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03-26-2008, 06:04 PM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier  |  Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide DAGGER ACADEMY MODERN D-STYLE BETA - 20%-25% OF THE ACTUAL FUTURE GUIDE Hello All! Welcome to the Dagger Academy thread. To begin with, Fatherprims' and Cysote's guides have been the only D-Style guides there for a long... long, long time. To say it softly, they are not up to date. And even if someone would spend 20-30 hours straight making a new guide, in a few months it's value would disappear because of all the new strategies/techniques/or glitches that would come up. Also, no matter how good that person would write that guide, it would still reflect only that person's point of view/style of play. I believe that anything that is changeable, like guides on forums, should be able to last forever. I also believe that time has come to unite all of the knowledge of D-Style in one thread. When I first thought about it, I had (and still have, in fact) some kind of Wikipedia-ish thing in mind. That is: - Anyone can write an article for the Guide - Everyone will be given credit for their work - All articles will be reviewed I also added some of my own stuff: - Unapproved articles will still be accesible in the "Unapproved" section. - Articles will be reviewed by everyone who wishes to post in the thread. So, let's get to the first part: Legend: Definition: A Definition tag illustrates the Author's own understanding of a certain term that the Author is using Steps: A Steps tag shows specifically how to do the move Effectiveness: *****? Usability: *****? Surprise Effect: *****? Effectiveness rates how effective/damaging the move will be against your opponent. Usability stands for "How easy the move is to learn and use?" Surprise Effect rates how much the opponent will NOT expect the move to be pulled out. Submitting your article: If you do wish to accept this "challenge", there is some not strictly defined format that I would require you to follow in your article. However, I want you to include the following things in the body somewhere: - Name of the move/technique/tactic at the top. If it has been already been named, please do not make your own name up =) - If you keep using some word throughout the whole article, please give a definition for it. For instance, if you keep saying, point blank, point blank, pb, etc. etc., then please put a Definition: tag somewhere in the article, and define what you mean by point blank. A reload shot from 3 meters away? A jump with a rocket launcher on top of your opponent? Or something else? Well, you get the point =] - Please, put the Steps: tag somewhere in your article, even if your step is just stab. The Steps part should provide smooth, condensed, and complete information about the article, so please, don't make it more than 2 lines long. - It would be of great help to also put a rating of the move/technique/etc. in the following format: Effectiveness: *****? Usability: *****? Surprise Effect: *****? Effectiveness rates how damaging/succesful the move will be against your opponent. Usability stands for How easy the move is to learn and use? Surprise Effect rates how much the opponent will NOT expect the move to be pulled out. And that's it I am guessing. The rest I will leave up to you. If I want to change anything in your article, I will be sure to PM you first and we will talk it out =) Table of Contents: (not written yet) (And won't be for a long time) Last edited by Mad Hank; 04-05-2008 at 12:52 AM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:05 PM
| #3 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide The Dagger Academy Articles for Beginners A SKILL IS ONLY AS STRONG AS IT'S FOUNDATION Choosing your weapon First things first, we don't mind variety here, but there is something you should know: as a D-Styler, you will probably stick to either a Shotgun-Shotgun or Shotgun-Rocket combination. So I'd suggest you play with them now and get used to them. Introduction You might wonder, why did I even put a Beginner Category here, since 95% of D-Style moves fall under Advanced or Expert Categories. HOWEVER If you don't do anything about it, you will remain a "beginner" until about level 25, just like I did. If you will try to practice some moves while being a beginner, though, you will probably be 5 steps ahead of the game when you hit lvl 30, and the learning curve will start to go insanely up. Let's begin. Wall Cancel By Mad Hank Wall cancel is something relatively useless when you play attack and defense all the time (Big hint: Don't play AttNDef, it does NOT improve your skill in any way). However, out there in the "big" world (key word is tall), it's something that will come relatively handy. First, jump near a wall/column, then quickly dash into the wall, and press jump. You will see your character flip. Do it a couple times until you get the hang of it. Now, try to stab right AFTER you flipped. If you timed it right, you should NOT see the flip animation anymore, it should feel like your character just jumped 15 feet near a wall. That's pretty darn cool =] Before bothering with the timing, just stab twice to ensure that the animation cancels instantly. You might have to create a practice game and play in it for a while, until you get it perfectly (30 minutes will do it just fine). Wall climbing By Mad Hank Wall climbing is continuous wall canceling to get yourself relatively high above the ground. Wall climbing is a must-to-learn skill, it helps you survive in all maps that have pits of doom in them (like Island). To Wall climb, wall cancel of the wall, then quickly dash into it again, and again, and again, until you get to the top, or just to a point at which you want to get. REMEMBER that you cannot wall climb if you keep dashing into a corner. Creating a training game and practicing wall climb there is very useful, but my advice would be to not go into island right away, but instead try to first practice on wall in Town. When you think you got it right, move on to Island (you will die ALOT before you get it down). Dash Cancel By Mad Hank Dashing animation, just like many animations in Gunz, can be canceled. Try dashing, and stab right after you press a WASD key the second time. You should see your character moving a very short distance, but with dash trails behind him. Now, after you did that a couple times, dash the other way right after the stab. This is a pretty good evasion move, and it lies at the basis of all the future dagger speed stuff. It also makes you feel more comfortable with your dagger. I'd suggest doing this every time you log on for 5 minutes to warm up. DSJ and DSJSD By Mad Hank DSJ stands for Dash-Switch-Jump (in my world that is). Basically, it involves dashing with a dagger, switching to gun and jumping at nearly the same time. It's a move that's supposed to replace tumbling in your D-style. In fact, NEVER tumble, use DSJ instead. Never spam DSJ's by themselves, put some dashing and stabbing in between. Another tip is to NEVER DSJ towards someone, it's the easiest way to get pb'ed in the face. As you progress, try to add an extra dash after you shoot to make yourself evade more. Reload Shot By Mad Hank Reload Shot is a kickass glitch that lets you fire two guns at a much faster speed than swapshotting. It's simple to do, even though it confuses a lot of people at first: Shoot-Reload-Shoot. As a beginner, you might be confused about the steps, just like I was when I first learned them. Click and HOLD the fire button, then, as quick as you can, tap and release reload, switch to the next gun, and it will fire. Practice it until you get it, it might be confusing to use at first, but then you won't understand how could you live without it. Last edited by Mad Hank; 04-05-2008 at 12:56 AM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:05 PM
| #4 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide The Dagger Academy Articles for Advanced Players IRON BECOMES STEEL WHEN FORGED A THOUSAND TIMES Lunging. By HellsGuards First of all, I'll just want to make you know, the Lunge is the most dangerous dagger movement. If you miss, too bad, your opponent will probably have fun with you (pb, flip, insta, etc...) Steps: Right Click The best spot to perform a Lunge is doing it while you behind a wall. The enemy really won't expect someone to come out from the wall and lunge him in the face. Contrary to Sword/Kodachis, the dagger's "right click" does do damage. So if you E-lunge your opponent, and he manages to press space, you still take out some HP. So, if you still have this weird idea of lunging people in your head (people in Gunz, not people in your head), be sure 100% that you're not gonna miss your lunge! Usability: *** Effectiveness: *** Surprise Effect: **** Dagger Instakill By Mad Hank This never got named in any of the dagger guides as far as I know, even though most D-Stylers have probably used it. Dagger instakill, just like sword one, abuses the secondary attack. Anyway, if you noticed that when you lunge a player, he goes back a certain distance for a certain time, no matter how fast he pushes his spacebar? Have you ever gotten a chance to abuse it? No if you were still in the lunge animation winding up along side him. But the trick to lunge is that it's long. So when you lunge someone, make sure you try to hit them at the END