Start - This guide will not cover the most basic things about Phantom Dust.  If you know what the different skill types are in the game and played around with building an arsenal a little, this guide shouldn't be too hard to follow.  

NEW AI MOD AVAILABLE!!! - I have a neat AI Mod project you can check out for new ways to practice in Single Player mode.(includes ways to customize enemy arsenals and some AI improvements)

This guide will mention many skill names, not always saying what they do.  You can check out a list of all the skills in the game for reference from an archived PhantomDusted.com page:  Skill List.

Before starting the main guide, here are 3 terms defined to help you understand the guide more easily.

Special Jump Skill - This refers to any arsenal skills that send your character high in the sky like the skills Jump, Skywalk, Levitate, and Demon's Wing.  This term is mostly used in descrbing the best places you can place environmentals to make them hard, or even impossible for others to reach without a Special Jump Skill of their own.  

Hand - This is mostly used to describe skills you have equipped.  When you lose or unequip a skill, they leave your "hand".  A "bad hand" is having your skills from your arsenal given to you in a bad order. (Like in card games)  

Spawn point - This is where your character first appears in a match.  (If you fall off a stage you will be returned to your "spawn point" and take 3 damage)  "Spawns" are also where your capsules appear.  

Phantom Dust Online Strategy Guide - Version 2 - Rebirth

Here is an outline of the topics in the guide. Feel free to skip around areas.  A lot of the earlier focus in the guide is on the different mechanics and tricks in the gameplay, along with strategy.   At section 17PD, the guide starts talking more heavily about strategies and gives a rundown of what the different schools offer.  By 20PD a rundown of a lot of different arsenal possibilities is given and is followed up with additional combos, and other trick listings.  

Sections

1PD Choosing your character type. Strengths and Weaknesses of each character type. Strategies around each type.

2APD General Ways of Dodging and Hitting with Attacks Effectively

2BPD Dodging and using Specific Attack Types more Effectively

3PD Shields/Defensive Moves - Basics and Tricks for dealing with Opponents' Defenses

4PD Using Erase Skills Effectively and Dealing With Them

5PD Environmental Floating/Hanging: How to Do it and Ways to Stop it. A brief word on Environmentals

6PD Stat Changers - Benefits and Dealing With Them

7PD Effects of Increased/Decreased Homing

8PD Value of Manual Aim

9PD Skills with Greater ranges than expressed, or skills that work better at different ranges than listed.

10PD Debris Tips - Using Them as Attacks and Defenses

11PD Hit All Skill Tricks and Extra Uses

12PD Timing Tricks(i.e. Crush vs. Reduce Entropy. Chaos + Vicious Balance, Chill Breeze + Neutralization)

13PD Advanced Aura Regen Tricks

14PD Swords/Short Range Rankings - Rates Swords and Short Range Moves' Accuracy

15PD Skills With Same Animations and Sound Effects(partial listing)

16PD Stages Guide with locations to float Environmentals and other tricks and level strategies

17PD Run down of Schools - Gives a listing of features in each School

18PD General Arsenal Design Tips and Management

19PD Strategies around certain game types

20PD List and Description of Various Arsenal Concepts: Recommendations and Strategies against each type

21PD Skill Combos

22PD All the other things you didn’t know about in Phantom Dust

23PD 1.0 Original Xbox/360 Older Version Guidance and 1.2 players playing against 1.0 Players System Link or Xlink Kai Play etc.

24PD Making the most of a situation, Dealing with Bad Connections

25PD Other Place to learn/talk/compete in Phantom Dust

26PD - Ways of Getting Money / Credits and Skills Quickly - Also Game Saves Only for Original Xbox and 360

The type of character you choose to play as will have an important impact on what strategies will be more effective for you. There are several types of character styles to consider.  Some characters jump when you press in the Left analog stick.  Other characters either Cartwheel or Roll when pushing in the left analog stick.  Rollers are similar to cartwheelers and any reference to cartwheeler will apply to rollers as well.( their main differences get discussed later on in this section)  There are also ground based "special" monster characters, like the floating eyeball Ommato that are enemy characters in the game normally.  When you press in the left analog stick when using them they will make a slight dodging maneuver.  

These characters jump, and there are 2 different types with different advantages and disadvantages:

Regular Jumper - Regular Jumpers are basically all male jumpers and Gyne.  (not Tsubutaki)

Freia Jumpers -  The character Freia is the only character that fits this description.  She has a jump landing delay, but she can uniquely dodge more projectiles, including Reincarnation which other jumpers can't dodge.  She has a greater window of dodging against Blaster attacks and Blazing Bullet as well.  Agonies of Death is also easier to jump dodge with Freia.  If you use Freia and walk off a platform instead of jumping off one, Freia will not have a delayed movement from landing unless it's from a very high height, which applies to any character.  

When Freia jumps to the side in a certain way, she can dodge more types of projectile moves than the Regular Jumpers can, including skills like Reincarnation and Blazing Bullet.  Here is a YouTube video showing how a player named Maalik dodges Reincarnation by jumping at the right time with Freia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZqAFdgbyVg

Sometimes it helps to pause movement before attempting the jump dodge with them.  If you are dodging while in motion it may reduce your chances of dodging a move correctly.  Basically, if you stand still and jump to the side right before you would get hit, you will be able to dodge a lot more moves.  

Tsubutaki, Worst Jumper? - Although Tsubutaki has a jump landing delay like Freia, she does not have the same dodging abilities that Freia has with her jump.  This could make Tsubutaki the worst jumper in the game.  To make things even worse, she is taller than the other jumpers which means that sometimes she will get hit by attacks that the other jumpers would be too short to get hit by.  A notable place where this happens is at the top escalator railing at the stage Palace.  All other jumpers can hide behind the escalator bannister to protect against many lock on projectiles.  Tsubutaki can not hide in this way and will be hit.  Some other characters swing swords at higher heights making it harder for jumpers to dodge, Tsubutaki's height does not even help her in that way.

Speed Reductions - Freia jumpers do have a major weakness against moves that lower their speed.  Regular Jumpers and Cartwheeling characters can use their jump/cartwheel to still get around levels fairly well when slowed down.  Freia Jumpers delayed recovery in landing jumps can make getting around difficult when speed is lowered.  It can get pretty hard to dodge Rain attacks when slowed down by speed decreasers like Burden.  It's best to mash jump with Freia's that are slowed down when dodging, their ability to jump again may be a bit faster than you think and can still help dodge certain moves.  

Main Advantages of Jumping (For both types)

Attack Damage Nullifications- Jumping can also reduce the amount of damage you take from multiple attacks about to hit you. If you know your opponent is attempting to hit you with a move more than once and you see no other way of dodging or stopping the attacks, jumping into the first attack will cause you to fall when hit into a mostly invulnerable state.  This will reduce the damage you take instead of staying on your feet and getting hit by the rest of the follow up attacks. A cartwheeler that is hit by an attack is often vulnerable to several more attacks following up because you stagger while you get hit by certain attacks. 

Negate Hit All Skill Effects - Some of the best skills to jump in the air for when they're about to take effect are Mobilize and Still Moment. If you stand up and you are not in the air, no matter what you will be affected by those moves.  Why get teleported to your opponent's spawn point by Mobilize when you can avoid whatever nasty plan he has by simply jumping in the air? And although Still Moment will still paralyze you for a very brief second as you get up from falling, you have a greater chance of not getting hit by the attack your opponent intends to land on you.

Stops Hit All Skills From Stun Trapping You - By jumping into the air you will avoid the stun effect that comes with being affected by a Hit All skill. If you are in the air when a Hit All skill occurs, you will get knocked out of the sky into a mostly invulnerable state.  Without jumping to dodge hit all stun effects, some player could attempt to fire a slow moving attack at you and then cast a Hit All like Fairy Ring that stuns you as the attack heads towards you which you will now have little to stop the attack with.(only auto shields)  If you jump you can avoid the standing stun and probably avoid the follow up attack entirely.  In tag team matches or even Battle Royale your opponents have a greater chance of setting this up as one can cast the Hit All moves with a stun effect while the other person fires an attack at you as the effect is about to take place.

Note: There will be times when you would rather be hit by the stun effect but this is just one more option you have available as a jumper. There is less of a delay if you just let yourself get stunned by Hit All moves versus jumping to make yourself fall. It may be more useful to just let yourself be stunned when you're closely pursuing an opponent.

Orb/Amulet vs Erase Hit All Skills - You will not be able to use these jump tricks on Erase Hit all’s if you have a usable Orb or Amulet equipped.(You won't get stunned by the erase move anyway though)  Even if a Hit All Erase skill really doesn’t affect anything on you, it will still knock you out of the sky when it takes effect. The only exceptions are the skill called Phantom Dust and the skill Place of Invisibility.

Hit All Clarification - While you could technically call moves that form a Hole by each player a hit all move, that is not what Hit All skills are considered in this guide.  Holes are dodgeable.  Hit All is only used in reference to skills that target all and work automatically.  Holes that target all will simply be referred to as Hole skills.  

Other Jumper Advantages / Techniques

Easier to Place or Float Environmentals - Jumpers generally have an easier time to find good places to put out or float an Environmental skill.  It's also easier to pick up someone else's environmental. ( Environmental Floating Section  )  Jumpers can place an Environmental somewhere a cartwheeler can't reach, and yet still be able to later take down the Environmental themselves if needed.

Better Mobility - Jumpers usually have an easier time getting around levels because jumping generally gives you more options and places you can go. You can even jump onto the broken bridge in the middle of the tree in Palace.( Jump to Stage Section to See )  When playing against a cartwheeler you can escape their pursuits if you bring them to areas they can’t easily follow you to. Simple example:

In Lost Palace, your Cartwheeling opponent is chasing you up the stairs.  You jump off in the middle of the stairway, he can not follow you as quickly as he’d like. You can also dodge attacks like Twister more easily by jumping off stair ways with banisters versus a cartwheeler who might get caught in between the banisters with no way of escaping.( they could try to cartwheel out of range though) 

Return to Spawn More Easily - Jumping also makes it easier to find spots to jump off of and fall off the level to get yourself back to your spawn point quickly. It does 3 damage to you but there are situations where it's worth it.  Additionally, if you want to lower your health to take advantage of certain skills, it's a quick and fairly safe way to do so.(although it may be an obvious one to your opponent)  You can also use it as a surprise teleportation trick on opponents closer to your spawn as you appear unexpectantly by them. (Jump off the stage unexpectedly and surprise the opponent by your spawn.  

Jump and Attack - Jumpers can jump into the air and fire attacks.(for attacks that allow this) This gives you more ways of attacking and throwing off your opponent. It is even possible to jump higher than an opponent's shield that only protects the front parts, and hit them with certain projectiles.(not always easy though) Jumping and shooting is also an easy way of ensuring you dodge hole attacks.

Jumping Can Nullify Landmine Stun Effects - Jumpers can nullify the stun effects or the entire effect of certain landmine skills without need for a shield. If you step into the area that has the mine detonate and jump into the air in time before getting hit by the mine explosion, you can nullify certain skills. You’ll fall and not get stunned by something like Freeze Gas. Anti Gravity Trap and Teleportrap can be completely nullified if you jump into their explosions. Some mines like Vapor Cloud are a little more difficult to jump into but if you time it right, you’ll fall down instead of getting stunned. If you use Boost Mine, jumping into the mine is often a safer option than standing there being stunned by the boost effect, leaving you open to attacks.  You can even set up a mine to jump into and if you get hit by the explosion first you can use it to nullifying attack moves heading your way.  

Getting Around Speed Reduction Slow Downs- If a jumper has been hit by moves that lower their speed (i.e. Burden) Their ability to jump can get them around faster than walking around in some cases.(Such as when you have -4 speed.) This is not an advantage over cartwheelers but it is another useful trick with jumpers.  Freia Jumpers get hurt the most by reductions in speed because her jump has a movement delay when landing.  Repeatedly jumping can still help get around faster with even Freia.  Jumps done by Regular Jumpers are a lot better at getting around speed reductions.

Jump to Dodge Attacks - Jumping can avoid many attacks. More than you might think. There are cases where jumping helps to dodge or throw off the homing of an attack.  The details of how to dodge each attack with jumping will be explained in greater detail in the dodging section.  

More Attacks Are Undodgeable - Jumpers are vulnerable to a greater number of attacks.  Without a defensive/evasive skills(or speed increases) there are some skills that are impossible or near impossible to dodge with jumpers, provided they are shot at the right range and height.  If you end up in a situation where you have lost your defenses and your opponent has an open enough shot on you, you could end up pretty screwed. Skills such as Fire of Gehenna, and Heat from the Void are impossible to dodge if they're shot at their correct ranges.  It should be noted though that Freia Jumpers have less projectiles that they are vulnerable to than Regular Jumpers.  There are also some skills that are much less forgiving to dodge than if you cartwheeled.  A cartwheeler can still have a good chance of dodging a large number of attacks without a defensive move.  As a jumper, if you're caught in the open by something like Fire of Gehenna, your best option may be to stay by a ledge and jump off it when shot at. You'll take only 3 damage and your opponent just lost 2 life.  Better than taking 6 damage while your opponent takes 2.

Punish Jumpers Using Jump Stun Invulnerabilities - There are moves you can use to make a jumper pay for constantly jumping to nullify skills' stun effects. You can always use moves that are effective against downed opponents. Skills like Backdraft Bullet, Pursuit, Gravity Press, and Geyser Impact are among the choices you have available. In some cases you could always use the extra time on the ground an opponent has to position yourself a little better.

Jumper’s "cartwheel" - A jumper can use the skill Dash to basically fill in for the cartwheel ability cartwheelers have.(It is actually superior to cartwheeling but you have to pay to use it and hold a slot for it) This is a great skill for dodging and traveling around faster and is even useful for Cartwheelers.

This ends the jumper section but it's highly recommended to check out the Cartwheeler section as well to see what other advantages and weaknesses Cartwheelers have against you.  

Cartwheelers

Advantages/Disadvantages:

Dodging Ability - This is the best reason to choose a cartwheeler. A cartwheeler can dodge nearly any singly performed ATTACK in the game if he has the space, reflexes, and the knowledge of how to.(By attacks I mean only the red skills)  This does not include most erase skills and many status/special projectiles.  Currently it appears Psycho Kinesis and Power may be the only attacks they can’t truly dodge when given enough room.(even when an attack is shot at proper range) At this time I’ll put Ricochet Laser in a troubling class of its own, but I think more movement and cartwheeling throws it off from hitting people.  There are some attacks that are harder to dodge in the open, like crawlers, but most attacks shot in the open are easier to dodge.  This is in the case of an attack shot only once. If you shoot an attack more than once it can be difficult or impossible to dodge. This idea is covered in more detail in the Dodging and Using Attack Types More Effectively section.

Attacks that are more difficult for Cartwheelers

Crawler attacks - Crawler attacks are harder for a cartwheeler to dodge. The more open a space a cartwheeler is in, the harder it is to dodge a crawler.  Crawlers can be dodged though by diverting them off a cliff or into a wall by cartwheeling away at the right time.  Some crawlers will circle you and follow you till they hit. Dodging crawlers is covered more in the dodging section. Depending on the range a crawler is shot at, a cartwheeler will have to decide on different dodging tactics. The good news is that there aren’t a lot of crawler skills and some are pricey, making them harder to spam without Optimization down. If you can keep your opponent away from ledges and walls when they’re in the open you will make it very hard, if not impossible for them to cartwheel out of a crawler.  

Hole attacks - While it's true cartwheelers can dodge hole attacks, it is harder, and you are more likely to get trapped by a well placed one when in more closed in areas. A jumper can generally jump out of the attack in most areas pretty easily once they get the hang of it. For Cartwheelers troubled by holes, Absorb and Shelter shield types will protect you from them.

Other Cartwheeler Details

Better at Dodging Swords - Although it is often best to dodge short range skills by moving to the side, there are also a lot of short range attacks that a cartwheel can have you escape from just because it takes you a far enough distance away from the moves coming at you.  If you're not confident that moving to the side to dodge a sword will work, you can cartwheel for some extra insurance in dodging.  It is usually easier to dodge blades that swing like Psycho Blade with a cartwheeler.

Spending Less Time and Aura on Defense - Because a cartwheeler’s ability can save aura by relying less on defenses, they can sometimes take greater advantage of Environmentals like Irregular Rhythm(doubles cost of skills for everyone) and Memory Lapse.(all skills are now single use) These skills will curtail many of your opponents’ chances to shoot multiple attacks at you. It also hinders those who would try to use a skill constantly for its stun effect like Dazzle.  Since in many situations you can ideally dodge attacks shot just once, you could really slow down your opponent or make skills that are now single use ineffective.  

Travels Greater Distance When Dealing With Lowered Speed - Cartwheelers with reduced speed can cover greater distances than a jumper who has reduced speed.  However, when you cartwheel you can't recover aura while in the cartwheeling motion.  

Laser Dodging Advantages - Cartwheelers have a better chance of dodging a laser you're unprepared to dodge than an unprepared jumper.  Cartwheelers probably have a better chance dodging lasers when their homing is boosted as well.

Arc Attacks and having to Dodge them Repeatedly - Dodging the long range arc lasers that curve can be harder to deal with as a cartwheeler when they are shot over and over and may become impossible after awhile. If a jumper has the space, they can keep jumping their way out of them if they keep moving and jumping towards the inside part of the arc.

Mine Explosion Evading Option - If you're ready, you can cartwheel through landmine explosions as long as you stay away from the center part. Cartwheeling will also help you escape your own Fast Bomb detonation better than a jumper.  Immediate Remote Mine detonations can also be dodged more easily with cartwheelers.

Weaknesses and getting around some of them

More Vulnerable to Erase and Status/Special Skills -  While most of the red attacks can be cartwheeled out of, there’s practically no cartwheeling out of many erase or stun projectiles.  If someone fires a Dragon Slayer at the right range and you only have a Psychic Wall to protect you, you will get hit, and have to suffer the stun affect that comes with it.(there are of course a few course shields like Gust that can still divert Dragon Slayer)  You will also have to suffer the stun effects of many skills that a jumper can simply jump into to negate the stun effect.(Like Dazzle) 

Hit All Skill Vulnerability - It is much harder to dodge/negate Hit All skills like Mobilize and Still Moment with cartwheelers.(Your cartwheeler must get in the air somehow)

Ways of Avoiding Stun Effects - The skills Amulet and Orb can protect against erase moves that cause stun effects.  Otherwise your only hope in dodging the erase/status projectiles' stun effects without a proper shield or jump/evasion skill is to cartwheel off of a height as you are shot at. The same goes for dodging skills like Mobilize.(cartwheel off a ledge as it's about to take effect) Getting out of Hit All stun effects can be hard to pull off.  Be careful where you choose to fall something,  as you can take fall damage if you fall from a high enough spot when trying to nullify stun effects of these moves.

More Vulnerable When Stumbling Around or When About to Be Hit By Staggering Attacks - If you find yourself stumbling around in a match and you leave yourself open to a barrage of attacks, you may end up getting hit several times from your opponent despite your best dodging efforts. If you catch yourself stumbling with a jumper and see you are about to be hit by a ton of attacks(i.e. several Rapid Cannons, Lingering Flames,) you can jump into the first shot to fall and stop the rest of the shots from hurting you.

Cornering Tips - Cornering a cartwheeler into narrow areas can make it hard for them to escape or dodge some attacks.  It's best for a cartwheeler to keep in mind whether going into certain areas will back them into a corner. When you do get cornered, sometimes cartwheeling into the opposite direction around an opponent can still save you.

Reduced Level Mobility - Although cartwheelers can get in situations where they can’t get around with the same ease a jumper has, you will find there are more places you can cartwheel or walk off of than you think. Cartwheeling off certain heights can also get you to certain areas quicker than you thought.  Experimenting will be key in figuring out how to get around levels best with a cartwheeler. This may also affect your skill considerations as you might want more permanent skills that you can easily use to repeatedly destroy barriers around you so you can maneuver around the level more easily.  Look around for small objects that you can walk up on to go on top of other objects.  Palace has some stepping areas allowing a cartwheeler to go into the central pit. (Useful for returning to spawn)  You can check out the stages section for some cartwheeling travel tips.  

Cartwheeler’s "jump" - Although a cartwheeler lacks the ability to jump, they can use Special Jump Skills like Levitate, Skywalk, Ki's "Jump" skill, and Demon’s wing to make themselves more mobile. It should be noted with Skywalk, Demon’s Wing, and Levitate you can simply press the button assigned to the skill to make yourself float down at any time you choose instead of waiting for your character to eventually sink down.  

Close Range Hop Trick- Some attack animations can be substituted for jumping. If you hyper kick in range of a person on an adjacent platform you can hop on over to them with the attacks sometimes.  Sometimes you can use short range moves to pass over objects.

Cartwheel As Needed - Many moves can be dodged without cartwheeling. Don’t use your cartwheel when you don’t have to. It’ll slow down your aura regen and make it easier for you to get trapped. You can usually dodge a move once with a cartwheel but the 2nd time you may struggle to escape.(that’s why you don’t do it if you don’t have to)

Rollers generally have the same abilities and weaknesses a cartwheeler has, so read the cartwheeling section.  Cartwheeler's dodge move seems to be a bit more "graceful".  It feels a little harder to judge when to use a roll move to cross sections like you would with a cartwheeler.  Sometimes it helps to think that the forward roll they do will give them a little push up onto objects when their roll meets them.  On the whole their dodging ability against attacks appear largely the same.

There are 3 types of Rollers - One type we'll call Human Rollers(which is only JD and Cuff Button)  The other type we'll call Monster Rollers.(which includes Guard and all the enemy roller characters.)  The Monster Rollers split off into 2 different types - one's with roundhouse kicks and ones without them.   

Human Rollers - Human Rollers are shorter than all other cartwheelers and the rollers named Anthro and Vestio.  Human Rollers have a height that is similar to most jumpers.  Human Rollers can sometimes hide behind objects that will absorb attacks which cartwheelers can't.  The most prominent example of this is on the stage Palace on the top of the escalators.  If you are standing at the escalators and fire at a Human Roller on the other escalator side, the escalator bannister will absorb a lot of locked on projectiles. The escalators won't absorb locked on attacks for cartwheelers and the rollers Guard, Andro, and Partheno..  

Roundhouse Kickers - Human Rollers and the 2 enemy rollers known as Vestio and Anthro do round house kicks which have a bigger hit box on their left than other characters.  This group of characters are the best kickers in the game.  While this is true offline I've never really been able to tell if it is much more effective.  Lag may be just too much of a factor but it's worth a shot trying these characters in your kicking arsenals.  The area of their kicks is larger on these characters' left side.  Evading their kicks by going to your left is recommended.  

Speculation- In general some think rollers might be more useful in dodging certain attacks. At this time I can not figure out a true concrete dodging difference between the cartwheelers and rollers dodging. Some have said rolls move faster than cartwheels making it better for pursuing an opponent. Some also feel they can’t roll out of certain moves as often as a roller.  Some think they can use attacks sooner after rolling than if they cartwheeled.(hard to confirm)  I would try each roller out to see if your more comfortable with one over another.  Anthro seems a  little easier to look around with than some others.   Besides obstacles for certain rollers to hide behind, you would think about Rollers for higher swinging flame swords that are harder for jumpers to avoid in some ways.  

Some characters like Omatto, Ceno, or Catoptro have their own special moves when you click in the analog stick. Their almost like a cartwheel/roll in the way it sends your character moving but these characters don’t travel very far when their move is used.(some might go further than others) You can dodge some attacks with these moves but not nearly as many as rollers or cartwheelers because these characters go much shorter distances. Because of this they are more vulnerable to holes to the point where their dodge move often can’t escape the attack.(holes can still be dodged in other ways sometimes)  Most of these characters have the hardest times with crawler and arc attack moves.(even the playable characters that float will still be hit by both holes and crawlers)   The disappearing animation some of these characters have may give you the impression you can "disappear" through attacks. It is only an animation, and attacks will hit the characters as they normally would.  

Ceno's "Jump"- One way Ceno stands out is that when it does certain moves it makes an animations which causes the character to hop up into the sky a little, this can be used as a way to actually hop over crawlers if you time it right.  Some example moves you can do this with are Shatter or Venom fang.(There are quite a few moves) You can technically jump dodge Holes with these skills too, but I've found it really hard to dodge with when I tested it.  Perhaps you may find an easier way to dodge them than when I ran tests on it.

Ceno's Close Range Parabolas - Oddly if you are very close to someone you can hit people with their Rock Shot move or Cluster Bomb.(you'll blow yourself up in the process though)

Movement Traits - Some "Special Monsters" feel clunky but they generally move the same speed as the other characters but some like the Catoptro may have slower turning reactions. 

Different Animations - Some of the skill animations for these characters differ from that of normal characters.(Swords especially)  Because of these differences they can throw off opponents more accustomed to dodging other character types of close range moves.  Many swing Flame Sword at higher heights.(except Ceno)  They can also be slightly tricky with the Faith Crawler moves and Ki's Crawling Bullet.  Characters with 2 legs give off different animations for the Faith Crawlers and Ki's Crawling Bullet.  Special monster animations for it look similar to each other.  (a fairly minor seeming advantage...)

Arc Attack Weakness - These characters are easily the weakest characters against Arc style attacks. 

Low Speed Weakness - These characters are more likely to get punished for low speed as well.  Perhaps they deal with lowered speed better than Freia and Tsubutaki though.  It is still really bad though.

Biggest Benefit - The biggest strength for some of these unique characters is the way their swords/blades work differently.  Ceno might have the toughest to dodge Psycho Blade type in the game.  

Dash - Lowering the homing of your opponents and using dash as a main defense is pretty useful for these character types, especially when they focus on using close range swords.

Main Use Of Special Monster Type - The main reason you would choose these character types are for arsenals emphasizing swords.  They can be hard for people unfamiliar with dodging them.  Check out the sword section in the dodging section to see exact differences between the character types.  If you do decide you want to use these characters, you want to structure your arsenal around dealing the weaknesses mentioned above.  Things like carrying shelter or absorb skills will be important in dealing with holes or crawlers. (Course shields are another option for projectiles) Carrying Special Jumping Skills could also aid in overcoming mobility weaknesses.  

Characters Heights at a Glance

There are different heights among all the characters in the game giving certain advantages and disadvantages to the player.  Here's a breakdown:

Rollers Cuff Button and JD, and all Jumpers except Tsubutaki - These characters have a shorter height than the other characters and can hide behind objects more easily.  

Cartwheelers + Tsubutaki - Cartwheelers and Tsubutaki are taller and can't hide behind as many objects.(though there are still plenty they can)  They seem to swing Flame Sword type moves at the same height as other jumpers.

Non-Human Rollers - These characters are perhaps the tallest and can't hide behind as many objects as other characters.  They swing Flame Sword type moves at a higher height which can make some situations more difficult for jumpers to dodge.

Special Monsters - These characters also swing Flame Sword attacks at higher heights making them more difficult to dodge.  (Except Ceno's)  Their heights are more like taller characters, giving them less obstacles to hide behind than the lower height characters.  

So which one is better? That depends on the situation. One is not concretely better than the other all the time. I will say though a cartwheeler seems to have more advantages in the amount of attacks he can dodge.(but that doesn't really matter if your opponents are not using those attacks)  A lot of it depends on your arsenal, your opponent's arsenal, the level you're playing, and sometimes even where you are currently at in the level.  You can get a bad hand and sometimes survive thanks to your cartwheeling ability where a jumper would get killed. However, you're going to wish you could jump when your opponents are using crawlers, stun moves, and some other moves you're weaker against. A cartwheeler can lose out on chances to pursue someone or get away from someone because they lack the ability to jump.  In tag there are more opportunities to exploit cartwheelers weaknesses with stun moves or double teaming than there are in one on one. A jumper on the other hand can jump into most stun moves and avoid the effect almost entirely.

If you really want the best chances to win, get good at using a cartwheeler and learn how to maneuver through each level with them. But also build some arsenals suited for a jumper. Jumping around is generally easier to pick up than cartwheeling.  Then again Freia's unique dodging methods can also take time to pick up.  Think specifically about what your character's weak against and how your arsenal can get around those weaknesses. Then depending on your opponent and the level you're playing at, you can adopt your different strategies and characters to deal with your opponents style and characters.

