The Last Blade 2

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Introduction

A 1 on 1 sword fighting game in the vein of Samurai Shodown. It takes place in the Bakumatsu era as opposed to the feudal era.

Its gameplay has been described as a cross between the Marvel VS series, the King of Fighters series, and the Samurai Shodown series. Its deflect system works similar to Melty Blood's, albeit with a much higher risk/reward factor.

Community Links

The Characters

Hidden characters: Hagure (a "mimic" character that will always generate a mirror match), Naoe Kotetsu (basically just creates a new intro for Shigen), O. Kaede (see character page), Kouryu (see character page), Musashi (console only and therefore banned in tournaments).

Akari
Amano
Hibiki
Juzoh
Kaede
O. Kaede
Kagami
Kojiroh
Kouryu
Lee
Moriya
Mukuro
Okina
Setsuna
Shigen
Washizuka
Yuki
Zantetsu

Game Mechanics

Notation

Attack Buttons

  • A = Light Slash
  • B = Hard Slash
  • C = Kick
  • D = Deflect/Repel/Parry AND Ground/Air Recover
  • CD = Throw
  • BC = Overhead/Unblockable

Directions

  • numpad notation

789

456

123

  • 4 = Back
  • 6 = Forward
  • 2 = Down
  • 8 = Up
  • 5 = neutral no directional input
  • 9 = Up-Forward
  • 7 = Up-Back
  • 3 = Down-Forward
  • 1 = Down-Back
  • 236 = Quarter Circle Forward (qcf)
  • 41236 = Half Circle Forward (hcf)
  • 63214 = half circle back (hcb)
  • 623 = Dragon Punch Motion (dp) (f d df)

Hold 4 or 6 on the ground to roll in either direction while you're getting up.

General Terms

  • DM = Desperation Move (Also known as a super move)
  • SDM = Super Desperation Move (Only available with low flashing life and a full super bar)

Basic Strategy

DM's/SDM's

DM's are always done with A and B together while SDM's are always done with B (with one exception for Shigen). SDM's are only available on Power/EX, and most DM's can be part of speed chains.

Motions are always:

  • Qcb.png Qcf.png+ AB
  • Qcb.png F.png + AB or db b f + AB will also work for these
  • Hcb.png Hcb.png + AB
  • Qcf.png Qcf.png + AB
  • f hcf + AB
  • Juzoh's SDM is never guaranteed even if done instantly off of a successful deflect.

Speed combo specials

Initiated with d d + A/B (A hits high, B hits low) on Speed/EX modes. Drains an entire super bar and can't be spammed at low health. You must block the A version high as it is an overhead and must block the B version low.

You can jump straight up over them close-up if you're not in extended hit stun.


Everyone has 4, but they all share one basic one.


  • d d + A/B
    • A > B > C
      • A > B > C
        • A > B > qcf + C


(Don't mash your way through it, time each hit right about when the other one finishes. You can however mash out the last part)


There are only 3 variations on the other ones, so it's just a matter of memorizing a couple of them.


You can pseudo-trap an opponent into trying to block one of these by doing them off a hitting hard slash or a reset, but they're only ever guaranteed off a deflect. Overhead stun can be mashed out of by your opponent and they can block or deflect when it activates. A few characters can combo into these as well.


Good players may be able to low-jump uf deflect one if you try it off a hard slash, but the timing is tight. Also, you can deflect speed combo specials after blocking the first hit.


Don't do these from across the screen. They're easy to jump over.


The last attack of all chains, and only the last attack, causes knockdown (Except for Moriya Chain 3 that does not cause knockdown).


On hit, all attacks in the chain combos with the previous one. But almost all attacks are punishable on hit if you miss the input to follow it.


On block, all attacks are punishable and in many cases they are not a real block string (the opponent may recover between the hits).


