Blade Symphony

Phalanx has a wide array of fencing techniques such as thrusts and lunges. Boasting many straight but long attacks, Phalanx requires a fair bit of precision, but a player who can use his immense reach to their advantage can be very successful in the arena.

Fast: Phalanx’s fast stance consists of a series of narrow thrusts. Charging them can result in differing amounts of range, making Phalanx jump towards his opponent or poke at them and then hop backwards. His side attacks consist of short swipes for when he needs a quick parry or is in close and needs to hit his opponent.
Balanced: His balanced attacks are slow to start, but swing very fast and do great damage. He starts with two close swipes, followed by lunges that are great when used as follow-ups to other attacks. He also has a two string air stance with a deadly air stab attack.
Heavy: Phalanx isn’t the best with heavy attacks, and his stance is a bit cumbersome, but when he needs the power he does have a two string heavy stance available to him. His forward heavy attacks are very slow, but very painful, while his side attacks are a bit more conservative but are easily punished if missed.

Judgement, tall and clad in metal armor, prefers big and powerful swings. He has the most damaging heavy stance in the game, and even his faster stances are fairly slow compared to the other combatants. He makes up for all of this in being the most punishing fighter in the game if his opponent is foolish enough to let his swings get through.

Fast: Judgement’s fast stance is a bit cumbersome, being slower than the other fighters, but offers decent damage for a fast stance. He has several overhead swings, and close ranged swipes for side attacks.
Balanced: His balanced stance is slow, deliberate, and powerful. His forward attacks are all powerful overheads, with extra stabbing components when charged – great for catching the opponent off guard. His side attacks are wide swings, and he isn’t afraid to get in your face and show you how damaging they are.
Heavy: Judgement’s heavy attacks are in a class of their own. They’re absolutely brutal if they land, but are some of the slowest attacks in the game. If you see Judgement winding up a heavy swing, stand back. It’s about to get real.

Ryoku blends his sword fighting with elements of breakdancing to form a unique style, reminiscent of capoeira. He spins and flips while striking at his opponent, causing confusion and making players wonder where he’ll strike next.

Fast: His fast stance consists of six attacks, all blinding quick, allowing the player to dart about the arena poking at the enemy.
Balanced: Ryoku’s balanced stance defines his personality, and is wild and free. His forward attacks offer some interesting swings and moving thrusts when charged, but his side attacks are where he really shines as he rolls about, dancing around his opponent and striking from every angle.
Heavy: Big, strong swings are not Ryoku’s forte, and he only has a single forward heavy attack. His side swings, like Phalanx’s, are more traditional style attacks and easier to land in a pinch, but should not be his primary focus.

The Katana is the master of cutting. The more your blade intersects someone, the more lethal it becomes. When hitting an opponent, a slice with a katana will do more damage than any other sword, as the Katana is capable of more multi-hits while the blade goes through your enemy.

Defensive maneuver: The Katana is able to block attacks by simply holding the defend button (right click by default). Be careful, though: if you attempt to block a tier 3 attack, the opponent will break through your block, damage you and knock you down.

Swords classified as Foils require elegance and patience. They do extra damage with thrusting attacks, but cannot multi-hit at all. The foil cannot break through a parry, but it recovers from parries the fastest, letting you capitalize on an opponents mistake much more easily.

Defensive maneuver: Foil swords can feint attacks. Upon pressing the defend button, you will perform a fake attack, allowing you to lead your opponent into believing you are committing to an attack.

The Jian is all about speed. Landing an attack with a Jian sword lets you perform a subsequent attack much more quickly, creating long combos of attacks that the other swords couldn’t dream of. The Jian suffers in doing less damage and not multi-hitting as much as the Katana.

Defensive maneuver: Jian swords can intercept incoming attacks by pressing the defend button. Upon a successful intercept, you’ll have a slight advantage over your opponent. However, intercepting attacks requires timing and can be dangerous if you misjudge an incoming attack.

The fast stance attacks are mostly, as you could imagine, fast. These attacks all execute very quickly and usually win in terms of speed, but be careful, as the fast stance is the easiest to defeat when the swords clash and the outcome is determined by a parry. Using a lot of fast attacks is an easy way to let a heavy attack break right through your defenses. However, nothing beats the fast stance when you need to get a hit in right now.

The balanced stance consists of attacks that fall between fast and heavy both in terms of speed and damage. In addition to this, attacks in this stance usually contain the more interesting attacks that can be played to one’s advantage. A character’s balanced stance attacks tend to define their play style.

The heavy stance is the slowest and most damaging stance. Most of the attacks can be seen coming a mile away, so you have to choose each move in this stance with careful consideration. While landing a hit can be deadly, missing one can be just as dangerous, giving the opponent more than enough time to move in and capitalize on your mistake.

Heavy attacks easily crush any other stance in parries, so it’s inadvisable to try and go toe to toe with a heavy attack unless you’re sure that you’ll slip your attack in through your opponent’s defenses.

The last stance is the air stance, which is activated automatically whenever the player is in the air. Air attacks are useful for getting over an opponent’s defenses, or trying to get close to someone and pressure them. Be careful though, as Air stance is the weakest stance in tracer parries and will always lose to the other stances.