Champions of the Holy Grail

This is a post detailing all of the advanced techniques in Champions and how to use them effectively. Unlike Footrace, Champions' advanced techniques are fairly intuitive and well designed.

1. Teching/DI

In Champions, your character turns red while in hitstun. There are two shades of red you will encounter- dark red, and then light red. The first half of hitstun is dark, and the latter is lighter. When you are in the lighter red, you can press the spacebar to do a tech roll out of the hitstun. This means that half of all hitstun is OPTIONAL as long as you can react correctly! Be careful, though- the tech roll can be reacted to, and it is slow compared to your normal dodge. So even if you tech a move, a very skilled opponent could read your tech and follow-up. But nobody at this moment is skilled enough to do this, not even me! Will you be the first to master teching?

In addition to teching, there is another way to escape a combo. If you hold in a direction when you are hit, you can influence the angle of the knockback by adding a vector of movement in direction you're holding. So if a vampire is grabbing you back and forth, you can hold perpendicular to the chain grab to escape it. This is called DI. DI is essential to knowing how to not get comboed to death.

2. Dash mechanics

When you use the spacebar to dash, there are two interesting techniques you can perform. If you tap the opposite direction of the dash during the yellow(invincible) part of the dash, you can cancel it and start a new one. This is a really fast way to move back and forth, and is excellent for baiting your opponent to attack and keeping your movement unpredictable..

If you release all directional keys before the dash ends, the momentum of the dash will transfer into your character. This allows you to slide across the ground while in a neutral state, so moves like the archer's charged arrow and any charged melee can be used. Characters like the Jester can use the technique very well, however characters like the Rogue who have a lot of ground friction can not. This is called a wave dash.

3. Shield Mechanics

Your shield will only protect the part of your body that it covers. You can tilt your shield by holding in a direction. The Warrior's shield is much stronger than other characters. If you are hit while shielding, you will be stunned for a moment. If you press the melee or grab button while shielding, you can grab directly out of shield, allowing you to punish slow attackers. When hit, you will move slightly in the direction of the knockback, even if you're shielding.