~History of Guide~
Date/Info
October ??: Fleshed out the skeleton of the guide, added information about Lucas, Drew and Shawn.
October ??: The next morning, added the necessary information for Jenny and Gordon.
October ??: Added some combo's and random information such as horses and giant objects to the guide.
4th Dec 09: First time I'm recording the dates of my updates to the guide; hence this section was made. Added a bit to breaker skills.
5th Dec 09: Updated the rest of the guide for v0.2x, added "Bag of Tricks" at the bottom.
17th Jan 10: Added Extreme Challenges section at the end.
21st Jan 10: Updated some sections of the guide, added Content Page at start of guide.
30th Jan 10: Added a Media Section for a video about backwhacking.
6th Feb 10: Edited Arrow Rain for Shawn
11th Feb 10: Major editing of multiple sections for v2.1.
9th Mar 10: Updated several sections for v2.2
11th Mar 10: Added some pictures to the guide.
9th Oct 10: Decided that the guide needed to be reworked, as I had been doing some tests on the game. Wrote out the skeleton of the 2nd edition of the guide.
11th Oct 10: Added three sections (Novice, Intermediate and Advanced) to the guide in progress. (GIP)
14th Oct 10: Typed out the basic structure of each character to GIP.
15th Oct 10: Started to type the 2nd edition of the guide. Yay!
8th Nov 10: Been mostly busy with the examinations, now starting to type out the 2nd edition of the guide =.=
14th Nov 10: Holy sh--, lots of typing to do. Time to get to work.
1st Jan 11: Finally finished the guide >.<
8th Jan 11: Posting of 2nd edition of the guide. It's much cleaner I think, and looks sleek
(Still have to get some gif's done for some of the moves, I'll finish it up later.)
9th Jan 11: Well I had planned to post it yesterday, but there were some problems in the process. Thankfully it was resolved, and I decided to add the Acknowledgements section below to express my gratitude. I had to break up the guide into two threads, simply because I could not fit all the information on a single post, and the forum wouldn't let me make multiple posts. Thus, this thread will serve as the general guide for HF, and the other thread at (
http://www.herofighter-empire.com/forum/...p?tid=215) will serve as the character guide thread. This should make editing of the seperate sections much easier
.
13th Jan 11: Just came to check my guide and found quite alot of responses here
. Time to fix the mistakes and add some combo's to the character guide. Added some gif's to the section of 'Bag of tricks-Attacking before attacks.'
19th Jan 11: Edited a tiny portion, by adding a Chinese name for the Cross-Strike skill. Nothing much otherwise.
-Razen for granting me permission to create a 2nd thread which is meant to be a newer version of the first thread.
-Simoneon for contacting BluePhoenix when I had trouble with posting the guide.
-BluePhoenix for solving that problem, and thus allowing me to post the guide
.
-HolyMane for pointing out a mistake in the first edition of the guide, about Shawn not having an attack combo, and the formatting of the guide.
-Nebular for reminding me in the first edition that there are combo's for each character.
-armydanywolf for suggesting that I replace Jump with J when typing the combos.
-祭£神曲 and ~{ 無雙 }~ for making me realize I could post animated gif's in my guide. (I forgot which of you also provided me the chinese name of backwhack/cross-strike move in a post. Couldn't find that message, sorry >.<, but I did read it.)
-~{ 無雙 }~ for providing a sizable list of combo's and gif's of combo's for the characters, which is posted at the Character Guide, as well as a few gif's for this General Guide under 'Bag of tricks-Attacking before attacks'.
-Purlox for pointing out that Jenny's LHOA is Wind Blade (can't believe I missed that O_O)
-And a big thanks to the general HF community which has helped me some way or another
Disclaimer
I don't consider myself a good HF player, but I'm able to beat any character on Hard Mode in a 1v1 without horses or giant objects, using any character. As usual, this guide is by no means a definite way on how to become "pro" at HF, and should only be used as it is intended, a guide.
Rather long Content Page
1. History of Guide (Up there) and Acknowledgements
2. Content Page (What you're reading now)
3. Recent game updates and keys/shortforms for the guide
4.
Novice Section
4.1: Blocking and dodging
4.1.1: How to block.
4.1.2: Why you would want to block.
4.1.3: How to block effectively.
4.1.4: How to dodge
4.1.5: Why you want to master dodging.
4.1.6: The Perfect Block (PB)
4.1.7: Explanation of the Perfect Block (PB)
4.1.8: A word of warning about the PB...
