behind. It’s worth noting that emergency orders are only temporary, and if you want an individual servant to stay where it is indefinitely, you should separate it and order it through the organ. You can drop units off with out stopping if you run into a capture unit before you drop the unit off. This will make your trip MUCH faster, be sure to tell them to stay unless you are fast enough and skilled enough to give each Servant individual orders before they spawn The last reasons I can think of to carry your units are, that you can pick up and drop units at the enemy master ghost, provided the conditions are right, you can have a victory on your hands. The final reason is you can carry elites to where they are needed the most and carry them around for the sake of being a bodyguard. When you confront an enemy master, drop the elite and tell it to stay with the emergency orders, and you’ll have some back up to fight along side with. ------------------------------------- II. Killing designated enemy servants ------------------------------------- The next major objective for Masters is killing enemy servants. Which enemy servants you should focus on are simple. The ones that your servants have least chance of winning against, and enemy servants that hold ghosts that you really want, those are the ones you should be focusing on killing the most, but it really falls down to what you want to do in the end. What specific Enemy servants you want to kill should depend on the character you are playing and what enemy units give you the most trouble. For example, if you are playing Sol Badguy and you see oncoming armor units, it’s in your best interest to get rid of those armor units as fast as possible, so go kill them yourself (because Sol does not have any regular units to counter armors other than armors). If you have no inherit tribe weakness, look for large groups of enemy servants to tackle and reduce their numbers to make it easier for your servants to fight. Another surefire target are Elites. Elites are very powerful, and unless they are overwhelmed by enemy units they are weak to or do not have an advantage over, they will harass and tear through your army, unless you conduct damage control and get rid of them yourself. Target and kill elites, unless you have ghosts you need to maintain or capture and have higher priorities. The last groups of servants you want to go after are the ones that are attacking important ghosts, or are protecting ghosts you want to capture. That’s pretty much all I have to say on that subject. The rest is all based on your personal judgment. I’ll give you a quick guide to killing servants to help pull this off. You have free mode attacks that are centered on crowd control and do weak damage, however, not many characters have reliable free mode attacks. The ones that do (Sol and Izuna come to mind) have certain combos in free mode that do a fantastic job of creating some breathing space, so take advantage of characters with decent free mode attacks. The main attacks you will be using to kill servants as fast as possible are locked on combos, that for the most part, have nothing to do with spending tension with few exceptions here and there. Besides finding locked on combos that provide good crowd control or damage out, characters have special moves to help with crowd control, so find a good combination of free attacks power attacks, locked on attacks and special moves to tear through servants. You can practice fighting servants in general free missions and specific servants in training mode to come up with good tactics for getting rid of them. ----------------------------- III. Master vs. Master fights ----------------------------- All right, the last section on controlling your master is engaging enemy masters. I will give you some basic information so you can build your game off from there. The primary way to get good at masters only is just fighting enemy masters and try out different attacks and strategies, much like a fighting game. This section can turn into something massive, but I’ll keep it light. When engaging enemy masters, lets get what not to do out of the way first. Do not attempt to fight them without locking on (with few exceptions). Though there are moments where locking off will be helpful, such as performing a power attack, the majority of the time you are fighting, you want to be focused on the enemy master. Do not waste you tension, be conservative with it, or you will find yourself in a position with limited options. Do not charge into enemy masters who are surround by their units single handedly, you won’t win in most cases. And finally, when you are beating up their servants and they come up to engage you, do not ignore them, you will pay for it. When fighting, you need to know what your character can and cannot do, and what your opponent can and cannot do, as with any fighting game. To be honest, the masters vs. master fights are for the most part, like 3d fighting games. You utilize pokes, spacing, and all that other jazz, but you should know the basics of dodging at least, and know that there is more to dodging than just sidestepping. Vertical attacks can be sidestepped, but not jumped. Horizontal attacks and be jumped, but not sidestepped. Projectiles can be avoided and punished by jumping over them. Some attacks can be avoided by stepping backwards. Be careful before needlessly sidestepping and jumping, because your character is vulnerable for the most part right after doing them. If you are going to punish a attack you jumped over, most characters must attack right after jumping, and usually with a direction + x, as that is most character’s air to ground attack. Be sure you predict, dodge, counter, mix up and practice those combos! Needless to say, you shouldn’t expect your opponent to be predictable, and you shouldn’t be predictable. All characters have attacks to stop side steps and have a way to deal with jumping opponents. There are ways to break guard for every character, learn them and incorporate them into your game. Don't just sit there and block combos all day either, your guard will eventually be broken that way too. Keep in mind that you have servants to help you, and your opponent has servants to help them. Don’t be surprised if your opponent pulls out an elite when engaging you, as he might be carrying the unit around as a bodyguard. If your out numbered, your best chance is to create an opening for you to retreat. If you want to run, don’t just turn your back and try to blast drive, look for an opening and short dash away (using the L trigger) before you blast drive. Some characters can use attacks to cover more ground to run (like Sol’s bandit revolver, or Ky’s stun dipper) if you just turn tail and try to run or blast drive right away; you will most likely get stuffed. Make use of the super back step when running away, and the short dash when chasing the opponent. Remembering that servants are a factor, you can use nearby servants to your advantage, and if the opponent has servants and you don’t want to run, use crowd control while keeping the enemy master pinned down to give yourself some breathing space. Items and bringing along an elite unit is a good Idea as well. Make sure your back is not exposed to an enemy servant while fighting. Cyclone blast is important to escape combos, and if blocked, it can be canceled with modern cancel to keep you safe. You can also air dash away if the cyclone blast is modern canceled. Try not to be too predictable with your bursting times, as players may predict a blast on your behalf and may simply block it, and if you don’t have the tension to modern cancel, you will be punished. some players may even simply step back and dodge it all together, not allowing you to even modern cancel and air dash for a safe get away. these types of modern cancel avoiding techniques are known as "baiting". when players bait a cyclone blast, they will attack and combo their oponent thinking they will burst, depending on the oponent's habbits, tension and health. when they suspect the oponent to burst, they will back step out of the cyclone blast's range, move in, and counter attack. with this method, the player who blasted won't be able to modern cancel his burst, and he will be left wide open. be aware of this tactic, and use it to your advantage too! with proper practice and experiance, you should recognize the patterns the oponent cyclone blast to and use that to bait them into bursting, than dodge and counter. if your on someone, and they burst, you can prevent them escaping by performing another burst to counter them. I call it counter burst. keeps people from getting away, and its good for that purpose. if this situation arises a lot, try buying tension potions so you can mess the guy up librally after counter bursting them. Air teching (air recovering) in the air, though usually a good idea, in certain circumstances, can lead to big damage. To let you know, Izuna has an extremely damaging combo what requires the opponent to tech in the air in order to complete the combo, otherwise, the damage is severely reduced, so be aware of that. I don’t know any other character that has a combo like that. There are also times when an opponent is teching, and you are performing an air combo, your character will “chase” them mid-combo and their tech will be for naught. I’m not sure how to avoid this, but you can try to lock off when being hit with an air combo, and try to air tech in a fashion that when you tech, you can air dash away from the opponent (to the side for example). You can also cyclone blast, or simply not tech when you think they will attempt this, they will work also. Teching to avoid knockdowns is a good way to escape unnecessary damage, and to prevent the opponent from using that opportunity to escape mid battle. It’s also good to use if you blast drive into a wall as it will save you time. Get used to teching to avoid a knockdown, unlike air teching, it doesn’t have a negative consequence, well, unless you are being hit by Ky's Stun dipper. if Ky hits you with a stun dipper and knocks you down, don't avoid a knock down, because he can follow up with another one if you do. Though you may not notice this, when you lock on and jump, your character actually jumps towards the target, instead of straight up. An interesting tidbit of information, this means you can continue air combos without air dashing to the opponent, saving the air dash for furthering the combo in the air. Modern canceling is an extremely important tool. Use it for shortening recovery time on moves to protect your self and to extend combos, whch would normally be impossible to extend otherwise, be creative and make the most of it. Also remember you can cancel the animation of attacks earlier by sidestepping, back stepping and jumping. You cannot cancel attack animation with the forwards step however. An important elemtent in master fighting is to pick and chose when and where to fight, because it is VERY important. Fighting on the enemy’s side of the map can slow down the advancement of their units, but it also puts you at greater risk. Fighting on your side reverses the situation. There are times where fighting the enemy master is not in your best interest. Be sure when you fight an enemy master, it’s the best thing to do at the moment, because there are times that after you defeat the enemy master, you lose a part of the map because you were distracted. Never be distracted from what’s going on in the map, and don’t be afraid to run away, whether it is because you are being defeated or other matters requires your attention. Just make sure it is safe to run, and if the opponent runs, there are times where you should follow and times where you should just let them go and focus on capturing more ghosts. Lastly, don't forget that critically downing the enemy master will also lead to victory so at some instances, so hunting them down may be a good option!To help with that, you'll want to use Items. --------- IV. Items --------- There are Items that can help you in a fight, so I’ll put down the Items that help with fighting. Bananas and land mines are traps set to either slow down your opponent (banana) or do massive damage (land mine). A trick with land mines is if you place it where a dead body of a servant is, the corpse will cover it, and the opponent wont be able to see it. Rapid Fire puts mid range pressure on the opponent, and can be useful for those who love to keep their distance. If the opponent blocks the rapid fire, you can modern cancel the animation of using the item, short dash to them and do a power attack (or another attack that breaks guard depending on who you are using) which they wont be able to escape. If they do get hit, I’m pretty sure you can follow up by MC the animation and short dashing towards them for a free combo off the rapid fire anyway. if it does it them, you can also chose to hit them with another Item as well, such as heavy feet or mouth zipper. finally, whether they block it or not, you can use that opportunity to turn tail and run away. rapid fire is very flexible in its uses, so take advantage of the Item. Bombs do unblockable damage, and are great for those who keep their distance as well as blow up those who hide in the servants. even without the master being their or your target, it makes dealing with groups enemy servants significantly easier, and is an all around great Item. Mouth zipper comes out very fast, and can be considered a poke or fast projectile that stops those who rush in. If it hits, the opponent cannot use Items, and this can be a great boon to you. Heavy feet slow down the opponent greatly, and comes out as fast as the mouth zipper with similar properties. The opponent will be easier to fight with this and they won’t be running away in with this status effect on. Lastly is Dispel. Dispel is practically a necessity, it gets rid of status effects (bad ones on you and good ones on the opponent), minions, Items and what not. It’s something you should ALWAYS buy, and is great for bailing you out of trouble. I've seen player often buy two of them at a time, because they're that useful. all of these Items can be combined within combos for a majority of the cast, as well as in conjunction with rapid fire, so experiment with Items and combos. There are other Items that are very useful too. I’ll explain capture cannon Item for you due to its effectiveness. Capture canon turns capture units into indestructible little balls of doom, they are encased in a pink barrier and it cannot be destroyed easily (but it CAN be destroyed by hitting it repeatedly). It captures ghosts quickly and does a lot of damage to the barrier of master ghosts, so if you are gong t raid a master ghost, and you have a ghosts next to the enemy master ghost, use a capture cannon, it can make destroying the master ghost considerably easier. Capture soldier I will also explain because I never see anyone use it. When your master ghost is under attack, use capture soldier, it turns a capture soldier into a big units it will and it shoots homing projectiles which do significant damage to enemy servants. It's extremely cheap and very useful, so take advantage of it. battery rods can be used to help take out enemy capture cannons, or help take down the barrier for an enemy masterghost. P-drive raises you defense and your servants around you. your attack is lowered 30%, but defense is raised 300% for 30 seconds. Great for ghost defense, or when you think you servants are going into a fight where they have a good chance dieing. S-drive increases the attack of your master and servants around you. your attack power increases 175% which helps a lot, and unlike P-drive there is no penalty to using the Item. in return however, S-drive is twice as expensive, and it's duration on a master only lasts about 15 seconds, but 30 seconds on servants. great for masterghost rushes with certain characters, as it will increase the damage done on the barrier exponentially for them and their servants. Anti rods are used against a type of unit that you know the enemy will depend on, so you should by the appropriate anti rod in advance and apply it when you deem it necessary. the defense and offense of the units effected by the rod go down considerably for 60 seconds, so take advantage of that time and wipe out the enemy servants that are effected by it. the last couple of Items are stun grenade, scarecrow, revival and healing rods. Stun grenades stun enemy servants and masters; also do a very miniscule amount of damage to masters as well (5 damage). The effects lasts on servants for about 15 seconds, the masters affected for only about 2-3 seconds, and can avoid the effect if they are hit by it mid jump (unlike bombs). Overall, the Item is not terribly useful, but it's a decent replacement for bombs if you have no access to them. Be quick to hit the enemy master while he's stunned. Scarecrow distracts the enemy, lasts for a long time, and can't be killed very quickly by enemy masters. it's cheap. Be creative with it's uses to by time and kill off enemy servants. Might also help you deal with enemy elite body body guards masters may carry around with them. Revival let's your character revive after a critical down on the spot, with full health and tension. use it when you are doing something critical, such as attacking an enemy masterghost. Healing rods add an area effect of healing, and heal all allies slowly overtime. it's pretty useful overall. I believe that Things like potions and elixirs are self-explanitory, I'll just advise you to use your best judgment when to use such Items. They can save you a lot of time, and might save you from a critical down, so don’t ignore them. Items in a fight can turn the tide of a match like you wouldn't believe, so get used to buying and using them as soon as possible. Be sure your not reliant on items though, as they won't win the match for you alone. Watch out for Items the opponents uses as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. 2 vs 2 matches ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This guide was formatted primarily towards 1 vs 1 matches, but you'll find that all the advice will work for 2 vs 2 matches as well. Even so, there are some elements that apply exclusively towards 2 vs 2 that the rest of the guide does not cover, so we'll go over the differences in gameplay and strategy when playing 2 vs 2. First thing to notice is that 2 vs 2 matches behave primarily the same as 1 vs 1, the major difference being the scale of the matches. There are still five rounds, each lasting five minutes. The objective is the same; destroy the enemy masterghost, and critical downing the enemy master can also destroy the enemy masterghost. the major difference here is now there are two enemy masterghosts you can go after, and two you have to defend. there's also now two masters per team. so now your match is bigger, and there's going to be more things going on at once. And you thought the game was complicated in 1 vs 1. In 2 vs 2, you are a part of a 2-tribe team. Each player still has to command their own units, and each player has their own master ghosts they must defend. when one team member's masterghost is destroyed, that team loses, regardless of the other team member's status. So while both you and your partner are completely independent in your actions, you must still cooperate with one another to make sure both of you are in good standing. mana requisition for each ghost acquired is shared between both armies. your tribes wont attack each other or fight over ghosts. Items that would work on your servants will also work on you ally's servants, as well as your ally himself. you cannot pick up your ally's units, and you cannot give your ally's units commands, but you can see whatever it is they see on the minimap and organ. You can always see where your partner is on the map. Technically speaking, the matches aren’t exactly twice the size of 1 vs 1. The maximum amount of servants allowed on the map in 1 vs 1 is 40. 20 servants for each player. In 2 vs 2, there is a total of 16 servants allowed per player, that 32 per team, and 64 on the map total. You have less room for summoning servants, keep that in mind. The basic flow of 2 vs 2 matches is the same as 1 vs 1, but slightly altered in certain details. Your primary job in 2 vs 2 is controlling what could be said as "your side" of the map, and push back the opponent which is positioned closest to you. Depending on how your partner or how you are doing, you might help them out by sending some units to their side of the map if the map's layout allows you to do such a thing. the important thing to remember when engaging the enemy on your side of the map is to not turtle; do not simply gain a majority of the map and just sit there. advance, be offensive, and if you need support, send a message to your partner telling him to back you up. The message "gather up" (come to where I am) or "lets advance" (push forward with your units) should easily convey this message, and the opponent’s won't see it. if you simply sit there gathering mana, your opponent can use this time to fortify his defenses and build up his army, making winning all the more difficult. be sure to make use of picking up units and cutting of enemy capture units just as you would for 1 vs 1. So your in a good spot, and your partner is in trouble, naturally, you don't ignore your partner's problem, you go to where he needs you and help out. whether he is losing a majority of the map, or he is being ganged up by two masters, your going to want to help him out either way. When you are out numbered 2 to 1 in master fights, your at a severe disadvantage, and you'll either need back up, or to get out of there right away. Knowing this, there's a good reason to help out your partner in master fights even when he's doing fine, it provides a great opportunity to critical down the enemy master. Don't ignore your partner's status, and even if you may lose part of the map in doing so, as long as both of you are not getting dominated, it's worth losing some offensive ground. 
Be sure you take time in exhibition mode and practice on the 2 vs 2 maps.
when you first play on them, you might be overwhelmed with their lay out and
complexity. You cannot perform a training round in a 2 vs 2 size map, so 
configure the options to make the computer players very weak, and take the time
to familiarize the layouts of certain complex maps. Going into the organ and
taking advantage of the zoom and the camera tilt feature will help you
understand the layout better as well. The organ map is 3D, so you can see what
pathways overlap and such. Playing the computer in team matches in exhibition
will help you get used to the maps in actual play. Not knowing the each map's
layout will greatly hinder you, so learn them.  

