PIT STOP: Brave New Worlds

 Nearing the end of Tekken 7's lifespan, I made two firm decision. The first was to not play Tekken 8 competitively. I made a RANT post about this so if you want more of that story, you can read about it there. The other big decision I made was to try something different. A new fighting game genre which I always looked at and wanted to try but never had given a honest try. It was time to go ANIME.

Regular followers of this blog will notice the last couple months me constantly talking about anime fighting games like Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, Under-Night In-Birth, Granblue Versus and very frequently, DNF Duel. As I've explored each one I've got more into taking the genre more seriously. Sadly the one I want to play the most is the one with the least player base (that being DNF Duel) but thankfully both Granblue and Under-Night (or as most folks refer it to as UNI) have a decent player base and both have tournaments being run around them so if I wanted some serious competition outside of playing the CPU I would have some. Granblue online is good too and UNI's is...well let say its not good but I doubt I'll be playing either online much anyway since I barely played the fighting games I was good at online.

I know I'll have some friends willing to play it with me in my inner circle too which is nice and I fully intended to integrate myself into the local scene which I have as well so all in all, if I take to anime like I take to all fighting games I've previously played I think I'll be alright. However I did not want to spread myself too thin so I decided to just pick one to spend the most time with and focus on 'getting gud'. It came down either Granblue Versus Rising or Under-Night In-Birth: Sys:Celes and we went with...

There is a couple reasons why I decided to go UNI2 as opposed to GBVR (got to get used to this abbreviations). Playing the UNI characters in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle I realized some of them were pretty cool and I enjoyed learning just how different, with concepts like Reverse Beat (a system that involves hitting buttons in reverse strength aka instead of light punch into heavy punch, you can do heavy punch into light which normally is not a thing) and some of the character designs were very unique as well. I did some more research and I learned UNI is a very technical fighter with a lot of nuances which appeal to me as well.

It did not help I recently paid for the original GranBlue Versus before they announced a full price expansion and to get the game as well as its upcoming DLC characters would cost $75!! Sure this can mitigated with the Free version but the free version has a limited roster that is determined by the developers. UNI games on the other hand I've never brought, UNI2 is only $50 and you get the season pass/ DLC included with it as long as you purchase it before March 1st. In the end, I decided on UNI2 for Steam even despite the horrible online connectivity for matches (which the developers are constantly working on and updating which is a good sign) cause as I stated before, I do not need online to enjoy a game.

UNI2 player base also seems a bit more 'dedicated'. I noticed over time the GBVR players left the game pretty quickly, sure it might have been COVID or the lack of good online infrastructure (which I heard Rising did fix) but it does not change that UNI players have supported their game through thick and thin and made sure they even got a sequel. As of late, I find myself cheering for the indie developers and the developers of Under-Night In-Birth, French Bread are as indie as they can get.

However I wanted to challenge myself in another way, not only did I want to learn anime games competitively, I wanted to take another leap too. I always said if I wanted to get serious again about fighters I would go lever-less and well... soon that will come true.

Introducing the Flatbox based on the Snackbox Micro I purchased from AliExpress. I do not have it yet but it should be arriving soon and I can not wait to try it. This is my first time going lever-less and I have a feeling it will not be easy at first but I am willing to give it a honest try. I have never felt using a stick has held me back since I grew up in the arcades of Sydney so I was used to using it as my preferred way of playing fighting games but times have changed and I've noticed lever-less controllers getting cheaper and providing more advantages to players. I will probably use this blog to chart my progress with it and my feelings on the one I brought and hopefully if I take to it, I hope to customize to fit my aesthetic even more (through all black is a statement too).

So because I am deciding to learn UNI2 and a new controller I've decided to pair them up so I intend to do both at the same time so I can build my muscle memory and not pick up any bad habits. This will of course mean I can not practice for a upcoming local tournament 'Cincy Clash 6' but I intend to just play casuals at that event to get my feet wet and to try out my new toy in a competitive environment.

All in all, two brave new journeys, both will be chronicled here. Stay tuned!

