Legend of Mana/Mechanics

Weapons and Damage

Weapon Modifiers

Player Modifiers

Land Modifiers

Tech/Ability Learning

Learning Techniques and Abilities

Plunges, Sweeps and Stuns

Combo System

Each weapon type has a base attack string that ranges from 3 to 7 strikes. If you properly time your inputs, you will start to glow blue and have an afterimage. This glow and afterimage indicates you've started a Sweep. If you input once too many (a fourth basic attack on a weapon with only 3 in its string), your Sweep will end and you'll awkwardly pause for a moment. You can continue a Sweep or basic attack string uninterrupted by chaining Power Attacks and Plunge attacks, or using your equipped Abilities. This will continue a Sweep, which is sometimes undesirable for speedrunning purposes.

Plunge Attacks

There are three plunge attacks on every weapon. The basic three are Jump, Thrust, and Uppercut. You can check which are on your current weapon by checking its Status menu in your inventory. Special Plunge Attacks come on certain drops from enemies, and they can be forged into the Plunge slots under certain conditions. These special Plunges still require the same movement inputs, but have either different animations, special effects (sets enemies on fire or does large damage vs. Plants etc.), or both. Some weapons naturally have different animations (I.E. you don't perform the same movements with a Bow as with a Spear).

The Thrust Plunge (and Plunges that replace the Thrust slot) is performed by pressing (Left Left+ Power Attack) or (Right Right+ Power Attack). This move will generally move your character very quickly forwards with their weapon extended, and is useful for closing distance and getting a first strike on an opponent who is only barely in range. This will knock the enemy backwards slightly, and is best used to close a final distance and pin them against the wall for further combo-ing.

The Jump Plunge (and Plunges that replace the Jump slot) is performed by pressing (Left Right + Power Attack) or (Right Left + Power Attack). This causes the player to do a partial somersault in the final direction pressed, and land a Power Attack that slides the enemy backwards slightly. Same general use as the Thrust Plunge, but covers less distance.

The Uppercut Plunge (and Plunges that replace the Uppercut slot) is performed by pressing (Down-slide to Left +Power Attack) or (Down-slide to Right + Power Attack). This causes the player to, you guessed it, perform an uppercut-type move with whatever equipped weapon they have. Causes knockback, lands a Power Attack worth of damage, like the other plunges.

Sweep Attacks

Complete Sweep Attacks cause Candy (25% life heal item) to pop magically out of the air above the player character, and forces the character into a sickeningly long "awesome pose" that costs precious, precious time. Sweeps complete after a varying number of consecutive strikes (12-18) with good button presses, or sometimes quite rapidly if you are sprinkling Abilites into your combos. You can complete a Sweep with 2 strikes, a Spin + Power Attack that connects to 3 enemies, and 2 more strikes that land.

Casually playing, completing a Sweep Attack shows how awesome you are, but in a speedrun setting you want to go out of your way to avoid them unless Tropicallo has nearly oneshotted you and you don't want to Crouch in a corner for 2 minutes getting back your health, or a similar situation. See below.

Power Canceling and Single Strikes

To avoid sweeps and This might go in the Glitch/Skips section.