The only other general advice is work just as hard as you would in 1 vs 1, and
be sure to communicate with your partner. if both of you are coordinated, you
can pull of some crazy stuff, and leads to the matches being much more fun. If
you don't have a microphone to talk with your partner, make good use of the
message system, as communicating and cooperating players make for a deadly
team.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	7. Points matches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Points match function fundamentally different from 1 vs 1, and 2 vs 2. In
essence, it is GG2's four player battle royal. There are four players on the
map, each with their own master ghost. There are no teams, each character is
independent. There are no rounds, only a fifteen minute time limit, and once it
is up, the match is finished. Players cannot be taken out of the game,
masterghosts do not have health, and no matter how much they are attacked and
how many times a master is critically downed, the master ghost will remain. 

The main objective is points match is getting the most points by the end of the
round. You gain points by taking ghosts, collecting mana, killing enemy
servants, attacking enemy master ghosts, and critical downing enemy masters. 
when players are critical downed or have their master ghost attacked, they
will lose  points. the higher the points character who is critical downed has,
the higher the reward will be for the player who is responsible (be it the
master themselves or their servant.)

Since the match does not end when a masterghost is assaulted, the primary
concern for the majority of the match is maintaining your territory, protecting
you masterghost, and critical downing enemy masters. do not spread your forces
too thin, the tactics that work in 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2 do not necessarily work
well in points matches; take what mana and ghosts you can get, and if you want,
you can cut off a close opponent’s masterghost. if you spread your forces 
across the map too thin, it will leave gaps in your defense, and 
someone can barge in.

protecting your master ghosts is extremely important, as you will lose massive
amounts of points for it being attacked. Keep something there at all times,
and make sure what your keeping there is strong. Leaving an elite at your
masterghost is a good idea in points matches. This is doubly important if you
are in the lead, as your going to be a primary target. if your master ghost is
assaulted, you want as many servants being called back there to help out.
keeping your territory is not as important as protecting your masterghost. Put
Traps around to help protect it as well, such as bananas and land mines. 

Needless to say, you don't want to go and get yourself critical downed. When
you want to assault a masterghost, do it at the end of the match, where if you
fail, you won't be excessively vulnerable afterwards. Your target at the end of
the match should always be the one in the lead (he's got a crown on his point
counter) or at least someone who's master ghost is vulnerable and will give you
enough points to get in the lead. Remember that the match is not over until the
counter finishes, and the tables can literally be turned in the last seconds of
the match. Never drop your guard, not even for a second, and never give up. 

In the end of the match, points are awarded to players for certain things.
these include who has acquired the most mana, who has captured the most ghost,
kill the most servants, kill the most masters, opened the most treasure chest
and killed the most capture units. The only advice I can give on this is to
make sure you are constantly doing stuff during the match. Yeah, that's pretty
much all I can say on the matter. 

Points matches in general are significantly less strict and competitive in
comparison to regular 2 vs 2. It’s a fun, lighthearted game mode. It makes for
a good change of pace, and you can use the matches to experiment with servants
and tactics you wouldn't use otherwise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	8. Taking advantage of Replay mode. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because some people may find it difficult to improve, I will write a small
guide focusing on how to properly use replay mode to your advantage. I do
not want the players to be discouraged into thinking that replay mode is
useless due to you not being able to view what the player does in the organ.
While you cannot see what they do in the organ directly, you can still see
the consequences of their actions in the organ, and if you pay close
attention to the replay, you will miss almost nothing at all.

The largest advantage that replay mode presents is the ability to see the mini
map and both opponent’s tribe’s an actions through there. From the beginning,
you can see what each player does and handle’s their first move, and if you
are watching a replay of a mach you did yourself, you may be surprised at who
your game play looks like when your not engaged in the game. It’s much easier
to point out your mistakes when watching replay mode, and whether you won or
lost the match, the reasons you did so will become clearer, especially since
you have a complete view of what’s happening in the mini map at all times. A
good way to see why you lost a match is to view the match from the perspective
of the opponent. 

Now say your are watching the actions of the opponent, or maybe your viewing
a replay of a match you did not participate in (these replays can be found in
the leader boards), how do you know what the players are doing in the organ?
Easy, there are a few indications of their actions. First, when they summon
new units, the unit’s appear on the left hand side of the H.U.D. You should
be familiar that all your unit’s and their status appears on the left of your
H.U.D., so when you see the player as gone into the organ, give the list of
units a glance. When the player purchases and item, the Item shows up in the
inventory slot, it’s not very difficult to see that. As for orders to servants,
just look at the mini map and follow the marches of the servants. You’ll find 
it harder to follow the actions of the players without access to the organ, but
this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to figure out what they’re doing; just keep
your eyes on the details I mentioned and you’ll get a lot out of 
watching replays. 

If you chose to do so, you can wander the replay map as a chimaki, and view 
any area of the map at any time. You may think that there is no point to this,
but it’s a potentially useful feature. You will be able to see what happens 
between servants when a master is not present, and this good to give you some
interesting information about the properties of servants. This can teach you
whether certain combination of servants work well together, how much of an 
advantage being positioned in a ghost they own provides, see just how useful 
elites can be and against what types of opponents etc. There’s a plethora of 
servant data can be collected, and unlike a session in training mode, this is
real game data, so it’s more valuable than training mode test. Be sure to take
 advantage of this feature. 

Replay mode is one of the best features of the game, and is an invaluable tool
for improving. Take advantage of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	9. Quick Summary On Priorities, Tools for Practicing and Closing.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there’s a lot to this game, and a sure fire way to make sure the game is not
too daunting is to split up what goes on and prioritize what you need to focus
on. Here’s a quick summary on what to prioritize and focus on. 

First and foremost is your master ghost. Never leave it completely vulnerable.

Second priority is the map and your servants. They are the key to victory; you
wont be wining matches unless you’re aware of what’s going on in the map. 
Protect your servants, you spent mana on them, don’t let it go to waste. 

The last priority is your master. Don’t waste your skills and spend all day
in the organ, and don’t go in a situation where you are likely to die 
unprepared. 

Lets cover tools to practice real quickly. You have campaign to teach you the
basics. You have free mission, which can help you in learning how to act fast
in the organ in some missions and killing servants effectively with various 
characters (put the missions on hard). Going through them with a desired 
character, you can learn a lot about the particular character. You have 
exhibition mode, be creative in how to use it for practicing purposes, such as
learning strategies for map layouts and such, and general match up info, but 
keep in mind that the computer is very stupid.  And you have training mode for
everything else, where like in exhibition and free mission mode, you should 
be creative in order to get the most out of them mode for practice purposes. 

That’s all I have to say. This game is big and deep, so take your time and take
it slow. Get use d to operating the organ and commanding your troops in free
mission and campaign, don’t rely on the handicaps, and when going through free
 missions, do them on hard so you get something out of it (they are also a lot
more fun on hard mode). The best way to get better is simply doing matches when
you’re accustomed to the game, and seeing what the opponent does and testing 
what works. Just remember to not get too down when you lose and watch the 
replay to see what the opponent did so you can learn. Practice up and enjoy.

===============================================================================

	B. Character Specific Basic Strategy

===============================================================================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	1. Sol Badguy Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Sol Badguy is a relatively simple character to learn, yet difficult to master.
He is a primarily offensive character; his theme is being a strong master, but
having weak normal servants. In low-level play, this is not too big of an
issue, but the higher the competition, the more glaring his servants weakness
become. Sol has to do most of the work he himself, and his skills are based
around self-buffs. though his low-level units are weak, his elites are not. 

Sol has 3 regular servants consisting of Melee (Drill), Armor (Blade) and 
Ranged (Pencil Guy). Sol doesn't have a standard Mobile or Magic type servant,
making him vulnerable to armors. He has 5 Elite units, Melee (Firewheel) Mobile
(Engulfer) Armor (Gigant) and 2 magic types (Queen and Blockhead). 

Sol basic strategy is to rush the opponents like a madman, trying his best to
control as many ghost as possible and finding a clear path to the master ghost
as fast as he can. Because of his weak tribe (army) Sol doesn't want his 
opponent to build up a strong army and gain momentum, so he has to deny the 
opponent of ghost to build up mana early in the match. Sol's units are also not
very cheap in their cost in mana, so you want to have as much as you can get.
Sol's elites are actually very strong and his tribe is much more fearsome when
they are used effetivly. Bring them out as fast as you can to even the odds
in your favor later in the match.

In the beginning of a match, your going to want to know what you want to 
control, and where you want to slow the enemy servants down. You pick your
drills destination as fast as possible, and when they spawn, you pick them up
right away (either 2 or 3 of them) and place them where you want them, whether
it's to have early control of a ghost, or to slow down enemy forces, both is 
desirable. If you want to slow the enemy down, place them at a ghost directly
in front of the enemy master ghost. Unless you separated each and every drill
and tell them to stay at the ghost you plan to drop them via the organ menu 
before they spawn (yes, I have seen a player do that, it was impressive) your
going to want to tell them to stay put using right on the D-Pad right when you
dump them off. All characters use this strategy, but it is absolutely essential
for Sol, and he'll be doing this through out the match. Offense is Sol's 
strong point. 

When playing as sol, you transport your units where they are needed the most
manually (meaning you yourself pick them up and dump them off) and when you
aren't doing that, your either killing a bunch of servants your self, or
attacking the enemy master. Consider your servants main purpose to capture 
and maintain ghost, and to inch closer to the enemy master ghost (and you
speeding up that process). Your primary concern is their safety, meaning you
kill whatever might slow them down, or kill them. For the beginning of the 
match your best off spamming drills, and unlocking the Blade or Queen, but not
using  them until you see fit. Spamming  drills  and placing them where you 
want, as well as protecting them is effective, you  need to make holes in 
the opponent's defenses. If a large group of servants are slowing down your 
drills, or a very strong few (like armors) the last thing you want is for the
drills to die. You either pick them up and dump them to the closest ghost that
is closer to the enemy master ghost and go back to kill the enemy servants, or
you tell them to retreat. Remember that servants have an advantage when 
fighting at a ghost that is theirs (defense boost) so even if you don't have
the time to save them at the moment, they should be able to hold their own for
a while when they retreat provided there isn't a master attacking them.

take every advatage of Sol's Power and fighitng abilities during matches. 
If you are skilled with master fighting with Sol, confront the enemy master
when its in your favor to do so (such as when your not out-numbered) and
take them down. Sol works very well with attack Items, he can easily combo
into them. if you kill an enemy master, and your near their MasterGhost, try
beating on it for a bit with his power attack [(F)8x] and MC each strike. if
you want to be safe and your out of tension, air combos work too. using 25,
50, or 75 dragon install is also a very good Idea, since Sol will do massive
damage, and his 25 and 75 makes his power attack recover so fast that there is
no need for MC. bringing along a firewheel (best choice) or a engulfer to help
take it down is very effective as well. last thing you might use is a S-drive
so both you and your servant do crazy damage, and if you already have D.I. on,
Sol can take down a MG faster than anyone in the game. If your prepared, you
can ran sack the masterghost even without killing the enemy master if your fast
enough and he leaves it unguarded. Crush the enemy master and smash his
Masterghost, you have to be bold if you want to compete when playing Sol. 