AV

RAVE: Dredge

 "Our brains deliberately make us forget things, to prevent insanity"

    H.P Lovecraft

Dredge is a fishing simulator, a inventory manager but also a dive into grief and the madness that ensues. It is a game about the story of two men. The fisherman and the collector and what happens when the two collide in the middle. Dredge is also our first RAVE of 2024 and our first 100% game of this year. This is our story.

I realized as I went to purchase another different game that I have developed quite a affinity for the games that Team 17 produce. In collaborations with other smaller studios, they have given me games like 'Blasphemous 1 and 2', 'Thymesia', the I am going to get back to it 'Narita Boy' and 'Dredge' (this one created by Black Salt Games). These a just a couple examples of how Team 17 seems to pick games I like and gravitate towards. Pretty good for a company that used to be known only for their 'Worms' games. I think it is because I enjoy Team 17 games that Dredge was on my radar early and after hearing the premise I was 'hooked' pun intended. (There will probably be a couple fishing puns in this RAVE I am afraid). However in the back of my head, I was thinking, would I enjoy a fishing game with mostly quick time events? It turns out at first my fears might have been warranted and in the early days a RAVE for Dredge did not seem likely.

When I first booted up Dredge, I was hooked by the very unique graphics, this game looks like a water painting come to life and it definitely swings more towards cell shading than realism. However look at the image above? Is it not breathtaking? Also the fact you can clearly see above and below water was super important in what at its core is a fishing game. The music whilst isn't a stand out is still very cozy and relaxing (until dangers rear up their head). Black Salt Games, the maker of Dredge really put a lot of work into this and it shows, not bad for a bunch of New Zealanders (I'm Australian at my core, irrational competition with NZ is in our blood) and a rather small indie studio and their first major game I believe. However below the watery surface (SORRY) was some things I did not immediately enjoy and it slowed my roll with the game and even made me pick up other games as a distraction.

I must say, if you are reading this blog, I would like to draw you attention to a newly added side bar I call UPDATES. In Updates, I keep you up to date on what I am playing and my general thoughts. For example, leading up to this RAVE, a couple times I mentioned I liked Dredge but I also have reservations about it however the updates changed in time and eventually I got pulled in, hook, line and sinker (SORRY). As it stood, my reservations were not something that could not be conquered by playing the game more and now I can say I've beaten the game twice, got both the endings and have 100% all the achievements including a very big, long, collect-a-thon. I purchased the DLC 'The Pale Reach' and finished all the side quests and got 100% of the achievements for that too. What I am saying is eventually this game became my jam and now I am sad I have completed it so completely that I will probably not play it again until the next DLC drops.

Enough about me through, lets talk more about Dredge. As I mentioned earlier, Dredge at its core is a story driven, fishing simulator with some dark undertones. The H.P Lovecraft quote at the beginning isn't just for show, Dredge is heavily inspired by Lovecraftian mythos and especially his stories about the sea and what lies below it. Similar to how Darkest Dungeon (another heavily inspired by H.P game I really enjoyed, see my previous RAVE about it), it builds on the foundation of what H.P always warned us about. The fear of the unknown. In this case, the unknown horror is localized in a archipelago of islands with colorful names like 'The Devil's Spine' and a small town of eccentric people. Of course, we have some normal people like the lady who fixes our boat and upgrades it when given the right material (more on that later) or the kindly old painter but than we have people like the lighthouse keeper who knows more than she is saying and the driving force of the game, the collector. We meet the collector relatively early and him and our player character the fisherman has many meetings with him and he is whom sends us on our very elaborate fetch quest.

Gameplay wise is where I had my first issues with the game, the game has a day/night cycle with the night time being particularly dangerous to go fishing in and because of this, you want to do most of your leg work and finding what you need during the daytime. However the cycle moves very quickly where a couple minutes dredging an item will equate to 3-4 hours game time and you'll be stuck out in the dark a lot more than you want to be. Sure it gets you into where the game wants you with your sanity meter spiraling out of control but the day/night cycle is a bit too accelerated for my taste. I put in a fair amount of time into Dredge (almost 30 hours) but the game built in timer says I've played it for 200+ days. There is a way you can make time move much slower in the game options but that is not how the game is intended to be played so I honestly will not entertain that. However I wish there was a compromise. I did eventually set my in-game clock to wake me up at the earliest I could so I could still capture some night fishes (which definitely exist) without being out at sea at the craziest hours. Thankfully nothing is really timed in this game and previously timed quests with certain individuals was patched out so the in-game date is a arbitrary number. You can start a collector quest, go do all the side quests you want to do, do some side fishing for some profit and not be on a strict timer because the collector will still be there waiting which I appreciate, my game plan eventually came down to doing that and the collector's item was the last thing I handed in before I moved onto the next chapter which I always took a one/two day real time break before going back in.

