Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2012 4:10:26 GMT
No promises on when or how this will be updated, but since I have noticed you have a live community, I will share what I did before and maybe someday add to it.
NEO G RED
STATS
Feature: Universal ability, occasional voice comments
Recommendation: Alll players
General: Neo G Red, like G Red, is extremely powerful both at range and up close. His attacks are intensely good. He requires zero skill to pilot; a blind grandma who can only move one thumb can mash the B button and win. He also improves with basically any skill set you care to use and has a big depth of power, so he's great for experts too.
His diving energy sword is a great tack-on finish to most moves; his charge-up buster is a very fast beam attack that does tons of damage. There's no wrong way to play Neo G Red, and that includes NOT playing him. For the cost, he is SO good he is cheap. The key to maximizing his potential: Either allow one GRred a team, and master him, or ban him altogether.
I personally find his voice annoying.
NORMAL NINJA
Feature: Speed and strength, fair HP matched with good defense
Recommendation: Evasive/Aggressive players, fast players
General: The Normal Ninja has good dodge and sidestep skill. Bombs make a great entrance to melee and you have enough throwing stars to bring down pure melee opponents from a distance. With 150 HP, it is not very tough, but it is versatile and cheap. Snipers may want to stick to a more powerful unit, but players who can handle evasive infighting will fall in love. He is a great filler for most teams, and feels very fast.
Maneuvers: Use your jumps, rolls, dashes to stay out of reach of the enemy. Keep throwing stars until you're close enough to make your move. Your dashing strike is very quick, and you have an overhead sword drop with enough power to encourage the air. Your throwing stars have medium speed, medium recharge, maximum fire rate, with a fair clip. Your bombs have a slower fire rate, but splash when they hit the ground, making dead accuracy less of a concern. They cause knockdown and can hit allies, careful.
Techs: Get some air, then dash at enemies while plipping stars to keep them stunned as you zoom in. Before you know it you'll be on top of them.
Customize your approach to the enemy. Winged or agile enemies would just love your bombs, and you can pound them if they touch the ground. Snipers should be dodged until a couple slashes can finish the fight. Melee should probably be handled from arm's length with throwing stars and what have you. Robots are dangerous, but mostly big dumb targets.
Hyper: You have infinite throwing stars, infinite bombs, a huge load of speed, and a ton of attack power. If anyone REALLY gets dangerous in Hyper, Normal Ninja is one. Get aggressive.
Depth: Evasiveness runs deep... a dodgy player who knows how to size up opponents and situations can go a long way with his points and come out on top in a VS match. This character can really mix it up so there's a lot to master.
SHURIKEN NINJA
Feature: STRENGTH, and range.
Recommendation: Aggressive players.
General: If you're used to Normal Ninja, Shuriken Ninja is going to feel sluggish. He's good for handling large groups and is abusive in melee, but has some weaknesses as well. He has a surprising but lagful air glide that can get him into battle... his dash just won't do the trick. He has plenty of Shurikens, but let's face it, the point of this bot is his signature spin attack, the SHURIKEN CUTTER. His physical attack power is really good for the cost. People who want to own physical battles but like shooting things have found a home. Most twitch fighters will shy away from his sluggishness, but whirling through a pile of enemies, you'll just FEEL cool.
Maneuvers: Your agility isn't so good. You glide a long way in the air, but you're not too maneuverable up there. You'll have to rely on your stars and your wits to get you close. You have a HUGE clip of 30 stars, but the fire rate is a little sluggish and they take awhile to recharge, so you should use them as a stall to get you close. The Shuriken Cutter will home in on an enemy nearby and grind them to bits. The damage keeps coming, wide range, so other enemies will be caught in the spin too, sidestepping is mostly hopeless, and the enemy is dragged into the air. The moment you're in range, spin without hesitation. You're mildly vulnerable while spinning, but you are moving pretty quick too. Consider traveling by spin if you're not swamped in snipers.
Techs:Glide at most enemies while throwing stars, then slice them up with an Air-to-Wherever cutter. Your real damage is in that spin.
Hyper: Finally, some speed. Rush the enemy.
Depth: He is too slow to pick up much depth, but with practice you can gauge when is the best possible moment to perform the Cutter.
ARROW NINJA
Feature: Enemy pinning NINPO KAGENUI ARROW
Reccomendation: Clever or slower players
General:Arrow Ninja has an ability that is both impressive and useless at once. He uses Shurikens, has a melee attack... but his real power is his arrow which keeps a person from moving too far from a spot for awhile. An expert driver will be able to take out a lot of enemies with this. It's a lot of fun choking enemies to one spot.
Maneuvers: B fires Shurikens. You get a 10 clip, medium speed, and a small fire rate delay, so don't break your finger on it. Your real power attack is X, which releases the Ninpo Kagenui Arrow PIN SHOT. You have 8 of these. 2 or 3 will suffice most of the time. An enemy or friend that has been hit by this shot will be unable to maneuver too far from the spot he was hit. Hit an enemy 2 or 3 times as he struggles, and he will soon be confined to a very small space!
Techs: There are a few problems with the Arrow Shot, namely snipers and gunners. This will remove some of their dodginess, but they will still shoot back at you and you are none too limber. Melee units suffer the most if the arrow isn't shielded... Without being able to reach you, their teeth are gone, but most melee units still sport a shot attack. Flying units all shoot as well. The arrow tends to remove enemy defenses, but only the melee attacks. Jump up and fall shooting for better evasion than your pasty ground motion. This bot is GREAT for team play.
Hyper: Shoot arrows like crazy and your opponents will be superglued.
Depth: This bot is very deep. Ranged units must be kept at a proper distance so you can dodge their shot without them dodging yours. You must time your attacks against faster units so an arrow actually HITS... managing to tag most Ninjas, for instance, is a death sentence. You want to be close to melee enemies since they will focus on dodging and blocking, but get too close and you might get wrapped up in melee or hit with their projectile. Finally you must learn to maximize your own limited dodging and stay alive. Some cooperative practice, proper arrow conservation, and a lot of combination strategy (Snipers? Powerful Melee? Magic, Bombers, One Hit Wonders?) gives this bot a TON of room to grow.
DOUBLE NINJA
Feature:NORMAL NINJA + Ninpo Kage Bunshin SPLIT FORM tech
Recommendation: Skilled Normal Ninja players, Shuriken lovers
General: Double Ninja is very much like his counterpart Normal Ninja, but has improved shotpower, and also can duplicate himself... this plays nicely with bombs and shurikens. Most ranged evasive ninjas will gladly pay the 60 extra points to drive a Double ninja. Split form is VERY cool and very effective.
Maneuvers: As with Normal Ninja, but with Emphasis on Shurikens and bombs... When you split form using the Ninpo Kage Bunshin, you stay in double mode until you are knocked down. You throw 2 bombs and shoot two shurikens each press. This is most effective with range, although his melee attacks are slightly harder to dodge. You cannot charge the meter while you are split.
Techs: Split form right away and avoid getting hit while spamming every projectile you've got.You still have full fire rate and the second ninja will double the projectile spam. Since your stars fly at medium speed, close in some before shooting and use maneuverability to stay safe. This will increase your accuracy even further.
Hyper: As with Normal Ninja, but I prefer to go crazy with bombs.
Depth: As with Normal Ninja with emphasis on Range infighting versus the melee aspect.
ACCELERATION NINJA
Feature: Blazing speed, balanced ground approach with fair stats. Mildly expensive.
Recommendation: Anyone lacking a really good ground melee unit.
General: The Accel Ninja is in a class by itself, and it's a nice class. Blinding speed means being hit much less, and Accel Ninja is air-competent, at least for the sake of defense. His projectiles also weren't left out, amazing for a ground melee specialist. Anyone who can steer his amazing speed without being confused will be able to use him, and he is fairly deep. He feels great, fast as the wind and much more lethal.
Maneuvers:Jump to whirl up into the air. You have a good air dash, but not much for aerial combat. His dual blade shot isn't bad. Charge it up to unleash a fury of shots that slightly home in on targets. To start dashing, press X. You can stop dashing by pressing X again or jumping or shooting. You are vulnerable to getting hurt while dashing, but enemies with guns will find you a hard target. Going full throttle in the air will cause you to powerfully glide to the ground.
Techs: If you are hopelessly circling the enemy, you have some options. One is to jump to break the turbo, air dash at the enemy, and start Turbo again quickly. Or you can press X to stop and turn yourself. You can also charge up your spin blade as you Turbo around, and release it to break out of your Turbo. This will provide a touch of cover fire.
Hyper: Faster. =3 Or go nuts with blades.
Depth: While you can become a very skilled rush blader, bird units will always be hard to take down and melee units will be able to fight back somewhat. This is a great anti-sniper bot.
TELEPORT NINJA
Feature: A Fast, Strong Ninja with Ninpo Teleport Ability
Reccomendation: Newbie Ninjas to Fast-thinking Ninja Masters
General: The Teleport Ninja has a lot going for it. It's more damaging than a standard ninja, shoots 2 projectiles at once letting it fire MORE than a Shuriken and do more damage, it's powerful at melee, faster than a regular Ninja, and has the amazing Teleport power. If you can do okay without your bombs, any Teleport Ninjas you can get will be welcome on your Ninja Squad.
Maneuvers: Press B to unleash Energy Slashes. 2 fly out at once meaning every hit you land really stings. You can shoot 5 before a recharge and there's a slight recharge as well as a fire rate delay, meaning this is more of a stick-and-move type infighter. The Teleport provides you with the ultimate defensive maneuver. It is basically a REALLY fast dodge. Hold a direction to steer it. You can charge up a Teleport Attack which will strike a foe several times at melee by holding down the Teleport Button. The Teleport Attack goes whichever way it was pointed.
Techs: First, Teleport all the time. It is a really good defense. Either Teleport twice and then dodge, or ration it along. Move into battle holding X down and get to melee... allow 2 hits of your combo, then release X and finish with a very damaging Teleport Attack. The bigger they are, tbe more times the Teleport attack will hit them. Dragons, Airships and Satellites will get torn to shreds if struck with Teleport attacks. Teleport Ninja is the Antithesis of the Beam Satellite, able to Teleport away from the Beams and Telestrike the satellite for huge damage. You have good dodging like most ninjas, so keep moving, hit from the right distance for the opponent, and keep teleporting until the enemy is so mixed up he is wearing his shoes on his head.
Hyper: Tap X to fly across the battlefield as a teleporting blur, then hold it down for only a moment as you strike at melee to charge a lethal Teleport Attack Finish. With practice, your opponents will die before they even know what hit them.
Depth: Teleport Ninjas are a very deep unit. Even a novice will benefit from the more powerful projectiles, extra speed, and melee ability. Add the teleport, the timing of the melee powers, and the study of the best way to confront enemies, and you can easily have a Teleport Ninja be the keystone of your team. Grandmasters of this unit can look forward to the Shadow Girl, a unique unit that does not need to charge to Teleport Attack.
REVOLVER GUNMAN
Feature: High shot rate and fair maneuverability for the price.
Recommendation: Defensive ranged infighters
General: Revolver gunman can feel a little slow, but his bullets are really fast and he has plenty to work with. He is definitely a ground shooter, with mild melee abilities and a really strong special shot in the Double Recoil.
Maneuvers:Get medium distance to the enemy and Dash a lot as you shoot, because your jump is terrible. Your standard clip is big and recharges fast, and you have full fire rate. The Double Recoil takes a moment, but the bullet is a fast-flying one. It is equally well suited to plinking distant targets and blasting away enemies that are too close for your comforts.
Techs:With your shot speed and firing rate, you should be at medium distance emptying full clips and finishing with the Double Recoil. Other than that, simple to drive. Press that shot button rapidly!
Hyper:Use your double recoil continuously while rotating targets to punish everyone. Or just let loose with a continuous fire stream.
Depth: A simple unit with easy controls, the only thing holding you back here is how fast you can shoot those bullets. Get rapid, and this balanced, medium striker bot is mastered. Watch out for anything really fast, it may get the best of you, and you can't afford to be beaten up a lot with these.
POWERED GUNMAN
Feature:High level midrange shellpower
Reccomendation: Skilled gunmen or button mashers
General:The Powered Gunman has some serious ammo. He has a 20-shot dual pistol which reloads lightning quick and a shotgun-type shell unleash as well as a cannon attack. He's less aggressive when dodging but quite strong. Those who like the basic gunman will probably like Powered Gunman, who still feels slow but has a lot of stopping power.
Maneuvers:As with the Revolver Gunman, maneuverability is a problem. You can only really cut loose with your guns when not dodging, so I recommend running for defense. Your guns have full rate of fire, shoot two bullets at once, and recharge very fast, so you want to be shooting as much as possible to capitalize on it. Your new Powered Shot is like a shotgun shell, useless at a distance but timed just right will take a melee unit apart. It is mostly for self defense. The Powered Long Shot takes forever to charge up. When you are running to get into position while too far away, charge a powered Long Shot. The cannonballs spray bullets upon impact. It is a good attack for large targets.