There isn't much to say about drills, because you pretty much have no choice
but to use them. They are pretty weak, and have two different attacks, a 
switchblade attack that hits upward (hey, it helps with juggle combos!) and a
more powerful charge were it sticks it's drill into the opponent, making them
fly away. The damage output is nothing to write home about. When upgraded with
blockhead, its drill becomes massive (read; disproportionately huge), and does
more damage. With the upgrade, it receives powered up melee attacks. The 
upgrade doesn't help them too much, because the unit's primary problem it that
they are pretty stupid, and un-aggressive, and the upgrade doesn't change that
unfortunately. Still, you have no choice but to use them, luckily, their 
stupidity does not allow them to be overtaken by mobile units at least; the
drills will soundly defeat them.

A good technique I have seen in using drills are leaving one at every ghost
you own. So If the enemy want to get some free mana by stealing a ghost that
you passed or are not currently protecting, they have to deal with your drill
first, slowing them down. this works with blades as well of coarse. 

Blades are a lot sturdier than the drills, and also a lot slower, so be sure
to pick them up! When I use sol, I always unlock blades before any of the 
elites, as they are a great help in sol's army long term, just keep in mind
to make good use of them, as they are expensive. When upgraded with blockhead,
they have these flaming pinwheels on them, hitting whatever is close to them,
called offense cloak or lazer barrier. That's all it upgrades Blockhead
provides for the Blade, it's actually better than it sounds.

Pencil guys are Sol's Ranged units. when giving the unit a look over, despite
being a surport unit for a relativly weak army, it is not worth it's price
in summoning. It shoots enemies with weak, slow traveling projectiles that
poison the enemy, and has a special ability where it tosses a stun grenade. I
recomend you do not use this unit unless you are very familiar with the match 
ups in the game and you are certain this unit can give you an advantage. where
it stands right now, this guy is not very usefull overall. If you plan to use
it anyway, I recomend not putting more than 1-2 in a group, and keep their 
numbers to a relative minimum. I summon this unit just when I feel like mixing
it up from from always having nothing but drills and blades on the field. in 
other words: just for fun. 

The elite servants that are the easiest to use are Fire wheel, Queen, and
Engulfer. 

Fire wheel is very strong Melee elite unit. It shouldn't have 
problems against most units, and isn't something a master would want to fight
when at a ghost of it's own. It gets from point A to point B relatively 
quickly, if there’s something you want to tackle a master with for backup, this
guy is your prime candidate for its damage output and super armor. An 
effective Elite to bring out for the extra muscle it provides, and is honestly
one of Sol's best units. this and the engulfer do crazy damage to an
un-guarded masterghost

Queen is an offensive magic elite. It travels the map super fast, captures ghost
quickly, fights well, not to mention she does great damage to armors and is 
VERY cheap. Her health goes down by itself, so she won’t be around on the map 
for long, which is why she's so cheap. she has an passive effect that lowers the
attack of enemies around her. Not a bad choice for a first elite to bring out,
as later in the match, she will be less useful as stronger units become 
available for the opponent. You don’t use this unit to fight, just use it to
capture easy ghosts quickly, and to deal with matters you don't have time to 
mess with yourself (like minor units blocking random ghosts on your side of the
map). however, if there are many armor units on the map, it's a different story
, she tears through armors even better than engulfer. In that case, she is an
exellent unit for extra mucle on the map. If you plan to take on an enemy
master in advance,and you know where he is, you can coordinate queen to the
position where the oponent is and use her as back-up. she put's pressure on
masters very well and her attack debuff will help you out, making her a
fantastic unit for helping you in master fights. 

Engulfer is Sol's only mobile, and moves around the map just as fast as fire
wheel does, and it's no slouch at fighting either, though it is not as strong
as fire wheel. He tears through armors with no problem, so if armors are giving
you a issues, you want this guy. He has the ability to seal the enemy master's
and servant’s item slots (yes, servants have item slots and it can seal them,
how it effects the servant is up to the individual servant) with this ability
he can help a bunch when facing enemy masters, as they wont be pulling out 
special skills or items on you, and it can lay the smack down on them to along
with you. this unit is incrediby versitiile thanks to it's servant class of
being a mobile (which is only weak to melee) and it's item seal ability; it can
be used on the map like any other unit, protecting your master ghost (it can
stop MG rushes cold wih it's item lock) and makes a good body guard for Sol,
so be creative when using this unit to get the maximum return. 

Gigant, Sol's huge, slow, armor Elite, is not and easy unit to use.
He is an enormous armor unit that costs a large amount of mana, and is reliant
on upgrade Kits, which cost additional mana. With out the upgrade kits 
constantly being fed to him, he is a very slow and weak unit. He already 
costs 400 to unlock, and is even more expensive to summon on the field, and 
when you get him there, unless you want to keep him at your masterghost, it is
going to take him forever to get anywhere without a mobile kit, which already
costs 100 mana to purchase. He is extremely slow with out a mobile kit, and he
is a very high profile unit, the enemy can see him coming a mile away. 

The upgrade kits are temporary and cannot be compounded, so when you use a kit,
he's stuck like that until he reverts back to his original form. I'm confused
as to why Arc system work made this unit as unwieldy and expensive as they 
have, it takes a lot of effort to make this guy useful, and it is a shame,
because it's a very unique unit, there is none other like it in the game. 

Despite it’s problems, it can be useful. For the sake of defense, it’s a 
pretty good unit, even without an upgrade. It does not stagger when hit, has
loads of health, and feature a homing missile attack that locks on to six
different targets at once. These missiles give enemy servants the status effect
of fear, which causes them to retreat involuntarily. The effect is halved on
Elites. When moving the Gigant from point A to point B, you should place the
Mobile Kit on it, it will move much faster with it on. For offense, give it
the armor upgrade; it’s his most damaging and offensive upgrade he has, he
charges the target with a  battering ram/spear and can give you good results
when you need it to deliver some damage. The melee upgrade is better suited to
defense. He’s stays put and swings all around him, hitting those near by for
decent damage. I cant ever recommend using his range upgrade, it does high
damage to master ghosts, but the Gigant aim is ridiculously inaccurate; the
chances of him missing your intended target with the laser are high, and one
shot per upgrade is all you get. besides protecting a masterghost, it can be 
sent to hold down vital ghosts and makes quite an impression when placed in an
offensive group; it is just that the unit is insansely expesnive to maintain
and difficult to make use of otherwise. 

Blockhead is an elite magic unit, whose primary functions are to upgrade and
to support Sol's standard units. It can transfer health both you and ally 
servants at the cost of it's own health, it upgrades normal servants to enhance
certain features, and it shoots out a spray of energy ball-like projectiles 
that hits with a wide radius. Basically, it makes your normal servants more
formidable and keeps them alive, while shooting support fire. The upgrade it
gives varies from unit to unit, but the upgrade for the Blade and the Pencil
Guy are very good, making them much stronger and reliable. the upgrade for
drills are ok. 

despite these benifits it provides, it really isn't a unit I
can recomend. it doesn't have enough going for it to make a signifigant
difference unless your oponent is dumping out nothing but armor units and
you have all three low-level units out and paired with it (which is 
not very effective in the first place). though it has it's uses, it's more
of a gimmick unit than anything. 

Let’s talk about Sol's personal skills, which can really help him. Use Sol's 
dragon install as a tool that overall makes Sol more dangerous, and gives
you an edge against other masters. Sol’s dragon install changes depending on
the amount of resources your units have accumulated, resources are represented
by the gear symbol underneath your maserghost health. Resource is collected
when your low-level servants fight (with the exception of Pencil Guy).
For every 25, 50, or 100 resource you have, the stronger the dragon
install becomes. 

there are three versions of dragon install, depending on the amount of
resources consumed. all three version of dragon install cannot be dispelled
so you don't have to worry about the enemy nullifying it. 25 dragon install
primarily makes Sol much faster when it comes to attacking, and raises his
attack power to 1.1. His power attack is also spamed much faster, so assaulting
masterghosts with this is a good Idea. 50 dragon install simply increases Sol's
damage output to 1.5, and nothing more. It’s very powerful. Both 25 and 50
Dragon install last for 30 seconds. If you have at least 75 resource, you can
stack the level 25 and 50 dragon install status effects. simply apply it two
times in a row when you have enough resource, and you'll have both 25 and
50 buffs applied. this means both speed upgrades (in attack and moving) as
well as a attack buff around 60 percent. 

100 dragon install changes Sol into a dragon like form. Though there is no
General power incrase for his attack power, many of his attacks have been
enhanced, among other interesting changes. His sword has about twice the range
it normally has. Sol's power attack can hit up to three enemies at once, 
instead of just one. volcanic viper hits 5 times, and does over 300 damage.
the hit box for bandit revolver his much larger; improving its effectiveness.
gun flame tension cost goes from 15% to only 5%, gunflame itself comes out
faster, recovers faster, and travels faster, and it can be spamed. it can also
go through ghosts wihtout any penalty. His overdrive does over 1000 damage. this
form last for 45 seconds, and is very effective. a good way to land a volcanic
viper on blocking opponents is (L) x, 2x, x, 2y. the animation for the 2x has
changed, and is harder to spot right away in this mode. overall, dragon install
is one of the best buffs in the game, and it would be a waste not to take
advantage of it. 

When facing other masters, or a large group of servants, use crimson jacket,
particularly in a combo of (L) x, x (activate crimson jacket) when you start up
crimson jacket, it's initiation hits whatever is around sol, it can even be 
used by itself to snuff incoming attacks or to catch side-steps. if you want to
get a free combo off that, use (L) 8x to slide into them, and modern cancel
when you hit them, allowing you to combo a (L) x, x, into whatever you see fit.
Crimson jacket is a self-buff skill that will raise Sol’s defense by 100
percent (he takes half the damage he normally would) and provide some knock
back resistance for a limited time. The knock back resistance and increased
defense will allow you to be more offensive, and the increase in defense is
significant. If you want a super crazy strong Sol, use crimson jacket while
using dragon install. It will give you good results. Unlike dragon install,
this can be dispelled, so investing in a mouth zipper is a smart choice. 

Sol's Minion summon "hunchback" is a Mobile unit. It’s not extremely useful,
so you never really need it, but it can help you in confrontations when taken
out at just the right time. When facing a group of servants that has a lot of
units that are weak to mobile, in other words; anything thats not melee,
it performs pretty well in providing you and your servants back up. It’s chili
ball attack shocks enemies, does good damage to disadvantaged units, and holds
them in place, so you can combo them whilst it's attacking with chili ball. 
The effectiveness of its attacks are increased when it's fighting magic and 
armor, to the point where it can make fighting those servants much easier. 
I once killed a bone biter at full health with nothing but tossing hunch backs
at it, and it died relatively quickly considering it was under attack by 
minions. It has quick recharge time, so you can have up to 3 out at once. 
When you summon it, Sol tosses it like a little ball, and it hurts whatever 
it hits, and when it disappears from being out for a certain amount of time, 
it will blow up like a bomb, but if it's killed before that point, it will not.

Its role in master combat is minimal, due to the fact that it is slow and is 
not very aggressive, but it isn’t something master can simply ignore. You 
should draw the enemy master's attention away from the hunchback and pressure
their back against the unit, so they can get smacked (hopefully with chili ball
instead of the Melee attack) and provide an opening for you. There are also 
times where my opponent ignore the unit, precedes to combo me, and gets 
interrupted by the hunchback mid-combo. Overall the unit is helpful, and is
not too expensive in terms of mana to purchase and tension to summon. I would
advise against using the unit early in the match though, wait until servants
besides melee start to apear. Some opponents like to sepeate armor units and
place them individually on ghost to stuff Sol's units.it is a tactic that is 
powerful against Sol thanks to his lack of mobile and magic units. Hunchback
excels at helping you manage this tactic much easier, as you won't have to stay
and finish off every individual armor unit; the hunch back will do it for you.
it is the single most practical function I have found for the unit. unlike
pencil guy and blockhead, I don't consider this minion to be a gimmick, he
can really help out in 1 vs 1 when it comes to managing Sol's weakness to
armors if used correctly. 

Sol seems like a relatively easy character, but that's really not the case.
He's the manual character of the game, he's got to do everything by himself.
He can be fustrating to play at times, but he is rewarding when you play well
with him. try your best to shut down the enemy mana income and pick your elites
carefully, and take advantage of Sol offensive power to smash everything in
your way. 

	---------------------------
	Sol Badguy Master Abilities
	---------------------------

When it comes to master fights, sol is a close-range fighter, so you’re going
to want to stay in the opponent's face. Sol has the best poke in the game,
his (L) x kick. it will pretty much go through everything as long as it is
pressed fast enough and he is close enough to hit. Sol has a wide range of
moves available to him; the only problem is that all of them have short range
with few exceptions. (L) x is not the only move you can come in with, some
times it's better to come in with (L) 4x or 6x to stop them from side stepping,
even to stop them from coming in. they Can be combo'ed like so

(L) 4x, 6x, 2x, 8y - my favorite! I call it the "bandit revolver" combo!

(L) 4x, 6x, 2x, 2y - better damage return then the above combo. 

(L) 6x, 4x, 2x, MC, x, x, *2x, into side step, 2 x juggles, finish with VV.  
*You can side step if you want.

Gun flame juggles the opponent, and it's easy to hit them with a bandit 
revolver after it, so a decent and cheap combo would be (L) x, x, x, y, 8y. 
It’s cheap in tension and does good damage. It’s fantastic for it's crowd 
control when dealing with servants too.

