Silver Samurai Guide Ver. 1.5
By Carlton Kong
Alias Cybermitsu in most Tekken forums
<email -
[email protected]>
* Notice: This being my own personal work, it is my obligation to protect what I
believe are threats to my work. Silver Samurai Guide is property of Carlton
Kong, copyright 2000. If you wish to put this FAQ into some part of a vast
anthology for MvC2 or simply wish to use a tidbit of it on your website, contact
me at my email address above. If I hear news that my FAQ has been used in any
other manner without my consent, written or otherwise, I will have no choice but
to take legal action against those who have used this FAQ without my consent.
*FAQ History*
Ver. 1.0 - First publication of this FAQ. released 5/16/2000
Ver. 1.5 - Revised some of my opinions on special moves and hyper combos.
Corrected a whole lot of mistakes.
*Table of Contents*
1) Reasons and Uses of This FAQ
2) Advantages and Disadvantages
3) Movelist and Conventions
4) Movelist Analysis
5) Fighting Strategies
6) Special Thanks
*Reasons and Uses of This FAQ*
Why would someone put all their time and effort on a character that is as
unpopular as Silver Samurai? Simple. To disprove the myth that he sucks. I've
asked about a dozen or so people to help me out with improving my Silver Samurai
and all I've come across are just a lot of confused people that tell me to go to
another character. So what did I do? I shelled out some hard earned cash and
played. Slowly, I learned the little nuances of his game through practice that
often left my hands numb. Now, I'm going to share my knowledge with you.
I designed this guide for the intermediate to expert player. It is not intended
for the use of a person that is just starting to play MvC2. In other words,
newbies need not look here.
*Advantages and Disadvantages*
Adavantages-
Silver Samurai is extremely strong for his size. His combos and aerial raves
can cause excessive damage. His special moves cause great block damage and his
hyper combos cause even greater block damage. He also can take more damage than
most normal charcters. I believe that his damage setting is at 90%, which is
pretty good. Due to his ability to gain elemental enhancements, he has a wider
range of hyper combos than most characters.
Disadvantages-
Due to his great physical strength, he has a real big problem with being
excessively slow. Another problem that he has is a lack of special moves. Most
characters have about 3 or 4 special moves, but Silver Samurai only has 2. He
also cannot deal with people that jump in the air during a fight since he does
not have a proper anti-air move. Although this can be remedied by using an anti-
air assist, it doesn't really cut it. Quite possibly the biggest disadvantage is
the fact that his launcher sends opponents up at a weird trajectory. Rather than
sending them straight up, he sends him flying at about a 45 degree angle. This
makes initating aerial raves very difficult. One major problem that Silver
Samurai has is that he eats hyper combos for a snack. You could use probably 2
or 3 hyper combos without realizing it.
*Movelist and Conventions*
Conventions will show the abbreviations that I use for indicating the notation
of a move or during an explanation of a strategy. I assume that the reader knows
general directionals, ie. u is up and d is down. Therefore, general directionals
have been ommited from the conventions.
Movelist is listed from special moves to command attacks to hyper combos. After
the hyper combos, there is a subsection that will list the hyper combos during
the elemental enhancements. Afterwards, a list of assists appears showing what
moves occur during a partner assist, a variable counter, and a variable
combination.
--Conventions--
QCF- quarter circle forward (d,df,f)
QCB- quarter circle back (d,db,b)
DP- dragon punch motion (f,d,df)
P- any punch K- any kick
PP- both punches KK- both kicks
LP- light punch LK- light kick
HP- heavy punch HK- heavy kick
= - next in sequence
/ - or i.e. either command may be input
(air)- can be done in the air
(PL)- power up lightning
(PF)- power up fire
(PI)- power up ice
a- alpha assist
B- beta assist
y- gamma assist
--Movelist--
Shuriken: QCF + P, direct with u / d (air)
Repeating Slash: DP + P / tap P rapidly
=Dashing Slash: tap f,f
Endless Slashes: tap LP,LP repeatedly
Double Slash: tap HP,HP
Triple Shuriken: QCF + PP
Lightning Strike: QCF + KK
Sword Power-up (Lightning): QCB + P
Sword Power-up (Ice): QCB + LK
Sword Power-up (Flame): QCB + HK
Lightning Triple Shuriken: (PL) QCF + PP
Lightning Strike: (PL) QCF + KK
Flame Spiral: (PF) QCF + KK
Ice Stab: (PI) QCF + KK
partner assist variable counter variable combination
-------------------------------------------------------------------
a: HP Repeating Slash HP Repeating Slash Hyper Repeating Slash
B: HP Shuriken HP Shuriken Triple Shuriken
y: Crouching HP Crouching HP L.Strike/F.Spiral/I.Stab
*Movelist Analysis*
Note: I will call Silver Samurai "Sam" throughout this section. Just want to
clear that up.