Focusing on the things I did not like at first, I also did not like how fragile my boat was and how a simple tap on a cliff face or a stray tentacle thing could sink my dreams. I especially did not enjoy how slow my boat was and with a game with a accelerated time, it took me hours to get from one side of the port to the other. The quick day and nights and the handling of the boat plus the general feeling of being lost were some of the reasons why I did not enjoy myself as much as I thought I would. The irony is the thing I thought would not speak to me the most, the fishing mini-games, became the thing I liked the most about Dredge. It quickly became more than that though. I realized that the shipwright could upgrade my boat and I could find resources to upgrade it pretty easily so soon I had a much more sturdy rig, I took to researching and how it unlocked other engines which could be attached to the boat to make her glide on the water and most importantly I found guides which showed me where I need to go and helped me stay on the path and not get stuck in the weeds (which I understand now I hate lol). Once I fully embraced the game Dredge was, I fell in love with it and it steadily became the only game I played with spouts of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle and DNF Duel on the side. In the end, I completed the game and its subsequent DLC and I am very happy I did. I immediately dived (SORRY) back in through to get another ending, hunt down more multiple fishes at all times of the day and night and I even got all the aberrations, Eldritch inspired lovelies like this one

I got my EYE on you.

I normally hate collect-a-thon quests but since I enjoyed the fishing mini game I did not mind it and within a couple days I completed my collection. Each fish has a colorful description too. So the gameplay is good but the real hook is the story and well we can not talk about that without dropping a big spoiler. IF you do not want to be spoiled just stroll down to the image of the Cat-hulu and enjoy the conclusion.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier, Dredge is the story of two people, the collector and the fisherman and as we come to learn, they are one and the same. It turns out the collector is a alter-ego the fisherman created after a tragedy where he lost his wife at sea. In a very Lovecraftian twist, he has decided to turn to the dark arts to get her back and he does not care whom will be sacrificed for this. The elaborate fetch quest that you have been helping him do is to perform a ritual and well, let just say it does not end well for anyone. A lot of folks would get this ending on their first try because the true 'good' ending is much more hidden and requires dredging up (SORRY) the history of the inhabitants of the town which includes the lighthouse keeper and the original mayor of the town. Both endings are masterful and really enhanced the game for me and even  nicer is the game allows you to experience both endings on one save so you do not need to completely replay the game for the other endings. I mentioned earlier that even if the fishing game did not entrap me, I would have kept going because of the story and it was worth it.

In closing; yes Dredge gets a RAVE and I can honestly say you do not even have to go all in like I did and you will still have a good time. The fishing game is fun, inventory management becomes a game in itself, the storyline has just enough to hook (SORRY ) you and keep you on the line. These indie games producers continues to blow me away with how much Black Salt Games can do on a smaller budget and Dredge continues to keep up the amazing track record that Team 17 knows what they are doing when it comes to publishing. Do not let this chance to go insane, go away.

AV

LIST: My Top 5 Video Game Characters (Fighting Games)

 I saw this post on X/ Twitter and I was going to respond but I do not really use Twitter like that anymore so I decided to make it more my own thing and even add some context to my picks. So with that out of the way, here is My Top 5 Video Game Characters (Fighting Games).

5. Hazama (BlazBlue Series)

Coming in at number 5. First a confession. I do not play the BlazBlue series. I've always had a interest in them but at the time when it was super popular I was focusing more on KOF and Tekken. However despite not playing the games I always liked everything about Hazama. From the first time I saw him fly around the screen on green snake coils to his bali-song knives (in Australia we call them butterfly knives btw), everything about him just screamed cool. It does not help he also dresses like Michael Jackson and their is a million Smooth Criminal memes out there that celebrate the fact. Now with me in my anime fighting game stage of my life I am actually playing BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (BB's latest installment) and I finally get to main him and he is challenging but fun to use.

