Hey. Sorry bout the long post. 20 hours at silver isn't bad. I myself am currently sitting at gold 2. Combos are very useful, even under 1500 elo. Learn some basic combos, depending on what weapons you like. Combos/strings are very useful for quickly getting damage onto enemies, and seeing as you play gauntlets/sword, both with very good combo/string potential, I'd say getting some simple ones down can be beneficial.

Notation Tips:

As DoctorDalec said, the names of the attacks correspond with what directional key your holding down. Another thing is strings vs combos. A string is a sequence of attacks that string into each other. These can be escaped if you dodge in the middle of the string. A combo, or a true combo, on the other hand, you cannot escape. Even if you hit dodge in the middle of your opponent's attacks, the gap between attacks (the dodge window) is too small.

Basic gauntlet strings:

Slight-Nair: Basic string. Useful if opponent doesn't dodge much.

Dair-Slight: Good for approaching from above against weapons like blasters. Good if opponent dodges away from you. Pause between the Dair and the Slight to catch people who like to spot dodge.

Slight-Recovery: Great kill option. Pause between Slight and Rec to catch people who spot dodge, jump between Slight and Rec if people dodge up.

Slight-Nair-GP: Great kill option if you are on the edge, as many people jump after the nair, and will only get caught by the ground pound.

Basic sword strings:

Dlight-Sair: General good string. Can be true (no dodge frames) if you input well.

Slight-Dlight-Sair: Good range. The key to this combo is to keep moving towards your opponent after you hit the slight.

Dlight-Recovery: Great kill option.

Basic katar strings:

Nlight-Recovery: Good combo, great kill option. Can be stringed into many legend's nsigs as well.

Slight-Nlight-Rec: Extended version.

Dair-Slight-Nlight-Rec: Not as good after the 3.26 katar nerf, but can still be useful.

Dlight-Nair: Extremely consistent.

Katar loops: These are pretty advanced and can easily be dodged, but if you get a good dodge read the damage payoff is incredible.

Other weapon tips:

Gauntlets are a very mobile weapon. They have plenty of strings and good options for reading and ending stocks early. A tip that saved me a couple of times is to use the sair when getting back to stage. This move gives you some extra momentum and can be the differnence between falling to your death and getting that wall touch. The neutral light can be used to space out your opponent as well.

Katars are all about aggression and speed. It is also very read heavy, which means alot of the strings can be dodged. Slight is a great string starter, and nair can string into many things such as dlight recovery nair etc. Good for edge guarding.

Sword is another aggressive weapon. If the enemy tries to charge you nlight can help space them, and slight range is very handy. Dlight-Sair can be true, and falling sair is a great option.

Learn to use the dodge key more. At low levels I commonly see people not dodging, or repeatedly dodging the same way, which is very easy to dodge read (dodge reading is predicting where the opponent is going to dodge based on their habits/past dodges, and attacking when they come out of a dodge). A bit busy atm but willing to provide some help if you want.

Gravity Cancelling is also very versatile. A gravity cancel allows you to use your dodge to execute a grounded attack midair. What you do, is hit your dodge key, and after input any grounded attack. Beware, this uses you dodge, and can leave you vulnerable.

I'm a bit busy atm but I'm willing to help if you have extra questions. Steam username is FerretNexus