This section explains how to use the attack types more effectively as well as how to dodge them. It includes strategies for both Cartwheelers and Jumpers.

Making Spamming Easier - Having lots of aura as well as cheap costing skills make it easier for one to spam. Playing the environmental Optimization will also make it much easier to spam even more expensive skills. Keep in mind that it will also make it easier for your opponent to do so as well.(and use expensive shields more easily) 

Spamming Timing - Spamming doesn’t always mean firing repeatedly as quickly as possible. If you give a little time before firing off the second attack you may also throw your opponents dodging off.  Experiment with timing to see where it is better to spam rapidly or to wait a little before using the skill again.

Ways of Cutting Down on Spamming - Good ways to stop spammers are to use shields that halt activities like ones that erase attacks(Flash Hole)  or freeze their buttons.(Glacial wall) Reverse is a great way to turn someone’s spamming against themselves.(but it can be overcome by careful spamming)  Anything that lowers a person’s Level is another way to cut down on a lot of spamming. The environmental skills Memory Lapse and Irregular Rhythm give other good ways to stop a lot of spamming. Taking down an Optimization that is out is another way and often a necessary one to turn the tide. You can also fire your own attacks in reaction. People who spam too often leave themselves open to an attack.  In many situations you won't mind taking two 1 damage Lingering Flames in exchange for nailing them with a Psycho Spear.  

Mixed Speed Attacks Can Get Past Defenses or Combine Damage to break shields - Using mixed speed moves is also a great way to get past someone using shields with slower recovery times.(usually anything that’s not a Brush shield)  Your opponent puts up their shield to block the slow move and right as the shield goes down your fast move can go right through before they can put their shield up again. A well timed combination of Seal of Death and Fire of Gehenna can do this as well.  Even people with Brush shields can be too flustered to block both attacks.  Additionally, if both attacks manage to hit a shield the damage combines and can break the shield if it's over the shields defense power.(Keep in mind if an erase shield blocks 2 moves they will both be erased.)

Slower Moving Skill List - Below is a short list of the main skills that you can shoot that have slower speeds and sometimes longer ranges than most other moves.  Moves not listed are ones you might think about comboing with these slower moves as they are faster or time nicely with the moves listed below.  List of slower moves by school division:

Psycho
Impact Burst - Could create odd timing combinations because of varied range and ricochets of the attack.
Psycho Kinesis / Power at long ranges.(theses 2 skills have long range capability even though they're listed as medium range.  Comboable at long range)
Delay Bomb*
Big Bomb*
* - Homing Boosts Can Be Helpful in Encouraging Blocking.

Optical
El Bomb
Ricochet Laser - Possible at perhaps mid to longer range.
Ground Laser*
Giga Ruin*
Particle Mortar* (Max Distance est 60000)
* - You would use these skills at a longer range generally when considering combo potential

Ki
Young White Dragon - Move is slow leading to people opting to walk away from it more than blocking it.  Perhaps has combo potential with close range moves though.
Dragon Bullet - Seems slightly slower than Ki Cannon but still a fairly quick speed.

Nature
All Nature based crawlers can combo at varied ranges due to speed differences.(Root of Tree, Tree of Fang, Entangle, Curse of Earth)
Tornado*
Whirlwind*
* - These 2 tornado/Move type skills listed assume people would block them with a shield.  However, people have a greater tendency to just try to dodge them.  Only shelter shields can block them anyway. They can make comboed in shots hard to see though.  So while you might not expect them to be blocked, take advantage of it when opponents do block them.

Faith 
Greedy Spirit
Lingering Flame
Demons Fire 
Will o the Wisp
Judge of Anubis
Joke of Anubis
Wings of Hope
Vampire Bats
Swarm of Moths
Dance of Moths - Has potential to mix with close range moves due to a very slow speed.
Agonies of Death
Scream of Evil
All Faith crawlers at varied ranges can work due to different speeds.(Venom Fang, Crawlers, Spore Schism)
Bloody Ritual is a slower Level Erase projectile and can combo in faster moves with it.
Seal of Death
Illusion of Death - Unblockable But can be used in combinations with faster moves to cause difficulty blocking/dodging.  Can also be used against people who use Course shields to protect against Illusion of Death.  They could nullify/redirect or Reverse the Illusion of Death, but you could shoot a follow up move as their defense animation finishes up.  

Other Speed Moves - There are some other moves that can be a little slower than the fastest ones.  You might try to combo a Reincarnation with a Vibration Blaster as an example.  At farther distances there is a possibility for some other moves you might be able to combo together.  Even if they don't actually combo hit them, their speeds might be different enough to trip up an opponent, get past a shield, or hit an opponent who's unable to do another block.(due to lack of aura left)

Comboing vs Spamming and Mixed Speed Attacks - Comboing stun moves/effects with attacks or spamming or using mixed speed attacks are all effective ways of hitting someone. When deciding on using stun moves or not you should consider whether comboing is even necessary. Spamming and Mixed Speed attacks can be just as effective in some situations, and can give you more room to carry other moves. It can also cost you less aura to do. When considering whether to have a skill like Dazzle or Pressure for stunning you should consider if it's really going to be necessary or if spamming/mixed speed attacks will do the job by themselves. I think this especially applies to One on One matches. In other modes like Tag, stun moves are easier to repeatedly set up because you have a teammate who can follow up with a move or distract an opponent. This doesn’t mean stun moves are useless in One on One. This is just something to consider in arsenal design.

Other General Defensive and Offensive Tips

Hiding Behind Objects and Dealing With People Hiding - There are many objects that you can hide behind to absorb attacks. Many do not ever disappear. Even something tiny like a pole that remains out can continually absorb attacks including some short range skills. Moves that explode or go through walls can help get an opponent out of hiding. Parabolas and Arc attacks sometimes get around objects otherwise protecting your opponents.  Manually Aimed attacks can get around hiding opponents by aiming at something like a foot on your opponent that is still left open.  .

Get out of Ideal Range - If you can get out of the ideal range of moves you can dodge/avoid a lot of attacks. You can do this either by getting too far away so they don’t reach or by getting so close that you can move around to the side of whatever move is targeting you. Be aware that projectiles that aren’t in the attack/red category usually have a much greater range than expressed in their descriptions.(A lot of them can go pretty long distances and still be very accurate)

Don’t be indecisive - If you're going to dodge a move by going to the side of the projectiles don’t change your mind in the middle of it and try and go in the opposite direction to the side. You will often get nailed if you do this. Jump or Cartwheel to try and improve your chances of escaping if you do decide to change direction to dodge a projectile.

Eye for an Eye - One of the times when an opponent is most vulnerable is when they are making an attack themselves. If an opponent starts up a move, you can start your own up in counter reaction. Some short range and projectile moves have quicker start up animations then others so you can sometimes hit them before they can even use their own attack on you. Other times you may be glad to risk taking a Psycho Knife hit if it gives you the chance to connect a Photon Burst. The same goes for projectiles, someone fires a blazing bullet at you from the sky, you probably wouldn’t mind taking 3 damage from it to get a chance to shoot a Lack or a Psycho Spear at them while they're open.  Rail Gun can be effective as a way of firing in reaction to someone’s move. Firing in reaction to someone can also be a useful way of stopping someone who plans on using multiple attacks. If someone is trying to counter react to your attack, try to cartwheel or use a shield as soon as possible. You’d be surprised by how quickly you can recover from doing some moves to use a shield or to cartwheel. And if you can’t do either you might as well try to jump or move out of the way.  If nothing else it will stop  the combo or spammed moves from hitting more than once.

Change Speed or Homing Ability - Using skills that lower someone’s homing or increasing your speed will help in making attacks easier to dodge. You can escape the reach of more attacks with higher speeds. On the other hand you can boost your homing or lower your opponents' speed with skills to make it harder for them to dodge.  Lowered speeds can be especially effective against Freia type jumpers.  There is a separate section on homing that talks about what kinds of skills are affected most by losses or increases in homing. Some moves appear to be a waste of time to spend improving homing for. Increased speeds can also make it easier to set up your attacks or to pursue someone.

Confine or corner opponent - Generally, attacks are more effective when an opponent is boxed in.  However, crawlers can be more difficult to deal with in open spaces.

Aim Manually - Sometimes it's better to just shoot a projectile manually, especially if you have your homing greatly reduced. It can make you less predictable too. This is given more attention in the Manual Aim section.  You manual aim by turning lock on off and putting the camera in the direction you want to aim before firing. Your character automatically turns in the camera's direction upon choosing a move to use)  

See which skills are more reliable - Through experimentation you’ll find that some attacks are simply more accurate or faster than others whether you're using ranged moves or short range attacks. Keep in mind though that some attacks are effective at slightly different ranges. A far medium Blaster shot is a lot harder for Regular Jumpers to dodge then one shot at close medium range.

Always keep moving, mostly - Simply moving to the side back and forth can dodge a Rail Gun or a surprise Charged Particle. If you can keep moving back and forth side to side while you're trying to set things up you have a greater chance of dodging attacks without having to cartwheel or jump. It also generally keeps you more awake and ready to dodge any surprises your opponent has for you. Many straight on projectiles can be dodged simply by moving to the side, so take advantage of this fact.  

Instant Jumping Exception - The only thing that might take issue with this idea is for dealing with difficult to dodge attacks where stopping movement and then jumping to the left or right "instantly" just before the move would land can be more useful.  If you can comfortably pause when needed, you can keep taking advantage of moving to the side to dodge things.  An example is jumping to dodge Blaster at a far medium range.  It is hard but technically possible for jumpers to stand still and then jump right before they would be hit to jump dodge the move. (Freia can dodge is better at using this type of strategy)  If you were previously moving this won't work.  You can see a video explaining this again at :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqgkdmjKIOo

2BPD Dodging and using Specific Attack Types more Effectively

This section goes into detail on how to deal with and use different categories of attacks. This also includes some specialized attack types.

Parabola attacks - Most parabolas can be dodged simply by moving to the side. (Don’t be indecisive) Even as some get higher homing, it's still quite possible to dodge with a jump or Cartwheel.(sometimes gets impossible for jumpers) Some of them become a lot harder to dodge with increased homing. Sometimes you can also move closer to your opponent to escape the range of a parabola by getting under it. It can be more useful to cartwheel under a Gungnir than to the side.

Parabolas are generally easy to dodge when given enough space to move to the side. Firing them at heights where you are higher or lower than your opponent can make them harder to dodge or at least anticipate. You can get a very close medium range with parabolas and be pretty accurate. Skills like Levitate and Skywalk can work well with parabolas.(i.e Bomb, Big Bomb)  Some like Psycho Spear do not work that much better with Levitate and Skywalk but you could throw someone off or have the attack go over some shields because of the increased height.(Shield Section for specifics)  It's possible to throw Bomb and some other parabolas at close range and have it land on your opponent.(and even yourself)

Fall Attacks - These are similar in style to parabola attacks, but some have a much better default homing. Going to the side is sometimes enough to dodge them but you may need to cartwheel to be able to dodge some of these attacks. Moving forward under their range can also help dodge sometimes. Other times you’ll run right into the Fall attack. Jumping can aid in dodging occasionally too, other times it will throw you right into the move. These moves are often more effective when you are at a different height than your opponent. Experiment with the places where you can fire these moves. You may be surprised seeing where they can work. Like they may appear under the bridges your on and still hit someone below. With just +2 homing,  the following Fall attacks are no longer dodgeable without cartwheeling:  Sign of Saints, Meteor, Demon’s Venom, Arrow of Artemis, Thor's Hammer.(Jumpers can't dodge them if they have +2 homing)   It's a good idea to practice using these skills at different heights.  If you're not careful you can sometimes cause the fall move to form behind you and hit yourself.  

Arc attacks -These include attacks like Laser and Arc of Fire. These attacks go on an arc of sorts and arrive at their target. It is possible to constantly keep running to the side of the arc and jumping to dodge over and over each time it is shot.(even on the less forgiving ones like Vibration Laser)  Against most arc lasers you want to move forward and to the right on an angle.  Against Twist Laser though you use a forward and to the left dodging technique. 

Most people, whether they cartwheel or jump, tend to get hit by these attacks after they are shot over and over enough. Jumpers probably have a better chance of dodging over and over than cartwheelers. On the other hand, it's easier to dodge ones that catch you off guard with a cartwheeler. A cartwheeler can get away with cartwheeling on the outside of an arc sometimes.(doing it on the inside is recommended though)  To clarify this, look at the skill Vibration Laser.  You are better off cartwheeling to the right to dodge this laser.  If you cartwheel to the left you're more likely to get hit.  However, sometimes you can get away with cartwheeling to the left to dodge them.    

Watch out for players who try to manually aim these attacks at closer ranges. They can have a decent shot at hitting you with these manually.(Especially Vibration Laser)   Getting into a closer range can help avoid arc attacks that are locked on to you.  You can also look for objects that will block the arc from reaching you.  It is also possible to jump dodge these attacks without moving much to the side with a jumper.(it'll take some practice)  You can jump to the side and pivot back to where you were.  This works for both jumper types.  Some lasers can be harder to dodge if they're shot at you from a height that is higher than you.  

Alternate Lasers - Double Lasers, Triple Lasers, and Octolaser require you to jump to the side instead of on an angle.  The timing of when you jump to dodge can be tricky.  Mixing these with other laser types could trip up your opponent.  Cartwheelers can safely cartwheel to the left or right against these alternate laser attacks.  

Rain Attacks - Most of the time it is possible to avoid these by continuing to move in a single direction if you don’t stumble around. Sometimes walking in 2 different directions(like forward then left) can give you some extra insurance. Stun moves can be useful in setting these up.(Paralyze/Paralyze Barrier for example) Rain will often catch people taking air lifts or players who are staying within the same location to do something like walk up a spiral of stairs.(try Lucifer’s Arrow in Panorama) Some rain attacks seem less forgiving than others. I do not believe homing affects rain moves. The more you stumble around when these moves take place the more likely you’ll be hit. Even when you have reduced speeds you still have a good chance of dodging rain attacks if you use your jump or cartwheel to move).   Freia and Tsubutaki players can be especially weak against Rain when their speeds are lowered.(mashing jump is still helpful for it)  Killer Satellite and the Lightning/Thunder rain moves are covered separately from this section. Shelter shields are the only shield types that can block any rain attacks.  The timing of blocking rain can be a little tricky.  If you block very early your shield could block one piece that's coming down, but then another one can still fall to strike you.   If that happens it's probably best to mash your shield move to come out again to protect you.  

Quick Rain Rank Accuracy List* -  From Subjective Experience Most Aggressive/Likely to hit down to least accurate Rain.  Every Single one of these listed rain moves have been dodged by just walking around in tests.  Still it seems like some might be less forgiving.  So you can read this short list and see if it's accurate or not.

1st:  Blazing Storm, Rain of Rocks 
Lucifer's Arrow (not sure if this as good belongs in 1st or 2nd category)
2nd - Fire Storm, Rain of Stones.  (Firestorm may be a little better)
3rd - Photon Shower (Might be long in 2nd place rank)
4th - Celestial Ship, Binding Needle.  
* - List does not include Nature's Lightning Rain or Killer Satellite.(Their treated as different attacks in the guide)

Move Attacks - These are just the 3 tornado type moves.(Whirlwind, Twister, Tornado) Usually you can just run to the side or away from them to avoid them. These can work as a good counter attack on someone walking right up to you or trying to hit you with a close range attack, so be careful in how you approach someone using these. Narrow spots like stairways are good places for these moves. The only shield type that blocks this move are Shelters.(And only Erase Shell can erase them)  Move attacks will get past any other shield. Areas with lower heights will stop these moves from continuing into an area and cause them to stick around in a spot or disappear. Be careful not to walk into your own move. Some people place ones like Whirlwind over an opponent tag teammate’s body making it difficult to get to. You will take extra damage from these attacks when they knock you up a high enough height.(causing falling damage)  These attacks aren't affected by homing and manual aim is sometimes rather useful with them.   If they go over landmines they will detonate them.(including Remote Mine)  You can jump into these "move" attacks to stop the lift up affect that sends grounded players into the sky.  You still get hurt by Tornado type move when jumping into them but you fall to the ground instead of being tossed into the sky.

Mines - Planting these in areas opponents are likely to overlook them is effective. It is also effective to plant them at an opponent’s spawn point, on their capsules, on a dead opponent’s body in tag, under an environmental put out, or even your own spawn point to catch someone carelessly trying to erase your capsules. If you see a mine, it's easy to walk within the radius where they will detonate and turn back in time to avoid it.(Remote Mine and Timer Mine will not detonate if you do this though)  You can fire projectiles at a spot where any mine is set.  As long as you don’t cartwheel directly into the core of the explosion it's possible go right past the explosion unaffected. 

Jumping Into Mines - If you jump into stun type mines you can avoid the stun effect entirely by getting knocked down by it.(Vapor Cloud requires good timing with this though) You can use this defensively with your own mines to avoid attacks an opponent fires. (Jump into the mine before an attack hits you)

Some mines have an obvious circle around them like Freeze Gas. Others like Teleportrap, Gravity Mine, and Vapor Cloud are very hard to see. They only have a clear gaseous form to them.  Most mines that don’t do damage have a stun effect to them when they hit a standing opponent letting you attack them freely for a brief moment.  Attack based mines will knock someone over no matter what damage they do. Mines can sometimes be set off if someone is at a slightly lower height and a part of them moves into the radius of detonation. 

Mines are also a good way to deter someone from following you. Don’t be lazy about where you place landmines. An opponent who sees them can walk up to them with shields or easily block status mines with a Glacial Wall or Paralyze Barrier without even risking breaking their shield.  Attack mines could get needlessly erased too.

Remote Mines and Timer Mine can not be detonated from some attacks like other mines.  Moves that explode will cause them to detonate though.  Hole moves, Move attacks, and also Killer Satellite can detonate these mines.  You can recognize Remote Mine/Timer Mine as they create a very visible red landmine.  

Using Remote Mine can mess with opponents who try to detonate it by trying to walk forward and then away from the mine to set it off.  It takes away that option and can be difficult for players to set off with certain attacks.

"Double Landmine":  It is possible to place a Remote Mine and another mine on top of it.  It's only possible to block one of the explosions as Remote Mine delays its detonation and players have no time to throw up a defense again.  Only auto shields can protect from the second hit. Even if one mine breaks a shield with the first explosion, there is no time to put a second shield up.  It is also possible to place 2 non Remote Mines at the same spot if you put the second one down immediately and walk away.(Easier to do if you roll away as a cartwheeler)  Their damage will combine against any shield that blocks.(Like Sensor Mines)  If an opponent doesn't realize you put 2 sensor mines in the same spot, you could break a lot of shields depending on your strength.  If you have +2 attack, the 2 detonated mines will break any shield in the game.   If an opponent uses Glacial Wall not realizing you put 2 sensor mines at the same spot, you'll break the shield.  

Projectiles - Projectiles are just that, things you shoot that go straight on after a target. There are many different types, some more accurate than others. There are 2 basic types though: General Homing Projectiles and Tracking Projectiles.

If you keep yourself moving to the side as a projectile is shot, you can dodge many projectiles just by simply doing so.  For Cartwheelers, timing is key to dodging some of the higher homing attacks like Giga Ruin, Fire of Gehenna, and Heat from the Void. Generally the closer a projectile is to you the less chance it will have of hitting you when you cartwheel. In a level open space situation there are practically no straight on attack projectiles that are truly impossible to dodge by a cartwheel, if a projectile is shot just once. Boosted homing can make some impossible to dodge.(see homing section)  If you’re using a Regular Jumper, jumping when dodging to the side can help save you from some projectiles that would normally hit you otherwise. 

When 2 or more projectiles are shot, some become impossible to dodge. Keep in mind that some of these attacks are a lot more effective at hitting Regular Jumpers when done at a farther medium range rather than a close medium range.  Freia can dodge more of these types of projectiles than other jumpers.(Even some far medium range ones)  When using Freia, standing still for a second and then jumping to the side right before you would get hit will help dodge more attacks.(Sometimes possible with other jumpers but is often hard)

These are skills that follow opponents more rather than follow a single straight path. They are among the more difficult to dodge skills. Some are extra effective when spammed. Some tracking projectiles are Agonies of Death, Judge/Joke of Anubis, Demon’s Fire, Will’o the Wisp, and El Bomb. In some cases rather than trying to dodge these attacks right away, running can be a better tactic because some skills start slower than your character so you can set yourself up in a better dodging situation. It is possible in open space situations to dodge Judge of Anubis with a Cartwheeler, and sometimes possible with a jumper. 

Cartwheelers Dodging Tracking Projectiles- For a cartwheeler to dodge something like the Anubis attacks you will want to cartwheel on an angle forward but just to the side of these kinds of attacks. It is hard but possible to do. I’d generally recommend dodging the really hard ones like the Anubis attacks and Agonies of Death as a last resort. Sometimes these skills can still be dodged by cartwheeling to the side if you time it right (like Agonies of Death) but cartwheeling forward is more necessary with other attacks like the Anubis ones.(Wings of Hope too) The Anubis attacks can follow you even making 180 turns.  Keep moving away from them if they continue to follow you, cartwheel again if you can. Though you may not be able to throw off their homing, if you keep away long enough, sometimes these skills disappear before reaching their target. The same applies with Will’O the Wisp and El Bomb. You can dodge these moves more in the typical sideways fashion but they will often follow you. You may have to cartwheel a second time to truly throw off the homing. They can also disappear after a chasing you little bit more. If someone fires these moves at a range that is not really optimal(too close) it's possible to cartwheel around your opponent to dodge these moves.  Diverting these projectiles into walls/ledges similar to the way you can dodge crawlers is another option.  

Jumpers Dodging Tracking Projectiles- Jumpers can sometimes trick the Anubis attacks as well by running away with a bit of a u turn in your direction.  As the attack follows you in a u-turn-ish direction jump forward and you can sometimes divert these attacks. Experiment with skills that you think follow like the Anubis ones. Agonies of Death is possible to dodge in some level open space situations with a Regular Jumper but it's not especially reliable.  Jumping down to lower heights can also give you enough time to get away from these moves or throw off their homing till they disappear.  Freia Jumpers can use their jump to dodge quite a few things reliably including Agonies of Death.  Most of the time jumpers have a much easier time with Demon’s Fire, El Bomb, and Will’O the Wisp than cartwheelers. You need to use your jumping ability when dodging to the side against them. Sometimes jumping forward past them is another way of throwing off the homing after jumping to the side. Jumping in different ways can throw off the homing of these moves. Experiment to get the hang of throwing off the homing with jumping. 

More on Tracking Projectiles - These moves follow people up in the air as well and can also work well when used in the air. Scream of Evil is another tracking move that is not too hard to dodge when shot once, but boosted homing could make these very difficult to deal with.  Agonies of Death may be one of the few projectiles which are harder to dodge when done at a closer medium range.  Homing boosts can make some of these moves very hard to dodge.

Power, Psycho Kinesis -  These projectiles are undodgeable by any character when in an ideal situation.  They can also send projectiles long distance even though the description lists them as medium ranged.  One other thing to note with them is that you can use debris from far ranges sometimes.  An example is when you're on Palace's second floor, you can actually activate Psycho Kinesis and it can pick up and throw objects from the first floor at other players.

Projectiles as close range attacks - You’d be surprised at the times in which you can use moves like Reincarnation or Demons Fire up close on someone and how good they can still hit.  Vibration Laser is probably the best close range projectile attack when you are using manual aim.  

Hand to Hand, non sword based moves- To dodge these, move to the side at the instant the move is done. The closer you are to an opponent, the easier it is to dodge to the side of the attack. If you’re a jumper and you feel that moving to the side won’t be enough, jump to the side. Jumping is often required to dodge moves when you have lowered speed. Do not jump straight up in place against a hand to hand attack, it won’t work. Walking away from the attack is likely to fail unless you boost your speed or were far from it when it started. Unfortunately lag can also contribute to people dodging these moves without even attempting to dodge to the side. Just walking straight away from a melee move at normal speed doesn't work offline, but online if you're playing with enough lag you can escape some moves without even an effort.  If a cartwheeler has enough space, he can usually cartwheel out of the range of any hand/foot attack. It is probably better to cartwheel to the side if you feel like walking to the side won’t be enough. 

These skills are more effective when you perform them at a far close range. If you do this, some moves can’t be dodged by just moving to the side. If you're in a narrow area like a stairway you can set up harder situations for an opponent to dodge. These can be good counter moves to an opponent’s attacks(even swords) because they often have quick start up times.  Some hand to hand moves are clearly more accurate than others. A lot of Faith short range moves are very easy to dodge. The more cornered someone is, the better. Persistence sometimes pays off while other times a move that causes an opponent to be stunned or stumble in dodging is necessary. Close up attacks will chase someone who is on a platform at an equal or lower height than you. If someone is in the sky and gets into close range you can also perform a melee that will chase them as if they were in close range.  These moves can miss your opponents if they are too much higher or lower than you.  Like if you chase someone upstairs, your attack has a chance of missing because your attack is hitting at too low of a height.  

Against Roundhouse Kickers - JD, Cuff Button, Vestio, and Anthro have roundhouse kicks that have a bigger hit range on their left than any other character.  If you have a choice, going to your left is more likely to dodge Roundhouse Kickers.(Can't say just how much it makes a difference as you probably still have a good chance of dodging to the right anyway)

Short Range Melee Sword Moves - What’s written here is what is effective in online play. In split screen mode some of these ideas work the same but there can be much less forgiveness in dodging. I don’t know if this has to do with a little lag or if they changed the way swords work online. There are a variety of swords in this game. They each have a different area they can cover. Though some have swords have different reach or are less forgiving, there are really 2 main sword types that require different dodging methods. There are swords that start swinging from the user’s left and wrap around to the right at the end.(Flame Sword, Psycho Knife) Then there are swords that start out on the user’s right and swing around over to the left side.(Psycho Blade, Excalibur) Another way of thinking about it is to move away from the side where the sword starts up. You’ll see visually there are just two distinct styles of swords that all the rest are similar to. Since the visual definition of each can be confusing I’ll just refer to the visual examples. When you see a sword that swings like a Flame Sword then you use the tactics that you would normally use to dodge a Flame sword. When you see a sword that swings like a Psycho Blade you’ll use the same tactics you would normally use to dodge a Psycho Blade. 

Left and Right - If you use both Sword types in combination you will make it harder for someone to correctly dodge them.(i.e. use Flame Sword + Psycho Blade) 
If you see your opponent is moving in a direction to dodge one type of sword melee you're using, use the other type and they could trip up dodging. Cartwheelers usually have the best options for dodging short range attacks. On the other hand a Jumper has an easier time pursuing people with close range attacks because they usually get around the Stage more easily.  Just like with hand to hand moves, if you are chasing someone at a different height than you, it is possible for the moves to miss.(by having the sword swing too high or low)  

Dodging/Using Flame Sword Types - When a person starts up a Flame Sword animation style move, have your character move the left side to dodge the sword. They will go flying past you if they used lock on. You need to be close to your opponent to just walk to the side. If you're at a far close range this method will not work.(without a lot of lag) Using Flame Sword types from a far close range can be a good way of catching people who are lazy about dodging them. If you see that an opponent is attacking from a far close range you have a few dodging options:

You can try jumping to the left, walking is not enough. It's possible to jump straight up to dodge a Flame Sword move if you time it right.  The timing can be difficult to repeatedly to do. But there are some people who are pretty good at this.  However, jumping straight up will not work against opponents using Non-Human Rollers characters.  Most Special Type Monster Swords also can't be dodged by jumping straight up.(Everyone but Ceno probably)  One other option you have is to try jumping away out of the range of the attack when your opponent is using a Flame Sword type move at a far close range.

You can cartwheel to the left and easily escape Flame Sword types when you find moving to the left won't work. You can also cartwheel forward and to the left of an opponent so they go past you. You can usually cartwheel away and out of the reach of Swords if the opponent started to swing at a far close range.(Provided you have the space)  You'd be surprised though that sometimes cartwheels to the right can still dodge these swords.(less reliable though)  You can mess around with Guard in the single player mode at the Highway Level,  "Odd Friendship" mission.  You can swing a sword at Guard in different ways and catch him dodging them in surprising ways that you may have just thought was due to lag online.  