--Special Moves--
Shuriken - QCF + P
One of the best moves in Sam's arsenal. When it hits, it can cause six hits
BY ITSELF! The direction of the shuriken can be controlled by pressing up or
down. By using the "up" shuriken on the ground, it is possible to keep a person
from jumping around too much. Using the "down" shuriken in the air is good if
your afraid someone might try to dash under you while your trying to get into
the air. Great to use at the end of an aerial rave to cause more damage. More
importantly, this move causes good guard damage, even on that "invincible"
Iceman. Good to use for keep away.
One fatal flaw: It can be cancelled out by regular moves.
Another fatal flaw: As it travels across the screen, it will begin to "lose"
hits. So if thrown, it can cause up to 6 hits. By the time it travels the entire
screen, it's down to 3.
Repeating Slash - DP + P / tap P rapidly
Not much to say about this move. It's particularly useful to make someone
think twice about just trying to run up to you for a d+WK to popup. Also does
good guard damage. But there's a bit of lagtime when they block it.
=Dashing Slash - tap f,f
DO NOT USE THIS!! What it does is cause Sam to run forward while doing the
reapeating slash. Sounds good, right? Wrong!! After the dashing slash, Sam sorta
stands there with his sword in the air. He stands so long that a person can use
their popup and launch you for an aerial rave. Even worse is that they can get
off their hyper combo.
I would not say that this move is all that bad. I would say that I have "bad
luck " using this move. It is useful to cancel in a Hyper Combo since the dash
allows you to EASILY do a qcf motion to either KK or PP. This is due to the fact
that right after the dash, he still hits even though you are not touching the
joystick or the buttons.
--Command Moves--
Endless Slashes - tap LP,LP repeatedly
I'm not particularly sure how to use this. Sam performs his standard LP and
then moves into a slash that isn't his MP but rather another form of LP. Both do
about the same damage. Haven't really used this in fights.
Double Slash - tap HP,HP
I'm not particularly sure how to describe this. All Sam does is two
consecutive sword slashes. They hit at different heights. The first is high but
the second is low. Does good damage, but not particularly useful.
--Hyper Combos--
Triple Shuriken - QCF + PP
This is the hyper combo of choice! Don't bother with anything else. It dishes
out plenty of damage and causes opponents to fly across the screen. I've even
got only about 2 hits off it since my opponent interrupted the move and it still
causes them to fly. But the most important aspect of the Triple Shuriken is the
fact that it causes about the SAME amount of damage if blocked. When I did this
on a friend of mine, he says that it was worse than the block damage caused by
the Mega Optic Blast. As a bonus, this also damages Iceman while he's blocking.
And for some insult to injury, it can also be directed with up or down like his
normal shuriken. Use the up and down tactics that are used with the normal
shuriken with it.
One side note that I failed to mention previously: This hyper combo can be
stopped by a normal move!! It is quite a fatal flaw. But there is a counter for
it, although it may not work against beamers. First throw out a shuriken. Then
throw out the Triple Shuriken. If they try to counterhit the shuriken, the
Triple Shruriken will hit them.
Lightning Strike - QCF + KK
I really have not used this move. I actually think its pathetic. It doesn't
give you the damage like the Triple Shuriken. It also does puny guard damage. It
can be chained together after his popup, which is a bit of a plus. It's best
used against those who are assist crazy and just love to throw them out for the
heck of it. It cancels out your opponents assist and delivers massive damage to
the assist character. It's also quite effective if you need to push back an
opponent for a bit of a breather.
Sword Power Up's - QCB + P(PL) / LK(PF) / HK(PI)
Each of the Sword Power Up's gives Sam an elemental associated with his
sword. Basically, his sword will cause elemental damage. The Sword Power Up's
also cause changes to Sam's strength, defense, and his special moves. Most
noteably, his shurikens get the improvement of connecting with how ever many
hits they usually have, no matter what the distance they've been thrown.
-Lightning-
While in PL, he gains an increase in defense but also decreases his attack
power. If you perform PL multiple times, his defense begins to return to normal.