Chains Properties

The four chains have some common properties (for all characters):


  • Chain 1:
    • Same input for all characters.
    • For most characters is the third chain with higher raw damage (almost a full bar).
  • Chain 2:
    • Last attack is unblockable.
    • For most characters is the chain with higher raw damage (a little more than a full bar).
  • Chain 3 & Chain 4:
    • The inputs d + C are low attacks, the input BC is an overhead and the input d + A is a low attack for some characters. So, these chains have 1-2 low hits on the common part between Chain 3 and Chain 4, followed by a high/low mixup (first attack of the specific part of Chain 3 is an overhead and first attack of the specific part of Chain 4 is low attack).
  • Chain 3:
    • First attack of the specific part is an overhead.
    • For most characters is the second chain with higher raw damage (between Chain 1 and Chain 2 damage).
  • Chain 4:
    • First attack of the specific part is a low attack.
    • Last attack is unblockable, cancelable and causes jungle.
    • For most characters is the chain with the worst raw damage (a little more than half a bar).
    • Depending on the character, have potential to do higher damage than other chains (specially if you can follow with a DM that can do full, or almost full, damage on an airbone opponent).


Raw Damage order
  • Most characters:
    • Chain 2 (higher), Chain 3, Chain 1, Chain 4 (lower).
  • Yuki:
    • Chain 2 (higher), Chain 3, Chain 4, Chain 1 (lower).
      • Difference: Chain 4 > Chain 1
  • Kojirou, Juzoh, Mukuro, Zantetsu:
    • Chain 3 (higher), Chain 2, Chain 1, Chain 4 (lower).
      • Difference: Chain 3 > Chain 2
  • Shigen:
    • Chain 3 (higher), Chain 2, Chain 4, Chain 1 (lower).
      • Diferences: Chain 3 > Chain 2 and Chain 4 > Chain 1

Chains Inputs

Below are the commands of each chain for each character:

Group A (Heavy/Slow characters): Juzoh, Amano, Mukuro, Shigen, Setsuna, Kouryuu
  • d d + A/B ...


  • A > B > C
    • A > B (Unblockable for Juzoh) > C
      • A > B > qcf + C (Juggle for Amano)
      • C > qcf + B (Unblockable)
    • d + C (low)
      • BC (overhead) > qcf + B
      • d + C (low) > f + BC (Juggle + Unblockable + cancelable)
Group B (Medium characters): Kaede (Both versions), Yuki, Akari, Hibiki, Washizuka, Kagami, Okina
  • d d + A/B ...


  • A > B > C
    • A > B > C
      • A > B > qcf + C
      • C > B > qcf + A (Unblockable)
    • d + C (low) > A
      • BC (overhead) > A > qcf + B
      • d + C (low) > f + BC (Juggle + Unblockable + cancelable)
Group C (Light/Fast characters): Moriya, Kojirou, Lee, Zantetsu
  • d d + A/B ...


  • A > B > C
    • A > B > C
      • A > B > qcf + C (Juggle for Kojirou)
      • C > B > A > qcf + C (Unblockable)
    • d + C (low) > d + A (low for ??)
      • BC (overhead) > A > B > qcf + B (No knockdown for Moriya)
      • d + C (low) > f + BC (Juggle + Unblockable + cancelable)
Tips
  • If you don't know/remember the group of your character, you may try Chain 2 as:
    • d d + A/B >
      • A > B > C
        • A > B > C
          • C > qcf + B > qcf + A > qcf + C
  • If you don't know/remember the group of your character, but you know that it is from Group B or C, you may try Chain 3 as:
    • d d + A/B >
      • A > B > C
        • d + C > d + A
          • BC > A > qcf + B > qcf + B
  • If you don't know/remember the group of your character, but you know that it is from Group B or C, you may try Chain 4 as:
    • d d + A/B >
      • A > B > C
        • d + C > d + A
          • d + C > f + BC

Chains Videos

Video with all chains: link

Ground attacks

Initiated with df + B (except for Lee, Mokuru, Shigen and Juzoh) or just standing C (everybody) when the person is on the ground. The C tends to have less recovery lag/start-up. Be careful with these when the person is able to ground recover. Especially because it can have some bad lag on it with certain characters. Some characters can get a ground attack-in after their throw or a sweep.