Improving Chances - For catching people dodging swords try to follow up with another sword attack if they dodged the first one. They may fail to jump the sword this time, or they may not be able to cartwheel into an area that doesn’t corner them into an attack. Being persistent or following up with another strike is often necessary to catch people. You can also use shields or moves like Tiger’s strength to mess with their dodging.(use Tiger’s Strength and trick them into cartwheeling into a corner and follow right up with your sword)

Turning Lock On Off - If you turn off your camera lock on, you will stand in place when performing a flame sword type move. This can catch people off guard trying to walk to the left of you. It's also valuable to do when an opponent is at a ledge. An opponent can try to get you to swing a sword at a ledge so that they dodge you and your swords charge causes you to fall off the stage.  

Keep Opponent on the Right when using Flame Sword types - If you keep someone to your right with these swords you have a better chance of hitting them. 

Drive Targets to Corners - Try to circle around an opponent and drive them towards walls or barriers so that they won’t be able to easily cartwheel away. You may have more time than you think to intimidate an opponent into corners with these moves.(This goes for all close range attacks)

When a person starts up a Psycho Blade animation, move your character to the right of the opponent to dodge the blade. They will usually go flying past you if they used lock on. You need to be close to your opponent to just walk to the side. If you're at a far close range this method will not work.(without lag) Using Psycho Blade types from a far close range can be a good way of catching people who are lazy about dodging them. However, Compared to Flame Sword types you may want to get a little closer but not super close because you will give your opponent less dodging options. When dodging, keep yourself going to the right of an opponent using Psycho Blade types. While this method does work it does not work offline reliably, you do actually need some sort of lag or something is programmed differently online to actually dodge Psycho Blade types in this manner.  

Backstrikes - Psycho Blade types also start their swing towards the back right, which can sometimes be used to hit an opponent behind you while you're try to slash another opponent at the same time.  (You'll hit both players if they line up)

Dodging Options As a Jumper:

You can try jumping to the right when walking to the right is not enough. Unlike Flame Sword types, you can’t jump these blades in as many ways.  Besides going to the right you can only jump away from Psycho Blade moves if they started up at a far close range. Jump as your moving away from the Psycho Blade and if you time it right you’ll get past it. This doesn't work reliably offline but sometimes does online due to lag or something. The reason I say this is you may think you're at a far close range but lag may position you closer to your opponent than you actually think you are when you try to dodge. 

You can cartwheel to the right and usually escape. You can cartwheel forward and to the right of an opponent so they go past you. You can sometimes cartwheel away and out of the reach of Blades if they started at a far close range.(Provided you have the space) Dodging success can be influenced by lag. Offline, cartwheels do not save you from Psycho Blade attacks as easily.

Cartwheeling away from a far close range does work offline and online. If online, it isn't always your best option as either a jumper or cartwheeler. It's worth trying if you can't cartwheel/jump/move to the right. The reason why cartwheeling straight away from far close range isn't always the best is because an opponent can follow up with a second blade swing as you fail to recover in time to cartwheel again or you get cornered after dodging the first swing. Cartwheeling to the side can help you continue to escape when you're in a condition where it works. It usually does work online.

Follow Up - For catching people dodging Blades try to follow up with another Psycho Blade attack if they dodged the first. They may fail to jump the sword the second time, or they may not be able to cartwheel into an area that doesn’t corner them into an attack. Being persistent and following up with another strike is often necessary to catch people.  It may be repetitive but sometimes you can wear down your opponent this way.

The monster creatures that don't roll or jump such as Catoptro, Ceno, and Ommato swing their swords in different ways and require different dodging methods.

Ommato, Scoto and Claustro, Catoptro Flame Sword Types -  Their Flame Swords are similar to human ones except you can no longer stand in front of them and jump straight up to dodge the sword from the middle. You can still move, jump or cartwheel to the left to avoid them. You have to be more careful to stay away from them when going to the left because they are less forgiving in being walked out of.(maintain distance with them when moving and don’t circle into the back part of their sword)  Like with Non-Human Roller Flame Swords, you can't jump straight up to dodge them.  You must at least be partially to the left of the sword or blade when jumping away from even far close range. You can still cartwheel out of range from a far close range though.

Psycho Blade- The Psycho Blade types of these characters actually swing much like Flame Sword types. The Psycho Blade starts on user’s left and curves right.  Jumping to the left from a decent distance away might be necessary to dodge from a far close range.  Online you might be able to walk to the left to dodge.(depending on lag)  In a way, all the Special Monsters besides Ceno are easier to think of how to dodge as it's best to dodge to the left no matter what sword type they use.  

Ceno - Ceno has one of the craziest looking Psycho Blade types.  Ceno does not make any noise when using skills except the attack’s actual sound which can throw off people's dodging timing.  You might be able to dodge Ceno Psycho Blade types in the standard way online, which is by going to the right.  Otherwise jump or cartwheel to the right to dodge. Ceno's Flame Sword type looks more like the normal humanoid style.  Surprisingly, Ceno has perhaps the easiest Flame Sword type to dodge in the game. You can dodge it by walking or jumping to the left.  You can jump straight up to dodge too.  Unlike anyone else, you can also jump dodge Ceno's Flame Sword types by jumping to the right.  This is helpful as you could just dodge to the right against either sword types as a jumper.  I do think Ceno's might have the toughest Psycho Blade type to dodge in the game though.  As a cartwheeler against Ceno, you'll dodge the way you normally would against Human sword users.(Psycho Blade types are probably less forgiving than usual though)

Mix Ups - You might confuse opponents trying to dodge blades if one player used a Ceno character partnered with an Ommato type teammate.

Barrier, Brush, and Reflect shields only block Melee moves that hit from the front. Because Flame Swords and Psycho Blades can wrap around past a target when they swing, it's possible to hit people trying to block these moves with those shields due to the wrap around.  If you attack someone so that a piece of your flame sword wraps around past the shield’s front you can hit them despite the fact they put up a shield. This isn’t always easy to do but it can be done.  Usually your best chance of this working is when your opponent is not actually locked onto you but still trying to block you.  

Aerials - Sword attacks can chase someone who is on a platform at an equal or lower height than you. If someone is in the sky and gets into close range you can also perform a swing that will chase and can nail an opponent.  If you do use a sword from a higher height on an opponent in close range at a lower height your blade might be able to go over certain shields and hit an opponent.(not sure)  

Obstacle/Debris Protection - Hiding behind obstacles/debris can stop sword moves from hitting you sometimes(Even poles). Though it's also possible for them to wrap around past them.

Sword Fake - If you stand far enough at the edge of a platform or object you can perform a sword move that will get canceled. Your character will make an attack sound and a small animation may start up but it never completes and doesn’t cost you aura.(it cancels the move) You can use this to fake someone into putting up a shield up and then following right up with the a real sword slash while their still vulnerable. An example where you can do this is on the short low level permanent ground platforms you can hop on in the City level.  It's also possible at Highway as this video shows(click image to enable video):

If you want to see a good sword fake in a real match, check out this external video link out from about 3:50 to 4:00 :  https://youtu.be/hQB0FfOXAVU?t=231

You'll see the player Gaignun on the stairs perform a Sword Fake with Flame Sword animating at the edge of a stair, and you'll even see the player Nathan 0 get tricked into using his shield by it. 

Sword Rankings - You can see the Sword Ranking section for some specifics on the different sword accuracies/rankings.

Miscellaneous Attacks -This covers the odd end attacks that are more unique in dealing with or using.

Photon Wave/Photon Burst -  These 2 attacks are considered mine attacks. The great part about them is that only a few shields in the whole game can erase the attack.(they’re not considered close range moves) As long as you are moving away from the blast of these moves you have a good chance of escaping them.  It’s important to note that even after the animation of these moves disappears the attack is still in effect for a little more time. This means that striking or running into your opponent right after these moves are done can get you hurt if you move in too soon. Though a lot of people don’t want to admit getting caught in these, persistence can sometimes catch people who keep walking away.(especially the more cornered they are) Be careful of what debris you destroy around you with them. These are a great counter to short range moves and have a good surprise effect.  Be careful, opponents can sometimes still get their attacks in before being blown away by this move. An opponent who doesn’t know or suspect you're using these moves can sometimes be beaten to the punch in putting up a defense since this skill has a quick and surprising start up time. They could try to block but they are often beat by these moves' start up time if you are close. That is another reason why it is wise to maintain space between you and the person you're trying to block. 

You can block these moves with a shield and follow right up with an attack without worrying about being hit by the explosion and its usual carry over effect. Blocking the front of the explosion will protect you from any animation that seeps over you. Only Barrier, Shelter, and Reflect shields work against these attacks.  Photon Burst is such a popular skill that you should use caution in charging any Optical school opponent with 7 aura and an attack you don't know he has. It sometimes seems like explosions are more forgiving to walk past in laggy situations. Use caution when dealing with this move because you don't know how much leeway you'll get in trying to dodge the explosion online.  Block, Then Burst - If you  are worried about getting hit by an opponent's close range attack while you try to use Photon Wave/Burst, you can choose to block the attack first and then immediately use Photon Wave/Burst right after blocking.  Your opponent has a very narrow window to use a shield or try to cartwheel after using a close range move against your shield.  So although a person can technically block your follow up Photon Wave/Burst, they often won't because of the small window of time they have to block/cartwheel.  

Killer Satellite - Killer Satellite is a rain attack. If you are moving in one direction and then change to another while the red circle is over you, you can usually cause the attack to miss. Don’t be indecisive. This only works if Killer Satellite is used on you while you were moving. If you were standing still when this move was used it stays in one spot more, you won’t be able to trick it to go in the opposite direction. Instead move in one direction away from the circle as much as possible. Don’t turn back for a little bit after you think you dodged it because this skill has a habit of lingering around after it seems done.  Cartwheeling can also help avoid this attack when you're lazy about throwing off its tracking. I don’t think this skill is effected by homing effects.   Killer Satellite can be aimed manually and can blow up landmines including Remote Mine if they're in the area Killer Satellite appears.  Manually Aimed Killer Satellite sets up the attack to appear at a set medium range.

Lightning Rain Attacks - These are nature rain moves with a Lightning Style animation. It’s less possible to avoid these if you just move in one direction. It's usually best to move in one direction and shift to another like Forward and Left, or something like Back and then Right. It's pretty easy to just cartwheel away from the radius of this attack as well. These moves do not seem to be effected by homing.  They appear to be less forgiving than other Rain attacks.  There is probably less risk blocking them as multiple pieces don't potentially drop.

Ricochet Laser - Its best to avoid closed in areas where its most effective. It does not have to be in long range to be effective. It can be effective in close or medium range.(Perhaps more so) Changing the directions you move in may throw off the homing as well as jumping on every bounce, but I don’t really know.  Homing may help this move. Do not run into the front of the move as its activated. You can erase it with a shield if you time it right.  Ricochet Lasers can not be diverted by Gust, Change Course, and Reverse shields.(they will go through and hit you)  Reflect Mirror won't reflect it, but can block it.  This move with Optimization has a bit of an infamous reputation at the Panorama stage.  Keep moving to lower the amount of lasers that can catch you when trying to dodge.  Almost always a good idea to take Optimization down if someone else is using Ricochet Laser.  These lasers can sometimes go through certain walls and floors particularly at Panorama.

Impact Burst - This funky skill bounces all over the place till it hits or flies off somewhere. This skill is easy to dodge where there’s no walls. The more confined you are the harder it is to deal with.

You have 3 general options when a wall is behind you as its fired:

1. When the bomb is fired at you move to the side. If you are by a wall get ready to move in the opposite direction when it passes you. This will often be enough to dodge it. But watch where this move bounces and move to the side of it each time it bounces off a wall. Jumping might throw off the homing of this when its bouncing around like crazy. Changing the height your at can help a lot too. If you're at a higher height going down to a lower level of the stage after the bomb passes you can make it hard for it to follow you.

2. Carry a Shelter or Absorb shield and use it right when you think the bomb will bounce towards you. You could also use Invulnerability, Void, or let an Auto Shield take care of blocking it.

3. This move can hit you straight on if it's fired close enough to you. If it lines up in front of you, blocking it before it confusingly bounces all over the place can be a safer approach than trying to dodge and react to its bounces.

Impact From Above - Another effective way of using this move is to fire down on an opponent from a higher height. The bomb will bounce off the ground that it hits and will head towards your opponent. Same directional dodging can be attempted against an Impact Burst being used in this way.

This section covers the basics of shields/defensive moves and some of the lesser known things about them. 

Breaking Shields - If you do more damage than a shield’s defense when it blocks, the shield will break and leave the blocker's hand. It is possible for shields to block multiple attacks at once.  If the damage total of 2 blocked attacks is higher than its defense, the shield will break.  

Shield Choice Strategy - Although some shields have weak defense, they usually are cheaper to use or serve some other purpose like gaining life, freezing or paralyzing an opponent, regaining aura or erasing an attack. Sometimes these effects are more valuable than a more durable defense. 

Act Right After a Shield Breaks - Whenever a shield breaks from damage you can instantly move around again or throw up another shield / use a different move.(in most cases)

Defense Types

Brush - These shields can quickly block several attacks.(if you have the aura to use them) Because they block quickly you need accurate timing. Brush shields can not protect against explosions.(they can brush attacks to the side before they explode though.) It's also possible that side way swipes of swords can get past brush shields if they wrap around past the front part.  Be careful about brushing attacks that can explode because they can be diverted into walls or the ground by you and cause an explosion that might hit you.  Also be careful not to divert moves into dangerous debris next to you.  Some of City's debris often randomly ends up hitting people doing this.  Brush Shields have the quickest reaction and recovery time but require you to be more precise than with other shields.  It's also possible that side way swipes of swords can get past brush shields if they wrap around past the front part. 

Brush Shield Changes - In the original Phantom Dust there is a difference between Brush shields used offline versus Brush shields in online play. In online play, these shields no longer have the brush back stun effect that knocks an opponent back when a short range move is blocked.  Offline it's possible to even knock people off ledges with the brush back effect. Online play eliminated the brush back effect.  The closest thing to the using brush back effect online is to use the skill Sword Slap.(which doesn't actually block moves)  

Barrier - These shields have a slower recovery time than brush shields. One reason you may prefer a barrier shield is that they can block explosions, including Photon Burst. They also protect for a longer period of time, so you don’t have to be as exact when blocking. Attacks that go far enough over your head can get past Barrier Shields. It's also possible that side way swipes of swords can get past barrier shields if they wrap around past the front part. 

Course -These shields only work on moves that shoot projectiles or hurl objects at you, they either reverse a projectile or divert a projectile to the side.(watch out for exploding projectiles that are redirected to the side) You never have to worry about these defenses breaking. They can also divert projectiles that penetrate shields like Dragon Slayer to the side.  If you turn off your lock on and aim skills manually at some Course shields like Gust and Change Course, they will go through the shield and hit the opponent. (it doesn’t really make sense but that’s how it works.) If you move to the side as a projectile is shot at you, you can attempt to avoid manually aimed attacks while still trying to use your Course shield. These shields do not protect against explosions. If you manually aim at Reverse you will not be hit by your Reversed projectile unless you really try to line yourself up with it or get hit by its explosion.(it will always look close)  Manually aimed attacks do not go through the Course shields named Reverse and About Face.  Due to the slower recovery time of these shields you can overwhelm some of them with carefully timed shots. These shields have a bigger radius of protection than you may think, and can divert several projectiles that reach it at the same time.(like if your triple teamed)   These shields will redirect projectiles that come at you from any angle.(360 degree protection)  With Reverse you can redirect projectiles shot at you from even behind your back.(Even though it doesn't look like you should)  Some Course shields require you to put up the shield earlier than other shields.  If you block too late, the shield will fail to protect you.  Not a single Course shield can divert/reverse the attack known as Ricochet Laser.  

Reflect - These shields are strange. They can block close range attacks, explosions, and they also reflect projectiles back at an opponent more quickly than Reverse or About Face. They're basically like barrier shields that can reflect projectiles. The biggest down side to them is that they can only reflect back projectiles that don’t break the shield.(which is 4 defense max with Reflect Mirror/Barrier)  They also are selective about the kinds of ranged projectiles they reflect. Parabolas and Crawlers do not reflect back but Arc Lasers do.  Other skills like a weak Finisher will not even get reflected. Dragon Slayer penetrates and erases Reflect shields.  Reverse and About Face are course shields, not Reflect shields; and they don't have weaknesses to Dragon Slayer. Compared to Reverse and About Face, Reflected projectiles fly back faster at the shooter making them harder to avoid.  Bomb Shot and Ice Lance are among other unusual moves that can be reflected with Reflect shields. Manually aimed attacks that get reflected will cause them to not hit you.  It will go through you even though it looks like it'll hit you.  

Absorb Shields -These shields can only block Hole attacks and Projectiles. They have a similar recovery time to barrier shields. Besides shelter shields, they are the only defense type that can block Holes. Although the original game's memory boxes claim Absorb Shields have a protection range similar to barrier shields, it is incorrect.  Absorb shields have 360 degree protection enabling you to block attacks even when being shot at from behind.  You can also block people shooting at you from above.  Compared to shelter shields, Absorb shields can't block Rain or Move attacks.  

Shelter - These shields provide 360 degree protection helping to protect you from back and aerial attacks. They protect from any attack in the game, be it Rain, Projectiles, Melee, Holes, or Mines.(one exception is Illusion of death)  These are the only shields that protect against the Move attacks Twister, Tornado, or Whirlwind. Erase Shell is the only shield in the game that can erase rain and Move attacks. Because of the 360 degree protection they have, you don’t have to worry about melee attacks hitting you in the back or on the side. Some of them have a slow enough recovery rate that a second projectile shot(via spamming) can slip through.  Be careful about blocking rain with these moves.  If you block too early, it's possible for the shield to block one rain projectile and then be hit with another projectile from the same rain move.  If you delay a little before blocking rain you can get by with one block.  If you block early it is possible to quickly throw your shield up again after blocking one part of the Rain.

Auto Shields - These shields are all shelter types and automatically protect you from any effect / skill that doesn’t penetrate shields or automatically Hit All.  All of them except Guardian Angel are one time use. These are the only shields that can protect you from attacks when you're in the air. If hit in the air when using a Special Jump Skill like Levitate before descending you'll freeze with the shield animation in the air. However if you're on your way down and your hit, you'll get a slight interruption and can follow up with an attack right away.  If you just use a regular jump in the air when hit with these shields you will not get the protective delay.(which is useful)  If you're on the ground when auto shields get set off, you will be interrupted and go through a shield animation.  Protecting Air is a unique shelter shield that lets you completely move even when walking on the ground.(there's no movement delay, but skills moves can still get cancelled out if the shield is set off early enough)

"Blocking" For a Teammate - You can block melee attacks done to your teammate, if you hang around his attacker and his melee move hits. This doesn't protect your teammate but if you're using an erase shield like Fortress of Iron you can erase the opponent's  close range move to take the pressure off your teammate.  Glacial Wall or Paralyze Barrier could help too.  

Dash - This is a great skill. It doesn’t cost much and you can dodge tons of attacks with this skill provided you Dash correctly.(Don’t Dash into a wall as your opponent swings a sword at you) Don’t count on this defense to do everything for you. Despite that, it’s a great skill. Most Status and Erase skills can hit you even if you Dash to dodge. Lower someone's homing by 3 and you can dodge even those moves with Dash.(Use Dense Fog or Magnetic Field)

Invulnerability - A skill that makes you invulnerable to damage done by the first attack that hits you. You will still be effected by any effects on those attacks and all other status, erase, and special skills will still affect you when they hit.(except piercing)  If your opponent’s attacks are all powerful enough to knock you down, you can just keep getting up and making yourself invulnerable if you have the aura. To counter someone doing this sometimes you can hit a person with attacks before their Invulnerability is set up. Other than that grab a skill that is weak enough so that it won’t knock your opponent over. Be aware that the Succubus moves in faith will steal Level from you equal to their strength even if they do no actual life damage to you when they hit. Attacks with erase or freeze effects will still affect you still. You can use Necronomicon with this skill to protect yourself from the special effects of attack moves.  Orb or Amulet can be used against Erase moves to maintain your Invulnerable state.  

Void - Makes your status invulnerable for 15 seconds against damage. There is a special status symbol on players that used Void.  You can also notice a large faint circular blue aura surrounding players in the Void state.  If you get Neutralized or affected by a skill that resets your status you’ll lose the invincibility. Just like Invulnerability, you can still get knocked down by attacks that hit and be effected by any additional effects on them. Be aware that the Succubus moves in faith will steal aura from you equal to their strength even though they do no actual damage to you. You can use Necronomicon to negate the add effect attacks have.  Orb or Amulet can help in dealing with erase moves.

Charge/Surprise Attack and Retreat/Return/Teleportrap - These moves can teleport you around.  Be careful about timing with these. If you Charge or Retreat right as a projectile starts up it can still follow you if your remain in its range and sight. Instead wait a little for the projectile to come at you and then teleport with these moves if you can. Be especially careful with Giga Ruin and Agonies of Death. Some attacks like Giga Ruin will probably still track an opponent teleporting from Teleportrap or Teleport if they were teleported at the start up of the move and still remain in the attack's sight.

High Speeds - Moves that increase your speed make it easier to dodge or escape someone.  It also makes it easier to pursue someone.

Anti Piercing - Some shields have an ability called Anti Piercing. Attacks like Psycho Spear that have piercing will do damage to an opponent who blocks with a shield weaker than the attack. If you  block a Psycho Spear(Attack of 8) with a Photon Barrier(Defense of 1) you will take 7 damage because that’s how much more powerful the attack was than your defense. If  you use Psycho school's Wall which has anti piercing, none of Psycho Spear’s extra damage will carry over and hurt you.  The environmental Necronomicon can negate piercing effects.  

Know your shields - Take some time to look at the shields in the arsenal creation pictures. Getting to know what shields look like and how powerful they are is very useful. You’ll know when you can break them and you’ll know when someone’s trying to use one that has a bad effect on you. 

Some helpful numbers on shields:  An attack of 5 or more will break any erase shield except for Fortress of Iron.(Requires 8+ damage)  Fortress of Iron costs 4 so you can try overwhelming it with low cost moves.  Black Hole looking shields erase projectiles. (Having 3 or 4 defense)  They can't block explosions or short range moves.  Glacial Wall and short range erase shield Iron Skin requires 4 or more damage to break them.   Vacuum Wall is a Dark Colored shield that's 6 cost to use and requires 5 or more damage to break.  Fortress of Iron only erases melee moves.  Erase Shell and Paralyze Barrier require 3 or more damage to break.  The shield that makes a purple circle is Photon Barrier which can break from 2+ damage.  If your opponent has 4 aura when blocking it will recover the broken Photon Barrier.  Try to repeatedly attack them to force the Photon Barrier's use till they can't pay enough  to keep it anymore.  

"I keep failing to block" - Everyone messes up sometimes. It takes practice to get used to timing blocks of some moves. And if you catch yourself blocking too early, try to put your shield up again before a move hits. Brush skills are the hardest shields to block with because they require good timing. Shelter shields are among the easiest.  If you think you are going to block a move, move your thumb over to the button you think you're likely to hit to be ready. After a while you can get an idea about when you're probably going to be attacking and probably going to be defending in a match.

It also makes you more prone to getting psyched out. You don’t always know what someone will do either. Sure you can block a lot of attacks with Photon Barrier but you're going to pay for it if you try to block a Psycho Spear which you probably could have dodged if you kept yourself open to dodging the move. Why give someone the chance to position themselves over you and fire a Rock Shot down on you that your Vacuum Wall can’t defend when they're that high up over you?

The only exception to constantly moving is if you use Freia as they require a slight pause and then jump to the side to avoid some of the harder to dodge projectiles.  With Freia, you'll have to choose between moving to the side to dodge vs pausing and then jumping to dodge certain attacks.  Starting out you're probably better off sticking with moving to the side.  

Just Defended - This is a risky technique with minor benefit.  When you block moves, your shields can go down quickly right after a hit is registered on your shield.  When you perform a blocking move your aura regen pauses.  Now think of this situation, your opponent is shooting lasers at you.  They take some time to reach you.  Certain non brush shields stay up for a decent amount of time so you can block relatively early and your shield will stay up and still  block the projectile on impact.  Instead of blocking early, you can choose to block a bit later when the laser is just about to hit you.  The shield will block and go down pretty quickly.  If you block just in time you will charge a little more aura than if you blocked earlier because going into a shield block animation halts aura regen till the blocking is resolved.  So if you choose to block just in time before being hit you might be able to build up a little more aura possibly enabling you to block an extra time than if you just kept choosing to block earlier.  While this is a legitimate trick, you 're often better off making sure you blocked a move than trying to build a little more aura quickly.

Photon Wave or Photon Burst as Defense - You can use Photon Wave or Photon Burst as a effective defense against short range moves.  You may find it more practical than other shields available.  Optical School does not have very tough shields.  These moves can still provide you some alternative protection.  

Beating Shields and other Defensive Moves

For getting swords past shields you can check out the sword dodging /attacking section.  

Note that any close up tactics explained here to fake someone out into using a shield can also fake someone into doing a cartwheel or jump when they don’t need to. This can make your target  easier to hit as well.

Shields can be challenging to deal with as some can erase most of your attacks simply by blocking with an erase shield.  Some arsenals are designed to stall you by erasing many of your attacks with defenses and then attack you while you have a lacking offense.

Options Against Defenses

Erase Based Options

1) There are 4 erase skills that were made to erase an opponent’s shield. These 4 are Dragon Slayer,  Judge of Ares, Shield Slayer, and Lost Dragon.(All but Lost Dragon penetrate shields)

2) Erase skills like Lack can also stop a lot of shields if you get an open shot.  It can also stop Dash, Charge, Retreat, and Invulnerability.

3) You can use Wind Pressure or Turbulence to stop someone who’s using defensive moves like Dash, Charge, Retreat or Invulnerability.

4) There are also several attack skills in the Nature and Ki schools that erase shields if they hit.(Lightning Sword, Dragon Punch etc.)  Orb/Amulet can't protect from them either.

5) Most Erase projectile moves usually have good enough homing to hit people who use Dash.(i.e. Lack)   

6)  Erase moves can also be used as projectiles to hit erase shield users without worrying about erase shields erasing your projectiles.(Like Disremember, Hungry Demon)

7) Erasing capsules of an opponent is one way of forcing opponents to do something besides hold on to defenses.  They'll either have to drop some or you can just go right on deleting their arsenal.

8) Erase/Lower opponents' Level. If you lower an opponent's Level you can stop them from continuing to use shields over and over.(especially more expensive ones) A Fortress of Iron can block a lot of attacks and not be broken but if opponents don’t have the aura to use it over and over they will be overwhelmed.  Take down the Optimization if you are having trouble with expensive shields.

Damage Focused Shield Breaking Options

1) Carrying some skills with high attack power is one way to break shields.

2) If you carry a move that boosts strength like Trance or Tiger’s strength you can make some of your attacks more likely to break shields. Even just raising your strength by one with Lunar Force or Heat will have skills like Vibration Blaster take out a lot more shields.  

3) If you carry retain/lock moves like Reincarnation, Arrow of Artemis, Seal of Death, or Sign Of Saints you can use them without worrying about being erased.(Reincarnation will cost a total of 6 aura to retain if blocked by an erase shield.  Arrow of Artemis will cost 9 to retain when an erase shield blocks it)

4) You can use piercing moves or use the environmental skill Berserk to give piercing to all attacks.  Pretty useful against Photon Barrier.

5) If a person is using Photon Barrier over and over, keep breaking the shield till they don’t have the aura left to keep it. Taking an Optimization down can help.

Use Stun Moves or Moves/Tricks that Bypass Shields

1)  Certain Special/Status moves have great homing and have a stun effect.  Dazzle can easily hit opponents using Dash.  Stun moves give you an opening for attacks.

2)  Special/Status Moves can be used repeatedly to stun opponents, without having to worry about erase shields getting rid of Special/Status moves from your hand.  The only shield skills to really watch out for when doing this are Glacial Wall, Paralyze Barrier, Absorb Energy, and Reverse/Reflect shields.

3) Use your own Glacial Wall to freeze someone’s buttons and follow up with your own attack bypassing your opponent's defensive moves.

