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Contents (Ctrl+F for each section):
- Creating a class and saber styles.
- Blocking points, Force points and HUD.
- Blocking and basic movement.
- Attacking, damage, interrupts and combos.
- Slapping/kicking.
- Swing blocking.
- Perfect blocking.
- Counters.
- ACM and ACC (Attack Chain Multiplier and Attack Chain Count)
- Parrying.
- Manual/Movement Blocking/Disarming.
- Half swinging.
- Yaw(ing.)
- Shadow swinging.
- Special attacks (DFA, Kata.)
- Experimental attack styles (Jumps, delays etc.)
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1. Creating a class and the various saber styles.
The controls --> Moviebattles options. This image shows use of the very popular Peneke Pack which overhauls UI and adds new models.
You also want to bind Class Configuration to a memorable key. I use comma.
You may also wish to disable auto-record demos in Controls --> Media --> Auto-record demos.
Setting up a class:
The class configuration menu.
There are several aspects to consider when creating a class and there are several differences between what you should build on Open compared to Duel.
Putting points into each ability yields different effects, I will not go into detail about which ones do what to keep the focus onto dueling (force powers aren't very commonly used).
Placing any number of points into a fast, medium or strong style will unlock a new section of the class configuration menu which allows you to add Saber defense and Saber deflection abilities to your class.
You must buy Medium Styles 1 before being able to unlock other styles.
When dueling, it is almost essential that you have at least 2 points in Saber defend so that you regenerate block points the fastest.
Saber defense 1 regenerates 4BP per tick but takes 1.4x more BP damage.
Saber defense 2 regenerates 4BP per tick, takes normal BP damage, however loses 2x Force Points on swingblocking against gunners.
Saber defense 3 regenerates 4BP per tick and takes normal BP and FP damage.
You can have up to three different saber styles selected at one time.
Different saber styles:
There are seven different types of lightsaber combat styles in MBII. Each style is categorized by being a light, medium or strong style. In general, light styles are the quickest and do the least BP damage per hit and strong styles are the slowest but do the most BP damage per hit.
Each style's Attack and defence values are as follows:
- Blue: Offense: 6, defence: 75. Combo limit: 4.
- Cyan: Offense: 9, defence 60. Combo limit: 6.
- White (Staff): Offense: 10, defence: 70 Combo limit: 4.
- Green (Dual): Offense: 11, defence: 60. Combo limit: 5.
- Yellow: Offense: 12, defence: 55 Combo limit: 4.
- Purple: Offense: 16, defence: 45. Combo limit: 3.
- Red: Offense: 20, defence: 40. Combo limit: 3.
I'd recommend yellow to learn the game with.
Stopping lag:
You might notice the game is a little bit jittery or there is ping lag, use these commands to fix most of it.
Type into console (`):
/rate 25000
/cl_maxpackets 100
/snaps 40
/com_maxfps 125
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2. Block points, Force points and HUD.
Left, health and armour bars. Right, Force points, ACM Meter and Block points.
Starting from the left, you'll notice you have a health and armour bar. If you're playing as a Jedi or Sith, you'll notice that the armour bar is empty. This is because Jedi/Sith classes do not have a perk which grants armour.
On the right, you'll notice you have a Force points bar and a Force points number value as well as a Block points bar and a small cyan, blue, yellow, white, green, red or purple aura surrounding an image of a lightsaber, which represents what style you currently have equipped (see above.)
Force points:
Force points are the blue bar on your HUD. They determine the number of force-based abilities you can do. Once you reach zero force points, you may no longer perform any more force-based abilities.
You regenerate force points automatically when you are not jumping or performing a force-based ability. The lower your force points, the more susceptible to force-based abilities you are. For instance, if someone tries to push you with 100 FP, they will not push you as hard as if you have 20 FP.
Force points are also used to defend against enemy firearms and projectiles.
Force Focus is a state in which, after keeping your crosshair on an enemy for a period of time, you may perform force-based abilities with more success. This is noted by an aura which will appear around an enemy after targeting them for a short time.
Having Force Focus on an enemy allows you to break through their Force Defense level.
Block points:
Block points are the red bar on your HUD. They determine the number of lightsaber swings you can block without Perfect blocking (see later).
Swinging, jumping and most forms of attack also all consume block points.
You regenerate block points automatically so long as you are walking, blocking or standing still. Crouching, running, holding mblock (see Mblocking section) and jumping will all inhibit the regeneration of block points.
This is why most duelists prefer to walk throughout the duration of a fight, so that their Block points are continuously regenerating.
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3. Blocking and basic movement.
A player who isn't blocking (left) and who is blocking (right).
Whilst blocking, you cannot run and will not be killed from any frontal light saber swings. Be careful not to get hit in your back or side, however.
If you are attacked by a light saber whilst blocking, you will lose BP (Block points - explained above.) Once your block points are too low, blocking will no longer defend against saber swings.
Basic Movement:
Just like in any normal PC game, you can move forwards, backwards, left, right and in all of the corresponding diagonal directions using WASD.