4.2: Breaker Skills
4.2.1: Explanation of breaker skills
4.2.2: Breaker skill list per character
4.3: Stagger modes
4.3.1: Explanation of Stagger modes
4.3.2: Full list of combo's, and the damage of each combo
4.4: The three bars (HP, MP and SP)
4.4.1: HP
4.4.2: MP
4.4.3: SP
4.5: Getting up from Knockdown
4.5.1: Kicking
4.5.2: Rolling horizentally
4.5.3: Rolling vertically
5.
Intermediate Section
5.1: Ghost Hit (GH)
5.1.1: Gif. of GH
5.1.2: Explanation of GH
5.1.3: Applications of GH
5.1.4: Pros/Cons of GH
5.2.1: Cross Strike (CS)
5.2.2: Gif. of CS
5.2.3: Explanation of CS
5.2.4: Applications of CS
5.2.5: Pros/Cons of CS
6. Team Roles, Giant Objects and Horses
6.1: Team roles in big battle
6.2: Giant objects, as well as their uses + damage figures
6.3: Horses
6.4: List of last hit attacks
7.
Advanced Section
7.1: Fade Step (FS)
7.1.1: Gif. of FS
7.1.2: Explanation of FS
7.1.3: Applications of FS
7.1.4: Pros/Cons of FS
7.2: Bag of tricks
7.2.1: List of tricks
7.2.2: Explanation of each trick
8. Character Section can be found at (
http://www.herofighter-empire.com/forum/...p?tid=215)
9. Lucas
9.1: Introduction to Lucas
9.2: Pros/Cons of Lucas/Damage numbers
9.3: Skills of Lucas
9.4: Combo's of Lucas
9.5: Fighting style in small battles
9.6: Fighting style in large battles
9.7: Performance on horse
9.8: Using him to defeat others
9.9: CS/GH/FS ability
10. Drew
10.1: Introduction to Drew
10.2: Pros/Cons of Drew/Damage numbers
10.3: Skills of Drew
10.4: Combo's of Drew
10.5: Fighting style in small battles
10.6: Fighting style in large battles
10.7: Performance on horse
10.8: Using him to defeat others
10.9: CS/GH/FS ability
11. Shawn
11.1: Introduction to Shawn
11.2: Pros/Cons of Shawn/Damage numbers
11.3: Skills of Shawn
11.4: Combo's of Shawn
11.5: Fighting style in small battles
11.6: Fighting style in large battles
11.7: Performance on horse
11.8: Using him to defeat others
11.9: CS/GH/FS ability
12. Jenny
12.1: Introduction to Jenny
12.2: Pros/Cons of Jenny/Damage numbers
12.3: Skills of Jenny
12.4: Combo's of Jenny
12.5: Fighting style in small battles
12.6: Fighting style in large battles
12.7: Performance on horse
12.8: Using her to defeat others
12.9: CS/GH/FS ability
13. Gordon
13.1: Introduction to Gordon
13.2: Pros/Cons of Gordon/Damage numbers
13.3: Skills of Gordon
13.4: Combo's of Gordon
13.5: Fighting style in small battles
13.6: Fighting style in large battles
13.7: Performance on horse
13.8: Using him to defeat others
13.9: CS/GH/FS ability
14. Army system
14.1: Introduction to army system
14.2: Soldier
14.3: Archer
14.4: Calvary
15. Challenges (list)
I did try to add anchors to this guide, but I couldn't figure out how to add an anchor.
This guide was designed in such a manner that readers who want to specialise in a certain character, for example Lucas, can skip straight ahead to that character and learn about him.
Players who want to learn the techniques can learn them without having to learn about the characters, and readers who are just skimming through the guide for new techniques/tips can do so without having to plow through several walls of words.
So without further ado, here we go...
3.
Recent Updates
None.
Keys: To represent the damage for a particular skill, the damage will be shown as (Damage when not blocked/Damage when blocked). Eg: (70/7) means that 70 damage will be taken when the opponent/player is not blocking, and 7 damage will be taken when the player is blocking.
I use the words 'Blocking', 'Guarding' and 'Defending' interchangebly, and they all mean the same thing. So smashing the defence of the opponent means the same as breaking the guard of the opponent, which has the same meaning as destroying the opponent's block.
The same goes for 'AI', 'Enemy', and 'Opponent'. I use them interchangebly throughout the guide as well.
For Shawn, I use Phoenix Arrow when talking about Phoenix Shot, which is the name given by the official HF website for that skill.
