This is a guide for new players and will teach you the basics of the game. It is written for the harmonious prelude free-to-play update and covers some aspects of the game that the tutorial does not. However, it is recommended that you play the tutorial before reading this guide. If you would like to play the unharmonious version i.e. before the free-to-play update with the old tracers etc. Narny has made a guide.

If you're playing for the first time, you probably have questions about what to expect from this game and why you should consider playing it. To answer this, I recommend taking a brief look at some of the previous tournaments on YouTube. They are a bit old and technically out of date but still pretty good - you can look for the character you want to play too. I like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLvDc05dwqk

Before you go further, there is a discord server[discord.com] for the game where the developers of the game also hangout.

There are more guides detailing more advanced techniques such as air cancelling and movement.

Some quick housekeeping stuff first, making sure you are on the correct gamemode. The free-to-play update introduced 'arcade mode'. This mode provides a simplified moveset/swords for each character and was intended to help new players by reducing the learning curve - bottom line is that it doesn't work and is not fun to play.

Everyone plays in 'Classic mode'. It was the normal gamemode pre-update and it is still the best way to learn the game. You can change gamemodes easily:

• In a server, when you are not in a duel, hold down the tab key. In the bottom left of the screen there is a button to toggle game modes. It should say Classic Style if you are in Classic mode and Arcade style if you are in Arcade mode.

Gamemode Differences (this part is skippable)
Arcade

• All swords behave like 'longswords' and can block.
  To find out more information On Sword Types (by Taz the Tanzanian Devil).
  
• All stances for every character have only one attack string, number of different attacks down to 4, not including side attacks.
  
• The limit of having only one attack in each stance does not allow for side and forward cancelling.
  
• The stances charged attacks can differ from Classic modes for the corresponding uncharged attack.

Classic

• There are 5 different types of swords with different properties, only 2 of which have block.
  
• Stances contain more than one attack string and the forward attacks are all different.

Level System
Press M while in a server or click customize in the main menu to view the character selection and customisation screen. You can see the amount of experience your character has and some sword details here too.
The old ranking system has been replaced with a leveling system, so you now gain experience for dueling against other players instead. The amount of experience gained depends on your performance during the duel, whether you win or lose and other factors.


Unlocking Cosmetics
Besides looking different, cosmetics do not affect actual gameplay. You can also turn off workshop cosmetics in the settings - see the settings section above
The old in-game currency called Notes has been removed.

You unlock cosmetic features i.e. capes, colour picker, swords etc. as you level up. The first cape is at level 6 and so on. Also, you can't unlock all the available items through leveling - this is to encourage trading.

Workshop cosmetics are still a thing. However, some swords etc. can only be bought.

Some more boring but very important settings to change are shown below. It is highly recommended that you apply these before playing. The reasoning for these settings is to make the gameplay clearer, better control over your character and a wider field of view. Notice how the image on the left with the appropriate settings lets you see behind yourself more compared to the one on the right. You can see more of the arena as well in the left image which is important.
Game

• The steam workshop can be enabled/disabled here.
  
• The most important settings to change here are the camera settings and are shown below.
  
  • Set camera height and field of view to the max value.
    
  • Leave distance and spectator camera motion to the default value and set everything else to 0.

Camera settings are important as they can allow the player to have a wider field of view in game. This is useful for many reasons such as judging distance, keeping track of the opponent and even having more time to react when players dash at you from across the map.

Video

• Disable motion blur, ambient occlusion, tone mapping and cascade shadow mapping.
  
• Advanced Video
  
  • Set shader detail and effect detail to low.
    
  • Disable asset streaming.
• The rest depends on how good your PC is.

Control

• Disable Attack+Block Grab and Double Tap Shuffle to prevent accidental key presses.
  
• Enable the developer console under Allow Developer Console (F10); as the name says, press F10 to view the console.
  
  • Type in 'net_graph 1' to view ping, fps, etc.
    
  • Type in 'kill' to kill off character - useful if you get stuck somehow.
    
  • Type 'bind <key> kill' to bind a key for the kill command, e.g. 'bind [ kill'.
    
  • Type 'bind <key> "say <thing to say>"' to bind a catchphrase! e.g 'bind [ "say hello"'.
    
• Raw mouse input should also be enabled.
  
• Editing key/button bindings is also done here, if desired.