Don’t forget his brute force (lock on 4y and 6y) is great for crowd control.
when Sol is among a group of enemy servants, and need to be bailed out. it
only hits once most of the time, but it knocks down whatever it hits, allowing
Sol to breath easier. another primary function is its ability to gain tension
if there are many targets to hit at once. if there's a lot of servants to
strike with a brute force, Sol will actually gain more tension then he uses
when activating the move. take advatage of this. the move hits enemies from
behind, all the way to those in front of him. 

after the first lock on x, you can press 2x for a punch that has good guard
break properties and can be repeated, a good combo would be (L) x, 2x, x, x,
into whatever. you can switch this combo up with (L) x, 2, 6x, 2x, or 
(L) x, 2x, 4x, 2x, if you expect oponents to attempt to side step out of the
guard break. you can forward step after 4th hit of the (L) x, 2x, x, x, to
continue the combo if you time it just right. its  not easy, but the reward is
great if you follow up with a good combo (like a 2x juggle).  although this is
a bit on the iffy side, testing on the guard break 2x punch shows that the move
has considerable block stun, and if it hits, there's a good chance the oponents
won't actually be able to side step in time to dodge a 5x. this was tested
offline, so use it to your advantage when mixing up your attack strings. 

The guard break punch combo can be hit confirmed into (L) x, x, x after the
third hit. It’s hard to do, but it may be worth it. 

The way to approach a master is either 1) walk towards them, 2) dash towards
them 3) run to them, 4) jump towards them, 5) air dash to them, 6) bandit
revolver to close the gap and attack them at the same time. Don't underestimate
the ability to jump and air dash, as it is the only way to dodge and counter
attack certain moves, like horizontal attacks and projectiles, Ky's Stun edge
is a good example. A desperate but functional method of moving in is Sol’s
(L) 8x, modern canceled on impact. And followed up with (L) x, x, into whatever
you want. This is good, thanks to the extra range the (L) 8x provides.
If you don’t know what to combo after the (L) x, x, you can try a simple
(L) x, x, x, 8y. or you can try to do a 2x juggle after (L) x, x.

Speaking of Bandit revolver, it covers a lot of distance quickly, and cost 
almost NO TENSION! It can even be used for escaping. The Bandit revolver has
great guard break and does chip damage, so toss it at the end of a
blocked (L) x, x, and it should break guard if you’ve been keeping up the
pressure. Catch people with it when they think they are out of Sol’s range. 
Practice using Bandit revolver while short dashing to give Sol some real nasty
reach. When used at the correct timing, bandit revolver can go over some
attacks, like projectiles.  If the first hit does not land, but the second 
one does, modern cancel that hit to continue attacking the opponent without
them blocking, great for dealing with characters like Sin who attack from a
distance. Over all, bandit revolver is an excellent move, don't neglect it.

a good gaurd break combo with bandit revolver is (L) x, x, 8y. the second hit
of bandit revolver will break guard and do 75 damage. MC the last hit to 
continue into a combo. 

Tossing out a gun flame to oncoming opponents is good too (for example, when 
they run at you), but otherwise, gun flame isn't a reliable zoning tool. Gun 
flame helps for crowd control as I said before though. (It hits enemies
directly behind and to the sides of Sol too!) When used sparingly, you can 
catch an opponent off guard with it, so don't think it's completely useless
outside combo.  

An interesting note is that gun flame can cancel out just about every normal
projectile in the game, including Ky’s charged stun edge, which is more than
twice as strong in damage output. the only thing it won't stop is a fully 
powered phantom barrel. 

The Volcanic Viper is probably the biggest reason why Sol is such a deadly 
Master. It is a reversal of sorts, it's a jumping uppercut that can go through
attacks (it has uninterruptible frames; hyper armor) and does lots of damage.
It can be EASILY combo'd into,Sol can even do it in the air, which is crazy.
To use it as a reversal, block an attack and right afterwards, hit them with
a volcanic viper, works mid combo too. Air counters can be done too, recover
in the air from a combo and if the opponent is in the air too, you can
smack them with a volcanic viper very quickly. Characters who are good at
air tech chasing and comboing characters in the air can't do it to Sol because
of his aieral Volcanic Viper.If tech chasing gives you headaches, Volcanic
Viper does not dissapoint; just mash 2y after air teching and shut them down.
You can do a y (Break Down) after the volcanic Viper without MC too. a good
move into volcanic viper is (L) 4x, x, as it leaves Sol very close giving him
more options in the air. 

This move is amazing, but don't abuse it. Sol is very vulnerable if it is
blocked and not Modern Canceled. It can also never break an opponet's guard;
if someone is blocking everything, don't mash VV in an attempt to smash their
guard no matter how red their block animation is.


Break Down is a good aerial stomp, it has an explosion when Sol lands, so it's
a good crowd control tool, and it can hit masters from behind if done 
correctly. If blocked, be sure to Modern Cancel the move to be safe and 
surprise the opponent with a continued assault. if you MC the landing, and it
hits, feel free to jump up and combo the sucker. think of ways you can follow
up on this move, as it's one of Sol's best ways to move in at times. 

Toss out a power attack (8x while in free mode) it will break right through the
opponent's guard (in most cases), and does good damage and has good range. 
Useful fact about sol's hard attack, it does good damage to ghost and
master ghosts. Give them a good smack with it. You can go bananas on a 
vulnerable master ghost by hitting it with the hard attack, then modern 
canceling it into another hard attack, and repeating it until you are 
empty of tension. It’s also great at damaging servants and providing crowd
control as it sends servant's flying. enemy masters cannot tech from this move.

modern cancel normals if you can afford it in order to keep the preasure on.
mix up with side swipes to stop side steping, and throw in a 8y if you feel
they may wnat to jump. if they eat the 8y, modern cancel to continue the combo.

mess with the guard break punch in different ways too, such as:

(L) x, 2x, 6x, 2x into whatever you please (the animation for the 2x in to the
6x looks really cool by the way. spin around!)

A good combo that takes a lot of tension, but does great damage is 
(L) x, x, 2y, x, x, 2y, y. it is untechable, meaning the player cannot escape 
from it once they are in it. Takes over half their health away, along with half
of your tension. 

A preferred combo of mine that is as reliable, but a little harder to input is
(L) x, x, x, y, j, x, 2y, y. takes about one third of your tension for
over 300 damage. If done exactly as I have written down, the opponent will
not be able to escape the entire combo.

Another major way that sol damages opponents and gains tension at the same
time is juggling masters with (L) 2x uppercut, side stepping to the left, and
2x again. Repeat until they float very low, than finish it off with a Volcanic
Viper. You can put this in a combo, such as
(L) x, x, x, (F) walk forward, x, y, (L) (left side step) 2x, side step, 2x,
and continue the juggle and finish off with a 2y.

The (L) 2x uppercut itself is a good anti air tool; it whacks enemies right
out of the air, so pull it out on jump happy opponents if you don't want to
spend tension on a Volcanic Viper. the move has super armor break properties.
moves that normally do not stop after getting hit (Like Ky's (F) 8x) will be
stoped when hit with Sol's uppercut,  

The first combo regarding the uppercut loop is a little difficult and may be
unpractical unless you master it, so here's another way to combo into the 
uppercut loop. (L) x, x, x, 8x, MC, x, x, 2x, (start loop, when they are low
enough, finish off with a volcanic viper) if done correctly, you'll do around
320 damage and have plenty of tension thanks to the uppercut loop.

You can also perform a (L) x, x, x, (step forward) and follow up with 
another x, x, sidestep, 2x ect. and finish with an 2y and y
it is VERY hard to do consistently, but Sol is MUCH more powerful if you master
the timing. he can do over 300 damage damage with this combo if you leave out 
the 2y and y at the end. the full combo does roughly 350-360 damage. 

if you have the tension to spare, and find an oppertunity to land this, you
can do massive damage with this very powerful but tension taxing combo. start
out with: (L) 4x, x, MC, 4x, x, MC, 4x, x, 2y, MC, x, x, Air Dash, x, x, 
2y, MC, 8x. it does about 419 damage if I recall correctly. its the strongest
combo in the game that I know of that doesn't involve an overdrive
and is inescapable.

Sol has a very easy way to put the oponent into a "tech chase" state. hit them
with a naked gun flame, then jump and air dash towards them as quickly. try to
hit them with x, x as they attempt to recover with a tech, and sol will chase
them and wack em. try this out in training mode, you could get massive damage
out of this if you do it right, if they don't burst, and if they aren't sol
as well (because he can VV you right out of a tech, snuffing you out)  

When your opponent is out of tension to burst, and you have full tension, make
sure you’re close to them, and do a (L) x, x, a+x for a guaranteed
kill. Tyrant rave is Sol's overdrive and is done by pressing A and X button at
the same time in case you forgot. Can only be preformed with max tension.

another combo into overdrive for guard break is (L) x, 6x, 2x, a+x. the
first hit of the overdrive breaks guard, the second hit will do 480 damage 
that the oponent can't burst out of. that kills three characters on the spot.
you can shorten this combo into a (L) 4x, x, a+x or a (L) 6x, x, a+x 

If you want to run away from a fight, hit the opponent with a (L) 8x, and blast
drive out of there while they are on the floor. You can link a volcanic viper
from a 8x for example (L) x, x, x, 8x, 2y. it might not always work though.
you can also continue juggles with a MC from a 8x, providing a different
manner for Sol to move in. 

Remember that Sol has a ton of options and tools for taking down masters, and 
doesn't just have to be aggressive, he can be played other ways too in master 
fights. He’s very flexible, and has a wide variety of high damaging combos. 
His Servants are bad, and it can’t be helped, but they are not useless and 
neither are his personal skills. With proper strategy from the player, Sol’s 
tribe can be a handful to deal with, and Sol himself is able to get a lot done,
provide great support and lead the tribe effectively. Sol actually does have
the highest damage output in the game, doing the most damage off guaranteed
combos, so take advatage of that and his Volcanic Viper. When it comes to
1 on 1 master duels, this guy is about the strongest character there is, and
that's not even including his crazy self buffs skills. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	2. Sin Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sin is a character who has both a powerful master and powerful, expensive units
. He is among the most flexible characters in the game thanks to his many
strong points. He has the most low-level units in the game, having all 5 
classes to chose from, and the least elites at his disposal (only 3). With his
superior master abilities, powerful units, and fantastic skills, all in all, 
he's arguably the strongest character in the game. 

His swordsman (Melee unit) are stronger then any other mele unit in game. they
are all around in their abilities, just like all melee units in the game. at 
225 many, they are a little pricy, but you shouldn't be running out of mana
by simply summoning these guys; unlike drills, they are worth their price. 
swordsmen ave a particularly nasty stab attack where they charge their swords, 
and ram it into their target. it does great damage to ghost and pretty much 
anything else as long as it isn't an armor or range unit. you'll find that
fighting around your units is a good idea because all of them tend to put on 
a good amount of preasure on enemies.

Gauntlet Body (Armored unit) is the strongest low-level armor unit in the game.
it costs a hefty 420, but it's worth it. they have strong damage output and
stong defense. A very reliable units overall. 

Springbock (Mobile unit), is, just as the previous units we covered, is the 
strongest low-level mobile unit in the game. It has the ability to weaken
armored units' defense with it's Steel Antler skill, making this unit a
deadly force against all armored units in the game. the uni is overall, a
very reliable one, and is very annoying to engage thanks to it's long range
when it attacks. 

Wise Man (Magic unit) is one of the only two low-level magic units in the game.
it buffs it's allies and shoots awkward looking projectiles. they are weak, 
and the buffs they provide are uasually not needed or worth the mana it costs
to summon the unit. don't use this unit.  

Twin Trigger (Ranged unit) is an extreamly powerful range unit. it has very low
health, but insanly high attack power. these can help you out considerably, but
aren't really needed, as your tribe can do fine without them; still, this unit
is recomended. it has a 3 arrow special attack that rips through masters. 

Convict Hammer, Quadro Bailiff, and Heaven's libra (Armored, Ranged, and 
Support unit) are Sin's elites. they are all strong units. 

Convict Hammer is Sin's elite armor unit. in comparison to Sin's other elites
because you cannot pick it up and move it as you please, it isn't the best
choice to release first. alhtough not very formidable by itself, it has a 
passive ability that delivers an attack buff to allies who are near it, making
it deadly in groups. it also has the ability to dispel, so that makes it
annoying. it's a decent unit overall. 

Quadro Bailiff is Sin's elite ranged unit. this unit is a little strange, it
has 2 stances. it is normally in "melee mode", where it will attack using...
well, melee attacks. it's always in this stance when it moves around. when it
gets near enemies, it goes into "range mode" where it stay's put, and shoots
overpowered projectiles at enemies. this mode makes it just about the best body
guard in the game, as it anihilates enemy masters that it hits. the projectiles
themselves are very fast and have long range, making them hard to dodge. to
matters better, it has super armor on when in shooting mode. the shooting mode
is limited however, he can't stay that in that stance forever, and he has cool
down time before he can go into it again. you can tell which mode he's in by 
symbol over his head and what he says ("I'll penetrate the enemy!") this guy
is prime candidate for the first elite you want to bring out. carry it 
with you. 

Heaven's libra is Sin's magic elite unit. Its another overpowered unit like
quadra baliff. Its defining trait is the staff it places down when around
enemies. the staff creats an area affect of lowering the enemy's defense. The
staff works on every enemy unit, including masters. it shoots out pojectiles
that have splash damage, and the output on the attack is not bad at all. it
also can give allies an attack speed buff, but it has to apply it directly, it
is not a passive area effect like Convict Hammer's attack buff. bring this guy
out second, he's good against anything with that staff of his. 

personal skills. Sin's exciter is an attack buff. raise his attack by roughly
1.25. it's good, use it. pascatal stain (I think that's what it's called)
is a heal that Sin gives to his units. It recovers very quicklly after use and
is very overpowered. it will even work on ally masters in 2 vs 2. use it.

phantom barrel is a projectile that zaps the life of Sin and nearby units and
does major damage. though it is a bit situational at times, it can do obscene
damage if you get an enemy master with it. because it's so damaging, it's great
to use on enemy elites as well. remember that it gets stronger the more allies
are around you when you preform it. 