4. King (Tekken Series)

Speaking of Tekken before; my eternal main character is King. Ever since Tekken 5 specifically, I have been a big King fan. I mean I love wrestling, I love luchas I love the fact he takes care of orphans and I love swinging people around and around and into things. Oh and I really like kneeing folks in the face too, shining wizard style. Now no matter the Tekken, I could probably pick up King and have a good time using him. You might noticed I used a older render of King above. Whilst I do not mind his Tekken 7 default with the cape and all, I am not a fan of his look in Tekken 8. It just looks way too busy. When I think King I think this classic image even tho I won't lie his NJPW Okada cosplay was pretty awesome and on point too.

3. Spectre (DNF Duel)

Okay, here me out. I know this is probably the honeymoon phase and King has been my homie since Tekken 5 but there is just something about Spectre that just ticks all my boxes for a fighting game character. She looks amazing, hits like a truck, wields a long katana, short katana and a wire expertly and just oozes charisma (or as the kids say... rizz). Oh and she casually speaks in Korean as well and I love me some Korean culture. I was interested in DNF Duel but the moment the Spectre trailer dropped I knew that she was the one for me and to be rewarded in terms of gameplay (she ticks my technical/ execution boxes too) and overall appeal, it is a perfect marriage. I have not bonded with a female character since my number 1.

2. Claudio (Tekken 7)

Coming in at number 2 and to no one's surprise who actually know me is Claudio from Tekken 7. Again folks will be like, King was your homie since Tekken 5, how can a guy who only technically been in one Tekken game rank much higher than King and to justify that to myself I realized that during Tekken 5 all the way to 7, if I ever played King I would always have other characters on the side. I enjoyed using King but I would always play other characters too to keep my interest in the game, especially competitively. However post season 2 and for the rest of Tekken 7's very long extend lifespan, I only really liked using Claudio in Tekken 7. The fact the roster kept growing and new cool characters like Leroy, Lidia or the classic characters like Julia came back and I still only wanted to use Mr. Serafino is a testament to him and he earns this spot because of that. Also nothing beats hitting someone point blank with a running 2 superman punch. It never gets old to me.

1. Leona (KOF series)

Ahh, if I ever had a first video game love it would be Leona Heidern from the King of Fighters series. Ever since KOF '96 and her introduction, Leona has always been my favorite fighting game character maybe even my favorite video game character of all time. Remember what I said above about Spectre ticking all my boxes? Leona did that back in 96. The style, the fact she is a bad ass, her signature blue hair and the fact she requires some real technical skill to get good with her. She truly is the landmark and it helps me understand why I always gravitate towards bad ass femme fatales over the cutesy girls. If a KOF has Leona, I am main her and there is never a doubt in my mind if I am going to have a amazing time playing her.

Well that's the first LIST. A new type of blog/ content coming to RANTS & RAVES. As promised in my previous blog, I hope to expand the content I put on her so look forward to more LISTs as time goes on.

AV

First Year Anniversary: RANTS & RAVES Resurrection

 I do not know what really trigger it but I do recall it was something I noticed on twitter and also on Facebook. I got really annoyed that every other post on my 'feed' was a advertisement or a re-tweet or just anything but the actually 'feed' I signed up for. On top of that, I was very annoyed that writing longer tweets was pay-walled (and still is) without having to use twitlonger or some other third party website. I got really annoyed and I said to myself I had to go back to basics.

Hence why I resurrect this old blog of mine, Rants & Raves. I've been slowly adding new coats of paint to it, tried to post on it consistently and most importantly, enjoyed talking about stuff I liked again without restrictions. As social media has got more involved in our 'business' I really wished it would NOT. Here at Rants & Raves, for a full year I've been able to share my unfiltered thoughts about anything and everything and whilst the numbers viewing this blog ain't amazing, that is not the intention of it. Honestly I do not want to go 'viral', this is more of a live journal of my thoughts that I am willing to share and if you are interested in it than welcome.

