Club Combat FAQ - Guide for Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising
Club Combat FAQ
Version 0.5
By Master Knight DH (http://www.youtube.com/user/MasterKnightDH)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. Version History (UPDATEZ)
1. Introduction (HIYA)
2. Tactics (CLUBYA)
3. Anti-Club Tactics (BUZZ)
4. Individual Clubs (INFODUMP) (not available right now)
5. Abilities (PWNING)
6. Closing (BIYA)

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0. Version History (UPDATEZ)

*Version 0.5 - this is a work in progress. I just want this guide up right 
now. Abilities are incomplete and Individual Clubs has nothing done. I just 
want to be sure good club play can be fought reasonably. If you want to add 
more, please contact me. I'm probably in the KI:U chat room advertised on 
the boards, but I recommend Skype (ID:mknightdh) for contacting.

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1. Introduction (HIYA)

If you want to contact me, I have my contact info on my YouTube channel, or 
you can sometimes catch me on TwitchTV under mknightdh. Of course, if you
want to be unfriendly, don't bother.

Kid Icarus Uprising is a 3DS game, and the third game in the Kid Icarus 
series. However, rather than a 2D platformer, the game is a shooter, and can 
be played in either 1st person or 3rd person. Of course, you can also engage 
in melee combat. But if you're reading this, you probably would know this 
stuff.

I thought I would do a multiplayer guide on how to work with, or against, 
clubs, as I'm convinced a good club will already give plenty of players 
trouble. If you're wondering, the club weapon type is a Melee Tornado+Mighty 
Glacier hybrid. (IOW, good melee and power, bad range and speed.) I main a 
club, so I want to be sure they have a likeable balance, and they're already 
halfway there at least, as a club user who isn't alert enough is going to be 
a walking target. The problem is the other half, where they can make strong 
use of a good, synergetic ability set combined with gameplay mechanics to 
punish mistakes harshly. So here's the guide. Here's to hoping they work out.

Here's my club's stats, by the way:
*Skyscraper Club
**Range: 2
**Melee: 1.5
**Value: 240
**Extras:
***Overall Defense +1
***Poison +2
***Walking Speed +3
***Evade +2
***Side-Dash Charge Shot + 3

(Yeah, good Range AND that Walking Speed bonus.)

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2. Tactics (CLUBYA)

While I'm writing this guide to provide anti-club tactics since clubs are 
that much of a worry, this is a guide about clubs. So naturally, a section 
about how to use clubs optimally is only right. In fact, if they were even 
close to outright invincible, this section would be pointless. Instead, they 
need strong play to avoid being easy points. So if you ever find yourself 
being stuck as a walking target for using a club, this section is worth 
checking out.

*USE TERRAIN COVER! I know people would say that would come naturally, but 
it does wonders for club users, as a wall blocking off the projectiles means 
that the club user doesn't take the damage that the projectiles would have 
done otherwise. Why is this good? Because thanks to the fast pace of the 
game, you can easily cover hop to get closer without any penalty. This will 
inevitably pressure the opposition and force somebody to blink. And if 
you're not the first one to do that, you can suddenly halt your advance and 
arrange your abilities safely. Thankfully, players are durable enough that 
your teammates should still be living long enough for you to get to the 
fireworks.
*APPROACH SMART! Again, sounds simple, but needs to be emphasized for club 
users. They want to get close to opponents in general to smash them, but the 
important thing is getting there in good enough shape first.
*USE A SYNERGETIC ABILITY SET! While club users will hit like trucks, if not 
bullet trains, they can still be evaded and they do have to worry about 
being hit first and being on the bad end of a combo. You will want to guard 
against this as well as other threats.
**Since abilities are important enough thanks to comboing, BEWARE OF BURNING 
OUT. You're not entirely defenseless if you have no abilities to fight off 
comboing with, but you'll be in for an uphill battle if you use everything 
up. Just be glad that stuff like Super Armor and Heavenly Light are around 
to make your net attack advantage much more dangerous.
**Also ARRANGE YOUR ABILITIES QUICKLY. They won't use themselves, since you 
are supposed to decide what to use. And it can help to have something like 
Heavenly Light out for a sudden clash.
*Against fellow club users, PLAY SMART. You're actually threatened in a 
simple duel with any of them, but going with that option will get you nowhere 
fast. If you're going to strike them, at least try to make use of offensive 
abilities to add some range combat into the mix.
*BE AWARE OF RANGE CAMPING. This especially goes if you happen to not care 
about Range stars on your club. And again, sounds simple, but it can easily 
wear you down if you aren't wary.