Playing this game with a controller is not recommended.

Audio

• To enable/disable in-game voice chat, go to Settings->Audio and toggle the Enable Voice setting.

As players gain more experience, they may want to tweak some of these to their own liking but the settings outlined here should work.

The stance, parry and charging system in the game can be a bit confusing when you first play but soon you'll that it becomes second nature.

Judge's stances and attack strings below, respectively.

Every character in the game has four different stances – air, fast, balanced and heavy. Each stance contains a number of different attacks i.e. different animations, speeds, damage etc. This is what makes up an attack string i.e. heavy stance on Judgement has three different attacks that make up that string while Ryoku only has two heavy attacks in his string. Additionally, it is also what makes the game fun.

Fast, balanced and heavy stances for judge while charging and moving forward, respectively.

Using Stances
Learning what the stances of each character looks like and the charge animation of each attack,
while moving and staying still, is usually a big hurdle for newer players.

This is important as it will tell you what your opponent is attempting to do during a duel. There are some patterns and some telltale signs for this i.e. Pure and Phalanx hold the sword with two hands in heavy stance, Judgement does too but his sword points straight up.

A bit of good news is that as you play the game, you learn the pattern of what each character will generally use next most of the time, which does simplify the whole stances thing quite a bit. Also, in most situations, reading a 'standing still' stance is not that useful anyway i.e. for tier 1 attacks which can be easily switched. It is much more useful to learn the charging animations of each attack and infer what attack is being used based on the previous attack.

If you would like to see the stances and do not have access to the game for any reason, you can view them here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPk1-LYrDJ_R6C00yx1HzuM&disable_polymer=true

In arcade mode, each stance string only has 1 attack.

To the untrained eye, the parrying system looks like rock paper scissors but if you look more closely, it doesn't resemble it at all except for the fact that things beat other things.
A good way of remembering which stances beat which is the following:

• When in-game, look at the stances shown in the bottom left.
  
• A stance beats any stance above it, except heavy which gets beat by air.
  
• For the same stances, no damage is taken and a neutral parry occurs.

Some more details include:

• A parry occurs when two swords collide after both players use an attack.
  
• A 'higher' stance will break through a 'lower' stance during a parry. This will allow you to go through someones attack with one of your own and hit them.
  
• For parries of equal stance (neutral parries) it is a bit more complicated. Who gets to attack first depends on a number of factors such as which attack was charged more for the parry, who uses a faster attack after the parry and also the timing of the next attack i.e. mashing the button makes you slower to attack than if you time the button press for the parry recovery. This isn't too important for beginners so if you don't understand it right now, feel free to skip and come back to it later.

Don't get me wrong, parrying is an important and a foundational skill to learn but at the higher tiers timing/spacing attacks is even more important. That is you cant beat a higher tier attack by properly using your own and it adds complexity to the game. Once again, subtracting from the rock-paper-scissor element of the game. Also, otherwise Ryoku wouldn't be that strong.

• Every attack has 3 different charge tiers.
  
• Higher tiers are reached by holding down the attack button [LMB] and charging the attack.
  
• Charging until you see sparkles/lights (about 1.5 seconds) changes the attack to tier 2.
  
• Attacking at any point before tier 2, as you can expect, performs a tier 1 attack.
  
• If you keep holding down the attack button, you will eventually perform a tier 3 attack, which is not blockable.

The attack changes when a new tier is reached i.e. Ryoku's first balanced attack at tier 1 is drastically different to tier 2. Some simple experimentation by the player will quickly demonstrate the basic mechanics of charging, while more experience will be needed to become familiar with how each tier modifies each attack and which attacks are 'better' than others. Below, you can see the major changes in the attack tracers (i.e. the path the sword will follow) for Pure's right balanced attack as it goes through the different charge stages.


See the white attack previews in the images above? When you attack, your sword follows that path called a tracer. Not very useful on its own but can be used to explain how multi-hits work (psst... below).

If you manage to hit someone, your sword follows the attack tracer and travels through that someone's body. Duh.
But as it does so, after the initial hit, it can continue to do some damage (and knockback) and is what creates the satisfying slashing sound you hear. The multi-hits do less damage than the initial hit but can add up to be pretty significant. Besides the attack used, your sword will affect the amount of multi-hits too (some do more than others).

