Post by Wolfeye on Dec 2, 2014 2:06:17 GMT
I would like to extend a huge thank you to Apocalypse. With our joint research, we've managed to gather new data that has been edited into this update of blocking theory.
So today, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to earn my PhD in JKA 1.00 Block Techniques. To do so though.. I'm going to impart the knowledge I have, here. I'd cite LemonLime, Bekind, and RedLeader for all the blocking knowledge I have outside of my own personal experience and practice.
Section One - The JKA Physics Engine:
In Jedi Academy, few may realize it, but there IS a focus on physics. First, lets evaluate the parts of a strike. When you first learn, it's generally like this:
1. Start of strike
2. The Part That Kills You
3. End of strike.
However, in LemonLime's theory of blocking, there are 5 basic stages:
1. Beginning of the strike, where no damage is caused.
2. Still early in, and the start of damage begins, but starts off weak
3. Saber in full swing, this part still kills you.
4. Strike nearing an end, damage decreases
5. The strike resets, during this period people are generally open to be hit, and the saber causes no damage (and/or a single point of it, if any).
Now, in my theory, things stay relatively similar, but I believe this is a more accurate and up to date set of 7 stages:
1. Beginning of strike. No damage, saber ghosting*
2. Very early start of damage
3. Beginning of moderate damages
4. Mid-section. This is the point where the saber is directly in front of you, and deals maximum damage.
5. Slowing of damage, approximately the same as stage #3
6. Near-end of damage (at most, a few points of damage)
7. End of damage, reset phase. Saber does not ghost, and can still block during this phase.
The reason there are so many stages and differences in damage, is because each stage is based on the momentum of the swing. That is, how fast the saber is going at any given point in the swing. However, damage is not the only thing that is affected. Block power is determined by the stage of a strike as well. If two people collide at stage 4, there will just be a heavy block. If person A is in stage 3 and person B is in stage 4, and they collide, person B will either kill or knock back person A. We'll talk about knock backs a little further down.
Now, on top of that, the speed at which the person is moving is also taken into account. If I am running at someone during the swing, the speed I am traveling is added to the momentum of the swing. Note, that when I refer to 'speed' I refer to the rate at which the person is moving, not the saber. When i say momentum, I'm referring to the lightsaber itself. So if I am at walking speed, and my saber is in stage 4, and you are at running speed in the same stage, you have a higher likelihood of breaking through me because you have more total momentum in your swing. If that sounds complicated, it's about to get much worse.
* Keep in mind, if a saber is ghosting, that means it cannot be blocked, just as it cannot deal damage.
Section Two - Stances & Saber Angles:
So, the next thing you have to take into account is the stances. Luckily, these are pretty easy to get down. A simple chart can show how this works.
Strong > Staff > Duals > Medium > Fast
When these clash, the higher up the chart they are, the stronger they are. So, if someone uses medium against a staff, the staff will generally out block them. However, this does not mean that it isn't possible, under certain conditions, to still succeed. In some instances, I've been able to parry strong style with fast even, because the strong user was in stage 2.
Another thing to note is the speed chart. This... Is kind of confusing.
Offense Chart:
Running > Walking > Standing > Crouching
Defense Chart:
Crouching > Standing > Walking > Running
To explain, when you are attacking, you want more momentum. When you are defending, you want more stability. The less your saber is flailing about, the more stable you are. You also want angle. Generally, if you want to block while standing or walking, you'll want to quickly hit SD or AS to get a diagonal angle on the saber for when the strike connects. Meanwhile, you'll normally want to be looking down so that it has more of a slope. However, when you're attacking, you want all the power you can gather to break through their blocking.
Section Three - The Parry:
So why do we care about blocking? Well, aside from saving your life, you can also end someone else's. A parry is determined by a number of factors. It is, essentially, adding the momentum of an opponents' swing to your own momentum to create a fast, lethal attack. This means that the more total momentum your opponent's swing has, the more lethal your parry will be. Keep in mind though, the more momentum the opponents swing has, the harder it will be to block, which is increasing the risk of taking damage.
