Scuba Guides source note. This lesson is based on the older Scuba Guides and the supplied source archive. It is an independent community clarity rewrite, not an official GunZ publication; mechanics are not verified for the current Steam/remaster client.
Lesson content
Feints
Just like any other combat oriented theme, feints are also part of Gladiator - Though most people seldomly utilize them. The entire point of a feint is to misdirect your opponent from true intentions. Do it right, and it’s an almost guaranteed free hit. The most successful feints you can use take advantage of your opponents natural reflexes. By throwing in feints, you can easily cause the opponent to open themselves up to braindead attacks, simply because they now expect a feint, but it’s not a feint. Mind games are fun.
Angle Feints
Most gladiators are used to seeing a certain angle, and expecting a certain outcome. For example, if you pass an opponent and continue looking away, your opponent will expect you to do a reverse angle butterfly - This means they’ll have a typical response of turning AWAY from you to block your attack at their ‘back’. If you know where they’re probably going to block, you can simply change where you’re going to swing. Instead of doing a backwards dash, wait a brief moment, turn 180 to look right at them, and do a forward butterfly instead - hitting their now exposed back.
An even simpler feint is standing directly in front of your opponent while they’re stunned from a recoil, jump and turn 180 as if you’re going to dash backwards, wait a brief moment, then turn back to looking directly at them and slash their now exposed back.
Momentum Feints
As you learned in the basic part of this guide, Momentum control is an important part of positioning. It’s also a great feint to use if you get comfortable with momentum canceling. Most people expect some form of drift to accompany a bfly/dbfly. Most people expect a pattern to continue since it’s the easiest way to continue an attack pattern. They’ll naturally want to overaim their block to catch where the think you’re going. By utilizing momentum canceling, you can throw in simple feints
Another example of this is to simply walk past your opponent without attacking, jump right next to them, then quickly do a reverse angle butterfly or a twitch reverse butterfly/Turn 180 > Forward Butterfly. The former will hit the side, while the latter will hit their back. Depending on your opponent, they’ll either follow you or continue guarding their back. Pay attention to your opponents habits and thinking, and you can utilize this to create openings.
Dash Feints
Dashes are often a very overlooked feint mechanic. By simply dashing past your opponent, then immediately dashing directly back to where you were without slashing or jumping, you can often times get a cheeky hit on their back with minimal effort. You can extend this to single dashes and switching up between elbowing, phases, and angles.