6) If you can shoot from a high enough height you can sometimes get past the protective radius of some non shelter, non absorb, non course shield types. It's possible to jump and shoot over someone’s head if you're in the right position.

Overwhelm Opponent's Defenses

1) You can overwhelm someone with spamming or use combination attacks of mixed speeds. If you fire one skill that an opponent blocks and you can follow up with another skill or the same skill you can sometimes hit an opponent before they can put their defense up again. This is can be useful when dealing with Course or Reverse Course moves.  

2) Spamming moves is also helpful in catching people who constantly Dash. 

3) Firing two attacks at different speeds can force an opponent to block one move and not have time to block the second attack one coming at them.  

4) In some cases you can fire a slow moving attack like Dance of Moths and Lightning Speed past it, to follow up with a melee move.

2) You can cause people to waste aura or an entire single use shield by firing an attack manually aiming away from the opponent but close enough to scare them to block.

3) Sneak up on someone with camo moves like Optical Camo or Demon’s Wing.  

4) Use psych out tactics to avoid getting attacks erased. You can run up to an opponent with certain moves like a brush shield or a tiger’s strength and do it in front of their faces causing them to block because they thought you were going to attack them. You can even Dash into someone’s face to scare them. Sometimes these things can fool someone to put their shield up giving you enough time to follow up with an attack before they can block again.(some shields don’t recover in time, or an opponent will not react quick enough or have the aura to block again)  This can be a great way of getting free melee shots in. Sometimes you can even get twitchy people to waste a single use shield if you just walk in front of their face and do a move like Purify for no reason. These tactics would never work on a computer opponent but can work on people. If you do get fooled, try to use the shield quickly again. It might save you still. On more advanced opponents you may get into an elaborate psych out game where you'll have to try to psych them into using their shield twice before striking with an attack they can't block.

5) Sometimes using moves with deceptive timing like some crawlers or a move like Swarm/Dance of Moths will cause someone to block too early and leave themselves open.

6)  Wait for opponents to make a move themselves if they're just going to stand around defending all day.

7) Photon Burst and Wave can surprise a person eager to block the first time. If you walk up to someone in the face who plans on blocking what they think is a melee you can sometimes use these moves before they can get their shield up. This is because these moves have a quicker start up time.  You can try this with other skills too and succeed sometimes. This could be due to lag or the person just not being ready to block in time. I probably wouldn’t risk it with other attacks if you suspect they have a shield that will erase your attack.

8) Sometimes firing unexpectedly can mess up those using Change Course or Gust as they fail to block in time.

1) If there are a few shields in a particular school that trouble you, you can carry an Anti-School Environmental.

2) Playing Reduce Entropy or Chaos can limit the types of defenses people can use. Chaos can stop both Dash and Photon Barrier from being used.  By limiting skills by costs you can also guess more what kind of shields a player could use against you, as well as the ones they just can't.  Chaos will stop many Faith, Ki, and Optical defensive moves.  Reduce Entropy can stop some of the more popular Psycho Defenses.(though there still are some Psycho Options usable with it out)  Nature probably has the most flexible shield set against Reduce Entropy and Chaos.  

3) Memory Lapse can limit defense a lot. Force the opponent to use the shield and that defense is no longer an issue.  

4)  Messing with aura with environmentals like Irregular Rhythm or Fatigue can be effective at stopping opponent's from using costly shields comfortably.

5)  If someone has put the Optimization environmental out, and they're troubling you with expensive defenses like Reverse or Fortress of Iron, take the Optimization down. You’ll make it a lot harder for them to defend or use these expensive moves including one's like Charge and Retreat.

6)  You can use arsenals that revolve around single use moves or use Recall to worry less about getting moves erased.(As long as you have some moves that actually break some shields)

Erase skills are great for keeping someone in check by lowering their Level, getting rid of pesky moves, negating strength boosters, or just erasing people to death by destroying all of the opponents' remaining capsules.

Anti Erase Skills - One of the easier ways of dealing with erase skills is to add the skill Orb or Amulet to your arsenal.(these do not stop capsule erasing or attacks or shields that have an erase effect.) You can use erase skills that delete erase skills from people’s hands like Turbulence or Wind Pressure. There is the environmental Commandments that stops all erase skills from being used for one minute. Necronomicon stops attack skills with erase effects from erasing you when they damage you.(Like Lightning Sword)

Attacks / Defenses that Protect Against Erase - Photon Barrier, Reincarnation, and Arrow of Artemis will retain themselves if you have enough aura to pay for retaining those skills when you're hit by erase skills.  Even better is how these skills are often targeted by skills like Disremember, making it harder for someone to erase your other skills. Retain effect/Single Use moves are also immune to the commonly used Erase skill known as Lack.  If you have several single use skills equipped you can also bait people into wasting Lack on you.  

Skills that lock to your buttons like Seal of Death or Sign of Saints also have protection from erase moves.  If you're skill is locked or you have enough to retain the attacks listed, you can stop erase shields from erasing those attacks.  For example, if you have 6 aura and you shoot Reincarnation at someone's erase shield like Flash Hole, you can prevent Reincarnation from being erased. (You get to break the erase shield at the same time if you do enough damage)

Holding on to Aura Particles - Holding onto aura particles can also help stop Heat from the Void or Vicious Balance from being as effective.(Use the particle after a Vicious Balance occurs ) If you have about 7 Level you might not need to really bring yourself up to 8 right away, if you find you do you can always use the aura particle any time anyway. Skills like Disremember can target aura particles in your hand first before going after more valued skills. This will also have attacks like Psycho Burst do less damage to you.  The only risk of holding the particles is they could get erased by a Turbulence or Wind Pressure.  If you hear the sound of the skill Turbulence, its best to use your aura particles to avoid its erase stun effect.

Counter Environmentals - If there are only certain erase skills that really get to you, you could even use something like Anti School Environmentals, Reduce Entropy, or Chaos to reduce the choices of erase skills usable.(Be aware Chaos will negate Orb and Amulet though, but it will screw Vicious Balance arsenals especially if they don't have a 3 cost anti environmentals)  Although it's not the perfect solution, Optimization can nullify a lot of the harm that Level erasing skills cause.  

Dealing with Capsule Erasers - As for dealing with people who want to erase capsules, one of the best ways is to wait for them to try and then shoot them when they’re in the act of erasing capsules. The sound of capsule erasing is pretty loud, so if your away from your spawn you are likely to notice that something is going on by the sound going off. You can check your skill count to get an idea of what’s going on. If you're capsules have changed in some way that is another sure sign. 

Recall Protection - Recall can help in dealing with erase arsenals that don’t lower your level.

Use Some Low Cost Moves - If you have some low costing skills in your arsenal, you will not be hurt as badly by skills that lower your Level. 

Some Protection Against "Your" Erase Skills - Orb/Amulet can protects against some of your own erase moves(like Reflected Erase moves or the hole version of Disintegrate ). It won’t protect against any automatic Hit All erase moves like Vicious Balance or Quantum Decay used by you.  If you're teammate uses a Hit All erase skill, Orb/Amulet will protect you from its effect.

If You Can't Beat Them... - Carry your own erase skills. Throwing in a Vicious Balance can bring opponents down to your level if you're losing a lot of level.

Making sure Erase skills work and other tricks

Do they have Orb/Amulet?   If your opponent doesn’t have any yellow in his hand then your erase skill will succeed if it hits. But if he does have yellow you will have to think about whether they have Orb or Amulet in hand and whether using a one time use skill is worth the risk it if it might get canceled. If you see someone using a known yellow skill like Dazzle, then you know the single yellow move isn't Orb/Amulet and can freely erase them.

Freeze to Almost Guarantee Erase- If you want to almost guarantee an erase skill will work on your opponent one of the better ways is to use skills that freeze all their buttons like Ice Sword, Glacial wall, Freeze Gas, and Chill Breeze(when timed with a partner). You can use Frostbite on any yellow skills to prevent them from working.(if they have no yellow skills that aren't Frozen then they can't prevent your erase moves' effects.  Freezing someone and then trying to erase a retain skill like Reincarnation won’t work though.(unless they can’t pay the 2 aura to retain)   

Greedy Spirit to Counter Orb/Amulet - Another option to beat Orb or Amulet is to hit someone with the attack named Greedy Spirit, and then use an erase move before the player regenerates 1-2 aura for Amulet/Orb.  Greedy Spirit drops a person's aura to zero when it hits a person, disabling Orbs and Amulets.  (You have to erase very quick though for this to work)

Greedy Spirit to Erase Retain Move( Reincarnation) - If you hit someone with Greedy Spirit and a move that Erases skills you're guaranteed to erase even difficult to erase retain moves like Reincarnation or Photon Barrier. (because the player can't pay the retain cost)

Other Deleting Retain Skills Strategy - If you know your opponent has Reincarnation and you want to erase it with Tiger Slayer, wait for their aura to get below 2 and then hit them with it.  They won't be able to pay the retain cost and can lose their Reincarnation.

Acceleration - This environmental is sometimes used to speed up capsule erasing.  Especially with Recall arsenals with multi capsule erasers like Violent Change..  

Necronomicon to counter retain attacks - This environmental takes away the add effect on attacks.  This takes away the retain ability Reincarnation and Arrow of Artemis have so you can erase it or make the skill only single use.(basically erasing it after its next use)  It will also let you use erase shields and low defense shields more safely as piercing is removed from attacks.

Call, Speed Up, Violent Change, Recall - A nice use of Call  I saw someone do was to use Call and Speed Ups to run away from his opponent and quickly pick up more capsules with Call so that he could repeatedly Violent Change his opponent who couldn't catch up to him.

Deceptive Capsule Erasing -  If you are erasing capsules or walking to your opponent's capsules and look like you're going to erase one, you can trick your opponent who's watching.  If you use a crawler type move, it has a similar animation to single capsule erasers.(Like Shatter)  People will think they can make an attack on you and leave themselves open to a crawler attack. They also might not put their shield up in time if caught by surprise.  

Fake "Diabolical Trick" - The skills Shatter and Eliminate have similar animations to Diabolical Trick.  But they either can't erase an aura particle capsule or a skill capsule.  You may be able to trick opponents into thinking you do have Diabolical Trick.  If they see you go to their capsules and erase one with Shatter or Eliminate they might think you have Diabolical Trick.  If the opponent seems eager to pick up another capsule before you can delete it, you can walk up to another capsule that your Shatter or Eliminate can't erase.  If the opponent is too eager to pick up a capsule before letting you erase it, you can start up Shatter or Eliminate's animation and trick them into picking up the capsule even if your capsule erasing move can't actually erase it.  You might get away with this a few times before they realize what you're actually doing to them.  

Extra Erase Trick - If you fire an erase skill at someone in the air and they don't have Orb or Amulet they will get knocked out of the sky and take fall damage.  Neutralization can do this even if you don't have a stat to erase on someone with it.  This even works with the hit all skills like Crush.

More Erase Strategies - If you want to see more ideas with erase check out the arsenals section, especially the Erase arsenal types and the Recall section.  Here's 2  arsenal listings you can check to see:

To see Erasing types: Click here

To see Recall with strategies including Erasing types : Click here

Environmentals are the light blue skills that create little light blue crystals on the field when used. Only one can be out at a time.  Anyone who tries to put an environmental down while another is already out will have their Environmental not work, and skill leaves the player's hand.  If you walk up to the environmental crystal on the stage, you can pick it up like an aura particle to disable it. Environmentals are powerful and can be used for many different reasons. They change something about what’s going on in the game.  If you want to see the arsenal section listing about all the  different Floating Environmental arsenal strategies, check out the Floating Environmentals Arsenal Strategy section.

This trick is regarded by some as a cheap tactic but many consider it legitimate, including the original creators.  It is available for you to use whether you think it really belongs in the game or not. It makes some arsenal ideas much more workable and can create some interesting situations.

Basically one goes on top of a place in a level where there is a destructible object or floor. They place the environmental skill over the destructible area and then destroy the floor or object.  This  effectively floats the blue crystal in the air so it can’t be picked up.(if the object they did it off of is high/unreachable enough) If you jump in the air to try to take down the floating environmental crystal, you will find that despite the logic of this you can not take it down.  Pair this up with a skill like Reduce Entropy or Memory Lapse and you’ll find you have the ability to severely cripple quite a few arsenals with just a single floated environmental. There are many environmentals that can take advantage of this. Keep in mind just because you can float an environmental, it's not always best to float an environmental because you can find that it's actually helping your opponent more than yourself.(Optimization) Since Orb/Amulet will protect against Anti Environmental erase skills, they can make it even more difficult to take down a floated environmental.  If the tip of your head can touch the Environmental from the ground you can still take it down.

Alternate ways to float an Environmental - If you jump down on an object from a high height, it can eventually break an object and allow it to float.  It has to be done more than once sometimes on larger objections.  Another option is to use a Hit All move that causes you to fall on an object to cause Environmental floating.  To see a demonstration of this, click here.

Use Skills that Stop Environmentals - Put erase skills in your arsenal that get rid of environmentals. (Judgement, Crush, Starting Point, Return to Nature) You could also try to erase an opponent’s skills to stop them from ever putting it out. Certain erase skills like Turbulence will get rid of environmentals in players’ hands.  Wind pressure and some other direct Ki Erase moves can potentially take out Environmentals held by an opponent.  

**THIS IS UNDERLOOKED -  If you time the use of your environmental erasing skill you can erase more environmentals than you think. Example: You see your opponent is carrying an Environmental in his hand. You have Crush in your hand. Normally that will erase any Environmental that is out but one Environmental it can’t stop once it's out is Reduce Entropy.  Reduce Entropy stops any skill from being used that costs 3 or more.  So… Wait for your opponent to start up the animation for Reduce Entropy. As he is in the process of doing the animation to make it take effect, use Crush. If you time it right your opponent will put the Environmental into play and Crush’s effects will take effect right after Reduce Entropy has taken affect.  Since Crush was done before Reduce Entropy actually came into effect it will still work and erase the Reduce Entropy that is out. You couldn't have erased it with Crush if you tried to use it any time after it took effect. While you won't see if the player's environmental might actually be useful to you, generally it's better to erase someone’s environmental before it takes place than finding out later that it’s really bad for you.

*Note: This will not stop Memory Lapse’s effect of making a skill single use. (It will erase Memory Lapse, of course before you lose it, unless the opponent had a usable Orb or Amulet)

Use your own Environmental skills - Even float them.(not a requirement though) If you aren’t using an environmental skill in your arsenal then you should really take a look and see if there’s not anything that you could possibly use for something, even if it's Unison.(which if you hide it, your opponent may try to put their Environmental out and waste it before he realizes you have it out) If you're environmental is out, opponents will have  to come to you to get it or find a skill that erases it to put their own out. You could even lay landmines by it. Your opponent is likely to not even see ones like Vapor Cloud because it only gives off a gaseous affect that the glow of the environmental further obscures. With Freeze Mine, it can help stop your opponent from even picking up the environmental. If you don’t think your opponent is going to play an environmental later you could always take down the environmental to get an aura particle you need. Cheap costing ones at 2 or 3 aura can often sub for an aura particle without too much cost to your arsenal's speed.  Knowing about land mine traps it would be a good idea to shoot something by an environmental that is out so you can avoid land mines yourself.

Destroy places that an opponent is likely to float the Environmental skill at -  You will have to learn the layouts of each level.  Depending on the level this can be a hard task to complete. You could always choose levels where it’s not as easy to float if you really want to avoid it.  Even delaying someone's ability to float an environmental can help you win the match.  The Lane levels do not have any place where it can be floated. There are sections in the Stages Section at each stage listing that tell you some of the best places to float or place environmentals.

Did the player really float the Environmental? - Walk towards the environmental skill if it’s in the air. If your head can touch it while you're on the ground then you can still pick it up. You’d be surprised by the places where you could position yourself on the ground to reach high enough to touch the Environmental. See if you can reach at the ledge where environmentals seems to be floating, you might be able to reach out and touch it to take it down.

Punish them - If you know your opponent wants to float the Environmental, get your attacks ready.(this even goes even if he just wants to use the environmental) The second he starts up the animation hit him. If you're fast enough you’ll cancel out the animation. Even if he still manages to float the environmental after getting hit a few times, it could cost him the match.

Don’t give up! - Your arsenal may get severely crippled but your opponent may not actually have a good game plan to finish you off. You could always get a draw by dodging everything. And use debris to hurt your opponent.

Against Orb and Amulet - If your opponent has a yellow skill equipped, they may have Orb or Amulet which can protect against Environmental erasing moves. Your best bet is to Freeze your opponent’s buttons or wait for them to have 0 aura if they're using Memory Lapse or before using a one use environmental eraser. For any other environmental you could try to use infinite use ones repeatedly to lower opponent level so that Orb or Amulet can no longer protect against it.(Amulet gets exhausted on its 3rd use)  Also if you can tell that the only yellow skill your opponent using is something like Dazzle or Dash, then you're free to erase the Environmental.  Greedy Spirit with really fast timing of an erase move is another option to erase an environmental against Orb/Amulet users.

If you want to see specific arsenal strategies on floating/using Environmentals go to the Floating Environmental Arsenals section.

There are a variety of skills in this game that change the traits of your characters. This includes changes in Strength, Speed, Homing, Aura Regeneration(how quickly your aura recharges), Invulnerability to damage,(Void), and Cloaking(Optical Camo among others), and Mind Reading ability.  Traits that are purely negative include poisoned buttons, frozen button(s), scrambled buttons, paralysis state, being decoyed(can only lock onto the person who Decoyed you).  Having a boost in stats over an opponent can sometimes turn the match over to you.  All these moves are important to consider in dealing with other people’s arsenals.

Skills like Purify or Neutralization will negate any of the above effects on a player.  They carry a brief stun effect with them when they neutralize any effect.(including against Decoy and Mind Reading) Sometimes you can use this to your advantage to stun a person and follow up with an attack.

Armaros, Armaros Watch, and Angel’s Breath - These skills will reverse any of the number based stat moves. You can also stun people with Armaros moves if an environmental is out that gives someone a numbered stat. It won’t reverse the stat created by an Environmental though, but it still stuns.(which is a good Dazzle length stun time)  If a person's stat numbers break out to even values these moves won't stun the player or even reverse stats.  So if you have -1 attack on you and someone puts Lunar Force out, you'll display zero plus or minus status effects and won't be able to reverse your stats.  You can avoid the stun effect from these moves while you're stats are not listed as a plus or minus number.  But you also can't reverse the -1 attack attribute on you.  So if Lunar Force is taken away, you will be back to -1 attack.  It's useful to keep this in mind when you want to reverse your stats.  Lunar Force will have to be disabled to reverse your lowered attack power in this example.  

Environmental Stats - When thinking of trying to affect stats, don’t forget about using Environmentals. One Burden combined with Increased Gravity will dramatically lower an opponent’s speed.

Strategies around Changes in Stats

Changes in Strength - A change in strength will make your attacks stronger or weaker. This should be especially noted in using attacks that have cheap casting cost that are often weaker without stat boosters. Some skills are much more effective when they have an extra boost in strength. Tiger’s Strength and Trance are both great stat boosters that you can use over and over without worrying as much about being purified or Armarosed for long. Fire of Gehenna can do 6 damage but with just 1 extra strength it can break a lot more shields in the game.   Projectile, rain, and hole attacks that hit that do 3-4 damage cause a player to stagger briefly in their movement when hit.  If an mid-long range attack does 2 or less damage, characters hit by it will be able to recover and move quicker than when they get hit by a 3-4 damage version of the attack.  Other strength stat boosters include Heat, Stimulate, Friendship, and Lunar Force. Although Trance and Tiger’s Strength can’t be combined to get +4 strength, other stat boosters like Heat and Lunar Force can be used in combination with Trance or Tiger’s Strength to get more than +2 strength.(Martials Arts Scroll can’t be combined with Tiger’s Strength or Trance either)

Make 0 cost moves do damage - Some notable skills to boost strength on are the charge up moves you can spend 0 aura to use over and over. With a stat buff they will do damage even though you spent nearly 0 aura. It can be difficult for someone to try to dodge several Ki Palms, Ki Cannons, or Gungnirs.  

Make Penalties of Attacks Worthwhile - A lot of faith attacks with life penalties benefit greatly from strength stat boosts. Scream of Evil is a much weaker skill without strength boosts.

Make Attacks Extra Punishing - If you use moves like Pursuit or Backdraft Bullet and stat buffs, you can do a dramatically more damage to an opponent. Let's say you use tiger’s strength and then flame sword an opponent for 5, you can then follow up with pursuit to do 5 more damage. That’s typically half of someone’s life with just one connected blow.

Fatal Combinations - 2 Gravity Presses with +2 strength will do 20 damage.

With the right numbers you can make some very devastating attack combos.

Another nice example is having +2 strength with Trance and hitting someone with Greedy Spirit for 4, follow up with Swift Blow for 9 while their stunned from Greedy Spirit, and then Sky Pursuit them for 5. This combination does 18 damage for just 2 aura.

Knockdown Effect - There is a general rule in this game that any combination of projectiles that do 5 or more damage within roughly 3 seconds will knock an opponent down. If a close range move deals damage to an opponent and it adds up to 3 or more damage within 3 seconds, the attack will knock your opponent down. 

Examples Explaining Knockdown Effect Differences:  Someone shoots a Sonic Boom and hits a target for 1 damage. One second later the same target  is Psycho Knifed for 2 damage.  This total adds up to 3 damage which causes a knockdown when 3 or more total damage is done in short range.  To clarify the difference if you Psycho Knife someone for 2 damage and a second later hit them with Sonic Boom for 1 damage they will remain standing as projectile damage combinations must add up to 5 or more to cause knockdown.  (in this example another 2 damage from projectiles need to be done within in the same 3 seconds to cause a knockdown)  

Knockdown Benefits - By boosting strength and knocking an opponent down, you make it easier to continue attacks on them, plus you bought yourself time to regenerate aura. If you have attacks that work while someone’s down, it's easier to set them up with your strength boosts causing more knockdown opportunities.  A 2 damage Ice Sword might not take out an opponent with a few hits but if you boost up the strength of the sword it becomes that much more realistic to take someone out with mostly an Ice Sword.  The knockdown effect helps your aura recharge to  keep up with the increased aura cost that occurs every time you use Ice Sword.

Exceptions to Knockdown - Some specialized projectiles and short range moves will knock someone down even if they do less than 5 damage(projectiles) or 3 damage(melee). Thor’s Hammer, Vampire Bats, and Succubus Tempt are some that knock down despite doing less than the usual amounts.  High-Speed Punch must do 5 or more damage to cause knockdown.  Explosions will knock someone over even if they do 0 damage.  

Boosts in Strength Will Effect Multi Attack Moves - Skills like Triple Laser shoot 3 different lasers each doing one damage.  If you boost yourself +2 each laser gets the +2 bonus.  If someone decides to block all 3 lasers,  their shield will take 9 damage and break.  Other moves that have this effect are Ricochet Laser, Ground Laser, Double Laser, and Octolaser.  

Loss of Strength - There are skills that lower your strength. Usually it's only negative to lose strength. Less moves will knock an opponent down in one blow and some moves become pretty useless. There might be an attack though that works better with less strength because it doesn’t knock down an opponent because of lowered strength. On the plus side if your opponent has lowered attack power, your shields will have a better chance of lasting longer.

Earthquake + Digestion and lowered attack - Some moves that can have beneficial effects with lowered Strength include doing the combo of Earthquake with - 1 strength by something like Holy Ray. You block the Earthquake you used with the shield Digestion to gain life. You can do this over and over and not break the shield where Earthquake normally would break digestion at its normal 3 damage strength.

Fast Bomb For 0 Damage -  If you can lower your strength by 2, you can do 0 damage to knock yourself down over and over.  If timed right you can avoid some attacks by blowing yourself up for 0 damage.  Being put into the knock down state makes you semi-invulnerable to many slower moves in the game.

A Few Multiple Hit Options Become Available With Lowered Attack Power -  Lightning Sword can erase 2 shields on an opponent before knocking them down if you have -1 strength.   Storm blade can erase 3 attacks before knocking someone down if you don't boost your strength.  With -1 attack Storm Blade  can erase 4 attacks without ever knocking someone down.  With +1 strength it can only erase 2 attacks before it knocks the opponent down.  Though possible some of this requires a lot of aura or Optimization.  One other possible move that might be useful with -1 attack is Blazing Storm.  It will hit for 4 damage and cause a player to stagger when it hits.  With the stagger from the first 4 damage hit, another 4 damage Blazing Rain can hit the player doing a total of 8 damage to the target  before they are knocked down.(instead of knocking someone down with the default 5 damage of Blazing Storm)  Illusion of Death with -1 attack (making it 4 damage)  can go through non course shields, and not down your target as usual.  As they get hit by it and stagger you can follow up with another move.   Dance of Moths comboed with a close range move may have some potential as well.(The now 4 damage Dance of Moths won't knock down a hit opponent, allowing you to combo in another attack)  

Boosted Aura Regen - This makes it easier to do moves over and over again. Meditation and Ethos Inspiration are typically the only skills that are normally positive in aura regen. But it's also possible to Armaros yourself to reverse the lowered aura regen that comes with Heat or Stimulate. There’s also Desertification to lower everyone’s aura regen. Basically this will just change the rate at which someone can do moves.  Depending on what number school case you choose you will have different aura regen rates.  3 School cases are the slowest, and 1 School cases are the fastest.  With a 3 school arsenal you may find the regeneration rate a little slower than desired especially when trying to use moves that costs 5+ aura.  3 school cases are punished the most by having further lowered regen rates.  A boosted Regen rate can help out.  With the correct aura regen rate, there are some infinite stun tricks one can do, including one that is fatal.  It's a little complicated, so if you're a beginner feel free to skip the section about to be linked: Advanced Aura Regen Tricks Section

Speed - Boosted speed can make it much easier to dodge or run from attacks.  It can also help to pursue an opponent. Even a +2 boost in speed makes it much easier to pursue someone  moving at normal speed.(can help close range moves especially) Speed boosts can help avoid situations like someone running around the tree all day at Palace. Lowered Speed does make it harder to dodge too. -4 speed will feel really slow. It should be noted that if you jump around you can actually move faster than walking when you're speed gets this low. Cartwheeling also gets around faster than walking at slow speeds. You will still be able to dodge moves with the cartwheel pretty effectively still and some with jumps as well.  While possible it's still easier to get overwhelmed when being slowed down.  Freia is hurt the most by reduced speed.  This is because their jumps delay movement when landing. Skills that put you in the air like Levitate or Skywalk bypass lowered speed stats. You’ll move at a bit quicker than normal speed with these moves.  Moves to change speeds with include Burden, Speed Up, Lightning Speed, Increased Gravity, Reduced Gravity, and Heat Devil.

Invulnerable State -The Ki skill Void makes all attack skills do 0 damage. It doesn’t negate any effects that come with them. A skill like Dragon Punch, an attack that erases a target's shield when hitting the target, will erase the shield in the Voided player's hand, even though the Voided player takes 0 damage from the Dragon Punch attack.  Erase, Special, and Status skills still work as normal on you as well. Succubus attacks still take Level from you even though they do 0 actual damage to you. You can use Necronomicon to stop those effects while being in the Void state. There is a special status symbol on players in Void's invulnerability state.  You can also notice a large faint circular blue aura surrounding players in the Void state.  

Invisible - While Invisible, you're hard to see and can't be locked onto.  If any skill or effect hits you in any way(including hit all moves) you will be revealed. If you use something like Optical Camo while a projectile is heading right towards you it will still lock on to you.  Anti Environmental skills will reveal you too if you don’t have Orb/Amulet.  Hit All Hole moves that target everyone will still form around Invisible players.(Like Earthquake or Jackpot)  Amulet and Orb can stop Erase based Hit All moves from revealing your character.  (Skills that give invisibility are Optical Camo, Demon's Wing, Place of Invisibility, and Heat Devil)

Scrambled Buttons -The skill Dazzle scrambles the button assignment of skills equipped on a person. However, if you use your control pad(not the analog stick) you can push in each direction to see what skills are assigned to each button until Dazzle's scramble wears off.  (Example:  Push down on the pad to see what skill the A button will perform while Dazzled)  Every time you're Dazzled your skills get newly scrambled.