It is also important to note that parries require very, very careful timing. If you strike too soon, you'll mess up the block. Strike too late, and you wont get a parry, just a normal hit. You will know you have a parry because it is significantly faster than a normal strike. Now, here's the complex part... There are two different types of parries.
Standard Parry: A standard parry is when you attack at the very moment the block occurs. While this is harder to accomplish, because it requires timing your strike at the very second the collision happens, it is the fastest and most fatal way to take down an opponent.
Delay parry: A delay parry is any parry that takes place post-block. In other words, if you block, and then immediately attack after, it will be a delay parry. In essence, a delay parry is no different than a standard parry. The only difference is, a delay parry will be (surprise surprise) delayed for a short moment before striking, but like any other delay swing, only this one will move much faster than normal once it occurs, simply because it is a parry.
Reset Parrying: You can also standard parry attacks during the reset of your swing, so long as you still have strikes you can chain. The game interprets the click during the reset as what is normally a delay, however, if it is done at the very moment of a collision, it uses that swing to form a standard parry. However, just like with delays, you need to still have strikes available in your chain to be able to utilize this.
Section Four - Knockbacks & Overwhelms
To begin, I'd like to define "Knockback." A knockback is an indicator of who is winning during a blocking battle. It is, essentially, when the player is stunned and their saber is knocked to the side for a few moments (like one of those Mace Windu moments). This leaves you severely open. If you are being knocked back, that generally means you are losing and need to make distance quickly before your opponent can take advantage of it. If your opponent is being knocked back, that means you need to press the offensive and keep attacking.
What is an overwhelm, you ask? It's the name I've given to a particular tactic in bypassing blocks. While the chart in section two is accurate to block strength, a major issue for someone who is blocking in strong style is the slowness of the style. An overwhelm can occur when a significantly faster style is used (generally fanned) to attack the significantly slower style. While the strong style user will be able to block some of it and, yes, even parry it, if the opponent is given ample time to press the attack, they will be able to break through the block anyway. A great example is strong style verses staff. When a staff fans at a strong style user, even if that user is in the strongest defensive position, the staff will only get blocked once or twice before the overwhelm occurs, and the strong style user gets knocked back. This means that for someone to successfully parry a staff, they would have to get a quick block and parry off and then immediately remove themselves from the area, because of the dangers a staff presents when it comes to overwhelms.
A good note about knockbacks: they do not slow you down. You will move at normal speeds even if you are knocked back.
Section Five - Wiggling & Spinning
When it comes to blocking, wiggling and spinning have odd distortions on the process. A wiggle causes more passes, which can cause more blocks. This means an increase in blocking and likelihood to block whenever a wiggle is added the the equation. This also means that small wiggles while moving will add to your overall defense, make blocks more likely, and make parries easier to obtain. Spins, on the other hand, are a very difficult thing to judge. Faster spinning means the strikes do not register as well. While this normally is avoided because of the damage reduction one suffers from spinning, and the lack of defense (remember, lack of registry also means lack of blocks and increased ghosting), it works reverse too. At the right speed, a spin can pass through a block and damage an opponent. This is ill-advised however, but it is important to note for those who aim to block someone who often spins. This is, of course, all relative to the server you're on, whether its 1.00 or 1.01, and other variables that naturally affect how spins register.
Section Six - Tactics in Blocking
To learn some basics about blocking, "Crouch Blocking" is usually the best place to start. Crouching (to create stability), looking down (to create angle), and looking at your opponent is the basic idea. However, just sitting there wont block everything. You want a V-shaped arc in front of you. While you never want the tip of your saber to point outside of the shoulders of your opponent, you do want to aim, very slightly, toward the direction that the attack is coming from. If it is an overhead, you want a straight forward look. If it is to one side or the other, you want to keep the tip pointed at their body, but tilted toward the direction of the attack. You may wish to wiggle a bit to guarantee contact as well.
