treatise on the properties of the katana slash - mainly tip slashing stuff

Hello.

Now that we have introductions out of the way I am going to move onto the nity-gritty of this guide but first I -HAVE- to specify a few things so you know what the fuck I am talking about.

~Important Information~

#1. Okay, for this guide I will be describing in the properties of sword slashing and for this purpose I want to be as EXACT as possible, so I will be using units.

#2. The units that I will be using are the square tiles on the third floor of the mansion map. I chose these as my units as there are not many stages with big enough and definite enough shapes to properly describe distances.

#3. The symbol for the unit of mansion tiles will be the uppercase version of the greek letter phi -> Φ. So instead of saying so-and-so is approximately 2 tiles long, I would instead say so-and-so is 2Φ long. I do this because it makes it easier and less confusing for the guide.

SO REMEMBER

FLOOR TILES WILL BE REPRESENTED WITH Φ!!!!!

#4. I will be using the word tip-slash throughout this guide so I will define what it is ->

Tip-Slash: Using the maximum distance of your sword to bypass an opponents block.

When I say bypassing someones block, I mean bypassing the ability to be stun locked by the block.

Now if you were to ask me on WHY this happens, I honestly don't have the exact idea why. But if I had to guess as to why this occurs I would say that the tip of the sword has a disjointed hitbox.

Here is what I mean by disjointed hitbox

This is a picture describing the hitboxes of the sword

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
(I cannot draw well you do not need to tell me)

Now you'll see 2 colored rectangles

The yellow rectangle represents the normal sword hitbox, this is the one we are most familiar with, it is the one we usually use the most and we know it's properties well, (ie phasing, vertical phasing etc)

The orange rectangle on the other hand represents the tip-slash hitbox which I consider to be disjointed. What I mean by disjointed is that it doesn't exhibit the same properties as the yellow rectangle does (ie block by-passing no matter what type of block the opponent uses.)

This is the most plausible explanation for tip-slash in my mind, so this is my theory as to why it works.

Now I will go onto the main part of my guide discussing properties of the katana slash.

~Distances~

Many people try to learn tip-slash yet cannot comprehend some of the slash combo properties so I will help you out with that.

First off when you are doing the basic 4 slash combo there is one big thing you should note about it when it is uncanceled by block, which is that you take 1 big step for each corresponding sword slash.

Now this distance you step forward can vary depending on whether or not you cancel the sword slash with a block.

The reason why block causes this to happen is because while block cancels the slash animation, it also cancels the step animation.

Thus if you end a sword slash with a block, you wouldn't get the same forward distance as you would when you don't cancel it with block.

Let us examine the distances of the 3 situations for slashing.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In this picture we can see that the UNCANCELED SWORD SLASHING DISTANCE IS APPROXIMATELY 3 and 1/3 Φ long

This is when the step is allowed to fully run its animation

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In this picture we now see that THE BLOCK CANCELED SWORD DISTANCE IS APPROXIMATELY 3 AND 1/6 Φ LONG

This is when the sword slash is canceled as quickly as possible, thus the step animation is also canceled as quickly as possible.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

In this picture we can see that the BUTTERFLY OR JUMPING SLASH DISTANCE IS APPROXIMATELY 2 AND 1/2 Φ LONG

The reason this distance is so much shorter is that the instance you jump, there is no solid ground to be stepped on, thus the step animation cannot take place.

~NOW ONTO WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT~

Now some of you might be thinking, DYLMAN the distances for uncanceled ground slash and block canceled ground slash are only marginally different, I don't think it matters if I use one or the other!

Sadly this is not the case. In gladiator there is a constant distance exchange going on, and it is IMPORTANT TO MASTER EACH OF THESE DISTANCES FOR EVERY SCENARIO.