  • Amano's df + B ground attack will also hit standing opponents for some reason.
  • You can cancel off certain ones. Pretty useless except for whiffing certain moves quickly to get meter.

Specific ground attacks

  • Shigen:
    • CD (ground throw)
    • df + C


  • Mokuru
    • u + B (mash B for more hits)


  • Lee
    • u + B


  • Juzoh
    • u + B
    • run over the opponent
    • dp + A/B

Overheads

Only available on Speed/EX.

Done with BC. Some have more range/speed than others. Hibiki, Lee, Kaede, and Zantetsu have fantastic overheads. Amano and Mukuro have the worst. These hit high obviously, but they're more effective than they are in most games.

Overheads will stun you if you're blocking low. Otherwise you get launched. If you stun with an overhead, dash-in and follow quickly with a combo or throw. If you launch them, dash in to see if they'll try to quick recover, or chain a special after if your character can do it. If they don't recover, you can probably at least get a ground attack off or something.

Unblockables

Only available on power by hitting BC. Use these very sparingly. They'll get you murdered at high levels. You can hold these longer by holding the buttons down, but eventually the game makes you let go. This is helpful, because generally everyone has the same unblockable timing so it becomes easy to deflect. If you can extend the charge time, you can mess some people up.

You can be jabbed/thrown out of these so know when to use them, and really later on, it isn't advisable to use them much at all. Too easy to get punished. Also, most people will either let go right away or hold them down all the way. Remember that. If they're holding it, jab them quickly.

  • Washizuka and Kojiroh can move forward with their's if they charge them, so back the hell up if you can't deflect or jab them out.

Super cancels

Only available on Power/EX. Not all of them are all that useful. Basically lets you cancel certain specials into super moves.

Power f + C cancels

Exactly what it sounds like. Cancelling f + C into a special or super. Power mode only.

Blocking

You can't block standing normals while you're in the air.

  • You can only air block when jumping straight-up or backwards. Anti-airs and projectiles can be air blocked EXCEPT Akari's fireball and the first hit of Kagami's 623B

Stagger Block

On power mode, your blocked normal attacks will freeze the opponent for a split second.

Low-jumping

Tap U, UF, or UB lightly.

This game has the touchiest low-jump out of all of SNK's fighters. In the KoF games, you can tap it pretty hard and still get it out, but you really have to tap it lightly in this for it to work.

Getting around in general

If you're doing a jump-in, it's almost always better to be dashing or low-jumping while you do it. A straight high jump-in is just way too predictable. Try to get low jumping down. It's not completely necessary until you get to higher levels, but it's very helpful. It makes it a lot easier to get in, start combos, and zone with jump attacks without getting parried.

Ground/Air recovering

Press D to ground recover a second after you hit the ground, or D ONCE in the air after you get launched up. Don't press it twice or you'll parry on the way down and you'll be a sitting duck (unless you need to parry an attack on the way down). You are NOT invincible while ground recovering, so make sure you're a certain distance away when you do it. Or around characters like Kaede/Kojrioh/Lee/Zantetsu/Akari/Moriya who can punish ground recoveries easily, don't do it much at all. Just know when to do it and when not to. Never do it in the corner.

  • You can attack/use air specials on the way down from an air recovery.
  • You can ground recover out of a lot of stuff you can't air recover from
  • You can't ground recover from stuff that knocks down immediately, like sweeps, or attacks that send you flying like F+C .

On the ground

In case you missed it, hold B or F on the ground to roll in either direction while you're getting up. Or nothing to stay where you are. Don't get predictable and always roll one way.

