Newbie Saber Advice?

[TexRoadkill]

I just got the game a couple days ago and I have been having a blast. I missed out on 1.2 so I dont get to participate in the whine spamming. There will be a lot of newbies due to the demo. I went back 10 pages and found about 4 posts that applied to actual gameplay.

 

Does anybody have any advice on Dueling techniques?

 

Just to pitch in-

One thing I realized was that you dont need to hold the direction key to finish the swing. Like an idiot I kept holding down strafe and kept moving away from the target.

 

So my tip is Hold the trigger but tap the direction keys to get the move going. Then move towards the target. It's cool to swing your view around with the blade to keep the target in view durring the wind up. It also seems like the proper time to hit the next move for a combo is when the saber sound is just starting to peak.

 

Any advice on combo moves and general strategy appreciated.

[jmcdavel]

First of all, read Artifex's guides, he tends to only talk about how to kill the person within a few seconds but you can learn a lot, I was still using blue stance thinking I was blocking a lot and losing all the time until I read how well red blocks now.

 

And since you are new that means you don't have to relearn from the prepatch, so you are lucky.

[Dracofyre]

If there's one thing i learned from playing online and reading these forums is that the community does not care about you. You won't get any real help other than people saying "read ArtifeX's guide" and practice against the bots." You may ask for help but people won't answer or care. They WILL make fun of you and taunt you while killing you. So the best advice I can offer is to use guns. Maybe I just haven't found the right people online, but that is all I have experienced. If someone wants to prove me wrong and give me the name of a training server, then I'll greatly appreciate it, because what I have described, is all that's happened to me.

DEATH TO THE SC AND ASC

Concerning your question bout saber tactics, I tend to use a bullfighter approach. I suck at using it, but I know I'm on the right track. What you do is wait for your opponent to attack you then sidestep and let them eat your swing. Works great against dfa'er. Taunting works great for this.

[UnrealJedi]

I'd like to comment on the above post. First of all, there are people who do care. When I started multiplayer, I found a server that had some relly cool people on it. It was duel server, and we all had a great time chatting back and forth while waiting for our turn. I wanted to learn the back spin attack and one nice guy (thanks Rookie!) let me practice on him (and killing him a couple of times) until I learned it.

 

Here's what I've learned:

 

1) If you want a pure saber duel, find a duel server that has Force disabled. Some will let you have Jump or saber-throw however.

 

2) I've seen a few people who use blue and run and swing wildly thinking because they are attacking faster they should win. What they don't realize is that the blue attack can't block worth crap. Their opponent, using the yellow or the red attack (especially), will batter right through their blocks and mow them down, while blocking all their blue-stance attacks. Personally, I prefer the yellow because it's moderately strong, can block red-stance, and doesn't take as long to swing as red.

 

3) Don't mash the attack button repeatedly! You'll be interrupting your own attacks. Just keep it pressed down.

 

4) Practice strafing! Learning to strafe, especially circle strafing, is helpful.

 

5) Be aware of your environment so you don't accientally fall off great heights. I've done this on more than occassion.

 

6) It will take time, patience, and lots of practice to learn to duel well. You need to develop your own style. I suggest downloading the single player map, "The Ladder" from http://www.jediknightii.net. You will fight against increasingly stronger Reborns and Shadowtroopers. Trust me, you will quickly become a better saberist after playing this map a few times.

 

Good luck!

[Xzzy]

7) Don't be scared.

 

In order to do damage you have to take the risk of taking some damage, there's no one swing in the game where you can nick an opponent with a hit and remain totally safe.

 

8) Don't spam attacks.

 

Especially with defense 3, you can take some serious abuse by just standing there while someone throws themselves against you. Only exceptions seem to be special attacks.

 

 

Put those two together and you should be able to see you want to create a situation where you are close to your opponent and he is in the middle of a swing or otherwise has his defenses down. THAT point is when you want to make an attack. The real challenge is predicting when this is going to happen and have a swing already in progress.. all the while avoiding his saber.

[TexRoadkill]

Thanks for the input, guys.

 

Artifex's guide is great and appreciated but it is more of a technical manual. Maybe we can come up with more strategic help. After countless hours of duels over the last couple days I have a little advice. These suggestions mainly apply to non force duels.

 

When the duel starts be patient. Watch your foe and identify his attack style. Most players jump out of the gate with their favorite spam move. Identify their strategy and use some counter tactics.

 

If the guy keeps jumping he is probably trying to nail you with one of the jump attacks. DO NOT LET HIM JUMP OVER YOU! Always step to the side, preferably to your right. Do not try to roll under him or he may get a lucky shot on you. When the jumpers land and are caught in the attack animation they are vulnerable. Try to step to their left side because this seems to be the weak point. The blue lunge works well for dealing out some damage. A simple slice to the back works also.

 

If the guy keeps rolling at you he is probably trying to get in position for a back slice. Do not let him get up on you. Keep moving and keep your distance. Use the red stance to deal some long range blows and he will either respect your space or die learning. If you can keep these guys off balance and put them on defense they are usually at a loss as to what to do. If you can deny somebody the ability to use the one move they know then you can easily beat them.

 

In general- Dont attack unless you have a plan. Random swings just open up your defenses. USE THE RED STANCE! It is a monster. I have cut guys down with nothing but well timed red side swings. Learn the timing and how to swing around so your saber is always facing the enemy.

 

The jump and back spammers are easy to defeat if you are smart and patient. Use restraint and wait for them to open themselves up then go in for the kill.

 

More suggestions welcome.

[ThingAhMajig]

9) learn patience

[TexRoadkill]

ahhh yes. Patience grasshopper.

 

More annoying than the spammers are the guys who never stop attacking. They just keep comming and comming and never stop swinging.

 

Those are the guys you can cut down with a few red swings because their defenses are constantly down.

 

It's fun to just stand there and block all their blows. When they take a few steps away then let it rip. Off with their head!

[Xzzy]

problem with just standing there with them in melee range is that a lot of people have backstab scripted now and you can guarantee that you're gonna get nailed soon.

 

if you can positively identify they're in red stance feel free to sit on yer ass. yellow or blue though, keep strafing to avoid setting yourself up.

 

An easy counter is to use force pull as soon as they get close. If they're within the trip range they'll fall on their ass, at which point you come in with a red stance overhead chop.

 

This move can kill in one hit if you hit them square on, I've had it kill someone at 100 health and 25 shields (they'd just spawned).

 

and if they do survive they'll be damaged enough to cause them to think twice.

[UnrealJedi]

10) Don't swing where your opponent IS, because he is going to ove (of course). You need to try and predict where he is going to BE at the end of your swing.

 

11) Watch shadows! I love watching people jump all around the map trying to confuse me. While I am certainly no Jedi Master, I've caught quite a few just as they land by watching their shadow on the ground. It tells me where they are going to land. It's easier watching that than them. You just gotta watch out for their saber though.

[jmcdavel]

If a person misses a backstab script then he is going to be turned the perfect way to pull him down.

 

Don't rely on absorb! Proper watching of the person (keep your cursor trained on him at all times) and good rolling will let you evade any push/pull.

 

Place Protection on a key that you can press within a half second if you get knocked down.

 

As said above, be patient, even if you get badly hurt you must remain patient and predict what your opponent is doing. Someone blindly running and slashing at you while you have red stance and are keeping your cursor trained on them will be easy pickings once they tire out and get frustrated.

 

Play a lot of duels and watch the other people fighting closely, you can learn so much just from noticing what other people do in situations.