Abbrevatiaons (Short forms)
Damage: Dmg
Hero Fighter: HF
HP: Hit points/Life points (The red bar of the character)
MP: Mana points (The blue bar of the character)
SP: Stamina points (The white bar of the character)
Technique short forms
Perfect Block: PB
Ghost Hit: GH
Cross Strike: CS
Fade Step: FS
4. The Novice Section is recommended for players who are new to Hero Fighter (HF), as it has a list of skills which novice players should try to learn and master. It would prove useful later on as they improve in their playing ability.
Novice Section
4.1
Blocking and dodging
4.1.1: Let's start with blocking first. To block an attack, hold the key that you assigned to Guard (G). Your character will assume a blocking animation.
4.1.2: However, why would you want to learn to block? Well, blocking is one of the basic techniques in HF, and the reason why it is important to block, is because blocking drastically reduces the damage a character receives. Here are the numbers...
Blocked (1) hit: 3
Blocked (2) hit: 6
Blocked (3) hit: 9
Blocked (4) hit: 14
Blocked (5) hit: 59
Normal (1) hit: 30
Normal (2) hit: 60
Normal (3) hit: 90
Normal (4) hit: 135
As can be seen...
Blocked first hit: Damage reduced by 90%.
Blocked second hit: Damage reduced by 90%.
Blocked third hit: Damage reduced by 90%.
Blocked fourth hit: Damage reduced by 56%.
Decreasing the amount of damage your character takes is the key to surviving. Winning is a different matter, which I will touch on later.
4.1.3:
How to block effectively
![[Image: Blocking.gif]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/Blocking.gif)
Blocking allows you to land a nice combo on your opponent when it is timed well. Thus, it can be seen not only as a form of defence, but also as a form of counter-attack.
4.1.4: Dodging is a rather broad term for making an opponent's attack deal no damage to you.
![[Image: Dodging.gif]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/Dodging.gif)
Ground rolls are an important part of dodging, simply because they are extremely easy to execute, and can be used to great effect.
4.1.5: Why would you want to master dodging, given that you already know how to block? The simple answer is that blocking cannot be applied to every situation you are in.
To illustrate a simple example, take a 2v1 fight, with two computer players on Hard, teamed up against you.
As seen in the damage table of blocking, blocking at the fourth hit only decreases the damage taken by about half. However, that only holds true for a 1v1 fight. If there were two Drew's punching you, holding guard wouldn't help that much even though you are blocking their hits.
If it takes 4 hits to make a player stagger from ONE player, it would only take 2 hits per player with TWO computers against the player. Thus, should both computers decide to pummel the player crazy, it would take a very short while of 1~1.5 seconds before the player's guard is broken and he is exposed.
Instead of holding guard, one could just do a quick ground roll past the two attacks, and take no damage in the process. Thus, this is one of many reasons why a player should master dodging.
4.1.6: The Perfect Block (PB)
This section is for those wanting to learn the Perfect Block, and tips I have for them. But first, an explanation of the PB.
The PB is essentially made up of two simple components.
1. Blocking when the opponent does normal attacks, and counter-attacking in the process of blocking.
2. Dodging when the opponent does a breaker skill (to be explained later).
A breaker skill will be explained in greater detail later in this section, but for now, a breaker skill is simply a skill which breaks a player's guard in a SINGLE HIT even if the player is holding guard, and exposes the player to further attacks.
It's thus logical that a player dodges what would break his defence, and block against what would not. In this case, this is known as the Perfect Block, where a player is invunerable to all attacks.
Eg: With A as enemy/opponent and B as the player.
A does a breaker skill, B dodges by rolling.
A does normal attacks, B effectively blocks and counters the attacks.
Thus, B takes minimal damage, if any, when using the Perfect Block.
However, before you get all excited and start practicing against the AI to master the PB, here's a word of warning...
4.1.8 Yes, a word of warning. The Perfect Block, impressive though an unbreakable defence may be, is limited in its applications.
Firstly, the PB was not designed for use in wars against multiple opponents/large wars. Attempting to PB in the chaos of a battle would be inefficient and unlikely to succeed. The PB is suited for 1v1 fights.
Secondly, the PB is aimed at ensuring the survival of the player, NOT the defeat of the enemy. As I mentioned earlier, the key to surviving in HF is to minimize the damage taken, and for this, the Perfect Block excellently does so by reducing the damage taken to practically nothing. However, the Perfect Block is only good for counter-attacking, and counter-attacking is a poor form of offense. Thus, using PB as a method of defense constantly would mean that killing the opponent would take pretty dang long.