Dashing

You can stop a dash by pressing back on the joystick. Also, if you dash attack and press back and attack, you'll do a regular standing version of the attack instead of the dashing one. Also, you have to have been dashing a certain span of time for a dash attack to come out. Otherwise you get a normal standing one.

  • All characters minus Shigen have a run (glide in Kagami's case) if you hold forward after a dash. Shigen instead does a short dash and then stops. Rob Noe 08:49, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Dash attacks

Try not to dash attack someone head on unless you're playing footsies. This is just asking to get parried. Instead, use them after you stun with an overhead, or to punish whiffed attacks from afar. If you have to mix it up, go for a dashing sweep (Dash > Down+A/B/C). Certain characters have guaranteed dash attacks on people who are ground recovering from a knock-down/launch.

Jump-cancelling

You can dash under someone who's in the air and use a low poke to hit them as they land, then follow-up with a combo/mix-up. You do this by quickly jump-cancelling the dash just before you hit the button. This only works just as you're crossing over. Any later and you'll end up facing the wrong way. Certain moves like Zantetsu's Qcf.png+A can also be jump-cancelled.

Throwing

Command: CD

Throws are a huge part of Last Blade 2's game, because of the dash speed/lack of jump recovery. Get dash throwing down pat, and get dash command throwing down especially. They're the easiest way to punish missed deflects, and they make it so you can punish one without even having to wait for the animation to come out.

  • Shigen, Kaede and Akari all have air throws preformed the same way.

Deflecting

First off, you know should know that you can deflect while standing, crouching and in the air. Crouching deflects will generally only work on crouching attacks, while air deflects will work on almost anything. Air deflects are much stricter on timing however. Last Blade's deflects have a miss animation on them, so be very careful when you use it, also the trail of blue shadows will make it easy to spot one.

Also, pressing D once deflects, pressing D again after the deflect causes a knock-down. It's usually better to go for a combo after instead of the knock-down. Unless you're deflecting an air-attack. You can't use the knock-down D if it's an air to air deflect, but you can use an air normal/special immediately after.

There are generally a few things you should deflect:

  • When someone is blindly rushing down/pressuring you.
  • Really obvious jump-ins
  • When someone jumps straight up next to you
  • To counter anti-airs/air to air attacks.
  • You can deflect some supers, but you cannot deflect projectiles. You can however, guard-cancel them.

Guard cancelling

Uses up all your meter. Allows you to deflect an attack a split second AFTER you've blocked it. This is helpful for avoiding chip damage. Also, it's basically near guaranteed damage when you need it. These are much more helpful on power since your meter fills faster and they do more damage.

The motion for these is b db d + D while blocking. I find it helps to mash the the whole motion several times. Most of the time, because you'll be mashing the button, you won't be able to combo off the GC. You can guard cancel multi-hit supers.

Advanced Strategy

Tier List

Japan Tier List

It's been difficult to nail one official list as the game has little serious competition outside of Japan. However, the general concensus is something like:

God Tier:

  • Kouryu (Banned)

Top Tier:

  • Power Zantetsu
  • Speed Moriya (With teleport glitch)
  • Power Lee
  • Power Mukuro

Upper Mid Tier:

  • Power Amano
  • Speed Akari
  • Power Kagami
  • Speed Shigen/*Speed Washizuka
  • Power Kaede

Mid Tier:

  • Speed Hibiki
  • Power/Speed Kojiroh
  • Power Setsuna
  • Power Okina/Power Juzoh

Low Tier:

  • Power Unawakened Kaede (Also known as O. Kaede)
  • Speed Yuki

(Note: Just because a character is listed as being better in one mode, doesn't mean they're bad in the other).