Techs:Keep shooting from mid distance. It comes down to how fast you shoot, and how well you dodge.
Hyper:There's not much you can do with your hyper except charge Powered Long Shots and make enemies miserable with cannonballs.
Depth:A rather simple unit. All you can do is keep shooting. Watch out for fast units again. You've lost some range power without the Double Recoil, so you should watch for snipers as well.
WIRE GUNNER
Feature: A fairly fast shot cannon and the Wire Shoot
Reccomendation: Players who keep calm in videogames, like to think things out
General: The wire gunner is cheap for his advantages. He has 220 HP for 270 cost and comes
with added shot power and a special weapon that can give him an edge.. provided he is skilled at approaching each enemy the proper way. Players who maintain composure in a game will benefit from the Wire Gunner's autofire and improved defenses.
Maneuvers: Pressing B unleashes your assault shot, a 5-AutoFire shot with medium speed and fair damage. Odds are, if the enemy is hit with one pellet he will get hit by several as the bullets can cause flinching. The shot refills fairly quickly, has a clip of 20, and a slight delay between pulses (however this can be reduced) Press X to drop a Wire Node. The wire follows the gunner. Charge up B to shoot the Wire. A hit enemy will be dragged from one Wire node to another. Hold Z to target an ally with the Wire. Remember if you hold Z to target a friend and then start charging, you will shoot your ally 5 times. ^_^; Start charging FIRST, THEN press Z.
Techs: The wire has a million uses, and you have to have a clear head and practice to make the most of them. The simplest use is to set the wire right away, then run away from it. If anyone is bullying you up close, release the Wire Shoot and drag them away from you, and reset a new marker and repeat. But there are lots of other uses. Drag pesky snipers and aerial units (PLANES!!) out of the sky and back down near you. You can stand the right distance from your node and fire the hook and voila, the enemy is the perfect distance away. Put enemies in awkward positions with bad visibility or in a vulnerable location with the Hook. Use Z to target allies and transport a slow unit very quickly, provide evasiveness for a friend, haul a threatened sniper out of the fight, or get a needed melee unit over to you in a big hurry.
On another note, Sidestep every 5 bullets to maximize your shot speed, or run forward at an angle while shooting to maintain pressure while being fairly evasive. Suit the attack to the enemy.
Hyper: Sadly, all you get from your hyper is the ability to shoot your hook very fast, and of course better speed and damage. Make the most of your hyper - by building it up for a different unit instead.
Depth: Wire Gunner runs deep and doesn't require a whole lot of talent to perform especially well with. It is efficient, fast-firing all by itself, and tough, and has a lot of tactical potential. I don't think it should serve as the major key force of a unit - it just doesn't fill the gap - but it makes a great support for most.
TIME BOMBER
Feature: Bombs, and a bomb gun.
Reccomendation: Mad bombers, of course.
General:Time Bomber is a really chaotic unit. But, of course, he's supposed to be. Lucky for him he doesn't take much damage from his own bombs. Too bad he takes it all the time. Shoot bombs, drop bombs... they blow up after a second or when you hit them. Who doesn't like boom? Anyone who doesn't should avoid this robot.
Maneuvers: B sets a bomb. About an inch from your body. MOVE AWAY FROM IT. X shoots a bomb, a fairly quick and good damage projectile. That's all there is to it. As soon as your bombs blow up they reappear in your inventory. Your bomb GUN needs to recharge a bit and has 3 shots.
Techs: As an enemy comes at you, spaz bombs everywhere. You'll get hurt, but the enemy will get hurt more. If you shoot the bomb gun and sidestep you can shoot again quickly, allowing you to perform 3-bomb shot combos from anywhere. Get suicidal. You have a lot of HP, but you will waste a lot of it to your own bombs (usually getting shot a moment after you drop them, so don't think you can avoid it.) Drop down in near an enemy, lay a bunch of bombs, and wait for the boom. You'll probably do more damage than you dish out.
Hyper: THIS is fun. Sidestep and spam your Bomb Gun. The blasts keep coming and they don't stop coming. The damage potential is incredible, a very powerful hyper. Did I mention the damage keeps coming?
Depth: This unit might have more depth if it weren't so chaotic and destructible. I imagine with a high level of practice it can be a VERY lethal, very unexpected weapon. But most players will simply play a self-fireball of laughter and destruction.
REMOTE BOMBER
Feature: Trigger bombs
Recommendation: Plotters, Mad Bombers
General: Remote Bomber has slightly more sophistication and slightly less oomph than Time Bomber. He doesn't have a direct attack gun like Time Bomber... instead, he controls exactly when his bombs go off. While this doesn't really afford a great opportunity to protect himself from his own bombs (he blasts himself a LOT too) it DOES let him set much better traps. Clever players can chew up CPUs with a Remote Bomber and be fairly useful in a versus fight as well.
Maneuvers: Press B to drop a Remote Bomb. And get away from it. Pressing X, getting too close, or shooting it will set it off. They also detonate on their own after an extended period of time.
Techs: Your imagination has free reign, but jumping into enemies, dropping bombs, and setting them off gets the job done. Fly one jump high over enemies, drop 3 or 4 bombs, jet away, and pull the trigger. This attack can do a LOT of damage but is pretty risky. Then again, being a Bomber is pretty risky.
Hyper: Youu've got nothing. Save for another.
Depth: This unit CAN get very deep. But it's so hard to get the skill needed, you'd better be determined to be the best bomber you can.
NORMAL KNIGHT
Feature: Inexpensive, Simple, Efficient Shielded melee unit
Recommendation: Defensive melee players
General: Normal Knight isn't the prettiest thing to think about. He's sluggish, has okay attack power but a pitiful range, low speed, and his highlight is a shield. But... don't knock the shield. Normal Knight drives very differently than most other borgs but it can get a lot done. That shield can block anything from Musha slashes to sniper shots to Satellite beams. A careless player will get his butt beaten by a Normal knight team because of the HP/Defense to spending ratio you get. The Normal Knight feels a bit like a slow mouse with a toothpick in a battle, though, until you get used to driving it.
Maneuvers: B swings your sword. X throws your shield, but you'll only be doing that in desperation. Hold down B to charge up a cross slash. You can do this often as you run into a battle. Note that normal knight's SHIELD does the blocking. If you constantly point the SHIELD at the enemy (which is a slight slant) anything that enemy throws at you will be blocked, be it a shuriken, a yoyo, a satellite beam, or the energy slash of a Samurai Shogun. You can be jumping, swinging, whatever, and the SHIELD will still block all damage. You must be hit on another part of your body.
Techs: So, ALWAYS point the shield at the enemy. Start with running at him, then get used to jumping and dodging with the shield at him. It's a different angle. Throwing your shield is risky up close and leaves you defenseless at a distance, so time it well.
Predict where a scrambling enemy is about to go, and have the shield waiting when he gets there. You really are strong at melee. And if nothing hurts you, nothing can ever take you down. Som things, though, that pass right through the shield, will get you anyway (such as Sonic Samurai's sonic slash - the shield will block maybe the first hit as he passes through it, but as he shoots thru your body you'll get hurt.) Also be careful of casters, flyers, and other types that can render your shield worthless. In Rock Paper Scissors, the Knight is a definite ROCK. Some enemies are greatly disadvantaged, but the opposite is true too.
Depth: Learn to work a shield and you've mastered the unit, but that is still a fair amount. All in all, a shallow unit with a deep and useful shield.
HATCHET KNIGHT
Feature: A massive throwable hatchet in the Hatchet Boomerang, and strong melee
Recommendation: Players in need of surefire muscle
General: Hatchet knight is 490 points for 200 HP, an expensive unit, for one good reason - the Hatchet Boomerang. He has fair fighting abilities, to be sure - a melee combo and a spin attack too - But his claim to fame is the ability to throw the Hatchet Boomerang, a large nondestroyable projectile that persists even after striking a target several times. It is a bit boring, but his special Hatchet Boomerang is fairly reliable damage.
Maneuvers: B swings the hatchet and X is your spin attack. Hold down B to charge up your Hatchet Boomerang. When released it will slowly roll in the direction you were facing when released. Anything in front of it can get hit multiple times.
Techs: Charge the Hatchet Boomerang and release it. You will probably hurt something. Do it closer than further for best results.
Hyper: Throw a lot of Hatchet Boomerangs.
Depth: The unit is strong, and shallow. Ultimately it is easy-to-use brawn. It would work in many forces.
HAMMER KNIGHT
Feature: Fair stats, a medium range Melee attack, a spin attack, and a shield.
Recommendation: Intermediate to expert Knight users
General: Hammer knight costs 450 for 200 HP, but comes equipped with shield and a special midrange yo-yo style melee attack. For a physical unit, he is very well equipped to deal with quick, dodgy enemies. Though his footspeed is sluggish, he has excellent aim with the hammer, shooting it right at a foe when facing the wrong way, or even above or below. If you can get the most out of his shield, and time your attacks, you will appreciate his flexible, smooth strength. He can be a little boring after a while, but after beating down enemy after enemy, you realize this knight just FEELS powerful to drive.
Maneuvers: B releases your Hammer Shot. It charges for about a quarter second and then shoots forward a good distance. Use the target ring to know when the enemy is in range - when the notches appear on it, you can clobber them. X releases a multiple hit Spin attack that lasts a second or two. Hammer Knight does not have an alternate melee attack, but the spin attack is instantaneous and serves the job well. Point the shield at incoming shots to stop them. You are a bit sluggish on the ground, but have standard airspeed for a 'jumping' unit.
Techs:Get in the air and keep your shield pointed the right way for best results. You can approach enemies quickly and clobber them from the sky in this manner. Use the SPIN as your melee attack, it does good damage. And use your shield, it is not there for show. Human opponents will see you charge your hammer, dodge, and retaliate, so force them to make the first move by continually pressing forward and spinning if you get close enough. After blocking or dodging their shots, wallop them.
Hyper: You don't get much for your Hyper except no wait time on your Hammer Shot and vicious spins. I recommend saving up.
Depth: Hammer Knight is a breeze to drive. Although it is expensive for Shield Newbies to make mistakes with, an intermediate player will enjoy the ease and flexibility of attack, and a seasoned Knight player will come back time and time again for the strike range.
SWORD KNIGHT
Feature: A large shield, big slashes, good hit power, cheap cost
Recommendation: Beginner to Intermediate Knight players
General: The Sword Knight has a greatly extended melee range thanks to his "energy slashes". His shield is extra large, and it's not just for looks - it stops shots better. He has a charge up melee attack that goes even further. Players looking to learn how to play Knight units should practice driving a Sword Knight as his range is less frustrating and his shield more forgiving. However, Knight experts may very well go with the cheaper Normal Knight for an efficiency advantage, or other units. This is basically an enhanced Normal Knight, so it is a pretty yawnful unit... but it thankfully doesn't feel anywhere near as 'mousey' as the Normal Knight.
Maneuvers: Use the Great Sword with B. Charge it up for a Cross-Shape slash that extends beyond your marked melee range. The shield slash is with X... but it should not be used.
Techs: Follow the Knight basics, always dodging sword-side for added protection, taking the time to face your shield, running towards quick units to keep your shield on as much as possible, and pressuring the enemy by always approaching. Your Cross Shape slash should be your handshake hello, have it charging as you approach and focus on blocking until the enemy is just outside range. Practice will tell you when you are in range for the Cross-shape slash.
Hyper: The Normal knight gets enough of a speed and damage boost to make the hyper semi-worthwhile, if he air hops. Move quickly and strike down your foes, or save it for other units.
Depth: People who would like to dabble with Knights should try a Sword Knight as he is easy to pick up and not as frustrating as Normal Knight. As with all knights, he is fairly deep. But he has no personal complications, so once you've got down Knight melee, there is nothing more to master.
ELEMENTAL KNIGHT
Feature: Ranged attacks, melee power, and a lot of uniqueness
Recommendation: Anyone who likes the shiny-ness and can deal with the sluggish movement
General: Elemental Knight crawls along... his air dash is very long.. his run is actually a float. But with so much ranged power, his limited speed is forgivable. With 2 non-destructible unique projectiles, E. Knight can bring the fight to the enemy.
Maneuvers: Press B while close to swing your sword, or far away to shoot your guantlet. The gauntlet can hit multiple times and comes back in a moment. Or press X to perform the very unique Elemental slash.
Techs: When facing melee or nearer units, use the gauntlet to attack enemies while improving your position to them. For distanced ranged enemies, hurl your Elemental Sword. you deconstruct, making you un-snipeable as the sword flies, and then rebuild quickly after the ranged attempt has ended.