A lot of the 'advanced' techniques in this game have the word 'cancel' in their name because, well, they cancel something. In this case, side cancels are used to cancel side attacks prematurely i.e. attacks while holding A or D.

Here's a very useful example for Ryoku (though you would need to perform it a bit faster than shown as for illustrative purposes it was done a bit slower):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y1Kw9sxnhQ&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=7

It is as simple as it sounds but there are some conditions that must be met:

• It only works if there are attacks left in your attack strings.
  
• You must use an opposite side attack. If the current attack was a left attack, you need to use a right attack.

The benefits are obvious and is useful for every character. You can close openings, get in extra hits for combos, charge another side attack early, bait attacks etc. The difficulty with this tech is knowing and performing the next correct attack correctly while under pressure.

This tech is also key for when you have your opponent stuck against a wall/corner. Spam at them. Check out an example for Phalanx below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ZkFeDi7uY&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=4

It should be noted that you can side cancel into air attacks.

What swords should I use you ask. Great question. Unfortunately, while there are some good pairings with some characters, it really comes down to taste. Even if it isn't great, you can technically 'make' it work and relish the challenge in doing so. Below I describe the swords in very simple handwavy way to help you make a decision. One of the main things that will/should influence your decision will be the defensive tech the sword gives (press RMB). The main thing is that you get good with one sword and character and then swapping becomes much easier after.

But what is a good sword to learn the basics of the game with? If your main focus is to learn the game then I would recommend either Longsword and maybe Katana, preferably the former. Of course, other swords could work too.

• Honest-steady-fundamentals type of playstyle
  
• Defensive tech is block - takes chip damage but allows for counters to out damage your opponent.
  
• Good solid damage from multi-hits.
  
• Good ability to combo from multihits as it has the lowest knockback in the game.
  
• Block is easy to use but hard to master.

• Defensive tech is feint - timing dependent playstyle. Note: This does not mean defensive, the sword is actually very good at taking space.
  
• Highest mobility with feints and shuffles.
  
• High single hit damage and out parrying can create high bursts of damage.
  
• Highest knockback can create some more wall/corner opportunities - otherwise natural low combo ability.
  
• No solid damage mitigation can leave you susceptible to combos.
  
• Ability to stand up immediately from knockdown state (while knocked down, attack and immediately after, press right click to feint).

• Defensive tech is guard which blocks the first hit only and allows you to walk. Even block shurikens with it as you move.
  
• Win most side parries but lose most forward parries.
  
• Typically a very poke-oriented defensive playstyle so games can become drawn out.

• Very high combo ability.
  
• Defensive tech is intercept which blocks all tier 1 and tier 2 attacks to create openings.
  
• Can have a 'simple' playstyle.
  
• It is a very strong sword in game.

• Very different style to the other swords.
  
• Defensive tech is block, like longsword.
  
• Charge attacks faster.
  
• High combo ability.
  
• Significantly less single hit damage but much higher multi-hit rate.
  
• Tier 3 attacks do not knock people down.
  
• Has significant forward cancelling - like side cancelling but for forward attacks from one stance into a forward attack of another stance.

Well that was a very simplistic way of describing the swords but should get the main points across to help you make a decision.

To find out more information On Sword Types (by Taz the Tanzanian Devil). You can also view info on swords in the customisation screen (press M in a server).

When more experienced players talk about their nifty combos and attacks in game, they use shorthand notation. Examples are shown below.

• F2T3 means fast 2 tier 3 which stands for the second fast attack charged fully.
  
• HRT2 stands for a heavy right attack (heavy attack while holding down the movement key D) charged to tier 2.
  
• BLT1 is a normal/tier 1 balanced left attack (holding down movement key A).
  
• ALT2 is air left, tier 2.

For example, someone might say: "as judge all you need to do as a newbie is hit b1t2, which is broken, and then b2t1 and f3 and you win easy against most other newbies"

This is, obviously, by no means a complete way of playing the characters. Actually fighting in
duels is the best way to learn. If you are new to the game however, the following may give you some ground to stand on, and to then adapt to the opposing player during the fight.

So what I mean by a rotation is the following: when you are not sure what to use, a good set of moves to rely upon. Kind of like a set of default fallback moves or the 80/20 rule of sorts, and this can be for any situation. I think that for newer players, recognising that each character has a fallback set of moves they continuously rely upon helps to learn this game. A rotation is different to a combo as not every move will hit if chained with some movement. Sometimes a move can be used to oppose another move and buy time, or even corner someone. However, on that point some of the rotations outlined below contain in them combos.

