SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL MECHANICS GUIDE 2007/12/08 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Invincibility - Invincibility effectively removes your hit box for the given damage type. - Most invincibility is to melee only and does not count for projectiles. - This does not stop attacks with more active frames than the duration of the invincibility. - This does not always convey immunity to throws. --- Autoguard - Some moves have a property where incoming melee attacks are negated and all future active frames of that attack are canceled. This is called autoguard. - When a hit is autoguarded, you will see a small effect indicating that it did not take effect. - This is not the same as invincibility, since the active frames of the incoming attack are canceled. - No chip damage takes place. - This does not convey immunity to throws. --- Blocking - Blockstun duration varies for the type of attack. - If you block a hit, even if that hit has more active frames it will no longer hit you. - This means some attacks are safer when whiffed than when blocked, such as Gaira's WFT. - There is no absolute guard: You must block every hit individually. - Chip damage is taken from every damaging hit from a special or projectile. - It is roughly one pixel, or 1/125th of your total life. - If you hold back after blocking a hit, you will remain in a blocking position and animation for the remaining duration of the move even though there are no more frames left. - There is a short animation which indicates that you are no longer blocking. This cannot be canceled with 1 or 4, but any other action will stop it immediately. - Many weapon normals have a block recoil animation when they are blocked. - Nearly all of these may be canceled into any special during the recoil period. - Exceptions would include Yunfei 2AB. - Any cancelable kick or punch can be canceled on block as well. --- Knockdown/stun types - Hitstun occurs when an attack connects with an opponent and does not move them off the ground in any subtantial way. - You cannot be thrown during hitstun. - The duration of the hitstun depends on the type of attack that has landed. - Knockback causes the opponent to go flying up and away from you. - Examples include Sogetsu 66B and Yunfei 5C. - They will be vulnerable for 10 frames after being hit. - The opponent may be juggled during this period. - After these 10 frames, the opponent is invincible until landing. - This does NOT cause them to fall onto the ground, they will land safely! - Hitting any opponent in the air with a hitstun-type attack causes this state. - Knockdowns are the most common type of moment inflicted on the opponent. They function the same as knockbacks, except the opponent falls onto the ground. - Throws cause this state. - The opponent is invincible until landing, and may not be juggled. - You may immediately do any pursuit after a knockdown. - Knockdowns move at full speed during State of Nothingness. - Some knockdown-type hits, when done on a back-hit, will still move at slow motion during State of Nothingness, but are still knockdowns and invincible to damage anyway. - Rasetsu's 623C is unique in that it is a knockdown that... - Moves at slow speed during State of Nothingness. - Is jugglable for the entire duration. - Knockup is when the opponent goes flying straight up from a hit. - These may be juggled! - But only when the opponent is still moving upwards, which is about 29 frames. No Issen combos for you. - And you generally don't recover fast enough to do it outside of State of Nothingness. - You may immediately do pursuits after a knockup hit. - In fact, you can always follow up one with a big pursuit! - Some hitstun-type projectile hits will cause this on a back hit, even if the opponent is in midair. These are... - Genjuro 214S (either hit) - Mina 623S, [6]4S, [6]4C, and most normal projectiles. - Jubei 236S - Kazuki 236S - Kyoshiro 236S - Zankuro 236S - Tam-Tam's 623 projectile also causes this on a hit. - This can be used to force an air juggle with characters that do not normally have a comboable knockback. - While Haohmaru's and Rasetsumaru's 236S's do indeed look like knockups, they are actually knockdowns. - Strangely, Rasetsumaru's 236S is jugglable for the entire duration, while Haohmaru's is not. - Groundslams occurs when the opponent is slammed directly downwards into the ground. - Most overheads cause this. - The opponent is invulnerable during this and may not be juggled. - Groundslammed opponents bounce once on hitting the ground and then fall to the ground gracelessly afterwards. - You may only do pursuits after the first bounce, as it does not recognize the opponent's state until after that. - Groundslams move at full speed during State of Nothingness if done against a ground opponent. - However, hitting an airborne opponent with a groundslam attack makes them move in slow motion. - Which means you can follow them up with a big pursuit after the first bounce. - Wallslams occur on some hits, which send the opponent