Chinese Tier list

LV5:Zantetsu (p/s),Mukuro(p),Kagami(p),Amano(p)

LV4:Amano(s),Kagami(s),Moriya(s),Akari(p/s),Shigen(s),Mukuro(s),Kaede(p),

LV3:Washizuka(p/s),Kojiroh(s).Lee(p/s),Juzoh(p),Setsuna(p),Hibiki(p/s),Okina(p)

LV2:Kaede(s),Juzoh(s),Shigen(p),Moriya(p),Kojiroh( p), Setsuna (s)

LV1:Yuki(p/s),Okina(s),


General Debatable Tier List

This is a personal analysis but as a synthesis of the two pro tier list we can conclude this--HanzoHimemiya (talk) 08:02, 26 May 2020 (MSK)

Trve Four Gods:
Zantetsu(any)
Moriya(Speed)
Amano(Power)
Lee(any)

Possible Fifth Elements
Mukuro(Power)
Akari(Speed)

High Half of the Lore Four Gods
Kagami(Power)
Kaede(Power)

The Outcast and the other Half of the Lore Four Gods (without any secondary order)
Hibiki(Speed)
Kojiroh(Speed)
Okina(Power)
Setsuna(Power)
Shigen(Speed)
Washizuka(any)

Black Horses
Juzoh(Power)
Yuki(Speed)

Explanation

Trve Four Gods can fit well in any mode but they had bonus chains in Speed or easy Super Cancels in Power Mode
Fifth Elements are the metagame beasts,Mukuro the trickiest one, and Akari is the best Speed Mode only rusher characters
High Half of Lore are the best Power Mode only characters and the balanced ones commonly
Outcast only are useful in one mode and Black Horses had problems with basics like pokes or special recovery
--HanzoHimemiya (talk) 08:02, 26 May 2020 (MSK)

Defending against high-low

Overheads must be blocked high as well as some supers. Keep these things in mind. Remember that most overheads will come out in this order and you can either jab them out of it, block it, or deflect it:

A > BC

A, A > BC (Moriya can't do his overhead off his A, A chain, because mixed with his special DF+A overhead it would be too broken).

A, A, B > BC

So low block and when you see the pause for the overhead come out, switch to high block, jab or deflect. In a worst case scenario just attack, so even if it hits, you don't get stunned.

Replace BC with DF+C and you have the same patterns for sweeps. This is why you always want to block combos low if possible. If they do a sweep, you don't have to switch your block. If they do an overhead, they come out slowly anyway so you can just switch.

Hibiki and Zantetsu have quick overheads which look almost the same as their D+B's but after a while you get used to them. I haven't gotten hit by either in a while. Just remember that Hibiki and Zantetsu's D+B hits right away, while the overhead animation is more jerky and hits later. Hibiki's overhead animation is also less crouched.

Wake-up/On wake-up

If someone's trying to jump straight up on you for a jump-in while you're on the ground, get up with a jumping A (straight-up) or C depending on the character. If someone tries to roll towards you, jump back and greet them with a jump attack. Be careful though, these can get parried. If they start to parry, just jump back, dash-in throw instead.

  • Again, never, ever, ever deflect when you're getting up, or the other guy is getting up. No good player will ever attack right after standing up. You'll just get owned by a jump-in. Unless you're playing a scrub who just mashes A all the time or something.

Deflecting combo strings

Generally, you can only deflect light hits on the first hit. However, you can deflect any hard attack they throw in the string.

Just block the first hit high and switch to low block during the string (Or go from low to high). Then before their hard attack comes out, deflect. For some reason, switching your block position like that allows you to deflect in block stun. Think of it kind of like red parrying in Third Strike.

  • You can deflect while still holding back. Special moves and DM/SDM's must be deflected by tapping F+D or DF+D

Deflect timing

Listed previously, were a bunch of situations where it would be a good idea to deflect. Now obviously, the good players know these as well, so they're gonna try to fake you out. Be very careful when you deflect. A good player can easily jump straight up next to you, have you whiff a deflect, then run in and throw you. Also, it could seem like I'm blindly poking you with A, but then I switch it up at the last minute to a throw when you try to deflect. People who've been playing a long time, generally have a good idea of when someone is going to try and deflect or attack. So try to get deflecting down, but use it conservatively.