• The shorthand used to describe the attacks is explained above under 'Describing Attacks' in the 'Defining Terminology Used' section.
  
• Some of the rotation/combos below are demonstrated in this youtube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP

Balanced stance is the best stance for this character, followed by fast stance. The attacks from heavy stance are generally not as good as they are slow, with the exception of HLT1. Judgement's air attacks are good and can be used to continue combos or even initiate.

Best Attacks: B1 / B2 / F3.

Recommended:
B1 -> B2/F2T2 -> F3/B3 (a strong basic rotation for Judgement, even at higher levels)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TfMbbmxaI&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=1
F1 -> B2 -> F3/B3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FXSbSbul6k&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=2
FR -> B2 -> F3/B3

The move will depend on whether one is attacking or defending in that moment; if the tier is not
specified, use whatever tier the situation calls for.

Good with Longsword, Katana, Scimitar and Jian.
To find out more information On Sword Types (by Taz the Tanzanian Devil).

Fast is the best stance for this character, followed by balanced stance. Heavy attacks are more
reactionary or useful for side cancelling.

Best Attacks: B2 / FL / FR / BL / HL.

Recommended:
F1 -> F2T2 -> B3/F3-> FL/FR (a strong rotation even at higher levels, use FR right after usually)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3x77xTEEug&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=3
FR -> HL/BL -> FR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCeIc_pc9Fs&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=5
FR -> HL (needs side cancelling)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCeIc_pc9Fs&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=5
Good with Longsword, Katana, Rapier, Scimitar and Jian (all the swords are quite good).

Pure is one of the more complicated characters to pick up as she depends on most of the moves
available to her. Fast is her best stance.

Best Attacks: FR / B2 / F2 / F3.

Recommended:
FR -> F2 -> F3
FR -> B2 -> F3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-70DPUjrQY&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=8
BLT2 -> B2T1 -> F3

Good with Jian, Longsword and Scimitar.

Fast is the best stance for this character. Use of balanced or heavy attacks will depend on the
situation.

Best Attacks: F2 / F4 / HR / B1.

Recommended:
F1 -> F2 -> F3 -> shuffle -> F4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq8m-h_N_oI&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=6
F4 -> B1 -> HR
B1 -> F2 -> F3
FL -> BR/HR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y1Kw9sxnhQ&list=PL1wnEQ5JcbYPJXzjiU866cSPmFtDnibzP&index=7

Good with Longsword, Jian, Katana and Scimitar.

You may have noticed there are no air attacks above. They are a bit more difficult to use, in my opinion, because of the way stances work. That does not mean they are bad or anything like that - they are quite essential in the game for continuing combos, initiating etc. but will require a bit more practice to know when to use them.

Press Q to grab when close enough. Press Q to counter grab if someone dares to grab you. If you are successful at counter grabbing, you now have a frame advantage i.e. your next action/attack starts a bit earlier than your opponent.

If you do get grabbed however, you are now knocked down (getting hit by a tier 3 attack also knocks you down) and have 4 options:

• Attack (press LMB) - beats all attacks and breaks deflect if lands. Slow recovery.
  
• Deflect (press RMB) - beats all tier 1 and tier 2 attacks. Slow recovery.
  
• Stand up (press SPACE). Fast recovery.
  
• Roll away (WASD). Get some distance before doing one of the above.

Counter grabbing can be a bit tricky at first but with some practice, you will be able to react to it relatively reliably.

Note that if you have high ping, grabbing can become a nightmare. Being grabbed across the arena is not nice.

Find the full guide on air cancelling here - separate as it goes in detail.

Useful for manipulating your attack higher - it is actually an unintended mechanic that has ended up as a core part of the game. It's pretty famous as one of the first advanced techs taught to newer players under the instructions of "attack and press space". The timing can be a bit finicky to get down; I think the method below is easier.

It is easier to learn air cancels by learning how to perform them for a charged attack first, so let's begin with that and then move onto uncharged attacks:

• Charged Attack - While charging your attack as normal, press space riiiight before releasing the attack. The timing between pressing space and releasing is very small, but the jump comes first.
  
