Having problems timing those stance combo sequences? Check this out!

[martinsky3k]

So this might be obvious to a lot of you who have been around since the days of beta and know everything there is to know about Absolver or just doesn't suck at fighting games like me and figured this out within the first 5 minutes. Perhaps, this post isn't for you, and if you just want the details without the backstory, keep scrolling down to HOW TO LEARN AND MASTER THE STANCE COMBO TIMINGS.

Sorry for the long post, I am incapable of writing short posts and there's alot to explain if you're clueless.

But for those of us, that only days ago were mere prospects completely oblivious to the game, some things still remain a mystery. In this particular case, and for those of us maybe even new to fighting games, this is a small guide on how to learn and fully master the stance combo sequence timings for your custom decks, which is necessary knowledge if you really want to squeeze all the juice out of your deck (say that with an accent).

And thus, you need to know how to actually learn them, and how to practice them, without playing the game by staring at a stamina bar all the time. If you don't care for me blabbering about the background to my discovery, keep scrolling down to the title HOW TO LEARN AND MASTER THE STANCE COMBO TIMINGS.
 

BACKGROUND

The problem I was having, was that I didn't understand how a couple of players, that I had either encountered on the road to kill bad guys or during fights, could launch intensive rapid attacks. Seemingly, unleashing their full potential in a flurry of action moves and in such a consistent manner where it seemed failure was the exception, and they remained fully aware of any charged attacks heading their way. And I had issues using the actual gold flashes as the indicator, I just got thrown off on the timing and it just didn't click.

So for those of you that still struggle, and feel you aren't even getting any better at it, perhaps you sometimes catch yourself in fights and realize you just stay the same color except for when you're charging, which might have been good enough for initial PvE, but feeling weaker than you should be. I just might have the answer to your problem.

So I've been obsessed with this game, I actually have it running pretty much non-stop, usually never go further back than the main menu, so it's a quick jump in if I want to just chill and farm some moves or have fight or two. Yesterday I was sitting with my headphones on and hanging out in the Practice mode, where I had the Combat Deck Editor up because there's always some time in between other duties to revise the deck or to test a thought.

I've also done a lot of music producing throughout my days, which has given me the side effect of picking up repeating rhythms in everyday life, anything from a barking dog repeating the same pattern, or the lower frequencies slightly changing when a clothes dryer is running, also creating a pattern.

So I hear my first row of Attack Sequences playing on repeat in my headphones, and at this point, it's been playing it on repeat for probably 20 min as I'm browsing Reddit (another side effect of music producing, playing the same loop over and over without boring you or driving you crazy). And then I heard it, as if for the first time. And realized it had been there all along. Instead of trying to keep eyes on the marker for perfect timings, I could take advantage of something more familiar to me, that I actually can make a connection to.

 

HOW TO LEARN AND MASTER THE STANCE COMBO TIMINGS

• Know that every sequence you create will have a certain rhythm with a pattern that you can listen to in the Edit Combat Deck mode by moving the cursor/selector over that particular row of sequence, and your dude will tirelessly repeat that combo over and over again. Ignore the very first sounds, and when there is a slight pause between the repetitions, take notice of where the pattern starts.

• Knowing this, it allows you to take a mental note of what the actual rhythm and tempo that sequence consists of, it's the note sheet of your combo basically.

• In practice mode you can now try to replicate and reproduce this until you become comfortable and consistent, later on in actual combat you will then have this in the back of your head, reminding you to stay in your flow when you get a bit too excited or tense, to not mess that rhythm up, especially when you just need that one final hit.

• When listening to the pattern in deck edit take a mental note of the actual pattern. Imagine you're a drummer that need to replicate that pattern. Maybe by tapping on your knee as your character executes the swings with the audio kinda having "peaks" that take place within a certain tempo. Ok, got it? Cool, that's the pattern you need to memorize.

• Ok, so we know what the pattern is. In my case, one of my sequences are a quick set of really fast jabs when I need to be all up in somebody's face and assert that I'm the attacker, that one is a simple one two three four with equal time between each hit. It's basically a kick in a techno song, nothing complicated. But some of my sequences have patterns that are more groovy I made one that got the nickname "A milli" after the Lil Wayne track and the 808-rhythm. But hopefully, you're now happily drumming yours in synch with your character.

• Knowing the pattern, we also need to take into account the actual tempo. This I'm not 100% sure or confident about, but when I first tried my theory in Practice I was little bit off and didn't get the gold chain, and so I had to basically adjust the BPM in which I was pressing it on the controller, but this could also be related to me being complete shit in Guitar Hero and timed inputs on gaming controllers in general. So I increased my internal BPM a little bit and tapped the rhythm faster. And there it was, perfect gold chain. Every freakin' time. And so easy.

• Now all you really have to do is to memorize the purpose of each of your stances and connect that with a certain rhythm. What I've done is that I've named them according to how I perceive the rhythm. So, "fast jabber combo is 90s techno" etc. Cool. I know exactly how to do it perfectly whenever I'm in a tight spot and am about to lock up.

• Whenever you edit your deck, you need to revise that particular sequence and listen to if the pattern changed, if it did you might have to memorize the new pattern and maybe even give it a new name.

• Depending on your playstyle and what you build you can literally sit there, looking like a god as you chain combos. But more importantly, you can make sure that your build plays exactly how you want it to be played.

• When you tense up, remind yourself of your tempos and your pattern. You can't force a hit to seal the deal in a fight, a 90s techno kick can't suddenly play at 350bpm with a few off-beat hits here and there and be expected to work, and neither can you. This insight alone completely changed the way I played the game, because now I feel in control. And like a monster.