Movement Paralyzed - Any move like Paralyze, Paralyze Barrier or Still Moment have these electrical lines that surround you and stop you from moving while affected. However, if you don’t move(don’t move on the analog pad) you can still use skills even if they cause you to move a little. It's also possible to jump in place or cartwheel while paralyzed.(you won’t go as far though) Melee moves won’t travel very far when Movement is paralyzed.

Truly Paralyzed - You can’t do anything with this effect and you are totally open unless you suddenly have an auto shield you can use. Moves like Pressure, Pin Down and Entangle have this effect. Lift up and Anti Gravity trap are similar to this except they throw someone up in the sky when they stun.  

Poisoned Buttons - Some skills poison a person so that whenever poisoned players hit a skill button they take 1 damage. You’ll see purple and skulls on your skills till the poison clears. If you poison an opponent it can make it easier to continue to attack them. People often try to avoid using skills when poisoned.  If they do start coming after you, just avoiding their moves will cause them damage. If Backdraft is also down someone will take 2 damage when they press a poisoned button.

Frozen Buttons - Some moves freeze all buttons on a person they affect.(Glacial Wall, Ice Sword among others)  A great time to pursue your opponents is when their frozen. You can also get around Orb/Amulet when they're frozen. Frostbite freezes a single button on a person that can’t be unfrozen unless you use something like Neutralization. Freeze Shot only freezes one button for 10 seconds.  Good at least for momentarily stopping Orb/Amulet.

Decoy - You can only lock onto the person who hit you with Decoy till the effect wears off.(after 10 seconds) If the person is invisible during this time you can’t lock onto anyone.  While the Decoy state doesn't show up as an effect, you can remove it from yourself or others with Purify and other state resetting moves.  Some players have comboed Decoy with Purify to put opponents into longer stun states. ( Decoy then Purify and Follow up with a move that will hit while opponent is stunned by the Purify effect.

Inverted Controls - While this effect is on you, you will move in the opposite direction that you push on the analog. The second this trait disappears you will revert back to normal movement which can throw you off to fall off a ledge if you're not careful. If you think the effect is about to wear off it might be best to stand still.

Boosted Homing - By boosting homing some attacks become impossible to dodge for even cartwheelers. It's also easier to overwhelm someone when you have boosted homing. Loss of homing can make some skills a lot less useful.  Combining Traveling Thought with an Acquisition can be a quick way of giving you very high homing. Combining Dense Fog with a Magnetic Field can dramatically lower an opponent’s homing.  See the next section for more details on homing.

Skills like Acquisition and Traveling Thought improve your homing ability.  Magnetic Field and Dense Fog will reduce homing on players' moves.  

Skills not Affected By Homing Changes - Holes, Rain, Move, Mines, and Close up attacks don't seem to get improvements from homing increases.  They seem just as dodgeable.(but they're just as accurate with lower homing too)

Boosting Homing - While increased homing raises the effectiveness of some skills against a jumping character, it may not significantly improve much in dealing with a cartwheeler’s dodging ability, which may make you reconsider if bothering to spend the time boosting your homing is really worth it.  Cartwheelers generally can dodge many attacks much the same as they did before. While the attacks track better, even many good tracking projectiles with +5 homing can be cartwheeled out of if the player does it correctly. They are still harder to dodge though.  Increased homing will help, just don’t expect most skills to be anything on par with most status and erase skills homing unless you have really high homing.  

You should consider what attacks you're using and how much they actually benefit from homing changes.  A Fire of Gehenna does not really need a boost in homing against jumpers. However, a Scream of Evil may become extra effective with increased homing.  If you do decide to commit to large homing boosting, Fire of Gehenna with +7 homing may be impossible to cartwheel out of.

Fall Skill Boosts - A lot of Fall Skills become undodgeable for jumpers with just + 2 Homing and force a cartwheeler to use their cartwheel.

Limited Skill Boosts - Skills like Rail Gun and Trench Mortar do get more accurate homing, but it can be rather slight and may not be worth it. 

Freia Jumpers - While some moves may not need homing boosts against Regular Jumpers, boosted homing can make certain attacks impossible or less forgiving for Freia to dodge.  Reincarnation seems to become impossible to dodge with them when you're homing is +4.  

Test Skills - Because of all these variations in homing, you're going to have to mess around with the different skills to see just how useful boosted homing will be in your arsenal.

Effects of Lowered Homing - Reduced homing can make you miss your targets quite a bit more with even a small reduction. You may want to reconsider if using Acquisition to boost homing is worth the risk of getting Armarosed into having low homing. Definitely be prepared to have some sort of skill that resets/reverses your homing back to normal or a positive number if you do plan on improving your homing. You may want hold on to an extra acquisition to offset any reversal. The environmental Dense Fog and the skill Magnetic Field directly affect people’s homing in a negative way.  Close range attacks don’t get affected by lowered homing, Dense Fog can fit in great with short range oriented arsenals. 

Dash Boost - Dash can avoid highly accurate status and erase moves when an opponent has just -3 homing. This will make a person with Dash hard to touch.  

Counter Dash - If you get your Homing up to -1 while Dense Fog is out, your highly accurate status / erase moves will not be dodgeable by Dash again.  Doing this allows your Dashes to take advantage of the lowered accuracy of your opponents' Special/Erase skills while you can still have your own status and erase moves be effective against opponents using Dash.

Cartwheelers vs Defaultly Accurate Erase/Special/Status - Reducing someone's homing on highly accurate Erase/Special skills do give cartwheelers more chances to dodge them.  While possible it can still be a challenge to dodge them at medium range when the opponent has as much as -6 homing.(there may be an undodgeable range still at medium, but there is more of a successful dodging window for cartwheels when homing is-6).  However, some of these skills with even -6 homing appear to be impossible to cartwheel dodge when shot at long ranges.  

More Jump Dodging Opportunities - Freia can jump dodge Fire of Gehenna among other things if the homing is at -3.(At least sometimes)  Regular Jumpers with a little more reduced homing on an opponent can jump dodge more moves too. (Even with only -3 homing there will be more skills a Regular Jumper can dodge.  Not as much as Freia though)

Faith Crawlers Affected by Homing - Although crawlers do get affected by having -3 homing, they still do rather well against cartwheelers in the open.  Something like -6 homing crawlers do become much easier to divert or even just escape by rolling and moving away from even in open areas.

Spamming, Combination Attacks, and Combos vs. Boosted Homing - When making an arsenal think about if you really benefit from boosted homing or if spamming single attacks, using combinations of attacks, or combo stuns will be more effective.  Another idea to consider is whether you would rather use skills that lower someone’s speed as a way of hitting them easier. Or you could lower their speed and raise your homing to make things really difficult.

Manual Aiming is a technique that gets more and more useful once you start learning the nature of this game. You manually aim by turning off the lock on with the R Trigger button. It does not matter where your character is facing, you will aim in the direction where you have the camera facing. You could run backwards and have the camera rotated on to the right, the second you activate an attack your character will turn towards the direction the camera is facing and will fire.(into the air, ground, or wherever you're aiming)  Keep in mind you can shoot attacks downward with manual aim while in the air.

Manual Aiming is good for the following reasons:

1)  Fake Out Opponent Shields -  The easiest use, you can intentionally miss an opponent to psych him out and make him use his shields. He’ll waste his aura and if it’s a one time use one like Eraser he’ll have wasted it completely.  You can use this to avoid erase shields and still get your attacks through if you have more aura than he can handle for your attacks. By seeing his shields you can see if your attack has what it takes to break the shield.(with experience you’ll start to know what shields look like which)  By finding out he has a Glacial Wall or a Flash Hole and you only have a Bullet of Fire it's probably not going to be worth it to continue to pursue him with a Bullet of Fire if you know he’s going to block it. 

2) **Under Noticed - Going through certain Course Shields Weakness: Manually aimed projectiles will go through the defense skills Gust, Bend, and Change Course which would otherwise divert any projectile attack at a very low cost. It makes no sense why manual shots get through them but that’s just how it goes.  

3)  Gives Safety Against Reflecting and Reversing Shields - Your manually aimed attack will generally not hit you if it gets Reversed/Reflected back at you.  The only times they'll really hit you is if you actually make the effort to line yourself up with the attack they reflected.(if you don’t try you’ll be fine) That doesn’t mean explosions these reflected attacks have aren’t going to hurt you.  But on the whole you are going to be pretty safe from manually aimed attacks that are Reversed/Reflected.  Doesn't make sense but it works.  

4) Explosive attacks - Skills like Bomb Shot can be used in new ways. Fire at the ground your opponent is heading towards a location and you could catch him in the explosion. You can fire something like a Bomb Shot on the ground in front of someone using Reverse, the explosion will go through the opponents shield and nail him.(Works against Brush and Absorb shields too)   Bomb can be used similarly as an explosion, it’s much harder to do since it’s a parabola attack and gets thrown at a set distance when manually aimed.  Still you can once in a while have manually aimed explosions from parabola bombs hit people.

5) Better than Regular Homing - Some people find skills like Rail Gun more effective when they manually aim with it.  Some have gotten so good at it that you have to put your shield up or cartwheel even in close range to hope to dodge them.  Manual aiming shots can be more effective against an opponent than the default tracking some projectiles perform.  The unpredictability of your manual aim can be more threatening to opponents as well.  

6) Laser and Arc Attack Benefits -  Manual aiming Arc attacks let you make the most of what you have. Skills that arc aren’t usually going to hit someone when they are out of optimal range when you are locked on to them. However, you can still hit people with Laser and Sonic Boom type of attacks if you aim it manually so the arc the attack has curves towards your opponent. This can make these attacks quite effective at closer ranges.  One of the best and easiest skills to practice manual aim with is Vibration Laser.   It has a pretty good arc with which it can hit people with.  It is fast and cheap so it can be threatening to opponents thinking of getting close and hard to time blocking.  Among good places to try manual aiming at would be on narrow stairways where you opponent has little room to move. While you can chain two Vibration Lasers pretty quickly to knock someone down, having attack power raised to by +2 can knock people over in just one shot with it.  

7) Blow Up Land Mines on the Field-  It can be a safer way to get rid of someone’s land mines than walking close towards them or using a shield.  Instead, manually aim at the ground where the mine is.  (works on every mine type except Remote Mine and Timer Mine)  Manual aiming moves that cause explosions, or are Hole based, Move Type, or Killer Satellite can even destroy  Remote and Timer Mines and also be able to detonate any other mines they manage to hit.  

8) "Manual Aim" with Close attacks - When you perform close range attacks without being locked on to someone, you will perform a default attack animation and generally not move very far. Usually you go in a forward direction about a step. You can do this to try to throw off an opponent who’s dodging your attacks too well with lock on always on. Mixing up lock on with manual aim can make close up attacks harder to anticipate. Some of your opponents will also try to dodge you while at a ledge and to try to lead you to fall off from the charging forward you normally do when lock on is used with short range moves.  If you turn off lock on when you're close to ledge you will avoid possibly falling off and still have a chance of hitting your opponent anyway.(you’ll only take a step and perform the attack) You could use a close up attack at far close range with lock on turned off to trick your opponent into using his shield or aura without getting affected by something like an erase shield or flying into someone’s photon wave. Be careful to stay distant with this because it's pretty easy for someone to catch many close up attacks that intentionally stop short with an erase shield anyway.(Especially swords)

9) "Manual Aim" with Parabola Attacks - No matter how you aim towards the ground or the sky, you will always fire parabola attacks at the same distance in the direction you point the camera at. Only jumping and firing will vary the area where parabolas will land.  You may have some luck with explosive moves though once in a while with this.

10) "Manual Aim" Rain Attacks - With lock on off, Rain attacks appear at a default distance every time.  You can guide Rain to locations to destroy debris or potential landmines at locations.  Even Killer Satellite manually aimed can blow up landmines.  When Killer Satellite is not locked on to someone at long range, the distance it appears at will be a medium range instead. Other manual rain skills may have different than default ranges too.  

11) "Manual Aim" Holes - Hole attacks have a default location where they appear as well when manually aiming. Hole attacks that target everyone go after their targets in the same way with lock on being on or off.(Tremor, Massive Quake, Jackpot, Earthquake)  You can manually aim hole moves to detonate landmines on the ground.(Like with Pin Down)

12) Reduced Homing - If someone has decreased your homing ability, manual aim may be your only chance of hitting your opponent with some attacks.

13) Manual Aimed Crawlers - Will just follow a straight path. It might be possible to fake an opponent out but it's pretty obvious when you're firing away from an opponent with these.

14) Hitting Hiding Players -  When using manual aim, if you touch any part of a person with your attack it counts as a hit.  It doesn't matter if it's their head their foot.  So if someone is hiding behind a pole you may be able to hit a body part that is slightly exposed.

Drawbacks of Manual Aim and X damage attacks relying on something about an opponent. - Some attacks in this game do X damage to an opponent depending on something about the opponent. Some examples are do X damage according to how much aura opponent has,(Aura Backflow) or how much more life they have than you.(Judge of Anubis) If you manually aim attacks like this that do X damage, they will do only 0 damage + whatever extra strength buffs you have on yourself.(its dumb but that’s how their programmed)  Example : Fire Heat from the Void manually at someone with no buttons assigned and it will do 0 damage.(when it would do 8 locked onto someone) Use Tiger’s Strength and manually aim and you’ll only do 2 damage with no lock on.(when it would do 10 with locked on shots) This rule does not apply to Finisher, Compressor, Crystallization, Memory of Battle, Bundled Blaster and Laser,  and X skills you charge up to do damage with.(Ki Palm, Gungnir etc.) Only the ones that rely on something about your opponent will do only 0 + X whatever strength buff you have on yourself when used without lock on.  

The only time this can be used strictly to your advantage is with manually aimed Joke or Judge of Anubis.  If your life is too low or too high for these moves to do damage, your damage can be reduced to 0 even if you're using stat buffs.  Locked on versions of these moves can end up doing less damage than a manually aimed version. (It's not very practical though)  An example with Joke of Anubis: Your opponent has 20 Life and you have 19.  You have +1 strength.  If you fire Joke of Anubis while locked on in this situation, you'll do 0 damage.  If you manually aimed Joke of Anubis in this situation you will do 1 damage to the target.  

Each skill has a range listed that states where they are best used at. In many cases these descriptions are accurate. Other times these ranges are off in some way. There are quite a few attack skills that can reach a little past the listed medium range and still hit. Others have a true long range reach despite having an incorrect description.(Rail Gun, Spore Schism) I think Rail Gun can be less forgiving to dodge at longer ranges even. All crawlers besides Crawling Bullet can reach long ranges. An even bigger issue is that most status, special, and erase skills can go way further than the ranges listed and have really good accuracy anyway. Manual aim makes some skills like Bomb Shot and arc attacks practical at closer ranges too.  For other skills it's not really going to matter what range you fire at. Most crawlers and a manually aimed Bomb Shot are just as effective or more effective at shorter ranges. Impact Burst can be harder to anticipate when its shot at a closer range. A Bomb Shot is actually probably easiest to dodge at long range.

I have no definitive list at this time of Attack skills that reach longer ranges than listed, it's best to just experiment at this point in time.  Some moves with different distances than listed:

1)  The Following Attacks can reach Long Distances: Rail Gun, Power, Psycho Kinesis, Entangle, Tree of Fang, Root of Tree, Curse of Earth, and Disremember can go long distances.

2)  Good at any range :  Ricochet Laser (just as good at short and medium ranges,) Rapid Cannon, Charged Particle , Venom Fang, Crawlers, Impact Burst, Ground Laser.

3)  All other Status, Erase, and Special moves are very accurate at long range except :  Freeze Shot, Cooling, and Vacuum Bullet.

4)  Bloody Ritual - This skill can reach quite a bit further than medium range but not nearly as long ranged as most erase skills.(Generally not as accurate either)

Long Range Distance Limit - Although some moves are fully "long range" there is a long distance limit for some skills but not for some others.  Many long range moves can not home or track a target that is roughly past 60,000. (I don't know what the measurement units are but when you lock on to a target you see a number that goes up or down as you move depending on the distance between you and the target.)  Many lasers have the 60,000 range limit.  

In Phantom Dust there are many destructible things in the environment. Use them to your advantage and be careful of areas where things are likely to get messy. Certain debris will actually float around erratically by simply being hit by something. The Dawn City type of levels debris can be hard to predict the movement of.  Falling debris can do up to 9 damage.

A harmless seeming broken bridge that is barely moving can still hurt you, so don't assume their safe even though sometimes you can walk through the falling apart debris that is settling.  

A sign floating ever so slowly on Dawn City can knock you over.  Be careful of the couches at Panorama, swords like Psycho Blade start swinging behind you and can launch couch debris into you if you're not careful.  You could even try baiting opponents into attacking you by them.  

Remember it is not just your attack skills that can make debris fly. Anything like a status skill will often make debris fly after a single or a few hits. Other times a move will require a higher strength to be able to destroy certain pieces of debris.  Some short range moves can strangely be unable to break certain debris at times.

Some debris like the bridge pieces in Palace will disappear only after they start to settle to the ground. People are generally a little more cautious to do anything when this happens because they don’t want to get hurt themselves. However, while these pieces are disappearing it’s the perfect time to fire off an attack that will go through the disappearing debris to catch your opponent off guard.

If you're are disabled by something or you just don’t have anything in your arsenal left to take care of your opponent try to draw him to locations where he could accidentally cause debris to fall on him. Even the smallest bit of debris can do damage and it could be enough to end the match in your favor. Watch as your opponent tries to Flame Sword you to death as he accidentally hits something seemingly harmless like a table doing the 2 damage you need to take him out.

Any objects you see on the level that are solid and can’t be destroyed can be used to protect yourself from attacks. Classic examples are the poles in Palace, where once the tops are broken you can stand in front of what’s left of the pole and anything shot at you that hits it will be nullified.(with some exceptions). This can even make it harder for some melee attacks to hit you. Destructible debris can be used for protection but be ready to dodge it when it breaks.  

A Hit All skill is a skill that will affect everyone on the field regardless of any dodging/shield ability. In this guide, Hit All moves don't include moves that create holes or affect capsules.  Skills like Mobilize, Still Moment, Armaros and Quantum Decay fit the description of a Hit All skill. If you jump into the air at the right time as a Hit All skill is taking affect you will get knocked down. This is useful for a few reasons:

Cancel or Reduce Stun Effects -  Some of the best skills to jump in the air for when they're about to take effect are Mobilize and Still Moment. If you stand up and you are not in the air, no matter what you will be affected by these moves.  Why get teleported to your opponent’s spawn point by Mobilize when you don't have to?  And although Still Moment will still paralyze you for a very brief second as you get up, you have a greater chance of not getting hit by the attack your opponent intends to land on you.  

Many Hit All skills leave a stun effect that often occurs when being affected by a Hit All skill.  Some only give you that stun effect if an erase/status skill will work on you.(Getting Purified or Armarosed when having +1 attack power)  Other moves force the stun effect.(Quantum Amp)  Some player could attempt to fire a slow moving attack at you and then cast a Hit All skill that stuns you as the attack heads towards you which you won't be able to escape.  If you jump you can avoid the stun and probably the attack entirely. In tag team matches or even Battle Royale your opponents have a greater chance of setting this up as one can cast the Hit All skill with a stun effect while another person fires an attack at you as the stun effect is about to occur.  

There will be times when you would rather be hit by the stun effect while standing, but this is just one more option you have available as a jumper. There is less of a delay if you just let yourself get stunned versus jumping to make yourself fall into a mostly invulnerable state. It may be more useful to just let yourself be stunned when you're closely pursuing an opponent.(but risky)

Any Hit All skill will automatically knock an opponent out of the air. Skills that may not be too useful in a situation get extra uses with this tactic. Have an opponent who keeps taking to the air, why not use Crush to knock them out of the air and make them take fall damage? Skills like Orb and Amulet protect against erase effects that do this  but just about any other Hit All skill will knock someone out of the air no matter what.

*The only Hit All skills that will not knock you out of the sky as it takes effect are the skills Phantom Dust and Place of Invisibility.

Using a Hit All Move to Float an Environmental - If you use a Hit All move that affects you while standing at the edge of a ledge your character can go into a fall state causing your body to crash to the ground.(Except when using Mobilize yourself)   When your body goes crashing to the ground, if you are near the object you put an Environmental over, your body crashes and will destroy the object without taking damage provided you took a short fall.  This is useful if you have no other skill to break an object with when floating your environmental.  Just be aware that if you fall from a high enough level your body will take fall damage.  Below is a video showing the idea in action:

These next 2 sections may be a little confusing to some, so if you're new to this you might want to skip this section.  Click here to skip the next 2 sections.  Coming back to it may give you new ideas in the game though.

An example of a timing trick was explained already in dealing with Environmental Floating.  Basically, the idea of timing Hit All effects in certain ways can give you new ways of getting past people’s arsenals or other effects. In the Environmental Floating section it explained how Crush is able erase Reduce Entropy in the right situation.  Here’s another use of timing skills to work together. Timing Tricks can often be taken advantage of more easily in a tag team match.

Example: Chill Breeze, this skill freezes everyone’s buttons for 10 seconds automatically. This seems kind of limited in use.  However, if you take a teammate and have him fire Neutralization at you right as the Chill Breeze is about to take effect, you will be hit by Neutralization and unfrozen while everyone else runs around frozen. This opens a lot of options for you. Some powerful things can be done with everyone else frozen. If you really want, it's possible to Neutralize your teammate and then have him Annoying Gift Neutralization and Chill Breeze over and over to freeze your opponents infinitely if you don't mess up the timing.  I’ll talk a little more about strategies with this in the Chill Breeze Loop Arsenals section.  A video clip of this example is here:

Another Example: Say you and your tag teammate are running arsenals that make use of Vicious Balance heavily as part of your strategy. You're running arsenals that are Ki and Faith only. You already tried to Vicious Balance your opponents once only to find that both their Orb and Amulet skill has stopped it. You really need to lower their Level but you can’t seem to get them to lower their aura down to a point where they couldn’t use Orb/Amulet. You just got another Vicious Balance which costs 2 to use. Your teammate has been holding onto Chaos(Enviro which makes skills that cost 2 or less unusable like Orb and Amulet)  With Chaos you can actually override your opponents Orb and Amulet and still use Vicious Balance on them.(even though Vicious Balance costs 2 itself) If you coordinate with your team mate where as he’s placing Chaos down you use Vicious Balance while he’s already doing the animation to put Chaos out, if all is timed right, not only will Chaos stop your opponent’s Orbs/Amulets from protecting them but your Vicious Balance will still carry through and harm them. This is because with correct timing, Chaos’ restriction on 2 cost skills takes effect before the use of Vicious Balance actually starts to take effect. With Chaos actually out you can’t use Vicious Balance but since you used it right before Chaos actually takes effect, you overrode its restriction while still managing to negate your opponent’s Orbs/Amulets from protecting them against Vicious Balance. I don’t think you’ll want chaos down the rest of the match so pick it up.  Another example:  Chill Breeze timed with a useable Environmental erasing move will erase any environmental out even if your opponent has Orb.

Kill Timing Trick -  Another good trick in Tag that requires good timing is the following situation:  You have a teammate with a Dash and a Turbulence in his hand.  Your teammate has 2 life left and the opponents are at a distance giving you trouble with Dazzle.  Your teammate could use Turbulence but he also needs to not lose his Dash move.  This can be accomplished.  When a player activates the Turbulence skill you have a split second to do something before it takes effect.  So as your teammate finishes doing Turbulence slash him to 0 health with your flame sword right before Turbulence actually takes effect.  Since knocked out players can't have their skills erased, your now dead teammate won't lose their Dash, but your opponent's Dazzle still gets erased by Turbulence.  After killing your teammate and having their Turbulence take effect, simply resurrect your teammate and they will still have their Dash move.  

There are quite a few other ideas you can try around timing tricks. Try to think of them as they could yield new combos or ways out of things you never thought would work before. Some like the Chill Breeze + Neutralization + Annoying Gift + combo move can be very powerful.  (Chill Breeze Loop Arsenals section)  

13PD Advanced Aura Regen Tricks

This section also may be a little confusing to some, so if you're new to this you might want to skip this section. Click here to skip to the next section.  Coming back to it may give you new ideas in the game though.

Entangle Infinite stunning - Although Aura Regen is usually thought of as something that lets you use moves faster, there are some tricks you can do that are impossible without quick enough aura regen.  One example is using the skill Entangle with an Optimization down.  If you use a 2 or 1 school arsenal case, your default regen will allow you to stun someone with Entangle infinitely.  This is because you can get 2 aura and use it before Entangle's stun state ends.  You can use this to your advantage, if it’s 1 on 1 you can force a draw.  If you're close enough to your spawn when locking an opponent into stun, you can dig through your arsenal for something that will hurt your opponent badly or outright kill them.  In tag if one opponent is knocked out, and you stun your other opponent, your teammate could Diabolical Trick the stunned opponent to death.  If you use a 3 school arsenal, your Entangle can eventually be broken out of.  If you want to stun someone infinitely with Entangle with a 3 school arsenal, you have to boost your aura regen to at least +1 with something like a Meditation or Ethos Inspiration.

Keep in mind moves like Heat and Stimulate lower your aura regen.  If you have -3 aura regen in a 2 school arsenal, you can’t entangle someone infinitely. 

Pin Down Infinite Stunning - Pin Down can be used with Optimization to stun someone infinitely with the correct aura regen.  A single school Ki arsenal can definitely stun someone forever with Pin Down when aura regen is at its default value or better.  I am not quite sure that a 2 school arsenal can do Pin Down infinitely.  It may be possible but the user has to make sure to use Pin Down as soon as the aura hits 3.  If your finding Pin Down failing to stun people infinitely, then getting +2 aura regen should do the trick.(may be even just +1)  If you’re using 3 schools it will take +4 aura regen to stun someone infinitely .

Infinite Attacking and Stunning - If you time it right, it may be possible for a teammate to damage an opponent you have stunned, and then have you quickly hit them with Entangle while they stagger from the attack.  Your teammate might have to use a projectile that does 3-4 damage, as doing so causes an extended stagger allowing you more time to restun the opponent.  Your teammate and you would keep it up till the opponent is dead.  Some 2 damage melee moves like Psycho Knife might cause a long enough stagger as well.(doing 3+ damage knocks a player down when using most short range moves)  A series of Hi-Speed Punch hits might be work well in between Entangle stuns.  Keep in mind to delay hurting an opponent for 4 seconds before attacking again.  If a player takes 5+ damage from non melee moves within 3 seconds, they automatically get knocked down.  Something similar with Pin Down may work as well, though not with a teammate's melee moves as they are likely to get caught in Pin Down too.  Having a quicker aura regen may make that setup a little easier to time.  Entangle seems easier and more practical to do this with though infinite stun and attacks with.

Infinite Stun Kill Loop by Self - There has been one theoretical aura regen infinite stun kill loop a player can do all by themselves.  It's doable If you use the rain attack Fire Storm with Entangle and Optimization.  You can potentially keep hurting and stunning someone all by yourself.  It must be in a 1 or 2 school arsenal with no negative aura regen in the 2 school’s case.  Fire Storm must do at least 3 or 4 damage max.(5 Knocks down opponent breaking the stun.  Having less than 3 damage causes Firestorm to not stagger opponents as much breaking them out of stuns.  Opponents need to stagger from the attack so you can reEntangle them.  When you Entangle someone there is a period of time where you regenerate aura to stun them again.  If you delay stunning someone immediately with Entangle again it is possible to build up small amounts of extra aura at a time.  Something like not reEntangling till you recharge to 2.5 aura, then recharge to 3 before reEntangling. You might have to re entangle after getting only a quarter extra recharged aura from here. Once you are able to reEntangle at approximately 3.5 aura, entangle them again, (-2 aura) and you have 1.5 aura left, let your aura charge to 2.5 and then use Fire Storm.  Fire Storm hits the opponent causing a stagger and buys you enough time to reEntangle them.(mash to get it out as quick as possible)  You can do 3-4 damage about every 40 seconds.  If you feel like you're messing up with the regen count, you can always just reEntangle someone and start building up again from 2.  So why is this theoretical?  Unfortunately, Fire Storm’s accuracy can be iffy.  Sometimes it will miss people that are Entangled in the stun state.  Without Fire Storm’s stagger hit, your opponent can break of out of the stun.  Sometimes Fire Storm misses sometimes it doesn’t.  Frustrating.  If you’re using a 1 school Nature arsenal and Optimization gets put out you can safely do this.  The 1 school case has a faster regen rate so you can build up more aura while Entangling someone.  You can build your aura all the way up to 5 if you build up slow enough.  This should guarantee the move's success because you’ll entangle for 2, use fire storm immediately, and then use Entangle right away.  If Fire Storm misses, it’s not a big deal because the second Entangle can be cast quick enough to restun your opponent, giving you another shot to try get Fire Storm to hit.  Here’s a video showing a 2 school case and how aura gets slowly built up and the problem with Fire Storm missing:

You might think that I was slightly off on the last Fire Storm getting out, but I’ve had other instances go that far and still connect.(who knows… see if you can work it yourself)  note:  If you’re looking at the stun state and see it disappearing on an opponent, there is still a delay between when the player can actually move/use skills again, giving you enough time to restun.  

