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Wushu Manual
~Wushu Manual~
The purpose of this tutorial is to help players of all calibers in conquering the most graceful mod toribash has to offer: wushu. This page includes everything I could muster; from the very basics for newer crowd to few tricks of the trade for more seasoned players. It's well known that first-hand experience is by far the best teacher; but this guide can at least lay out what specific areas you need to practice in.
Openers
Few would try to dispute that wushu allows for some of the most elaborate and devastating opening attacks in toribash. Long distance leaves room for imagination, and allows storing up some serious potential energy during the 1st turn. Whether you stay in place, jump back, set up a sweep, twist yourself for a deadly ‘helicopter’ or simply jump forward like a maniac; you must always remember that your opener is nothing more than the first move in the game. Your opponent expects it and will try to dodge or block it, so you must always plan ahead; anticipating what your opponent will do and whether or not you will connect to his vulnerable parts. For more on that, go to “deception” category.
Once you made a move you like in single player, it’s a good idea to mess around with it and see what follow up techniques for it you can come up with, to use in different types of situations (eg opponent jumping in your face or, on the contrary, jumping away and waiting to ambush). For example, here are a few variations for my old punch, each for different situations.
Punch 1
Punch 2
Punch 3
Punch 4
Generally, attacks that use legs to hit are your safest bet, because they keep your most vulnerable parts like head and chest further from your opponent. The additional reach comes in handy, too.
Avoid high-jump openers. When you are high in tori-air, you lose the advantage of being able to change direction and speed by interaction with the ground, making your movement a lot more predictable. If you are facing an experienced opponent, he will turn you into piñata. Jumping high in the middle of the game just so you can get away from a fight is an asshole move and won’t get you any kudos. Running from a fight goes against wushu etiquette as well.
Relax vs Hold
Both joint states are important, and you should get into the habit of using each when it is appropriate.
With hold, it’s fairly straight forward. It’s used for preserving shape of your body parts so that it’s easier to block attacks, balance, and do more damage. Like firm hard soccer balls, held joints channel energy very well and absorb very little of it.
Relaxing certain joints (hips and shoulders especially) is crucial for precision and smoothness in your strikes. Say you have gained momentum and your opponent is right ahead, but your shoulder was lowered or raised the previous turn. The best way to strike horizontally now is to relax your shoulder, letting the forward momentum turn your arm into a flail. (you will need to adjust abs/hips/lumbar accordingly, of course) Same thing goes for hips. For example, in order to make the 2nd kick of my helicopter opener strike forward I must "let it loose" by relaxing a hip. Momentum will then straighten it out. This is but one of countless examples:
Relaxed hip kick
Relaxing some parts of your body is also useful in opener making, because it allows your body parts to bend under gravity and build up potential energy for an attack.
Finally, sometimes relaxing is needed in order to save your joints from breaking/fracturing. The more relaxed your body is, the less pressure is put on joints when you come in contact with anything. If you are trying to land from high above, it’s a good idea to relax as many joints as possible and only keep enough active to save you from falling on your ass. Likewise, if your opponent is too close to you to strike with extended limb, you should probably relax knees/elbows to prevent them from breaking on his body. Contracting those works too sometimes, but it sacrifices reach.
Here are 2 replays in which a crafty uke puts his shin up in the way of my knee in order to break it. When I kicked with extended leg his plan worked, but the second time I relaxed my knee and came out victorious.
Wrong way to do it
Right way to do it
As you get better you will start to feel when you need to relax a joint or three to make a better approach or lower your body.
Deception
Just like in many other mods, deception is an essential element in wushu. In fact, it is much more important than fancy openers or how fast your kick is. If you are good at reading your opponent's moves, you can win countless games with nothing but a noob clap (my favorite tactic, lol). Not only must you try to anticipate your opponent’s actions beforehand, but you must also make sure it’s hard for him to do the same with yours. Always think before you attack or move anywhere, especially if you are facing a crafty player. Note how your opponent is positioned and ask yourself: is it easy for him to block/dodge from this stance? Will my attack even reach him? Will his sweep counter mine because it’s slower/faster? Is he too near to me to extend my knee; am I risking breaking my leg on his torso? Sometimes it’s best you not proceed with your attack at all, or change it a great deal in order to catch your opponent off guard. Always think what areas of your body your opponent is targeting, think how to avoid his attack, and think what areas of his body will become exposed once he misses his target. Finally, favor no attack over attack that is weak and will leave you exposed. Here are a few replays showing great examples of deceptive maneuvers:
Deception 1
Deception 2
Deception 3
Mobility and Persistence
If you are losing by points after initial exchange, don’t be quick to give up, for victory is still within your grasp! Even if you are leading by points, it's a good courtesy to come back. Comebacks work more the more you actually attempt them. Trust me, after a while you will see just how effective they can be. Here are a few comeback replays you may want to look at, and note how and why they worked. Pause the replays and note the ankle and wrist positions.
Leg comeback 1
Leg comeback 2
Leg comeback 3
Leg comeback 4
Wrist comeback 1
Wrist comeback 2
Main thing with comebacks is you have to think fast. Even while still in air, you should already be messing with your joints in order to land in a good position. Easiest way to go where you want to go is to use contracted wrists to propel yourself. This is because it’s much easier to set a right angle with your pecs, hands and shoulders than it is with legs. Generally, the lower the angle (eg the closer your center of gravity is to the ground), the faster you will go. Think of a speed boat. Why does it go so fast? Well, because it’s nearly parallel to the surface. If it was more perpendicular, it would flip because its center of gravity would be too high up. Make sure you have an attack ready for when you reach them. You may of course comeback without using wrists or contracted knees, but it’s a little harder and requires good momentum control.
Last edited by WorldEater; Oct 28, 2017 at 03:48 PM.
and thanks.
Very precise and explains the most common aspects of wushu very clearly. Doesn't give any concrete pointers and let's a person who'd reading it develop on it to make it their own.
My only concern is not enough space (none) is dedicated to dq as a tactic. It is very advantageous to be able to push an opponent into a dq risky posistion because then they have to dedicate more time to not dqing than for a counter attack which leaves them more open for a quick kick/swipe. The chance of dq should always be kept in mind during attack and defense.
My only concern is not enough space (none) is dedicated to dq as a tactic. It is very advantageous to be able to push an opponent into a dq risky posistion because then they have to dedicate more time to not dqing than for a counter attack which leaves them more open for a quick kick/swipe. The chance of dq should always be kept in mind during attack and defense.
nyan :3
Youtube Channel i sometimes post videos of other games
Youtube Channel i sometimes post videos of other games