  
• Tier 3 Attack - Press jump riiiiight as the charge pops, the timing is again very small (too soon and you will perform an air attack instead). The attack button is not released when performing a tier 3 air cancel. This is a tricky to get consistent.
  
  
• Instant Air Cancels - Now for instants. Do the same as for a charged attack but now, charge the attack for shorter and shorter and shorter periods, eventually until you're not really charging it anymore.
  

Find the full guide on movement here - separate guide as it goes in detail.

Where the basic controls for movement are covered in the tutorial i.e. WASD, rolling, etc., more advanced techniques are briefly covered here. These are important for maintaining proper distance/pressure and engaging quickly on your opponent.

One quick thing before moving onto the more advanced bits; walking forward moves faster than walking backwards. Sure, you may know that but did you know that walking diagonally backwards i.e. pressing S and either A or D at the same time, moves the same speed as walking forwards - do with this info what you will.

When an attack reaches tier 2, you can press CTRL to dash. Be careful however as dashing leads you vulnerable to shurikens (hold E) and you will 150% damage for 4 seconds. You can tell by the flashing of your character. You can dash to do flying (risky) air attack and you can even change the actual attack before dashing (while charging press another stance).

It should be noted that you can hit shurikens out of the air.


Advanced movement techniques in this game includes using shuffles [SHIFT] and you should know about them even if you do not decide to learn them yet. This way you know why some people are jumping across the map so quickly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VqmxlG0shY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly4_L8ICoR8

If you jump at the correct time before an attack hits you, you will not suffer the hitstun and knockback you normally will. This is difficult to perform, unreliable and likely only exists for certain attacks but you should know it exists.

Only two swords in this game have the ability to block as their defensive tech - longsword and scimitar. It warrants a section as blocking and countering/punishes have a few things that need explaining.

There are two states to blocking. Preblocking and blocking on reaction. To reliably perform counters, you want to anticipate the attack and preblock. Blocking on reaction will require some animation time which will not allow you to counter reliably.

Once you have the above down, the main thing is to deal with the knockback from attacks, so you can stay close and counter in between/at the end of your opponents combo.

• If you are getting knocked back and would like to attempt a counter, press shift when the last multi-hit of the attack you want to counter has hit you.

However be warned, successfully punishing can become quite difficult and will initially take some practice as it will change depending on the sword your opponent is using, what first attacks you have available and will also depend on if your opponent is using a side attack as side cancels are a thing. The knockback from katana can be difficult to deal with and counters that were available easily on longsword are much more difficult to perform against a combo heavy sword like jian.

You will also need to let go of block and readjust in between your opponents combos as it only covers 120 degrees. This is especially true against characters like Ryoku and Pure, whose side air attacks can be difficult to block.

It should also be noted that you take chip damage while blocking.

There are 3 main official server types in this game. They are described briefly below.

People like to play FFA servers as there is no queue, free roaming different maps is allowed and I suppose you can be more interactive with other players. A negative would be that arena sizes aren't limited during duels but generally people hang around a fighting area.

• Press R to challenge people to a duel.
  
• For the duration of the duel, you will no longer see or interact other players besides your opponent. You also have a higher priority, meaning you push other players out of the way.

Or do whatever, attack sitting players if you want, it is Free-For-All.


You are limited to joining limited arenas with no free roam of the map. Arenas are limited to 2 people at once, and you will be put into a queue if there are already people playing.

• Hold down [TAB] to view the interface.
  
• Press VIEW on an arena before pressing JOIN (R) is more reliable to join the correct arena.
  
• Press R to unready and quit after a duel is over.

Control isn't really played, so will be ignored. Briefly however, you fight to take control of areas to win based on points gathered over time.

While this guide obviously cannot fully replace actual interaction with other players about what is happening in the game, a quick reading of the in-game mechanics is useful for effective communication. Also, most players would be happy to help with your queries. Some of the material in this section is covered by the in-game tutorial. This is mainly for reference when needed - no need to read it.
Movement

• Shuffle [SHIFT] – Quickly moves you a short distance in the direction of the movement key pressed. You can be hit during the animation.
  
  Shuffling is very important for attacking etc. and is used a lot. It also leads to a more advanced mechanic such as the shuffle jump, which is discussed in a different guide.
  