Hyper: Not much gained but a little speed.
Depth: The 2 unique, multiple hit projectiles can go a long way with improvement. The unit is very slow, so much of his study revolves around compensating and using his projectiles well. It is hard to be accurate with his melee, but when you do hit the damage is big, so this also can be practiced.
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CHAINSAW KNIGHT
Feature: A Wire Arm and a Chainsaw sword. Both.
Recommendation: Chainsaw fans.
General:Chainsaw Knight is an okay unit, and a pretty good deal stats-wise... for 370 points, you get 250 HP and a ton of melee power, and a ranged weapon that drags most enemies into melee. Flying enemies will always have aces on you, but anything grounded will need to stay out of your iron grip to stay alive. Chainsaw Knight's melee abilities are REALLY impressive for the cost. Expert opponents will take one look at it and get to a safe range, though...
Maneuvers: B swings that chainsaw. Love the sound effects. Press X to fire your grappling Wire Arm. Tag an enemy and you will drag them in. Miss, and it will be a moment before you can shoot again. The arm stays attached for a few seconds, usually more than you need to grind up an unfortunate enemy.
Techs: The unit is really a one-trick pony. Okay, two-trick. Air hop to get closer to enemies faster, and you can kind-of jump at things above you to take potshots at them. See? You can latch, slash, AND jump(kinda).
Hyper: Chainsawness is fun. With your hook sped up, you may catch something that was not expecting to be caught.
Depth: This unit is extremely shallow. It's slow, and it does 2 things - grapple enemies, and slice them up. It's fun, and it's strong against most ground enemies. But anything fast, at a distance, or in the air will deal with it effortlessly, and it can't be fixed by any measure of skill.
VAMPIRE KNIGHT
Feature: Health-restoring melee attacks
Recommendation: For vultures, berserkers, or a counter to HP stackers
General:Vampire Knights are good for emphasizing a skill level difference. The unit has fair but not amazing damage, and some rather snoozeful Musha abilities including the flying X energy slash, some melee beats, and a rather dancy spin attack. The unit's HP is constantly dwindling, trickling away every second, which makes the unit feel very frail in the hands of a novice. But every melee hit against an enemy both wounds them and HEALS the Vampire knight, which means a professional can be beat within an inch of his life, and then go on a berserk rampage and come out feeling strong again. Naturally you should be skilled at getting into melee to drive this one, and fairly aggressive because your HP is ticking. Depending what he fights, he can feel like a paper cup or a steel one, varying from featherweight trifle to invulnerable destroyer.
Maneuvers: Press B to unleash melee attacks, or an X-slash energy Bolt from a distance. X is your melee spin, it deals good damage. Your Energy Bolt will not steal health, but any melee attack will. Your health dwindles away about 1.5 to 2 HP every second, so hurry up and kill things to stay healthy.
Techs: This borg drives a lot like the many other Musha swordsman and samurai borgs... what really sets it apart is the combined Health steal advantage and life loss handicap. It's often WHAT you fight that makes the difference. You can beat down unskilled players every time and live a very long time for the cost, making the Vampire Knight a GREAT newbie hater. Also, the more HP per point and the less attack power the enemy has, the better it is for Vampire Knight. The bigger they are, the more there is to eat. Large, slow enemies like dragons and satellites can actually sustain the Vampire Knight as they are killed, and players who rely on skillful fighting and take high HP, medium ability bots like Normal Knight or Normal Ninja provide a lot of dinner... they must back their choices up with skill. Unfortuately, high cost, low HP, high attack units can be a very large bother for the Vampire Knight... especially those that can easily handle a Musha borg. They will do a LOT of damage and not provide many HP for the Vampire Knight to heal himself...
Hyper: It is easier to sustain Vamp Knight when you move faster and do more damage. A skilled Musha player can use his Hyper to completely restore a near-death Vamp Knight (while whomping on everything else in the arena as well) But most players will want to save the hyper for another bot.
Depth: Vampire Knight is a HIGH SLOPE unit. That is, PROS will find good use in it, and a NEWBIE will get killed and killed again for trying to drive it. That said, it's not really a DEEP borg. It is a special Musha borg that gets better with your skill, but there is nothing specific to the Vamp Knight to practice, per se. Once you are good with a Musha, the Vamp Knight looks good.
BATTLE GIRL
Feature: A good mix of ammo, HP, and speed
Recommendation: Beginners, Hit-and-run players, filler
General: The Battle girl is a well balanced unit for the cost with a lot of speed, shots, and decent HP. The unit features great reload times, autofire shots, a decent melee weapon, -and a homing missile, all of which allows you to concentrate on your driving rather than the trigger. She feels fragile the first time you take her out for a spin, but as you play more, you realize that a vast number of techniques work well with Battle Girl, and she is a versatile unit, up there with Normal Ninja.
Maneuvers: B fires a Submachine gun with medium speed bullets. 5-shot autofire as long as you don't interrupt it, two button presses will empty a clip at an enemy, but it will reload in the time it takes to dodge or fire a missile so you are never 'out of ammo' for more than a couple heartbeats. X fires a missile, a medium-speed destroyable homing projectile with really good damage. Shooting at a higher target with a missile, however, requires some conscious aiming. The missile reloads in about the time it takes to empty your 10-round machinegun clip. This means you can effectively alternate between machinegun and missiles, throwing in dodges and melee as needed, and never stop shooting. Battle girl is fairly fast on the ground, but is really most maneuverable when jetpacking. She is a solid infighter, but struggles at great range against some foes, close up against others.
Techs: Use your speed to force the distance game you will win at. As with all jetpacks, fly vertically until you see alarm markers, then tap to the side and drop while shooting the whole time to have a very effective dodge-and-blast pattern. You'll be hard to hit until you touch down, and by then you'll have unloaded 5 or 10 bullets at the enemy. Follow up with a sidestep and back to the air, and the enemy will wish you would just stand still. Don't be afraid to get close to enemies as long as you are in the air - you'll switch to melee if you get too close, and your beam knife is a pretty fair weapon. Keep on shooting, but not at the cost of your speed, for only combined will you get your real advantage.
Hyper: Drop out of the air while firing missiles to spam the enemy with explodey death.
Depth: This unit is balanced, cheap, and highly effective with more skill. While her weapons are simple, she is deceptively deep and detailed.
WIRE GIRL
Feature:Extreme manueverability
Recommendation: Quick movers and SPIDER MASTERS
General: Wire Girl is a little borg hiding a big surprise. It's a quiet secret that this is one of the most mobile bots in the game, capable of almost constantly evading every attack. Her weapons are medium-par, but her real advantage lies in her Anchor wire, the secret to her amazing potential. The first time, the wire seems in the way and too difficult to use, and her weapons too watered down to be worth using. Stay for the long haul and you see otherwise.
Maneuvers:The Charge gun fires 3-shot auto pulse medium range bullets from a clip of 10. The clip takes a moment to recharge, but it's not a long wait. Wire Girl possesses the Beam Knife abilities of Battle Girl as well. Hold down B for a second to unleash a Charge beam, a somewhat less slow beam bullet that does hefty damage. Press X to anchor your wire. You can leave 4 anchor points anywhere. Double-press X quickly to retract along the wire and zip back where you were at a very high speed. You have a boost thruster for air maneuvers.
Techs: This girl is all about the WIRE. Let's begin at the beginning. Set the wire, fly away, shoot, press to defend against attacks. You are very hard to hit while zipping on the wire. Set the wire behind cover and track out from a safe location. Attack and then hit the zip to return to safety. Fly up and set the wire high, then set it on the ground. Set another node high, and come back down. When you retract, you will bob about the sky at an impossible rate. Ready for the big one? Jet almost as high as you can, set the wire, and jet a bit to the side to be harder to hit. Fall down. Retract your wire once you land, and as you reach your node, FLY HIGHER. Wash, rinse, repeat. Doing this, you can easily reach the top of the arena. Half the time you are zipping and the other half, falling, so you will be extremely hard to hit. Once you have your first node as high as you can, zip up to it, set it, then fly horizontally some distance out. Set the marker when your pack runs out. Fall. Zip, and spend even more time on the ceiling. Reset your last anchor, jet sideways, set your marker, and come down again. With an anchor on the ceiling, you can move up and down pretty much at will. Last phase. Your weapon can't hit crap up there. Find the effective height (about 3 to 4 jumps) and use finesse to get there every time, in every fight. Combine with tap-jetting and extra anchors to fly about the sky in a way that bird units only wish they could.
Hyper: This borg is not about her Hyper. But you can beam until Sunday comes.
Depth: Are you kidding. Wire Girl is EXTREMELY DEEP.
COMMAND GIRL
Feature: Highly accurate weapons
Recommendation: Snipers, heavy evasive gunners
General: Command Girl has a lot of firepower under her hood for the price. Her beam weapons are not especially damaging, but they can be fired very quickly and they are very fast shots. Her Buster Lazer is EXTREMELY fast and features knockback. She is highly intense to pilot, so those who are slow with their fingers should look elsewhere.
Maneuvers: The Beam is a 10-shot weapon with high fire rate though not quite max, and fast-flying bullets. This makes it easy to be accurate at long range. The Buster Lazer has 3 shots and flies even faster. It can hit at the farthest distances, and players who TRY to dodge it sometimes fail miserably. It blasts players back. Other than these two weapons and her jet pack, there is not much to say.
Techs: Don't walk, hop and fly. Circle while shooting and unleash busters when you are out of bullets or getting bullied by a melee unit. Use your speed to win the evasion war.
Hyper: You can buster all day on larger ships or shoot continually on smaller foes.
Depth: While exceptionally powerful (snipe-tastic!) Command Girl is pretty simple. There is low depth to her.
SPINNER GIRL
Feature: Shot absorbing long-range melee yoyo
Recommendation:Anti-sniper, beginner to intermediate
General: Spinner Girl's a fairly easy borg to drive. Her yoyo toss is the center of the borg, but she has good HP and speed (jetpack) to back that weapon up. She is very effective against evasive midrange shooters.
Maneuvers: Press X to toss the yoyo. It will extend into and/or through the target, doing up to 10 hits of damage. Any bullets that strike the flying yoyo get absorbed, provided they are simple (weaker) bullets. Hence, if you throw it straight at a unit shooting straight back, you will handily win the conflict 10 to 0. B swings the yoyo, an effective melee weapon as well. You cannot move shortly after tossing the yoyo.
Techs: Toss the yoyo while in air for the best shot defense and maneuverability. remember to use the trget ring - when the notches appear, you can yoyo. Wait for your opponent to make a move and then throw the yoyo, because a miss will cost you almost 2 full seconds of time.
Hyper: Not a whole lot. Use quicker throws to dominate everyone, or save for another borg.
Depth: Timing the yoyo toss is the trick, but once you've got that, it's a one-hand borg to drive.
BARRIER GIRL
Feature: A balanced design and an Energy Barrier to go with it, though very low HP
Recommendation: Skilled players of various walks
General: Barrier girl has one thing against it: It is EXTREMELY expensive for what you seem to get right away. For 500 points, you get a measly 150 HP. But the truth is, Barrier Girl can be one of the toughest borgs in the game. Her weapons are well balanced, featuring an autofire midrange Charge Gun, a 10-hit Beam Yoyo melee, a fast charge-up shot... and an Energy Barrier that wards off attacks. If you're not using the barrier, you wasted your points. There is a period of recharge, but the barrier MUST be knocked off for you to be hurt, so a player who keeps his Barrier refreshed and avoids SOME attacks will be difficult to take down. This borg is a little confusing to pilot at first, but once you put up your first Energy Barrier, you'll realize it's a confusing Cadillac of a borg you're learning to handle.
Maneuvers: Press B to perform a 3-shot autofire Charge Gun shot with medium speed. Charge it up and release to fire a much larger Charge Shot that flies a lot faster and does more damage as well as being harder to dodge. Although it's a girl borg, your melee weapon is not to be ignored - the beam yoyo is much like a mini chainsaw and ramps up Barrier Girl's abilities by allowing her to get 'too close' and still have insurance. X deploys your Barrier, a colored bubble around you. It can take a set amount of damage before it is destroyed. It does not have a health meter but shrinks with each attack, and will eventually shatter. As soon as your meter is full you can press X again to get a new, completely healthy barrier. You are vulnerable to being shot when you deploy the shield, but since you get a new SHIELD in that moment, odds are you won't get hurt even if someone capitalizes it. You have a usual girl-borg jet pack.
