Legend of Mana/Mechanics

Combat Movement

Movement speed in combat is generally determined by the weapon you have equipped. Gloves and knives make your character move at a significantly faster pace than the heavier 2-handed weapons. This difference can be mitigated somewhat by moving in a serpentine pattern (diagonals) with the two steps the character takes. The character takes a long step and then a short step in their movement cycle. If you are moving horizontally on the long step, you can cover long distances even with a heavier weapon, then use the short step to position yourself diagonally.

Weapons and Damage

Weapon Modifiers

Player Modifiers

Land Modifiers

Tech/Ability Learning

Learning Techniques and Abilities

The character starts off knowing several basic Abilites and one Special Technique. More advanced maneuvers are learned by accruing hidden weapon and ability experience on a battle-to-battle basis. You generally get one 'point' per combat, with several bossfights instead granting you four points of both weapon and ability experience.

Abilities

Abilites are combat skills that are equipped to two button slots (default is Triangle and Circle). As you gain experience in an equipped ability, you will learn new abilities. Backroll, for instance, requires that you have (x) experience in both the Jump and Retreat abilities. Acquired experience is kept for all abilities you have previously had equipped in combat. This means that if you had Jump equipped (it's one of the default ability equips) for several fights, and then swapped out Jump for Crouch and Retreat, you would most likely learn High Jump (requires Jump and Crouch experience) and Backroll (requires Jump and Retreat experience).

If you have one ability equipped in both slots, it receives both slots worth of experience (you double your learning rate). This means that if you have (Defend+Defend) equipped, you will learn Counterattack twice as quickly.

Useful Abilities in a speedrun are:

• Spin [Default ability] (spin + power attack creates a damage circle around the player dealing slightly less than a basic attack to all opponents caught in its range. Spamming this causes the player to get 'dizzy' [stun animation], but can be used twice successively. Teaches players their first AoE ST)
• Flipkick [Learned by accruing experience in Jump, Retreat, High Jump, Backroll and Backflip](Creates a small period of invulnerability for the player while applying a slightly stronger Power Attack to anything in a middling-sized wedge shape in front of the player. Causes slight backwards movement)
• Counterattack [Learned by accruing Defend experience] (makes the player pause for a moment. If the player is struck by a combat ability or an attack, they will strike in the direction they are facing for roughly 2.5x the damage of a basic attack [rough estimate])
• Counterstrike [Learned by accruing Counterattack experience] (makes the player pause for a moment. If the player is struck by a combat ability or an attack, they will strike in the direction they are facing for roughly 3-4x the damage of a power attack [rough estimate])
• Evade [Large amounts of experience in Lunge and Retreat (needs verification?)] (Causes the player to become invulnerable for a significant period of time, split into three clones, and teleport to one of the clone positions at random)

Special Techniques

Special Techniques (ST's) are learned by a combination of weapon experience and ability experience. Some special techniques are shared between weapons, and some are unique to each weapon. Your character gains weapon experience in the same way as Ability experience (by completing combat with that weapon equipped). Depending on your chosen starting weapon, you will also start with a single pre-learned Special Technique that may or may not be worth utilizing right off the bat.

Some ST's require experience in multiple abilities (the level 3-4 "Major Damage" techs), and some only require experience from your weapon and a single ability. Most two handed weapons will learn "Rising Crush" from having the Crouch ability and that weapon equipped for (x) combats. The Spin ability will teach the player a weak-to-middling AoE technique that will strike either all opponents on a battlefield or a medium-to-large size circle around the player, depending on the players acquired weapon experience.

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. Continuing a Sweep 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.

Stuns

Landing attacks (it doesn't matter if they are consecutive or not) on a single opponent will eventually stun them. This holds them in place, prevents them from using any special techniques, and opens them up for either a beatdown or a guaranteed special technique by the player. == Single Strikes and Power Canceling == This might go in the Glitch/Skips section?

Single Strikes

To avoid sweeps and get the most strikes possible for faster weapons, you can interrupt your basic attack string with slight pauses, which causes the character to repeat the first attack in the string ad infinitum. This prevents sweeping, and is utilized in the single-storyline missions for some particularly irritating bossfights to attempt a 'stunlock' before they get any teleporting or damage immunity frames in.

Power Canceling

Generally, if you throw out a Power Attack without immediately swinging into a Plunge, you have a pause similar to what happens if you mash the basic attack button. This pause is punishes you far more significantly, though, as it takes much longer to wear off. If you have an empty Special Technique slot (shoulder buttons and triggers), you can press the empty ST slot after the Power Attack has landed. If you time it correctly you will be rewarded with an annoying beeping sound and your Power Attack animation will be reset, allowing you to immediately throw out another Power Attack and repeat the process.