I’m very new to this game, but, with Combo breaking, the first “button” you press to start the combo determines what the opponent must press to combo break correct? So if I start a combo with a LP attack, they must press LP LK to break. I can start the same combo with MP and they must press MP MK to break right? Sorry if this info is elsewhere but I usually like to ask my own questions anyway. Thanks.
No, your breaker is based on the part of the combo that is currently hitting you.
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The combo is broken into three parts: The opener, the combo, and the ender.
Openers are basically the first move of a combo. Not all moves are openers, they are usually certain types of special moves characters have. You can see a list of them in the training menu.
For this I’ll use Jago as an example.
If you are Jago, and you hit an opponent with a light punch, and cancel that light punch into a laser sword move, the laser sword is what you call the “opener”. The opener is the true start of the combo, and openers can NEVER be broken ever.
It’s easier to think of it like this at first:
Special move -> attack ->Special move -> attack ->Special move -> attack ->Special move.
Anything AFTER that first special is breakable. And depending on the strength of the attack or the strength of the special, you hit either LP+LK (light combo breaker), MP+MK, or HP+HK to break that strength of the move.
After the Opener occurs, that’s when the breakable stuff happens. You get two things, Auto Doubles, and linkers. Auto doubles are basically attacks that look like the normal hits of the character. These can be one of three different strengths. If the player hits a light attack button, they get a light auto double, if they hit a medium button, they get a medium auto double, and so on for heavy.
Linkers are special moves with different properties, but are also split into three different strengths. Linkers usually do different numbers of hits depending on the strength of the button pressed.
So after doing an opener special move, you will either:
- Hit an attack button such as lp, mp, hp, lk, mk, or hk.
- Input another special move input, with the button you press changing the properties of that special. Example, Jago’s wind kick linker, if you do the controller stick motion plus LK, it hits one time. Do the motion and hit MK, the wind kick hits twice, and do the motion, but hold the light or medium version and you’ll get the heavy wind kick linker that hits three times.
Finally, you have the ender move. This move is unbreakable EXCEPT in a situation where an opponent goes straight from the opener special move to the ender special move, like Jago does a wind kick, and cancels that into a Tiger Fury Uppercut. That rule exception is a little advanced though so don’t breath much into it until you get your head wrapped around the main stuff.
The Ender move is basically the FINAL special attack in a combo, but the special attack is done using the special move motion plus the HP or HK to make it the ender move. Ender moves look really different, and have unique things to them like they do big damage, give you shadow meter, launch the opponent in the air, etc.
You can’t break the Opener (1st special) and you can’t break the final Special (Ender), unless for one exception.
A lot of this is covered in the game’s Dojo mode. You’ll find it in practice. Take it slow, and you’ll get it. Let us know if you need any more help.
I recommend doing the early dojo lessons if you want clarity on this. KI is actually pretty good about teaching most of its mechanics.
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@VarmintBaby Yes, go to the DOJO with Jago please. There you will learn all the basics. Complete the DOJO as far as you can go, as many times as you can. I would repeat the lessons until they are just muscle memory and your breeze through them…then translate that experience into fighting SHADOWS…NOT the regular AI. Do this before fighting any human players online. Jumping straight into Online vs Humans can be discouraging for a new player,
I also recommend using the “combo breaker training” in the “master” menu in Singleplayer. If you have a hard time breaking specific characters, you can train to break them in this mode.