Another thing to remember is that underhand strikes, such as AS or SD strikes, are harder to block, as are overheads, generally. But it all depends on the stage of the attack. If you block a swing in stages 2 or 3, it is far easier than stage 4. You also always want to follow the saber, not the person. A skilled blocker can parry a single strike up to four times. Even after a parry, if your saber continues to make contact with the enemy's, you can gain more blocks which allows for more parries. This includes during the knockback phase, which is why removing yourself from the situation is vital if you're against someone skilled in parrying, and why using it to your advantage can be the difference between a victory and a loss.
Also keep in mind, the sabers MUST make contact. Any twisting or turning necessary to cause the sabers to collide should be done to ensure you get a block. Even if you aren't looking for parries, the ends of your swings can often be used to save you from an incoming strike. For example, an SD swing will curve around over your head during the reset stage 7. If you were to turn yourself all the way around so your back is to the opponent, and ensure that the sabers clash when they attack, you will effectively block most, if not all, of the oncoming strike.
Section Seven - 1.00 vs 1.01
The core differences between 1.00 and 1.01 are in the level of connectivity each provides. 1.00 is more likely to ghost than 1.01, which means things like overwhelms become significantly harder, as the 1.01 blocking allows for heavier styles to block lighter styles with ease. While the overall blocking system is unchanged, the stances chart from section two becomes critical, because, where in 1.00 you stand a chance of sliding through a staff's block with medium, or with overwhelming a strong style opponent with fast, it becomes much more difficult to do it in 1.01. This does not mean it cannot be done, it simply means that 1.01's system reacts faster and can pick up the blocking easier. This also means, however, that all blocking attempts will be twice as effective as they would be in 1.00, because the saber collisions are more likely to register.
Questions & Comments are a welcome thing to help improve this more. Blocking is a very complex thing, and any help I can get to improve our knowledge on the topic is great!
So today, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to earn my PhD in JKA 1.00 Block Techniques. To do so though.. I'm going to impart the knowledge I have, here. I'd cite LemonLime, Bekind, and RedLeader for all the blocking knowledge I have outside of my own personal experience and practice.
Section One - The JKA Physics Engine:
In Jedi Academy, few may realize it, but there IS a focus on physics. First, lets evaluate the parts of a strike. When you first learn, it's generally like this:
1. Start of strike
2. The Part That Kills You
3. End of strike.
However, in LemonLime's theory of blocking, there are 5 basic stages:
1. Beginning of the strike, where no damage is caused.
2. Still early in, and the start of damage begins, but starts off weak
3. Saber in full swing, this part still kills you.
4. Strike nearing an end, damage decreases
5. The strike resets, during this period people are generally open to be hit, and the saber causes no damage (and/or a single point of it, if any).
Now, in my theory, things stay relatively similar, but I believe this is a more accurate and up to date set of 7 stages:
1. Beginning of strike. No damage, saber ghosting*
2. Very early start of damage
3. Beginning of moderate damages
4. Mid-section. This is the point where the saber is directly in front of you, and deals maximum damage.
5. Slowing of damage, approximately the same as stage #3
6. Near-end of damage (at most, a few points of damage)
7. End of damage, reset phase. Saber does not ghost, and can still block during this phase.
The reason there are so many stages and differences in damage, is because each stage is based on the momentum of the swing. That is, how fast the saber is going at any given point in the swing. However, damage is not the only thing that is affected. Block power is determined by the stage of a strike as well. If two people collide at stage 4, there will just be a heavy block. If person A is in stage 3 and person B is in stage 4, and they collide, person B will either kill or knock back person A. We'll talk about knock backs a little further down.