flying back to the wall to bounce off. - An example would be Gaira's 47896AB throw. - They may not be juggled. - You may do any pursuit after a wallslam, but the opponent's invincibility period extends to when they are on the ground for a few frames, so it's not a good idea. - Wallslams move at full speed during State of Nothingness. --- Jumps - Motion: 7, 8, or 9 - Jumps have no startup time whatsoever. - Landing recovery takes 2f regardless of the state you were in during the jump. - So if the opponent is not in stun he will have a throw advantage. - Backdashes will still evade, though. - Note that most air specials will add their own landing recovery in some fashion. - After landing recovery, any current attacks will be immediately canceled and you can move freely. - If you land a jump-in attack during the landing recovery frames, the properties of the attack change. - Hitstun is dramatically increased. - Blockstun is not affected in any way whatsoever. - But landing the attack later will always add more frames of blockstun. - There is a slight animation difference on doing it on each of the two recovery frames. The second puts you into a standing animation on landing. This has no effect on timing. - Jump motions may be held to activate as soon as it is possible to do so. - However, there is a 20f period after landing before it will recognize a buffered jump. - You may immediately press a new jump motion from neutral after the landing recovery period, and it will work instantly. - If you crossup your opponent on a jump and try to walljump, if you press any slash or kick at the same time you will fall instead of jumping upwards. --- Wakeup - After landing, you may get up with a 4, 6, or 8 ground tech. - Most techs have a 6f special cancel window. They may be canceled into... - Any special move. - Weapon pickup. - Rage explosion. - So far the only exception to the tech cancel window is Yoshitora's 8 tech. - You are invincible until fully waking up. - You have 17f throw invincibility on wakeup. - Wakeup pushback happens when the following conditions are met: - The character waking up is in the corner. - The character waking up is groundteching towards the corner. - The opponent currently in the middle of any attack, anywhere. --- Air specials and cancels - Most air specials can be canceled off of ground normals that bring you into the air. - Examples: Suija can cancel them off of f.6AB, 2AB, BC, 66B, and 5C. - Some, not all, air moves can only be done at the peak of a jump. - This doesn't stop them from working in, say, a backdash. - If you miss the timing you will simply do a normal air attack, which is probably bad. - Examples: Rimururu j.2B, Basara j.236S. - Air grabs appear to be fairly glitchy or have very strict hitboxes on the whole and shouldn't be relied on. - They appear to have a diagonally upwards and forwards hitbox. - Except Yunfei's for some reason, which actually works more often than not. --- Weapon pickup - Motion: A while standing above weapon - The throw followup may be used for a weapon pick-up instead. - If you are hit by anything during the pick-up animation, the animation will be canceled but you will be fully armed. - Some specials may cancel the pickup animation. - e.g: Rasetsumaru 623A --- Deflect - Motion: 216D (not 2146D) - Deflects can only be done when armed with a weapon. - Deflects are considered a special move, and can be canceled into at any point you could normally cancel into a special. - Only normal slashes with a weapon may be deflected, not special moves. - Deflects are active from their second frame. - The area of deflection zone is character specific. - Characters with larger weapons can generally deflect further. - Deflects last 37 frames in total. - 1 frame startup - 11 frames active - 25 frame recovery - On a connected deflect, the opponent is put into a hitstun state. - He may not be thrown during this. - The duration of the stun is based on the type of attack that has been deflected. - B level attacks tend to have the most stun, generally in the range of a whopping 45+f. - When AB level attacks are deflected, the opponent is disarmed. - Jumping attacks may not be deflected. - However, if the opponent lands without hitting you while the attack animation is still going, the deflect will work. - The timing and positioning is too strict to make this practical. - Deflects do not affect the Sword Gauge and do not affect damage. --- Weapon catch - Motion: 216D (not 2146D) - Weapon catches may only be done when unarmed. - Catches are considered a special move, and can be canceled into at any point you could normally cancel into a special. - Catches are active from their second frame, for 11 frames. - On a whiff, you are vulnerable for 6 frames. - Only normal slashes with a weapon may be caught, not special moves. - A successful catch will always disarm the opponent and knockdown. --- Dash - Motion: 66 - Dashes have no startup frames, but do have recovery frames. - Dashes continue for 3 frames after you let go of 6. - This may be cut short