My name is Haohmaru. Remember it as a souvenir! Samurai Shodown, the almost 30-year-old weapon-based fighting franchise, includes eccentric characters, distinct visuals, and hard-hitting punishes. Unsheathe your blade and battle with honor!

The Path to Honor: Samurai Shodown Beginner's Guide

Samurai Shodown is a slower more methodical fighting game. The neutral or footsies heavy gameplay combined with higher damage output compared to most traditional fighters emphasizes patience, mix-ups, and mind games. Players can still perform simple combos.

Basic Controls & Mechanics

Embrace death and no one can stop you with this introduction to Samurai Shodown’s controls and mechanics! 

Beginner’s Tutorial

Learn the basics of the bushido in this brief overview!

Movement

These samurai are quick and nimble. Use all of the movement tools at your disposal to avoid disadvantageous situations and defeat.

• Back dash to quickly evade and reposition yourself.
• Immediately jump when landing to do a Combo Jump and reduce lag.
• Mobile wakeup lets you roll before getting up from knockdowns.
• Some characters can teleport and wall jump.
• Hit your foe with a jumping normal just before landing to inflict more hitstun. This technique, called Deep Jump-in, makes landing safer and starts combos.

Defense Overview

Samurai Shodown sets itself apart from other fights thanks to the ability to disarm foes. Playing with this tactic in mind changes the game, leading to baits and fast reversals.

What is Stance Break?

Stance Break is a get off me tool that pushes away enemies. Great for zoners or anyone that needs some space!

What is Dodge?

Dodge to avoid attacks! You’ll step back just long enough to escape any onslaughts from your foe. However, dodges are punishable. Bait one out and wait until it ends to deal damage. The move is universal and always has some cooldown.

What is Blocking, Deflect/Parry, and Just Defense/Instant Block?

Hold back to Block. Block right before an attack lands to perform a Just Defense or instant block. Blue sparks will fly! That means you’re building rage. Just Defense negates chip damage and allows you to counter attack. Deflect or parry a heavy attack to disarm your opponent. Avoid losing your weapon! Note that lows, kicks, jump-ins, and specials cannot be deflected. Unlike many other fighting games, if you block the first hit of a multi-hit attack, you don’t block all of the multi-hits. Utilize different versions of the same move to catch players off guard.

What is Blade Catch?

Blade Catch when barehanded to return the favor and disarm your foe. Make it difficult for your opponent to get their weapon back!

How Do I Pick Up My Weapon?

You can pick up your weapon by hitting the light attack button when next to it. Chances are your opponent won’t make it easy.

Offense Overview

Basic Attacks and Normals

Normals are broken into Light, Medium, and Heavy attacks. Attacks also change when kicking, dashing, and jumping. There are even close and far versions depending on your distance. Know your range and pokes to blossom on the battlefield!

Fighting Disarmed

No one wants to bring a fist to a sword fight! Disarmed characters have less attacks, although some samurai can perform special moves without weapons. Barehanded opponents take additional chip damage and deal little damage. This might be one of the most disadvantageous situations in the genre.

Specials

Experiment with Specials to learn their capabilities and understand the difference between light, medium, and heavy versions. Players can always reference the menu since every character has unique Specials.

Surprise Attack or Overhead, and Lows

Surprise Attack is a universal overhead that must be blocked while standing. Blocking low in general is not recommended because the risk is far greater than the reward. Lows are weak so getting hit by them is no big deal. Many characters also struggle to block lows and punish.

Rage Gauge Meter and The Weapon Flipping Technique (WFT)

Getting hit and perfectly timing blocks fill the Rage Gauge. The Rage Gauge temporarily boosts damage by 20% when full and gives you access to the Weapon Flipping Technique, one of your three supers. The super triggers an animation and lives up to its name by disarming your opponent. The move’s input is universal. Characters have different sized meters, meaning some characters will fill their gauge and deplete it faster than others.

Rage Explosion and Lightning Blade Super

Rage Explosion pushes back foes and breaks combos. It also buffs damage by 40%. In addition, players can perform the Lightning Blade Super at the cost of their Rage Gauge for the rest of the round. Lightning Blade deals more damage the more bar you have when landing the move. It’s invincible, but can be blocked. The match timer freezes when in Rage Explosion.

EX Moves

Certain moves turn into EX Moves when the Rage Gauge is full. The inputs don’t change, but your attacks will be enhanced. View the move list to learn which moves are affected.

Super Special Moves

With great power comes great responsibility! You owe it to your character to land this powerful move and bring their personality to life with a cool cutscene. Super Special Moves are hard to land. Fortunately, it’s guaranteed when your opponent is disarmed. The input is universal and players can only use it once in a set, so use Super Special Moves wisely. They almost guarantee you’ll win the round!

Guard Break/Throws

Throws, or Guard Breaks, don’t deal damage. Hit kick and heavy slash to push away opponents or pull them behind you. Follow up with normals or specials depending on your character. It’s easier to combo with back throw than forward throw because you have more time to act. Some characters even have command grabs. Don’t get grab happy! Whiffed guard breaks are easy to punish.

Recoil Cancel

Recoil Cancel converts blocked normals into other moves. This option creates more mind games regarding how you and your opponent mix-up attacks. For instance, deciding whether to prioritize slow damage and efficiency or going for a few disarm attempts and a fast win.

Sword Clash

Another unique game-changing mechanic is Sword Clash. Sword Clash is when players simultaneously land normals and must mash buttons faster than their opponent. The loser is always disarmed. Both players lose their weapons in a tie. There must be at least 16 seconds on the timer and both players must have at least 160 health for Sword Clash to trigger. It can only happen once per round. Train those samurai reflexes!

How to Choose A Main?

Characters like Haohmaru, Charlotte, Jubei, and Darli Dagger are great for mastering the fundamentals before selecting a samurai to call your own. Distinct traits like trap playstyles make every character unique. After you’re comfortable with the basics, move to the rest of the cast with confidence. Cut the competition and bring honor to your character’s community!

Essential Tips

• Figure out what moves are safe!
• Forward and Back Throw are different!
• Discard your own weapon?
• Make Rage Explosion count!
• Chip damage is deadly!
• Cancel recovery into specials!
• Parries are crucial!

Tips the Tutorial Doesn’t Teach You

Samurai Shodown is easy to enter, but tricky to triumph! The game’s in-depth mechanics and evolving meta make learning, watching, and playing a gratifying journey full of unexpected experiences.

Samurai Shodown Story and Lore

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Samurai Shodown Origin, History, and Significance

Samurai Shodown 2019 Story

This reboot takes place between the first Samurai Shodown and Samurai Shodown V. Fill in the gaps alongside Haohmaru as he continues his journey to become the ultimate samurai! Encounter fearsome fighters from across the land, all driven by unique motivations, and come together, or fall apart, in your quest to vanquish the evil Shizuka Gozen.