As for Humming Sword, it is a mobile minion with a high stun rate.
From the limited testing I've done with it, and what little I saw a skilled
player do with it, it has some uses. It stuns enemies, including masters, and
pokes for decent damage, so it can be an effective back up for Sin. It can also
capture ghost quickly.

Sin's army is expensive, but very, very strong. his personal skills are very
strong. there's not much to say other than this character has it very good.
chose your units well and be on th ball, you will do fine with this guy.  

	--------------------
	Sin Master Abilities
	--------------------

Sin's is an extremely powerful master, who is proficient at crowd control and
attacking at a distance, we'll say about mid range. He has simple to input 
combos, and very high damage output, but he is slow with close range attacks,
and his options are severely limited once he runs out of tension. Sin has 480
health as opposed to the standard 500 health.

Sin's two signature attacks are his beak drivers, but for the sake of 
simplicity, we will cover the details of those moves later, right now lets
focus on his normals, which, by themselves, are pretty lack luster.

(L) x, x, x, combo stops jumps and is his main bread and butter when you 
aren’t trying to blast them to hell and back with a beak driver. if all 
three hits connect, you can jump and follow up no problem, with little 
chance of the opponents teching out. Here’s a combo that I do all the time.

(L) x, x, x, j, x, x, (air dash) x, x, y. stupid easy to input, 
hard to escape, great damage.

You can combo into beak driver with (L) x, x, y.

Sin's (L) x, x, x, is slow, and can be sidestepped pretty easily, if you get a
clean miss, there's pretty much nothing you can do about it, and it isn't hard
to sidestep his first hit. If the first or second hit is blocked, the opponent
can side step out of the combo and punish, if you don’t take the proper action
to attempt to stop them. you it requires that you properly predict when the
opponent will try to jump out if he hits, and what direction. You can stop 
sidestepping by attacking with a (L) 4x, or 6x mid (L) x, x, x. for example, if
the opponent wants to side step to my left after blocking the first hit of my 
combo, I do (L) x, 4x, and blast them with a beak driver.

(L) 4x is a slow, and wide horizontal sweep with his staff, made to stop 
sidestepping. it can be jumped over and punished, and if done at too close of 
a range, it may be out right snuffed, thanks to relatively long start up time.
It can punish sidestepping from either left or right, but if the opponents side
steps to the right, he has a greater chance of blocking or interrupting the
move. Izuna can actually outmaneuver this attack, double sidestep to your
right, and punish you for cleanly missing you with the attack. You can cancel
the recovery time with a beak driver if you hit an opponent, whether they are
blocking or not.

(L) 6x is short ranged, and can punish side step to your right only. You can
follow up with a 2x after hitting with it and a 8y after that.
A quick close range move. 

(L) 2x is a leg sweep, and is pretty much a desperate move when some one gets
in your face, although one of sin's fastest moves and cannot be sidestepped, it
can be snuffed (sol’s (L) x kick is faster, and will snuff it no problem). it
can also be jumped over and punished. Very short range too. Can be followed up 
with a beak driver on hit. 

His aerial normal can be interrupted and inputted again by an air dash, letting
you do combos like (L) j, x, x, (air dash) x, x, x. his power attack in the air
is a stomp. (L) 8x.

(L) 8x is a vault kick, where he kicks the enemy by vaulting himself with his
staff and kicking him. He’s hard to hit while doing this, and you can implement
this in combos. Longer range than any of his other normal. 

His power attack is a lunging spinning kick, which has high guard break 
properties.  It can be blocked outright, unlike other character’s power
attacks, like Sol’s for example. can be cancled with other moves if it hits
a target, regardless if it is blocked or not. 

Beak driver (L) y is a fast mid range poke that can be combos into another
blast by hitting y again. This move is the Sin's signature move, and is what
makes him so deadly. It is very fast, and can be comboed into many different 
ways. When you get someone with it and the block the first hit, you can take
a gamble and hit y again anyway, there’s a good chance if they attempt to 
escape the blast they will get hit, even f they block it, it will do good chipp
damage. The only clean way to avoid getting hit with the subsequent blast of 
the beak driver is for the opponent to jump out of the attack, where he may 
or may not be able to punish, I really don't know if he can in the situation.
This move tales little tension and can lead to high damage combos. Though it is
very fast, it can be sidestepped and jumped over.

You can follow up these two combos off the beak driver blast.

(L) y, y, j, (air dash) x, x, y - very easy to do, decent damage

(L) y, y, (F) 8x, (L) 8y. - Easy, but decent timing required. big damage.

(F) - Free mode, lock off.

Jump y is "poke it like no tomorrow". Put it at the end of air combos. 

(L) 8y is big beak driver. it has more start up time, does more damage. 
This mover can be used to finish combos, or get quick big damage for punishing.
It is easier to be punished for missing this move, and it is easier to side
step. 

(L) 2y is a catch counter like the one Axl low has in GGx2 AC, where if the
opponent hits you with a move when it is active, Sin will counter the move. 
But it does not activate immediately, so you must have adequate time to use 
it, best when recovering from getting up. if Sin doesn’t catch his opponent, he
will be vulnerable for a short time. Can be followed up with beak driver. Use
this move with caution; you don't want to miss with it. 

(L) 4y and 6y are big energy orbs that sin leaves in place for a bit. I think
they are used to limit enemy movement, and to prevent them from getting close
to you. They can also be used for mix up purposes and in combos (but I do not
know any combos involving them personally) you can direct them directly in
front of sin by starting them up with (L) 4y, than moving the stick to the 8 
position. Activate these balls too close to the enemy and they will smack you
as Sin takes his time creating these. 

Sin's 8x in the air is a quick stomp. its among the fastest airial power
attacks in the game. on hit, you can preform a juggle of (L) 6x, j, 8x and
repaet a number of times for a damaging combo. the j. 8x is a great counter
move to punish block strings. 

And that’s it! Keep away from masters and conserve you tension. With Sin, it 
kind of all or nothing, if the opponent can't get the drop in on you up close,
you can destroy them with Sin's easy combos, but when they are in Sin's face,
his options aren't too good. Someone like Sol can destroy sin up close if they
are familiar with everything he can do. With out tension, sin is pretty awful,
so beak driver when you can and go for big damage combos while you can, and 
struggle to not get overtaken in close range combat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	3. Izuna Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuna is a character that has a good master, and with decent and diverse units.
Izuna himself is a pretty potent master, with fantastic range and special 
attacks, but his damage out put is lacking. His servants have good variety, so
the tribe it self doesn’t have a specific weakness, but his units are not very
strong individually. His all around characteristics make him a flexible 
character like Sin and Ky, but he is much more difficult to master than Sin,
he’s a technical character similar to Ky.

Izuna’s normal units consist of Melee, Armor, Mobile, and Range. His Elites 
consist of Melee, Armor, Magic, and Range. 

Melees are kappa, which have solid stats, and have a cool ability of counter 
attack. You will notice this if you fought the kappas before, so it really 
helps when masters are beating on one, and get hit by it’s counter attack, that
does big damage. It also helps against fighting other units. However, it is not
a guarantee that it will always pull off a counter attack when hit, and even 
when it does, there’s a chance that it will be dodged. Kappas can be 
potentially routed by drills (sol’s awful melee unit), they are not extremely 
reliable, only relatively so, so keep that in mind. 

His armors are pretty light footed for armors. I forgot their name, but that 
doesn’t matter. The attack more rapidly than any other armor unit, and can 
annihilate the weaker units with ease, but they also have very poor defense for
armor units. Easily done away with by masters and units that have an advantage
over it. 

His mobiles…well, they are mobiles, and they do what mobiles do, which is me 
fast, kill magic and armor nits, and have bad damage output and defense. If 
you thought Izuna’s armors were bad with defense, wait to you see this unit.
This unit doesn’t have anything special about it that I can think of, it’s a 
solid unit, and no doubt useful for what mobiles do, but doesn’t really excel
at anything among the mobile units in the game. They prioritize support units
when fighting, so they will go after support units first.

Izuna’s Range units are actually pretty good. They have a strange projectile
skill, where they shoot a satellite, and then shoot their target, the 
satellite, usually shot to the side, shoot and disappears. It adds more 
pressure to the opponents. It’s not as powerful as twin triggers 
(sin’s ranged unit), but it’s definitely not weak. At higher levels it can 
shoot more projectiles. It dies quickly just like any other range unit 
in the game. 

His Melee elite unit Tengu, does good damage. Has a useless ability that 
catches an opponent in a tornado where they can’t do anything. It does not work
on masters. It’s a decent unit overall. It’s probably the worse of the three 
elite melee units in the game. 

His range Elite is also a decent unit. Its attacks are damaging, and it’s great
to use as back up for Izuna. Because it is a support unit, it’s going to get 
killed relatively quickly when facing stronger units, especially a master.  

His magic elite is very potent; it can freeze enemies, and adds knock back 
resistance to nearby allies. Good for carrying around with you for it’s 
freeze. Doesn’t do too much damage though, and it’s a support unit, so be wary
of it getting targeted and annihilated. 

His Elite armor unit is like a Gigant (Sol’s Armored elite), that’s not as 
expensive to maintain, but his limited uses in comparison. It’s main function 
is being a big tank that moves very slowly, and capturing ghosts with it’s big
hammer. It ignore units, and does not attack them even when hit. When the unit
walks, it creates shockwaves that hurt nearby enemies. When it reaches half 
health, it will fall to it’s knees (which creates shockwaves) and produce 
little minions to attack enemies. If it reaches the enemy master ghost, it will
do about 80% damage to it in one hit, and destroy the protective barrier on it
same result for he Gigant with a range upgrade, only it is more reliable with
it’s targeting and doesn’t cost an upgrade like the Gigant). It about the most 
expensive unit (I think it’s tied with the Gigant) I don’t recommend using this
thing, it will burn a hole in your mana, because it cost over 800 mana to 
bring out, it’s very slow (EXTRA SLOW), cannot be used for effective defense, 
and due to it’s nature, the enemy master will put his sights on it, and kill 
it as fast as possible, making you waste your mana. 

On to Izuna’s personal skills. He has a magic minion. It slows down enemies, 
and targets nearby masters over all other enemies, so pulling it out against 
an enemy master is a good Idea. i also freezes stuff. great for master fights,
not so great for other purposes.  

He’s got a projectile that raises the attacks of his units. Use it when your 
units are marching to the next ghost, because they are usually in formation
for multiple units to touch your projectile. Not a bad skill. 

Izuna has a special dispel skill that cost a lot of mana, but once you buy it,
it charges very quickly and is very effective for removing status effects and
killing minions in exchange for tension. It will not destroy traps, such as
mines and bananas though, so it’s not better than dispel in that regard. It’s
useful, but expensive. Also, just so you know, you cannot dispel Sol’s dragon
install, so don’t bother trying, you will pay if you do.

Izuna has a gimmick where he can turn invisible. It’s cheap, and not totally
useless, despite that it may look that way. It’s a great tool to use when you
want to run away, as master’s can’t lock on or see you, neither can they’re 
servants. It’s also great for recon trips, in other words, you can go and see 
what the enemy master has in his territory with absolutely no risk, and he 
won’t be able to see you checking out his stuff, but this is mostly useful for
running away. If you hit an enemy while you are invisible, you will lose your
invisibility, but you will do increased damage with your strike. 

	----------------------
	Izuna Master Abilities
	----------------------

Izuna is an overall great Master, with solid normals and great Special attacks.
He’s got good range, fast pokes, a double side step, and although his high 
damaging combos are limited, he does have them. His only his only problem is 
overall lack of power, and sometimes his double side step gets him into 
trouble due to the nature of it (against raven’s pressure game and sometime 
it strangely backfires when trying to dodge Sol’s kick. You side step, and 
his (L) x kick follows you. I don’t know why this happens, it just does, 
Sol’s (L) x kick is insanely good) and with the exception of maybe one or 
two combos, his damage out put is not anything to write home about, even 
those few combos that do massive damage, they are very situational, and even
when everything is going perfectly, it can still miss. With those hiccups, 
and the lack of a consistently powerful pressure game like sol and raven, he’s
still pretty versatile and probably one of the best Masters in the game. 

Izuna has a wide range of normal (L) attacks, so much that I have not gone 
through them all. His standard (L) x, x, x, is a great combo, the first hit
is a fast poke with great range. The second strike can be jumped on block,
and the third strike can be side stepped to your right.  He’s got a 
(L) 2x kick that he can use to set up opponents for (L) 8y and performing a
move that keeps opponents on the ground for a long time when you do
(L) 2x, 2x, the kick will knock them over, and the second strike will keep
them on the floor longer than a banana.  To set up for steel wasabi, do
(L) x, x, 2x, 8y, has nice damage out put. Also (L) 2x, (side step) 2x, 8y
works too. 

His (L) 4x is something I use to punish a whiffed attack or for mix up, it’s
good for pressure as well. If the opponent simple stands there guarding and you
perform a (L) forward step, 4x, you will cleanly break their guard. His (L) 6x
is strange, it’s very damaging for a two hit move, but I don’t think you can 
use it for many combos. Unless you side step to the right, the second hit will
almost always miss, because it leans to Izuna’s left rather than in front of
him. The best application I can suggest is to punish, nothing more. 

His (L) x, 2x, x, combo launches, so it’s good to use in combos and juggles.

His (L) 8x is a little lacking, and very dangerous to use out in the open, so 
it should only be used as an extension of combos. Even though it launches, you
must jump and attack very shortly after landing the move. A decent way to use
the combo is (L) x, x, x, MC, 8x, j, x, into whatever you want.

His free mode x, y, launches, and can be used in combos, also great for mixup,
when someone intentionally approaches you, and expects you to attack with 
(L) x, x, x, planning to jump after the second strike and counter attack, 
will get hit doing so. Can be combo’d into with 
(L) x, x, x, MC, (F) (walk up to them) x, y, (L) j, x. Yeah, I know,
complicated stuff.

if you are fast enough, you can combo (L) x, x, x, into a (F) xy without a MC.
simply step foward right after the (L) x, x, x, and lock off as soon as you do
so, then quickly input (F) x, y. it is worth learning and getting the hang of. 