By the 3rd time, damage should return back to normal.
He will be able to perform the Triple Shuriken in midair. His Lightning
Strike seems to change with this power up, making it more difficult to connect
off the popup, but gaining a higher amount of guard damage. A normal shuriken
only hits once rather than the usual six. Both his normal and Triple Shuriken go
out at much greater speed.
Most important about this mode is that Sam becomes a COMBO MACHINE!! The stun
that is caused while he is in this mode is long enough to allow him to create
some very, very nasty combos. He can also do 6 hit strings when he's on the
gorund. He also gains a MAJOR speed increase, allowing him to move in and out
very quickly hoping for a ground combo to popup to aerial rave.
-Fire-
While in PF, he gains a MASSIVE increase in strength and a MAJOR decrease in
defense. But by performing the PF multiple times, defense eventually returns to
normal. By the 3rd time, defense should return to normal. This is a godsend
(although it may not be... explanation later).
The Lightning Strike is replaced with the Flame Spiral, which is a vertical
column of fire. It isn't really useful since he cannot popup opponents straight
up. It is best used in the corner after a corner popup or after a PF Triple
Shuriken.
Oddly, his Repeating Slash gets altered so that his LP version does only two
hits while his HP does NONE at the start up! However, during the both versions,
you can tack in hits by pressing P as late as possible.
His shuriken gets a bit of a speed increase, although it may be a bit
intangible.
-Ice-
While in PI, he gains an increase in defense and a decrease in attack power.
He also gains the power of super armor while he's on the ground. After using the
PI more than 3 times, he'll gain HYPER ARMOR!! This is even a greater godsend
than the damage reduction after multiple PL's abd PF's.
The Lightning Strike is replaced with his Ice Stab. When performed, Sam jumps
into the air and sticks his sword into the ground. Then a sudden rush of ice
comes from his sword and freezes his opponent in place. Sam then can use his
Triple Shuriken or just popup and start and aerial rave. Although the damage
from the stab is puny, it must be blocked LOW.
His shuriken in this form only causes 3 hits compared to the regular 6. It
also has a much improved recovery time allowing it to be comboed off when the
shuriken connects. His Repeating Slash only deals 4 hits with LP and 6 hits with
HP initially compared to 6 hits for both. The repeating slash also gets less
start up lag time.
Assists:
a - Ground Type: Rpeating Slash / Hyper Repeating Slash
This was the first assist that I began to tinker with. It is good for a
little while. What Sam does is jump in a perform his Repeating Slash close to
the opponent. Problem is that he strikes a bit of a pose right next to the
opponent, providing the perfect opportunity to juggle him or a hyper combo. What
I like to do with this assist is use that to chip while I jump away and cover
him with a projectile or long range hyper combo. Thus if they try to hit Sam,
you can hit them and allow Sam to jump away off screen.
I don't really like to use his Hyper Repeating Slash. All Sam does is a
really long version of his dashing slash. I think it went up to some 15+ hits. I
just wish that you could do it just by yourself and not part of a variable
combination...
B - Projectile Type: Shuriken / Triple Shuriken
This is the assist to use. This one causes Sam to throw out his shuriken from
quite a long distance. The shuriken dissipates over time though. It's strength
is the fact that it takes quite some time for all the hits to hit so you can use
it as a stun. Then you can do a popup to an aerial rave with ease.
Ex. Team - Strider, Sam. Strider is on screen. Calls Sam to throw the
shuriken. While Sam's throwing it, Strider is double jumping over the oppoennt.
Causes the opponent to get confused on where to block. Shuriken connects and
Strider is free to popup and aerial rave for a 12 hit air combo.
The Triple Shuriken is really good for the variable combination. Improves the
guard damage of most hyper combos.
y - Launcher Type: Crouching HP / L.Strike/F.Spiral/I.Stab
This is the most horrible assist that I have seen. All Sam does is a dman
crouching HP that pops 'em up. THAT'S IT!! I only use that if a person has
medium launcher which is not particularly reliable. I've also heard stuff about
it being use to link other hyper combos quite easily, such as Jill's impossible
to link Tyrant hyper combo.
I've finally figured out what moves occurs during the variable combination.
According to Chris McDonald, it all depends on which elemental that you choose.
Say that you use PI with Sam then do a variable combination, Sam would perform
his Ice Stab. This doesn't work when he is offscreen; all he does is a lightning
strike.
*Fighting Strategies*
--Mentality of a Samurai--
A Samurai is the warrior of warriors. He does not fear death, only failure.