by pressing 4. - Dashes will immediately go into the recovery frames if you bump into your opponent. - Dashes may be canceled AT ANY POINT into... - Any special move, - Any D motion except ducking or meditating. - A throw. - Weapon pickup. - During the dash period ONLY these cancels are also available: - Any jump (7/8/9) - Any dashing attack. (any S or any C) - Note that jumps may not be canceled DURING the recovery frames, only while you are in motion, so you have 3f to change from 6 to 7/8/9. - Some special moves change when canceled from a dash. - An example would be Hanzo's command grab. - Dash attacks (66A/66B/66C) will change direction if done after crossing past the opponent. - Dashes can be buffered ahead of time and do not need frame precise timing. - All unarmed 66S are knockdown-type attacks. - ...Except for Kazuki's, which is a groundslam. - Rera's cancels function differently when on the wolf. See below. --- Backdash - Motion: 44 - Like dashes, backdashes have no startup frames, but do have recovery frames on landing. - Backdashes dodge throws. - Most backdashes bring you into the air, and can be canceled into air specials during this period. - An example would be Basara's 44 236AB, or Kyoshiro's 44 2B - Like dashes, a backdash's recovery frames may be canceled into... - Any special move. - Hanzo and Galford have an extra cancel period during their first landing from the backflip. It may be canceled into... - Any special move. - Backdashes can be buffered ahead of time and do not need frame precise timing. - Thus can be used on landing safely. - And are their main advantage over a backwards roll for most characters. - Some characters appear to have a very short melee invulnerability on backdash. - Rera's cancels function differently when on the wolf. See below. --- Roll - Motion: 3D for forwards roll, 1D for backwards roll - Rolls have four stages. - Startup: This has some forward momentum and full invincibility to all attacks, projectiles, and throws. This generally does not last more than a few frames. - Roll: This is forward movement, you evade medium and high attacks. You may be thrown during this. - Kusaregedo's roll stage is melee invincible. - Recovery stage 1: This period is cancelable. - Recovery stage 2: This period is not and you are fully vulnerable. - The windows for each of the stages vary between characters. - Only Kusaregedo's forward roll cancel window is difficult, though. - The first recovery stage may be canceled into... - Any special move. - The exception to this is Yoshitora's backwards roll, which instead functions like a longer, faster backdash, complete with air cancel period, with the exception that its recovery period may not be canceled. - The AI cheats and can cancel a roll into another roll. - This is not possible for a human player to do. - Basara can sort of look like he's doing it with his fake-out moves, though. --- Hop, forwards hop - Motion: 4D for standing hop, 6D for forwards hop - Hops have the following frames, in the following order: - The hop itself. - Time variable depending on character. - 6D hops are a few frames longer than 4D hops generally. - 1f on the ground, uncancelable. - 3f throw cancelable recovery. - 3f cancelable recovery. It may be canceled into... - A throw. - A special. - Weapon pickup. - Hops do not have any invulnerability. - They will move you into the air for a bit. - This will dodge most low and mid level attacks. - The amount dodged is dependant on the character. - 4D generally has a higher hitbox than 6D, so will dodge more attacks. - It will go over low projectiles, such as Kyoshiro's and Jubei's. - It does not evade throws, but any throw the opponent does will become a hop instead, so the point is moot. - Hops are unique in that they may be buffered up to 3f ahead of time, unlike other D moves. - They also have the strange property of preventing backdashes for 7 frames after you regain control of the character. -- Duck - Motion: 2D - Ducks have the following frames, in the following order: - 21f lying on the ground - 4f special cancel window - You are still lying on the ground at this time. - It may be canceled into... - Any special move. - 7f uncancelable recovery. - Ducks make your hitbox very short, pretty much any attack that does not touch the ground in some way will not hit you for its duration. - Ducks will evade throws. --- Throws - Motion: 4CD or 6CD, followed up by any S - Throws have the following frames, in the following order: - 3f startup, during which period you have autoguard, which does not convey immunity to being thrown. - 1f throw catch. - 41f recovery on whiff. - Throws will NOT start up if it is impossible to throw. Instead you will hop or forward hop. This is when... - The opponent is out of range. - The opponent is not on the ground. - The opponent is in hitstun. - The opponent is in blockstun. - The opponent has wakeup throw invulnerability. - If both players throw on the exact same frame, Player 1 has priority. - If you do not do the followup slash, both players will be left