| Intro |
In order to stay alive, you need to take as little damage as possible while
maximizing your damage output. To do this, you need to know how to guard incoming
attacks. There are 3 types of guarding options. Knowing how to use them, as well
as in what situations, can greatly improve your game. Not only will you be able
to defend better, but in some cases you will be able to resume your offense faster.
The most important part of attacking and defending is understanding how attacks connect.
There are four basic hit ranges: High (h); Mid (m); Low (l); and Overhead (o). High attacks
strike standing opponents, but can be crouched under. Mid attacks strike both standing and
crouching opponents. Low attacks strike at the opponents feet.
(note: because of size, most high attacks will strike Potemkin in his crouch.)
An additional attack range / property is Unblockable. (!) This basically means the attack
cannot be blocked using standard guarding techniques.
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| Basic Guard |
Basic Guard is the most common defensive option. To guard against high attacks, simply hold back.
Crouching is another alternative as high attacks will pass overhead. To guard against mid attacks,
hold back or down+back. To guard against low attacks, hold down+back.
Basic Guard in the air is even easier. Hold any backwards direction (u/b, b, or d/b). All air attacks
can be blocked by holding back unless it's an air throw or a special command grab which are unblockable.
One important note to remember is that you cannot use Basic Guard to stop ground-based attacks. What this
means is, if your opponent is still on the ground and attacks with basic or special move that strikes
while the opponent is still grounded, the move will be unblockable to airborne opponents (example #1: May jumps
at Sol, Sol uses 2H, May gets hit because Sol is on the ground - example #2: Potemkin jumps at Johnny,
Johnny uses his 632146H super, Potemkin gets hit because Johnny is on the ground).
Any time your opponent attempts to use a grounded anti-air attack, you will need to Faultless Defense
instead of Basic Guard. Remember this... it's important!
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| Instant Block (IB) |
Instant Block (also known as "Just Defend") is a precise version of Basic Guard. Instead of just
holding back to guard incoming attacks, you actually wait until the last moment and press back or
down+back right as the move connects. An Instant Block will be signified by your character flashing
white. Instant Block shares the exact same properties and abilities of the Basic Guard except your
character recovers much faster (they are in less block stun for every move that is Instant Blocked),
and also there will be less pushback on your character (which can be a good or bad thing).
Just as with Basic Guard, you can perform Instant Block in the air, however, ground-based attacks
are still unblockable and you must use Faultless Defense.
As a special feature of Instant Block, you can perform it "during" attack patterns. What this means is,
if your opponent has you in a guard pattern and you are simply using Basic Guard, you can switch to
Instant Block at any point in the pattern if you can time the back or down+back presses. This is highly
useful for escaping many common attack sequences. By Instant Blocking certain hits, you can escape and/or
retaliate where you normally couldn't.
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| Faultless Defense (FD) |
Faultless Defense is an interesting and highly useful technique. It's often
used to negate guard damage, but it has other, very effective uses. To perform
Faultless Defense, hold any back direction and press any two buttons except D
(example: 4P+K), and not S+HS (see Slash Back, below). As long as you hold 4P+K,
your character will continue to remain in Faultless Defense. However, this gradually drains your
Tension Gauge. If you have no Tension stored, your character will not perform the Faultless Defense. While
Faultless Defense is active, your character will not build guard bar, and every
hit blocked will force you and your opponent further apart than if the hit was
blocked with a regular block. This is even more apparrent if you are in the corner.
Since you cannot travel back, your opponent is forced even further away. One drawback
of Faultless Defense is that it keeps you in guard stun longer than if you had normally
blocked, or instant blocked (IB).
Faultless Defense can also be performed in the air, which brings up another very
important use. Since the majority of ground based attacks cannot be guarded against
with an air block, Faultless Defense can be used instead. This will allow you to
jump in at an opponent and block many anti-air attacks.
During Faultless Defense, you still must remember to block the different attack
levels correctly. If you remain standing with Faultless Defense active, low attacks
will still connect. This holds true for overhead and jump in attacks if you remain
crouching. You can also be thrown.
Complete knowledge and mastery of Faultless Defense is critical to high level play.
Always try to keep Tension stored specifically for Faultless Defense.
As mentioned in the "Tension Gauge" section, when FD is used, your Tension
Gauge will increase at only 20% of normal for a full 1 second.
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| Dead Angle Attack (DAA) |
Dead Angle Attacks are basically counters / reversals which require 50% of your
Tension Gauge. To perform a Dead Angle Attack, you must first block any attack
while on the ground. During the block stun, press towards your opponent and any
two buttons simultaneously (6P+K for example). When performed, your character
will flash white, then immediately attack the opponent back. This can be useful
when your opponent is rushing you down and you want to get them off your back.
It can also be used to do a small amount of damage and set up possible combo
follow ups. Since each character's Dead Angle Attack is different, it's important
to know what each one does. Also, since each Dead Angle Attack has startup frames
like every other attack, if you counter an opponents move that recovers quickly,
your Dead Angle Attack may be guarded. It's best to use the Dead Angle Attack when
you are certain it will connect.
As mentioned in the "Increasing Tension" section, when a DAA is used, your Tension
Gauge will increase at only 20% of normal for a full 4 seconds.
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| Slash Back (SB) |
Slash Back is a feature in Accent Core which allows any character to "parry"
any form of attack (Projectile, Overdrive, Normals) by pressing 4 or 1+S+H.
Attempting to Slash Back looks like a gold FD ring around the character for a brief
moment. Successfully Slashing Back will cause the character to have a gold aura to
flash around them, and they will recover insanely fast. You will recover fast enough
that basically any poke in the game you will wind up on advantage on if it is not stringed.
Slashing Back costs SLIGHT tension to do. You cannot "hold" Slashback like you could
FD. It needs to be tapped. Successfully Slashing Back will not only give you the parry,
but it will net you a small amount of tension on success. You can Slash Back multi-hit
moves as well as gatling chains. You must Slash back AS the active frame becomes active. AKA
you do not want to do it "before" the hit hits, like with Instant Blocking. You want to do
it just as it hits you like a Red Parry in 3S or something. You can activate Slash Back any time
you are in Guard Stun as well as at Neutral.
You have about a 2-3 frame window to activate a Slash Back properly. You also cannot
Slash Back for the first 10 frames after you have risen from the ground. You must Slash Back
the correct direction (high or low) for the parry to take place (IE you can't 1SH a Dust).
You can do either 4SH or 1SH for mid hits that do not hit high or low.
If missed, you are left vulnerable for approximately 30 frames during which time you can
block nothing.If you whiff a Slash Back, you can still try with another Slash Back again,
but your guardstun will then be 4 frames instead of 2. On that note, Slash Back usually has
a guardstun of 2 frames if you're on the ground, and 4 frames if you're in the air, regardless
of attack level. You take no block damage and your guard gauge does not increase.
Doing a Slash Back during a dash will cause you to stop dead in your tracks, similar to FD stops.
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