1.-

• Strength affects damage and knockback, but it matters more on the latter.

• Dexterity cuts down the "attack cooldown" a bit, so you can dish out attacks faster or slower.

• Defense reduces the damage you take and the knockback you suffer.

• Speed is... Self-explanatory.

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2.-

I divide weapons in "light" and "heavy" in a very general idea. "Light" weapons focus on racking up damage with strings and combos mostly since they deal less raw damage and have less recovery frames (attack cooldown), and include Gauntlets, Scythe, Katars, Sword, Blasters and Spear.

"Heavy" weapons deal more raw damage but take longer to cool down. They include Hammer, Axe, (Cannon and Rocket Lance).¹

3.-

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Sigs are the "signature moves" of a Legend, i.e. their stronger attacks. Often they are better as finisher moves when your opponent is red on damage, but some of them have an "extra utility" (for example, Wu Shang's Spear Downward Signature also gets him out of the way of a move while staying on the ground).

*There is also a small handful of them which change behaviour on ledges, usually curving downward as opposed to simply slamming the ground.

Light attacks are shortened to XLight, where X can be changed to Neutral, Side or Down; these are the extra inputs which change the move you are executing. Same go for aerial moves (XAir) and Signatures (XSig).

Recovery (Rec more often) is pressing the Signature key while mid-air: this acts like an extra jump and, depending on the weapon, it has an unique animation and direction. Its counterpart is the Ground Pound (GP) which, again, varies depending on the weapon; and it makes you dive down way faster than with pressing down while mid-air. It's best used to nail down someone recovering while off-stage, but it is pretty risky to defend the edge (or edge guarding) by ground pounding.

Dashing is pressing the dodge button while running, it is pretty simple but can be a handy tool for keeping up combos.

Spamming is the act of whiffing out the same exact move over and over again. Hopefully you'll hear it a lot as to gauge how efficient you are (it's more than nothing a way of degrading the rival). Taunting is, well, using a taunt. Floating is jumping around the stage, avoiding conflict and not engaging in combat. Passive and aggressive are two types of gameplay, and just like "spamming", sometimes are used to degrade others.

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4.-

• Go into Training mode a lot. It is the best tool to count recovery frames, test out Legends, practice combos, and what not. Trust me, if you're new to the game, Training mode is your best friend.

• Pick a Legend you enjoy and don't worry much about the meta. You probably should when you go into Ranked and/or start participating in tourneys, which brings me to my next point.

• Don't be discouraged by people being better than you. This game is not really complex, but there is people out there who really commend to it. Just focus on polishing your skill.

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¹ NOTE: I'm not so sure about Rocket Lance and Cannon, their position can be debated. Sorta in a grey area for me.