In conclusion for this mini-section of the PB, it is a useful weapon in the player's aresnal for ensuring the survival of the player, but it is only one of many tecnhiques the player can employ, not the ONLY technique the player should have, and certainly should not be the only technique the player has mastered.
4.2
Breaker skills
Now I have mentioned breaker skills in the explanation above on PB, and it is important to understand what are breaker skills, as I will be referring to them multiple times in this guide.
4.2.1: Simply put, a breaker skill is a skill which does the following:
1. Neutralizes an opponent's attack if used at the same time.
2. Deal heavy damage if the opponent is not blocking.
3. Break the opponent's block (hence the term "breaker") if the opponent is blocking, and leaves them in a stagger state.
4. Repels another breaker skill. (Only for Phoenix Arrow)
4.2.2: The breaker skills and damage figures for each character are thus as such.
Legend for damage figure: (Unblocked damage (if opponent was not blocking)/Blocked damage (if opponent was defending when the skill was used)
Lucas: Uppercut (60/6)
Drew: Mach Punch (80/8)
Shawn: Aerial phoenix arrow, and Arrow Rain assuming sufficient the arrows of Arrow Rain hit the enemy. (Aerial Phoenix Arrow: 80/8. Arrow Rain: 125/4
Jenny: Both Energy Drill, regardless of whether it is aerial or not. (Non-aerial Energy Drill: 70/4. Aerial Energy Drill: 60/6.)
Gordon: Both Power Blow and Crush Strike are breaker skills. (Power blow: 75/20. Crush Strike: 55/5.)
4.3
Stagger modes
4.3.1: Stagger modes are what happens to a character when he is hit. There are four stages of stagger, with each stage requiring more damage to be dealt.
Legend:
A =Attacker
B =Defender
-> =Attack once
->-> =Attack twice
->->-> =Attack thrice (three times)
->->->-> =Attack four times
B(G) =B is blocking/defending/guarding.
B(NG) =B is
not blocking/defending/guarding.
!=> =Breaker skill is used
Stage 1: A -> B(NG)
-Recovery time is short.
-Skills can be used with a tiny delay.
Stage 2: A ->-> B(NG)
-Recovery time is longer than Stage 1, but still fairly short.
-Skills can
still be used, but with a longer delay than Stage 1.
Stage 3: A ->->-> B(NG)
OR A !=> B(G)
-Recovery time is long.
-Skills can
not be used.
Stage 4 (Knockdown): A ->->->-> B(NG)
OR A !=> ->->-> B(G)
-Recovery time depends on how fast the player gets up from knockdown.
-Skills can
not be used.
Note on Shawn's Phoenix arrow
Shawn's Phoenix Arrow is a unique breaker skill.
-It can be reflected in the opposite direction by either Uppercut or Mach Punch, if the Phoenix Arrow hits the Uppercut/Mach Punch at the same time.
-The aerial version of it can immediately knockdown an opponent (Stage 4) that is holding guard, if it directly hits the enemy.
-The aerial version of it can also make an opponent get into Stage 3 of stagger, if it does not directly hit the enemy, but hit's the ground close to the enemy.
-The ground version of it will pass through five people before exploding. If used on a single person, the chances of a knockdown are 100%.
How to make the most of stagger stages.
As read above, it's logical to conclude that most players want to get their opponents into Stage 3 of stagger. This is because Stage 3 prevents the opponent from defending himself, yet it doesn't knockdown the enemy, and thus allows the player to land more hits.
4.4: The Three Bars
This is a pretty important section for new players, and one that they should know well.
4.4.1: HP
The red bar beneath your character represents your character's HP. If this reaches 0 (entire red bar is replaced by a dark red bar), your character dies. This is the MOST important bar in the game, so effective blocking and dodging should keep this up. It regenerates at an equal rate among all five characters.
4.4.2: MP
The blue bar under your character shows your character's MP. This bar decreases as you use skills, and it slowly regenerates with time. The regeneration rates from an empty bar to a full bar are about 46 to 47 seconds for all five characters.