Techs: Your barrier is the key to getting your points-worth. Shield right away and keep shielded as much as you can. While being evasive helps prevent some damage to the shield, it's a lot harder to evade in the barrier, which is a large target and is hit by bullets that would not hit you by a long margin. It is a better plan to stay aggressive and push the fight to get a big share of damage and keep the enemy stunned. While your barrier is up, you will not be stunned by any hit, use the advantage. Your barrier is easily broken by more powerful shots. Skilled enemies that have a lot of heavy firepower will shred your barrier right up, be ready for that: A single powered shot from a Revolver Gunman will break it in one hit. Use your Charge Shot liberally. You will get more total damage from your Charge Gun if almost ALL your bullets hit. Odds say, depending on range, they will be dodging a great deal, so don't be afraid to quickly charge up a shot. It's harder to dodge, does good damage, and is a fairly quick charge.
Hyper: Spamming charge shots is fairly lethal, in addition to becoming utterly barrier-invulnerable for a bit.
Depth: Barrier Girl has miles to work with. You can go to town with all her available approaches and potential talents. But however you drive her, be sure you use that barrier to the fullest!
NORMAL SAMURAI
Feature: Solid Meleepower, hard-to-dodge shot and melee, and good close recovery
Recommendation: Musha beginners to intermediates
General: Normal Samurai won't win awards with its attack power, but the speed and utility make it a pretty easy drive. Its good speed combined with physical abilities means that someone who is practiced in handling it will probably mop up other melee fighters. Most notably, Normal Samurai hates upon the dodge-dependent with a vengeance. The controls are fairly forgiving and the borg has a couple of added complexities that reward those that stay for the long haul.
Maneuvers: B unleashes an energy slash which is hard to skate around, 5 per clip, with medium reload time and medium-slow recovery, that flies at an average speed. Do it while sidestepping or airgliding to extend the glide and go faster. Close up, B unleashes melee attacks with fair-to-middling damage, but SUPREME recovery rate. So even if you get sidestepped, you usually can follow up before your opponent, and it's fairly easy to chain and combo your assaults. The B attacks especially track well, on the ground, in the air, etc. and makes it easy to hit anything close by. X unleashes the ROLLING SLASH, a combo attack which swings in every direction. An enemy who makes a poor attempt to evade will probably get hammered. As long as you are CLOSE to facing the right direction, the ROLLING SLASH will aim perfectly before beginning. You will only go the wrong direction if you are ON THE GROUND and facing COMPLETELY the wrong way. And sometimes if you just missed at melee and spin by reflex, the character will turn to face the foe before spinning anyhow.
Techs: You move quicker in the air as with most footspeed bots, so get up there. Glide toward or around your opponent and launch a slash near the end of the dodge. This will extend the dodge, even if you are out of slashes. Move to melee in this fashion and either open with an attack or a sidestep. Either way, make your move quickly. If the enemy is stunned, unleash a ROLLING SLASH. The rolling slash has a bit of lag after, where your basic B attacks have almost none, so open with simple melee and let loose with a spin when they're still dazed from a good hit. You can just roll targets that you're not going to miss, for solid damage.
Hyper: Your melee and infinite shot is unavoidable, and your spin is lightning fast and REALLY gouges. Like a lot of Normal Borgs, Hyper Mode makes you LETHAL. Your recovery for your B attacks becomes zero; anything unlucky enough to get close will be slashed apart and spun dry.
Depth: Normal Samurai is simple enough that the importance of such a unit on a team is often overlooked. But bear in mind; Most dodges are reduced to a WASTE before Normal Samurai. You can improve quite a bit with Normal Samurai, but you will not see much difference in performance... only a small amount of skill will make Normal Samurai pay out huge dividends in damage. He is very newbie-friendly.
SONIC SAMURAI
Feature: Good melee engagement range and improved speed.
Recommendation: Musha drivers with good control and nerves of steel
General:Sonic Samurai's got a lot of speed under the hood - he moves quickly, and once he is in his melee range he will charge at the foe with unusual haste; covering a considerable distance in a heartbeat. An enemy who supposes himself safe will be nailed again and again by Sonic Sam's improved melee range as he darts in for a finish. The SONIC NUSOKEN is laggy but has an incredible range. He feels a touch slow, ironically, and a bit fragile until you're used to him.
Maneuvers: Drives much like a Musha borg, including the standard X slash. You will enter melee range early - press B to dart in for slashes. Your melee attack is fast to unleash but features some lag. Dash while meleeing to perform drill attacks and sweeps. X unleashes the Sonic Nusoken. It is a solid combo-concluder, but a little hard to aim. it goes the way you are facing, so aim right at the enemy. Good distance and damage, but a very harsh lag. The enemy lags too if hit, so be SURE you hit and it won't be a problem.
Techs: This musha must return to the roots of the sidestep for effectiveness. Dart in and out of combat. Use your excellent attack distance to launch at the enemy from an air glide, take a few swings, and use the NUSOKEN to blast back out of combat, hopefully taking a chunk of your opponent. To take down shooters, circle them like a hawk until their clip hits a gap, then zap inside before they can react.
Hyper: Your recovery rate is covered somewhat. Hyper is usually good with melee, but in this case I'd call a toss-up.
Depth: This unit is fairly deep, you'll need to practice a bit if you want to be severe. With advanced range, Sonic Samurai can take down a lot of intermediates who are used to handling a closer melee opponent. Learn to time and aim the Sonic Nusoken and control melee combat.
KNUCKLES
Kung Fu Master
Feature: Superior agility and medium hitpower, generally cheap
Recommendation: Fast players, Sniper coverage
General: Kung Fu Master's damage is not very noteworthy, but he is one of the faster melee borgs in the game. He features multi-hit dash attacks and a long, multi-hit combo that piles up the damage. He also features a spin attack, the SENPUKEN, which is ideal for finishing combos or taking down larger foes and also hits several times. His jump, dodge, and airspeed are astounding for melee, and his physical abilities command respect. He can level the tables against any sniper. The borg feels very much like a flash on the battlefield, darting about. Although at times you feel a bit limp-wristed as you continually beat on opponents with not much damage to show for it, Kung Fu Master is a very QUICK limp-wristed bot.
Maneuvers: B unleashes a spirit shot, a weak, simple energy pellet with good recovery but a long reload, medium shot speed and not much damage. When in range, an air-dash B unleashes a potent kick combo that will stun most opponents. From the ground, a dashing B will perform a strong uppercut that pops enemies into the air for some confusing sky fighting. Hold still after landing a kick(stop dashing) and press B to dart at the enemy and unleash COSMIC KEMPO, a long series of punches which ends with the enemy getting knocked away. X releases a Senpuken, an whirling attack which batters opponents and tosses them away.
Techs: Generally speaking the uppercut is only useful against other melee experts, shield users in particular. Sidestep and B and you'll automatically do it. For most opponents, air dash at them, peppering them with bolts, and then press B to unleash a hard kick combo. Don't touch that dash as you perform it. Keep pressing B and you'll quickly follow up with Cosmic Kempo. Before the last punch lands, finish with X to Senpuken the enemy away for even more damage. Against large foes, Senpuken instead of punch comboing, especially against the dragons and other enemies it is easier to attack from the air. To hit planes, use your air-dashing B. Kung Fu Master can actually chase them down and beat them around. He's THAT quick.
Hyper: This unit's already as fast as he can get. If you are skilled with him, Hyper for even MORE damage. Otherwise, hold off for another unit.
Depth: KFM has so much speed that a skilled dodger will master mind-blowing combos and perfect techniques that are truly lethal. It is possible to land all 10 hits of the Senpuken on a small unit - can you figure out how?
TAO MASTER
Feature: Superior agility, highly reliable ranged melee attacks as well as closeup power
Recommendation: Anti-Air or gunner, strong and versatile utility
General: Flash-quick and with ranged attack potential, Tao Master is in a unique and powerful class. While he looks ridiculous, he fights well against a surprising number of enemies. Flying about the stage and dropping like thunder to deliver melee combat to some sorry enemy, Tao Master feels like he is straight out of those cheesy martial arts films like Hidden Tiger Crouching Copywright or whatever. It's a blast to drive.
Maneuvers: You have very fast dodges, jumps and airdodges, producing a lot of flat agility. B from a distance releases a weak Spirit shot. It has a long reload and a medium shot speed, medium recovery. Get in close to unleash Cosmic Kempo. From the air you will hurtle at the enemy and deliver vicious attacks. Dash from the ground to use an Arm Thrust that sends an enemy some distance away. Standing B uses your Punch combo. Press X in air or ground to send a TAO sword at the enemy. It will follow the enemy, looking for an opportunity, and eventually, strike viciously for a short combo. It will hit, and return to your back. You have 4 and when all are deployed, you must wait for them to return. Thankfully they are VERY quick. You should not be out of swords for more than a moment's wait.
Techs: This is a very good air character. Get in the air. When you throw a sword, you will stay up there, so you can evade melee specialists all day by quickly circling in the sky and tossing swords at them. When there's an enemy you want to physically attack, drop at them with B and you'll charge through them. Keep pressing B to slam them with your fist and send them sailing, OR toss a sword straight after attacking and then get physical again. You'll freeze a moment, and then use your Cosmic Kempo attack. Against enemies that are stunned by your punches (most humanoids) stop midpunch and throw a sword. Then tap B to resume punching. This will allow you to extend the combo to its maximum. The tougher they are, the more they GET HURT. You can toss swords at downed enemies. Due to the way some enemies recover, they may or may not do damage, but it really doesn't hurt to just keep throwing swords. Chase down planes and hit them with B, tossing swords at them when they are far away, to bring them down with speed and style. Nothing in the air can withstand you. But watch for snipers - you freeze when you toss a sword - so those with fast bullets can be a nuisance.
Hyper: You're absolutely lethal in your Hyper state. Your swords become insanely accurate due to added speed and your melee is practically invisible, you're going so quick. you should save your Hyper if you can't handle the speed.
Depth: Tao Master is strong, simple, and versatile, and fairly deep when you get into his melee game. He is a good choice to round out a team that is a bit lopsided.
JELLY DIVER
Feature: Agile melee and enemy slowdown, marred by gross inaccuracy
Recommendation: ... the very patient ...
General: Jelly Diver is a HARD borg to drive. He shoots 10 large bubble bullets that move slow in sets of 2 with a medium high fire rate and a good shot reload time, but they are easily avoided. His jelly scope is supposed to slow enemies down, but odds are the enemy will not be in that little bubble long enough for it to actually be useful - shucks. The slowdown effect is noticeable, but more novel than anything - Jelly Diver doesn't really escape melee attacks any better, and while his opponents are easier to hit, Jelly Diver takes the advantage as an opportunity to be sloppy. He would be skilled at sniper-chasing, but he usually gets SHOT before he can reach snipers... he feels wonky. And has a tendency to attack in the wrong direction for upwards of 3 seconds.
Maneuvers: You have a triple jump, but it takes forever for you to descend and your bullets are too slow to hit something far away. Don't be a fool, stay near the ground. You have a unique motion system - sky swimming - which makes you fairly nimble, and fast-recharging projectiles. In theory it should all work, but then we look at the melee attacks. For one, it's hard to tell which melee attack you are going to get. But if you are in the air, odds are you'll get one of the swimming attacks, which last between four seconds for the quicker, faster moving, less accurate animation, to upwards of eight for the long, laggy, slightly more accurate one. Needless to say if you miss, you're gonna get hammered. And it's not that you miss so much as you hit, and then immediately float away from the target. The ground attacks are much faster and more effective. 1 to 3 quick swings and you can steer again! But your ground sidestep dodge is very poor.
Techs: When you are overextended on a melee attack and swimming off to nowhere-land, OPEN YOUR HELMET as a ditch-dirt attempt to recover. You may stop attacking, but it is unreliable. Against larger foes or aircraft, Jelly Diver does great damage. For most smaller foes, stay on the ground. Shoot all the time, that's what it's there for. If you can do all this.. then maybe, just maybe.
Hyper: NOW you can do it! Remarkably, in Hyper Mode Jelly Diver becomes MUCH more lethal! Faster, and tracking into targets better, Jelly Diver Hypered is a nightmare for most enemies. Long 10 hit combos with no way to escape, merciless bullets applying constant pressure, and no way to approach without lagging and getting nailed in counter. A faster, stronger Jelly Diver truly is a powerful short range unit. But the trick isn't making his Hyper USEFUL. It's REACHING it. :(
Depth: Jelly Diver CAN land his long combos. He CAN control combat tempo. He CAN pressure the enemy with shots and CAN work over any melee unit... but it demands a TON of control (and a decent dose of luck) Those who want to master this funky looking unit can expect to spend from 4 days to a WEEK just getting return value out of the points even when battling the CPU. Don't even THINK about multiplayer until you've got a lot of practice under your belt. However, in multi, trying to dodge Jelly Diver is a joke, and since most players are evasion dependent, JD is a very REAL alternative to power. A very real, and much more DIFFICULT one. However Jelly Diver masters can also look forward to the impressive TAR Diver later on, a unit that is worth its salt!
l
NEO G RED
STATS
Feature: Universal ability, occasional voice comments
Recommendation: Alll players
General: Neo G Red, like G Red, is extremely powerful both at range and up close. His attacks are intensely good. He requires zero skill to pilot; a blind grandma who can only move one thumb can mash the B button and win. He also improves with basically any skill set you care to use and has a big depth of power, so he's great for experts too.