Another alternate scheme that could work and probably won’t be as likely to miss, but it’s a lot harder to set up.  Use the skill Blazing Storm and have -1 attack so it no longer knocks down opponents.  It will just take Fire Storm’s place.  The same tricks apply but this Rain move may be more reliable in hitting every time.  But getting -1 attack, an optimization, staying at 15 life and entangling someone is much harder to set up than just using Entangle + Fire Storm with an Optimization out. 

Lucifer's Arrow or Rain of Stones should also work like the Fire Storm setup.  Since you need to stay 2 school with Faith and Nature or Nature and Psycho, someone else will have to put the Optimization down.(or shoot Ethos Inspiration at you one or two times to make up for slowed 3 school regen rate)

Alternate Infinite Stun Regen Ideas:

The above situations except Blazing Storm are some of the more practical Aura Regen related tricks, but there might be other infinite stun situations you can create with the right aura regen rate. 

Person with a single school arsenal with very high aura regen + Crush - Can keep opponent’s with lower aura Regen + Orb from getting above 2 aura. 

Other Tricks - These next ones may work, it's too hard to tell at this point if people can jump or cartwheel out of these or not.  You may have to alternate storing a little extra aura between doing the stun move.  

1 School Faith arsenal with + 6 Aura Regen, Angel’s Breath, Lunar Force – Seems to create infinite stun on anyone who’s strength is either a positive or negative value.  Can also be done to anyone with stats with a plus or minus value.   (So you wouldn't need to use Lunar Force)

1 School Faith - Fusion or Annoying Gift with +6 aura Regen with Optimization - This might stun infinitely.

Two School Versions - Alternatively to the One School Faith setups listed above, you can go 2 school but you need +9 aura regen to make them work.  

Ways of Boosting Aura Regen - There are a few ways to get aura regen rates up for the player using the stun moves.(we’ll call him the “Stunner”)  Teammate gets their own aura regen up from Meditation, Stunner player Doppleganger’s the teammates regen rate.  Someone shoots enough Ethos Inspiration at the Stunner.  Annoying Gift Meditations to Stunner.  Stunner Annoying gifts teammate Ethos Inspiration.

2 School Entangle with Optimization,  Particle Convert, and Evaporate + Recall - This is a stupid and limited solo combo.  You can manage to Entangle with up to 4 aura regenerated in a 2 school arsenal case.  If you can entangle someone from your spawn point and they're fairly close, you might be able to slowly erase their arsenal as you go through yours.  All Erasing and Recall moves would be affordable when Optimization is out.  So when you get to 4 aura, Entangle Them, then use Particle Convert, Evaporate, or Recall.  Once you do one of those moves while they're still Entangled, you can recover another 2 aura to reEntangle your opponent again.  It's really tedious to do and pretty much requires an entire arsenal dedicated to it to even make it happen.  Interesting though. 

You might also know if they only have 3 aura and that there’s no way they could play Mobilize(unless optimization is down). Jumping is a safe bet. With some skills you can figure out which skill it is by how quickly it moves but other times it will take guess work.

Another example, you may have a Flame Sword that keeps getting blocked by what looks like the shield Wall, but it is actually Failing Wall.(defense 7, loses 1 defense every time you use it) If you think that its failing wall, you can keep striking at your opponent in an attempt to get them to lower their shield to below 3 defense. But you are more likely to think that they're using a Wall which will not break under a 3 damage flame sword. There’s very few ways you can know for sure which shield is actually used unless you make them use it enough.(if it eventually breaks or runs out, it was a failing wall.  Though I will say in this case few people ever use Failing Wall....

Here is a list of skills with the same animation.

Ex. Skill #1 has same animation and sometimes same sound as > Skill#2

Armaros > Mobilize

Lightning Sword > Shield Slayer (great confusion tactic) - If you see your opponent has no erase skills then they are using a Lightning Sword.  If they do have purple in their hand you'll never know for sure.  

Seal of Death > Illusion of Death

Quiet Days > Still Moment - Still moment is probably more common, I would just jump when I see someone in this animation as its useful to do so.  

Bomb Shot > Impact Burst

Excalibur > Excaliber(these are different skills despite the similar spelling and do different damage amounts.  Excalibur requires the arsenal to have 7 skills or less left to use)

Laser Shell > Erase Shell(both are pretty frequently used but the cost of 6 for Erase Shell can clue you into whether or not someone's using it)

Vibration Blaster > El Bomb -  Similar start up animation.

Fast Wave > Photon Wave

Recollection > The Attack used previously(a good tricking strategy. Ex. Person sees you only have 2 aura so the person thinks you couldn’t use Photon Burst for a while. Recollect it and your likely to catch them off guard)

Crawlers > Crawling Bullet(the starting animation is different from other crawler moves in that it looks like your shooting a projectile, except with Omatto characters)

Mist Blade > Life Giving sword

Gravity Mine > Teleportrap > Anti Gravity Trap > Vapor Cloud

Muramasa Blade > True Muramasa

Ki Cannon > Dragon Bullet > Young White Dragon(similar charge start up animation)

Retreat > Return(if they're missing a skill it was return)

Remote Mine > Timer Mine(you'll run into remote mine more.(may be 99% of the time). These 2 mines are the only mines that don't work by how close someone is to them. They leave a red mine on the ground. I don't believe there are any other mines that look quite like these 2 unless you count Fast Bomb)

Surprise Attack(if they're missing a skill it was Surprise Attack) > Charge

Swarm of Moths(Usually more common) > Dance of Moths

Slide Laser > Twist Laser - Same animation but the arcs shoot from opposite sides.

Confusion Gas(probably see more often) > Withering Curse

Vacuum Wall(you will see this one a lot more) > Dark Shelter

Vicious Balance > Judge of Ares > Fairy Ring

Psycho Wave > Arms of the Curse - Probably will see Psycho Wave more.  

There are many others but I do not feel like continuing this list for now.  

Sometimes this level will have breakable bridges in the middle or they will already be broken down other times. You’ll find a wide range of skills here can be effective though some of the long range moves can be harder to use. There are a lot of permanent debris spots that you can use to divert attacks to like poles. There is a tree branch that touches the ground that you can walk up along. Be wary that normal attacks can go through this branch. You can also use hole attacks while standing on this branch without worrying about being hit by the Hole attack you use as it forms on the ground below. A lot of the breakable guard rails on the 2nd floor can protect you from projectile attacks if you stand behind them. As a cartwheeler you may find it beneficial to break up some of these rails to make getting around easier. There are more places to hide from rain attacks than you may think here.(Like second floor ceilings have some protection.  It can be possible to get situations where you are chasing an opponent around the tree all day. To help avoid this you could use skills that make you faster or use attacks that go through walls. You could also use capsule erasers like Diabolical Trick to try force them to come towards you.  Some Rain can manage to hit people still on the side where the tree hangs over people in the shadows.  

Details:

1. If the bridges are broken it is still possible to get up on the middle part of the level with a jumper. It doesn’t seem possible with non jumpers without a Special Jump Skill.(like Levitate) Here is a thread with pictures that describes one way you can climb up to the middle platform:

  (Outdated Link)

Here's a video showing an example of jumping up the tree.(Click image to enable video):

2. If the match starts with the bridges already broken, it is possible to cartwheel or jump across the gaps where the bridges are broken up against the side walls. If you move your characters up against the edge of the walls you’ll see you can walk on those small gaps. Its easiest to see this at the Noble Palace Version.  If there was a bridge and it's broken these small gaps won't be  available for you to cross with.  

3. You can Skywalk up to a high part of the tree in palace. Go to the middle section of the second floor and if you Skywalk up along the branches your character will start to move up along the branch till you find a spot with a branch you can land on.  There is a branch you can stand on from above.  Here's a video of it :

4.  If you stand at the top of one of the escalators,(not the stairs) you'll find many projectiles shot at you from the other escalator will get absorbed by the escalator barrier.  You can try parabola or arc moves to try and move someone away from them.  Manual aiming projectiles towards the upper half of a players body could also hit someone who just plans to stand at the escalator barrier.

5.  Environmental Floating/Placing Locations:
If you put the environmental far enough in the middle of either of the 2 breakable bridges you can float an environmental. You may have to make sure to break the entire part of the bridge floating as sometimes people can still manage to reach the floating environmental by the other half broken part.  By the 2 escalators there is a box or 2 that you can float an environmental off of.(there are some benches surrounding them. If you don’t do it on one of the high boxes here it's still possible for someone to walk under the environmental and pick it up.  There are 2 boxes in the back walls by the regular stairways closer to the tree.   If you use these, make sure to place it far enough from the wall.  If you don't there is actually a small piece of floor that raises a player's height there enabling their head to touch the environmental and take it down if it's not placed out far enough..

There are also some skinny signs that you can hop on at this stage.  Place an environmental on them  there and break the pole and it will float.   This includes the signs on poles and the signs  towards the bottom of the escalators.  You could also try Skywalking up the tree or putting an environmental in the middle gap between the 2 breakable bridges to make it hard for most people or arsenals to pick it up.

6.  Glitches - There is a wall one can jump into to fall through the stage and take 3 damage to return to your spawn.  

7.  Ledge Jumping trick  -  If you are on the second floor across from one of the escalators, you can use a Ledge Jump to jump past an escalator:   

Highway

There are tons of locations to float here. Any breakable floors or walls out of standing reach will work. There are also some overhanging bridge pieces you can hop on and then later break as well.  Sometimes there are walls to block the outer barrier.  You can hop on them although some might require a Special Jumping skill to land on them.  There are also some unbreakable tops only reachable with Special Jump Skills to practically make them unreachable unless opponents have Special Jump Skills themselves. 

Here are 2 demonstrations of cartwheelers rolling across some barriers at certain areas of the map:

2)  Second Demonstration:

There is a short cut you can Ledge Jump from the stairs to another portion of the bridge as shown in this screen shot.  Even though it's a jumper in the video, cartwheels can also get across too: 

Highway Glitches - It is possible for someone to get outside the barrier normally blocking players off from the building structure on highway's first floor. (Guess it's something like a gas station or shop?)   Possible to stake yourself out there too.  

Panorama

This level is the most closed in level. There is not a lot of space for you to use normal rain attacks except Lucifer's Arrow.(Which can be rather useful here)  Other rain moves can still work at the outer most parts of the stage.  Where there's a view on the outside world is where they can still work. The ceiling does not protect from Rain at parts of that area, but the stairway structures do. There is a lot of debris especially in the middle interior sections of the stage.  You can use Power or Psycho Kinesis with the debris here. Parts of the second floor can collapse when hit by enough attacks. Because of the closed in nature and boundaries here, moves that go through walls can be extra effective.(Thor’s Hammer) This is also a great level to set land mines around. Watch the door entrances for them. Unlike most other levels there is no pit here.(there may be a glitch that you can fall into though)

1. This level has some issues. Ricochet Laser can bounce through walls sometimes making it a difficult skill to deal with here. I’d get rid Optimization if it's being used here and it doesn’t help your arsenal much.  Erase shields will be very helpful for dealing with Ricochet Laser.  Ricochet Laser is a strong move to use at this stage and does not require long range to work good like its description says.  

2.  Be careful of the couches in this level.  They can take you by surprise and do a lot of damage to you.  Make sure when you're using a Psycho Blade type sword that the back swing of the attack won't hit a couch when you activate  it.  If too close to one, you could end up taking 6 damage from launching one of these couches.  

3. In the middle interior of the first and second floor, there are some unbreakable shelves and some unbreakable lockers against the wall.

4. Glitches - There are some ways to climb a floor in a way not intended in the level.  It's also possible to shoot some projectiles through a stairway which you're not supposed to be able to do unless you're using a move that actually goes through objects.  There is also a way to get on the outer part of the stage past the barrier.

There are many places to float here. Find a high enough piece of debris like a stack of boxes and certain lockers and you're pretty much set for floating the environmental. You can also break the 2nd floor level where you place an Environmental.  There are some tall unbreakable structures that can't be reached without a Special Jumping move like Skywalk or hopping on other breakable objects.  If you're having trouble finding a floating spot you can jump onto one of the unbreakable structures against the wall.(keep in mind some are not high enough)  These high objects are on both the first and second floor of the outside part of panorama and some more objects are in the interior levels of panorama.  So if you can't find an object to float with, you might do just as well with one of these tall structures.  Some could need use of a Special Jumping Skill for an opponent to actually reach the Environmental. Also some of the high objects can be reached by going on an object like a couch. After you place the Environmental on the tall object destroy the couch so no one else can just reach your Environmental by jumping on an object. 

City Levels

On the whole this level and Highway are the most open spaced levels in the game and can be the most punishing to people without defenses.  There are some spots you can seek shelter behind though. Pink air lifts are often set up at this level but other times there are none. This level can be noticeably more difficult to get around with a non jumper.(Especially when there are no airlifts) It's possible to roll across some ledges to get around more quickly. If you are a jumper facing a cartwheeler there are spots you can jump to that a cartwheeler won’t be able to chase you to and will have to walk a longer distance around to get to you. It is possible to jump or cartwheel across a corner edge in the level by the one of the floating trucks.(video coming up...) Debris that gets destroyed can be hard to predict how to dodge and can do a lot of damage.

1.  The air lifts can be a helpful aid to fire attacks down on someone.  You can also fly up with them to try to dodge moves. Sometimes you’ll find there’s a surprising amount of signs up in the air that you can destroy and have fall on your opponent due to the weird ways they move.  Breaking debris around your opponent here has a better than usual chance of hitting someone here.  

2.  The platform below the floating trucks can be jumped over to the other platform below.  It is also possible to jump or cartwheel from the lower structure below the floating truck to the higher one.  It doesn't look like you can but it does work.  Jumping or rolling to this spot to can get you  around certain areas more quickly than just taking the "stairway looking thing" the level has to get you up. Here's a cartwheeler demonstrating how you can get up the platform.  (Jumps will also work)  

3.  Cartwheeling and Ledge Jumping Opportunity - The end of the level with less platforms has a wide gap between it and the mid lower level.  Instead of taking the little bridge piece to get to the next part of City, you can actually clear a jump or cartwheel to the next platform if the next platform doesn't have a sign or if you are jumping from a sign on your own side.  As a jumper the game gives you the ability to jump even when one foot is hanging off a platform as you move.  If you jump around that point you should be able to make it to the next platform instead of having to use the bridge.  Cartwheelers can clear these gaps too without the above limits. Here's the 2 kinds of jumps on video. (Which cartwheels can also clear)

Ledge Jump from sign to sign:

Here's jumping from a ledge with no sign to another spot with no sign:

5.  About the indestructible square platform against a wall -  You can hop on it via air lift or with a Special Jump Skill:  A Whirlwind cast from under it can reach up and still catch an opponent standing on it.(it goes through the platform)

6.  Call - The initial spawn points can be especially disadvantageous when you and your teammate spawn in the middle.  Because of this, Call may be a move worth considering at this level.  

7.  It is possible to use Skywalk or Demon's Wing to slowly climb up to the top height spot of the level.  Do this from starting at the wall in the middle section.  Then use Skywalk and push your character towards the high platform wall.  You will begin to slowly rise up eventually reaching the top.  While nice it is a risky move to do as your exposed without defenses and an opponent at the  top part of the level could just knock you down.  

8.  On the side of Dawn City with a set of 3 slightly raised platforms jumpers can place Environmentals.  Cartwheelers can reach  them but they have to cartwheel across 3 times which can get difficult and also make them vulnerable.

9.  Glitches - There are supposedly ways to make debris do no damage and be unbreakable here.  Besides those glitches I’ve heard you can fly up really high in the sky to avoid attacks. You can use hit all skills to knock people out of the air that do this.  

Acid Refinery

This is another level that can be challenging to travel around in as a cartwheeler. This level provides a mix of fairly closed in areas, some narrow open spots, and some wider areas too. There is lots of destructible material here. Because of the mixed nature of this level having a great variety of moves can be helpful. There are some poles close to ledges you can jump around that you might not normally think you could get around. Firing moves through walls can be effective here. Confused Gravity can be difficult to deal with here.(inverted controls) Be ready to turn you lock on off to make moving around narrow areas easier.  People have a tendency to trip and fall off the railing when Confused Gravity is used here.  

Floating/Placing Locations:

There’s tons of breakable materials to float an environmental on. Besides the usual, the big green boxes that are being held on a crane can be destroyed if you damage it enough or fall from a high height onto it a few times.  Barrels can easily be floated from.  There are probably some objects to place environmentals that are only reachable with Special Jump Skills as well.  There is also a back part of the helicopter that you can jump on to place an environmental.  It's technically not floating but cartwheelers can't pick it up.  And you could harass jumpers trying to get it.  

Lane9

This can be a difficult level to use skills in. The high ground is pretty open. The lower level has a lot of narrow areas. There are some fences you can hop over.  As a cartwheeler you need to get the hang of just moving around in this level. There are some parts of the houses that you go on that seem like you can get trapped in but there are steps you can walk over to exit them. The closed in nature of the lower level makes moves that go through walls more effective. This can be a difficult place to remember where your spawn point is or to find a dead teammate. If you think you're teammate’s going to die keep an eye on them.  Moves that work when at height differences can be helpful.  Some of the confining nature of the lower level are helpful for close range moves and land mines.  You might be able to use Crush or Judgment to knock players out of the sky people trying to use the pink airlifts to get around.

There is no location where you can float environmentals here.  There is a building roof top spot in the level that you can only reach with a Special Jumping Skill.  Shown below: 

You can also try to make environmentals harder to find by putting them behind areas like some of the air lifts or behind walls. You’d be surprised how difficult it is for people to find them like this. People may become too distracted to realize a landmine is there too.  There is no destructible objects at this level.  Quadrasonic also points out that the building in the center of the level has a high rooftop that is hard to reach and may be impossible for cartwheelers to get up to alone.  Towards the top of the roof you'll see a stepping platform on a balcony.  From that height you can attempt to jump to the roof there.  While I have done it, I am not reliably good at doing it.  If you can do it, it's good because it's the second toughest place to try to take an Environmental down from.  Putting pressure on opponents there may trip them up as well if they try.  It's harder to get up than it looks... Here's the location:

A variety of tactics can be used here. The level breaks apart as the match continues on, making skills that give you more mobility extra useful.(Skywalk) The high part of the tower can be a difficult place to be for people to attack you at, especially if you have a Hit All skill to knock people out of the air.  As the level falls apart it can become increasingly difficult to get around. Some people have built arsenals specifically around knocking you out of the sky with something like Judgment while they stay up on the high tower with Called capsules and cast Violent Change.

Floating/Placing Locations:

There is no debris to break to float off of here but parts of the level break off allowing environmental floating.  Watch for the grounds to flash yellowish on ground.  When the flash happens, that part of the level is about to break.  Besides that you can put environmentals on higher or difficult to access platforms to make it harder to get to.(Like the square top columns)

Level breakpoints– Many of the breakpoints allow you to float Environmentals but certain one's look like they float Environmentals, but are actually locations that you can still reach Environmentals and take them down from, even if you fall while doing so.  The amount of floors that break is randomized.  Sometimes one or two break while other times many more break.  If the stage decides to break all potential location, about every 20 seconds a piece or multiple pieces of Sein’s level breaks apart enabling you to float environmentals.  (If the ground creates a wide enough gap to be out of reach for players)  The stage continues to break up for the first 5 minutes of the match and then completely stops.  The way the level breaks apart used to be done in a set way, where specific objects will always break depending on how much time has passed.  It seems like the amount and the ways things break are different now.  Because opponents might not anticipate floating environmentals on Sein, they hhhmay be thrown off when you actually pull it off.  The sequence of pieces falling apart are documented here with videos and a schedule.  Should you get a version of Sein that breaks apart like in the original the sequence is described below.

There is going to a be listing of land mark locations detailing where and when the pieces start falling apart at the level.  Here are some pictures you can put to use with the terms in the detailed section of where floors break..  (There are also videos below showing it in real time below these series of pictures and outlines).  The first 2 videos combined show all locations where things break as well as some locations that break up at the same time.   Since you can't be at 2 places at once the 2 videos highlight different locations.  The 2nd video may skip over or repeat other locations when there aren't any simultaneous breaks occurring.  

Picture/Landmark Descriptions

This is what is termed a 3 Bird Statue Spawn.  I'm not sure what that is exactly but they look like winged birds.  You'll see capsules spawn behind them and you can start the match there.

This pic below is what is termed Spawnless 3 Bird Spot  and later the Spawnless 2 Bird Spot as one breaks off eventually.  The difference to the 3 Bird Statue spawn is that Spawnless 3 Bird Spot is not a place someone can start at.

This is what gets referred to as Pi statues because they look like the symbol for Pi, aka 3.14.....  Web search "3.14 " if you don't know what that looks likes

This picture shows what is described as the pole roof structure.  As you can see it forms at a location close to a place that someone's spawn point would be.  There are 2 fairly similar structures like this at the level.  In this picture you can see a broken bridge piece that used to connect to the tower farther back in the picture.  

This is a picture of one of the Bridge structures where ground by it or on it is going break apart during the match.  

This pole roof structure shows the player on a piece a the bridge that will fall apart.  If you look carefully past the player names you can see the Pi structure spawns.  This will give you an idea of where the bridge piece is going to break based on how the pole structure is between the breaking bridge area and Pi structures so that you don't mistake the separate pole roof top piece on the other side of the stage.

This picture shows the square top columns.  Notice behind them the bridge.  This bridge will have several pieces break on it and around it.  It is the bridge between the square top columns and the pole rooftop structure.(you'll see pieces start breaking there at 8:40)

This picture below shows the square top columns from a different angle by the Pi Structures.  Note that floors break apart in between these 2 landmarks.

Here's a detailed listing of where the places fall apart and when(videos are below it)  The clock starts from 10:00 counting down:

9:40 -  Piece close to Pi Statues Spawn, by a single half sized pole.

9:20 – 2 Poles with Square Tops by the pink air lift. Pole closer to the tower breaks might not actually be floatable on.

9:00 – Adjacent spot to where pole broke off at 9:20.(non manhole spot)

AND

9:00 - End of 3 bird non spawn spot.  (Go out to the edge behind them)

8:40 - Small Piece Farthest out by 3 bird non spawn spot.(right behind furthest bird out)

AND

8:40 - Bridge Piece Breaks that is between pole roof structure and lines of square top columns.

8:20  - At the Spawnless 3 Bird spot, the bird closest to the tower breaks.(Making Spawnless 3 Bird Spot) a Spawnless 2 Bird Spot)

AND

8:20 - Piece between PI Statues and the line of 6 square top columns(pic example only shows 4 square top columns, but there are 6)   

8:00 - Piece Next to the Spawnless 2 Bird spot. (next to a sewer)

AND

8:00 - Bridge between pole rooftop structure and lines of square top columns.  (Piece Connected to previous Bridge Piece that broke)

7:40 - Piece Below bridge piece that has been breaking, by a single square top column.  It’s a manhole piece.  Bridge is between Pole Rooftop Structure and Square Columns.

AND

7:40 - Piece next to a small diamond top pole by the 3 Bird Spawn area

7:20 - Piece closer to 3 bird spawn, surrounded by 2 poles and one of the bird poles in a triangular formation.

AND

7:20 - Piece Below broken bridge close to the tower.  

7:00 - Piece behind the 2 Bird Non Spawn poles. (A piece furthest out)

6:50 - Another piece by Spawnless 2 Bird poles.

6:40 -  3 Bird Spawn area, a piece next to the fountain, close to the tower.

AND

6:40 -  Huge Piece by Pi Symbol Structure.(Basically breaks the formerly together bridge closest to pie column spawn)

6:20 -  Large Fountain Piece by PI Structure  

6:00 -  Fountain Piece by 3 Bird Spawn.  (Close to the tower)

5:20 -  Bridge piece by the large rooftop structure next to the Pi Symbol Spawn

5: 00 - Piece Close to tower in front of the 3 Bird Spawn. 

Since some things break simultaneously, I had 2 videos made showing all the areas possible and at what time.  I tacked on a 10:00 minute timer so you can associate the scheduled list with the video.  (Video was made in single player mode )

Three videos were made, one doing a "First Run", then a "Second Run".   Second Run highlights spots that don't show up in first run's video.  There is some overlap where they both go to the same spot because it's the only available one.(2nd video doesn't always repeat things shown in the first run)  The 3rd video shows a Dual Screen Run showing the 2 videos simultaneously to show you where things are breaking separately from each other at the same time on Sein.  

Bring Moves that Counter weaknesses in your arsenal - Counter Skills - If a player who has Dash can dodge everything you do easily then you might want to carry Turbulence, Wind Pressure or perhaps you can even use Chaos.(takes care of Photon Barrier users at the same time) If there is something opponents do that give your arsenal trouble there is usually something you can put in an arsenal to deal with it. There is only so much you can prepare for so pick what is most important to deal with.

1 School, 2 Schools or 3 Schools? - Depending on what school number case you choose, your aura will regenerate at a different rate.  The fewer the schools in the case, the quicker your aura regenerates. If you're unsure, you'll probably find 2 schools will often give you the variety of moves you need at a good pace.  Some combinations of moves can only be done with 3 schools chosen.  However, if you switch to 3 schools your regeneration rate drops.  This is not the worst thing in the world but it is worth considering why you're choosing to go 3 school.  Sometimes there are things in different schools that do similar things and can eliminate the need for you to go 3 school.  Moves like Meditation can boost your aura regen rate stat by +2 if you want 3 school regen to be quicker.  Here is a comparison of the 3 different schools' aura regen rates :

A 1 School Arsenal regenerates aura like a 2 School Arsenal that has +25% aura regeneration.

A 3 School Arsenal Regenerates aura like a 2 School Arsenal that has -30% aura regeneration.

If you go 3 school, you'll notice that it takes quite a bit more time to generate 5 aura to use a 5 cost skill.  With 3 schools you may feel a need to use more lower cost moves.  Using high cost skills and shields can get hard to work with so you may have to sacrifice a certain amount of strength or defense power so that moves are more likely to be usable when needed.   Even with Optimization down certain things can get affected significantly by aura regen rates. Ricochet Laser can take noticeably longer to repeatedly use.  Sometimes it is still worth it to go 3 school just to give yourself more options.   One way to counter aura regen loss is with Meditation or Ethos Inspiration from a teammate.  If you want to punish those using 3 schools you could play the environmental Desertification to slow them down even more.  (It would be like a 4 school arsenal case if one existed)

If you feel like an arsenal is struggling to do things in time and you already see you have a good amount of aura and balanced cost skills, then that is probably one of the best times to think about going down to a two or single school arsenal.

If you're starting out and you're unsure of yourself it is good to try to make two school arsenals. It’ll keep you focused on making the most of each school your using and gives you a good amount of versatility.  

For single school arsenals, Nature and Faith are probably the most adaptable to situations, but the other schools also have their own strengths to offer.  You may feel the urge to look deeper into getting a greater variety of skills from a School in a 1 school case as you'll need to look for things that substitute for what you could normally get in a 2 school arsenal.  It can make you think outside the box sometimes.

Advanced Aura Regen Tricks - Although I have been saying going 3 school cases give you the most options, there are a few ways in which 3 school cases make certain tricks impossible or a lot more difficult to accomplish.  Check out the Advanced Aura Regen Section if you're interested.  