Now, on top of that, the speed at which the person is moving is also taken into account. If I am running at someone during the swing, the speed I am traveling is added to the momentum of the swing. Note, that when I refer to 'speed' I refer to the rate at which the person is moving, not the saber. When i say momentum, I'm referring to the lightsaber itself. So if I am at walking speed, and my saber is in stage 4, and you are at running speed in the same stage, you have a higher likelihood of breaking through me because you have more total momentum in your swing. If that sounds complicated, it's about to get much worse.
* Keep in mind, if a saber is ghosting, that means it cannot be blocked, just as it cannot deal damage.
Section Two - Stances & Saber Angles:
So, the next thing you have to take into account is the stances. Luckily, these are pretty easy to get down. A simple chart can show how this works.
Strong > Staff > Duals > Medium > Fast
When these clash, the higher up the chart they are, the stronger they are. So, if someone uses medium against a staff, the staff will generally out block them. However, this does not mean that it isn't possible, under certain conditions, to still succeed. In some instances, I've been able to parry strong style with fast even, because the strong user was in stage 2.
Another thing to note is the speed chart. This... Is kind of confusing.
Offense Chart:
Running > Walking > Standing > Crouching
Defense Chart:
Crouching > Standing > Walking > Running
To explain, when you are attacking, you want more momentum. When you are defending, you want more stability. The less your saber is flailing about, the more stable you are. You also want angle. Generally, if you want to block while standing or walking, you'll want to quickly hit SD or AS to get a diagonal angle on the saber for when the strike connects. Meanwhile, you'll normally want to be looking down so that it has more of a slope. However, when you're attacking, you want all the power you can gather to break through their blocking.
Section Three - The Parry:
So why do we care about blocking? Well, aside from saving your life, you can also end someone else's. A parry is determined by a number of factors. It is, essentially, adding the momentum of an opponents' swing to your own momentum to create a fast, lethal attack. This means that the more total momentum your opponent's swing has, the more lethal your parry will be. Keep in mind though, the more momentum the opponents swing has, the harder it will be to block, which is increasing the risk of taking damage.
It is also important to note that parries require very, very careful timing. If you strike too soon, you'll mess up the block. Strike too late, and you wont get a parry, just a normal hit. You will know you have a parry because it is significantly faster than a normal strike. Now, here's the complex part... There are two different types of parries.
Standard Parry: A standard parry is when you attack at the very moment the block occurs. While this is harder to accomplish, because it requires timing your strike at the very second the collision happens, it is the fastest and most fatal way to take down an opponent.
Delay parry: A delay parry is any parry that takes place post-block. In other words, if you block, and then immediately attack after, it will be a delay parry. In essence, a delay parry is no different than a standard parry. The only difference is, a delay parry will be (surprise surprise) delayed for a short moment before striking, but like any other delay swing, only this one will move much faster than normal once it occurs, simply because it is a parry.
Reset Parrying: You can also standard parry attacks during the reset of your swing, so long as you still have strikes you can chain. The game interprets the click during the reset as what is normally a delay, however, if it is done at the very moment of a collision, it uses that swing to form a standard parry. However, just like with delays, you need to still have strikes available in your chain to be able to utilize this.
Section Four - Knockbacks & Overwhelms
To begin, I'd like to define "Knockback." A knockback is an indicator of who is winning during a blocking battle. It is, essentially, when the player is stunned and their saber is knocked to the side for a few moments (like one of those Mace Windu moments). This leaves you severely open. If you are being knocked back, that generally means you are losing and need to make distance quickly before your opponent can take advantage of it. If your opponent is being knocked back, that means you need to press the offensive and keep attacking.