His diving energy sword is a great tack-on finish to most moves; his charge-up buster is a very fast beam attack that does tons of damage. There's no wrong way to play Neo G Red, and that includes NOT playing him. For the cost, he is SO good he is cheap. The key to maximizing his potential: Either allow one GRred a team, and master him, or ban him altogether.
I personally find his voice annoying.
NORMAL NINJA
Feature: Speed and strength, fair HP matched with good defense
Recommendation: Evasive/Aggressive players, fast players
General: The Normal Ninja has good dodge and sidestep skill. Bombs make a great entrance to melee and you have enough throwing stars to bring down pure melee opponents from a distance. With 150 HP, it is not very tough, but it is versatile and cheap. Snipers may want to stick to a more powerful unit, but players who can handle evasive infighting will fall in love. He is a great filler for most teams, and feels very fast.
Maneuvers: Use your jumps, rolls, dashes to stay out of reach of the enemy. Keep throwing stars until you're close enough to make your move. Your dashing strike is very quick, and you have an overhead sword drop with enough power to encourage the air. Your throwing stars have medium speed, medium recharge, maximum fire rate, with a fair clip. Your bombs have a slower fire rate, but splash when they hit the ground, making dead accuracy less of a concern. They cause knockdown and can hit allies, careful.
Techs: Get some air, then dash at enemies while plipping stars to keep them stunned as you zoom in. Before you know it you'll be on top of them.
Customize your approach to the enemy. Winged or agile enemies would just love your bombs, and you can pound them if they touch the ground. Snipers should be dodged until a couple slashes can finish the fight. Melee should probably be handled from arm's length with throwing stars and what have you. Robots are dangerous, but mostly big dumb targets.
Hyper: You have infinite throwing stars, infinite bombs, a huge load of speed, and a ton of attack power. If anyone REALLY gets dangerous in Hyper, Normal Ninja is one. Get aggressive.
Depth: Evasiveness runs deep... a dodgy player who knows how to size up opponents and situations can go a long way with his points and come out on top in a VS match. This character can really mix it up so there's a lot to master.
SHURIKEN NINJA
Feature: STRENGTH, and range.
Recommendation: Aggressive players.
General: If you're used to Normal Ninja, Shuriken Ninja is going to feel sluggish. He's good for handling large groups and is abusive in melee, but has some weaknesses as well. He has a surprising but lagful air glide that can get him into battle... his dash just won't do the trick. He has plenty of Shurikens, but let's face it, the point of this bot is his signature spin attack, the SHURIKEN CUTTER. His physical attack power is really good for the cost. People who want to own physical battles but like shooting things have found a home. Most twitch fighters will shy away from his sluggishness, but whirling through a pile of enemies, you'll just FEEL cool.
Maneuvers: Your agility isn't so good. You glide a long way in the air, but you're not too maneuverable up there. You'll have to rely on your stars and your wits to get you close. You have a HUGE clip of 30 stars, but the fire rate is a little sluggish and they take awhile to recharge, so you should use them as a stall to get you close. The Shuriken Cutter will home in on an enemy nearby and grind them to bits. The damage keeps coming, wide range, so other enemies will be caught in the spin too, sidestepping is mostly hopeless, and the enemy is dragged into the air. The moment you're in range, spin without hesitation. You're mildly vulnerable while spinning, but you are moving pretty quick too. Consider traveling by spin if you're not swamped in snipers.
Techs:Glide at most enemies while throwing stars, then slice them up with an Air-to-Wherever cutter. Your real damage is in that spin.
Hyper: Finally, some speed. Rush the enemy.
Depth: He is too slow to pick up much depth, but with practice you can gauge when is the best possible moment to perform the Cutter.
ARROW NINJA
Feature: Enemy pinning NINPO KAGENUI ARROW
Reccomendation: Clever or slower players
General:Arrow Ninja has an ability that is both impressive and useless at once. He uses Shurikens, has a melee attack... but his real power is his arrow which keeps a person from moving too far from a spot for awhile. An expert driver will be able to take out a lot of enemies with this. It's a lot of fun choking enemies to one spot.
Maneuvers: B fires Shurikens. You get a 10 clip, medium speed, and a small fire rate delay, so don't break your finger on it. Your real power attack is X, which releases the Ninpo Kagenui Arrow PIN SHOT. You have 8 of these. 2 or 3 will suffice most of the time. An enemy or friend that has been hit by this shot will be unable to maneuver too far from the spot he was hit. Hit an enemy 2 or 3 times as he struggles, and he will soon be confined to a very small space!
Techs: There are a few problems with the Arrow Shot, namely snipers and gunners. This will remove some of their dodginess, but they will still shoot back at you and you are none too limber. Melee units suffer the most if the arrow isn't shielded... Without being able to reach you, their teeth are gone, but most melee units still sport a shot attack. Flying units all shoot as well. The arrow tends to remove enemy defenses, but only the melee attacks. Jump up and fall shooting for better evasion than your pasty ground motion. This bot is GREAT for team play.
Hyper: Shoot arrows like crazy and your opponents will be superglued.
Depth: This bot is very deep. Ranged units must be kept at a proper distance so you can dodge their shot without them dodging yours. You must time your attacks against faster units so an arrow actually HITS... managing to tag most Ninjas, for instance, is a death sentence. You want to be close to melee enemies since they will focus on dodging and blocking, but get too close and you might get wrapped up in melee or hit with their projectile. Finally you must learn to maximize your own limited dodging and stay alive. Some cooperative practice, proper arrow conservation, and a lot of combination strategy (Snipers? Powerful Melee? Magic, Bombers, One Hit Wonders?) gives this bot a TON of room to grow.
DOUBLE NINJA
Feature:NORMAL NINJA + Ninpo Kage Bunshin SPLIT FORM tech
Recommendation: Skilled Normal Ninja players, Shuriken lovers
General: Double Ninja is very much like his counterpart Normal Ninja, but has improved shotpower, and also can duplicate himself... this plays nicely with bombs and shurikens. Most ranged evasive ninjas will gladly pay the 60 extra points to drive a Double ninja. Split form is VERY cool and very effective.
Maneuvers: As with Normal Ninja, but with Emphasis on Shurikens and bombs... When you split form using the Ninpo Kage Bunshin, you stay in double mode until you are knocked down. You throw 2 bombs and shoot two shurikens each press. This is most effective with range, although his melee attacks are slightly harder to dodge. You cannot charge the meter while you are split.
Techs: Split form right away and avoid getting hit while spamming every projectile you've got.You still have full fire rate and the second ninja will double the projectile spam. Since your stars fly at medium speed, close in some before shooting and use maneuverability to stay safe. This will increase your accuracy even further.
Hyper: As with Normal Ninja, but I prefer to go crazy with bombs.
Depth: As with Normal Ninja with emphasis on Range infighting versus the melee aspect.
ACCELERATION NINJA
Feature: Blazing speed, balanced ground approach with fair stats. Mildly expensive.
Recommendation: Anyone lacking a really good ground melee unit.
General: The Accel Ninja is in a class by itself, and it's a nice class. Blinding speed means being hit much less, and Accel Ninja is air-competent, at least for the sake of defense. His projectiles also weren't left out, amazing for a ground melee specialist. Anyone who can steer his amazing speed without being confused will be able to use him, and he is fairly deep. He feels great, fast as the wind and much more lethal.
Maneuvers:Jump to whirl up into the air. You have a good air dash, but not much for aerial combat. His dual blade shot isn't bad. Charge it up to unleash a fury of shots that slightly home in on targets. To start dashing, press X. You can stop dashing by pressing X again or jumping or shooting. You are vulnerable to getting hurt while dashing, but enemies with guns will find you a hard target. Going full throttle in the air will cause you to powerfully glide to the ground.
Techs: If you are hopelessly circling the enemy, you have some options. One is to jump to break the turbo, air dash at the enemy, and start Turbo again quickly. Or you can press X to stop and turn yourself. You can also charge up your spin blade as you Turbo around, and release it to break out of your Turbo. This will provide a touch of cover fire.
Hyper: Faster. =3 Or go nuts with blades.
Depth: While you can become a very skilled rush blader, bird units will always be hard to take down and melee units will be able to fight back somewhat. This is a great anti-sniper bot.
TELEPORT NINJA
Feature: A Fast, Strong Ninja with Ninpo Teleport Ability
Reccomendation: Newbie Ninjas to Fast-thinking Ninja Masters
General: The Teleport Ninja has a lot going for it. It's more damaging than a standard ninja, shoots 2 projectiles at once letting it fire MORE than a Shuriken and do more damage, it's powerful at melee, faster than a regular Ninja, and has the amazing Teleport power. If you can do okay without your bombs, any Teleport Ninjas you can get will be welcome on your Ninja Squad.
Maneuvers: Press B to unleash Energy Slashes. 2 fly out at once meaning every hit you land really stings. You can shoot 5 before a recharge and there's a slight recharge as well as a fire rate delay, meaning this is more of a stick-and-move type infighter. The Teleport provides you with the ultimate defensive maneuver. It is basically a REALLY fast dodge. Hold a direction to steer it. You can charge up a Teleport Attack which will strike a foe several times at melee by holding down the Teleport Button. The Teleport Attack goes whichever way it was pointed.
Techs: First, Teleport all the time. It is a really good defense. Either Teleport twice and then dodge, or ration it along. Move into battle holding X down and get to melee... allow 2 hits of your combo, then release X and finish with a very damaging Teleport Attack. The bigger they are, tbe more times the Teleport attack will hit them. Dragons, Airships and Satellites will get torn to shreds if struck with Teleport attacks. Teleport Ninja is the Antithesis of the Beam Satellite, able to Teleport away from the Beams and Telestrike the satellite for huge damage. You have good dodging like most ninjas, so keep moving, hit from the right distance for the opponent, and keep teleporting until the enemy is so mixed up he is wearing his shoes on his head.
Hyper: Tap X to fly across the battlefield as a teleporting blur, then hold it down for only a moment as you strike at melee to charge a lethal Teleport Attack Finish. With practice, your opponents will die before they even know what hit them.
Depth: Teleport Ninjas are a very deep unit. Even a novice will benefit from the more powerful projectiles, extra speed, and melee ability. Add the teleport, the timing of the melee powers, and the study of the best way to confront enemies, and you can easily have a Teleport Ninja be the keystone of your team. Grandmasters of this unit can look forward to the Shadow Girl, a unique unit that does not need to charge to Teleport Attack.
REVOLVER GUNMAN
Feature: High shot rate and fair maneuverability for the price.
Recommendation: Defensive ranged infighters
General: Revolver gunman can feel a little slow, but his bullets are really fast and he has plenty to work with. He is definitely a ground shooter, with mild melee abilities and a really strong special shot in the Double Recoil.
Maneuvers:Get medium distance to the enemy and Dash a lot as you shoot, because your jump is terrible. Your standard clip is big and recharges fast, and you have full fire rate. The Double Recoil takes a moment, but the bullet is a fast-flying one. It is equally well suited to plinking distant targets and blasting away enemies that are too close for your comforts.
Techs:With your shot speed and firing rate, you should be at medium distance emptying full clips and finishing with the Double Recoil. Other than that, simple to drive. Press that shot button rapidly!
Hyper:Use your double recoil continuously while rotating targets to punish everyone. Or just let loose with a continuous fire stream.
Depth: A simple unit with easy controls, the only thing holding you back here is how fast you can shoot those bullets. Get rapid, and this balanced, medium striker bot is mastered. Watch out for anything really fast, it may get the best of you, and you can't afford to be beaten up a lot with these.
POWERED GUNMAN
Feature:High level midrange shellpower
Reccomendation: Skilled gunmen or button mashers
General:The Powered Gunman has some serious ammo. He has a 20-shot dual pistol which reloads lightning quick and a shotgun-type shell unleash as well as a cannon attack. He's less aggressive when dodging but quite strong. Those who like the basic gunman will probably like Powered Gunman, who still feels slow but has a lot of stopping power.
Maneuvers:As with the Revolver Gunman, maneuverability is a problem. You can only really cut loose with your guns when not dodging, so I recommend running for defense. Your guns have full rate of fire, shoot two bullets at once, and recharge very fast, so you want to be shooting as much as possible to capitalize on it. Your new Powered Shot is like a shotgun shell, useless at a distance but timed just right will take a melee unit apart. It is mostly for self defense. The Powered Long Shot takes forever to charge up. When you are running to get into position while too far away, charge a powered Long Shot. The cannonballs spray bullets upon impact. It is a good attack for large targets.