During year one, I posted what might be the signature blog of this resurrected format. My super long but super necessary (for me of course) RAVE about 'Risk of Rain 2'. I could not quantify how much I enjoyed it in a tweets, I had to really show love for it and I still look back on it as one of my favorite blogs I've written recently. The only one that came close to that RAVE was my one for 'Darkest Dungeon' which I really enjoyed talking about too.

During year one, I was able to quantify why I would not be playing Tekken 8 in a rare RANT and why it has zero appeal to me, playing wise. I might be able to watch it and cheer on my friends who are playing it but no I will not play it seriously or go competitive with it. I am a bit lazy now because anytime anyone asks why the guy who plays Tekken no longer plays Tekken I just point them to this blog lol.

During year one, I realized the RANT or RAVE format is good but what about the in-betweens. The games I enjoyed but I do not love and out the desire to talk about 'Ghost Song' I created OKAY, the media that is between good and bad. Heck, during year one, I realized I need a format for when a game is just a Rave and not a RAVE (capital letters) so I could talk about 'Remnant 2' and how I love it but at the same how frustrating it could get. In hind sight, I would still give it a Rave and I barely play it even with the DLC out but I did enjoy it when I was playing it non-stop.

The Gaming Station.

We have had other blogs, smaller updates, broke the mold and did a RAVE about Kpop and Dreamcatcher, provided updates on the games I was enjoying and so much more. The main point of this rather self indulgent post is to let y'all know Rants & Raves is not going anywhere in 2024. If anything, we are expanding.

I am thinking of adding more media like videos to it, I am adding new categories that we have discussed before (PITSTOPs and others), the Updates on the side bar are my tweets without having to tweet. I want to keep sharing what I like and dislike (which is pretty rare I must admit but hey Tekken 8) about all times I find interesting and if you are along for the ride. Enjoy.

AV2024

PIT STOP: I'm in Love: DNF Duel DLC Spectre Overview

 

    Spectre may be favorite girl character in a fighting game since Zafina in Tekken 6 and I do not even main her anymore so my last favorite female character I actually like using is probably KOF '96 Leona. Normally I do not favor female characters in fighting games, the last one that got close was probably Master Raven in Tekken 7 but I passed my love for her onto someone else *wink*. However Spectre has aesthetics for days, wields BIG swords, flies around on a wire like a superhero which she uses in other inventive ways as well. On top of that she is a technical character that requires good execution and just hits like a truck. In a game where I find myself flip flopping whom I wanted to consider a 'main', Spectre has the bean counter tipped in her favor and the cherry on the top, is the fact she yells "disappear/ vanish" in Korean as she does her Awakening. Of course I still love me some Swift Master but co-main? Maybe.

Now she might have already ticked all my boxes before I started using her but now I owned the DLC and gotten used to her playing style and combo structure and I loving her even more. This will be a quick breakdown and she'll of course get the combo trial breakdown treatment like the previous DNF Duel characters I liked.

    One of the things I'll really enjoy about Spectre is her mobility options, one of her signature moves is not an attack but a movement option called 'booze' (you'll soon see all her moves have some reference to drinking lol). This gives her infinite movement options in the air that even Swift Master would be jealous of. The closest video game equal I would say would be Spider-man but Spectre has attacks after dedicating to the forward movement (so up forward, forward or down forward) and the booze wire does not have a hit box like Spidey's web trail did. A lot and when I saw a lot I mean  A LOT of her actions are even jump cancellable or dash cancellable too keeping with her always moving philosophy.

    Some things so far I've noticed through is she is a execution heavy character and you need to be on point to not accidentally do unwanted wall jumps and drop combos because of missed inputs. Her timings are also unique due the nature of her multi-hitting special moves. Also one of her best combo extenders 'Shaker Blast' or 6M can be very fickle and cause unwanted side swaps especially near corners. When primed though, she can does a truck load of damage (breaking my old combo damage limit with almost 820 dmg) and in her Awakening state: Licence, her ability to constantly cancel specials into specials and her spectacular Last Order (just M when Awakened, M after priming with an initial M in normal state). Her projectile requires her to do a small hop back and no DP reversal either which maybe an issue in this aggressive game but we shall see if that really effects me.