4.4.3: SP
The white bar below your character is how much stamina your character has. Running, jumping and other acrobatics will consume SP with the exception of ground rolls. The regeneration rate from an empty bar to a full bar are about 10 seconds for all characters. This is the second MOST important bar, and many players often forget this. Firstly, SP allows you to run or dodge, which is a better method of not taking damage, compared to using another skill to cancel out the attack, as dodging/running is more reliable, and requires less precise timing. Secondly, the time taken for SP to regenerate is nearly five times faster than the time taken for MP to regenerate. This is essential for attacking, as SP can be combined with normal attacks (non-skills) to deal damage as well. Thirdly, without MP, you still have SP to run around your opponent, or to dodge attacks. Without SP, you simply are a sitting duck, as walking while holding guard leaves you open to attacks. Thus, the oldest trick in HF to kill an opponent, is to simply make that opponent run out of SP.
4.5: Getting up from Knockdown
There are three ways of getting back to your feet after your character has been knocked down, and depending on your current situation, you would choose from one of three. A short note on getting up from knockdown though: It's always advisable to get back up as soon as possible from knockdown, as on Hard Mode, a person that has been knocked down can
STILL be hit.
4.5.1: The Kick method
Nothing complex, just press the Jump key to get back up. Your character will kick anyone as he jumps back up, dealing 30 damage in the process. I use this method when the opponent is near me, and not blocking. A free hit is always appreciated.
I would not recommand this method for large fights, as the second your character jumps back up, he can instantly be attacked. The extra time that rolling gives you is crucial to survival in my opinion.
4.5.2: Rolling horizentally
If I've just been combo'd and taken a lot of damage, I usually roll backwards to use the extra second to time my defense. On the other hand, if I feel adventerous, I may roll forwards to appear behind the enemy, thus performing a GH from knockdown.
4.5.3: Rolling vertically is very useful when you need to dodge further attacks from a skill that attacks in a straight direction, such as Lucas's Aerial Blade, Drew's Mach Punch/Shoulder Charge, Shawn's Phoenix Arrow, Jenny's Energy Drill or Gordon's Power Bash/Power Blow. This is equal to sidestepping the attack, but it also means that you have to aim your attacks, as you are no longer horizentally in front or behind the opponent.
5. The Intermediate Section is for players who already have some experience in HF (able to defeat normal difficulty in a 1v1, among other factors), and have mastered the basic techniques covered in the Novice Section, or at least have a high proficiency in those techniques.
Intermediate Section
Ghost Hit (GH)
5.1.1:
![[Image: GhostHitNew.gif]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/GhostHitNew.gif)
5.1.2: A Ghost Hit is essentially a quick fake, where the player gets behind his opponent, and does a single/chain of attack(s). It's a simple addition to the dodging movement.
To perform a GH, one holds guard, dodges an attack from the opponent by doing a ground roll, and pops up behind the opponent, before attacking the opponent. This works because the opponent is facing the wrong direction, and is not blocking in the direction of the attack.
5.1.3: When to use a GH.
-When you're low on MP (the blue bar).
-As a free hit.
-As a quick fake to dodge further attacks.
-To prevent the opponent from using a skill.
When
NOT to use a GH.
-When you're low on SP (The white bar). Doing so will leave you
extremely vunerable to attacks.
-When you just did one. The AI is able to recognise and deal with players that spam GH effectively. Against human opponents? Don't bet on it.
-When you're in a large fight. GH'ing one soldier won't be very effective if three of them slash you from behind. Keep GH to small fights, or better still, 1v1.
5.1.4: Pros/Cons of GH.
Pros:
-Able to be executed easily, even for new players (assuming they have learnt dodging.)
-Low SP cost.
-Effective as a quick attack to catch the opponent off guard.
Cons:
-Ineffective in large battles.
-Constant spamming as mentioned above can easily be countered.
5.2
Cross Strike [CS] (Also known as 回馬槍)
5.2.1:
![[Image: CrossStrike.gif]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/CrossStrike.gif)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duKsUI1jxZY (Video Example of Cross Strike)
5.2.2: Below is an example of how a CS is performed.
Legend: A is attacker, B is defender.
A approaches B.
B is blocking in the direction of A.
A does a long jump towards B without holding block.
As A flies past B, A turns around and presses attack.
B is damaged.
How it works: It's shares similarities with a GH, in that:
- The opponent is not blocking when the attack is done, because the opponent is facing the wrong direction.
However, there are two differences between a CS and a GH.
1. The GH starts off with the player holding block. CS cannot be performed when the player is holding block, as blocking and running prevents the player from making a long jump. Instead, a high jump is performed, which is sufficient time for the opponent to change the direction he is blocking in.
2. CS cannot be performed repeatedly. This is due to the slightly greater SP cost of CS, and the fact that chaining multiple CS's together would be impractical, as CS is intended as a surprise attack, NOT the only attack.
5.2.3: When to use CS.
