[Gunz] Teh Ultimate D-Style Tutorial!

Introduction:

"Why do you use a dagger?" I get asked this alot. I use it because I like seeing variety in games, and the natural speed of daggers is intoxicating. It makes movement so much more apparent and has a more "in control" feel than a sword. The dagger makes weapon switching fast due to its quick spin-out animation. Reasons you'd want to use a dagger include weight, speed, uniqueness, and challenge. One thing to consider, throw out any KStyle philosophy when using a dagger. It isn't about sticking to a few core moves repeatedly, though alot of times you'll want to. They're all about knowing when to do each thing. They're weapons of timing, with that, lets get onto techniques.

Standard techniques:

These are the ones you ALWAYS hear being associated with daggers. The standard, easiest to do techniques.

1) Stab-A common, fast stab. You just left click. Don't just walk around spamming this. You'll get blocked hardcore with bad timing. The speed of it rarely shows the stabbing animation to enemies, so you'll get called hacker by the n00bish of people, just for using the basic attack. This makes it hard for gun toting enemies to attack, especially if you hit forward, because you will be behind the gun, it'll be firing perfectly past you.

2) Push-This is the move that makes people hate daggers and call them n00bish. Alone, it's rather useless. You simply tap the right mouse button and go flying into your enemy. If they fail to safefall, it's the ground for em. If not, you might, depending on your timing and placement, suffer a shot or two. The best use for this is a feint and a guard breaker. Against a butterflier, if your timing is perfect(mine only has been twice), you can gatling gun this. I'll get into that later. Don't be afraid to use this, but by no means, NEVER over use this.

3) Circling-This is number one with side to side movement thrown in, this is what you do against those trying to run away. You just circle, turning your mouse in a tight arc.

4) Cornering-This is number one, but forcing your enemy into a corner, preventing any escape. A very gratifying opportunity for any daggger user, seek out corners, and love them.

Above standard techniques:

These are the ones that require some effort.

1) JSD-This is a move that uses the quick spin-out of the dagger quite effectively. Like with the Slash Shot, you almost have to relearn aiming. The most effective use I've found for it is repeating it before an enemy using revolvers. I'm unsure of the steps in full, so to avoid coming off as being a know-it-all, I'll give you the gist of it. While in the air with your gun, you shoot. You hit a key or use the mouse wheel (I prefer this), switch to your dagger. You dash with the switch as you can do this right after the spin-out. You land, switch back to your gun and repeat. Essentially, it's a wide moving attack that goes back and forth. You end with dagger on both sides. Often associated with KickAssJack. Flow this into Fade Shooting, YoYo Hopping, and Dagger Hopping.

2) Fade Shooting-Not to be confused with Chunky Gerbil's Fade Shot which is prety much half stepping into a wall, done with a sword. It involves tumble, which many KStylers will instantly poo-poo. It's harder to hit than most people assume, rockets are its major weakness. Very majorly a distance move. I've only seen this used by me and Selryam, who I taught it to. You shoot, tumble, hold mouse button, if timed right, you'll shoot the most you can, with a shotgun this is twice. At the end of the roll, you can do two things after switching to your dagger and finishing the spin-out animation: Jump and go any direction with a dash, or dash along the ground the opposite way. Mixing it up is the best strategy. If your timing is good, you an switch your gun mid-dash and do this in rapid succession. Just don't tap any directions if you switch to keep the speed. Flow this into YoYo Hopping, Reverse Stabbing, Tenth Hopping, JSD and Dagger Hopping. Repeating this is good if your enemy insists to stay at a distance. Best against automatic weapons.