Gauge your opponent's patterns, and remember it's very dangerous to be deflecting too much around mashers or new players. Most of them will just mash out random attack strings like A, A *random pause* special. Players have often tried to deflect what they thought was an incoming hard slash, and ended up eating a random super instead.

Also, you can greatly reduce the lag on a low-jump air deflect by deflecting late in the jump.

  • Never, ever, ever deflect when you're getting up, or the other guy is getting up. No good player will ever attack right after standing up. You'll just get owned by a jump-in. There are exceptions to this in high level play, where someone might do it to throw you off.

Guard switching

Referenced earlier on the page but here's a better explanation. In this game when you block there is a set amount of block stun tied to each attack. You can bypass this by switching between high and low guard quickly after you have blocked and be able to attack or deflect as soon as you come up from crouching or vice versa. For whatever reason this let's you "steal frames" of block stun and is really important at high level play. It makes it so moves that seem safe can be punished. Takes a long time to get good at but is very much a game changer.

It's not to say you can't win without using this, you most certainly can win. However if you're playing against someone who can consistently do this you may have a difficult time. Playing online it's not as huge of a factor as offline but it's still there.

Poking/Normals

Generally, jumping A or C is going to be your best air to air attack . Also different air attacks have different properties depending on whether the opponent is above you, below you, or right beside you.

Quick list of good air-air attacks for each character

(Amano, Akari and Lee's C and Moriya, Kagami and Zantetsu's A are very annoying. Yuki's air attacks all pretty much suck. B is OK, but it's slow)

  • (If you're finding it hard to gauge the angle, just use the "All around" ones)
  • (If more than one attack is listed per character, it usually means multiple attacks will work. Doesn't mean that one isn't better than the others, but it's hard to go in-depth into that in a general FAQ. some of the ones that are really good, or at least better than the other ones in most situations have been highlighted)
  • (Some are better or worse depending on whether you jump or low-jump. All the close/cross-up ones are better with low-jump)

Below you:

  • A for Mukuro, Akari, Shigen, Moriya, Hibiki, Lee, Zantetsu, Kojiroh, Setsuna
  • B for Mukuro, Juzoh, Kagami
  • C for Yuki, Mukuro, Lee, Kagami, Kojiroh, Washizuka, Setsuna, Juzoh, Amano, Akari

Beside you:

  • A for Kaede, Moriya, Kagami, Okina, Shigen, Hibiki, Juzoh, Zantetsu, Kojiroh, Washizuka, Setsuna
  • B for Juzoh (From further back), Yuki (From further back)
  • C for Lee, Yuki, Okina, Mukuro, Amano, Akari, Setsuna, Juzoh

Above you:

  • A for Juzoh, Shigen, Hibiki, Zantetsu, Kagami, Kojiroh, Washizuka, Setsuna
  • B for Yuki, Lee, Kaede, Moriya
  • C for Amano, Okina, Akari, Lee

Jump-ins:

  • A for Yuki (Close-up only), Akari, Kaede, Okina, Shigen, Moriya, Hibiki, Lee, Zantetsu, Setsuna, Kojiroh, Washizuka, Kagami
  • B for Akari, Setsuna, Mukuro (Close-up only/Crosses up), Kaede, Okina, Moriya, Hibiki (Close-up only/Crosses up), Zantetsu (Close-up only/Crosses up), Kagami, Yuki
  • C for Yuki (Close-up only), Amano, Lee, Akari, Kojiroh (Close-up only/Crosses up), Washizuka (Close up only/Crosses up), Setsuna, Mukuro, Kaede (Close-up only/Crosses up), Shigen (Close up only/Crosses up), Moriya, Hibiki, Kagami (Close-up only/Crosses up)

All around:

  • A for Kaede, Washizuka, Kojiroh, Moriya, Kagami, Hibiki, Shigen, Okina, Zantetsu
  • B for Juzoh, Yuki
  • C for Lee, Amano, Akari, Mukuro

Last Blade 2 is very heavy on air poking. Especially low-jump air pokes. This is because there is very little lag between getting off the ground and landing after your jump. Also, jump attacks tend to have very high priority. For example, you can keep a lot of people back with just Kagami's jumping A. Also, know when to go high or low. If you try a jump-in and they block the first hit, use a low attack or a dash-in throw after. A standing attack is almost guaranteed to get deflected.