FRAMES of your lunge animation. You will be recovered while they will be still sliding on the floor. Before you recover, tap your switch to gun button and hold left click. Reload shot as soon as you can (you might want to practice the timing) and dash away, in case your opponent shoots back when he recovers. You basically just got two point blanks in, now finish your opponent off quickly before he heals. D= Steps: Lunge a person (Hit them at the end frames of the lunge animation), Switch to gun, Reload shot. Note: I personally can only make one shot in without getting damaged, but if you master this, you will be able to give two almost all the time. Also, if you don't give a ****, stand at the same place and shoot them for the third time. Usability: ** Effectiveness: ***** Surprise Effect: **** Yo-yo Coming Soon... Yo-yo Half Coming Soon... Aerial Yo-yo Aerial Yo-yo RS Aerial Yo-yo Aerial Yo-yo HalfAll Coming Soon... Last edited by Mad Hank; 04-06-2008 at 09:32 PM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:06 PM
| #6 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide The Dagger Academy Articles for Expert Players OUT OF THE DRAGON'S TEETH GREW WARRIORS, MERCILESS AND IMMORTAL Extended Lunging. By: HellsGuards Extended lunge (E-lunge) is an advanced form of lunging. This is doing the same effect/Damage, but, you are moving while doing it. Basically, it's Dash+Lunge. (Not that easy). Steps: WASD key, (WASD key +Lunge at the same time). You have to get the PERFECT timing. What most people know are doing is setting their lunge button to a key close to WASD, to make it easier. One of the most common versions is C (try it out) You could also do it with MRB (Mouse Rebinder): Set (W, A, S, or D) in the "Right Click" field. Then, in game: Let's say you put A as Right Click. Press "A" once, then lunge quickly. You will see your character wind up to his/her left. This timing is MUCH easier to get. But you can only do a lunge into one direction this way. When you can E-lunge nearly 100%, you might call it easy. Not really. Now, you have to control it. It's more useful, because if you miss the lunge, you character is not going to stay near your enemy. You'll continue the animation and dodge the critical hit. It's hard to control, because you might get easily stuck in the corner if you didn't think about what you were doing, and now the enemy can have fun with you again. Make sure you think where and in what direction you are starting an E-lunge. You can also use the forward E-lunge to move very fast across the map. How to practice E-lunge? Make a training room, and try to aim something. For example, a light post. Try to E-lunge it! He probably will not fall though, so don't worry =) Do it till you know perfectly when and where you can aim your lunge. Usability: **** Effectiveness: **** Surprise Effect: ***** Where can you do the E-lunge? Anywhere. Example 1, in Duel Hall. When your enemy is reloading and/or healing behind the pillars, just get closer and E-lunge! trust me, he got about 1/3 chances not to safefall. Or you could also get closer by E-lunging, and then when they do not react fast enough, you disturb their peaceful reloading a little (usually by an rs). Example 2, in castle TDM. The best way to E-lunge in this map is E-lunging someone off the side bridge. Every round, people are trying to get in your base by passing by this edge. Just wait them, and when they are in a good place, E-lunge. Now, some of you might say “Why E-lunge when lunge works out just fine?”. Well, a sideways E-lunge can cover more space, so you have a higher chance of hitting your enemy with it Trust me, this is working too 100% (unless you miss it). Blinkstep Based on ShadowSkullz's Blink Step Guide Blinkstep is generally a move that lets female characters perform a gun dash with a shotgun/machine gun. Most of the time, yo-yo tactics implies. Steps: Jump(with melee), press "W, A, S or D", [Switch and press "W, A, S or D" at the same time], Shoot. This move is much harder to learn than yo-yo, and it might lack some speed and evasion, comparing to Yo-yo Half or Yo-yo Quarter. However, it's the only gun dash move that female D-Stylers can use. From now on, to prevent confusion, I will just say yo-yo to name a gun dash, since 90% of D-Stylers are male chars. However, it is possible to do useful yo-yo moves with blinkstep (Aerial Blinkstep, Reload-Shot Blinkstep, Double Blinkstep). Replay: Blink Step by Shadow.gzr D-Style Evasion: Reversing D-Style Evasion: Reversing Read this and master this! Yo-yo Quarter Coming Soon... Aerial Yo-yo Quarter Coming Soon... Last edited by Mad Hank; 03-31-2008 at 10:56 PM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:07 PM
