[Eng][Tut]Erth's taekkyon tips and tricks (revamped)

[Erth]

Your simple guide to beating down everyone WARNING: results may vary

An Introduction:
Alright, well first an introduction to me, hello there. My name is Erth, feel free to pm me with any questions or anything whatsoever for that matter. Been playing for a year or two now and i was recently invited to teach here at unibash. Well enough about me, and introduction to taekkyon. Firstly i'll start by saying it isnt easy, when you first start playing it you will lose... A lot. Taekkyon is hard, and most of the people who play it are great at Toribash so take every dm as a victory, even if you dont win. Now for taekkyon there is no definitive guide to winning, theres a few starting moves and a few tips and tricks. This tutorial will hopefully deal with the tips end of things.


Taekkyon; what is it?
Lets start with the game rules:
Matchframes: 120
Turnframes: 10
Dismemberment threshold: 100
Distance: 180
Gravity: -9.82
Self damage is on and so is disqualification so watch out for opponents that throw parts to dq. Only your hands and feet can touch the floor in taekkyon, one tactic uses this to its advantage by using the floor lots to get momentum and getting low (personally i dont like it, its risky). Now to sum up Tk in a short few sentances, one would say a fast paced short game in which opponents must adapt using grabs and kicks to counter and defeat the opponent.


Tip 1: Avoid Holding lots of joints
This one is pretty self explanatory, dont hold lots of joints. A few is ok, but joints are easier to dismember if they are held.


Exhibit 1 ^
This guy decided to hold all his chest joints in the 'T' area. This simply allowed for a 3 dm boom. If its going to get hit or have lots of contact, dont hold it. Now im not saying if you dont hold it it wont dismember, im simply saying it will be less likely if you dont hold it.
A lot of the time a hold is necassary but when it comes to preventing dismemberments, try not to.


Tip 2: Turning away
This is also another very good method for dodging or "weaving" your way around an opponents attack.
Picture this scenario if you will:
a simple low kick is going toward your groin area and you have a hold of anywhere between the foot and the knee, what do you do?
Before i tell you how you could use turning, please think for yourself for a second about what you could do...
Done thinking? Now practice if you will. I have prepared a replay with this thread named: Practice turn1.rpl
You are welcome to try practice against a simple opener, edit after frame 100 or so. I carried on to show you what is possible in such a situation.

Spoiler: Pro tip 

Backing away slightly and keeping an extended arm can be good for doing this, notice in the replay that it allows you to build up a substantial amount of momentum, remaining undamaged by the kick.

Tip 3: Attacking
Yes yes yes, now you've dealt with how to not die, lets concentrate on how to kill shall we?
Due to the short turnframes of taekkyon you are able to make very precise, accurate, versatile and devastating attacks. From falcon punches (see replay) to simple grab kick (just pulled replay) there are so many ways in taekkyon that you can cut someone up.
Alright, lets start with the easiest thing, a grab n kick.
The clue is in the name, its where you grab a body art of your opponent, then pul using your arm for momentum, then kick. It is probably the most common kind of attack you'll find in toribash's taekkyon niche. The replay you'll find named "just pulled" is an example of just such a thing, except instead of grabbing a wrist or an arm, i grabbed a leg. It works anywhrere and is probably the most reliable source of points as it gives you two chances
1)The grab
2)the kick

The second kind is a starter kick. You'll see ern do these a lot if you ever play him, and shinigamii, both excellent tk players.
I unfourtunately dont have a replay to enforce this one so im sfraid you'll just have to trust me.
You can go for a simple upper body goes one way, legs split kick, as is also very common, especially in lower belts, and then theres the kind of kick in the practice turn replay. Although weak in most cases it can be lethal. It can just be for attack, you can use it as bait (will be covered later) and can if done right be very powerful.
Thirdly you got you punches. A lot harder to do and a even harder to pull off without breaking your own arm or wrist. The replay falcon pawnch shows how you can use a grab and punch combo.
Aswell as the grab and punch you can just use a punch on its own using exactly the same principal as a kick, just with your upper body.
WARNING: Punches are very risky, they often leave your head vulnerable

Now for some tricks \/


Trick 1: Turning counter
As you saw in the practice replay, turning around an attack can be an excellent way past your opponents defences.
A lot of the time a relaxed glute can keep your leg in roughly the right direction. You dont need to know why but you're welcome to check the spoiler explaining the physics behind it.

Spoiler: Relaxed glute physics 

Right. So, when you're spinning for a kick and you relax your glute it always goes roughly in the right place. There is a reason for this you know! And here it is, be ready its hard to explain:
When you spin your arm will be at a specific angle (determinded by the shoulder), length (determined by the elbow and wrist) and will havea certain amount of momentum (determined by the whole body). When you have momentum, it affect every part of your body when turning or spinning, even your glute, so if you have a lot of momentum the glute will fly up higher and wider naturally. You get more momentum by having a lot of room and space, the tow things match perfectly. imagine it like two sliders if you will, as the momentum initiated by your grabbed arm acts upon your body, the momentum on your leg and therefore glute increases.
Dont worry, it is complicated and not necassary to be awesome at Taekkyon.

Trick 2: Juggling or "switch grabbing"
A personal favorite of mine and a little trick thrown in for those of you who are a little more advanced.
Juggling has a simple notion behind it, a complex move behind it and a lot of win with it.
the replay enclosed called "tk everyday im jugglin" (in reference to LMFAO's party rock shufflin song" you see i switch my grab to avoid a kick. There is no real way to teach this one, its purely and simply a neat little trick that can really help.
Practice makes perfect on this one guys.


