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
• Rera's specials have higher priority than her WFT while riding Shikuru.

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.

Neutral Frame

• Invulnerable recovery states have one vulnerable frame immediately before the defender becomes actionable. The defender must (if possible) block any opposing attacks on this frame.

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.

Tech Chasing

• The act of chasing an enemy's tech rolls. Short rolls are fully immune to throws, but are vulnerable to strikes at the end of their animation. Long rolls, on the other hand, work the opposite way while taking longer to recover. Some characters can punish all techs after certain knockdowns (often throws), especially in the corner. Others have tools which cover either option, such as Jubei's 236C, which catches short rolls and meaties the recovery of a long roll for free chip damage. Other characters may be limited in their ability to tech chase due to their lacking mobility, such as Gaira, whose combos and specials generally give him hard knockdowns to compensate.

Unarmed State

• 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 on their own while decent combos still experience damage scaling.

Jump Cancel

• Also known as "combo jump". Upon landing from a jump, you are able to cancel the landing recovery into another jump. In this game, this applies even if an air normal was used, although most air specials have their own landing recovery which cannot be cancelled. The jump cannot be buffered. This is generally safe, given the game's poor grounded anti-airs across the board, but it may be blown up with a pre-emptive air-to-air.

Crouch Block Frame Disadvantage

• Blocking an attack while crouching not only causes more pushback, but for most characters causes them to be stuck in blockstun for five frames longer. The exceptions are Nakoruru, Rera while riding Shikuru, and Sankuro, who are stuck for only two frames longer instead.

Heavy Slash Frame Advantage

• There are two different animations a character may use when hit by a heavy slash: a forward bend and a backwards bend. Normally, this makes very little difference over the course of a match. However, when put into the backwards bending animation, there are 21 characters who will take a frame longer to recover. These are Haohmaru, Hanzo, Galford, Kyoshiro, Ukyo, Jubei, Charlotte, Genjuro, Shizumaru, Basara, Gaira, Kazuki, Sogetsu, Rasetsumaru, Enja, Suija, Sankuro, Yumeji, Amakusa and Mizuki. These discrepancies are noted in each characters' frame data tables.
• An easy way to remember all this: every character who is normally selectable in Samurai Shodown IV and their headswaps is subject to this rule, and every new addition since is exempt. The exceptions either way include the Ainu characters and Tam Tam, who don't have this quirk, and Mizuki who does.