| #8 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide The Dagger Academy Tactics Articles Dagger Tactics By: MadHank First thing that you should know as a D-Styler is: Dagger Importance list: 1)Moves/Techniques 2)Tactics 3)Aim 4)Moves/Techniques Moves and Techniques go at the top and the bottom, because most tactics are useless without knowing moves, and most moves are useless without tactics. Aim is limited without both of them also. At first I was thinking of listing tons of aspects of D-style tactics, but then I noticed they all fall down under one category: NEVER EVER get predictable. You might as well just stand at one place and you will win more. Predictable dagger use = instant death. And always remember: Superior thinking can. Part I - Moving Moving tactics is the most important thing for D-stylers. Dagger tactics is commonly referred to by K-Stylers as “noob running” (While K-tactics is usually referred by D-Stylers as “lol chasing”). It's based mainly on the fact that for D-stylers it's easy to chain dashes, stabs, jumps, and switches into one another. There are three major types of “running” - [Circling] , [Dodging] and [Straight Run-For-Your-Life]. Neither is better, all work best combined. Straight Running That is what you are probably doing a lot as a D-Styler from the very beginning. Straight running was, is, and always will be the easiest way to give a whole shotgun to the face to any chaser. There are several good parts to it. Part one is that your opponent CANNOT lag out of shotgun damage if he is chasing you. That's simply to the reason that the more they lag, the closer they are, and the more it hurts. I once made a 900 ping lagger chase me. He had 100 hp and nobody could hurt him in any way, while straight running brought him down with one shot (well, he was 2 dashes away from me when I fired). It's a powerful tool, but never EVER dash more than twice in a row at the same direction. That falls under being predictable, which, as I mentioned before, is instant death. Dodging Dodging is not a part of running, even though most K-Stylers will say it is. It's the ability to get out of a battle unscratched. What makes daggers so annoying? If that particular D-Styler is pro at dodging, no matter how hard you try, you will always shoot right behind them. I will not go too much in depth about dodging, because it's something that just comes with experience. The idea behind dodging in Gunz is not fartlek, however, so don't run around with a dagger screaming “I r Neo!” Dodging in gunz is a rather slow-looking movement, but it brings amazing results if used right. Adapt to players with different aim. Rs people who suck at aiming (majority). Dash after every other shot if the person is good at aiming. Combine all of them with some pro speed stuff (reverse quarter/flashing) on top to beat a person that is an aiming pro. Circling Deadliness of circling depends purely on your experience. There is little to no luck involved. Circling gives you almost total control over a “chasing” opponent when used right. It's a tactic that involves dodging around your opponent, with some occasional stab-ins and straight runs. Circling can take nearly any form and brings best results when partially done in air (it won't hurt to bounce of something). If you get stabbing techniques, like dagger and blast machines down, you are t3h god, and the world is yours. Circling is the most powerful and the hardest to use thing, ans it is the last of the dagger tactics I can suggest. Chasing DO NOT CHASE (unless you really know what you are doing). Chasing is the champion of the predictable category, the #1 loser. That guy is not going to get anywhere from you in the long run, and if you are afraid of kill-steal, you should really play some other game, like Maplestory. And if that guy is the only one left, great, wait for him to hit a dead end, and rape him in it. Last edited by Mad Hank; 04-05-2008 at 12:37 AM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:07 PM
| #9 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide Part II – Adapting and Abusing Adapt to your opponent's style of play, to the surroundings, and to the circumstances. First, remember: Corners are your best friends! Your opponent can't see you, hurt you, or catch up with you until they turn the goddamn corner! Run in a corner for healing or reloading. Your opponent follows? Pop out and pump him with lead! Your opponent still lives? Step back, watch him fly in, and pump him again! Don't wan to take the risk? Plant a grenade and run away! Same applies for all kinds of columns (Hall Duel). My hobby appears to be hide behind a corner, and then, when they follow me, just as they are near the column, I step back