Because remember, if your distancing isn't correct, you will get blocked and this will put you on the defensive which is where you DO NOT WANT TO BE

Now as an extra word of advice and please I am imploring this to everyone that reads this guide, when you are distancing your slashes, do not play like a running, side to side spamming coward(for lack of a better word) it really honestly does take the fun out of the game. You also will become more and more masterful of tip-slash the more offensive and up close you are when you use it. It doesn't feel like a win (atleast for me) when I play like a coward, so I am imploring you to start running less and start being more upfront and personal, despite any lag or ping disadvantages that may occur.

Mastering these distances is also extremely helpful for trapping your opponent into slash combos. If you can stay the exact tip slash distance the entire time you are butterfly trapping someone for instance, there is a very good chance you will not get massived, since massiving is obviously the most chosen defensive option someone will use when being trapped.

Getting the first hit is very important in high level gladiator play. If you get the first hit , you put your opponent on the defensive which is the advantage for you. A mastery of tip slash will increase your chances of getting the first hit

Now here is where problems can occur, what if you want to forward tip slash, but they are far too close for it to work and you don't have to ability to really dash or move out of the way, is there still a way to tip slash them?

The answer is YES and I will discuss it in the next section

~Angling and Tip-Slashing~

The answer to the question I posed earlier does have an answer, which is yes you can still tip slash them.

THE WAY TO DO IT IS TO ANGLE YOUR CHARACTERS BODY SO THAT YOU TIP SLASH THEM WITH THE SIDE OF YOUR SWORD!

The reason that this works is, because your character takes a step forward when they slash, it causes the sword slash shape to take the form close to that of an ellipse which looks like this

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You'll see that the curves at the poles are more extended

You can use this to your advantage

Example:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
(Very bad drawing with a very bad representation of the sword slash shape but I am not good at this kind of stuff)

In this picture you see two squares, which represent people (gunz character hitboxes are actually triangles but that is for another time) and an ellipse which represents the slash distance.

You'll see that OH NO! he is too close for you to tip slash him, what can you do?

The key here is to angle your body a little bit so you hit him with the SIDE of the sword which effectively causes you to tip slash this person.

Example of angled tipslash:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now you can see in this picture the person is using the side of their sword to tip slash the other person, thus effectively solving the problem of getting a tip-slash in.


As you can see from my examples, you don't always have to face the person to tip-slash them, because since we are human and prone to mistake, there will be times when we let that person in a little too close, and the only way we can solve it, is by rotating the angle at which we are facing. You solved a difficult gladiator situation with the flick of your mouse.


This is really all I can say for right now about the properties of the sword distance when you slash and such. There might be more to come at another time but for now we must move onward.


Now I will add a little extra section about little tricks for avoiding massives that are thrown at you =D!

~Avoiding massives using sword slash mechanics~

Now effectively there are two ways to dodge a massive without having to change the position you are facing at all.

The first way is abusing a strange anomaly about the 4 slash combo.

For some reason, to which I do not know why, when doing the 4 slash combo with your weapon, the 4th slash has the ability to evade all types of massives. Now you might be thinking, "omg omg omg this is so kool dylman wow!!!!"

But it is hard to pull off in an actual fight but there are tricks to knowing when to throwing it in a fight.

The best times where you have the highest percentage of landing a properly timed 4 slash combo during MID-FIGHT MOMENTUM EXCHANGES AND WHEN YOUR OPPONENT THINKS YOU ARE LOW HP

What I mean by mid-fight momentum exchanges is you know when all of a sudden during the middle of a fight where a seemingly random slash comes from your opponent as your trying to slash them and it completely messes up the momentum you had going. It is the lucky day for the guy who threw that seemingly random slash because that is literally the best time to throw out a 4 slash combo.

During this delicate time the person who lost their momentum is going to want to quickly gain it back

So what the lucky guy has to do is properly distance himself from the opponent and start doing the 4 slash combo, timed precisely to slash their opponents block and causing them to massive

The guy trying to gain his momentum back will most likely think that the other made a technical keyboard mistake and is throwing the 4 slash combo by accident. This will cause them to try really hard to close in on their opponent again. Thus this will lead him to his doom, because this greedy mindset of trying to gain his momentum back instead of doing the safe thing which is trying to make the fight neutral again will cause him to go in and ignore the set up that the lucky motherfucker has started.