That is the mentality that you must have when using him. He is a bit of a
"pitbull" since you can be extrememly aggresive when the right opportunities
arrive.
Do not be too overly agressive since many of his moves have some lag time to
them. You also do not want to be overly defensive since Sam does not have
appropriate moves to counterattack opponents. What he is designed to do is be
the controlling factor in a match. Sam is capable of forcing opponents to go
against their natures. He can turn a pitbull into a turtle and vice versa.
Although most samurai's are noted for their stoic and often hostile nature
towards others, Sam is different. He believes that an ally is an ally and that
they can help win a fight. So, by having good allies to come in a compensate for
the gaps, the battle for victory becomes a bit easier.
--Do's and Don'ts--
Do's:
+Use shurikens to distract opponents.
+Use the repeating slash -> dashing slash -> hyper combo cancel for
ground combos.
+Kill off helpers with a well timed Lightning Strike.
+Make use of the snapback to force in weak helpers.
+Use the Triple Shuriken to chip massive amounts of energy off
opponents.
+If characters have certain attirbutes (higher speed, defense, etc.)
use the sword power ups to counteract them.
+Have a character that has a great anti-air assist.
+Have a character that has a launhcer assist.
Don'ts:
-Get into projectile wars with the shuriken or Triple Shuriken.
-Leave weak helpers on the side lines.
-Forget about using the sword power ups.
-Out do a character's attributes ie. using PF on Juggernaut.
-Have a character that has a throw or ground assist.
--Using Your Team to Help Sam--
Sam isn't very fond of heights so he has a tendency to stay on the floor and
fight on the ground. But what if they simply super jump over him and attempt to
attack. Well, that's where your helpers come in. A helper that has an excellent
anti-air assist will keep them on the ground, which is you natural element. Good
examples of anti-air helpers are Capt. Commando, Capt. America, Morrigan, Guile,
Ken, Iron Man.
Since Sam is a bit limited in the special moves department, he depends a
great deal on his variety of hyper combos. A new problem then arises: how do I
get all the hyper combos I need? Your other character should cover this aspet.
It's hard to find people that can actually build up the hyper combo gauge
without using it themselves. This character should be first in the lineup. This
thus gives you about 99 secs to perform as many special moves, aerial raves, and
assists that you can in order to pump up the good ol' hyper combo gauge.
Now when it comes down to Sam actually getting his hands dirty in a fight,
it's pretty difficult for him to fight in his standard mode ie. no sword power
ups. In normal mode, your focus should be building up the hyper combo gauge so
that you can use his sword power ups. But if your pushed into a difficult spot
and can't really do much, use the Lightning Strike to get the room that you need
for a bit of a breather. As a plus, the Lightning Strike basically crushes any
helpers.
--Which Power Up Is Best?--
So once you have the hyper combo gauge all high, what sword power up should
you use? None of his power ups are better than each other; they just have
certain attributes that makes a fight easier for you and infinitely more
difficult for your opponent.
>PL<
One thing to say: RAW OFFENSE!! As I have stated previously, in PL, Sam
becomes a MvC1 Strider. His aerial raves suddenly become so much easier and so
much more powerful. If you tack on the special mid-air Triple Shuriken into an
aerial rave, expect your opponent to lose about 50%-60% off their life bar. With
PL on, he becomes one of the toughest air jugglers in the game. His abilities in
the comboing area rival that of an advanced Omega Red (If you haven't dealt with
Omega Red's 15+ aerial rave, consider yourself lucky). His OTG can make people
ill when in this form. I remember getting about a 50+ hit combo by tagging the
Lightning Strike at the end. With that in mind, you should try to combo with Sam
as much as possible in PL. This means that you can use either jump ins or ground
combos to get combos started.
There is a bit of a problem with this power up. You get an increase in
offense but you lose some of that defensive strength that you've come to love.
To counteract this, simply perform PL more times. Eventually, Sam's defense will
begin to rise and by the third use of PL, he'll be back to normal damage
setting.
PL is best used if you got someone who plays a bit on the offensive side.
This allows you to capitalize on the mistakes that offensive minded people make
when fighting, such as dash in's and whiffed moves. Don't use this against
someone who's got either good running or blocking skills. They defeat the
purpose of using this power up.