-When you are dealing the final blow to an enemy.
-When you need to break the opponent's defence without risking a frontal assault.
-When you are cornered against the side of the map.
-When you want to achieve an element of surprise.
When
NOT to use CS.
-When you are low on SP. As CS uses more SP than GH, it is stupid to put yourself in a worse position by using a technique that decreases your ability to fight.
-When you are in a large battle. Same as GH, CS was not intended for battles involving massive numbers of soldiers. It's more suited for small fights/1v1.
5.2.4: Pros/Cons of CS
Pros:
-More mobility than GH
-Opportunity to execute is much more frequent than GH, and hence it can be used more frequently.
-Allows for a quick hit on an opponent.
Cons:
-Unspammable due to increased SP cost compared to GH.
-Impossible to use on a laggy server, due to timing difficulties.
-Players may face some initial difficulties in executing CS as it requires fairly fast reflexes.
6. This section contains information regarding team roles in a large battle, usage of Giant Objects in combat, and the usefulness of horses to each character, as well as the last hit of attack.
6.1: Team roles in a big battle (30+ people on the map)
Lucas has a fast rate of attack, as well as Drew. This makes both of the suitable for the frontline of the fight, as the frontline is where many soldiers would probably be at. Having a fast rate of attack allows Lucas and Drew to carve out a path for themselves and not get beaten back by the sheer volume of attacks.
Gordon, having an extremely slow rate of attack, should be used behind the main army. His slow rate of attack would mean that in the time it takes for him to swing his axe once, three soldiers would have slashed him already. However, with his Power Blow skill, Gordon can assist those in the frontlines by casting it every so often. Crush Strike can also be used to clear an area around those in the frontlines, for them to advance.
Jenny, having a slower rate of attack, but a wider range due to her spear, would excel in between Gordon and Lucas/Drew. This is because her Whirlwind Shield allows her to defend those in the frontlines, while Energy Drill has the same effect (albeit slightly weaker) as Gordon's Power Blow.
Shawn can be used either at the back, or along the flanks. Due to Arrow Rain, he can do hit-&-run attacks on the opponents by riding on a horse, and using Arrow Rain as he passes them by. Alternatively, he can hold the back with Gordon with his Spread Shot or Phoenix Arrow.
6.2:
Giant Objects and their uses
There are two giant objects in the game, namely the Giant Rock and the Tree Trunk. These can both be used by any character to ram and throw.
To ram with a giant object, run in a direction holding the carrying the giant object.
Damage dealt while ramming with rock/tree: 30 (+30 +30 ...). Thus if you hit the enemy thrice while ramming, he would take 90 damage.
To throw a giant object, press the arrow key of right/left ONCE and then press attack.
Damage dealt when a giant object is thrown: 30.
However, Drew can do more with giant objects. By holding a giant object and pressing guard, he can swing the giant object around, either as a defensive barrier or an offensive attack. Also, Drew can use the Tree Trunk to smash down, by pressing attack.
Damage dealt while spinning with a giant object or smashing with the Tree Trunk: 30 (+30 +30...)
Giant Rock
The Giant Rock is useful for Drew as a defensive barrier in close ranged attacks, but it's not as useful as the Tree Trunk in ramming, due to it's shorter length.
Tree Trunk
The Tree Trunk is good for Drew when he needs to form a large defensive barrier. Note: The Tree Trunk is only able to hit enemies that are a certain distance from Drew when he's swinging. If they are right beside him, they will not be hit at all.
For other characters, the Tree Trunk is a better choice for ramming compared to the Giant Rock.
6.3: Horses
Lucas: Good attacking platform and mode of transport. Lucas is quite good on horses due to his fast attack speed, but air blade is of limited effectiveness unless used when charging forward on the horse. The ability to stab a person while on the horse further adds to Lucas's strength on a horse
Drew: Mostly as a form of transport. His kick is short-ranged, and he can't do any skills other than grabbing and Hurricane spinning/WhirlWind spin. However, Hurricane Spin would make Drew leave his horse, and grabbing may be tough to execute in the middle of a large fight. It has to be said though, that grabbing on a horse is useful for taking an enemy (Hero character?) from the main army, and allowing Drew to deal damage away from the battle.
Shawn: Good attacking platform and mode of transport. His normal arrow attack on horses is hard to aim, but in big battles, he is invaluble as arrow rain on horses allows him to make an attack and get to a safe distance before the attack hits (hit-&-run). Spread Shot can also be used on the back of the horse, as well as Phoenix Arrow, making Shawn one of the best characters on a horse as a supporting character.