In addition to this, you can crouch and jump with c and space. If you hold space you will force jump, granting you the ability to jump higher depending on your force jump level (see class configuration section.)
If you jump and crouch as you land, you will roll.
Holding shift allows you to walk. This is extremely important for dueling as you will only regenerate block points when stood still or walking.
You can also walk quicker if you hold right click without shift.
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4. Attacking and combos.
If you haven't already worked it out, to attack, simply hold or tap left click / mouse1.
It is essential that you know that tapping attack causes you to lose less BP per swing than holding attack. Because of this, it is good to learn the timings for combos, so that you aren't losing out on BP.
You may also have noticed that walking in different directions allows you to perform different swings. This is another essential piece of information.
For example, if you hold D then left click, you will perform a different animation and swing to holding WA then left click.
An attacks speed varies on the saber style that you have chosen, for instance, red is much slower than blue.
Damage factors:
Depending on your movement status, you take varying degrees of damage. Rather than list all of the specific values, you are best defended and do the most damage when you walk.
Running causes you to take more damage and to deal the least damage.
Jumping causes you to take more damage and to deal more damage.
Not swingblocking allows you to deal slightly more damage than with swingblocking.
You also take a very high amount of damage if you are attacked during a swing, this is known as an interrupt:
SeV interrupts my swing because he swung first, meaning his hit lands faster. I timed my swing badly and as a result his hit first and dealt a very large chunk of BP damage to me. My swing was also cancelled as a result of this.
Combos:
Two opponents performing combos on eachother. I highly recommend watching this video in order to see what top tier dueling is supposed to look like compared to the base game. Video source.
In order to attack quickly, you need to learn how to combo. The number of swings you can combo with varies on the saber style you choose. For example, red can only perform three attacks in a row, whereas yellow can perform four.
To perform a combo, simply hold or tap left click and walk in different directions, you will notice that the attacks chain together.
All styles except red and cyan can combo with a 'one key' gap (2 quadrants), this means you can combo A, W but not A, WA.
Red and cyan have greater restrictions, meaning you must miss two keys (3 quadrants), this means you can combo A, D/WD/SD but not A, W/WA/SA.
2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc swings all do 0.5x the damage of a single swing.
Some of the easiest combinations to do are:
- A, D, A, D
- WD, WA, WD, WA
- SD, SA, SD, SA
- SA, WD, SA, WD
- WA, SD, WA, SD
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5. Slapping/kicking.
Now that you've learned how to attack, block and combo, it is time for you to learn about slapping.In step 2 where you bound keys to 'Class Special 1' and 'Class Special 2', you bound both the ability to saber throw/retrieve and slap.
If you get slapped, then make sure you get up by pressing space + w, a, s or d. Do not just press space, otherwise you will be able to be killed as you stand up.
Slaps and kicks with yellow performed on SeV. Notice the difference between when he blocks and doesn't fall, compared to if he doesn't block and does fall.
If you press they key you bound to Class Special 2, you should perform a backhanded slap or kick (with staff or dual sabers). You can only slap every few seconds, which is displayed by a white bar you will notice next to your force points.
Slapping an opponent who is not blocking will result in them falling on the ground, and presents an opportunity for you to attack them whilst they are on the floor.
Slapping an opponent who is blocking will result in them being knocked back a slight bit, but will not cause them to fall to the ground.
As of 1.6, kicking no longer causes a stagger as shown above.
Timing:
Slapping is most effective when you time it correctly, this means that constantly spamming slap is not all that effective.
The best times to slap are:
- As your opponent is about to swing by prediction.
- As your opponent has just swung.
- As your opponent is doing longer combos.
- As your opponent is running or jumping.
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6. Swing blocking.
Darth Nihilus performing a swing block. Notice he attacks but does not get slapped due to him swing blocking.
Swing blocking is one of the most fundamental parts to being good at dueling in MB2. Swing blocking allows you to attack your opponent whilst simultaneously blocking, meaning that you cannot be slapped or disarmed.
To swing block, simply tap left click to attack, and then hold down right click straight after.
The finger pattern for swing blocking, you can see it's a little bit like a 'Mexican wave' across mouse1 then to mouse2. Excuse the long finger nails, I need them for guitar lol.
Learning the timing for swing blocking and swing blocking combos can be very difficult, so I have put together some advice beneath for practicing:
The dummies you will find on mb2_duel_training. These are very useful for practicing.
1) Mb2_duel_training - Using this map, which is normally active on EU Official Duel, you can practise the timing on the dummies. It is essential you use these dummies because the timing is different when you're actually hitting an opponent compared to hitting the air.
This method is especially useful for learning combo swing blocking.
2) The 'unbind walk' method - This method is best suited for learning single hit swing blocking, but can also be used on the dummies in method one or in actual duels.
If you unbind walk, then you have to swing block in order to walk during duels. If you hold attack for too long, you will end up running around whilst you attack, which obviously you don't want to happen.
Holding right click therefore is the only way you can walk, which means you have to swingblock to walk during attacking. This is my personal favourite method.
