Chaos Breaker (Dark Awake)

Chaos Breaker/Dark Awake:The King has no name (CB/DA)
Developers	Eolith
Publishers	Taito
Systems	Arcade (Taito Type X) JP: October 11, 2004 PS3 JP: August 5, 2010
Online Play	Parsec
Community Channels	Discord Server

Chaos Breaker is a team-based 2D fighting game released in arcades in 2004. Coming to PSN, summer 2010 as Dark Awake.

Notation

Joystick Notation

Directional command notation is as follows:

                   .- up (u)
                   |
  up+back (ub) - 7 8 9 - up+forward (uf)

      back (b) - 4   6 - forward (f)

down+back (db) - 1 2 3 - down+foward (df)
                   |
                   `- down (d)

Note: These numbers can be easily referenced by looking at your keyboard "numpad". Think of it as a joystick/controller that is facing to the right. "5" is used to signify "neutral".

Button Notation

• A - Weak Attack
• B - Medium Attack
• C - Strong Attack
• D - D Attack

Miscellaneous Notation

• j. - jumping attack
• X - A or B or C
• [X] - hold A, B, or C
• 360 - one full rotation of the joystick
• 720 - two full rotations of the joystick

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Mechanics

Throw

4D or 6D, while near opponent.

• Startup = 5 frames.
• Whiff animation, when can't throw.
• Cannot be throw escaped by pressing a button, but it is possible to move out of range by backing up or jumping.
• Only Sandra and Zon can air throw.
• Nagar's throws are untechable.

Dash

66, quickly.

• Hold 6 to keep moving forward.

Backdash

44, quickly.

• Clash frames begin immediately at the start of the backdash.

Jumping

8

• Cannot guard against attacks in the air.

Jump Speed

Character	Up	Forward	Backward
Ramda	3	3	3
Sandra	3	3	3
Curse Head	1	1	1
Mara	3	3	3
Nagar	3	3	3
Vritra	3	3	3
Elion	3	3	3
Fina	3	6	6
Evetta	5	5	5
Goblin	4	3	3
Troll	1	1	1
Orc	1	1	1
Dorgan	2	2	2
Vargan	3	3	3
GerhardsenII	1	1	1
Zon	7	7	4
Nsidor	8	8	8
Bernhard	3	3	3

Super-Jump

28, quickly.

• Jumps higher than normal. Good for rushdown or avoiding certain attacks.
• Can be performed with 123 for the down motion and 789 for the up motion.
• Fina and Zon have particularly high jumps.
• Some characters have unique animations during their super-jumps.

Tech-Roll

Any attack button, just before hitting the ground.

• Used to avoid pursuit attacks and certain situations on wakeup.
• Almost everything can be tech-rolled including sweeps. Typical exceptions are blowback attacks (6D or Mana Counter) and the last hit of most supers.

Mana-Counter

412D, while in blockstun.

• Consumes half a bar of the Mana Gauge.
• Invincible during the startup flash.
• Blowback attack on ground hit, downs on air hit. Miniscule damage.
• If the opponent manages to block your Mana-Counter, you are left at an 11 frame disadvantage.

Taunt

Start button (Select button in the console version)

• Cannot be cancelled out of.
• Fills the Mana Gauge if performed immediately after a special move. Supers and normals cancel this effect.
• Some taunts have attack hitboxes and will damage the opponent. It is even possible to KO your opponent with a taunt.

Burst-Cancel

There are two types of burst-cancels in the game.

Special Burst-Cancel

Perform Mana Burst during certain special moves

• Costs half a bar for the cancel. 1.5 gauge in total.
• Only works with certain special moves.

Super Burst-Cancel

Perform Mana Burst during another Mana Burst

• Costs one bar for the cancel. 3 full bars in total. (1 super + 1 super + 1 burst-cancel)
• Usually performed during very specific cancel points.
• Only works with certain Mana Bursts.

Pursuit

after certain attacks

• Only hits opponent on very specific parts of the downed animation.
• Resets the situation and does not give an advantage on oki. Can also be tech-rolled.
• Pursuit attacks are generally performed with 2D. Evetta is an exception with her 236D attack.
• It is unknown whether all characters have pursuits, but most of the cast do not seem to. Ramda, Sandra, Curse Head, Nagar, Vritra, Troll, Bernhard and Evetta are the known ones.