Jenny: Execellent attacking platform and mode of transport. Being able to use both skills on the horse works well, and coupled with her 4-attack sequence and good range with her spear, she's a nightmare to face in big battles as she can seperate large groups with Energy Drill and clear a path for herself with WhirlWind Shield.
Gordon: Fair attacking platform and mode of transport. His Axe attack is hard to aim while on the horse. Also, the lack of being unable to do power blow on the horse makes him weaker than Jenny in terms of damage dealing from the horse, but his crush strike makes up for that.
To unhorse any character, one needs to get them to Stage 4 of stagger, the knockdown stage. This can easily be accomplished with a breaker skill. Thus, a player should not rely on horses in any fight. It's a good boost, but should not be at the expense of the player's ability.
6.4:
Last hit of Attacks (LHOA)
The last hit of attack is simply the attack which a character does at the end of his combo (with the exception of Shawn, who has no attack combo).
LHOA list
Lucas: Single slash with his sword.
Drew: Single uppercut punch.
Shawn: Single melee hit with his bow.
Jenny: Single Wind Blade with her spear/lance.
Gordon: Power Bash with his axe.
Drew's LHOA is special, as it stops Gordon's Crush Strike if used when Gordon is coming down on Drew, and puts Gordon into Stage 3 of stagger. Moreover, it can be spammed in a 1v1 fight to good effect, since it can be used repeatedly as the enemy drops down, then goes back up due to another uppercut.
It does take some aiming to chain consecutive uppercut's together, but it's well worth the effort.
7. The Advanced Section is for veterans of the game, and for people that have mastered HF to a large extent.
Advanced Section
7.1:
Fade Step (FS)
![[Image: FadeStep.gif]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/FadeStep.gif)
I orginally got the name for this technique from the game Cabal, where the skill "Fade Step" was one which made the player move back a short distance in an instant. Nevertheless, I thought it is a good name for this technique.
To perform FS, look at the following example.
Legend: A is attacker, B is defender.
A does a long jump towards B as B is guarding.
A presses attack, and attacks B.
As soon as A does the attack animation, he immediately presses the opposite direction key twice. If he was running to the right towards B, he would press left
twice after doing the attack animation, and vice-versa for the opposite direction.
An alternative is for A to do a quick ground roll in the opposite direction.
7.1.3: When to use FS:
-When you want to test the opponent's defence.
Yep, that's the only time you'll ever use FS. FS is a technique which allows you to gauge whether your opponent will go into a stagger stage if you attack, or if he will not. Thus, you could say FS is a defensive technique.
When
NOT to use FS:
-In large fights
-When you are using Shawn. Shawn's FS ability is very, very poor.
-When you are cornered. FS needs space to be used, and that's what a corner lacks.
-When you are low on SP. FS uses even more SP than GH and CS.
7.1.4: Pros/Cons of FS
Pros:
-Allows the player to test an opponent's defence without risking anything.
-Immediately returns the player back into a defensive stance after it has been used, hence decreasing the possibility of the player taking damage.
Cons:
-Relatively high SP cost
-Hard to execute for a new player.
-Limited in applications, as it is unspammable.
7.2:
Bag o' tricks
This is my bag of tricks which I use sometimes in a fight to give me an edge against my opponent.
1. CS for damage. A CS does 45 damage, which is more than the first hit of any character. Thus, if I need to dispatch my opponent without wanting to use FS to test if his defence is low, I tend to CS him.
2. CS for cancelling of skills. When you are attacked, the skill which you are using is immediately cancelled. Same logic applies to the AI, if I need to cancel out a skill that he's using, I may CS him. The timing
HAS to be exact though, otherwise you'll just be jumping straight into his skill and taking huge damage. If used correctly however, it's a valuable tool.
3. Attacking between or before hits. Whenever a player uses an attack, he drops his defence. This is why effective blocking mentioned in the Novice Section works; the first two hits are blocked, and as the opponent is going to land the third hit, the delay between the second and third hit is long enough for the player to land a hit of his own. I use this sometimes to land my chain of hits before the opponent does his, but it requires extremely precise timing to accomplish without blocking.
An example of this is seen in the gif provided by ~{ 無雙 }~.
![[Image: bds.gif]](http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/2820/bds.gif)
As soon as Lucas was going to attack, an arrow from Shawn hit him just before his attack was made. This immediately put him into Stagger Stage 3.
Another example is this, also provided by ~{ 無雙 }~.