Not Just Attacks and Defenses - Look at all the skills you have available for each school in your arsenal. Don’t just think to use attacks and shield skills. Most arsenals benefit from having at least something that is either a Status, Special, Erase, or an Environmental skill.

Complementary Arsenal - Try to use skills that function together in some way when you’re making arsenals. Look for skills that complement each other and may be even deal with weaknesses your arsenal has. There are a lot of moves that were just made for each other. Take a look at the next few sections for combos, arsenals, tricks, and other ideas. The more your skills work well together, the more effective they will all be. Also look for skills that work well for you. Some people are just better at using certain skills than others. With practice though you may get good at using skills you might have once regarded as bad.  If you see others using a skill well that you don’t, try to figure out what they're doing that makes the skill work better for them and how you can get better yourself.

To try to find new uses for skills.  You can ask yourself what other skill would work well with another skill in some way. Don’t be too quick to think a skill is complete crap. Sometimes so called crap skills can create unusual and sometimes even powerful combos. Most skills in this game have some sort of function that makes them more useful in one way than other moves.

Skills to help go through your arsenal more quickly or get specific moves 

1.  Mephisto's Pact - The simplest to use, when you use Mephisto's Pact it pulls up a list of the skills left in your arsenal and lets you pick one to equip yourself with.  It is the most practical in trying to get a combination of moves set up.  If a skill you want is on the field or spawning on it, you can't select that skill from the list.

2. Bravery Decision - It takes out all aura particles currently remaining  in your arsenal except ones on the field already.  Basically works best with skills like Rail Gun, Excalibur, and Cluster Bomb which require you to have 7 or less capsules left in your arsenal.  Still you can try to use it for other reasons to get to certain moves quicker.  People sometimes use it with Recall arsenals.(Which is covered more in the arsenal types section on Recall)  

3.  Accelerate - Your capsules respawn quicker while this Environmental is out, but so does your opponents'.  Helps Recall arsenals go through skills more quickly.  

4.  Auto Capture Skills - The 3 skills Sky Pursuit, Empty Hand, and Hyper Punch are you options.  You can use up to 9 of these skills in an arsenal.  If all the capsules at your spawn point are currently not on the field, using any of the Auto Capture attacks will use up the move and then put the next skill that would spawn into your hand.  You can get through your arsenal more quickly with this.  These moves are all low cost making it easy to burn through your arsenal.  It's best use seems to be for raising up the strength of your Memory of Battle or Scars of Battle moves quickly.  If you want to burn through even  faster you can relearn these skills to Auto-Capture 3 more skills.(The drawback to this is that Relearned moves will not add any more strength to your Memory/Scars of Battle, so relearning the auto capture skills is strictly for reducing the amount of skills left in your arsenal more.

You may also want to check out an FAQ by Delandel on making arsenals : 

Delandel's Archived Guide

There are some differences in recommendations between us but you’ll probably find some helpful things in that faq too.(I especially liked the idea of having a backup plan like Diabolical Trick.)

Managing Arsenals 

Ensuring that you properly pick things up in a good order will make your arsenals work better. Always be ready to use the "Back" button at the start of the match to try to get a better random assortment at the start.(Hitting the back button will equip your starting hand with a new set of 4 random skills)  Look both at what’s in your hand and the colors of the 3 capsules next to you in the beginning. Think of what the ideal starting hand is for your arsenal is and whether it’s better to try a different random 4 skills at the start. The colors of the capsules at the spawn in the beginning can give you hints about whether you should change what’s in your hand. If the only green skill in your arsenal is Tiger’s Strength and you see a green capsule next to your character at the beginning of the match, you might want to change up your hand, which also has a tiger’s strength in it. If you see 3 aura particles at your spawn then you probably want a new hand for yourself if you also have 4 aura particles in your hand. Be prepared to make sacrifices and burn through your arsenal quickly if you get a hand that is not so great. You will sometimes get hands that are not so great and you’ll have to give up on using certain skills just so you will still be somewhat capable when your opponent comes after you or goes after your teammate. The more you play with an arsenal the more you will get an idea of what is a good starting hand and what isn’t. Also look at your opponents' hands at the start. If they only have one or 0 aura or no shields and 2 aura, there’s a  good chance they have a bad hand defensively. If you got a decent set up you can rush them and they’ll be badly prepared for your assault.  A sign that your arsenal probably needs work is if after a minute passes in a match you still don't feel like your arsenal is ready to do good.  (At least test it a few times as you will just get bad draws sometimes)  

Pick Stuff Up! - If you have only 2 skills equipped and you're at a spawn with 3 skills, pick at least one up!  You can't just wait around forever in a match.  You need to pick something up so you can get other skills you need later.  In rare cases if you think you're going to have skills erased you can leave some at your spawn.  Otherwise you're wasting time and limiting your attack options.

Missions good for Practice in The Original Phantom Dust

These missions can be helpful to test new arsenals at:

Mission:  "A Secret Thought" on City - This is a good practice level in Single Player Mode.  You fight pH in a spawn that is bad for you and if you're not defended well, pH can annoy you especially when Blaster is used in a 1.2 patch game.  He also uses stat debuffs to remind you why you might want to have a skill to handle stats and shields to block with.  It reminds you why bothering to put in some Angel Tears might be a good idea.  He also carries Eraser shields, but he can be faked out into using them so that you get used to not mindlessly attacking human opponents who have erase shields.  He also cartwheels to give you some practice against them.  You also get practice trying to bait his Photon Wave move and then following up at the right time.  His constant Photon Rain will also make you stay awake.  If you don't have any strong enough moves or buffs he can block a lot of moves easily.  The level also gives you that dangerous debris to be careful of.  

Mission: " Memory Wedge" at Lane - A good level for practice in dealing with pressure from multiple opponents.  

Mission: "Gaze Drop" at City - This level has you team up with JD attacking more than 2 enemies.  Since the AI's can sometimes be easy to beat, having to deal with extra ones can challenge your arsenal a little more.  Enemies also knock JD out at times, giving you practice in trying to save your downed partner.  

Mission: "Red Rose of Passion" at Panorama -  I don't use this as much but it can be good practice.  The AI's can be aggressive here and run away with high damaging stats.  

Mission: "An Odd Relationship" on Highway - This is a pretty easy mission but if you want to mess around with cartwheelers in a bit more of a restrained way it's not a bad choice.  You can practice seeing how they can and can't dodge swords.  You can mostly just hide behind walls or jump Guard's crawler moves and Disintegrate hole in the 1.2 patch version of the level.  

19PD Strategies around certain game types

This is a list of most of the types of match types and offers some strategies around each type. 

One on One allows a wide range of tactics and approaches. There are many ways you can go about things and you don’t have to worry about using arsenals that are compatible with a tag teammate.  You also don't have to deal with being triple or double teamed for becoming too much of a threat.

In many ways this allows for greater all or nothing arsenals. You could try to go for the quick kill or try to negotiate a longer round.

In Battle Royale and Tag, certain all or nothing tactics can be less powerful as you have to contend with more things. Because you don’t have to worry about being double teamed in One on One, certain defensive skills may be less necessary. While something like a Psycho Shell is very useful in dealing with multiple unanticipated attacks, the more durable Psychic Wall could end up serving you better in One on One. In this respect shelter moves can become less necessary because it is easier to deal with skills with a regular barrier shield or some other shield, since you know there is only one player to watch. Still some shelter shields like Erase Shell or Fortress of Iron have handy additional effects and still protect against attacks shot at you from above. Cartwheelers could still find themselves favoring them too for hole protection.

Penalty Skills vs Speed - In One on One you can use certain skills that penalize you more.  While someone is more likely to use Will'o The Wisp and Blaster in a multi opponent set up, One on One arsenals might choose Demon's Fire and Mist Blaster instead.  Both combinations of moves do the same amount of damage, but a combination of Demon's Fire and Mist Blaster costs 4 aura while Will o The Wisp and Blaster will cost 7 to combo with.  That doesn't mean Mist Blaster and Demon's Fire aren't usable in other modes, it just points out the different strategy considerations.  

Tag Team

To be the most competitive in tag, you would need to coordinate arsenals with someone.  There are different options open to you in Tag than in One on One. Some very powerful combos can only be conveniently done with a tag partner. You can take on more supportive roles and use distraction tactics. Having one person stun an opponent while the other attacks is much easier to do in tag. Being able to communicate well is also important. If you're going to use skills that affect your teammate in potentially negative ways, you should check with them and see if it's really worth doing. A floated Memory Lapse that’s good for you might not be so great for your teammate. Don't always put Optimization out. I've seen too many matches where the tide was in one team's favor and then the leading team puts Optimization down and suddenly the opposing team becomes much more powerful.  It is very rarely a good idea to put Optimization out when you're teammate is dead and both your opponent's aren't. Take it down if you can when you're teammate’s dead.  On the other hand it can help when only one opponent is alive.  

Double Team - Because you can overwhelm opponents with two people you can make arsenals that may not function so well in One on One but can play well in tag more thanks to distraction tactics. It is also important to consider whether you should try to take out your opponents around the same time or keep killing the weakest one. Being around to resurrect a teammate who’s about to die is very important. Sometimes it is best to run from a battle with an opponent to get near your teammate so he can resurrect you easily when you're about to die. This can also be an effective lure on an opponent.  Shelter moves and evasive moves can be more important than in One on One because you can be attacked by 2 people at once. sometimes it's worth it to kill your teammate to resurrect him. Watch for your opponents because they could attack you as you do this.

Resurrection Tricks - Whenever you are resurrected you only get back half of the life you previously had and can’t go above that number. You can be resurrected infinitely even if you're at 1 life, you don’t go to 0. If you cast a move that effects everyone while a teammate or opponent is currently knocked out that player won’t be affected. i.e. You could cast Quantum Decay or Vicious Balance after a teammate has died and not worry about lowering their level.  Casting Phantom Dust(the skill) while a teammate is knocked out is another possibility.(You pick them up after doing these moves) Try to get good at giving instructions to your teammate on how to find your dead body.(you may want bright colors on your character’s costume) To resurrect a dead teammate, walk over to him and assign him to one of your buttons like you would a capsule. Go to the options and change your camera options so that you can lock onto a teammate.  It will be valuable to know what’s going on with your teammate. You can remove a locked skill button from your hand if you map a dead teammate to your button.(get rid of an Orb you don’t need)  Sometimes you can pick up a body lying down between a fence like in Lane.  Land mines on a dead opponent can work well.  Don't get killed in the middle of a pink air lift as your teammate might not be able to pick you up.

Using Lock On to Go Through Other People - If you lock on to your teammate and fire a non explosive move at them, your projectile will go through any opponents standing in the way.(Been awhile but pretty sure this is true).  It's helpful for things like Friendship or Neutralization.  If you lock on to an enemy and shoot a non explosive projectile and your teammate is in the way, the attack  will go through your teammate and go after the opponent..  Note that In single player mode, you would hit your teammate or enemies in the way of your intended target.  In online Tag,  your moves will go through the unintended target unless the move can explode.  Melee, Mines,  Holes, Move/Twister, and Rain moves can still hurt unintended targets in online tag as well.  

Not having a Teammate Lock On - While I recommend having teammate lock on turned on, some players prefer to not be able to lock onto their teammate.  They can switch more quickly between the 2 opponents.  They have to use manual aim to hit their teammate with something though.  This is not always easy or safe to do in a match.  Opponents can also jump in front of it and get hit instead.  So you could end up hitting an opponent with a Friendship that was meant for your teammate.  If you use teammate lock on, the Friendship will go through opponents and reach your teammate easily thanks to its good homing.  

Still Track Teammate - If you hit L1 or the White Button on your controller in a match, you toggle on and off to have players names display with their rough location with white text.  This can give at least some guidance on where your teammate is during a match.  

Battle Royale

Battle Royale involves more manipulating things to work in your favor and deciding who is best to go after and what evasive maneuvers you can use to escape an opponent. It is hardest here to be "suicidal" in approach because even if you take one opponent down you could still have 2 very healthy ones left. The nature of Battle Royale is very political. Using certain skills can easily annoy every player.(Violent Change for fear of being erased to death) Sitting back often seems ideal and some opponents are dumb enough to just be focused on killing each other instead of the opponent with 20 life all powered up. Watch out for other players who hang around doing little.  Evasive moves like Dash and shelter shields can be helpful for blocking or avoiding moves you can’t really anticipate. At the same time, someone who seems to be dashing out of everything can soon become a target of several players who don’t want to deal with those difficulties later on. Many people have codes of conduct and if they don’t like the way you play they’ll go after you. You don’t want to appear too threatening or too weak in Battle Royale unless you feel like you really can take everyone down despite what they might try to do. Sometimes it's best to take out an opponent who you’ve weakened because they can be single minded enough to do anything to make sure you don’t win even if they die because of it.   Moves that increase yoiur life can be especially useful in surviving longer matches.  

Whatever version of Quick mode you play, you get a random preset arsenal.  If you don’t want to worry about arsenal design this is the perfect place for you.  Quick Mode has a total of 8 arsenal types you will be assigned randomly.  Check out an archive listing of each newest arsenal and some of the strategies you can use:

https://web.archive.org/web/20180329090938/http://phantomdusted.com/quick-battle-arsenals/

Some of the arsenals have the skill Learning, which is a shield that copies the skill it blocks.  If you are playing tag it might be easier to get a useful projectile by having your teammate shoot it at you.  Although your opponent's erase shields are limited, make sure to take advantage of faking people out so that you don't lose your attacks from an erase shield your attack can't break.  

Heavy Mode 

The most popular non-standard mode. This can be a good place to fool around with a bunch of skills without worrying about aura so much. You’ll find a lot of standard arsenal builds in this mode are not nearly as good as they normally are. You get 40 health and you always have at least 5 Level no matter what.(the lowest you can be erased down to is 5 Level) This throws off a lot of the balance in this game. Some skills are much more useful now with the increased life cap. Take the nature skills like Blazing Bullet and Blazing Sword. Judge of Anubis is a power house with much less risk and is much easier to use. Finisher and Mist Laser, have much less consequence in being used. Using Recall is so much easier in this mode that it’s a staple in most arsenals with Optical skills. Since you always have 5 Level you can also make more types of arsenals without any aura in them. If you don’t want to worry much about the consequences of low level or getting level erased as much, this is a pretty good game type for you. It's still possible to find people erasing capsules here and it can be done quicker in some ways but a lot more people have Recall to slow down the process. People use Optimization a lot in these rooms but not always. Sometimes you can take advantage of this by using Irregular Rhythm or Fatigue.

KO Battle

This is a rather fun mode that gets less appreciation than it should. These are 3 minute long matches that you only have 5 life in and can’t go above it. Every time you die you come back to life a few seconds later. Whoever kills the most people wins. If there is a tie in kills, the player who died the least wins. This is a great form of Battle Royale for people sick of regular Battle Royale matches where people often stand around doing nothing for several minutes. If you hate having capsules erased it's also not really a viable place for someone to erase players to death. It does have its own share of issues. Faith skills that are effective with 7 or less life are obviously easier to use with less consequence. You may find 3 players running around with a lot of Faith in their arsenals because of this. Skills like Scientism(no faith skills for a minute) are a good way of stopping these problems. Because of the quick nature of battles you may find yourself using certain one shot shields more like About Face. This mode is horribly boring with just one other opponent but fun with 3 or 4 people. There’s not really double teaming here because everyone just wants to get whatever shot they can get to kill another player.

This game type is interesting but unfortunately rare. Your arsenal can only have one skill of each in it.(no doubles) One way to get around this is to use similar skills like Rock Shot and Bomb.

Your life is limited to 10 and you start with 0 aura. The max level you can reach is 5. Much like KO Battle you can easily abuse some faith skills with low life requirements. You also don’t want to pack expensive skills. Some skills will be impossible to use without an Optimization down because of the limit. Others are impossible to use because you can’t reach 10 or more Level. Lowering someone’s level or playing Irregular Rhythm could really change the outcome of a match and really screw someone over who uses more expensive skills.

A random Environmental is always out and changes every minute in the match. This can lead to sudden swings in the match’s tide. Environmentals you use in this are useless because you can’t override or erase the automatic environmental. If you're worried about being crippled by a random environmental change, variety can be useful to have in your arsenal.

This is 3 on 1 with one player at 40 life and the 3 other players at 5. Teammates can resurrect each other. Moves like Blazing Sword and Joke or Judge of Anubis can be very powerful. 

Single School Only 

Only single school arsenals are allowed. Carrying an Anti School Environmental could cripple one of your opponents. Think about ways in which Single School arsenals will struggle against other single school arsenals.

This is very different from regular Puny matches. You get 20 life and no Level cap. The major difference from standard is that you can’t play with arsenals that have any skills that cost 4 or more, and no x cost skills are allowed. There are a few environmentals you could use in combination with this match type that could create interesting results.

This is much different from Heavy Matches. You get 20 life and no Level cap. You start out with 0 Level . This time the major difference from standard is that you can’t play this mode if you're arsenal has any skills that cost 2 or less. This means no Orb/Amulet protection but it also means no Vicious Balance. This can create some interesting options. The biggest issue is that a floated Reduce Entropy can force a draw. You might want to consider banning its use in this game type.(or at least ban floating it)An interesting strategy though would be to erase all your opponents capsules and then play Reduce Entropy so they couldn’t do anything.

20PD List and Description of Various Arsenal Concepts: Recommendations and Strategies against each type

This section is very long.  While you can continue reading it on this page, a separate page was made with an Arsenals Table of Contents Link bar at the top of the page letting you go back to the top of the arsenal list on the page easily.  If you want to jump around back and forth, I recommend reading this section at the specific page for it.  It also has a link at the end to take you to the next section of this main guide. (21PD)

Go to Dedicated Arsenal Listing Page (highly recommended)

List

2AR Compressor

3AR Capsule Erasers

4ARa Skill Erase Focused Arsenals

4ARb Level Erase Focused Arsenals

This arsenal will include the Nature school and usually has a mix of single use and infinite use skills. The idea is to try to win using a lot of attacks which also make your Memory Of Battle skill do a lot of damage as the match continues.  You don’t have to actually use an attack skill to add to the power of Memory of Battle, it just has to leave your hand. So you can pick up a skill to take the place of an attack in your hand which will then make your Memory of Battle stronger.  Any of your capsule attack skills erased from your spawn will not count towards Memory of Battle’s strength. They have to be picked up and leave your hand.  You can also use Scars of Battle to work just like Memory of Battle.  These arsenals require you to figure out how many single use and infinite use attacks you should put in this arsenal.  There are many approaches to Memory of Battle Arsenals.

Variety Approach - Using up several single use moves can get your Memory of Battle stronger.  Some skills to consider using may include things that break or erase shields.  Using some cheap but strong single use attacks like Vacuum Slash or Psycho Spear is another option.  A few other infinite use moves can still work well with Memory of Battle as well.

Auto Capture Approach- One of the quickest ways to boost Memory of Battle's strength  is to use a bunch of auto capture skills quickly(may be not even bothering to hit your opponent with them as they're used up) Auto capture skills automatically pick up your next skill when you use them.(even if there are no skills currently at your spawn point) The drawback to this approach is you put a heavier reliance on the power of Memory of Battle. Someone with an erase shield can take care of your Memory of Battle and you may not be left with much to do.  The 3 auto capture skills available are from the Ki school and are named Sky Pursuit, Hyper Punch, and Empty Hand.(up to 9 total to possibly use)

Unusual Memory of Battle Tag Strategy - One player on the team could carry little to no aura in their arsenal.  This means they can have more attacks than usual to really boost Memory of Battle's strength.  The way you get this player to use it is by having the other teammate boost the Memory of Battle players level with Optical moves like Boost Mine, Level Berserk, Level Baton, or Quantum Amp.

Other Drawbacks and Options - A good cartwheeler can dodge Memory of Battle pretty easily if they're ready, so you may want to use a stun move and then follow up with Memory of Battle.  You could also try boosting homing of Memory of Battle.   This arsenal can work as a good assistant in tag. As far as One on One goes, it has the potential to do well, but connecting Memory of Battle will be harder against a cartwheeler.

Recall/Relearn and Memory of Battle -  Any attacks you Recall or Relearn will take away from the power of Memory of Battle until that skill is unequipped again.  If the Recalled skill is erased from your spawn you can never have it count towards Memory of Battle's strength.  

Anti Memory of Battle - You can play the environmentals Athena's Command or Forest Sanctuary to stop a Memory of Battle from being useable.  

Annoying Gift? -  Annoying Gift can work with Memory of Battle arsenals, but it's a little tricky how:  Here's a link to a video explaining how and why:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1wCIyhQbL8lds

The opposite of Memory of Battle, the attack Compressor relies on using up shields to boost its strength.(Getting rid of shields from your hand also boosts Compressor's strength)  There are one time use shields with useful effects like erase effects, life boosting effects, freezing effects,  reflecting effects, and paralyzing effects that can help you use up your shields in a helpful way.  There is also the shield Learning which can put a move it blocks into your hand if the projectile shot doesn't do enough damage to break Learning.  Your teammate in tag could help you in this by shooting at you an attack/projectile you want.   With Learning you can get your Compressor charged up and get a new move.  Perhaps the greatest strength in Compressor comes from erasing many attacks that your opponent uses.  Like Memory of Battle, Compressor is pretty easy to cartwheel out of.(hits jumpers though)  It's usually a bad idea to have Compressor as your only attack because it can always be erased, but since a lot of your time will be spent erasing and delaying an opponent’s offense with shields you won’t have too many attacks in here either.

Wait Them Out or Attack the Opponent with Less Defenses - Sometimes it's best not to go on the offensive against a person with a bunch of shields like you’ll find against Compressor arsenals.  Instead you can force them to pick up more stuff.(just wait out the match) In tag you could opt to go after the teammate of a Compressor arsenal who has less defenses instead of risking getting your attacks erased so easily by someone with many shields. 

Shooting Through Compressor Players - In tag, shields can not block non exploding projectiles that are targeting a different player.(these projectiles will go through players that aren't meant to be the target).  This means you can freely shoot projectiles at an opponent teammate who doesn't have any shields.  The Compressor teammate with a bunch of shields can't protect their partner from most ranged moves.  You have to lock on to the defenseless teammate to have projectiles go through a Compressor user's shields.  Manually aimed attacks can be blocked by the Compressor player.  They can also block explosions those moves create.(potentially erasing that move)

Blocking for a Teammate - Shields can erase short range, Move,(probably...) or Mine / Explosion type attacks that were locked onto someone else in Tag.  

Coordination - 2 Compressor arsenals working together might be pretty powerful. 

Tired of Waiting - Erasing a compressor arsenal’s capsules can be effective if the opponent is just sitting around with 4 shields in hand. Recall and Capsule erasing arsenals can be difficult for Compressor’s to deal with. Turbulence or Wind Pressure can help weaken Erasing or Recalling arsenals. 

Keepers and Stopping Some of Them- Reincarnation and other locked/retain skill attacks can be good to use against Compressor arsenals to force them to waste an erase shield.(make sure you have 6 aura to retain Reincarnation). Using Necronomicon can at least stop Reincarnation and Arrow of Artemis from retaining themselves.  Frostbite is technically another possible but difficult option to use to stop Lock/Retain moves.  

Freeze Shot Glitch - Freeze shot fired by someone with attack strength buffs is also an option against heavily shielded Compressor players.(it can’t be erased by shields) 

Stunners - Status/Special moves that stun can also be used against heavily shielded people without much risk.  Glacial Wall or Paralyze Barrier could punish stun users though.  

Get Rid of Shields - Shield Erasers can be good against Compressor arsenals too.(Dragon Slayer, Shield Slayer, Judge of Ares, Lost Dragon, technically Lack among other erase moves) There are also several attack skills in Nature and Ki School that erase shields if you hit an opponent with it.(Lightning Sword for example)   

Besides these tactics you can try to manually aim attacks away from a person’s shield to fake them out so they don’t erase your attack. Running up to someone and doing moves like Tiger’s Strength or even purify can trick a person into using a shield they have and then you can follow up with an attack while their completing the shield animation.(following up after a purify is not possible but you can waste their one time use shields) If you are faked out try to mash the shield button to try block again quickly, you might be able to get the shield up quick enough to block.  If someone doesn’t have enough aura to use a shield again it’s a great chance to strike them. Because of this, level erasing can be another good tactic.(Vicious Balance, Quantum Decay) See the shields section for more on dealing with shields.  If worse comes to worse you can wait for people with Compressors to attack and then counter attack with your own attack.

Recall and Relearn - Any shields you Recall or Relearn will take away from Compressor’s power.(until the shield leaves your hand again)  Any shields erased from your spawn point don’t count towards Compressor’s power. You don’t actually have to use shields to add to the power of compressor, you just have to pick it up and have it unequip from your hand.  

Unusual Compressor  Tag Strategy - One player on the team could carry little to no aura in their arsenal.  This means they can have more shields than usual to really boost Compressor's strength.  The way you get this player to be able to use Compressor is by having the other teammate boost the Compressor user's level with Optical moves like Boost Mine, Level Berserk, Level Baton, or Quantum Amp.

Anti Compressor - The environmentals Athena's Command or Forest Sanctuary can stop a Compressor from being usable.

Annoying Gift? -  Annoying Gift can work with Compressor arsenals, but it's a little tricky how:  Here's a link to a video explaining how and why:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1wCIyhQbL8

3AR Capsule Eraser Arsenals

These arsenals try to erase your opponents' capsules down to 0 so that they will die from it.(you lose 1 life every few seconds when there are 0 skills left in your arsenal) Oftentimes these arsenals carry a good amount of erase shields to keep pressure off them. While just about any arsenal can use Diabolical Trick, these arsenals can make extensive use of capsule erasing/altering skills like Violent Change,  Particle Convert, Evaporate, and Change the World. Recall and Relearn are often a big part of these when using multiple capsule erasing/altering moves. These arsenals can be a pretty good defense against Memory Lapse arsenals when using Recall. 

The Triple Team - Be careful about erasing opponents in Battle Royale, you can often be triple teamed for it, so sometimes it's best to sit back and let people use up their skills till you think you can get away with some capsule erasing. If players see a lot of purple in your hand or know that your Recalling without really doing anything to anyone they can become suspicious of you. Whether you intend to use Accelerate to speed up erasing or not, people usually think you're going to erase them when you play it and it can encourage them to triple team. 

Erase from Anywhere - One neat thing I saw a Recall Violent change arsenal do was the player raised their speed to high levels and kept Calling their capsules with Call with Accelerate down as well. They basically out ran the opponent and hid behind stuff while freely picking up new capsules and eventually erasing the opponent to death. 

Things to Mess with Capsule Erasers - One tactic that can mess with capsule erasing players relying on Recall is to keep their level below 10.  A good offense can also overwhelm opponents not well equipped to defend. If your opponent has no attacks you can basically wait around for them to use something like Violent Change and attack in reaction.  Reincarnation is a solid attack to deal with this.  It’s really a good idea for capsule erasers to have a few attacks anyway, as a deterrent. 

Erase Back - You can also fight back against people who intend to erase your own capsules by bringing your own capsule erasers, like Diabolical Trick.  If you have a higher skill count while doing this, you can discourage players from staying at your spawn to delete capsules, as you can finish them off before they can finish you.  

Punishing Capsule Pickups - Soul Cage can be used to mess with opponents who just keep picking up the capsule you're going to erase.(they take damage for picking them up)  

Crippling Environmentals to help Capsule Erasing - An arsenal that floats Reduce Entropy can shut down a lot of arsenals.  Combine Reduce Entropy with Shatter and Eliminate and you can end up erasing a lot of a person's capsules while Reduce Entropy is out.  Forest Sanctuary can also help make things easier for capsule erasing arsenals.  

Recall - Check out the Relearn Recall Recollection arsenal section in the listings for ideas on how set up Recall arsenals with multi capsule erasing skills.  Also read the Bravery Decision arsenal section as that will tie into your possibilities with Recall.

These arsenals pack a lot of skills that erase other skills. Some combinations of skills that work well together are Lack and Heat from the Void or Vacuum Palm. 

Anti Erase - Some of the best ways of dealing with erase arsenals are to use Orb or Amulet. The environmental Commandments can buy you time as well. 

