Rakion Ninja Jump Attack Guide

Rakion Ninja Jump Attack Guide by Xypherous-Oxide

From the start, some basic facts.

Ninja Jump attack benefits more from ranged than basic.
Ninja Jump attack is *annoyingly* hard to land on a well trained target.
Ninja Jump attack has delay depending on how you use it. (More on this later)

If you are going to use the jump attack expect to MISS. a lot. Constantly. Your hitbox is small.

Then why use it?

Unparalleled safety. Simply put, it’s the safest move for a ninja to do. Surrounded by a large crowd, you *cannot* grip, or else face team specials at the end. This becomes your only safe and efficient way of doing damage while remaining almost untouchable with good use of glide.

However, like any move, if a blacksmith or swordsman player is expecting it, you will be punished if you use this at inappropriate moments.

How to use the Ninja Jump Attack:

Basic usage: Jump. Click. Simple, right? Unfortunately, the hitbox for the ninja jump attack is the smallest and moves very quickly. However, there’s a trick to this.

Hitting with the ninja jump attack is a move that is mostly based on a combination of timing and judging the distance between you and the location you with to hit.

I’m going to divide this up into many use cases of the jump attack, and give them flashy and pretentious names. They are all the same move, I refer them by different names to make it sound cooler than it is, but also to differentiate the use cases.

CLOSE TARGETS: — RISING JUMP ATTACK —

Target Area: Point blank to around half a glide’s distance in front of you TO YOUR RIGHT.

To hit a point that is point blank to around half a glide’s distance, jump and *immediately* hit jump attack.

The ninja’s blade starts out from right and swooshes to the left, thus in the beginning of the arc, the ninja strikes out at her lower right.

Thus, if your target is TO THE LEFT OF YOU, you will miss. And rather badly at that.

This is also the safest use of the ninja jump attack as her attack delay begins as soon as she jumps and finishes a little after she lands.

This will probably be your most used version of the jump attack. The basic tactic is to glide safely to striking distance, and then jump attack immediately out of the glide and land.

Imagine a straight line that extends to the about half a character to the right of you to half a glide’s distance in front of you. That is your hit zone.

For archers, always leave 1 1/2 glide lengths between you to properly utilize the jump attack. This fools them into trying to shoot at you given that range, and thus, you can slip in a quick glide and jump attack as they release the arrow. This tactic works for overly aggressive archers, however, defensive archers won’t usually take the bait.

Also, utilize your HEARING when doing this attack. When you *hear* the archer pull back her string, immediately glide and perform your jump attack. Note that some archers will do many fakes before shooting a real one. You’ll have to judge depending on the archer.

Note: You cannot hit mages with this version of the jump attack. They are far too short to be hit by the rising jump attack.

FAR TARGETS: — FALLING JUMP ATTACK —

Target area: One full jump distance

To hit a target area that is one full jump distance away from you, hit the jump attack button *as you land* from the jump, thus why I call it the falling jump attack.

Definite pros of the falling jump attack is that it’s got much much more AOE than most people give it credit as the ninja will land fully on the group and *then* spin, doing a full left to right hit. Your hit zone is roughly a circle where you land.

Definite cons of the falling jump attack: It’s got about twice the delay as the ninja is doing her **** attack animation when she’s already landed on the ground, and then she has to recover from it.

Therefore, FALLING JUMP ATTACK is very unsafe compared to the RISING JUMP ATTACK.

However, if targets are to the left of you (and or mages), the FALLING JUMP ATTACK is often the only way to hit them with the jump attack.

GUARDING TARGETS: — Midare Jump Attack —

(Yes. I’m purposefully mispelling it Midare. Midare Zakura is Sakura’s Super Special in MvC which she’s beating the crap out of someone while floating in the air. I thought it sounded cooler than Midair.:P)

Target: Someone who is blocking. (not a mage.)

By far the hardest of the jump attacks to master correctly. I basically use two forms, one easy and risky, one safe and exceptionally hard to time.

The idea is that since the ninja does one full rotation in the air with her attack, she can hit someone DIRECTLY BELOW HER with a jump attack at the right instance.

Perfect Method:

Thus, for a guarding target, you need to jump OVER THEIR HEADS and BARELY past their guard to hit THEIR BACK with the jump attack while DIRECTLY OVER THEM.

Your hit zone is one damned tiny dot in front of you.

For a forward jump, this requires exceptional timing and distance judging. I’ll leave you pros to figure out what the distance and timing is for I really haven’t gotten it yet perfectly.