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7. Perfect blocking.
The crosshair now displays the pb zones via a partial green crosshair, displaying which zone you are in. Each zone corresponds to a different swing.
Being good at perfect blocking requires good knowledge of the zones, quick reactions and an element of prediction.
To perfect block, you simply move your mouse to the designated area the swing is coming from - if your opponent swings WA then you look to their top left, for example.
A successful perfect block is notated by a green crosshair and green BP bar, displaying that you retain your BP.
Advice and good habit:
1) Crosshair placement: Always keep your crosshair high above the opponents head around the area of the 'W' zone. This allows quick reaction to the most common (W, WD, WA) swings.
2) Overlaps: Try to figure out any areas of overlap, for example there are places you can look that will block both SD and D swings/SA and A swings in one location.
3) Distance: Distance affects the area of the zones, because they are relative to the model. This means that the closer you are, the more extreme your mouse movements need to be. Also, keeping your distance gives you a longer chance to react and makes PBing easier.
Practising PB:
Practising PB can be very hard given that it requires you to have someone attacking you, however there are a few methods you can use to sped up the process:
1) Ask a friend or a player ingame to hit you slowly in each direction, repeating their swing until you get the correct zone.
For instance, they could swing WD over and over until you put your crosshair in the right place, then change direction. Do this for a while and get used to the zones.
2) Delayed reaction - During duels, pay no attention to reacting fast to PB but rather correctly.
By this I mean, if your opponent uses a D swing, don't try to instantly react to it and block it, but rather think in your head 'that was a D swing' and then move your crosshair into place as soon as you've processed the thought.
This obviously isn't going to be effective short term, and will probably be quite frustrating/require a lot of self discipline, but it helps you to build up speed and eventually your reaction time will get better and better to the point where you can look at the swing and react instantly.
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8. Counters.
Basics:
This video shows both normal counters and pb counters.
Counters are done by anticipating your opponents swing, and then attacking back just before they hit, this results in a very quick swing which hits your opponent in return.
You can also perfect block their hit and then counter which is one of the best ways to defend yourself.
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9. Attack Chain Count/Multiplier (ACC/ACM).
The ACM meter is in the bottom right. The yellow area increases in size after I hit SeV 6 times, signifying that I have a 6 hit advantage and that my damage has now increased by 1.2x.
ACC is built by successfully hitting your opponent whilst not being hit yourself, or perfect blocking their hits.
ACC cannot be built on subsequent combo hits, so if you hit a 4 hit combo, you won't get +4 ACC, just +1 from the first body hit of the combo.
ACC cannot be built if your opponent perfect blocks the swing, so make sure your crosshair flashes red to signify that you're hitting them successfully.
You gain +1 ACM when when, with:
Blue/Cyan: You get +8 ACC.
Yellow/White/Green : You get +6 ACC.
Red/Purple: You get +4 ACC.
Any successive hits after achieving 1 ACM add to your ACM stack. For example, if you got a +8 body hit advantage on an opponent you would get 3 ACM (+1 for the first 6 hits, +1 for the 7th, +1 for the 8th.)
Light styles (Blue and Cyan) lose -2 ACC upon being body hit rather than every other style's -1.
ACM values are as follows:
+1 ACM: 1.2x damage.
+2 ACM: 1.4x damage.
+3 ACM: 1.6x damage.. etc
+9 ACM (limit): 2.6x damage.
The best way to build ACM is by shadow swinging and half swinging (see later).
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10. Parrying.
A 4 hit combo parry which's last hit counts as a regular swing.
Normal parrying is where you swing in between your opponent's swings, resulting in an 80% defense against your opponent's swings.
This isn't as effective as PBing as you are still getting hit but can be used to even out some of the damage your opponent does to you.
To parry, simply start a combo just as your opponent's first swing hits you.
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11. Manual Blocking/Disarming (MB).
The corresponding keys to press in order to MB depending on swing direction.
You will notice if you hold left and right click then walk about with shift, you will do different animations. It is these animations that you use to MB.
To time an MB correctly, walk in the right direction, block and then left click whilst holding the others down just before the swing hits you.
The correct keys to press when MBing are shown above, but you can think of it as inverting the height of a swing, but remaining on the same side. For example, if your opponent does a WA swing, you would MB it with SA, with SD you would MB with WD.
A manual block, which successfully disarms my opponent.
When MBing you should remember:
- You must perfect block at the same time as MBing otherwise it will not work.
- Failing to MB gives you a one second cooldown time in which you cannot MB again successfully, so spamming MB does not work.
In order to practise MB, the best thing to do is to worry about first hits of combos. Similar to method one of practising PB, you should react accurately not quickly, get the directions pinned down and practise with a friend or someone ingame to show you the timing, then react slowly in duels and slowly build up your speed.
To increase your chances of MB you can also learn to 2nd or 3rd hit MB, simply predict your opponents combo much like you would PB a combo and you can land second hit MBs which your opponent is less likely to be swingblocking.
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