from the other side of the column and aim at where they will turn to get me. When they pop out, I RS them in the face. Better yet, when they try to get you behind a column, time it right and tumble back and plant a grenade (throw it at the end of the tumble). It stays behind the column, and if they cut the column to get you... too bad! Pits of doom are of great help too. The one that's piled up with bodies is under the side bridge in castle. But there are many other places in Dungeon, Lost Shrine, and Stairway. I'll leave it up to you to find them (or watch any of the D-Style movies listed in the Video Section, they show PLENTY of them). They key behind lunging people off fun things is to not be expected to do it. Part III – Manipulating. As Cysote said, “If you could control your enemy and make them do whatever you want, you would win every battle, right?”. Unfortunately it's impossible to make people do anything you want (even if they would obey your every word, they would eventually screw something up). But manipulation is still possible. My definition of manipulation is simple: “Making people do stupid things.” Stupid things include a lot of fun stuff, like running into grenades (even though they saw you throwing them); trying to walk away from a point blank; standing at one place waiting for you to come out (read Hawk Drop); and etc, etc. There are many ways to manipulate a person: Grenading Frag Grenades are still considered the most effective method to rush someone out from hiding. Grenades, as Slap mentioned, are not used to explode people, they are used to make people run straight into a shot. They are also good at making people panic. When you spam grenades, your opponent tends to think more about “How is this grenade going to bounce, where will it stop, and how can I not get caught in the blast” instead of “Why don't I just shoot that nade-spamming bastard”. My tip to you would be to concentrate on shooting, rather than on nade dodging, because that's what the grenade spammer wants you to do – to dodge and run into easy shots. Flash grenades are also useful, since they let you blind your opponent for free/easy kills. Flash grenades best come with smoke grenades, IMO, because your opponent probably won't be able to tell a flash from a smoke and visa-versa. Throw a smoke grenade somewhere in the beginning of the battle. Nothing happens, smoke comes out, your opponent starts to think you are noob (only noobs carry smokes, right? =D), and will stare right at it. Great. Now, throw a flashbang and make sure your s opponent keeps his attention on it (He is relaxed, he thinks it's a smoke). Now it goes bang, and you shoot him as bad as you can, but let's say he still lives. Then you quickly spam a certain place with at least 3 smokes (spamming around a column is best IMHO, since you can hide of your opponent's blind shots). Your opponent tries to not look at it, he is afraid of flashbangs, but then he gets mad and starts to spam the smoke cloud up. Throw the rest of your smoke on the floor, and, while continuing to shoot him, throw a flash bang in the cloud, but make sure it's wither right behind you, or you look straight down on it. When you ears get paralyzed, spam shotguns into your opponent. Now, if he STILL lives D=, get out of the cloud (it already disappeared actually) and finish him off. This is only one out of millions of possibilities of abusing flash grenades. Try to come up with more, better yet, try to train yourself to be able to come up with a plan in 3-4 seconds, according to the combat situation. Stabbing Stabbing is my personal favorite of manipulation. Not only it does some nice damage (when used right), but it also literally disables K-Stylers switch-to-gun reflexes. When you stab them, they think “melee fight”, and start to butterfly towards you. That's when you pick the right moment and pump them. Even if they didn't die, you won the duel, because, on average, they are about low lb with no AP. Stabbing also helps when you want to paralyze your enemy, and then do whatever you want with him. Stabbing is what generally makes people lose their reason and brings their mindset to that of a dog in a dog fight. It's also great to learn techniques like Blast Machine and Yo-yo Pokeshot, they make your Gunz life much more fun =D. Moving What do you think when you see a person constantly tumble away from you with a rifle? That's right, you think “OMG, sprayer, noob, ez exp”. Here is another tip: never underestimate anyone. Fighting sprayers like you would other players wouldn't save you ammo, but would save you tons of HP and AP. Now, what if that sprayer turns around, DBF rapes you in a corner, and finishes you off with a HHS? All you