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3. Anti-Club Tactics (BUZZ)

You're probably on this guide to figure out how to defeat clubs, because 
they make use of their immense range and power, in combination with the way 
the game works itself out. Rest assured that club users are not invincible, 
although abilities make them downright devastating. Just keep the following 
in mind and you might be okay.

*IDENTIFY club users ASAP. They can easily provide plenty of grief if you 
don't catch on to who to is wielding a club. Trust me: you will need to plan 
against even decent club users.
*Go for WEARING DOWN club users slowly but surely. As plenty of their 
effectiveness relies on abilities, you can try to force them to waste 
abilities until they start running out of available abilities. But keep in 
mind that they may guard against this strategy, plus they still will always 
have their good melee attack power and maybe a good trap projectile, so they 
still won't be entirely defenseless when they're "BURNED OUT" as I'm 
referring to.
*STAY OUT OF MELEE COMBAT WITH CLUB USERS IN GENERAL! I don't need to point 
out again how hard they hit, and they can use abilities to make their 
already vicious general net attack advantage even more of a problem.
**If you EVER get caught in melee combat with a club user without a suitable 
health advantage, ESCAPE IMMEDIATELY BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! You might win if 
the club user is a n00b, but if they make good, fast use of their abilities, 
your chances of winning the skirmish will drop like a lead weight. At least 
with retreat you live to fight another day.
*NEVER CLUMP in general. Thanks to the clubs' high reach, just two people in 
the same area can easily take double the total DPS. If a competent club user 
sees multiple people in the same area, they won't have a problem with making 
them a targeting priority. The only way clumpers are surviving is if ANY AND 
ALL of them can shake off the attacks well enough. Even then, it's still 
preferable to try to spread out to fight off the club users' abilities.
*WATCH TERRAIN like a hawk. As pointed out how in the previous section, it's 
easily used by the club users to minimize the damage they take in a way that 
keeps their approach speed in good shape.
*Reflecting can work but might need some creativity. It can work on a club 
user who gets too habitual, but it's best for managing an escape, which is 
one of the better uses of the club user's typical projectile.

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4. Individual Clubs (INFODUMP)

(To be filled later)

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5. Abilities (PWNING)

Who could forget the bread-and-butter of the multiplayer: the abilities. By 
using abilities, you may be able to subvert problems in matchups or other 
creative things. I will simply provide a list of abilities here and provide 
a Usefulness and Threat rating for each one, the former being what I believe 
the appropriate grade for the ability is for club users, and the latter being 
how well I feel the ability would threaten club users. Letter grades range, 
from weakest to strongest, G to A, then S (Special), then M (Master). They 
may be off later on, but this is how I feel for the time being....