Techs:Keep shooting from mid distance. It comes down to how fast you shoot, and how well you dodge.
Hyper:There's not much you can do with your hyper except charge Powered Long Shots and make enemies miserable with cannonballs.
Depth:A rather simple unit. All you can do is keep shooting. Watch out for fast units again. You've lost some range power without the Double Recoil, so you should watch for snipers as well.
WIRE GUNNER
Feature: A fairly fast shot cannon and the Wire Shoot
Reccomendation: Players who keep calm in videogames, like to think things out
General: The wire gunner is cheap for his advantages. He has 220 HP for 270 cost and comes
with added shot power and a special weapon that can give him an edge.. provided he is skilled at approaching each enemy the proper way. Players who maintain composure in a game will benefit from the Wire Gunner's autofire and improved defenses.
Maneuvers: Pressing B unleashes your assault shot, a 5-AutoFire shot with medium speed and fair damage. Odds are, if the enemy is hit with one pellet he will get hit by several as the bullets can cause flinching. The shot refills fairly quickly, has a clip of 20, and a slight delay between pulses (however this can be reduced) Press X to drop a Wire Node. The wire follows the gunner. Charge up B to shoot the Wire. A hit enemy will be dragged from one Wire node to another. Hold Z to target an ally with the Wire. Remember if you hold Z to target a friend and then start charging, you will shoot your ally 5 times. ^_^; Start charging FIRST, THEN press Z.
Techs: The wire has a million uses, and you have to have a clear head and practice to make the most of them. The simplest use is to set the wire right away, then run away from it. If anyone is bullying you up close, release the Wire Shoot and drag them away from you, and reset a new marker and repeat. But there are lots of other uses. Drag pesky snipers and aerial units (PLANES!!) out of the sky and back down near you. You can stand the right distance from your node and fire the hook and voila, the enemy is the perfect distance away. Put enemies in awkward positions with bad visibility or in a vulnerable location with the Hook. Use Z to target allies and transport a slow unit very quickly, provide evasiveness for a friend, haul a threatened sniper out of the fight, or get a needed melee unit over to you in a big hurry.
On another note, Sidestep every 5 bullets to maximize your shot speed, or run forward at an angle while shooting to maintain pressure while being fairly evasive. Suit the attack to the enemy.
Hyper: Sadly, all you get from your hyper is the ability to shoot your hook very fast, and of course better speed and damage. Make the most of your hyper - by building it up for a different unit instead.
Depth: Wire Gunner runs deep and doesn't require a whole lot of talent to perform especially well with. It is efficient, fast-firing all by itself, and tough, and has a lot of tactical potential. I don't think it should serve as the major key force of a unit - it just doesn't fill the gap - but it makes a great support for most.
TIME BOMBER
Feature: Bombs, and a bomb gun.
Reccomendation: Mad bombers, of course.
General:Time Bomber is a really chaotic unit. But, of course, he's supposed to be. Lucky for him he doesn't take much damage from his own bombs. Too bad he takes it all the time. Shoot bombs, drop bombs... they blow up after a second or when you hit them. Who doesn't like boom? Anyone who doesn't should avoid this robot.
Maneuvers: B sets a bomb. About an inch from your body. MOVE AWAY FROM IT. X shoots a bomb, a fairly quick and good damage projectile. That's all there is to it. As soon as your bombs blow up they reappear in your inventory. Your bomb GUN needs to recharge a bit and has 3 shots.
Techs: As an enemy comes at you, spaz bombs everywhere. You'll get hurt, but the enemy will get hurt more. If you shoot the bomb gun and sidestep you can shoot again quickly, allowing you to perform 3-bomb shot combos from anywhere. Get suicidal. You have a lot of HP, but you will waste a lot of it to your own bombs (usually getting shot a moment after you drop them, so don't think you can avoid it.) Drop down in near an enemy, lay a bunch of bombs, and wait for the boom. You'll probably do more damage than you dish out.
Hyper: THIS is fun. Sidestep and spam your Bomb Gun. The blasts keep coming and they don't stop coming. The damage potential is incredible, a very powerful hyper. Did I mention the damage keeps coming?
Depth: This unit might have more depth if it weren't so chaotic and destructible. I imagine with a high level of practice it can be a VERY lethal, very unexpected weapon. But most players will simply play a self-fireball of laughter and destruction.
REMOTE BOMBER
Feature: Trigger bombs
Recommendation: Plotters, Mad Bombers
General: Remote Bomber has slightly more sophistication and slightly less oomph than Time Bomber. He doesn't have a direct attack gun like Time Bomber... instead, he controls exactly when his bombs go off. While this doesn't really afford a great opportunity to protect himself from his own bombs (he blasts himself a LOT too) it DOES let him set much better traps. Clever players can chew up CPUs with a Remote Bomber and be fairly useful in a versus fight as well.
Maneuvers: Press B to drop a Remote Bomb. And get away from it. Pressing X, getting too close, or shooting it will set it off. They also detonate on their own after an extended period of time.
Techs: Your imagination has free reign, but jumping into enemies, dropping bombs, and setting them off gets the job done. Fly one jump high over enemies, drop 3 or 4 bombs, jet away, and pull the trigger. This attack can do a LOT of damage but is pretty risky. Then again, being a Bomber is pretty risky.
Hyper: Youu've got nothing. Save for another.
Depth: This unit CAN get very deep. But it's so hard to get the skill needed, you'd better be determined to be the best bomber you can.
NORMAL KNIGHT
Feature: Inexpensive, Simple, Efficient Shielded melee unit
Recommendation: Defensive melee players
General: Normal Knight isn't the prettiest thing to think about. He's sluggish, has okay attack power but a pitiful range, low speed, and his highlight is a shield. But... don't knock the shield. Normal Knight drives very differently than most other borgs but it can get a lot done. That shield can block anything from Musha slashes to sniper shots to Satellite beams. A careless player will get his butt beaten by a Normal knight team because of the HP/Defense to spending ratio you get. The Normal Knight feels a bit like a slow mouse with a toothpick in a battle, though, until you get used to driving it.
Maneuvers: B swings your sword. X throws your shield, but you'll only be doing that in desperation. Hold down B to charge up a cross slash. You can do this often as you run into a battle. Note that normal knight's SHIELD does the blocking. If you constantly point the SHIELD at the enemy (which is a slight slant) anything that enemy throws at you will be blocked, be it a shuriken, a yoyo, a satellite beam, or the energy slash of a Samurai Shogun. You can be jumping, swinging, whatever, and the SHIELD will still block all damage. You must be hit on another part of your body.
Techs: So, ALWAYS point the shield at the enemy. Start with running at him, then get used to jumping and dodging with the shield at him. It's a different angle. Throwing your shield is risky up close and leaves you defenseless at a distance, so time it well.
Predict where a scrambling enemy is about to go, and have the shield waiting when he gets there. You really are strong at melee. And if nothing hurts you, nothing can ever take you down. Som things, though, that pass right through the shield, will get you anyway (such as Sonic Samurai's sonic slash - the shield will block maybe the first hit as he passes through it, but as he shoots thru your body you'll get hurt.) Also be careful of casters, flyers, and other types that can render your shield worthless. In Rock Paper Scissors, the Knight is a definite ROCK. Some enemies are greatly disadvantaged, but the opposite is true too.
Depth: Learn to work a shield and you've mastered the unit, but that is still a fair amount. All in all, a shallow unit with a deep and useful shield.
HATCHET KNIGHT
Feature: A massive throwable hatchet in the Hatchet Boomerang, and strong melee
Recommendation: Players in need of surefire muscle
General: Hatchet knight is 490 points for 200 HP, an expensive unit, for one good reason - the Hatchet Boomerang. He has fair fighting abilities, to be sure - a melee combo and a spin attack too - But his claim to fame is the ability to throw the Hatchet Boomerang, a large nondestroyable projectile that persists even after striking a target several times. It is a bit boring, but his special Hatchet Boomerang is fairly reliable damage.
Maneuvers: B swings the hatchet and X is your spin attack. Hold down B to charge up your Hatchet Boomerang. When released it will slowly roll in the direction you were facing when released. Anything in front of it can get hit multiple times.
Techs: Charge the Hatchet Boomerang and release it. You will probably hurt something. Do it closer than further for best results.
Hyper: Throw a lot of Hatchet Boomerangs.
Depth: The unit is strong, and shallow. Ultimately it is easy-to-use brawn. It would work in many forces.
HAMMER KNIGHT
Feature: Fair stats, a medium range Melee attack, a spin attack, and a shield.
Recommendation: Intermediate to expert Knight users
General: Hammer knight costs 450 for 200 HP, but comes equipped with shield and a special midrange yo-yo style melee attack. For a physical unit, he is very well equipped to deal with quick, dodgy enemies. Though his footspeed is sluggish, he has excellent aim with the hammer, shooting it right at a foe when facing the wrong way, or even above or below. If you can get the most out of his shield, and time your attacks, you will appreciate his flexible, smooth strength. He can be a little boring after a while, but after beating down enemy after enemy, you realize this knight just FEELS powerful to drive.
Maneuvers: B releases your Hammer Shot. It charges for about a quarter second and then shoots forward a good distance. Use the target ring to know when the enemy is in range - when the notches appear on it, you can clobber them. X releases a multiple hit Spin attack that lasts a second or two. Hammer Knight does not have an alternate melee attack, but the spin attack is instantaneous and serves the job well. Point the shield at incoming shots to stop them. You are a bit sluggish on the ground, but have standard airspeed for a 'jumping' unit.
Techs:Get in the air and keep your shield pointed the right way for best results. You can approach enemies quickly and clobber them from the sky in this manner. Use the SPIN as your melee attack, it does good damage. And use your shield, it is not there for show. Human opponents will see you charge your hammer, dodge, and retaliate, so force them to make the first move by continually pressing forward and spinning if you get close enough. After blocking or dodging their shots, wallop them.
Hyper: You don't get much for your Hyper except no wait time on your Hammer Shot and vicious spins. I recommend saving up.
Depth: Hammer Knight is a breeze to drive. Although it is expensive for Shield Newbies to make mistakes with, an intermediate player will enjoy the ease and flexibility of attack, and a seasoned Knight player will come back time and time again for the strike range.
SWORD KNIGHT
Feature: A large shield, big slashes, good hit power, cheap cost
Recommendation: Beginner to Intermediate Knight players
General: The Sword Knight has a greatly extended melee range thanks to his "energy slashes". His shield is extra large, and it's not just for looks - it stops shots better. He has a charge up melee attack that goes even further. Players looking to learn how to play Knight units should practice driving a Sword Knight as his range is less frustrating and his shield more forgiving. However, Knight experts may very well go with the cheaper Normal Knight for an efficiency advantage, or other units. This is basically an enhanced Normal Knight, so it is a pretty yawnful unit... but it thankfully doesn't feel anywhere near as 'mousey' as the Normal Knight.
Maneuvers: Use the Great Sword with B. Charge it up for a Cross-Shape slash that extends beyond your marked melee range. The shield slash is with X... but it should not be used.
Techs: Follow the Knight basics, always dodging sword-side for added protection, taking the time to face your shield, running towards quick units to keep your shield on as much as possible, and pressuring the enemy by always approaching. Your Cross Shape slash should be your handshake hello, have it charging as you approach and focus on blocking until the enemy is just outside range. Practice will tell you when you are in range for the Cross-shape slash.
Hyper: The Normal knight gets enough of a speed and damage boost to make the hyper semi-worthwhile, if he air hops. Move quickly and strike down your foes, or save it for other units.
Depth: People who would like to dabble with Knights should try a Sword Knight as he is easy to pick up and not as frustrating as Normal Knight. As with all knights, he is fairly deep. But he has no personal complications, so once you've got down Knight melee, there is nothing more to master.
ELEMENTAL KNIGHT
Feature: Ranged attacks, melee power, and a lot of uniqueness
Recommendation: Anyone who likes the shiny-ness and can deal with the sluggish movement
General: Elemental Knight crawls along... his air dash is very long.. his run is actually a float. But with so much ranged power, his limited speed is forgivable. With 2 non-destructible unique projectiles, E. Knight can bring the fight to the enemy.
Maneuvers: Press B while close to swing your sword, or far away to shoot your guantlet. The gauntlet can hit multiple times and comes back in a moment. Or press X to perform the very unique Elemental slash.
Techs: When facing melee or nearer units, use the gauntlet to attack enemies while improving your position to them. For distanced ranged enemies, hurl your Elemental Sword. you deconstruct, making you un-snipeable as the sword flies, and then rebuild quickly after the ranged attempt has ended.