Deflection

Officially known as "Sword Impact Reaction" (SIR), deflection (or "clashing") is a core aspect of Chaos Breaker gameplay and is often compared to the Parry System from Street Fighter III. While there are certainly similarities between the two, clashing and parrying differ in a number of ways.

• Clash timing is generally more lenient than parry timing.
• You cannot clash during blockstun therefore it is impossible to "red parry" a move.
• Most attacks in SF3 (with very few exceptions) can be parried, but many moves in Chaos Breaker cannot be clashed. This includes D attacks, attack throws, and a few supers.
• Attacks occuring within 2 frames after a clash will not automatically clash, unlike a parry. This means that two attacks that hit you at the same time will connect. (The second hit anyway.)
• Parries can be high, low, or performed in the air. Clashes are either performed during a dash or with a weapon attack. (A, B, or C)

Dash Clashes

These are the types of clashes that are usually compared to parries. Both the forward dash and the backdash of every character contains clash frames, which can be used to stop all attacks that hit above a character's knees.

• Forward dashes have a clash startup of roughly 4F. As long as you remain dashing, the clash frames will continue to stay active.
• Backdashes startup clash frames immediately but end before the backdash animation finishes. This is essentially a replacement for backdash invincibility.

Both types of dashes will be stopped by attacks that hit below the knees, but this should not be misinterpreted as being only low attacks.

• Zon's 236X projectile hits mid and can be blocked standing, but it cannot be dash-clashed.
• Many characters have a 2A that appears to hit low but in reality hits mid. These also cannot be dash-clashed.

It is possible to fully negate certain Mana Bursts by dash-clashing multiple times in rapid succession. Some of these include (but are not limited to):

• Mara's 214214X
• Orc's 214214D
• Nsidor's 236236X

Some supers cannot be stopped this way because they consist of more than one projectile.

• Elion's 214214X
• Fina's 236236X (air and ground versions)
• Evetta's 236236X

Clashing with a projectile will freeze the player and the projectile in place, but this will not stop your opponent or other projectiles from moving. This is why certain Mana Bursts cannot be clashed successfully and why Nagar's 236X>6X>236X chain is so dangerous.

Weapon Clashes

Similar to the clash system in Guilty Gear, King of Fighters XII, or the old Art of Fighting games, weapon clashes are the act of cancelling out an attack with one of your own. Any attack, no matter how strong it is, can be used in a weapon clash, so long as it is clashable and the attack hitboxes overlap.

• Normal moves are stopped during the clash, but they are registered as a hit, so it is possible to cancel into a special or super move if the properties allow.
• Special moves and Mana Bursts will continue their full animation, even if there are no more hits left to clash. This can leave a player open to punishes.
• Since most D attacks (the exception being Gerhardsen) do not clash, any attempt to clash one will result in a trade instead.

As it is impossible to air-dash, one cannot clash attacks in the air by dashing. Stopping an attack in the air must be performed with a weapon clash. The same also applies to attacks that hit below the knees.

• Clashing in the air will allow you to perform another attack almost immediately after.
• Sandra's Shield (A+D) can be used to safely air-clash and then punish her opponent with a throw.
• Low attacks are most effectively stopped with another low, but they will clash with any other attack so long as the hitbox overlaps properly.

Special Effects

Aside from counter-hits, Chaos Breaker has a few other unique special effects that can occur on hit.

Counter-Hit

Hit opponent during the startup of their attack

• 1.25 times the damage.
• Increased hitstun.

Critical-Hit

Random chance when attacking

• Damage increase
• Does not occur during combos.

Block

Effect caused by certain items. Random chance when getting hit, outside of combos

• Take no damage
• Not affected by hitstun

Physical and Magic Defense

Coefficient times attack damage.

Physical Defense Coefficient Characters 0.85 Troll, GerhardsenII 0.90 Curse Head, Dorgan, Nsidor 0.95 Ramda, Orc, Vargan, Bernhard 1.00 Sandra, Vritra, Elion 1.05 Nagar 1.10 Mara, Evetta, Goblin 1.15 Fina, Zon

Magic Defense Coefficient Characters 0.85 Zon 0.90 Mara, Fina, Bernhard 0.95 Nagar, Elion, Evetta 1.00 Sandra, Vritra 1.05 Goblin 1.10 Ramda, Curse Head, Orc, Vargan 1.15 Dorgan, Nsidor 1.20 Troll, GerhardsenII

There are 3 basic types of damage in Chaos Breaker: physical, magical, and mixed. Certain characters have normals that inflict mixed damage, rather than simply physical damage but for the most part, magic or mixed damage comes from special moves or Mana Bursts.