at neutral with no frame advantage on either side. - Instead of the followup, you may press A to pick up your weapon instead if you are disarmed and standing over your opponent. - Throw damage is constant, regardless of target's defense. - You may do a small pursuit if the opponent is in the corner. - Wakeup throw invulnerability is 17f. - Since you cannot throw until after the invulnerability period ends, this means it will be at least 20f before the opponent will be thrown. - But command grabs can be started earlier. - Throws cannot be canceled into from anything other than a dash or a hop. - Unless you're the AI. - Throw recipients are not affected by State of Nothingness' slow motion. --- Pursuit - Motion: 2Bc or 3BC for small, 8BC or 9BC for big - Both pursuits hit the opponent when they are on the ground. - You may start pursuits before the opponent lands for knockdown and knockup types of hits, but not for groundslam or wallslam hits. - Pursuits may be canceled into as if they were a special move. - Big pursuits may be used in the air, and thus can be canceled from any normal move that brings you into the air or from any cancelable air move. - Big pursuits cannot always be used safely, it is specific to moves used. - Mina's 421B can be used as a pursuit. - Small pursuits have character-specific startup. - Big pursuits have 40F startup. - Recovery periods are character-specific. --- WFTs - Motion: 236CD while full rage meter - Connecting with the LAST hit of a WFT will disarm the opponent. It does not matter if any of the previous hits connect. - WFTs that have invulnerable startup generally confer throw invulnerability as well. - The FIRST connected hit of a WFT will immediately end your rage status. - This hit will be affected by the rage damage bonus. - Any future hits will be unraged and not benefit from the rage damage bonus. - This also means that single-hit WFTs consistently do more damage than multi-hit WFTs. - And that multi-hit WFTs are not affected much by the Rage Explosion bonus. --- Rage Explosion - Motion: ABC - You must have a normal rage gauge, not a rage explosion gauge, available in order to activate this. - You must be armed with a weapon to use a Rage Explosion. - Activating Rage Explosion does several things: - Creates a large explosion around you that pushes the opponent back and... - If he is on the ground, puts him into a hitstun state. - This leaves you with a -1 frame disadvantage. - If he is in the air, performs knockback. - These will not take effect if he is invincible for some reason, such as rolling through it. - Makes you invincible for the duration of the explosion. - Sets your Sword Gauge maximum to an amount equal to a 60% damage boost. - Normal Rage damage is a 40% damage boost. - Fills your Sword Gauge to maximum. - Freezes the clock. - Sets the Rage Explosion timer to maximum. - The hitstun from rage explosion is comboable if you can hit with a projectile during this period. - Sogetsu, Basara, and Genjuro can all do this in some fashion. - Rage explosion may be done at nearly any time you are on the ground. This includes... - While you are in hitstun. It may be used to prevent combos or disarming from multi-hit WFTs. - At ANY cancel period. During a hit, after a D move, whenever. - Rage Explosion will end if... - The Rage Explosion timer runs out. - A WFT connects. - The Fatality is used. - Yunfei drains rage from you. - When Rage Explosion ends: - Your Sword Gauge resets to normal length. - If it was beyond maximum, it will be capped to the maximum. - It will not otherwise be refilled. - The round timer resumes ticking down. - Your rage gauge is permanently removed for the remainder of the match. - Connecting with a WFT will immediately end the Rage Explosion timer. --- Fatality / Zetsumei Ougi - Motion: 214CD while in Rage Explosion AND opponent is in blue life - If the opponent has blown his rage meter in some way, it will not show him in blue life. However, he will be considered to be in this state as long as his Health Meter is less than his Issen Gauge and he is on his last round, even if his life is not shown to be blue. - Fatalities are considered a special move and can be canceled into. - Fatalities are invincible to all melee and throws, but not projectiles. - Fatalities are not affected by State of Nothingness' slow motion. - Fatalities will instantly kill an opponent. - This is to be considered a direct counter to State of Nothingness/Issens. --- Meditation - Motion: 5D - When not raged but with some blue rage meter available, meditation will remove power from the rage meter and put it into the Issen Gauge. - All characters charge their Issen Gauge at the same rate. - The Issen Gauge affects how much life is required to get into blue life. The more you charge, the more life you can have when the time comes. - While blocks on the Health Meter appear at specific intervals of charging the gauge, only the arrow above the meter matters for when blue life becomes available. - At 50% life, the meter charges much slower. --- State