His air combos of standard x, x, x are decent; they have nice range, but don’t
do too much damage. There are better ways of hitting launched opponents than
with a standard aerial x, x, x. try at least a x, x, 8x, Izuna’s aerial 8x
is an amazing move, does great damage.  

Izuna’s aerial 8x has a wide range of uses. It great for short, tensionless
combos, such as (L) x, x, j, 8x. It should work perfectly fine as long as 
long as you perform the 8x as soon as you jump. That combo is what I like to
use to kill servants, and to kill Elites, I just do j 8x directly, kick them to
get them back up, and repeat. Also great for master ghost damage, just do the 
move, and MC the last hit, jump and repeat till your out of tension. Do (L) 2x,
8y on normal servants when you want them dead fast. It is worth noting that
Izuna’s jump 8x can be dodged by jumping at Izuna, right in his face. I know,
that makes no sense, that means you can do (L) x, x, j 8x, and on the part
where you jump, if the opponent jumps too, your 8x will go right through him,
leaving you vulnerable

(L)y is a slow, homing projectile that does weak damage. Use it for traps and
set ups, and to stop incoming opponents in their tracks. 

(L) 8y is steel wasabi, repeated stabs, it can be used in combos, and can be
done as long as you mash the y button, and it will eat up your tension. A very
powerful attack for Izuna, don’t squander it, you’ll waste tension and you’ll 
be vulnerable if you miss, and it’s not hard to dodge when you see it coming. 

(L) 2y is his long-range horizontal slash, which is good for mix up, and is the
best crowd control tool in the game. Spam it against groups of normal servants,
and it will do wonders for you. It has start-up time, and can be jumped, so 
pulling it out randomly on a defensive opponent will get you whacked. 

(L) 4y or 6y is his homing dive attack. He flies around and rams into the
opponent. It can be done in the air and combo’d into. Just jump and press
a direction and y to have Izuna do the move in that direction. When you hit
the opponent with it, they will go flying, and no matter where they go, the
move will chase them- for the most part. When you strike, you can MC and attack
to keep the pressure on or can follow up with a steel wasabi if you hit them
with the move (I don’t remember if you need to MC to do that, but I don’t think
you have to.) The biggest issue wit this move is that it has NO PRIORITY OVER
ANYTHING. Though it is kind of hard to it Izuna when he does the move, any 
attack will knock him out of it. ANY ATTCK. The other issue is that although it
will follow the opponent, and he cannot sidestep it to dodge, he can jump right
before the move makes contact with him, and Izuna will stop, leaving himself 
slightly vulnerable. In other words, last second dodges will effectively escape
the flying kamelia or whatever you call this move, this is true for the aerial
version too, air dashes can escape this if it’s close enough.

The Last special move is his most peculiar one. (L) Jump y. it’s a freeze
barrier that freezes whatever the tip of the barrier touches. So you can jump,
freeze the guy; go around him, and free combo. When in the Ice, if the opponent
was blocking, and you attack hi front, he will block your attack, It’s also
worth mentioning that when frozen, the opponent has higher defense, and that he
won’t be frozen for a very long time. It eats up about ¼ of your tension, but 
it’s a great move to pull out.  It can be dodge by the opponent if he jumps at
Izuna, and is inside the barrier that Izuna creates. Not touching the tips of
it, so don’t abuse the attack. Opponents who are familiar with it will keep 
and eye out for you spontaneously jumping. They can also just smack you out of
the air very quickly if you jump; some characters have moves that can do that,
like Sol’s (L) 2x, or his Volcanic Viper. 

And that concludes our Izuna guide. He is a very technical master to learn with
a varied tribe, but individually weak servants. His master abilities are among
the best in the game, but he must be played well if you want to see why this is
the case, as it’s not obvious like it is for Sin and Sol. The reason his units
are weak are is because he himself is so strong, use his personal strength and
take advantage of his unit’s quirks and variety to get the most of the 
character. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	4. Dr. Paradigm Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Paradigm is about the hardest character to play as. He’s the worst master
when it comes to master battles, has no air dash, 450 health, and cannot deal
big damage easily, and is restrictive in his almost nonexistent combo game.
Even with all these faults, he is a VERY dangerous character, and he is 
ironically one of the best characters when it comes to crowd control. His 
theme is the exact opposite of Sol, weak master, but strong, reliable, balanced
and relatively inexpensive Servants, and useful personal skills. 

Paradigm has three normal servants, and four elites, his normal servants are
the frogs (melee) the dogs (mobile) and the turtles (armors). Notice something?
He doesn’t have support types, only the three standard types of servants. He’s
the only character who has this arrangement. This is a benefit to paradigm 
though, less troops to purchase, and truth be told, he doesn’t really need
support types, because they are only there to support the standard servants.
Because he has all the standard servants types, he has no weakness like Sol and
Valentine, who both have unbalanced servant units.  At the beginning of the
match, he’s the only master who can have four groups of servants out right 
away, and his Mobile units are available from the get go. 

The frogs are quick, annoying, and dependable for Melee units. There really
isn’t any problem with this unit, and is perfectly fine to spam this unit
similar to Sol Badguy and his rush tactics. It helps that the unit is pretty 
cheap overall in it’s cost for mana. 

Bowers are available from the start, and are a pretty fast mobile unit. They
can help in the capture of ghost thanks to they’re speed, and can be annoying
to face for masters in large crowds. These guys can be used as quick master
ghost defense, because they are cheap, fast and aggressive. Thanks to this guy,
armors won’t be a problem for you to take down. They are strangely units that
don’t speak to you updating their status, they only bark, so you actually need
to read what they say to see what’s going on with them. 

The last normal unit he has is his turtles, which in all honesty, aren’t that
great for armors.  They are slow and un-aggressive; their attacks aren’t very
deadly, and are not very hard for masters to take down, but that doesn’t mean
they are useless. The turtles have high defense, and they don’t have a problem
with facing a large number of units thanks to their rolling attacks. They are
also good for taking down servants that are weak against armors, they just
aren’t shining examples of how good armors can be, similar to Sol’s drills and
their poor performance as a melee unit that can barely fulfill it’s job. On an
unrelated note, they have the funniest/most annoying English voice for a unit
in the game. “The enemy’s weeeaaak.” 

Paradigm’s Elite units are all useful, but some are better than others. He has
Leonard (melee) Bone Bitter (Armor) dual horn and spirit seeker (magic types). 

His Leonard packs a punch, and adds to the overall effectiveness to a group of
servants, but can be easily destroyed by an enemy master who is familiar with
it. It’s not a bad unit at all, and is very useful to carry around with 
paradigm, because its damage out put is not something masters can ignore, and
if they are careless, the Leonard can easily kill them. It’s just that
Paradigm’s other elites can be more effective. I’ve heard that it also does
well defending the master ghost, so you can try that out. If you don’t want to
use it as a defensive unit, there’s no problem using it to help push across the
map. It can be really deadly in a group where the master cannot focus on the
unit itself, just be aware the enemy master could set his sights on the unit 
and kill it.

The Bone Biter dragon is one of the best elite armors in the game. It is with
out a doubt one of the first things you should bring out whenever possible. It
moves across the map at an acceptable speed, has great crowd control, can 
poison enemies, and lower their attack power. It doesn’t require a huge amount
of tension to summon either, considering how helpful the unit is. When low on
health, it will eat nearby frog units for health, so pair it up with them. It
isn’t invincible or unstoppable by any means of coarse; so don’t fool-heartedly
throw it into a bunch of mobile units supported by magics.

Dual horn is a turtle that is very annoying for enemies to deal with. It’s an
elite magic unit that freezes targets, and those targets really can’t do
anything about it. This is another Ideal elite unit to carry around for back up
thanks to its freeze. It also shoots ice attacks at enemies as well. It’s great
for sending it with other troops as extra muscle, and it also has an additional
ability to heal ally units. Can be used however you see fit, similar to pretty
much any of Paradigm’s elites  

Lastly is the Elite Spirit Seeker. It’s a magic unit; it can turn capture units
into ammunition for a long cannon attack, and can release little dogs as
minions. The capture cannon it has is an interesting feature, it’s a very 
long-range attack, and with it, it can attack enemies who are stationed at 
enemy ghosts near by to one where it is placed, it hits pretty much everything
stationed at the targeted ghost. So can essentially use it as a long-range 
support unit, helping with aggressive assaults by staying at a ghost
alone positioned next to ghost you want it to  help attack. If assaulted, it
will release bower jr. minions to protect itself. The capture cannon uses
capture units for ammunition. A very unique unit.

Dr. Paradigm’s personal skills are extremely useful. His stratagem is a
godsend, making all his units on the field, including himself travel 
MUCH faster. It’s the probably the first skill you want to buy, and you want to
buy it early. Paradigm doesn’t really need the skill, but it makes him even
more dangerous and effective with his troops. When ever I have this thing on
and blast drive, I always crash into stuff, so be aware that paradigm’s a
little harder to steer in blast drive while going super fast. 

Get Out of Here is an attack personal skill for paradigm, and a very powerful 
and useful one at that. It’s the game’s one and only grab attack. It’s
unblock-able, does good damage, works for all enemies that can be picked up by
masters, and can pick enemies off the ground. You must be VERY close to grab
with this attack so be aware and try not to miss. You can actually do combos
with this thing, so if you are skilled with the personal skill, it’s worth
investing in. 

Aegis field is a force field that surrounds paradigm and nearby units, 
increases their defense, while the barrier itself is protected against 
projectiles. I have almost never seen the better players use this skill, 
paradigm has better things to shove in his Item slot, but that doesn’t mean
it’s a useless skill, just a bit situational. I can only recommend you use it
at the enemy master ghost, or during an intense servant battle, with enemy 
magic or ranged in the vicinity. Paradigm dies fast enough with out a defense
reduction, so don’t be too quick to brush this technique off due to it’s
situational uses. 

Gate Gunner is Dr. Paradigm’s personal minion; it’s a ranged unit. It can
increase the attack power of nearby units, and stay in one spot and shoots
enemies and ghost.  It’s a very helpful unit, providing Paradigm with some
much-needed backup in fights and letting him have temporary control over
ghosts, it also has a short item charge time. It’s either the first or the
second skill you should purchase, depending on how you see fit, definitely
something you want if enemy masters are giving you a hard time. It allows you
to make openings for apple drops and assistant Bonnie traps.

	-----------------------------
	Dr. Paradigm Master Abilities
	-----------------------------

There’s no two ways around it. Just like Sol is lacking in servant strength, 
Dr. Paradigm lacks in master strength. This does not mean that Paradigm is just
a punching bag, far from it, but he definitely is at a disadvantage against 
every other master in the game. You need to be aware of everything Dr. paradigm
can do, and use his tools to the fullest. 

His (L) x is a very good poke, capable of snuffing incoming opponents, and has
respectable speed and range. He can follow up with the standard 
(L) x, x, x combo if he gets a clean hit. In the (L) x, x, x combo, I believe
the second hit give the opponents a minor slow status effect, and the magic 
circle in the end give them a oil barrel status effect, which I’ll get into 
later. Even though his first two attacks on the combo have good range, the last
attack is relatively close ranged, and thus, will not always hit. Learn to 
recognize when the last hit will not reach, so not to leave your self open and
whiff it. 

You must keep in mind that his standard (L) x, x, x, combo is NOT safe on
block, it can be side stepped right after the first hit, and paradigm sure
takes his time with that magic circle attack, so he will most likely get hit
if you spam the combo on block. There are some options you have when it comes
to dealing with a blocked (L) x. The best option would probably be to simply
back off once it’s blocked, but there are other alternatives. If your certain
of the direction the opponent will try to side step, try either a (L) 4x, or 6x
after the first hit to catch them. The (L) 4x, and 6x have different 
properties; the 4x attacks opponents to Paradigm’s left and front, is very
short range, and will blow the opponent away from you. His 6x hits opponents
from behind, his right, and in front of him, and takes it’s time completing it
self, whereas the 4x comes out much quicker. The 6x doesn’t launch the opponent
away from you on hit, and your allowed to continue the combo with a magic
circle.

When moving in, you can use (L) 4x or 6x for mix up and to stop sidesteps out
right, the 6x can go into a combo, but the 4x will launch the opponent away.
Decide which direction the opponent is likely to side step and chose the
appropriate attack. Personally, I think you should use 6x often, and 4x for 
when you feel it can score you a hit, and some breathing room; use these moves
in your master game often and you’ll get good results.  

(L) 2x is a magic circle with slightly different properties. It has great range
(including horizontal and vertical range, so you can even hit someone in the 
air with it), and is actually a better strike than the circle that comes out
 at the end of the (L) x, x, x, combo.   Beside coming right out without a 
combo, it can also knock down your opponent, potentially giving you the
opportunity to run, set up an assistant bonnie trap, or pick them up with the
Get Out of Here throw skill. Use the (L) 2x when opponents are moving in, when
you’re right outside striking melee range. The circle takes a little time to
come out though, so do it ahead of time. Paradigm’s (L) 2x is a vital tool;
so don’t let it go to waste by never utilizing it. 

His aerial x is a little shockwave type thing that comes out of his bubble, use
it to counter attack and keep master off. If they block, just modern cancel and
do it again, or MC and land with reduce recovery time. Not the best attack, but
its something.  

(L) 8x is his apple drop attack; it’s great for taking down servants,
especially elites from a distance.  You can occasionally catch masters with it
when they whiff or do something stupid and punish them, or keep them at bay
from a safe distance where they can’t retaliate. The best time to hit them with
it is when they are distracted by other units. It isn’t a good attack to spam 
due to how long the attack takes to come out, and the recovery time afterwards.
The attack can be done in the air too, when it’s preformed, paradigm stays in 
the air for the duration of the attack. Try using it as a ranged aerial counter
attack, great for countering projectiles. Use the move in conjunction with the
L trigger (parallel movement button) and Paradigm will drop the apple directly
in front of him, instead of where the opponent is. Use this to catch people
with the apple where you predict where they will move (as opposed to where they
currently are) and drop it on them. Mix it with the lock on apple to trick your
opponents. Although it is not a move you should do often, try stepping forward
towards an opponents in their face, and shoot an apple, they might step back in
order to avoid what they think is a (L) x strike or a grab, and they will jump
back directly into the apple. 