What is an overwhelm, you ask? It's the name I've given to a particular tactic in bypassing blocks. While the chart in section two is accurate to block strength, a major issue for someone who is blocking in strong style is the slowness of the style. An overwhelm can occur when a significantly faster style is used (generally fanned) to attack the significantly slower style. While the strong style user will be able to block some of it and, yes, even parry it, if the opponent is given ample time to press the attack, they will be able to break through the block anyway. A great example is strong style verses staff. When a staff fans at a strong style user, even if that user is in the strongest defensive position, the staff will only get blocked once or twice before the overwhelm occurs, and the strong style user gets knocked back. This means that for someone to successfully parry a staff, they would have to get a quick block and parry off and then immediately remove themselves from the area, because of the dangers a staff presents when it comes to overwhelms.
A good note about knockbacks: they do not slow you down. You will move at normal speeds even if you are knocked back.
Section Five - Wiggling & Spinning
When it comes to blocking, wiggling and spinning have odd distortions on the process. A wiggle causes more passes, which can cause more blocks. This means an increase in blocking and likelihood to block whenever a wiggle is added the the equation. This also means that small wiggles while moving will add to your overall defense, make blocks more likely, and make parries easier to obtain. Spins, on the other hand, are a very difficult thing to judge. Faster spinning means the strikes do not register as well. While this normally is avoided because of the damage reduction one suffers from spinning, and the lack of defense (remember, lack of registry also means lack of blocks and increased ghosting), it works reverse too. At the right speed, a spin can pass through a block and damage an opponent. This is ill-advised however, but it is important to note for those who aim to block someone who often spins. This is, of course, all relative to the server you're on, whether its 1.00 or 1.01, and other variables that naturally affect how spins register.
Section Six - Tactics in Blocking
To learn some basics about blocking, "Crouch Blocking" is usually the best place to start. Crouching (to create stability), looking down (to create angle), and looking at your opponent is the basic idea. However, just sitting there wont block everything. You want a V-shaped arc in front of you. While you never want the tip of your saber to point outside of the shoulders of your opponent, you do want to aim, very slightly, toward the direction that the attack is coming from. If it is an overhead, you want a straight forward look. If it is to one side or the other, you want to keep the tip pointed at their body, but tilted toward the direction of the attack. You may wish to wiggle a bit to guarantee contact as well.
Another thing to remember is that underhand strikes, such as AS or SD strikes, are harder to block, as are overheads, generally. But it all depends on the stage of the attack. If you block a swing in stages 2 or 3, it is far easier than stage 4. You also always want to follow the saber, not the person. A skilled blocker can parry a single strike up to four times. Even after a parry, if your saber continues to make contact with the enemy's, you can gain more blocks which allows for more parries. This includes during the knockback phase, which is why removing yourself from the situation is vital if you're against someone skilled in parrying, and why using it to your advantage can be the difference between a victory and a loss.
Also keep in mind, the sabers MUST make contact. Any twisting or turning necessary to cause the sabers to collide should be done to ensure you get a block. Even if you aren't looking for parries, the ends of your swings can often be used to save you from an incoming strike. For example, an SD swing will curve around over your head during the reset stage 7. If you were to turn yourself all the way around so your back is to the opponent, and ensure that the sabers clash when they attack, you will effectively block most, if not all, of the oncoming strike.
Section Seven - 1.00 vs 1.01
The core differences between 1.00 and 1.01 are in the level of connectivity each provides. 1.00 is more likely to ghost than 1.01, which means things like overwhelms become significantly harder, as the 1.01 blocking allows for heavier styles to block lighter styles with ease. While the overall blocking system is unchanged, the stances chart from section two becomes critical, because, where in 1.00 you stand a chance of sliding through a staff's block with medium, or with overwhelming a strong style opponent with fast, it becomes much more difficult to do it in 1.01. This does not mean it cannot be done, it simply means that 1.01's system reacts faster and can pick up the blocking easier. This also means, however, that all blocking attempts will be twice as effective as they would be in 1.00, because the saber collisions are more likely to register.
Questions & Comments are a welcome thing to help improve this more. Blocking is a very complex thing, and any help I can get to improve our knowledge on the topic is great!