*Sky Jump - lot of uses without using much room, but rather situational. Use 
to approach safely. Foes can use to get away.
**Usefulness: D
**Threat: C
*Jump Glide - Use to approach. Foes can use to get away.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: B
*Angelic Missile - Use to approach. Foes can use to get away.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: B
*Mega Laser - L1 uses a full row or column for one use, but this does provide 
a better long range attack. Use for trapping. Foes can use to deter approach.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: B
*Explosive Flame - 
*Meteor Shower
*Land Mine
*Reflect Barrier - sends projectiles back. Use for cover. Foes can use to 
punish messy projectile usage.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: B
*Heavenly Light - defensive explosion attack. Use to punish poor attacking. 
Foes can't use well due to the general melee net attack problem.
**Usefulness: S
**Threat: F
*Autoreticle - hit opponents more easily. Only use if you're sure you don't 
need range attacks, since otherwise it can backfire easily. Foes can only 
use this well with projectiles to wear you down.
**Usefulness: E
**Threat: D
*Quick Charge - full charges strong projectiles. Use to charge the trap 
projectile more easily, be careful of reflect shenanigans if you use this. 
Foes can use this to strong projectile more often.
**Usefulness: D
**Threat: A
*Homing Boost - L1 uses a lot of room. Don't bother using it unless your 
club's projectile speed is good. Foes can use it to clobber you when you're 
out in the open.
**Usefulness: G
**Threat: B
*Invisible Shots - plenty of room used at L1 for 1 use but invisible shots. 
Use it for surprise attacks. Foes can use it to surprise you.
**Usefulness: F
**Threat: B
*Random Effect - plenty of room used but while active, attacks causes a 
random ailment so the opponent may be frozen today. Use if you feel lucky.
Foes may feel lucky and end up getting something they like.
**Usefulness: F minimum (Poison), C in general
**Threat: M maximum (Stone), B in general
*Poison Attack - attacks cause poison. Poison damage pales in comparison to 
general club damage, don't bother. Foes may use to gradually soften you.
**Usefulness: F
**Threat: D
*Paralyze Attack: attacks cause paralysis. Use to bolster an attack. Foes 
may use to weaken your attack.
**Usefulness: A
**Threat: A
*Confuse Attack: attacks cause confusion. Use to bolster an attack by 
potentially ruining the opponent's escape. Foes may use to ruin your own 
attack.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: B
*Freeze Attack: attacks cause frozen. Use to bolster an attack. Foes may use 
to stop your attacking altogether and make you an easy target for a few 
precious seconds.
**Usefulness: A
**Threat: S
*Super Armor: prevents being KBed and also boosts defense. A MUST HAVE, as 
it prevents being comboed. Foes also have virtually little to no reason to 
use this on club users unless they have good enough melee net attack 
somehow.
**Usefulness: M
**Threat: F
*Brief Invincibility: absolute protection for a shorter duration. Only 
consider over Super Armor if you have a Glass Cannon club. Foes may use to 
prevent damage.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: S
*Tirelessness: prevents exhaustion. Use to move at full speed without 
problem. Foes can use this to do the same to escape.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: C
*Lightweight: prevents exhaustion and speeds the player up, at the cost of 
taking more damage. Be aware of the high room used. Only consider over 
Tirelessness if you have a Glass Cannon club. Foes can use this to escape 
more easily.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: B
*Bumblebee: better dodging. Be aware of the high room used and only 1 use at 
L1. Use to approach. Foes can use this to fight off being hit.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: B
*Counter: prevents KB, auto-counters. Can be used in melee combat, but 
enemy projectiles can abuse this. Foes can't use this very well due to the 
net attack problem.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: F
*Transparency: become invisible. Use to approach faster. Foes can use to 
escape. The user's opponent(s) should stay alert.
**Usefulness: B
**Threat: A
*Playing Dead: fake death then become invisible. Won't fool alert players, 
so basically Transparency that uses more space.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: A
*Health Recovery: restores health. Use to avoid being killed. Foes can only 
use if they can survive a single skirmish.
**Usefulness: A
**Threat: E
*Effect Recovery: undoes ailments. Low room with 3 uses at L1. Use to get 
rid of stuff like Paralysis. Foes can do the same.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: D
*Throwing Boost: throws items better. Both sides can use on clumps.
**Usefulness: C
**Threat: C
*Celestial Firework: joke item?
**Usefulness: G?
**Threat: G?

(If you're wondering, I have Mega Laser L1, Heavenly Light L1, Paralyze 
Attack L2, Super Armor L1, Tirelessness L1, and Health Recovery L3. No 
spaces wasted, all 6 abilities are useful.)

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6. Closing (BIYA)

Thanks to those who were at GDC 2012 in San Francisco on March 9. The game 
proved its worth to me there, and I was already able to figure out that 
clubs are good. Also thanks to people on the Kid Icarus Uprising chat room 
on Chatzy for providing me with matches that provided some useful insight.

Kid Icarus Uprising is copyright 2012 HAL Laboratories. I do not own the 
characters or such in it, blah blah blah. But thanks to them for making 
this game.

This FAQ is copyright 2012 Master Knight DH. Please do not try to claim it 
as your own or some nonsense like that.