Paradigm’s hard attack is a roll, performed by pressing 8x in free mode. His
roll is fast, covers a lot of distance, has good crowd control, good priority
and is a viable tool for escaping. It cannot break block like other hard
attacks, and it is not safe on block, so you shouldn’t become overly
predictable with it. You can try MC it on block to protect yourself, and even
try a grab on the opponent right after. A nice tactic is to walk away from an
opponent, and to charge with this attack when they move in. It’s a great move
to use.

Assistant Bonnie is Paradigm’s main special attack; it’s kind of like his
signature technique. With assistant Bonnie, you place a bomb down 
according to where Paradigm is facing and the direction you point the analog.
2y to place it right in front of you, 5y to have it a way ahead of you 8y to
have it far from you etcetera.  Than you place down the “trigger” for the bomb
in a similar fashion. The “trigger” is a green projectile that goes towards the
bomb, hitting anything it touches, and pushes them towards the bomb. When it
makes contact with the bomb, it will blow up, hitting anything nearby with 
unblock-able damage. This move is the ultimate crowd control move in the game
that isn’t a overdrive when combined with the “oil drum” status effect. 
Certain moves, such as the magic circle moves, give targets a status effect of
an oil drum, where they will increase the size and damage of the explosion of a
bomb when they get hit with the bomb’s explosion. You can take out entire
armies with this move, its AWESOME.

You can cross up enemy masters taking advantage of the trigger’s attributes
and pushing properties. Even if the trigger is blocked, it will still push the
master towards the bomb, and eventually pass through them. The best way to use
it against masters is to place the bomb next to you. Even without you summoning
the trigger, the bomb will eventually explode, so it is a decent form of
insurance, even if the opponent doesn’t give you an opportunity to use the
trigger. With the bomb next to you, shoot the trigger behind the opponent, it
will come to the bomb, and they won’t be able to block it, and get dragged into
the explosion. If they have the oil drum on them, more damage for you. It can 
also work with the bomb and trigger switching places, but it is less likely to
work. If you do manage to hit the enemy master with the bomb from behind or a
good distance away, you can finish off the blast with an apple drop, remember
to keep in mind that they might try to circle or side step the trigger, so you
can benefit from placing the trigger to the side to mix it up and be less
predictable. Same as the apple drop, your best chance to hit with this is when
the enemy is focused one other targets.

Dr. Paradigm’s aerial Y is a strange green projectile. It throws itself at
whatever you lock on, and does splash damage, as well as distributing the oil
drum status effect. The range on the move is pretty good, and Dr. Paradigm 
stays in he air for the duration of the attack. Combine this with Assistant
Bonnie to annihilate servants, and unlucky masters who manage to get hit by it.

Dr. paradigm had a unique aerial special attack, is 8y in the air. He does an
aerial version of his roll. It’s great as a counter and as an escape, like the
ground version, it knocks down opponents on hit, but unlike the ground version,
it requires tension. Good for escaping and for countering whiff attacks you
jump over (must be done as quickly as possible for that purpose)

Paradigm’s overdrive is summoning a powerful magic Elite unit, called Kokopelli
summon. It’s very strong, and a great tool for many situations, like at an
enemy master ghost for example. It can be damaged by dispel, but it won’t kill
it from that alone. two dispells can kill it though.

I’ll leave you with a paradigm Combo. 

(L) x, x, x, MC (forward step) 2x, (step forward) (Get Out of Here)

Last thing to remember about master combat, is to fight around your units and
don’t be afraid to run away. Items are your friend, especially with this guy,
so buy them and use them well. Be wary of strategies designed to go after
Dr. Paradigm continually, it’s pretty much Sol’s best chance to beat
Dr. Paradigm, and it’s not something to ignore.

Dr. Paradigm can’t compete with the rest of the cast in master combat, but even
with his 450 health and no air dash, he can still manage is own. His Servant
play is pretty much unmatched, his crowd control is fantastic, and his
personal skills are great. Get really good with operating the organ and using
your troops, and master the art of combat and all of his tools, and your
looking at one of the game’s most effective characters. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	5. Valentine Basics Guide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentine is a difficult master to play as; she excels at mid range combat, as
 she has a variety of effective projectiles, and as powerful servants to back
her up and act as a shield to protect her. She is however, pretty bad at close
range, and although she can fend for herself close up, she isn’t as dangerous
as other masters in the game, this is also evident with her 460 health, and 
her generally low damage output.  She’s great at killing servants, and has 
powerful crowd control, but with her shortcomings as a master, she’s a 
potentially easy kill.  Her servants are very strong, and are the primary
 muscle of the character, unlike a Sol. 

The Valentine’s tribe is around the second strongest in the game after
Paradigm's, but works nothing like any of the others. Having only one
of the low-level basic unit types, they have to make heavy use of support
troops to have any chance against most armies. It can be summed up that this
tribe’s has unbalanced servant types, but the individual abilities of each 
servant are excellent. This tribe is reliant on its elite servants more than
the majority of the tribes, and the order in which the servants are contracted
is very important. Raven shares this tribe.
 
Candy is the tribe’s excellent melee unit, having more special abilities than
any other in the game, all of them useful, and increasing their survivability,
making them one of the better defensive units. These are the only low class
basic servant that this tribe has, so your going to need to supplement the with
the proper amount of support units early. The lower their health is, the more
damage they do. These units have the highest attack damage amongst the standard
melee units, and move across the map rather quickly for a melee. They are also
extremely aggressive, making them annoying to fight in droves.   

Gateau Skin is the tribe’s range unit. There’s really nothing that special
about Gateaus, it does have a special attack that will strike any nearby
enemies one recovery from a fall, which does nice damage. Not very impressive
compared to, say, Twin Triggers, but as ranged units can tear up melees, you'll
need these guys right away to get yourself the advantage in troops early in the
game. They are available from the start, no need to contract them. 

Professor Blancmange is the magic unit of the tribe; you'll need to unlock 
these guys right away against most opponents, as they're your only counter
to armors, which will smash your army otherwise. This alone means you'll 
make very heavy use of these guys most of the time. Their ability to slow 
enemies really wrecks armors, as they likely won't reach the professors 
before being torn up by magic attacks... if you have enough professors to
do the job. Their slow spell can be a big help when facing masters. 

Charlotte is the tribes elite armor unit, and the only armor unit in the tribe.
This is a reliable unit, being annoying to kill, faster than most armors, and
even though nowhere near as deadly as Bonebiter, still an enormous pain to
fight against in a group. Getting rid of Charlotte usually requires the enemy
Master taking care of it in person... and with Charlotte's low cost, it will
be back soon even if they do. Charlotte has low damage out put for armor, and
regains a minute amount of health when it hits an enemy. It’s wide swing 
attacks cannot be interrupted. When it is alone, don’t be surprised if the
enemy master takes it out rather quickly, it can be easy to handle alone,
even DR. paradigm can destroy this guy one on one no problem if the opponent
if familiar with handling these.

Mille-feuille is an elite mobile, and the tribe’s only mobile unit, Mille is 
the most costly unit you get, and is very worth it. Once you have him unlocked,
your Master should carry Mille at all times, immediately tossing him into any
fight you run across. His summoning of really nasty mobile minions is 
invaluable, as if it uses his summon near any dead servants, his minions will
be able to teleport and cause long stuns, as well as staying even if you pick
Mille back up.

Éclair is your elite ranged might be the least useful of your elites, but is
the hardest-to-kill ranged servant in the game. Éclair fires basic shots fairly
slowly, but they have an extreme range and great tracking. Also, its high HP is
complemented by a defensive retreat it uses on occasion when forced into melee
range. When ordered to head to a Ghost, it fires shots that reach from an
insane distance to the Ghost, but it uses that skill rarely enough that you
shouldn't count on capping anything by surprise. This thing absolutely destroys
magic units by the way, can kill Heaven’s Libra before it even thinks of 
putting down its staff.

Miss Tiramisu is An Elite Magic. Can be a very annoying unit in the game to
fight against, as her basic attack is a huge ball of energy, and she has the
unique ability to keep units from being able to attack at all with a curse.
Unfortunately, she doesn't always use this on the enemy Master when she has
the chance. Her basic attack makes her devastating to armors, and that alone
is likely to make her a necessity not long into a match. 

Valentine's personal skills. 

Brownie is her Minion. It’s an armor unit that follows Valentine and gets
in the way of attackers. They will counter attack what hits them. They’re
Very helpful for valentine.

Zest is an attack where her balloon blows up, takes a good amount of tension
I've seen this used at the end of 8x loops and combos. It’s also good for old
fashion crowd control. 

Bye Bye is a teleport skill that takes you to your masterghost; you can escape
a fight easier that way. It’s a cheap skill, handy for getting away if you feel
the need I suppose, since her blast drive start up is so slow.

Valentine's tribe is VERY powerful, but not exactly the most easily wielded
thanks to her strange arangments of low-level servant types. you need to be on
your toes and observant to which units are needed and where .her units
are cheap, so you don't have to scramble around for mana, allowing you more
flexibility than most armies. 



	--------------------------
	Valentine Master Abilities
	--------------------------

Valentine has 460 health, is the only character who can double jump, and her
air dash goes further than anyone else’s. Her start up for her blast drive
is the slowest in the game.when playing as valentine, you have combos and
juggles at your disposel, but she is not proficient at close range combat, and
can be easily overwhelmed by the likes of Sol or Izuna. 

Brownie is her Minion. It’s an armor unit that follows Valentine and gets
in the way of attackers. They will counter attack what hits them. They’re
Very helpful for valentine.

Zest is an attack where her balloon blows up, takes a good amount of tension
I've seen this used at the end of 8x loops and combos. It’s also good for old
fashion crowd control. 

Bye Bye is a teleport skill that takes you to your masterghost; you can escape
a fight easier that way. It’s a cheap skill, handy for getting away if you feel
the need I suppose, since her blast drive start up is so slow.

Valentine fighting style is composed of very close range melee attacks with
some quick and varied projectiles. She works best by playing defensively
unlike Sol; she should spread her units out slowly and stay with them as a
lead. Her melees back her up very well, and she can sit back and blast away
with her projectiles until the enemy manages to come close, where she can
attack with her melee strikes. your units helping you out in combat is a
big part of what makes valentine dangerous, she isn't well suited to one on
on confrontations. 

The standard (L) x, x, x, combo isn't bad, but the first strike has very 
short range. On the third hit, she will jump, so you can MC it and hit them
with a 8x for more damage. I'm unsure whether you can enter the 8x loop with
the combo though.

(L) 4x doesn't have the range that the (L) x second strike has, but it goes
into her launcher, where you can strike the enemy a few times, and finish off
with the 8x loop, hit the opponent with 8x, and the second valentine touches 
the floor, jump again and repeat as much as possible. This is her biggest 
source of damage. she can also finish some of these combos from this attack
with zest. An example.

(L) 4x, x, x, 8x (zest)

(L) x, x, x, MC, 4x, x, x, 8x, (land) (left step) 4x, x, *x, x, 8x, (zest)

the * signifies that she will whiff the first two hits and strike with the
third hit. 

(L) 6 x is where she spins Lucifer. A good move to do on servants, as you can
charge the move by hitting x rapidly, which will hurt anyone the swing will 
hit. Stop pressing x and aim, valentine will unleash a heavy strike that can't
be blocked. Not bad for masters thanks to it's range, but if the block and side
 step, make sure you MC the move to be safe.

(L) 2x is to stop side stepping mostly, but can be used as a roundabout way
to attack. Try sidestepping to either direction and use this. if you hit 
twice in a row, you will dizzy the opponent. I' suggest using the L trigger 
if you are going to use it from a side step, and once you hit, MC and do it 
again to stun.

Her 8x on the ground is heavy hitting and good for attacking servants. I'm 
not too sure about attacking masters though, there’s not much you can follow 
up with it. Good for knocking them back. Here’s a combo utilizing this move.

(L) 8x, MC, 8y

short and sweet.

Her hard attack sweeps and breaks guard. It’s great for crowd control and for
mixing it up against masters. You can combo from this move as well with a
jump x.

Her aerial x combo is very good, extremely reliable, and can go into 8x loops.

She has 4 projectiles, y which is weak and straight, 2y, which are two shots
from the left and right, good for mix up and hiding behind a ghost. 8y is a
heavy and strong projectile with start up time, great for servants and short
dashing masters, or for sneak attacks. Don’t spit this one out randomly; 
you can be punished for it. All of Valentine’s projectiles can be jumped 
over, so keep that in mind. 

Her air Y is a series of shots with splash damage. Great for servant 
crowd control, and not bad to whip out on masters every once and a while
you see them get careless. Even if you miss the shot initially, she will
slowly follow her target.

That’s all, she's a tricky but reliable character, her units are very annoying,
and help her out greatly. Though she weaker than the majority of the masters,
she’s not as weak as Paradigm, who has almost no combos. Just beware of her 
shortcomings and cover your vulnerabilities. Her servants are good but their
types are unbalanced, so be sure to know what you are doing with them, she 
relies on them more than Raven, as she is not as good at close range fighting
as he is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	6. Ky Kiske Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ky is unlocked by beating the game's campaign mode on any difficulty. He has 
the same servants as Sin, but he has different personal skills and drastically
different style of master combat. He also is the only master who does not
have a minion. I will not cover his servants, for information on them, check
out Sin's section.

When it comes to master combat, Ky's a very technical character, who has a
large and confusing mix up game unless your opponent is familiar with the
character and his move list themselves. Despite his complexity, he's really 
no better than the other characters, he relies on stringing together long 
combos, and most do not require him to use tension. There are moves that 
can be blocked when stringed together, so he's not as good as he may seem,
but he's not a bad character either. he has a powerful zoning game thanks
to his stun edge. 

