This guide is suitable for those who wish to enhance their skills in achieving S ranks more frequently, as well as gaining knowledge on covert mechanics and sophisticated techniques. Videos are also included to further assist in the learning process.
How to parry more consistently before you know all the enemy patterns
Many players have a misconception that parrying is an advanced technique, but in actuality, it’s an essential mechanic built into the game. As long as you’re on beat and consistently tapping the parry button, it will work about 80% of the time. This is especially helpful when you’re in the middle of a combo and a ranged enemy starts to target you. Simply start tapping the parry button, and you’ll be able to defend yourself.
Keeping combo when you can’t hit anything
This information is particularly crucial for players starting out on the Rhythm Master difficulty, where reaching rank D results in a game over. Initially, it may seem impossible to fail since the game is quite lenient in awarding S ranks, which only requires a few seconds of accurate gameplay at the start of each fight. However, as you progress through the game, you’ll encounter scenarios where there are few to no targets available to hit, such as when facing shield enemies or electrified Rekka.
The solution to this problem is to manage your two ranged assists effectively, ensuring that they continue building up the combo chain indefinitely. This strategy is also helpful in regular fights, as it guarantees a full combo as long as both assists remain available. Therefore, this knowledge is valuable for players who want to perform well in the game.
Enemy specific information
The special invincibility state that samurais can activate at around half-health is unique to them and could be challenging for most players. It interrupts your combo and may require you to perform a full parry chain on an attack that lacks any timing cues, unlike the other attacks.
However, you can bypass this issue by using Korsica to hit the samurai and disable their invincibility. This technique allows you to avoid the interruption of your combo and eliminates the need to perform a full parry chain. In summary, while samurais may pose a challenge due to their invincibility state, using Korsica to disable it can help you overcome this obstacle.
The two bird enemies in the game can be quite frustrating to deal with, as they have a pseudo-immunity to the magnet chain. If they fly too far away from you, it’s highly likely that you’ll lose your combo, wasting valuable time if the bird keeps evading you.
However, you can permanently stun-lock these enemies by jumping and initiating a combo before they take flight. This technique prevents them from escaping and allows you to keep the combo going without any interruptions. Although the birds can be challenging to handle, using the stun-lock method can make them much easier to defeat.
If you find the execution moves of the big enemies frustrating, you can skip them entirely by tapping the parry button in time with the beat right in front of them. These execution moves often disrupt your combo and can become tedious to watch after repeatedly seeing them.
By tapping the parry button at the right moment, you can avoid triggering the execution move and continue your combo uninterrupted. This technique saves you time and allows you to maintain your momentum throughout the fight, making it a valuable strategy to keep in mind.
Here’s a highly effective and super cool tip for you: at the start of a fight, head straight for a shield enemy and tap the parry button in time with the beat. This technique can break their shield as soon as they spawn in, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.
This strategy is incredibly useful and can give you a major advantage in combat, allowing you to take out enemies more quickly and efficiently. It’s worth noting that this tip was suggested by one of the game developers, making it an insider trick that you won’t find in most guides. So go ahead and give it a try to see just how effective it can be!
While this technique can be useful in many situations, it is particularly effective when fighting against Mimosa if you’re aiming for an S rank in the Rhythm Tower.
By utilizing the stun-lock technique, you can prevent Mimosa from unleashing her special attack, which can be difficult to dodge and can significantly reduce your combo. By keeping her stun-locked, you can maintain your combo and increase your chances of achieving a high score.
Overall, this technique is an excellent strategy to have in your arsenal, especially when facing challenging enemies like Mimosa in the Rhythm Tower.
Spam strategy and stun-locking enemies and bosses
It’s worth noting that Assists in the game are incredibly powerful, and can be a game-changer when used effectively. By utilizing all three Assists and equipping a cooldown chip, you can essentially launch a barrage of projectiles that can clear the entire screen of enemies.
This strategy can be particularly effective in situations where there are only a few enemies on the screen, as the Assists can quickly rack up your chain meter and help you achieve a higher score. It’s important to note, however, that this technique should be used strategically and not relied on too heavily, as it may not be effective in all situations.
By utilizing the technique mentioned earlier of launching a barrage of projectiles with all three Assists and equipping a cooldown chip, you can quickly rack up an extremely high combo meter. This can lead to some truly insane numbers, which come with significant score bonuses.
Even if you don’t manage to achieve all the fancy bonuses or are hit with negative effects like repetitive, your high combo meter will ensure that your score far exceeds what is expected of you for an S rank. In fact, it’s often trivial to reach a 100 combo with this strategy, which can net you around 30,000 in bonuses alone.
When playing on lower difficulties, utilizing the overpowered Assists technique mentioned earlier will result in enemies’ health bars being depleted in mere seconds. This can be incredibly helpful when going for 100% completion, as you will need to replay the game five times in order to earn S ranks (which, by the way, is a rather frustrating requirement).
Movement
Enemy Step
If you’re looking to combo an enemy without any interruptions from other enemies, there’s a useful technique you can use. Simply execute a three light hit combo, and when Chai pauses at the end of the combo, he gains vertical momentum, as does the enemy. This can help keep both you and the enemy out of harm’s way and allow for a longer combo.
I haven’t found any mentions of the following two movement techniques:
Quick Running
This technique is crucial if you want to speed up your multiple playthroughs to achieve 100% completion in the game.
However, the timing is quite precise – if you’re too fast, the distance will be too short, and if you’re too slow, you’ll execute a slow dodge attack instead. One helpful tip is to visually time it so that you start a new dodge when Chai makes contact with the ground. You can experiment with the timing yourself in training mode, but it may help to start with one regular dodge, then initiate the quick running with the second perfect dodge, using a rhythm that works for you.
(in 2D movement, it may be easier to practice in 2D actually)
(in 3D movement)
Air grounded dash
This weird glitch makes the game think you dashing along the ground so it lets you essentially do dash > jump > dash again which is way further than the game expects you to be able to travel in midair. I didn’t find any use for it but i thought having some info about it here might help some speed runner do something crazy with it :shrugs:
the timing is really weird but I semi-consistently got it to work with a really quick jump > dash transition, I can’t really give more specific info than that since I barely got it to work.
Rhythm tower S rank requirement
If you’re going to attempt the Rhythm tower achievement there’s really three things you need to get 10+ minutes in your run:
- Buy Hibiki
- Get as many battery chips as possible
- learn how to spam assists(which lets you spam the basic light combo, meaning you get lots of batteries quickly)