can say is aaaa. Good enough. Now, that's another tactic. When you move like a noob, people tend to think you are noob. When you keep on dashing towards them and stabbing, they tend to relax, walk, tumble, reload their shotguns, etc etc. That's when you suddenly do one or two RS yo-yos, and then finish them off. Surprise attack, catching an enemy off guard. What's most important about it? DO NOT MISS. How many great guys got blown because they lost their ap acting noob, and then missed the surprise attack shots. However, if you do make the shots in, it will scare the bijesus out of your opponent and literally stun him for easy finish-off. Part IV – Your Mindset As you probably noticed, the techniques above are based mainly on abusing the weaknesses of “hotheads”, 95% of Gunz population/98% of K-Stylers. What lesson you should have gotten from that? Have a cold mindset. I can't accent it well enough, and I won't, because if you give a damn about dying as a D-Styler, you should probably quit gunz, or at least D-Style. No matter how hard you try, you will get killed A LOT, at least at the first times. And you will be able to sustain a 1:1 KTD ratio for some while, and only then the curve will go up, but when it will go up, it will go insanely. Be cold-blooded, count your moves forward, predict your opponent, and be focused no matter what. That's the key. Fin. D= Last edited by Mad Hank; 04-05-2008 at 12:40 AM. |
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03-26-2008, 06:08 PM
| #10 (permalink) |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide The Dagger Academy Articles Waiting for Approval Remember, you are the one approving or disapproving articles! Vote on them by simply saying "I like the such and such article" or "I don't think such and such article should be approved..." or etc, as long as I can understand you =) Hawk Drop - Tactical Article By: Mad Hank The idea behind Hawk Drop is to give a point blank shot to a static person. Usually it is done by hiding behind a column, watching your enemy stand there with their shotgun ready, waiting for you to come out, and doing an aerial yo-yo, timing it just right to land right next to them, giving them a nice point blank in the end. Surprise Effect: **** Usability: ** Power: **** Steps: Hide (usually behind a column), Aerial yo-yo [Forward, Jump, Stab, Switch, Dash], Land next to opponent, shoot. Author's Definition of a point blank: A reload shot that is done relatively close to an opponent. A point blank is considered successful if the opponent doesn't lag out of the damage. Tips: - It would be a good idea not to try it if your opponent is constantly moving. If you still want to Hawk Drop on them, however, land about midrange away from them, and in that case, DO NOT begin the first shot in the air, wait until you hit the ground. - Never do an aerial yo-yo straight towards your opponent. That will get you killed more than anything. - Usually doing a yo-yo over your opponent will make them dash away and turn their camera to follow you. If they do not move, however, it's a certain instakill, because the last thing they see when they turn around is an RS into their face =]. - Start shooting before you hit the ground, your second shot (RS) should be right after or even right before you touch the ground. That means they will have less chances to notice it and move. - Don't spam it for best results. If your opponent is expecting it, they will dash away as soon as they see you being in air. - One Hawk Drop will usually not kill your opponent, so try to get a stabbing combo in after the rs. Last edited by Mad Hank; 03-28-2008 at 10:52 PM. |
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03-26-2008, 11:36 PM
| #13 (permalink) | |
| Gunzfactorian Soldier | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide Quote:
I will just try my best to dig out as much info as I possibly can so that everybody can access it... Besides, doesn't look like a fail to me yet =) Especially if at least some of the people who I PMed will agree to help... | |
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03-27-2008, 04:48 AM
| #15 (permalink) |
| Member  | Re: Dagger Academy - Article Based Guide great ider i would recomend geting the moves from those guides(so you have a starting point and i would be the biggst colection of moves and tecnecs) as altho the guides are "outdated" the moves (obviousley) still work well (speeking from using the alot of the moves in those guides) also the "Hawk Drop" sounds more like a technec then a move but man it sounds good to use on ppl who stand in the back of the base(or around corners with massives) in atk and def |
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