Samurai Shodown VI/Mechanics

Input Priority

• Rage Explosion > State Of Nothingness > Secret Moves > Weapon Flipping Techniques > Special Moves > Throw Item > Break Defense > Command Moves > A > B > C > D > E > Start

Rage

• Rage is the meter system of Samurai Shodown. When the meter is full your character will gain a damage boost and, unless you are using I Spirit or a custom VIII Spirit which disables it, be able to perform WFTs until either your Rage runs out or you land your WFT. The Rage timer will decrease at a constant rate unless you are in hitstun or are knocked down, where it will momentarily pause until you are able to move again. The exceptions are VI and 0, which do not have a timer but will fully drain upon performing a WFT whether it hits or not. Rage is built by taking damage in most Spirits, but in VI it is built by damaging your opponent. The console-only 0 Spirit allows you to build Rage either way. Your choice of Spirit will modify various gauge and damage values.
• The 'Rage retention' in each character section is determined by the amount of damage it will take for a character to Rage, with a higher value denoting greater Rage build. The 'Rage duration' notes how much raw time a character will stay in Rage.

Backhit

• If you hit the opponent who is facing the wrong way your attack will gain extra frame advantage depending on its strength.

Counter Hit

• If you hit the opponent during certain parts of their attacks you will score a counter hit. This does not increase your attack's damage but rather its hitstun, opening up combos which otherwise aren't possible with its regular frame advantage.

Deephit

• If your jumping attack connects on a crouching opponent or if it is a counter hit, the opponent will be put into a special animation where they are held in hitstun for longer but also reel back over a greater distance. This is usually how jC, 5C combos are made possible. You can no longer score deephits by simply hitting your jump-ins deep enough.

Hard Knockdown

• A property caused by certain moves in which opponents may not perform a tech roll while hitting the ground. This is usually caused by WFTs but certain special moves will result in hard knockdowns.

Soft Knockdown

• The most common type of knockdown. There is a small window to tech roll as you hit the ground.

Unarmed

• You are unarmed when you are not holding your weapon. During this state you have access to your unarmed normals, kicks, movement options, Weapon Catch and certain special moves and WFTs, whether they are exclusive to the unarmed state (e.g. Wan-Fu's Spirit Blast Crush) or can simply be performed both armed and unarmed (e.g. Tam Tam's Gaboora Gaboora).

Weapon Clash

• Occasionally if your slash attack clashes with an opponent's and they are of the same strength you may initiate a Weapon Clash. This can only occur once a round. Whoever mashes the slash buttons the most will leave their opponent disarmed. There is no visible counter for button presses this time around.

Weapon Gauge

• Below your health bar is a separate gauge which manages damage scaling. It will drain as you attack and refill as you refrain from doing so. This is how heavy slashes can deal respectable damage at any point in the match while decent combos still experience damage scaling during and after their duration.

Chase Tech

• Chase tech is the action of chasing an enemy's Ukemi (wakeup rolls). Short rolls are throw immune but vulnerable to strike at the end of their animation. Long rolls are strike immune but can be chased down by throws. Some characters can punish both, such as Jubei's 236C (blows up short rolls, chips long roll) or Hanzo's 66C/66623C (66C chases short roll and crosses up both while 66623C catches long roll). Some characters don't have strong punishes due to lack of mobility so they don't capitalize hard on soft knockdown such as Gaira (most combos/specials end in hard knockdown for him).

Jump Cancel

• When you jump at your opponent you are more than likely to be grabbed, even if you hit them. This is because you must cancel the recovery frames of all jumping actions (some are comittal like Gaira's j2D) by pressing 88 as you land. Doing so will allow you to jump immediately and not be counter grabbed. This creates a metagame where the opponent attempts to grab your jump and is instead hit during their whiffed grab. Be careful as they are free to attempt an air-to-air against you.