Hyper: Not much gained but a little speed.
Depth: The 2 unique, multiple hit projectiles can go a long way with improvement. The unit is very slow, so much of his study revolves around compensating and using his projectiles well. It is hard to be accurate with his melee, but when you do hit the damage is big, so this also can be practiced.
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CHAINSAW KNIGHT
Feature: A Wire Arm and a Chainsaw sword. Both.
Recommendation: Chainsaw fans.
General:Chainsaw Knight is an okay unit, and a pretty good deal stats-wise... for 370 points, you get 250 HP and a ton of melee power, and a ranged weapon that drags most enemies into melee. Flying enemies will always have aces on you, but anything grounded will need to stay out of your iron grip to stay alive. Chainsaw Knight's melee abilities are REALLY impressive for the cost. Expert opponents will take one look at it and get to a safe range, though...
Maneuvers: B swings that chainsaw. Love the sound effects. Press X to fire your grappling Wire Arm. Tag an enemy and you will drag them in. Miss, and it will be a moment before you can shoot again. The arm stays attached for a few seconds, usually more than you need to grind up an unfortunate enemy.
Techs: The unit is really a one-trick pony. Okay, two-trick. Air hop to get closer to enemies faster, and you can kind-of jump at things above you to take potshots at them. See? You can latch, slash, AND jump(kinda).
Hyper: Chainsawness is fun. With your hook sped up, you may catch something that was not expecting to be caught.
Depth: This unit is extremely shallow. It's slow, and it does 2 things - grapple enemies, and slice them up. It's fun, and it's strong against most ground enemies. But anything fast, at a distance, or in the air will deal with it effortlessly, and it can't be fixed by any measure of skill.
VAMPIRE KNIGHT
Feature: Health-restoring melee attacks
Recommendation: For vultures, berserkers, or a counter to HP stackers
General:Vampire Knights are good for emphasizing a skill level difference. The unit has fair but not amazing damage, and some rather snoozeful Musha abilities including the flying X energy slash, some melee beats, and a rather dancy spin attack. The unit's HP is constantly dwindling, trickling away every second, which makes the unit feel very frail in the hands of a novice. But every melee hit against an enemy both wounds them and HEALS the Vampire knight, which means a professional can be beat within an inch of his life, and then go on a berserk rampage and come out feeling strong again. Naturally you should be skilled at getting into melee to drive this one, and fairly aggressive because your HP is ticking. Depending what he fights, he can feel like a paper cup or a steel one, varying from featherweight trifle to invulnerable destroyer.
Maneuvers: Press B to unleash melee attacks, or an X-slash energy Bolt from a distance. X is your melee spin, it deals good damage. Your Energy Bolt will not steal health, but any melee attack will. Your health dwindles away about 1.5 to 2 HP every second, so hurry up and kill things to stay healthy.
Techs: This borg drives a lot like the many other Musha swordsman and samurai borgs... what really sets it apart is the combined Health steal advantage and life loss handicap. It's often WHAT you fight that makes the difference. You can beat down unskilled players every time and live a very long time for the cost, making the Vampire Knight a GREAT newbie hater. Also, the more HP per point and the less attack power the enemy has, the better it is for Vampire Knight. The bigger they are, the more there is to eat. Large, slow enemies like dragons and satellites can actually sustain the Vampire Knight as they are killed, and players who rely on skillful fighting and take high HP, medium ability bots like Normal Knight or Normal Ninja provide a lot of dinner... they must back their choices up with skill. Unfortuately, high cost, low HP, high attack units can be a very large bother for the Vampire Knight... especially those that can easily handle a Musha borg. They will do a LOT of damage and not provide many HP for the Vampire Knight to heal himself...
Hyper: It is easier to sustain Vamp Knight when you move faster and do more damage. A skilled Musha player can use his Hyper to completely restore a near-death Vamp Knight (while whomping on everything else in the arena as well) But most players will want to save the hyper for another bot.
Depth: Vampire Knight is a HIGH SLOPE unit. That is, PROS will find good use in it, and a NEWBIE will get killed and killed again for trying to drive it. That said, it's not really a DEEP borg. It is a special Musha borg that gets better with your skill, but there is nothing specific to the Vamp Knight to practice, per se. Once you are good with a Musha, the Vamp Knight looks good.
BATTLE GIRL
Feature: A good mix of ammo, HP, and speed
Recommendation: Beginners, Hit-and-run players, filler
General: The Battle girl is a well balanced unit for the cost with a lot of speed, shots, and decent HP. The unit features great reload times, autofire shots, a decent melee weapon, -and a homing missile, all of which allows you to concentrate on your driving rather than the trigger. She feels fragile the first time you take her out for a spin, but as you play more, you realize that a vast number of techniques work well with Battle Girl, and she is a versatile unit, up there with Normal Ninja.
Maneuvers: B fires a Submachine gun with medium speed bullets. 5-shot autofire as long as you don't interrupt it, two button presses will empty a clip at an enemy, but it will reload in the time it takes to dodge or fire a missile so you are never 'out of ammo' for more than a couple heartbeats. X fires a missile, a medium-speed destroyable homing projectile with really good damage. Shooting at a higher target with a missile, however, requires some conscious aiming. The missile reloads in about the time it takes to empty your 10-round machinegun clip. This means you can effectively alternate between machinegun and missiles, throwing in dodges and melee as needed, and never stop shooting. Battle girl is fairly fast on the ground, but is really most maneuverable when jetpacking. She is a solid infighter, but struggles at great range against some foes, close up against others.
Techs: Use your speed to force the distance game you will win at. As with all jetpacks, fly vertically until you see alarm markers, then tap to the side and drop while shooting the whole time to have a very effective dodge-and-blast pattern. You'll be hard to hit until you touch down, and by then you'll have unloaded 5 or 10 bullets at the enemy. Follow up with a sidestep and back to the air, and the enemy will wish you would just stand still. Don't be afraid to get close to enemies as long as you are in the air - you'll switch to melee if you get too close, and your beam knife is a pretty fair weapon. Keep on shooting, but not at the cost of your speed, for only combined will you get your real advantage.
Hyper: Drop out of the air while firing missiles to spam the enemy with explodey death.
Depth: This unit is balanced, cheap, and highly effective with more skill. While her weapons are simple, she is deceptively deep and detailed.
WIRE GIRL
Feature:Extreme manueverability
Recommendation: Quick movers and SPIDER MASTERS
General: Wire Girl is a little borg hiding a big surprise. It's a quiet secret that this is one of the most mobile bots in the game, capable of almost constantly evading every attack. Her weapons are medium-par, but her real advantage lies in her Anchor wire, the secret to her amazing potential. The first time, the wire seems in the way and too difficult to use, and her weapons too watered down to be worth using. Stay for the long haul and you see otherwise.
Maneuvers:The Charge gun fires 3-shot auto pulse medium range bullets from a clip of 10. The clip takes a moment to recharge, but it's not a long wait. Wire Girl possesses the Beam Knife abilities of Battle Girl as well. Hold down B for a second to unleash a Charge beam, a somewhat less slow beam bullet that does hefty damage. Press X to anchor your wire. You can leave 4 anchor points anywhere. Double-press X quickly to retract along the wire and zip back where you were at a very high speed. You have a boost thruster for air maneuvers.
Techs: This girl is all about the WIRE. Let's begin at the beginning. Set the wire, fly away, shoot, press to defend against attacks. You are very hard to hit while zipping on the wire. Set the wire behind cover and track out from a safe location. Attack and then hit the zip to return to safety. Fly up and set the wire high, then set it on the ground. Set another node high, and come back down. When you retract, you will bob about the sky at an impossible rate. Ready for the big one? Jet almost as high as you can, set the wire, and jet a bit to the side to be harder to hit. Fall down. Retract your wire once you land, and as you reach your node, FLY HIGHER. Wash, rinse, repeat. Doing this, you can easily reach the top of the arena. Half the time you are zipping and the other half, falling, so you will be extremely hard to hit. Once you have your first node as high as you can, zip up to it, set it, then fly horizontally some distance out. Set the marker when your pack runs out. Fall. Zip, and spend even more time on the ceiling. Reset your last anchor, jet sideways, set your marker, and come down again. With an anchor on the ceiling, you can move up and down pretty much at will. Last phase. Your weapon can't hit crap up there. Find the effective height (about 3 to 4 jumps) and use finesse to get there every time, in every fight. Combine with tap-jetting and extra anchors to fly about the sky in a way that bird units only wish they could.
Hyper: This borg is not about her Hyper. But you can beam until Sunday comes.
Depth: Are you kidding. Wire Girl is EXTREMELY DEEP.
COMMAND GIRL
Feature: Highly accurate weapons
Recommendation: Snipers, heavy evasive gunners
General: Command Girl has a lot of firepower under her hood for the price. Her beam weapons are not especially damaging, but they can be fired very quickly and they are very fast shots. Her Buster Lazer is EXTREMELY fast and features knockback. She is highly intense to pilot, so those who are slow with their fingers should look elsewhere.
Maneuvers: The Beam is a 10-shot weapon with high fire rate though not quite max, and fast-flying bullets. This makes it easy to be accurate at long range. The Buster Lazer has 3 shots and flies even faster. It can hit at the farthest distances, and players who TRY to dodge it sometimes fail miserably. It blasts players back. Other than these two weapons and her jet pack, there is not much to say.
Techs: Don't walk, hop and fly. Circle while shooting and unleash busters when you are out of bullets or getting bullied by a melee unit. Use your speed to win the evasion war.
Hyper: You can buster all day on larger ships or shoot continually on smaller foes.
Depth: While exceptionally powerful (snipe-tastic!) Command Girl is pretty simple. There is low depth to her.
SPINNER GIRL
Feature: Shot absorbing long-range melee yoyo
Recommendation:Anti-sniper, beginner to intermediate
General: Spinner Girl's a fairly easy borg to drive. Her yoyo toss is the center of the borg, but she has good HP and speed (jetpack) to back that weapon up. She is very effective against evasive midrange shooters.
Maneuvers: Press X to toss the yoyo. It will extend into and/or through the target, doing up to 10 hits of damage. Any bullets that strike the flying yoyo get absorbed, provided they are simple (weaker) bullets. Hence, if you throw it straight at a unit shooting straight back, you will handily win the conflict 10 to 0. B swings the yoyo, an effective melee weapon as well. You cannot move shortly after tossing the yoyo.
Techs: Toss the yoyo while in air for the best shot defense and maneuverability. remember to use the trget ring - when the notches appear, you can yoyo. Wait for your opponent to make a move and then throw the yoyo, because a miss will cost you almost 2 full seconds of time.
Hyper: Not a whole lot. Use quicker throws to dominate everyone, or save for another borg.
Depth: Timing the yoyo toss is the trick, but once you've got that, it's a one-hand borg to drive.
BARRIER GIRL
Feature: A balanced design and an Energy Barrier to go with it, though very low HP
Recommendation: Skilled players of various walks
General: Barrier girl has one thing against it: It is EXTREMELY expensive for what you seem to get right away. For 500 points, you get a measly 150 HP. But the truth is, Barrier Girl can be one of the toughest borgs in the game. Her weapons are well balanced, featuring an autofire midrange Charge Gun, a 10-hit Beam Yoyo melee, a fast charge-up shot... and an Energy Barrier that wards off attacks. If you're not using the barrier, you wasted your points. There is a period of recharge, but the barrier MUST be knocked off for you to be hurt, so a player who keeps his Barrier refreshed and avoids SOME attacks will be difficult to take down. This borg is a little confusing to pilot at first, but once you put up your first Energy Barrier, you'll realize it's a confusing Cadillac of a borg you're learning to handle.
Maneuvers: Press B to perform a 3-shot autofire Charge Gun shot with medium speed. Charge it up and release to fire a much larger Charge Shot that flies a lot faster and does more damage as well as being harder to dodge. Although it's a girl borg, your melee weapon is not to be ignored - the beam yoyo is much like a mini chainsaw and ramps up Barrier Girl's abilities by allowing her to get 'too close' and still have insurance. X deploys your Barrier, a colored bubble around you. It can take a set amount of damage before it is destroyed. It does not have a health meter but shrinks with each attack, and will eventually shatter. As soon as your meter is full you can press X again to get a new, completely healthy barrier. You are vulnerable to being shot when you deploy the shield, but since you get a new SHIELD in that moment, odds are you won't get hurt even if someone capitalizes it. You have a usual girl-borg jet pack.