You can use an early jumping attack to make them whiff a deflect, and then just run in and throw or wait a second and start a combo.

Pokes on power, will put the opponent in kind of a semi-guard break animation, which makes it easy to throw like 3 A's out in a row. Also, normals will do chip damage on power.

Be careful with hard slashes. They're very easy to punish/parry.

  • Defensive air poking is extremely effective. Some people will just wait for you try to get in and then jump poke you away. Air turtlers if you will. Easy way to remedy this, is either air parry it, or hit and run and then wait and make them come to you. Chanecs are, if they're relying on this tactic, their offense isn't great. So by taking enough damage off that they have to come after you, you give yourself the advantage.

Basic/Advanced combo strings

General

Keep your specials/DM's inside your combos. Unless you know it's safe to use, or it's a projectile for zoning. If you're not comboing, spend your time using pokes/air pokes/throws or very brief speed chains instead of spamming specials. You'd be surprised how easy it is for the other person to punish a whiffed special.

Think of it like Third Strike where it's very poke centered. Except more on air-poking than ground footsies.

Speed chains

Your most basic attack string is:

B+A, A, A, B > Special move/DM OR DF+C OR F+C OR BC

Advanced attack string:

B+A, A, D+A, D+B > Special move/DM, etc.

Only works for some characters. Kaede, Juzoh and Shigen for example don't have low hitting A's, and Moriya can only chain after his from a very specific distance, so it's pretty useless for him.

Advanced attack string 2: (For characters who can't chain or can't chain well off D+B)

B+A, A, D+A, B > Special move/DM, etc

Know which moves chain after a standing or . I see too many people trying to throw like B versions of fireballs into combos and then just getting blocked and punished. Most supers will also only link from a hard slash.

  • Try not to do supers outside of combos. They'll only get you killed. I don't care if you get infinite supers when your meter is flashing, I'm just going to block them all and then kick your ass.

Additional info

Most people can use their supers in their speed chains. The exceptions are Amano, Kagami, Kaede/ O. Kaede and Okina.

Many characters can also chain specials off low attacks which is very helpful. You can start combos with B+A to make them come out a bit faster on certain characters, but you lose too much range for me to recommend it for everyone.

Power links

These are extremely difficult, and generally what will separate top level players from the upper mid-level ones. Basically a link is an attack that hits immediately after the lag from the first attack goes away rather than cancelling one into another, but the whole thing still counts as a combo.

You need to be exceedingly good at hit confirming to use these properly though, so the learning curve on power is rather steep. Links are usually risky enough, but in a game where the parry interval is so large, it can be very dangerous to be messing these up.

The links in Last Blade 2 are generally extremely tight on timing, and this is one of the only games around that will ask you to link 4 attacks in a row. They're all very reliant on timing. Mashing only works for Mukuro's links and maybe Lee's links.

Some like Kagami's, are literally strict to the millisecond. The key seems to be in muscle memory. Do them enough times, and eventually you'll kind of know intuitively when to hit the button, and when you won't be able to get it (and in that case, don't attack or you might get parried).

For a basic idea of what I mean. Try to chain Lee's standing B from his D+C (x1-3) and then follow-up with a special or a DM. You might get it a few times, but the trick is to be able to do it consistently in the middle of a fight, because if you screw up, you're getting punished pretty badly most likely.

