Introduction
This is a guide on Saber Showdown. It is written as of 4/10/2023, numbers may change in the future.
Table of Contents
- Saber customization and saber styles.
- Block points, power points, and HUD.
- Blocking and basic movement.
- Attacking, damage, interrupts, and combos.
- Slapping/kicking.
- Swing blocking.
- Perfect blocking.
- Counters.
- ACM and ACC (Attack Chain Multiplier and Attack Chain Count).
- Parrying.
- Manual/Movement Blocking/Disarming.
- Half swinging.
- Yawing.
- Shadow swinging.
- Special attacks (Aerial, Kata).
- Powers
I recommend reading one section at a time, practicing it and then carrying on to the next step. Learning everything in this order should be fairly logical and things should add and slot together fairly nicely.
1. Saber customization and saber styles.
In the lobby you can press Edit to change your saber to other sabers that you own.
Some styles have different forms which you can customize in the top right. On the bottom right you can look at a basic overview on the stats of the lightsaber/form.
Saber Stats
Backhand.Settings = {
AttackPower = 6;
BlockPower = 70;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1.1;
WindupTime = 0.25;
MaxComboCount = 4;
ACCThreshold = 8;
}
Blue.Settings = {
AttackPower = 6;
BlockPower = 70;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1.5;
WindupTime = 0.25;
MaxComboCount = 4;
ACCThreshold = 8;
}
Cyan.Settings = {
AttackPower = 8;
BlockPower = 60;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1.5;
WindupTime = 0.25;
MaxComboCount = 6;
ACCThreshold = 8;
}
Dual.Settings = {
AttackPower = 11;
BlockPower = 50;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1.25;
WindupTime = 0.3;
MaxComboCount = 5;
ACCThreshold = 6;
}
Purple.Settings = {
AttackPower = 15;
BlockPower = 46;
SwingCost = 3;
SwingSpeed = 0.9;
WindupTime = 0.6;
MaxComboCount = 3;
ACCThreshold = 4;
}
Red.Settings = {
AttackPower = 19;
BlockPower = 42;
SwingCost = 3;
SwingSpeed = 0.9;
WindupTime = 0.6;
MaxComboCount = 3;
ACCThreshold = 4;
}
Spear.Settings = {
AttackPower = 9;
BlockPower = 65;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1;
WindupTime = 0.5;
MaxComboCount = 4;
ACCThreshold = 4;
}
Staff.Settings = {
AttackPower = 9;
BlockPower = 65;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1;
WindupTime = 0.4;
MaxComboCount = 4;
ACCThreshold = 6;
}
Yellow.Settings = {
AttackPower = 12;
BlockPower = 55;
SwingCost = 2;
SwingSpeed = 1;
WindupTime = 0.4;
MaxComboCount = 4;
ACCThreshold = 6;
}
Clicking on the color tab will allow you to change the color of your lightsaber. You can enter a custom lightsaber color with a hex code.
2. Block points, power points, and HUD.
Power Points:
The left side shows power points. Power points are used when using different powers. The number at the bottom of the HUD shows the value of your power points.
Block Points:
The value on the right is your block points. Block points range from 0-100.
Swinging, jumping and most forms of attack also all consume block points.
You regenerate block points automatically so long as you are walking, blocking or standing still. Crouching, running, and jumping will all inhibit the regeneration of block points.
3. Blocking and basic movement.
Blocking:
In order to stay alive during duels, you need to block.
Whilst blocking, you cannot run and will not be killed from any frontal light saber swings. Be careful not to get hit in your back or side, however.
If you are attacked by a light saber whilst blocking, you will lose BP (Block points - explained above.) Once your block points are too low, blocking will no longer defend against saber swings.
Basic Movement:
Just like in any normal PC game, you can move forwards, backwards, left, right and in all of the corresponding diagonal directions using WASD.
In addition to this, you can crouch and jump with ctrl and space. If you hold space you will power jump, granting you the ability to jump higher.
If you jump and crouch as you land, you will roll.
Holding shift allows you to walk. This is extremely important for dueling as you will only regenerate block points when stood still or walking.
You can also walk quicker if you hold right click without shift.
Walking backwards is slower than walking forwards or to the side.
4. Attacking and combos.
Attacking:
If you haven’t already worked it out, to attack, simply hold or tap left click / mouse1.
It is essential that you know that tapping attack causes you to lose less BP per swing than holding attack. Because of this, it is good to learn the timings for combos, so that you aren’t losing out on BP.
You may also have noticed that walking in different directions allows you to perform different swings. This is another essential piece of information.
For example, if you hold D then left click, you will perform a different animation and swing to holding WA then left click.
An attacks speed varies on the saber style that you have chosen, for instance, red is much slower than blue.
Damage factors:
Depending on your movement status, you take varying degrees of damage. Rather than list all of the specific values, you are best defended and do the most damage when you walk.
Running causes you to take more damage and to deal the least damage.
Jumping causes you to take more damage and to deal more damage.
Not swingblocking allows you to deal slightly more damage than with swingblocking.
You also take a very high amount of damage if you are attacked during a swing, this is known as an interrupt.