As you can see from the table, Troll and GerhardsenII have the highest physical defense, but they also have the weakest magical defense. Fina and Zon are the exact opposite, with low physical and high magical defense. These specific types of damage resistance are very important in matchups, so it's a good idea to learn which characters are most affected by what.

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Characters and Items

On the character select screen you can select from 18 characters and 32 items. Your team must have at least 1 character and 1 item. You then have two free slots, of which you may fill with either another character or another item. (This is changed in the console version.)

Character: Assist

• Calling an assist takes one bar of the mana gauge.
• Assists can be cancelled into with normals, but the cancel timing is generally later than that for special moves.
• Mana Bursts and Item Bursts cannot be performed while you have an assist on-screen. The game will only register your inputs as special moves until they are gone.

Item: Stock Action (SA)

• Using an item's Stock Action will reduce its stock by 1.
• 1 stock is restored after a round.
• An item's stock can't go beyond its max stock.

Item: Item Burst (IB)

• Consumes one bar of the mana gauge.
• Will consume 1.5 bars if used to cancel a special move.
• Can be used as a super burst cancel for 3 bars.

Item: Possession Effect

• Items with a possession effect confer a passive benefit.
• Each of the 18 equipped items are specialized to a specific character. These characters gain additional passive effects from these items.

Characters Human Ramda Sandra Curse Head Elf Elion Fina Evetta Dwarf Dorgan Vargan GerhardsenII Dark Elf Vritra Nagar Mara Ork Orc Troll Goblin Undead Bernhard Nsidor Zon

Items Normal Items Healing Potion Power Bracelet Protection Ring Holy Symbol Mana Potion Scroll of Mana Amulet Special Items Invisible Mantle Medal of Strength Fortunate Coin Mutation Stone Wind Boots Master Ring Talisman Equipped Items Hellfire Sword Earth Hammer Demon Club Ice Blade Shining Bow Extra Bullet Nightmare Blade Death Staff Naught Weapon Magic Shield Spike Mace Goblin Spear Shining Staff Rune Ax Draconic Figurine Evil Staff Blood Sword Dark Staff Rare Items Elixir Seven Keys Magistery Fang of Manticore Demonic Figurine Book of Disaster Chaos Ring Dragon Scale

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Menu Translation

Title Screen

• Arcade Mode
• Online Mode
  • Ranking Match
    • Quick Match
    • Custom Match
    • Create Match
  • Player Match
    • Quick Match
    • Custom Match
    • Create Match
    • Accept Invitations
  • Profile
• Rankings
• Introduction & Options
  • Game Introduction
  • Control Configuration
  • Game Options
  • Credits
  • Screen Adjust
• Training Mode

Charts

Tiers

Japanese tier list for Chaos Breaker

Tier lists for Chaos Breaker often list the characters by nicknames devised by the Japanese community, rather than katakana versions of their actual names.

剣 (Sword)＝Ramda

盾 (Shield)＝Sandra

兜 (Helmet)＝Cursehead

氷 (ice)＝Elion

乳 (Boob)＝Fina

弓 (bow)＝Evetta

斧 (ax)＝Dorgan

銃 (gun)＝Vargan

砲 (gunfire)＝Gerhardsen II

鰤 ＝ Vritra

雷 (thunder)＝Nagar

爺 (old man)＝Mara

奥 (Oak) = Orc

肉 (meat)＝Troll

突 (stick)＝Goblin

吸 (absorb)＝Bernhard

骨 (bone)＝Nsidor

存＝Zon

These are not "official" tier rankings, but they're the closest I could manage given my limited knowledge of Japanese and the incomplete nature of the chart. I would assume that the multiple listings by character that include "CBA" have something to do with Item selection, but I cannot actually say for certain at this time. This list is more for the sake of amusement than posterity.

S: Vritra, Nagar

A+: Vargan

A: Elion

B+: Ramda, Sandra

B: Orc

C+: Zon

C: Evetta, Troll, Bernhard

D: Mara, Nsidor, Curse Head

E: Fina, Gerhardsen II, Goblin, Dorgan

External links

• Official Website
• JP PSN page
• Japanese Chaos Breaker wiki
• Dark Awake FAQ

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Chaos Breaker