    

    She also has some amazing color palates but the one I am riding with is this all white number which I affectionately call 'Umma' which means 'Mother' in Korean but also plays off the fact she looks like Emma Frost from the X-Men. I mean c'mon!!

So yep... this is where we are and we are sticking it out with DNF Duel. I'll probably drop a much smaller overview for the other 2 DLC characters Brawler and Battle Mage but right now its Spectre's world and I'm just living in it.

AV

PIT STOP

 

As we draw closer to the one year anniversary of the Resurrection of Rants & Raves. I decided to do a quick pit stop before continuing down the road.

First; this type of format used to be called 'UPDATE' but Updates are now on the side bar of the blog. These are what I used to use twitter/ x for but since we are not twitter as much anymore I feel its better to incorporate it into the blog. These are also dated and will be regularly updated. Now what was previously 'UPDATE' becomes PIT STOP and PIT STOP are much more detailed updates. Think of it like this Update < Pit Stop < Blog aka RANTS/ RAVES. This system will help keep the weekly content more often in the form of Updates and Pit Stops and it saves the RANTS or RAVES for when I feel something deserves it.

Starting with DNF Duel. I am still pretty enamored with it but I seriously doubt me going to tournaments for it or even playing online competitively like I used to with other fighting games. I honestly think my time as a competitive fighting gamer is in my past and I am okay with it especially with the current crop of new fighting games really do not appeal to me. I have spoken about Tekken 8 before but I am also very meh about Mortal Kombat 1 and SF 6 looks fun enough but I do not see myself wanting to compete in it. Right now I am just enjoy learning combos, doing trials and just muck around in it. I will also revisit once I purchase the Character Pass but I will not be doing that till the end of the month.

Next up is Dredge. As a game I had on my radar for a long time I was excited to finally dig in and play it. Dredge is a fishing sim/ narrative mystery with heavy Lovecraftian influences. Now I am not a fisher but the premise alone attracted me and I've been playing it and enjoying it but I must say, compared to Inscryption, the last indie game that caught my eye this one feels more like a slow burn. I am taking my time with it too compared to Inscryption where I played it non-stop for days on end. I think I will eventually get caught in its net but so far, I have not gone completely in with it.

It is far too soon to really put down my thoughts of the other 2 new games I've picked up, those being Narita Boy (a 2D side strolling hack n slash with a nice synth-pop soundtrack) and Dead Island 2 (self explanatory this one) but both are fun so far as well.

Well that is our first Pit Stop. Look forward to more 'updates', Pit Stops and Rants & Raves as well as the big anniversary blog where I'll go into depth my plans for this blog.

AV

Double Down on Duel: DNF Duel Combo Trials Tips

 

First things first. Happy New Year!! Welcome to 2024. It has almost been a full year since I've started actively blogging again and it has given me a lot of fulfillment so we are probably sticking around. I am planning a longer more introspective blog as we get closer to the full one year anniversary so stay tuned for that. 

So as previously mentioned, we are exploring DNF Duel right now and so far it looks like it might be my new fighting game. As previously mentioned my aim is to main Hitman and Swift Master but there are some other characters whom have caught my eye.

I have mostly been mucking around in the combo trials with some random stops in story mode and arcade mode when I want to test out the combos I have learned. I might eventually even go online with it and hopefully get some matches if anything just so I can get the online achievements out of the way. I have really moved away from online fighting games for fulfillment but its part of the game so I might as well do it. I have also heard DNF does have rollback net-code and its pretty good so if that is the case at least it won't be a pain to play especially if I aim to play a technical character like Swift Master.

So what is this? Well its me chatting about what I've had the most experience and fun with so far, the combo trials. I have also noticed there is not much information/ help with doing these trials so here is my 2 cents. Similar to my KOF 'Helping Hand' series (man that is a throwback right there) the main point of this is to help folks with these very hard (mostly) trials.

I have completed most of the trials (bar the 3 DLC characters but we will get there soon enough) with the exception of 2 for the Lost Warrior and 3 of the Enchantress (who I believe has the hardest combos in the game).