>PF<
Now let me get to one thing in particular about this power up: Sam get's a
MASSIVE boost in offensive power. When I mean massive, I mean MASSIVE. The
damage that he can cause while in this mode is astronomical. I honestly have
never seen more damage done so quickly than with a PF Sam. Now you can try jump
in attempts for combos since normal hits cause guard damage.
But, like life, there is a fatal flaw. Although he gains such a major hike
with power, his defense drops beyond the point of laughable. He goes from a guy
who has 90% damage setting all the way up to an estimated 150%!! That's greater
than Strider and Akuma. But to counteract the side effect, simply perform
another PF and, for some reason, your defense begins to return to normal. By the
third time, your back to about normal damage setting.
Another problem that he has is that he has lost the ever-important Lightning
Strike and replaced it with the Flame Spiral. It may not serve a real purpose at
first but it is quite handy. Since this hyper combo is much like the Shinryu Ken
that Ken has, it's great off of just popups and anyone who thinks that super
jumping is a good thing.
Playing in this form should only occur when you have a serious advantage over
an opponent. Due to his EXTREMELY low defense, DO NOT USE this power up against
people that are stronger or faster than Sam. Stronger opponents (Juggernaut,
etc.) can capitalize on your mistakes and punish you pretty hard. Since fast
people can move in and out quicker, they get more aerial rave opportunities
which now do A LOT more damage.
>PI<
This is the power up that I simply love to use on people. The reason that I
like this is the fact that he gets a jump in defense. With PI initiated, Sam can
mix it up like crazy against the likes of Psylocke and Juggernaut without much
fear of taking too much damage. He also gains super armor on the ground and
after a total of 3 PI's, he'll gain hyper armor, which is similar to Mecha
Zangief.
With PI on, the Lightning Strike is replaced by the Ice Stab. When used
against people who haven't really face off with Sam, this hyper combo becomes
very useful. Although it does very little damage, it freezes the opponent into a
block of ice. That "freeze" is long enough to popup and lead the opponent into
an aerial rave. If you got plenty of levels to burn, try these:
PI, I.Stab, PF, Triple Shuriken, F.Spiral.
PI, I.Stab, PL, OTG, Repeating Slash, Dashing Slash, L.Strike.
PI, I.Stab, PL, Popup, Aerial Rave, Triple Shuriken in Mid-air.
PI now gives Sam a great new option: turtle. In all his other forms, he has
to be quite offensive minded. Now, with PI, you can turtle a bit and catch your
breath. But don't just turtle until you lose PI. You can get a little more
courageous with aerial raves and popups, due to the high defense and the super
and hyper armor that becomes available. You can forget about a massive
Juggernaut Headcrush that would normally kill regular characters which do little
damage to a PI'ed Sam. Aerial raves by the combo machines (Spidey, Strider,
Psylocke, etc.) don't do as much damage or as annoying. If you try for aerial
raves, just stick to the ground and popup from there since that's the only time
that Super Armor is active.
--Which Assist is Right for Me?--
Sam's assists are each extremely useful. But it depends on what the
composition of your team that determines the assist that you should pick for
Sam.
If your team consists of characters that lack effective projectiles, then you
should consider using Sam's projectile assist. Although it may be a weaker
projectile than beam characters (Cable, Iceman, etc.), it has a multiple number
of hits that cause an opponent to be stunned for a bit. That "stun" gives you
enough time to pull of an effective aerial rave. Afterwards, you can easily
return to an offensive pattern if need be.
If your team consists of characters that like to fight in the air, then his
ground assist maybe better suited for that team. After being told that during
either a double jump, air dash, or a flying ability that you can still call out
an assist, this opens up advantages for Sam's ground assist. Since it's a
repeating slash, opponents are caught in a major stun, you can move in and air
juggle them. Once they return to the ground, you can go back into the air and
repeat the process.
If your team consist of characters that either have low range or difficult
launchers to set up then feel free to use Sam's launhcer assist. Does a better
job at launching than his regular launcher since it sends them straight up
rather than a 45 degree angle. I've also heard some rumors about attaching
difficult to link hyper combos off of the launcher assist, such as Jill's Tyrant
hyper combo. I recall performing such a combo once and it worked perfectly.
More Coming Soon...
*Special Thanks*
Capcom - without them, most of us would be playing something else.
Dan - one of the best at MvC2 or almost any other game.
Adrian - a tough SOB in any fighting game.
Chris MacDonald - his general FAQ is amazing. I learned a lot from it.
LordLocke - this guy really knows his Silver Samurai.
Ug the Caveman - this guy knows a lot of stuff in ANY fighting game.