An easier one to try is Mukuro's:

B+A (x1-3) > F+C > Special/DM

OR Lee's:

B+A, B > Special/DM

The main advantage of most of these links is damage. Power mode doesn't have any chain combos so people think you have to rely on pokes. This is true to some extent, but the fact is, these power links tend to do a bit more damage than most speed chains. Also, one of their biggest advantages is that they let you turn every low poke, into a full combo. Imagine if almost every character in Third Strike had c. Mk.png > SAII, and that's what this is like, only a lot harder.

You need to have low-jumping down to be able to use these effectively. The only way you'll get them off most of the time, is through a low-jump jump-in/cross-up.

Combining power links with speed chains

Here's where things get a bit interesting. Speed players noticed how you could link lows to highs and started using these links to get into speed chains from their low pokes. An example of this is Zantetsu's D+C (x1-2) A > F+C/Special. This only works for characters with low-high links obviously.

Some people also use them for extra damage but I find this too risky sometimes. Like B+A (x2) with Kaede and then on the third B+A, go into the rest of his speed chain.

Blocked strings

Deflecting makes attacking a defensive foe a lot more risky, so you have to be careful.

If the first hit of your combo gets blocked, it's usually best to just either stop completely, or end quickly with BC OR DF+C (slides are not as safe as sweeps unless from max range).

Do not continue to attack blindly, or you will get deflected and punished. On power, be careful when you go for your links. Don't try them off blocked attacks. If the first hit gets blocked, stop completely or switch to a low attack/dash-in throw or something.

Small mix-ups list

  • Dash-jump whiff air attack, dash-in throw
  • Jump straight up, whiff air-attack, dash-in throw
  • Low-jump close up, dash-in throw.
  • Low poke, dash-in throw.
  • A > BC
  • A > DF+C
  • Low-jump whiff air attack
  • Low-jump whiff air attack
  • Whiff low poke while the opponent is waking-up, and then low-jump cross-up/jump-in/dash-in throw.

Miscellaneous

  • If you're just starting out. Use Speed mode first, and get extremely comfortable with it using several characters. The learning curve on power is very very steep.
  • Contrary to popular belief. EX is not overpowered, in fact I'd say it's the worst "ISM" or mode for most characters, because though you do more damage and get access to super cancels/SDM's. You take like 150% damage. Which doesn't make it worth it on most characters. A few characters are alright in EX though. Kagami, Yuki, and maybe Amano can do pretty well. Try them if you feel lucky.
  • The code for EX is (Go to speed) C6 (Go to power) B3 (Go to speed) C4 and then it should pick it automatically. Don't press it too fast or too slow, and wait a split second after you switch between ISM's to press the buttons. If you screw up, cycle through a couple times, and then go back to speed and try again.
  • The code to select O. Kaede is (Go to Kaede on the select screen) C9, B1, C4. If you screw up, move off his box, and then try it again.
  • The code to select Kouryu is (go to Kaede on character select screen) Cx10, Bx5, Cx5. Note that this code will only work on a console version or you have the dipswitiches set to home/console on the arcade game.
  • The code to select Hagure is (go to Akari on character select screen) Cx8, Bx9 (wait 1 second), Cx1. You should hear a voice, then press A or D and you'll select Hagure.
  • The code to "select" Naoe Kotetsu is (go to Shigen on character select screen) Cx5, Bx10, Cx2. You should hear a voice, then press A or D and you'll "select" Kotetsu (but really it's Shigen).
  • Lee and Zantetsu have air chains. O. Kaede has them with a glitch.
  • Zantetsu has a bad bug with AC (together) where he can chain it infinitely in the air. This is banned from tournaments. Even doing it twice is detrimental, because your mix-up game gets 100x better. Lee also has this bug and it's also banned from tournaments.
  • Speed Setsuna and Power Mukuro are probably the most beginner friendly characters. Speed Kojiroh and Speed Moriya are very accessible as well. Speed Lee is the mid-level favourite.

Game Versions

  • Arcade (Neo Geo)
  • Dreamcast
  • PS2
  • PS4