of Nothingness aka time slow - Motion: BCD while in blue life - You must have a normal rage gauge, not a rage explosion gauge, available in order to activate this. - Rage gauge is immediately removed upon activation. - State of Nothingness is NOT considered a special move and cannot be canceled into. - Pre-flash startup is 9F. - It is NOT invulnerable. - It has no recovery after the flash. - The length of the State of Nothingness timer is based on how much the Issen Gauge has been charged up to this point. - All of an opponent's actions will move at one quarter speed during this time, including hitstun, knockback, and knockup. - All normal juggle rules apply. - The following will move at normal speed during time slow: - Knockdown (NOT knockback) - Wallslam - Groundslam on a grounded opponent (NOT an airborne opponent!) - Ground pushback is also slowed down to one-quarter speed. - Landing another hit resets the pushback timer. - This is why most multi-hit attacks don't move the opponent. --- Issen - Motion: BCD during State of Nothingness - Issens are NOT considered a special move and cannot be canceled into. - Issens immediately stops time slow, so it cannot be used to juggle on certain hits. - Issens are NOT invulnerable. - You must be armed with a weapon to use an Issen. - Issen damage is based on how much you have meditated. Damage is increased at set intervals: - At default amounts, Issen damage is 30% life. - At 33% life (Slightly more than 2 blocks), Issen damage is 40% life. - At 50% life (Slightly more than 5 blocks), Issen damage is 50% life. - Above that, I have not tested. - Damage is constant regardless of the target's defense, the character that you are playing, and the state of your Sword Gauge. - So it is very strong on Gedo, not so hot on Mina. - If the opponent can't Rage Explode out of it, hit as much as you can before Issening for the most damage. - Issens obey all normal juggle rules. --- Rera on the wolf - Rera is unique among all the characters in that her cancel rules are very different on the wolf, and has some odd restrictions off of it. - Rera does not regain Sword Gauge power when on the wolf. - However, she only loses power on a hit, not a block or whiff. - While on the wolf, you may not... - Use any D moves. - Use a deflect or weapon catch. - Use any pursuits. - Use Rage Explosion or State of Nothingness. - All BC, armed and unarmed, have no recovery period on landing. - C will dismount Rera from the wolf with a jump. - Direction of the dismount can be controlled with 7C/8C/9C. - This can be done in the air. - You may follow up with any air attack afterwards. - Dismounts have no edge: It merely checks to see if you are holding C at any frame where Rera is free to dismount, so you can buffer this any time you want. - Dismounts dodge throws. - It is not possible to cancel into a dismount. - However, you can cancel into a jump, and then do an instant air dismount to get more or less the same effect off of a dash. - On hit, Rera will be seamlessly dismounted from the wolf. - That is, it will be like she was never on it to begin with. - Dashes will continue for 16f after you let go of 6. You must press 4 to stop instantly. - This has the annoying property of not letting you do 66 623S, since you will never reach the dash recovery period and thus cannot cancel! - When on the wolf, Rera's cancel rules change substantially. - Backdash recovery period is 2 frames, but can still be canceled. - Backdashes may NOT be canceled into the air move. - While in motion, the wolf's dash may be canceled into.. - Any jump (7, 8, or 9) - A block. - Any dashing attack. (66S) - Fast direction change after crossing past (8) - This requires one input frame to use and has no recovery period. - You do not need to be all the way through the opponent to do this, just halfway. - This is unique to Rera on the wolf. - The wolf's dash recovery period may be canceled into... - A block. - Any special. - Like non-wolf dashes, note that you may not cancel into jumps during the recovery period. - All non-dashing S, armed and unarmed, may be canceled into dashes, backdashes, or specials on hit, block, or whiff. - All 66S are uncancelable. - All air S may be canceled into air specials on hit, block, or whiff. - All BC may be canceled into air specials on hit, block, or whiff. - All BC have a short cancel period at the beginning which may cancel into... - Any special. - A dash. - A backdash. - All BC have a short cancel period at the end which may cancel into backdashes, before Rera lands on the ground. - Therefore, she cannot be thrown when doing this. - The wolf mount(214C) can be buffered into several frames in advance. - Rera CANNOT cancel into the wolf mount or her WFT from... - A dash. - A backdash. (You land before the wolf does) - Either hop. - Forward roll into wolf mount only works if the wolf is already in position. If he is not in place, the mount motion will not activate. - Note that just because you can cancel into the wolf mount doesn't mean Rera will actually land ON the wolf!