Ky has a series of pretty much endless attacks, but they work under certain
circumstances usually. So example, his (L) x, x, x, x can be blocked after the
first hit, EVEN IF THE FIRST HIT CONNECTED. I know, odd isn't it? So how do
you make it work? Turn it into a (L) x, 2x, x, x. the 2x, what I like to call 
the magic grab, is what makes most combo strings work on hit for Ky. and if
the guy blocks? He can side step right out after the first (L) x. so what do
you do than? Well you can hit him with a 6x or a 4x, depending on what side he
will side step to avoid the magic grab. You can also try coming in with 
different moves, like 6x for example, to throw your opponent off guard instead
of the plain old (L) x, or (L) 2x. Ky has decent mix up game. I don't like Ky's
(L) 8x, it can't really be combo'd into anything unless MC into stun dipper,
and it isn't that fast, but it can be used as a surprise poked I guess.
another tool in his mix-up game nontheless.  

(L) 2x can be used as a hit confirm, or be made into a small combo that goes to
Vapor thrust. (L) 2x, x, 2y. To use it as a poke and hit confirm, get REAL
close to the guy, hit him with it, and wait for a bit, and combo into the 
standard (L) x into whatever. 

The combo I always use when I get a clean hit is (L) x, 2x, 4x, 6x, 2x, charged
stun edge, or a j, x, x, x, combo at the end instead of the Charge stun edge. 
The second 2x is Ky launcher.

Ky's Launcher: (F) 8x, has super amror properties. while this does not mean it
cannot be interrupted at all, most normal attacks will not cause Ky to staggar.
use this as a counter to predictable opponents when the opertunity presents
itself. 

When the first hit of your combo is blocked, don't do the magic grab; follow up
with something else or back off. Take advantage of Ky's mix up.

His vapor thrust is a great special move, it can be combo'd into easily, and
can be used to counter the opponent's combo on block, mid combo. It’s really 
just like a volcanic viper, only worse. It has less range, less damage, and
can't be done in the air. it comes out just as fast as Volcanic Viper though,
and shares Volcanic Viper's hyper armor, meaning you won't be getting knocked
out of the move.  

Stun edge is a quick projectile, it's pretty good overall, since it comes out
so fast, it can catch enemy masers off guard and use it for your mix up game.
Make good use of it. you can move in from a distance of apply a lot of preasure
by modern canceling the move when it conects.to apply preasure, mc and shoot
another one, this can be done multiple times. to move in, modern cancel the
move and short dash, but it works best if the stun edge hits instead of
being blocked. Make good use of the move.

The aerial version of stun edge is pretty bad, I don't recommend using it.

Stun dipper can be used in combos as a finisher and can catch opponents at a 
distance. It can also be used mid combo by canceling the first hit, but I don’t
know any combo’s using the move myself.

Holy brand is a decent crowd control tool, but it's very hard to use otherwise.
If your going to hit a master with it, you need to predict when and where the 
enemy master will sidestep. It can use in combos, and the properties of the 
move will change slightly when using the L trigger (L trigger side step, holy
brand towards the opponent is how it’s used in combos). Honesty though, it's 
very hard to use this move on masters effectively on a consistent basis out 
side of combos. 

Special skills! His charged stun edge is a fantastic move in combos and killing
servants, and it doesn't cost a lot of tension. Use it. 

The Soul Diver  is a defense buff for your units, it activates very quickly,
knock back any opponents that are near by, is cheap in mana cost, and tension,
and your nearby units get knock back  resistance, like Sol's crimson Jacket, 
only Ky's units get buffed instead of he himself. I like using this skill; you
don't really lose anything by applying it often to advancing forces as often
as possible.

His other skill, divine gaze, is a healing spell that also adds experience to 
your units, with no benefit to Ky himself. It cast a lot of mana to buy 
(220 I think), takes forever to actually cast (5 seconds?), the radius around
Ky that the spell effects is very small, HOWEVER, it is potentially useful. The
effectivness of the level buff and the health boost are stronger the less units
are around Ky when he uses the skill. This allows ky to level up his elites
faster if he seperates them. though, be aware that it has a very long recharge
time. 

Overall, Ky is a pretty good character, he's got reliable servants, every class
of unit available to him, has a unique and tricky (but difficult to master) 
combat style, and can buff his unit defense up. Not a bad character at all. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	7. Raven strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raven is a downloadable character available for purchase for 400 Microsoft 
points. He shares the same units as valentine, but has different personal
skills, and fights vastly different. Since he has Valentine’s servants, I will
only cover his master abilities. For his servants, check out the
valentine guide. 

First I’ll start with his personal skills, he has 4 of them, 2 for masters,
one for attacking servants, and a minion. 

His not there skill is a move that teleports behind the locked on
target, if you press x while doing it, you will do an unblock-able 6x kick.
It can be dodged a variety of ways, so use it to punish for the best results.
If it hits, free air combo for you, just jump to follow up. 

The next skill is a slowdown spell. It will slowdown the movement dramatically
on the target that is locked on. It takes a while to use and can be interrupted
easily, but it has long range, so do it at a distance. The opponent can still
run away if you’re too far, and if you fight another Raven and he pulls this
on you, your better off running if you can't reach him in time to stop the
spell, a dispel will clear it up though.abuse this skill whenever you can. 

Slow fields are the next Skill, and it's primarily for wiping out servants.
They make servants slow, and have the same status effect as Raven's magic
elite (cannot attack). You can control the way raven throws the two needles
with a direction and the L trigger. L trigger and hold 4\6 so Raven can throw
them split apart, for large crowds. use 8/2 to throw them both directly in
front of you. This is a helpful skill to help take out servants. this skill
 has no effect on masters.  

Raven's minion, the little Bird, is a weak minion, but, thanks to Suzaku's
translation skills, I have found out that it steals tension form enemy masters.
How annoying, that's just like raven to do something like that to you. I need
to test how effective the thing is, but its purpose is to steal tension from
enemy masters and serves as a distraction for servants,. It's a mobile type
minion, but it does such little damage and dies so quickly, I don't think it
matters what type of unit this thing is.

Now for Raven’s fighting style. Raven has a distinct style in master combat,
and doesn't have too much flexibility on how he should be played in that
regard, but he has answers for most situations he's in. When playing Raven, 
he has very short range, and thus most not approach the opponents carelessly,
or he will get snuffed.

So the best way to attack is to punish and counter attack, and when in close
range, smack the some (L) x, x and usually finish with a 4x without 
Modern Cancel (MC). His (L) 4x and 6x can be used to stop side steps, 
the (L) 6x will launch the opponent, can hit grounded enemies, but cannot be
combo'd into from (L) x, x on masters without MC, or they will block. I think
you can possibly pull an air combo off from (L) 6x with a MC. when you see an
opportunity, like to punish a whiffed attack, move in with a (L) 8x, into x, x
standard combo. DO NOT spam 8x, it is not safe on block, once blocked, the 
opponent can side step and punish. His (L) 2x is a launcher that has some 
invincibility, but has VERY short range, use it as a planned counter if you 
can, than jump into a air combo, no MC needed. His (L) 8x in the air is decent
for punishing and moving in, and can be combo'd into his standard 
(L) x, x, 4x combo. Raven's power attack ((F) 8x) is decent for crowd control, 
and breaks guard.

Standard combo for Raven I use.

(L) 8x, x, x, 4x, MC, 6x, 8y

(L) 6x, 8y, MC, 8y

All of Raven's special moves are needle-like projectiles. 
Y is a anti air, and launching projectile with decent range, 
it has some (short) startup time, but interestingly enough, even is Raven is
interrupted mid way of starting animation, the attack will still come out, 
unlike his (L) 8y. if you MC the y special, you can follow up with an 
air combo. It can be side stepped. this move is used primarily for defense. 

(L) 8y is a standard projectile, has startup time and recovery time. When the
projectile actually comes out, it's pretty fast, and does a little over 100 
damage when it comes out, and has good range. Use it to poke and punish when
you see an opportunity, like sneaking up on an unsuspecting master. You can
actually MC into another (L) 8y, so if your close enough, and you have the 
tension to spare, smack the opponent with another one. On an odd note, if you
are as close as can be when you shoot this projectile, the projectile will 
miss the opponent, not that you should ever be that close when you shoot the 
thing. it can be interrupted and punished if jumped over, and it isn’t hard
to side step if seen coming. 

The third special move he has is his (L) 4y and 6y, three needles attacking
his left and right respectfully. They are primarily to punish side steps it
can also offer up some limited and weak crowd control. It can be MC into
other (L) 4x and 6x no problem. 

His mid air y special attack is a projectile that shifts its aim to its target.
It can be used to punish, and to end air combos. Like the other projectiles, 
it can be MC into another air Y, so if they are in the air, hit the opponent
with two (or three?) of these for extra damage. 

Raven's overdrive has short range, and cannot kill a opponent with full health
(does about 400 damage). It hits all around him, and hit's opponents above him.
If you want to catch some one with this, hit them with a (L) 2x before hand,
and combo into it.  

There we have it folks. Raven is a character with a strong master and
reliable servants. His fighting style is close ranged, and is good at 
pressuring and punishing, but his options are not the most diverse and he’s bad
at crowd control. Overall, he is one of the easiest characters to play and
perhaps one of the simplest. He's worth the 400 Microsoft points in my opinion,
because he’s pretty fun and effective to play.

===============================================================================

	C. Extra 

===============================================================================


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	F.A.Q.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) What kind of game is this? 
 
- GG2 is a 3d action/RTS hybride that takes elements ofan action game, a
  fighting game, and a real time strategy game to make a unique competative
  multiplayer experiance. 

2) what's a good comparison to draw this game to?

- warcraft 3: defense of the ancients mod is very similar in concept. you have
  a hero unit comanding other, less powerful units. Herzog Zwei is another
  good comparison. the major difference between the titles mentioned and GG2
  would be GG2's emphasis on action and player vs player fighitng. There is
  also the xbox360 and ps3 game Brutal Legend wich plays very similarly. 

3) Is this game on the PS3 or wii?

- Unfortunately, this game is currently an xbox360 exclusive.

4) How many players does this game suport at once?

- GG2 supports 2 player splitscreen locally. 4 players online. 2 players can
  play splitscreen online in player matches. 

5) does this game have 2 player co-op? 

- Unfortunately, contrary to what the back of the box says, this game does not
  feature 2 player co-op, niether online nor off. 

6) How do you place computer players in online matches?

- in a four player online match, the player hosting may highlight an empty slot
  and press the x button to place a computer player. 

7) Guilty Gear is known as a 2d fighting game series, why did they make this
   title a 3d action/RTS game?

- I feel it would be best explained by the creator of Guilty Gear himself,
  so I will post a part of an interview where he answers this question. 

Daisuke Ishiwatari, Guilty Gear series creator at Arc System Works: 
I originally loved fighting games as a player, and had been greatly impressed
with other companies’ fighting games, which I believe became my motive to
create the GG series. Along the way to GGX2, we’d started to get a good
response from the market, so as a next step we wanted to create a game that
can greatly influence other companies just like they had been such a great
inspiration for us. By playing European and American games like FPS, RTS,
etc., I got to know there are still so many exciting games left to explore.
 
So, we finally redirected the ins and outs of our own fighting games and
battle games to the new game system as an exciting and exhilarating battle
tool called GG2.
 
GG2 is a battle tool that is intended for battles among players. Although
it’s not a 2D fighting game, the game is full of essences of a fighting
game and the game allows players to use intricate strategy as well. So, we’d
love fans of 2D fighting game to give it a shot as well, especially its
battle play.
	
	"Source"
	
-  taken from siliconera.com, article written by spencer,september 9, 2008
   "All ABout Guilty Gear 2".


8) I'm having trouble completing campaign mode, any advice?
  
- Do it on easy mode, use hints, and control the organ yourself. If your
  having trouble using the organ, organ wait can help you, as you can take
  your time getting used to the organ's layout. when you feel you are good
  enough with the organ, be sure to take organ wait off, it might lead to bad
  habits in vs matches if you rely on it too much.
   
9) I'm losing the map! How can gain back some momentum and turn the match
around in my favor? 

- There are a couple of ways to do this. First, you can repeatedly critical 
  down the enemy master, it will help keep him off of you, and give you some 
  much needed time to regroup or push the offensive. You can slow the
  opponent’s momentum by separating units, picking them up, and leaving them at
  vulnerable ghost within the enemy territory. This will force them to spend 
  some time or servants to clean up after it, giving you more time to push back
  where you need to. Critical downing them can also lead to easy masterghost
  raids if you're prepared and take advantage of the weakened state of their
  masterghost.

  Another simple trick is taking advantage of the rounds. When a round is about
  to end, make sure you can get as many ghost the opponent has to neutral. If 
  you do that, in the beginning of the next round, they will lose whatever was
  ghosts were not theirs, and their forces will be pushed back to their closest
  ghost. Take advantage of the ends of rounds to gain back some of the map. 

  The last piece of advice is to look for vulnerabilities at the enemy master
  ghost. Take Servants with you; dump them there if there is no one guarding 
  it, and if you feel you can get away with it, by all means, go to town on the
  thing, using the appropriate items to help you with the siege. It may be
  desperate, but it can work if pulled off correctly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Credits & Special thanks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Game data was collected by myself, the players on the Gamefaq boards,
Dustloop boards, the game itself and the instruction manual.

Thanks to the Japanese players who upload their videos on nico video, my buddy
for letting me hog his xbox360 to play this game, Nevoid for helping with the
Valentine guide and to the guys on the guilty ger 2 overture message boards
for sharing a ton of strategies for the game, like FlameMasterAJ, Antikirby
and PandaKingEX, and anyone else I forgot. 

Thanks to Eleinia who's Romancing SaGa guide I formatted this guide after. 

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Copyright 2011 by Gabriel Tobal. All Rights Reserved.