Techs: Your barrier is the key to getting your points-worth. Shield right away and keep shielded as much as you can. While being evasive helps prevent some damage to the shield, it's a lot harder to evade in the barrier, which is a large target and is hit by bullets that would not hit you by a long margin. It is a better plan to stay aggressive and push the fight to get a big share of damage and keep the enemy stunned. While your barrier is up, you will not be stunned by any hit, use the advantage. Your barrier is easily broken by more powerful shots. Skilled enemies that have a lot of heavy firepower will shred your barrier right up, be ready for that: A single powered shot from a Revolver Gunman will break it in one hit. Use your Charge Shot liberally. You will get more total damage from your Charge Gun if almost ALL your bullets hit. Odds say, depending on range, they will be dodging a great deal, so don't be afraid to quickly charge up a shot. It's harder to dodge, does good damage, and is a fairly quick charge.
Hyper: Spamming charge shots is fairly lethal, in addition to becoming utterly barrier-invulnerable for a bit.
Depth: Barrier Girl has miles to work with. You can go to town with all her available approaches and potential talents. But however you drive her, be sure you use that barrier to the fullest!
NORMAL SAMURAI
Feature: Solid Meleepower, hard-to-dodge shot and melee, and good close recovery
Recommendation: Musha beginners to intermediates
General: Normal Samurai won't win awards with its attack power, but the speed and utility make it a pretty easy drive. Its good speed combined with physical abilities means that someone who is practiced in handling it will probably mop up other melee fighters. Most notably, Normal Samurai hates upon the dodge-dependent with a vengeance. The controls are fairly forgiving and the borg has a couple of added complexities that reward those that stay for the long haul.
Maneuvers: B unleashes an energy slash which is hard to skate around, 5 per clip, with medium reload time and medium-slow recovery, that flies at an average speed. Do it while sidestepping or airgliding to extend the glide and go faster. Close up, B unleashes melee attacks with fair-to-middling damage, but SUPREME recovery rate. So even if you get sidestepped, you usually can follow up before your opponent, and it's fairly easy to chain and combo your assaults. The B attacks especially track well, on the ground, in the air, etc. and makes it easy to hit anything close by. X unleashes the ROLLING SLASH, a combo attack which swings in every direction. An enemy who makes a poor attempt to evade will probably get hammered. As long as you are CLOSE to facing the right direction, the ROLLING SLASH will aim perfectly before beginning. You will only go the wrong direction if you are ON THE GROUND and facing COMPLETELY the wrong way. And sometimes if you just missed at melee and spin by reflex, the character will turn to face the foe before spinning anyhow.
Techs: You move quicker in the air as with most footspeed bots, so get up there. Glide toward or around your opponent and launch a slash near the end of the dodge. This will extend the dodge, even if you are out of slashes. Move to melee in this fashion and either open with an attack or a sidestep. Either way, make your move quickly. If the enemy is stunned, unleash a ROLLING SLASH. The rolling slash has a bit of lag after, where your basic B attacks have almost none, so open with simple melee and let loose with a spin when they're still dazed from a good hit. You can just roll targets that you're not going to miss, for solid damage.
Hyper: Your melee and infinite shot is unavoidable, and your spin is lightning fast and REALLY gouges. Like a lot of Normal Borgs, Hyper Mode makes you LETHAL. Your recovery for your B attacks becomes zero; anything unlucky enough to get close will be slashed apart and spun dry.
Depth: Normal Samurai is simple enough that the importance of such a unit on a team is often overlooked. But bear in mind; Most dodges are reduced to a WASTE before Normal Samurai. You can improve quite a bit with Normal Samurai, but you will not see much difference in performance... only a small amount of skill will make Normal Samurai pay out huge dividends in damage. He is very newbie-friendly.
SONIC SAMURAI
Feature: Good melee engagement range and improved speed.
Recommendation: Musha drivers with good control and nerves of steel
General:Sonic Samurai's got a lot of speed under the hood - he moves quickly, and once he is in his melee range he will charge at the foe with unusual haste; covering a considerable distance in a heartbeat. An enemy who supposes himself safe will be nailed again and again by Sonic Sam's improved melee range as he darts in for a finish. The SONIC NUSOKEN is laggy but has an incredible range. He feels a touch slow, ironically, and a bit fragile until you're used to him.
Maneuvers: Drives much like a Musha borg, including the standard X slash. You will enter melee range early - press B to dart in for slashes. Your melee attack is fast to unleash but features some lag. Dash while meleeing to perform drill attacks and sweeps. X unleashes the Sonic Nusoken. It is a solid combo-concluder, but a little hard to aim. it goes the way you are facing, so aim right at the enemy. Good distance and damage, but a very harsh lag. The enemy lags too if hit, so be SURE you hit and it won't be a problem.
Techs: This musha must return to the roots of the sidestep for effectiveness. Dart in and out of combat. Use your excellent attack distance to launch at the enemy from an air glide, take a few swings, and use the NUSOKEN to blast back out of combat, hopefully taking a chunk of your opponent. To take down shooters, circle them like a hawk until their clip hits a gap, then zap inside before they can react.
Hyper: Your recovery rate is covered somewhat. Hyper is usually good with melee, but in this case I'd call a toss-up.
Depth: This unit is fairly deep, you'll need to practice a bit if you want to be severe. With advanced range, Sonic Samurai can take down a lot of intermediates who are used to handling a closer melee opponent. Learn to time and aim the Sonic Nusoken and control melee combat.
KNUCKLES
Kung Fu Master
Feature: Superior agility and medium hitpower, generally cheap
Recommendation: Fast players, Sniper coverage
General: Kung Fu Master's damage is not very noteworthy, but he is one of the faster melee borgs in the game. He features multi-hit dash attacks and a long, multi-hit combo that piles up the damage. He also features a spin attack, the SENPUKEN, which is ideal for finishing combos or taking down larger foes and also hits several times. His jump, dodge, and airspeed are astounding for melee, and his physical abilities command respect. He can level the tables against any sniper. The borg feels very much like a flash on the battlefield, darting about. Although at times you feel a bit limp-wristed as you continually beat on opponents with not much damage to show for it, Kung Fu Master is a very QUICK limp-wristed bot.
Maneuvers: B unleashes a spirit shot, a weak, simple energy pellet with good recovery but a long reload, medium shot speed and not much damage. When in range, an air-dash B unleashes a potent kick combo that will stun most opponents. From the ground, a dashing B will perform a strong uppercut that pops enemies into the air for some confusing sky fighting. Hold still after landing a kick(stop dashing) and press B to dart at the enemy and unleash COSMIC KEMPO, a long series of punches which ends with the enemy getting knocked away. X releases a Senpuken, an whirling attack which batters opponents and tosses them away.
Techs: Generally speaking the uppercut is only useful against other melee experts, shield users in particular. Sidestep and B and you'll automatically do it. For most opponents, air dash at them, peppering them with bolts, and then press B to unleash a hard kick combo. Don't touch that dash as you perform it. Keep pressing B and you'll quickly follow up with Cosmic Kempo. Before the last punch lands, finish with X to Senpuken the enemy away for even more damage. Against large foes, Senpuken instead of punch comboing, especially against the dragons and other enemies it is easier to attack from the air. To hit planes, use your air-dashing B. Kung Fu Master can actually chase them down and beat them around. He's THAT quick.
Hyper: This unit's already as fast as he can get. If you are skilled with him, Hyper for even MORE damage. Otherwise, hold off for another unit.
Depth: KFM has so much speed that a skilled dodger will master mind-blowing combos and perfect techniques that are truly lethal. It is possible to land all 10 hits of the Senpuken on a small unit - can you figure out how?
TAO MASTER
Feature: Superior agility, highly reliable ranged melee attacks as well as closeup power
Recommendation: Anti-Air or gunner, strong and versatile utility
General: Flash-quick and with ranged attack potential, Tao Master is in a unique and powerful class. While he looks ridiculous, he fights well against a surprising number of enemies. Flying about the stage and dropping like thunder to deliver melee combat to some sorry enemy, Tao Master feels like he is straight out of those cheesy martial arts films like Hidden Tiger Crouching Copywright or whatever. It's a blast to drive.
Maneuvers: You have very fast dodges, jumps and airdodges, producing a lot of flat agility. B from a distance releases a weak Spirit shot. It has a long reload and a medium shot speed, medium recovery. Get in close to unleash Cosmic Kempo. From the air you will hurtle at the enemy and deliver vicious attacks. Dash from the ground to use an Arm Thrust that sends an enemy some distance away. Standing B uses your Punch combo. Press X in air or ground to send a TAO sword at the enemy. It will follow the enemy, looking for an opportunity, and eventually, strike viciously for a short combo. It will hit, and return to your back. You have 4 and when all are deployed, you must wait for them to return. Thankfully they are VERY quick. You should not be out of swords for more than a moment's wait.
Techs: This is a very good air character. Get in the air. When you throw a sword, you will stay up there, so you can evade melee specialists all day by quickly circling in the sky and tossing swords at them. When there's an enemy you want to physically attack, drop at them with B and you'll charge through them. Keep pressing B to slam them with your fist and send them sailing, OR toss a sword straight after attacking and then get physical again. You'll freeze a moment, and then use your Cosmic Kempo attack. Against enemies that are stunned by your punches (most humanoids) stop midpunch and throw a sword. Then tap B to resume punching. This will allow you to extend the combo to its maximum. The tougher they are, the more they GET HURT. You can toss swords at downed enemies. Due to the way some enemies recover, they may or may not do damage, but it really doesn't hurt to just keep throwing swords. Chase down planes and hit them with B, tossing swords at them when they are far away, to bring them down with speed and style. Nothing in the air can withstand you. But watch for snipers - you freeze when you toss a sword - so those with fast bullets can be a nuisance.
Hyper: You're absolutely lethal in your Hyper state. Your swords become insanely accurate due to added speed and your melee is practically invisible, you're going so quick. you should save your Hyper if you can't handle the speed.
Depth: Tao Master is strong, simple, and versatile, and fairly deep when you get into his melee game. He is a good choice to round out a team that is a bit lopsided.
JELLY DIVER
Feature: Agile melee and enemy slowdown, marred by gross inaccuracy
Recommendation: ... the very patient ...
General: Jelly Diver is a HARD borg to drive. He shoots 10 large bubble bullets that move slow in sets of 2 with a medium high fire rate and a good shot reload time, but they are easily avoided. His jelly scope is supposed to slow enemies down, but odds are the enemy will not be in that little bubble long enough for it to actually be useful - shucks. The slowdown effect is noticeable, but more novel than anything - Jelly Diver doesn't really escape melee attacks any better, and while his opponents are easier to hit, Jelly Diver takes the advantage as an opportunity to be sloppy. He would be skilled at sniper-chasing, but he usually gets SHOT before he can reach snipers... he feels wonky. And has a tendency to attack in the wrong direction for upwards of 3 seconds.
Maneuvers: You have a triple jump, but it takes forever for you to descend and your bullets are too slow to hit something far away. Don't be a fool, stay near the ground. You have a unique motion system - sky swimming - which makes you fairly nimble, and fast-recharging projectiles. In theory it should all work, but then we look at the melee attacks. For one, it's hard to tell which melee attack you are going to get. But if you are in the air, odds are you'll get one of the swimming attacks, which last between four seconds for the quicker, faster moving, less accurate animation, to upwards of eight for the long, laggy, slightly more accurate one. Needless to say if you miss, you're gonna get hammered. And it's not that you miss so much as you hit, and then immediately float away from the target. The ground attacks are much faster and more effective. 1 to 3 quick swings and you can steer again! But your ground sidestep dodge is very poor.
Techs: When you are overextended on a melee attack and swimming off to nowhere-land, OPEN YOUR HELMET as a ditch-dirt attempt to recover. You may stop attacking, but it is unreliable. Against larger foes or aircraft, Jelly Diver does great damage. For most smaller foes, stay on the ground. Shoot all the time, that's what it's there for. If you can do all this.. then maybe, just maybe.
Hyper: NOW you can do it! Remarkably, in Hyper Mode Jelly Diver becomes MUCH more lethal! Faster, and tracking into targets better, Jelly Diver Hypered is a nightmare for most enemies. Long 10 hit combos with no way to escape, merciless bullets applying constant pressure, and no way to approach without lagging and getting nailed in counter. A faster, stronger Jelly Diver truly is a powerful short range unit. But the trick isn't making his Hyper USEFUL. It's REACHING it. :(
Depth: Jelly Diver CAN land his long combos. He CAN control combat tempo. He CAN pressure the enemy with shots and CAN work over any melee unit... but it demands a TON of control (and a decent dose of luck) Those who want to master this funky looking unit can expect to spend from 4 days to a WEEK just getting return value out of the points even when battling the CPU. Don't even THINK about multiplayer until you've got a lot of practice under your belt. However, in multi, trying to dodge Jelly Diver is a joke, and since most players are evasion dependent, JD is a very REAL alternative to power. A very real, and much more DIFFICULT one. However Jelly Diver masters can also look forward to the impressive TAR Diver later on, a unit that is worth its salt!
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