![[Image: ssd.gif?t=1277735441]](http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac31/notworay/ssd.gif?t=1277735441)
Although Lucas (Left) did use Uppercut, his Uppercut was nullified by Lucas (Right), who used Uppercut before Lucas (Left) did. So all Lucas (Right) had to do was to add a single hit at the end of his, as by the time he did so, Lucas (Left)'s Uppercut would have ended, and would not have cancelled out his attack, which is precisely what happened.
4. Jenny's WhirlWind Shield is pretty nifty, as it can be rapidly cast and does a good deal of hits in a short span of time. This means that Jenny in effect can recover from Stage 1/2 of stagger MUCH quicker than other characters, simply becuase one cast of WhirlWind Shield would enable her to stop the opponent's third hit. Something to note for Jenny users
5. Reflection of attacks: As mentioned about breaker skills, a well-timed Uppercut or Mach Punch would send a Phoenix Arrow in the opposite direction it came from. Less applications than you'd think, since it's easier to dodge a Phoenix Arrow than to repel one, but still useful nevertheless.
The Character Section, due to a lack of space in this post, has been moved to this thread: (
http://www.herofighter-empire.com/forum/...?tid=215).
Army System
The army system was added, so that the player could have the same feeling of rushing into battle like in the movies. It's essentially the Battle Mode of LF2, sans the potions.
How to use the sliding bars
[Soldier number] refers to how many soldiers can be on the battlefield at anytime. These work in mutiples of 4, so setting 0 would mean that 4 soldiers would spawn along with the hero. Setting the max (3) would mean 12 soldiers spawning.
[Soldier reserve] refers to the soldiers that are in reserve. They will only spawn when the number of soldiers on the battlefield is less than it's maxiumum capacity, i.e. assuming the maximum number of soldiers assigned to Lucas is 12, one soldier will respawn when the number of soldiers on the battlefield drops below 12, but the number of soldiers will
never exceed 12.
Spawning of soldiers: Each soldier will spawn according to the hero he was assigned, unless that hero he was assigned to dies. Then, he will spawn beside any allied hero, or if there is no allied hero on the battlefield, the soldier would not respawn. Eg. Assuming you had clicked on the soldier icon for Lucas, any reserve soldier that just spawned would be beside or around Lucas. If you had two heros (Shawn and Jenny) and you clicked on the soldier icon for Jenny, she would be leading the soldiers, not Shawn.
Description of the soldiers
![[Image: Infantrypic.png]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/Infantrypic.png)
Infantry are the basic chopping unit, hardly a threat if you face one or a group of 5 to 7. However, in large numbers, they can kill a hero once he gets caught in their mass by slicing him into tiny pieces. It's extremely hard to get away from a 'slicing session' if you somehow fall into a group of 10 or more, so keep your distance from such large groups. They're the most numerous, but are average against calvary and archers.
![[Image: ArcherPic.png]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/ArcherPic.png)
Archers are the rapid firing machine guns. They are easy to exterminate in groups of five or so, but in larger numbers, your best bet is to run away and strike when they get too close. Their arrows fly faster than Shawn's arrows, and they reload faster than Shawn too. Only weaker than Shawn in terms of damage and range of the arrows fired, but no less deadly. They're good when spammed, but on a fair battleground, they can hold their own against infantry, but will be smashed with a bunch of calvary going through.
![[Image: HorsedCalvary.png]](http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb115/lloonnee2/HorsedCalvary.png)
Calvary are the swipe' and slice' unit that will irritate you. If you knock them off their horse, they will be unhorsed and essentially become melee troopers. However, they WILL get back their horse after a certain amount of time, so be sure to watch out for them. On horses, Drew and Lucas will find their long spears a pain in the neck, however, Lucas is able to unhorse mass amounts of them by spamming his Air Blade. Drew doesn't have this luxury, so he'll have to punch 'em up. Shawn simply has to do a HeadShot, by this, I mean a Jump Shot that sends an arrow straight to their heads. It will instantly knock them off their horse, instead of requiring three arrows to take them off from their horse.
Challenges
-Defeat every AI on Hard Mode
-Defeat every AI on Hard Mode with every character.
-Defeat two AI on Hard Mode in a 1v2 match.
-Defeat an AI on Hard Mode with an army of infantry, archers or calvary backing the AI up.
-Get your team to win with 12 heros in a 3v3v3v3 battling it out.
![[Image: 10.gif?t=1279333284]](http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac31/notworay/Combos/10.gif?t=1279333284)
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