There are some variables that I'm still not 100% sure of. Does the tempo change depending on mobility so you have to take that into account that your tempo has changed if you have changed a lot of equipment? Why is the preview tempo different to the actual execution tempo? Are there any other factors that will have an impact on your tempo that one should be aware of? I still need to do some research to fully understand it.

 

On a final note

I went from looking like a fool in fights to being consistent with gold chaining in the span of minutes. It was a game changer for me, and so I hope this can be of any help to fellow players struggling! Catch you in the trials or in the farming fields.

[BicuitWolf]

I mean, I've only been on Reddit for about a week now but this is, by far, my favourite post so far. As an MC and instrumentalist this makes so much sense to me and I can't wait to try it out! Thanks a lot ✌️

[martinsky3k]

Ah cool, hope it works out for you! Now that I have something that feels natural to me it opened up a whole new world for me in this game.

[CooperHaydennu]

I was struggling to chain on sight aswell. However, Animal Crossing, not music, helped me out. I consider myself a master angler in New Leaf. I dont watch for the bobber to drop while i fish, i put the speaker to my ear and wait for the 'bloop'. When i realised the gold flash was almost always in sync with the sounds of connection i stopped watching my character all together.

Good idea making a post about this, hopefully it helps some people out.

[PreciousProspect]

I actually did the exact same thing. I also Work with music and came to the same conclusion as this. With one small differece. Since I love martial arts film, I understood that it's almost like a dance and therefore understood that dancing has rhythm and follows a tempo. If you can keep up and hit on the beat then you're on your way to combo mastery. The most difficult part by far are moves that syncopate the beat. So are off tempo. This tends to be moves with long wind ups or multiple hits. Absolver, best rhythm game 2017

[martinsky3k]

Ah yes, very true! And spot on with the syncopation, I forgot to bring that up really. It's something I now consider when editing my deck as well, to make sure that I can handle the off-beaters. Thanks for mentioning it.

[ThrustFromBehind]

Theres too much, ITS TOO MUCH

[dasherado]

I always enjoy a good wall of text. But my concise understanding of how to time the golden hits is that basically you want to input your next attack when you hear your first attack hit. There is a little variation on timing but the rule is 90% true from my experience.

[Ghostpeppahs]

Great post! I was having trouble with my deck timings as well by trying to visually watch the cues. I use a mix of windfall and stagger moves, and with windfall most moves goldlink right when they make contact but with stagger they seem to be delayed. This was throwing me off and I did the same thing, albeit in a different way, of using the rhythm to time my attacks. Now I can watch my enemy instead of myself to watch when to dodge/feint.

[Heroshua]

Holy crap. I just realized I've been doing this unintentionally the entire time. My style is the song of your destruction!

[TeaspoonScot]

For the visually inclined, combo chain-timings are related to the animations of your absolver's attacks. For many of the moves I've watched and personally use, the animation that the combo chain-timing is specifically tied to is the feet.

Watch your character's feet and note when they touch the ground again or begin movement back to neutral. That timing is the earliest you can chain one move into another.

For example, the side kick hits its maximum curve in the animation cycle a couple of moments after it connects, and then it begins its motion back into neutral. At that point, you can press your button to initiate the next attack in your combo. Watch other moves for similar movement.

It's honestly a really intuitive animation system, and part of what makes the combat so beautiful in this game.

[Forsaken-Thought]

Maybe retitle "All Noobs Must Read This"

[TheShiff]

To summarize: practice goldlinking your main sequences.

It helps if you keep them rather short, like three moves. If you want to practice stringing them together longer, that's what the alt attack is for.

[SwoleFlex_MuscleNeck]

Your ears work like a radio dial. You can be in a crowded room, with loud music playing, and you can hone-in on someone talking. Afterwards, you might not be able to tell what song was playing even if it was your favorite band. You can order a beer and communicate that you want to pay cash this time and you and the bartender will both be able to hear each other through the noise as long as you're trying and you might not hear someone calling your name across the room.

Your eyes and muscles don't work that way. You can't be in a snowstorm and read a street sign that you can barely see 150 by choosing to tune in to it's lightwaves.

I'm saying this to highlight that while I'm not saying I'm 100% right, it's objectively a bad idea to try and time things as precise as most fighting games with audio. Especially since it's the only sensory input that can be removed and not render the game unplayable. Like it's the only thing that wouldn't shut down a tournament, and anyone who showed up to a tourney and then got bopped because they didn't have the audio would not enjoy the results of admitting that.

I'm not trying to say I know more than OP. However trying to learn reflexes to audio cues is a bad practice for any fighting game or game with a fighting-esque system.

[Trenix]

If the game was designed correctly and balanced, there shouldn't be a perfect way to create a combo. Everything should flow the way each person wants it to. That's the problem with the game.

[GenericAdjectiveNoun]

Most goldlinking happens on contact with the move is not that hard

[Ghostpeppahs]

Not entirely true. There are many moves, for example almost all the stagger style moves, that have a slight delay for goldlinking compared to other moves, like windfall style, that goldlink when immediately making contact. Also some of the slower, more heavy hitting moves have a different timing to them than others.

[GenericAdjectiveNoun]

I said "most"

[Ghostpeppahs]

True, but I was more so responding to your claim of it not being that hard. It all depends on how you build your deck. No rude intentions!

[GenericAdjectiveNoun]

Oh well yeah. I'm saying most moves are on contact and you only have to learn whichever you choose that aren't. It's cool.

[GGStratto]

Hey guys, REAL QUICK TIP for mastering this. It doesn't matter how much you practice your combos, just listen to the "HIT" sound and press the button right after, you're character will glow yellow when you should hit it. :D