3) YoYo Hopping-Not necessarily dagger exclusive, but far easier with a dagger from my experience. This can be done in any direction, and is essentially alternating between dashing silently with a dagger and dashing with your gun. Both a movement and attack technique, this is a wonderful flow-in technique. It throws off your enemy's train of thought, and helps you get behind for an instafall or just a good shot. If you don't use it as a fade in, you have to jump first going in a direction. At the peak of the jump, maybe a bit before, dash the other way. You will hit the ground, instantly jump back up, with your dagger still in your hand. Switch to your gun of choice. Shoot for as long as you are in the air still going in the same direction if you like. At the peak of your jump, double tap the other way. With proper timing, you will float back the other direction with dashing speed. Hitting the ground again, continue switching to any weapon. With great timing, you can do this from gun to gun, in any direction, possibly twice in one hop. Easiet to go dagger to gun in succession. A great get around technique. Can be used at any range. If you rail the timing with the gun and tumble, no worries, just go into Fade Shooting. If you do it right, you can flow it into Fade Shooting, Tenth Hopping, Dagger Hopping, JSD, Reverse Stab, and you can also Space Invade with it.

4) Dagger Hopping-Both an offensive and a movement technique. You group jumps, dashes, and stabs into any order really. The best order is dash, jump, stab, dash, repeat. If you feel gutsy, go dash, stab, jump, dash, repeat. This order is alot like Reverse Stab. It's a great move to use to get around places and to attack solitary targets. You can easily flow this into any dagger move, easiest is Reverse Stab.

5) Reverse Stabbing-A voidstep-esque move that can easily confuse people. You dash, and stab to cancel, then dash another direction. Great when cornering people or just dodging. It's my primary tool for dodging revolvers and automatics. Also great for getting behind butterfliers. Doing that is alwasy risky though. Your Reverse Stab is sweet because it's a half length dash and can flow into any move very well. Particularly Dagger Hopping and Tenth Hopping.

6) Space Invading-Moving like an enemy from space invaders. Mix YoYo Hopping and Reverse Stabbing. You dash forward, dash to a side, forward, another side. Great for dodging rockets and automatic fire.

7) Dagger Training-Basically a ground based Dagger Hop. Dash, then stab and repeat. The name comes from the fact that you look like a train while doing it. Thanks to Revolver Oclelot for reminding me!

8) Dash Hop-A slightly quicker dash. You jump, dash, switch to gun, back to dagger, and dash. You can go with less interruptions this way, it feels slightly faster than the normal dash.

9) Wall Raiding-Run onto the wall. Reach a desired height, and stab. Right after the stab, hit jump again. You'll stick to the wall and keep running. You can do this at any time, as much as you want. If you time it right, you can, while on a wall, hit a person near a wall up to 9 times(my maximum). Flow this into Reverse Stab, Dagger Hop, YoYo Hop, Dagger Flash and more Wall Raiding. An effective use of it is to hit once, jump off the wall, dash behind the enemy, repeat. The closer you can stay, the better.

10) Dagger Flash-You jump, you dash. Natural dagger instinct right? Natural instinct with any melee weapon really. Then there's flashing, you stab midair, suddenly your dash stops. Dagger Flashing is dashing any number of directions in one jump. Typically it's two dashes. Jump->Dash->Stab->Dash->Stab. The second stab is just to keep you from staying stuck in a dash too long. A great Space Invading technique, as it can really speed up movement. Flow this into Dagger Hopping, Tenth Hopping, YoYo Hopping, and more Dagger Flashing.

11) Dagger Machine-The equivalent of the Butterfly for daggers, a fast hopping attack that blows things away, particularly gunners. It's more or less Circling +5. Using this against swordsmen is risky, but if you can Reverse Stab well, it should be no problem. Maximum mouse sensitivity helps a lot. You stab, jump, dash stab, stab, repeat. You HAVE to be dashing around in a circle, turning your mouse in a very tight arc. Both hands need to be moving fast for this to work. If somebody has their gun out, they'll have trouble taking something else out, this move can force people into the hit animation twice in one stab(you'll hear the melee impact sound effect twice) because the dagger hits once passing in, and again passing out. Flow this into Dagger Hop, Reverse Stab, and YoYo Hopping.