Combos:
In order to attack quickly, you need to learn how to combo. The number of swings you can combo with varies on the saber style you choose. For example, red can only perform three attacks in a row, whereas yellow can perform four.
To perform a combo, simply hold or tap left click and walk in different directions, you will notice that the attacks chain together. The combo window lasts approximately 1-2 frames and opens 0.1 seconds after a hit lands.
2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc swings all do 0.5x the damage of a single swing.
You cannot combo in the same direction twice in a row. Additionally you cannot do these combos: W-WD, W-WA, WD-W, WA-W.
5. Slapping/kicking.
Basics:
Now that you’ve learned how to attack, block and combo, it is time for you to learn about slapping.
If you get slapped, then make sure you get up by pressing w, a, s or d. Pressing W will perform a kick which can knock down a player.
Slapping an opponent who is not blocking will result in them falling on the ground, and presents an opportunity for you to attack them whilst they are on the floor.
Slapping an opponent who is blocking will result in them being knocked back a slight bit, but will not cause them to fall to the ground.
A player who is knocked down cannot perfect block.
Timing:
Slapping is most effective when you time it correctly, this means that constantly spamming slap is not all that effective.
The best times to slap are:
- As your opponent is about to swing by prediction.
- As your opponent has just swung.
- As your opponent is doing longer combos.
- As your opponent is running or jumping.
These timings are when your opponent is least likely to be blocking or ‘swing blocking’. (See next step.)
6. Swing blocking.
Swing blocking is one of the most fundamental parts to being good at dueling in MB2. Swing blocking allows you to attack your opponent whilst simultaneously blocking, meaning that you cannot be slapped or disarmed.
You are also able to regenerate block points while swing blocking.
To swing block, simply tap left click to attack, and then hold down right click straight after.
7. Perfect blocking.
Perfect blocking is very important, and also one of the hardest to get consistent.
Being good at perfect blocking requires good knowledge of the zones, quick reactions and an element of prediction.
To perfect block, you simply move your mouse to the designated area the swing is coming from - if your opponent swings WA then you look to their top left, for example.
Successfully perfect blocking results in you losing no BP from an opponents swing, so they are crucial to surviving duels.
Advice and good habit:
-
Crosshair placement: Always keep your crosshair high above the opponents head around the area of the ‘W’ zone. This allows quick reaction to the most common (W, WD, WA) swings.
-
Overlaps: Try to figure out any areas of overlap, for example there are places you can look that will block both SD and D swings/SA and A swings in one location.
-
Distance: Distance affects the area of the zones, because they are relative to the model. This means that the closer you are, the more extreme your mouse movements need to be. Also, keeping your distance gives you a longer chance to react and makes PBing easier.
Practicing PB:
Practicing PB can be very hard given that it requires you to have someone attacking you, however there are a few methods you can use to speed up the process:
- Ask a friend or a player in-game to hit you slowly in each direction, repeating their swing until you get the correct zone.
For instance, they could swing WD over and over until you put your crosshair in the right place, then change direction. Do this for a while and get used to the zones.
- Delayed reaction - During duels, pay no attention to reacting fast to PB but rather correctly.
By this I mean, if your opponent uses a D swing, don’t try to instantly react to it and block it, but rather think in your head ‘that was a D swing’ and then move your crosshair into place as soon as you’ve processed the thought.
This obviously isn’t going to be effective short term, and will probably be quite frustrating/require a lot of self discipline, but it helps you to build up speed and eventually your reaction time will get better and better to the point where you can look at the swing and react instantly.
8. Counters
Counters are done by anticipating your opponents swing, perfect blocking them, and then attacking back right as they hit you, this results in a very quick swing which hits your opponent in return. The counter swing window lasts 0.1 seconds after getting hit. If you perfect block a slow swing that’s the first swing of the enemy’s combo, you can do a maximum of 2 swings or however many swings you have left in your combo. If you perfect block in the middle of your opponents combo, you can combo regularly.
9. Attack Chain Count/Multiplier (ACC/ACM).
ACM allows you to do more damage per swing. The higher your ACM value, the more damage each of your swings does. In order to get ACM you need to get ACC.
ACC is built by successfully hitting your opponent whilst not being hit yourself, or perfect blocking their hits.
ACC cannot be built on subsequent combo hits, so if you hit a 4 hit combo, you won’t get +4 ACC, just +1 from the first body hit of the combo.
ACC cannot be built if your opponent perfect blocks the swing, so make sure your crosshair flashes red to signify that you’re hitting them successfully.
You gain +1 ACM when when, with:
Blue/Cyan: You get +8 ACC.
Yellow/White/Green : You get +6 ACC.
Red/Purple: You get +4 ACC.
Any successive hits after achieving 1 ACM add to your ACM stack. For example, if you got a +8 body hit advantage on an opponent you would get 3 ACM (+1 for the first 6 hits, +1 for the 7th, +1 for the 8th.)
Light styles (Blue and Cyan) lose -2 ACC upon being body hit rather than every other style’s -1.
ACM values are as follows:
+1 ACM: 1.2x damage.
+2 ACM: 1.4x damage.
