Part 1: How not to Die.
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Easier said than done. There's general ways to avoid this as such:
1) use quick rebound! this skill in itself is a strategy, it gives you invulnerability for about three seconds and can be used to avoid enemies on the ground combos and generally get out of danger.
2) utilize backstep. Backstep takes practice, one needs to get into the habit of using it to properly use it. Although it seems trivial, the step-back gets you out of a danger zone enemies create, its much more efficient than turning around and running!
3) Super armor. Your enemies all have super armor attacks, and when in doubt everybody spams Z while their being comboed. To save yourself from this try beggining your combo on the y axis, from behind, or use an attack with high hitstun before begging your combo.
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Part 2: How to make the enemy die!
Dying is easy, make it easier for em!
1) Combo. Obvious one here, without a combo your chances of victory are reduced greatly. Any form of strategy at all really is a key to victory, just tossing out attacks is ineffective and will get you killed. (Ask me about class specific combos, I know em all)
2) Hitstun is your friend! Hit-stun is when a character is put into that 'hurt' animation and when they are they cannot fight back or counter you. Certain skills have very high hitstuns which can be utilized to keep the target at bay allowing you to set up a greater combo.
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Part 3: Tactics- Never leave the lobby without em
Tactics is a broad term so i'll break them down as we go, it refers to your fighting style.
1) The whiffer: my least favorite style. Often used by slayers, monks and other speed-attacking classes this tactic relies on waiting for the opponent to move, then evading it to follow up with your attack. The whiffer will rarely ever make an attack independently, and will always try to stay close to the opponent. This strategy is a double edged sword, when it works it works but when it doesn't you really end up looking pathetic, because if you fail to catch them on the whiff your closeness sets you up for a combo.
2) Aggressive: My most frequented attack style. This style revolves around rushing your opponent asap and relentlessly attacking. When correctly used, it gets you a flawless victory, but of course being so aggressive puts you in the enemies direct line of attack. To get the most out of an aggressive style one should begin the match with some sort of ranged attack, then rush the opponent with an approaching move preferably one with super armor. Once your combo is over you should generally stay close enough but out of attacks range to the target, to prevent them from rebounding on you.
3)Juggler: What i do on my rouge all day. This is one of the most lethal strategies, if you can master juggling the opponent you will literally win without them fighting back. Juggling is keeping the opponent in the air as long as possible, while getting as many combos and hits as possible. This is generally easy to do as many classes have multiple launching skills, the true problems are mastering your juggle timing, since timing is everything with launch skills and utilizing a reset. A reset is a skill that 'resets' the gravity of an opponent via stun, freeze, or shockwave. All of the aforementioned place the target in a standing position (or in shockwaves case bouncing off the floor) which takes the gravity accumulated from taking damage and resets it. Normally when taking damage a certain amount of 'gravity' builds up, this is programmed in game to prevent infinite combos by making one fall to the ground at incredible speed if too much damage is taken, which would end a combo, resets are the answer to this.
4) On the ground or Wakizase.: The counterpart to the lethal juggler.
On the ground combos are impossible to stop without using quick rebound. These combos are centered around knocking the opponent down then using attacks that 'scrape' and connect to the target while still on the floor, this effectively keeps the opponent unable to attack much like being airborne. Wakizase is truly an acquired skill, not every class has the right attacks to do it but the ones that can take quite a lot of timing and practice, however the results are incredible damage output in long combos.
5) Unique: Mix and match strategies, fight your own way!
there's really no wrong way to do dfo, as such you can utilize any strategy that can work.
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Possibly more to come, its 3 in the morning.