12) Flip Stab Shot-The equivalent of the SlashShot for daggers, making the gun move like a melee weapon. However, there's a difference. You NEED the flipping off of a wall animation for it to work. It's hard to time correctly. You hit the wall, preferably from the side, with your dagger. You flip off of it, right after the flip starts, stab and switch in one movement, holding the mouse button down. You'll shoot while your gun goes forward during the flip, switch back to your dagger, dash away. Handy move. Flow it into Dagger Flash, or if low, Dagger Hop and YoYo Hop.

Advanced Dagger Techniques:

These ones are harder to time and often riskier to do. When you do them well, it's amazing what they do.

1) Tenth Hopping-You will fail at this alot. I do still, it's hard to time. Essentially, it mixes YoYo Hopping, Dagger Hopping, JSD and Reverse Stabbing. You go in a very small area in any combination of directions, floating to and from location, kicking up lots of dust. You dash, stab, jump, switch to gun, shoot, switch, dash another way, stab, dash another way, jump, repeat. I doubt I got the steps right, but when done side to side, you stab on one side, shoot in a very close center, stab on a very close other side. You're both up and down in each location once before moving on. Not something to rely on. If you do, it's a good technique to use right after a series of Dagger Hops and YoYo Hops. Great in maps like prison. If you fail, flow it into Fade Shooting most likely. If not, flow it into Reverse Stabbing.

2) Instafall-This is a hard move to time as it uses the animation of you AND your target in it. You start out with a normal stab, the enemy will ideally get hit. The hit animation will take place about 1/4 the way through your stabbing animation. Once the hit animation is half way through and your stab is 3/4 the way through, right click. You bypass the wind up for the push. If timed right, your enemy will get hit by the lunge RIGHT before the animation finishes. The flying back animation will be GONE, and they'll fall instantly. I've aggravated people terribly with this move and Dagger Gatling at dungeon before. Again, hard to time due to the fact that you have to use the end of the enemy's animation as well, a very situational technique.

3) Dagger Gatling-Pushing in great incredible succession. You WILL take damage while doing this, it's required. The plus side is you use the unblock able lunge as fast as the normal stab and don't move. You have to be facing a sword, typically a butterfly. Stab normally as their animation begins, as soon as the sword gets close, right click. You will stop. Your attack will continue on and move forward. If this doesn't knock them over, keep repeating. It often gains the Instafall effects.

General Tips:

1) Feint, alot. By this I mean fake your enemy out. Alot of people who play GunZ don't expect this for some reason. In a gladiator match for example, start charging your Massive Strike. When your enemy gets close, lunge into them. The charge stops instantly and you fly into em. Surprisingly effective.

2) Walls are very useful, this always applies. Daggers have the fastest natural wall strike, make use of it, wall bounce on your back and sides too.

3) For those times when you go up against turtles adn butterflies, Dagger Hop and Reverse Stab. Here's a tip, stab in the second half of your jump and dash. If you go in close, time it so that you hit with the second half of the stab. You're alot less likely to give the opponent a massive strike, and get thrown off balance.

4) If they DO get a massive strike and you aren't thrown off balance, STAY CLOSE TO THEM IN THE FRONT. Alot of times it'll go right around you. To help this, turn a quick 45 degree angle with a weapon switch. It's not consistent, but can be a life saver. If they reverse massive you, keep spinning. Again, not constant, but can be a life saver.

5) Remember the basic techniques, and use them creatively. For example, somebody is chasing you, or behind you and there's a wall in front of you, run up it, and hold backwards as you Flip Stab Shot, or Dagger Flash behind them. This does kill alot.

6) If somebody insults daggers in game, try to get them to fight you 1v1. You may not win, but if you focus, you will get a good practice opportunity. You'll learn more about any style you fight every time you fight it, this is universal. However, if they don't agree, a psychological warfare comes into play. Go for them first, make 'em mad, make 'em steam. The more angry a player is, the less they can focus, the easier they are to kill.