+3 ACM: 1.6x damage… etc
+9 ACM (limit): 2.6x damage.
The best way to build ACM is by shadow swinging and half swinging (see later).
10. Parrying.
Normal parrying is where you swing in between your opponent’s swings, resulting in an 80% defense against your opponent’s swings.
This isn’t as effective as PBing as you are still getting hit but can be used to even out some of the damage your opponent does to you.
To parry, simply start a combo just as your opponent’s first swing hits you.
11. Manual Blocking/Disarming (MB).
In order to MB, you need to briefly press left click (mouse1), right click (mouse2) and the corresponding movement direction.
You will notice if you hold left and right click then walk about with shift, you will do different animations. It is these animations that you use to MB.
To time an MB correctly, walk in the right direction, block and then left click whilst holding the others down just before the swing hits you. The window for disarm lasts 0.1 seconds from when you start manual blocking.
The correct keys to press when MBing are shown above, but you can think of it as inverting the height of a swing, but remaining on the same side. For example, if your opponent does a WA swing, you would MB it with SA, with SD you would MB with WD.
When MBing you should remember:
- You must perfect block at the same time as MBing otherwise it will not work.
- Failing to MB gives you a one second cooldown time in which you cannot MB again successfully, so spamming MB does not work.
Practicing:
In order to practice MB, the best thing to do is to worry about first hits of combos. Similar to method one of practicing PB, you should react accurately not quickly, get the directions pinned down and practice with a friend or someone ingame to show you the timing, then react slowly in duels and slowly build up your speed.
To increase your chances of MB you can also learn to 2nd or 3rd hit MB, simply predict your opponents combo much like you would PB a combo and you can land second hit MBs which your opponent is less likely to be swing blocking.
12. Half Swinging.
Half swinging is fairly important in building ACM and allows for somewhat more defensive play, especially if combined with Shadow swinging (see later).
To half swing, swing once then wait until your saber reaches its full animation, just before the animation is about to finish, attack in the same, or a different, direction.
You should be able to feel the timing, and you will see how the swing is performed quicker.
Practicing:
Use red at first to observe half swinging, because it is far more noticeable with red than it is yellow.
To practice half swing with yellow, just stand still and practice the timing on the air, you should aim to be able to tap the timing and swing block each hit (it’s far easier to swing block than combos).
The timing is the same in air versus hitting your opponent so there is no need to use dummies etc.
13. Yaw/Yawing.
Yawing is the act of turning your mouse with a swing, meaning that the attack is harder to perfect block as the swing time is less and the animation looks less obvious.
The goal with yaw is to hit your opponent with the earliest part of the animation as possible, without exposing too much of your back or side so that you can be killed.
You always move your mouse in the direction of the swing, so for instance, any swings on the D side, you would turn right and any on the A side you would turn left. You can also look down with W swings and up with S swings to improve it further.
Yawing can be done for single hits as well as in combos, doing it in combos essentially renders your combos unblockable due to how fast the animations land.
You can also use yaw to help you in shadow swing (see later).
14. Shadow swinging.
Shadow swinging is where you aim to hit your opponent without being hit yourself. This can be with combos or single hits.
To shadow swing, simply run towards your enemy and swing, then yaw in the direction of your swing and run away.
Overthinking shadow swing often results in problems, so I tend to play from feel rather than mechanically working out the best direction to run after a swing etc.
You should always aim to run away using W, A and D only. When you run with S, you actually move slower, which increases your opponents chance of hitting you back.
Using half swings to shadow swing is most effective for single hits, and you can burst in and out at the rhythm of each half swing to build very quick ACM.
Usage:
Shadow swinging is best done to build ACM. Using shadow swing to get a higher ACM than your opponent and then comboing them to death is a very common playstyle for yellow in particular.
You can also use shadow swinging to do 2 hit combos and run away, this is very powerful if you land a few of these in a duel, as you are both gaining ACM and doing decent BP damage.
Swing blocking just as your swing connects stops any chance of your attack being MBed and you being disarmed.
15. Special Attacks.
Aerial: Space + Left click - Performs a jumping slash attack, which does the same damage as a regular swing if you land it.
Kata (Dual, Staff, Backhand): Space + Left click + W - Jumping barrage of attacks, deals a lot of damage the more hits of it you land on your opponent. Damage for each hit is the same as a regular swing.
16. Powers
Gain power focus by staring at an opponent for 3 seconds until you see smoke. The power focus you gain while looking at an opponent decays at the same rate that it increases. Having power focus will allow you to use different powers.
You can bind powers in the top left or use them by switching them with X and pressing F to use them. Saber throw is unique in that you just press C to use it.
Current powers include: Push, pull, grip, lightning, speed, sense, throw, and jump.
Some notable power interactions include:
- You can use powers on opponents with less than 20 power points without needing power focus.
- Using pull/push on an enemy that is running will do a super push which will push them farther and knock them over.
- Using pull/push while being choked will do a super push on the choker even if you don’t have power focus.
- Lightning stops people from attacking if you have power focus.
- Getting hit without perfect blocking will result in losing 0.25 seconds of power focus.