Now the other way I said was when you are low hp. This is obviously EXTREMELY risky and shouldn't be done unless you have the utmost confidence in your timing and tip-slash. When you are low hp and your opponent knows this, they tend to throw caution to the wind and try to finish the fight as fast as possible. Thus, using the same ideas I mentioned before, you might be able to get a 4 slash combo in, effectively causing the opponent to massive and MISS (because of the 4th slash), meaning it's time for you to fuck them up.


Now there is one other way to avoid massives that I know of using slash.

If someone is throwing a massive on the ground and you slash AT PRECISELY THE RIGHT TIME, it will dodge the massive.

But the window for timing this is extremely small so it can be easy to mess up.

When they are throwing the massive, you want to slash PRECISELY THE MOMENT INBETWEEN THE END OF THE MASSIVE THROWING ANIMATION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE ACTUAL MASSIVE.

If you can do this, you will dodge their massive and then you can...as I mentioned earlier.. fuck them up.

~In Closing~

That is all I have to write about for now.

I hope my guide can help some of you gladiators out there.

END

nice pictures

u sure u dont want to move this to the art section



haha

hahahah ah ahh ah ahah

amazing guide
maybe i will get good with this

bitchnoobs dont got shit on my gladiator guide

btw for all u n00bs who might be like

DYLMAN I CANT TAKE THE MANSION FLOOR WITH ME TO BATTLE ARENA WAT DO I DO???

just imagine it as a grid around u

zzz

Easily beats the other stuff posted in here.

Credit to me for um, my undying support for you and cheering you on. ..

..

Niceeeee

*reading*............*came*

just felt like doing this : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ...

I'll take my time to read it tomorrow, such a wall of text.

MIght I add to your guide.

Distances are different with female characters.

really

Really.

Female chars don't move forward as much on ground slashes and so male chars are much more suited for offensive play.

prove it

Let x1 = distance moved by male character and x2= distance moved by female character.

x1 - x2 is positive

therefore

x1 > x2



According to Cerb's theory of relativity, one's advance distance must be greater than or equal to x1 to qualify as an offensive slash. Any less and it's more of a defensive slash.

Since x1 > x2 and x1 = minimum value needed to qualify as an offensive slash, x2 cannot be an offensive slash.

Need more proof?

Crawly has more kills on male chars than female chars

Kae has more kills on male chars than female chars

Joel has more kills on male chars than female chars

Dylan plays on his male char more often and he is renowned for his offense.

You can accomplish a wider variety of ground slash combos with male chars.

Tenshi wrote:Let x1 = distance moved by male character and x2= distance moved by female character.

x1 - x2 is positive

therefore

x1 > x2



According to Cerb's theory of relativity, one's advance distance must be greater than or equal to x1 to qualify as an offensive slash. Any less and it's more of a defensive slash.

Since x1 > x2 and x1 = minimum value needed to qualify as an offensive slash, x2 cannot be an offensive slash.

Need more proof?

Crawly has more kills on male chars than female chars

Kae has more kills on male chars than female chars

Joel has more kills on male chars than female chars

Dylan plays on his male char more often and he is renowned for his offense.

You can accomplish a wider variety of ground slash combos with male chars.

x1>x2 si unsupport prme
lol furthermoer
crawly who who ?+??
kae is anoob
joele2k11 was female
dylan blok all day
god damnnm

by the way i was hoping fora stick man picture
i was r yly disappointed

You didn't play him back then <_<

and yeah, no mouse so cba using touchpad

jk you dont have to prov everyone know male > female

get it get it
hahaha
lol
hehe
lol
hahaha
get it get it

Clearly never seen Higurashi

no but i will since i am becoming a weeaboo
iw ill hahaa get it

<3

females are worse for offense because their 4-slash katana combo is around 23 frames slower than a male

the 2 most important ground slash attacks (single and shadow slash) are both better on a male for this reason, and as you guys know they are the key tools of a good offense