Trick 3: Maintaining your direction
title says it all on this one again, you can maximise your power and therefore damage by staying true to your target. More advanced players (such as dargon for example) often switch their direction and can confuse their opponent. Switching does work (see trick kick replay) but i wouldnt recommend trying it until you know your way around taekkyon. Its a hard enough mod to grasp without having to deal with some old switcharoo gibberish. So for now i suggest maintaining a direction and getting as much power bhind you shot as you can, tk matches often unfourtunately only have one hit, so make it a good one.

On a further note, some people may argue that holding a joint absorbs damage. I guess its a matter of preference, both sides have good arguments and i just happen to find this tactic to work for me.
The best advice anyone can give you in regards to any mod is see what works. Your own style will work if you perfect it and practice it, and someone elses style may be good against you, just adapt and see what works.

Now thats it for now, i may come back and edit some more stuff into it but for now its done.
I hope it help and you can pm me if you have any questions about anything you have seen on this thread. im also available in the #unibash irc.
thanks you once again for reading.
P.S: USE YOUR OWN STYLE; THESE ARE JUST SOME GUIDELINES
These are tips for beginners, you should develop your own style further.
Your style is your own, use it, there will be other peoples styles that beat it, others that cant. Do not play taekkyon to win, play to make it look awesome.
~Erth

Special thanks to Chuckninja for the banner. Tryton for setting all this up. Ern, dargon, brucia and shinigamii for providing examples and tips.

[Shuckle]

This is amazing, I have to say great work on this, I would always wonder why I dismembered so easily :s

[ChuckNinja]

Post this in the tutorial section too.

[Erth]

ah sweet! thanks for the new banner
As for posting it in the tutorial section, maybe. We'll see if people like it here first.

[shinigamii]

Nice tutorial Erth

I have a few notes.

Originally Posted by Erth Tip 1: Avoid Holding lots of joints This one is pretty self explanatory, dont hold lots of joints. A few is ok, but joints are easier to dismember if they are held. Exhibit 1 ^ This guy decided to hold all his chest joints in the 'T' area. This simply allowed for a 3 dm boom. If its going to get hit or have lots of contact, dont hold it. Now im not saying if you dont hold it it wont dismember, im simply saying it will be less likely if you dont hold it. A lot of the time a hold is necassary but when it comes to preventing dismemberments, try not to.

You also can relax joints just before getting hit.


Or after you taken serious hit and didn't broke. (it's worse) (relax_power.rpl)


There is no point to keep many relaxed joints just because "it's better".
In oposite, keep tension in joints can help you achive more speed.
"I'll hold certain joints, just because I dont know what to do with them " - is also wrong.
You need to see the sence in each stance of joints.

I think that the guy from Erth's Exhibit 1 was splitted because he made mistake in general.
Hold joints, is not his biggest mistake.
1. He made opening 2. He didn't block. 3. He didnt dodge

Originally Posted by Erth The second kind is a starter kick. You'll see ern do these a lot if you ever play him, and shinigamii, both excellent tk players. I unfourtunately dont have a replay to enforce this one so im sfraid you'll just have to trust me. You can go for a simple upper body goes one way, legs split kick, as is also very common, especially in lower belts, and then theres the kind of kick in the practice turn replay. Although weak in most cases it can be lethal. It can just be for attack, you can use it as bait (will be covered later) and can if done right be very powerful.

I use starter kick in 3 situations:
1. If opponent is weak, and he cant front my strong kick
2.Opponent is strong, but i think he will use strategy which i can counter with fast kick or trick kick. For example opponent will do something with slow start, and i'll try overspeed or trick him.
3. At that moment I'm in lack of inspiration and I just want to use some prepared move.

I try not to use starter kick, if I know that my opponent can do strong starter kick too. And he will probably do it. It's a very risk situation, and better strategy to try block or dodge his first kick (or his double kick).
I'll not use starter kick, if I don't want let my opponent fly away from me.

Originally Posted by Erth Thirdly you got you punches. A lot harder to do and a even harder to pull off without breaking your own arm or wrist. The replay falcon pawnch shows how you can use a grab and punch combo. Aswell as the grab and punch you can just use a punch on its own using exactly the same principal as a kick, just with your upper body. WARNING: Punches are very risky, they often leave your head vulnerable

It need to have some practise and it'll become your common weapon. (punch1.rpl, punch2.rpl, punch3.rpl)
Is more easy to punch when you grab your opponent with other arm and adjust his and your possition for better aim.
I don't think that punches is very risky. Main risk is for punching hand if opponent counter you with punch or kick. Other risk not linked with punch, but linked with general body position.

[Erth]

think that the guy from Erth's Exhibit 1 was splitted because he made mistake in general. Hold joints, is not his biggest mistake. 1. He made opening 2. He didn't block. 3. He didnt dodge

Its brucia, he blocks a lot :P

As i said in the disclaimer thing about the whole hold/relax joint fiasco, Its a matter of opinion.
One can ofcourse use the tension in held joints to make an attack more powerful, i used the example of a relaxed glute purely for accuracy.
I say throughout that holding can be good, i obviously did enforce that point enough.

I'll edit a few extra points in soon and maybe add an addition's section for just such things.
Thanks shini, i appreciate the input. \/

[shinigamii]

Originally Posted by Erth Its brucia, he blocks a lot :P

Obviously he didn't succeed in blocking this exact kick.

P.S. Mb I'll write more about basics later.

[Erth]

Oh and an anouncement that i will reinforce in the OP.
USE YOUR OWN STYLE; THESE ARE JUST SOME GUIDELINES
These are tips for beginners, you should develop your own style further.
Your style is your own, use it, there will be other peoples styles that beat it, others that cant. Do not play taekkyon to win, play to make it look awesome.

[Thorn]

This is a really cool guide :o

I practiced in Single Player (I made Uke do a kick thing, I made him extend later in the game as you can probably see) and I was pleased with my results :v

[garra098]

this is usful