I will be giving tips for 4 of the characters I enjoy using the most. We will be using the Number notations and the standard buttons so 2 is down, 5 is neutral and so on and A,B,S,M buttons as per Dustloop's Forums/ Website.

Hitman: Hitman's combos are extremely straight forward. If a person is aiming for the achievement to complete a character's trials I would highly recommend his ones cause they are very easy to complete for most skill levels. A couple combos require a bit of linking but nothing too crazy. If anything I feel they underplay what Hitman is capable of combo wise. The important thing is when it comes to trials 7-8 is to do his Awakening skill (aka their cinematic super move) as the opponent begins falling from the last attack, do not delay it too long.

Swift Master: On the opposite side of the spectrum to Hitman is Swifty. Swift Master (SM) requires really good execution and a lot of his harder combos require holding down his Special button for a couple seconds to pull off his 'Storm Strike' which causes a wall bounce. Mastering Storm Strike means getting used to holding the S as soon as the last S in a combo connects and releasing at the exact moment. In the case of 2B into Storm Strike, I've noticed the best time to do it is just as the opponent is about to touch the floor, hit the 2B wait a second then release. Even through I want to master SM, this has taken some time for me to get down as well so keep at it. Also an important tip for the final combo trial is you can start holding the S after SW does the 4M, 4M OTG and make sure you release it late so the opponent hits the wall right in front of him (not above) and hit the Awakening skill immediately. If the opponent bounces off the wall, you are too late.

Vanguard: Its funny cause I want to use Swift Master whom is top tier and according to most tier lists, Vanguard is the bottom tier but I'll be damned if he is not fun to use. Since this is not pick Vanguard and struggle to win guide, we will just focus on his combo trials. First, most important is learning the timing on his Jumping S which OTGs but has a very small window. A lot of his best combos require this so focus on doing your attack (in most case it just a regular B) as soon as the spear touches the ground. This is super important cause any later will cause it to whiff. Another trick I discovered is if you are having trouble with 5M into 2M in the middle of combos to not do the full 2 hits of 5M and cancel it after the first hit. This make it easier and I've noticed even gives you more time for your running jumping A OTGs. Lastly for combos 7 and 8, notice they have different timing for when you hit his Awakening skill. In Combo 7 its before the second hit and with Combo 8 you can delay till after the 2 hit wall bounces.

Our last subject is another funny one. I have no intention of using Dragon Knight but I found her trials very interesting and definitely something worthwhile talking about. When I first started playing, her trials were very daunting and her summoning dragon mechanic took awhile to get used to. Her are some tips which I discovered on my own because as I said before, there is not much help out there. The first one I believe most people will have trouble with is # 6. With this one I recommend delaying the 'Summon Astra to Dragon Force' (A + Magic) slightly after the 4S hits. Then immediately doing the B, hold S and with her hold S you don't need to time it, it'll automatically comes out once its fully charged, this will give the wall bounce into the Dragon fire and than this is important, delaying the next 2S to launch them back into another Dragon fire. Now # 7 for the longest time I believed it was and still feels glitched because no matter what I did 'Summon Astra to Dragon Breath' never worked like it looks like in the demo. Instead I found a way around it by doing an extra attack and doing it in the corner. This is how I got it to work; first I added a extra 4S after the B,2S and then I do (M + B) at the end of 4S with a delay like before. This gives enough time for Astra the Dragon to actually do his Dragon Breath attack and than you time the last 4S as a OTG and immediately do 4M before the hit stun decay kicks in. This has been the only way I've gotten it consistently. Also time the Awakening as the opponent is falling out of 4M like most Awakening and not immediately or it'll whiff. Her last combo in comparison to #7 is actually not even hard and just requires a micro-dash at the end to get the 2B to hit and to time 6M with the impact of the 4S. Compared to #7 it is a much easier.

Well those are the 4 main characters we will cover for the tips. I might revisit this, especially if I learn the Enchantress trials because that is another character I see no tips for and her trials are especially challenging, even for me. Also I'll eventually get the DLC and you know I'll have to do one for Spectre since I hope to use her too.

AV