  Additionally, there is an advanced movement mechanic called shuffle jumping that lets you move a greater distance than just jumping or shuffling. If you see people zipping around the place and charging attacks after, its likely to be this. More on this in the movement guide.
  
  
• Roll [CTRL] – Rolls you for a distance that is greater than a shuffle. Does not tend to be used as the animation is quite long and you can be hit during this time.
  
  
• Dash – You can dash by pressing roll [CTRL] any time after an attack reaches tier 2.
  
  Dashing is risky. You no longer auto-block shurikens and will receive more damage if hit. This is signalled by the flashing of your character and lasts for 4 seconds.
  
  If using dash to run, it is recommended to turn around quickly and throw a shuriken so that if the opposing player attempts to do so as well, they will also receive damage. That or you can also try and hit the shuriken out of the air with an attack.
  
  
• Wall Climb – Pressing roll [CTRL] while facing a wall and holding [W] will make you climb said wall.
  
  Useful for getting out of tight situations, such as when cornered or to evade a specific charged attack. You cannot glide along walls in perpetuity as you fall back down after about 6 jumps. If you jump while gliding, you can go pretty far. Also, used to perform fancy air attacks. There are some parkour maps based on this mechanic which don't get played much anymore.

Combat

• Shuriken [E] – Throws a projectile that has some auto aim/tracking. You autoblock the shuriken as long as you are not:
  
  • Mid-animation,
    
  • Have not dashed,
    
  • Are not wall climbing and
    
  • Are not facing away/too much to one side.
  
  
  • Shurikens (or shuris) can be cancelled and used to feint an attack.
    
  • Striking the shuriken with an attack will block/deflect it also.
    
  • It is possible to curve a shuriken over a characters head sometimes if your sword model is low, so be careful.
  
  
• Grab [Q] – A quick grab that is good when up in each other’s faces, usually after a parry, that knocks the other player down if successful.
  
  Counter-grabbing gives a frame advantage, giving an edge to attack earlier.
  When knocked down, players have 3 options:
  
  • [LMB] perform an attack that beats any stance and cannot be blocked but has a long animation.
    
  • [RMB] intercept (same as Jians defensive tech) any attack except tier 3 attacks, also with a long animation.
    
  • [SPACEBAR] stand up, which is the quickest.
  
  
• Poke Attacks – So called poke attacks are generally longer ranged / higher priority attacks which offers a relatively safe way to break into someones defense/space from relative safety, usually to initiate a combo.
  
  
• Spacing – Positioning your character to correctly use attacks.
  
  
• Angling – Turning the camera (via mouse) to control/position the tracer (the part your sword follows) of your attacks or to affect movement i.e. for shuffle jumps. It is a 3D game after all.
  
  
  • This can be used to get 'extra' range for some attacks and change when an attack will hit by manipulating the tracer.
    
  • Angling attacks to avoid disadvantageous parries can allow the player to follow up with a quicker attack or run, while the opponent is recovering.
    
  • Angling your tracer so that your opponents attack does not go over your attack and hit you.
  
  
• Hit stun – When you get hit by an attack, you get stunned and knocked back.
  
  
  • Sometimes the duration of the hit stun is long enough for combos, whereas the knockback tends to act against this.
    
  • How much you get knocked back depends on the sword type you get hit with (longsword has the least knockback and katana has the most).
  
  Hit stun cancelling is when a player jumps at the correct time to use the volatile change in momentum caused by the jump to cancel the disruption in momentum caused by an attack. Usually used to jump out of a fast string i.e. Ryoku’s F1, F2, F3 combo. It is generally difficult to time.
  
  
• Multihit – After the initial hit caused by the sword model coming into contact with the opposing player’s hitbox, the remaining hits begin to decrease in damage as the sword follows the tracer of the attack, continuing through the opponent's hitbox.
  
  
  • The damage of the multihits is capped at a minimum that is determined by the sword type used. Side attacks usually have the most amount of multihits. The interval in which these occur also depends on the sword type used.
  
  
• Chip Damage – The damage one takes when using the block defensive tech on longsword caused by the initial hit of the attack and the following multihits – chip damage is fixed at 2.

• Juggle - Getting hit/combo'd while in the air and not able to move due to the hitstun and knockback preventing landing.

Hope this helped you in some way. Any suggestions/mistakes etc. please let me know below.

Again, there are more guides detailing more advanced techniques such as air cancelling and shuffle jumping.