Fighting against Orb and Amulet 

1.  Using the environmental Chaos will ensure you get past Orb and Amulet. If Orb is the only real problem you can use the anti environmental Stagnant Air.(conveniently in the Ki school where many skill erasers are found)  

2.  Any effects that freeze an opponent’s buttons also works in stopping Orb or Amulet.  

3.  You can use the Nature or Ki based erase attacks in skill erase arsenals.(Storm Blade, Lightning Sword, Dragon Punch, Tiger Kick) Orb and Amulet can't stop their erase effects as they are considered attack skills .  

Level Erasing As A Way To  Get Rid of Opponent's Skills - Even though much of the focus on skill erasing is about getting rid of opponents' skills, using moves that reduce a person's level can also be useful.(like Exhaust)  If you have an opponent with a higher level, then they can hold on to aura particles to reduce Heat From Void's damage.  If they need more Level for other things, then naturally they will feel a need to use aura particles causing your Heat from Void to get powered up.  They could also overwrite skills to try to get more aura, doing the skill erasing for you. 

Erase Shields - Using erase shields may be more effective than always going for a direct erase move.  

Capsule Erasers - Although it may not be a focus of the arsenal, capsule erasing skills can be considered a way to indirectly erase moves from players.  

Anti Dragon Slayer - Course shields are the only shield type that can stop Dragon Slayer which can often combo with other erase moves.  

Holding onto Aura Particles - If you hold onto Aura Particles you can use them as protection against Heat From Void and Vacuum Palm.  They can also make Disremember choose to erase them first instead of more useful higher cost skills. 

Level Erase Based arsenals have some similarities  to Skill Erase Based arsenals and therefore the same strengths and weaknesses apply.  However, Level Based Erase arsenals have 2 very powerful Hit All skills known as Quantum Decay and Vicious Balance.  

Vicious Balance Arsenals - They often use mostly low cost skills. It's helpful to have a skill that lowers your level in it like Rebirth, Mist Blade, Mist Laser or Downcast in case someone Level Berserks or Quantum Amps you, or you accidentally use extra aura particles. 

Signs of Vicious Balance - If you notice your opponent has a purple skill and only has 2 Level and isn’t really doing anything else, there’s a good chance that he’s waiting to use Vicious Balance. If he’s holding on to aura particles or not actually gaining level with them he’s probably also using it. If the opponent doesn’t have a lot of Level and keeps using skills that lower their level that is another sign that Vicious Balance could be in your opponent's arsenal.  

2 or Less - Some attacks that require you to have 2 or less aura can fit well in Vicious Balance arsenals. (Swift Punch, Swift Blow, Swift Kick)

Quantum Decay Arsenals -  You may also see a Quantum Decay arsenal using similar tactics in not doing anything and not picking up much aura. Quantum Decay arsenals may also use Level Boost or Level Berserk from a teammate to make up for the amount of Level they lose from Quantum Decay. 

Knocked Out Teammate Strategy - If your teammate is knocked out they will not be affected by Hit All erase moves.  

Combining Level Erase Moves - Quantum Decay and Vicious Balance can obviously be used together in arsenals.(As well as other erase moves)

The Waiting Game - Aside from Orb/Amulet, you can wait or hold on to aura particles to not be affected as badly from level erase when it's done. 

Anti Bloody Vicious - Chaos will wreck many Vicious Balance arsenals because skills that cost 2 or less can’t be used.(putting a Crush or Return to Nature in your Vicious Balance arsenal is recommended to deal with Chaos)  Chaos also stops the use of Faith's other main level erase move, Bloody Ritual.

Optimization And Level Erase - This environmental can make much level erasing insignificant and it is recommended to take them down when trying to erase level.  However, Optimization can help if you want to repeatedly use Restrain on someone to lower their level.(The stun effect of the move allows you to repeatedly Restrain an opponent who's already hit)  Taking down Optimization afterwards though is necessary to make your opponent suffer from losing so much level.  

Punishing Stallers - If you're playing an opponent who is being conservative about picking up aura at their spawn you can take advantage of this with the hit all erase skill Meltdown.  If someone leaves 3 Aura Particles at their spawn and you do Meltdown and then Relearn it, you can bring someone from as high as level 12 down to level 0.  

Freezing and Level Erase -  There are several level erase based moves in Optical and Faith to lower level.  Having freezing moves can help Level Erase succeed against players holding Orb or Amulet.  

Attack Level Erasers- There are 2 Faith attack moves called Song of Succubus and Succubus Tempt that erase level which can't be stopped by Orb or Amulet.  However, their accuracy is terrible and they need decent strength buffing to be worth considering.(Trance and Lunar Force can help do this)  The level you can gain from these skills can combo well with Restrain.

Alternative to Faith and Optical - Optical and Faith are the main schools with level erase moves.  Additionally you could use Ki's skill Exhaust for other level erasing.

Greedy Spirit against Orb/Amulet and Retain Skills like Reincarnation, Photon Barrier, and Arrow of Artemis - This move can shortly reduce opponents hit by it down to 0 aura, enabling Erase moves to work against Amulet, Orb, and retain skill users.  You have to be very quick with the timing of this though.  

These are arsenals play more of a supportive role in combat, perfect for tag. They involve using moves that help your teammate out which can include moves like Friendship, Alleviate, and Level Berserk. You can use Doppleganger to copy the stat boosts you gave to a teammate. Another approach is to serve as more of a distraction, such as going invisible and firing Decoy at your opponents while you're teammate goes after your disoriented opponent. Decoy by itself will work fine too. Other stun moves like Dazzle and Paralyze can fit well here. Annoying gifting good skills to a teammate or bad ones to opponents are other potential routes you can follow.  An arsenal using Reincarnation can also let you play supportively.  The accuracy of Reincarnation tends to force a player to make a dodge maneuver or to block it.  Since Reincarnation is hard to erase, it can provide good pressure support for your teammate and last a long time.  

6AR Dance of Death, Crystallization, Bundled Blaster, and Bundled Laser Arsenals

These skills do X damage based on the combined strength of a certain type of attack skills you have equipped.  (Things like Ki close range attacks for Dance of Death, "Piece" moves for Crystallization, etc.) Basically you’ll want to pick moves that make these skills powerful. Dance of Death and 3 swift blows(for 21 damage) or Bundled Blaster and 3 Vibration Blasters for 18 damage.  Some of these styles are easier to use than others. Being invisible or having a distracted opponent can make something like Dance of Death easier to pull off.  Speed boosts can help too.  You could consider the skill Commandments to protect against erase moves as you could be running around without shields while using these moves. Mephisto’s Pact can make picking the most powerful attacks to go with your skill easier.(Relearning Mephisto's Pact can combine with that as well)  The biggest weaknesses of Dance of Death arsenals are that it is not the hardest skill to dodge in the world.(doing it from far close range is more effective though.) While Bundled Blaster and Laser have good accuracy they can be harder to set up and are one time use.(Bundled Laser is rather hard to justify)  A Bundled Blaster doing 18 damage is very powerful and punishing.  Crystallization is decent for accuracy, but can be reasonably cartwheeled.(jumpers can’t dodge it) 

Issues -  The biggest drawback to all these types are that for them to be at their most powerful you can’t have any defensive moves in your hand. This leaves you open to all sorts of erase and attack moves if you decide to make these X attacks as powerful as possible. Whether you choose a cartwheeler or jumper you will still have some attack types that you're weaker against and will be open without defenses equipped. Sometimes you can’t do a whole lot besides use the main move in the arsenal. On the plus side you can have good start up times for some powerful moves.  It could be worth considering using just 2 moves to combine with these X moves.  A Dance of Death doing 10 damage is still great damage and a second hit of it will finish off an opponent.  If you go for the 21 damage version of Dance of Death with 3 Swift Blows you lose any defensive options besides speed boosts. 

Some Interesting Setups and Numbers 

Crystallization

1.  Crystallization and 3 Pieces of Fires - Will let Crystallization do 9 damage.  Breaks any shield.

2.  Crystallization and 2 Piece of Fires - This will give you a medium range Nature skill with damage comparable to other big damage projectiles in other schools like Fire of Gehenna, Vibration Blaster, Rail Gun, and Heat from Void.  Add Heats or a Stimulus  to your arsenal and you can continue to compete with the other skills'  high damage levels.  The main alternative to Crystallization in Nature is Memory of Battle.(which is more flexible since you only need to have one Memory of Battle in hand for it to be used for big damage)  Compared to Memory of Battle, Crystallization shoots out faster and can be shot while in the sky.  

3.  Crystallization + Piece Attack Skill that erases something on your target + Other Pieces - You can stun an opponent with a Piece move that erases something on an opponent, and follow up with Crystallization.(Crystallization is weakened afterwards though) 

Dance of Death

1.  Dance of Death + 3 Swift Blows - At 21 damage, a guaranteed kill in Standard mode.

2.  Dance of Death + 1 Swift Blow- Gives Ki a guaranteed 7 Damage infinite use short range move while still allowing the use of other skills.(Breaks all but 2 shields in the game.  Main infinite use big damage close range alternatives to Dance of Death in Ki school are Aura Backflow, and Vacuum Palm to a lesser extent.  Dance of Death's damage numbers are more reliable in this setup.(but requires holding 2 skills.)

3.  Dance of Death + Pursuit / Sky Pursuit - You can hold onto just the skill Pursuit/Sky Pursuit to count as close range melee moves to add to Dance of Death's strength.  If you got 7-8 aura and one Dance of Death and Pursuit you can basically do 6 damage when you connect Dance of Death.(3 for hitting and then another 3 for damaging them with Pursuit while opponent is downed)

4.  Dance of Death + Swift Blow + Pursuit / Sky Pursuit - Big 10-13 Damage set up.  Allows one other move to be used with it

5.  Dance of Death + 2 Swift Blows + Pursuit / Sky Pursuit - Can do 20 Damage.  2 Swift Blows and Pursuit give you a 17 damage Dance of Death.  Follow up with Pursuit / Sky Pursuit to do 20 damage.   

6.  Dance of Death, 2 Swift Blows + Splashdown +1 extra attack power = 20 damage 

1.  Bundled Blaster + 3 Vibration Blasters - 18 damage.  That's a lot.

2.  Bundled Blaster + 2 Vibration Blasters - 12 Damage to break any shield.

3.  Bundled Blaster + 1 Vibration Blaster + Blaster/Mist Blaster- 10 Damage to break any shield.

4.  Bundled Blaster + 2 Blasters/Mist Blasters - 8 Damage to break any shield except Psychic Wall.

Single School Benefit - High Powered Bundled Blasters are one of the few ways Optical School can break high defense shields.  

Bundled Laser

1.  Bundled Laser + 3 Vibration Lasers/Mist Lasers - 9 Damage.  Can break any shield.

3.  Bundled Laser + 1 Vibration Laser / Mist Laser + Slide/Twist Laser - Breaks any projectile erase shield to let your Lasers follow up safely.   

Low Cost Single school power move - Maybe there is some use in a Single School Optical looking to stay low cost while avoiding using many Blasters.

These arsenals have 0 or X cost skills only, needing no aura. Trance and Rebirth will help you greatly. This arsenal can have trouble with shields as most 0 cost moves besides Agonies of Death can be blocked/erased easily. The greatest asset is that level erasing means squat to you and you don’t have to worry about being aura screwed at start.(can still get bad hands of course) This can work pretty well in tag especially if paired with a teammate's Vicious Balance arsenal.(it will drop everyone else to 0 level)  Since aura regen will mean almost nothing to you, you should go with a 3 school arsenal case.

Get your level up to 10 or more to use powerful attacks that require 10 or more Level to use.(Vibration Laser and Vibration Blaster) The biggest downside is getting and staying at Level 10. Orb or Amulet could be useful in this arsenal. You may also notice that certain moves like Laser and Blaster with a Tiger’s strength look almost as good as their vibration versions. Still, you can walk out of Laser much more easily  than Vibration Laser which often requires jumping or cartwheeling to dodge. If you Tiger's Strength the Vibration moves you'll do 5 damage with Vibration Laser which will knock down opponents in one hit. Having an 8 damage strength Vibration Blaster can really hurt your opponent and break any shield in the game besides Psychic Wall. 

 It may be tempting to use Vibration Laser with Optimization to make it cost 0, but you can make it easier for people to block many attacks since defense is cheap with Optimization out.  Some people will opt for Optimization if they are using lots of Heats or Stimulates as the aura regen can otherwise make Vibration Laser use slower.(I'm talking about 7+ damage Vibration Laser strategies)  Another mix up tactic that might work more easily with Optimization is to alternate using Triple Laser with Vibration Laser.  This can make dodging timing difficult for jumpers.

El Bomb combined with Vibration Blaster can throw opponents off with the similar animations but you need lots of Level to keep it going.  Level Amps, Quantum Amps and Boost Mines with Level Boost or Level Berserk can help get you up to and stay at 10 Level more easily.  Using 3+ Level Amp/Boost Mine moves can help get your Level up quicker.  You may find yourself getting away with just having 12 aura in these arsenals.  In those kinds of setups you try to actively make sure your starting hand has 3 aura by using the back button to reshuffle when it doesn't seem you'll get 3 aura.  (If you can pull that off things will go more smoothly with aura boosting skills)  If you and a teammate carry Level Berserks, they are probably the easiest and quickest way to boost level.  (Though you might have to go out of your way to target each other)

9AR Blazing Arsenals

They have at least some Nature skills that require 15 or more life to use. Blazing Sword, Blazing Bullet, and Blazing Storm are your choices.  These skills are strong and inexpensive. The biggest weakness is keeping yourself at 15 life. Healing moves and life gaining attacks work well here. Erase or strong defense shields help keep you up on life. These work best jumping the gun on an opponent before they're truly ready. It's wise to have a few other moves besides Blazing attacks.  You can use moves like Vampire Bats, Life Giving Sword, Rafflessia Fang and Digestion to gain back life as an alternative to the status moves that heal. (Nature, Ki, and Faith each have moves for gaining life.)  While these arsenals have a pressuring quality to them, you need to be careful not to get hurt too much to keep using Blazing moves.  Sometimes just getting opponents using Blazing moves below 15 life can turn the match around for you.  

10AR Floating Environmental Arsenals (Every Environmental Based arsenal concept is covered here.  If you want to jump ahead to the next non-Environmental arsenal types covered Click here)

These arsenals can greatly benefit from having an environmental out especially if it is floating so it can’t be grabbed. Carrying Orb will make it very hard for the environmental to be erased.(except Chaos and Stagnant Air's case)  Freezing someone before you erase their environmental is a useful tactic in stopping Orb.  Greedy Spirit can also be used to knock players down to 0 aura so your environmental erase can go through.  (timing is hard though as hit player can regenerate aura fairly quick)

Environmental Floating Strategies

Depending on your arsenal you can be severely hurt by someone using these moves.  Some Environmental floating arsenals' greatest strength is that they can cripple many arsenals and there are few things some arsenals can do when an Environmental is "permanently" down. Floating Environmental arsenals are usually designed to get around the penalties of the environmental they play.

Having an Anti Environmental skill like Judgment is very useful in dealing with these arsenals. Mephisto's Pact in an arsenal with an Anti Environmental like Judgment can serve as being like 2 Judgments to a certain degree.  You can use Mephisto's Pact when you really need that one Judgment or use it to get a more useful skill if your opponent isn't running environmentals.  A quick rush is sometimes enough to stop these arsenals from winning. They are often much less effective without their environmental out.  Also destroying places one can float an Environmental can make things just hard enough that you can defeat or greatly weaken your opponent before they get their environmental floated.  If you are playing at the Lane stage there is a platform you can only reach using a Special Jump Skill.  Check out the Sein level section run down to see the patterns of how the platforms break allowing you to float Environmentals there.  See the floating environmentals section on more ways to thwart floating environmentals.

Some Environmentals play a supportive role like Lunar Force or Holy Ray boosting or reducing people's stats a little more.  Some are much more dramatic in what they change.  Note that you don't always have to float environmentals to get the most out of them.  Some arsenals may benefit more from having an environmental out for only a limited time.  Below are some of the strategies built around floated environmentals as well as uses of them in general.  

Memory Lapse - use Reincarnation type retain moves or lock moves like Sign of Saints.  To a certain degree, Recall can help fight against Memory Lapse.  Be careful when you use your now single use skills.  If players do not have retain skills or Recalls, they will slowly run you out of things they can do.  Memory Lapse can be used offensively or as a way to help erase capsules by forcing players to use up more skills.  This is the hardest environmental to erase when the opponent has Orb as Memory Lapse makes any Anti Environmental skill into a single use move which Orb can protect from for 2 aura.  

Forest Sanctuary Damage Tricks- Skills that shoot out multiple individual attacks like Triple Laser can get around the 3 damage restriction.  If you have +2 strength, all 3 of your lasers will do 3 damage each.  If someone blocks all 3 you can basically destroy any shield in the game.  Other moves that can get around these restrictions are Double Laser, Octolaser, Ricochet Laser, and Ground Laser.  

Lunar Force - A useful and practical attack buffer.  It can be combined with other moves like Trance, Tiger's Strength, Heat etc..  Very useful for racking up big damage with Faith, especially when using life losing moves.  As a bonus, anyone who has a positive or negative attack rating from Lunar Force can be stunned with Armaros Watch which is in the same school as Lunar Force.(Almost like giving Faith a Dazzle like stun move)  On the other hand opponents can benefit from Lunar Force too.  You'll need to think about how tough the shields are that you will use. Fire of Gehenna combined with Trance and Lunar Force can break any shield in the game.  (9 damage)

Mephisto's Pact Exceptions/Strategies - An alternative to putting in some Relearns is to have some Mephisto's Pacts used.  An arsenal with 3 Recalls and 1 Relearn with 2 Mephisto's Pacts can manage to last an entire match if you use Mephisto's Pacts to repeatedly Recall/Relearn things sooner.  Having some healing move in the arsenal or using something like Nature's Blessing can make up for the life lost from using Mephisto's Pacts.  

Acceleration - This environmental can be useful with Recall since you will be cycling through a lot of skills in your arsenal.  

How Relearning a Recall Works - If you use a Recall and then Relearn it, you're arsenal treats that as being the same Recall that was just used.  So your Relearned Recall can't Recall the Recall that was just Relearned. (I know this is a confusing sentence)  To try to simplify, you can't Recall a Recall unless a different Recall is used.  A Relearned Recall is considered to be the same Recall that was just used.  So you won't Recall an additional one when using the Relearned Recall.  

Relearn and Recall Tips:  You have 10 Level and there are 3 aura particles at your spawn point and you have only a Recall in your hand.  Getting a Relearn would be helpful because you want to Recall again right now.  However, you really want to use the Recall in your hand right now to keep pace with the match.  So you use Recall and then pick up the 3 aura capsules.  Pick them up, but do not use them to gain level like you might usually do.  Instead, hold on to them and see if one of your next 3 capsules spawning might be a Relearn.  If a Relearn shows up you can pick it up on your empty skill slot button and Relearn the Recall you previously used.  So you have used Relearn and now have Recall in your hand again.  You still have not used those other 3 aura particles in your hand.  Unless you have Recalled almost your entire arsenal, you may be better off using your relearned Recall again before using the aura particles in your hand.  If you use Recall again before using any of the aura particles in your hand, you have a greater chance of Recalling capsules that aren't just aura particles.  You may actually want to be able to Recall those aura particles.  If you do then use them first to gain Level and then use your Recall.  More often than not you will prefer being more likely to want to Recall skill capsules instead of aura capsules.  If you have Recalled mostly everything already, you may want to hold off on using the Recall you Relearned until you use up some skill particles you want to reuse.(to increase your chances of getting useful capsules when using Recall)  While true you also need to be careful to keep some Recalls going as it is possible for players to erase that Recall from your hand with something like Turbulence.  If too many Recalls/Relearns get erased like this, you may find yourself unable to continually Recall skills.  

Recall arsenals can take more practice in learning to use well - It can take longer than usual to get the hang of Recall arsenals as you try to figure out where to use your Relearn and Recalls among other things.  

Change the World Warning - Change the World is a bad skill to use on your own capsules.  The problem is the skill doesn't work the way it says it does.  Change the World actually reshuffles the capsules at your spawn back into your arsenal.  Then 3 RANDOM moves are removed from your arsenal.(or whatever amount of capsules you have changed on the field)  Then 3 random moves left in your arsenal are respawned.  This is bad because you could randomly lose your most important skills.  If you use Change The World to get rid of 3 aura particles at your spawn, you might end up getting rid of 3 Recalls from your arsenal instead!  The only time you would probably try Change the World on your own capsules is if you're desperate or really want to try your luck.  In a way this move may be the best one to use against opponents who try to just leave less desired skills at their spawn for you to erase.  This skill takes away their ability to do so.  Keep in mind Change the World can't change or erase the last 3 capsules in someone's spawn.   Using it with Particle Convert, Change the World could potentially fill someone's arsenal with more aura particles. Because the Particle Converted capsules you changed into aura get reshuffled into your opponent's arsenal.  Then they may randomly be removed from the arsenal, or something else may get  randomly deleted instead, leaving your opponent's arsenal with the aura particles.

Violent Change is often the most practical and effective multi capsule erasing skill.  

Here's a link to a video series detailing the newest theories in Chill Breeze Annoying Gift Neutralization Arsenals! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7gG4XHV2Qc&list=PLHZCJ63sTVXNr9xvthDIefkpN_Vy5Xcvr

It is higly recommended to watch the video series listed in the list sentence.  It has the newest and better detailed explanations.  

Here is some older writing on it though:

This could be a very powerful and crippling tag arsenal but I have not seen it successfully used in practice. I’ve only had a few cracks at the idea and it will take some skill between partners in setting it up continually. The basic idea is to Annoying Gift Chill Breeze and Neutralization to a teammate over and over. The loop is done in the following steps:  

1.  You Annoying Gift your teammate Chill Breeze and Neutralization.  

2.  Your teammate casts Chill Breeze, you shoot Neutralization just before Chill Breeze takes affect so your teammate becomes unfrozen. 

3.  Your teammate then shoots you with Neutralization to unfreeze you.  

4..  You Annoying Gift Chill Breeze again all the while your opponents' are still frozen. This can be done infinitely, freezing opponents the whole time.  

The tricky part is using a skill guaranteed to hurt your opponents in the small amount of time you have before you need to freeze them again. If you use Mephisto's Pact and several copies of the skills needed, you can get a very fast start up time.  Before doing anything else you should set the Chill Breeze Loop up and worry about getting other key skills after you started freezing opponents infinitely.  

Ways to stop:  Opponents might be able to counter this trick by running into Annoying Gift and getting their own Neutralization or attacking the gifter every time he tries to use Annoying Gift or Neutralize. You might be able block teammates gifting each other by running in between the 2 players.  I don't know if this works as I haven't seen it done.  Opponents can't run into Neutralization though because if you use a lock on shot on a teammate it will go right through the opponents.(that's just how it works online but not in the original Single Player mode)  

Anti Freeze Options - You can try using Purify or Refresh right after Chill Breeze is about to be cast.  If timed right these skills will cancel the freeze effect from lasting or from effecting you.  You can also bring your own Neutralization.  There are some other unfreezing moves that you might benefit from.(Like Return to Nature)

Demonstration: Here's a video showing how the loop works. You'll see both players get frozen and how the Neutralization is timed to unfreeze the team.  (Note you don't need Optimization to have the loop run infinitely.  You need Optimization to use other skills in many setups while freezing infinitely.  When using Optimization, you need a 2 school case because without it, it might not be possible to put Optimization out and have enough time and aura to still keep your opponents frozen once the loop is started.  You only get about 6-7 aura to work with while opponents are frozen.  Here's a video demoing how you freeze and unfreeze repeatedly:

To review, you will need someone to Annoying Gift, Chill Breeze, Neutralization and the Missing Ingredient.(the one skill to help you win)  Here are some ideas and drawbacks / explanations.   Most setups will only have about 6-7 aura needed to work with.  It only takes 4 aura to freeze infinitely but you'll need more than that in most cases to actually start hurting your opponent. Some attempted ideas:

Annoying Gift the skill Abyss - This one doesn't work.  You would have your teammate delete every opponent capsule with it.  This would be the perfect skill for the job as it could set up in the first spawn of the match.   The problem is it takes way too long to erase each capsule before a match ends in a draw.(It could have worked if matches were still 15 minutes, but they're only 10 now)  If it were possible to erase everything in time, it would be hands down the best and quickest set up for the arsenal.  

Annoying Gift the skill Change the World, have teammate finish with Diabolical Trick - In order to do this you have to use Change the World correctly.  One player gifts Change the World with Chill Breeze and Neutralization.  The partner must use a 2 school Faith Optical arsenal that has Optimization(which you float) and Diabolical Trick in it.(the rest can be anything else)  You need a 2 School Arsenal for a teammate to cast Optimization and then regenerate 2 aura quick enough for Chill Breeze to come out in time to maintain the freeze loop.  Diabolical Trick is placed in the slot where the teammate's Annoying Gift slot is.(this stops it from being overwritten)  Once the teammate has Diabolical Trick, your team can quickly Change the World between each Chill Breeze Loop.  When opponents are down to 3 capsules, you Diabolical Trick each of them.  Before using Change the World make sure that the teammate who needs Diabolical Trick picks up their skills because Change the World actually reshuffles your spawn back into your arsenal, then Change the World randomly erases 3 skills in the arsenal and puts 3 random skills at your spawn.  Since its random you could delete your Diabolical Tricks and not ever pick one up.  Once you have Diabolical Trick, you can Change the World as much as you want and you won't be able to over erase you or your teammate by accident because Change the World doesn't get rid of the last 3 capsules.  Once opponents are down to 3 capsules, just finish each opponent off by Diabolical Tricking their 3 remaining skills. You technically could make a configuration with Violent Change, but this set up is quicker and reduces the amount of Diabolical Tricking you might need to do to get ahead of the other team's capsule count when using Violent Change. Another alternative to Diabolical Trick is Recall + Violent Change but it is also more complicated and not as good.  

Annoying Gift the skill Graceful Woods - This opens up a world of new possibilities.  Previously Optimization was required to get costly things done.  Now your teammate can have as much aura as they need to do something.  One idea is to go for Violent Change and Recall again without needing Optimization this time.(It probably isn't as good as the Change the World set up mentioned above)  You may have to do some more individual Diabolical Tricking to get ahead of opponent skill count.  To win, you have to rely entirely on the arsenal of the player receiving Graceful Woods.  

Giga Ruin + Still Moment ? - One alternate scheme was to use Still Moment and Giga Ruins with Recall.  It would lock your opponents in place without a shield to block Giga Ruin. Unfortunately cartwheelers can still cartwheel enough to dodge when Still Moment is used.  Jumpers can stop Still Moment comboing into Giga Ruin it by staying close to the Giga Ruin shooter and jumping when Still Moment occurs. Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out a better scheme than Violent Changes followed by Diabolical Trick as needed.(for the Graceful Woods scheme)  But Graceful Woods is a new idea which you may be able to figure out something else to win with.  Perhaps a new skill will be made to fully realize Graceful Woods potential in this setup.  You could certainly annoy people who don't figure out how to get past Still Moment and Giga Ruin.  

Annoying Gift Agonies of Death - Agonies of Death goes through anything and can be tough to dodge and costs 0.  This might work at smaller levels but it takes really good coordination and can get confusing in figuring out ways to lower life to the correct level.  Opponents might be able to just run from Agonies or stay too close for the shooter to hit.  Still it might work.  You'll need practice as it can get confusing switching between your teammate and opponent and then Chill Breezing in time.  This does not require Optimization to work either.  If you can pull this off, it's the absolute best setup that can work because your teammate can carry the same exact arsenals making your chances of setting up the Chill Breeze loop higher than the alternative ideas listed.  (Besides the failed Abyss scenario)

A lot of arsenals are listed but there are other possibilities which can be based around certain themes. Skills that use mixed speed attacks, use only crawlers, only blades, rain etc. etc. Try to put moves together that complement each other. Ex. Joke of Anubis with moves that keep your life higher than your opponent. The combos sections and "All the other things you didn’t know about in Phantom Dust" sections could help you come up with more ideas for arsenal concepts.

This section is no longer relevant due to broken links.  

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