A) The distance is roughly similar to a case of the RISING jump attack, but a little farther.

B)The time when you execute your attack is some milliseconds after you would normally use the RISING jump attack.

Imperfect Method:

If you find yourself behind a target after missing a MIDARE jump attack, Immediately jump in the REVERSE direction, and unleash another jump attack.

Why?

For the MIDARE jump attack, if you hit their guard, that means you hit them too early. Thus if you jump BACKWARDS over them and use the same timing, you will hit their BACK as you return to your original position.

Thus the imperfect method of guard breaking with the jump attack involves two jump attacks, one that attempts to hit them, but ultimately misses, and then a reverse jump attack that attempts to hit their back as it’s an easier target.

If you find yourself having trouble, think of it as TWO rising jump attacks, only that for one, you are jumping BACKWARDS over the same target.

The procedure once you get a hang of it is: Jump forward, click instantly. Jump backwards, click instantly.

The perfect one has the same safety as a rising jump attack.

The imperfect one has roughly the same safety, but beware of people who have caught on to what your second jump is going to be.

AERIAL TARGETS: — AERIAL RAVE —

Target: Someone who is jumping or executing a jump attack.

Treat this case’s execution exactly the same as the RISING JUMP ATTACK. That is, make sure they are ON YOUR RIGHT and that you click immediately after you jump.

You will usually win most air wars, why?

They can be FAR to your right in this case, as the ninja first strikes upper right, then directly right, then lower right.

That means that their is a time when the ninja is strictly attacking what is to the RIGHT of her.

Thus you can be a good distance to the left of someone’s jump, and still hit them with an AERIAL jump attack.

Why will you win most air wars?

Swordsmen attack from Right to left. Blacksmith attack straight down. Archers attack striaght down. Ninja’s attack from Upper Right to Lower Right.

Note that in most cases, if you are set up correctly, you are nowhere in their hit range. You are attacking to your Right directly, while they are attacking down their center or directly below them.

This is why you win. However, this is only for straight on cases.

Note that a 2x hit combo can be done in the air. Although to execute this, they have to start above you and then be hit by both the upper aerial and the lower aerial as they fall.

Safety is again, the same as a rising air attack.

COMBO: — Stun –> Jump attack —

This is not a true combo. That is, they will always be able to get out of it some way.

However, you can play a bit of a mind game with people.

That is, you hit them with the 1 hit stunner. People will think you are going to attempt to grip. Most people usually either in this case do one of three things:

Jump.
Move forward.
Move backwards.

Very rarely do you get a spinner who attempts to run sideways or diagonally, but it’s not usuallly possible to hit a sideways or a diagonal easily with the jump attack.

Therefore, after you do a 1 hit stunner, they will either try to run into you, try to run directly away from you, or jump up.

Thus after a 1 hit stun, you can either do the RISING VERSIONS of the forward jump attack, a standing jump attack, or a backwards jump attack and tag them as they try to run away. Note that this is a guessing game, but at the very least it’s a safe guessing game for the ninja.

COUNTER: — COUNTER —

Target: Someone who is attempting to do a get up attack.

For those of you unfamiliar with counters, the idea is to jump as they do their get up attack and execute your jump attack. You jump to avoid their get up attack and slam them with your own jump attack.

Ninja counters tend to be very hard to execute, but the general idea is, hit the attack button AT THE TOP OF YOUR JUMP.

Note that this is just about as safe as a FALLING JUMP ATTACK which is to say, it’s not really safe at all. oh well?

FUN WITH DIAGONALS AND SIDEWAYS:

A ninja’s jump attack works well in any cardinal direction. Why?

A ninja’s jump attack can be more likened to a LINE ATTACK rather than a rising and falling point attack.

Thus, jump a direction and executing a RISING JUMP ATTACK will attack in a full line for a little while in a given direction.

You can jump sideways and execute a RISING jump attack to draw a line of pain through a given area. It’s useful if you can’t immediately see your target.

WHEN NOT TO USE JUMP ATTACK:

A) You are out of range, or the opponent can move out of range easily.

This one tags most newbie ninja jump attack users. That is, they jump towards someone and try to use jump attack like a swordsman or a blacksmith. What usually comes out is a FALLING JUMP ATTACK which is painfully easy to dodge, and unsafe as all hell.

The second case, is when newbie ninja jump attack users jump TOO EARLY, giving their opponent plenty of time to simply back up a little and punish where the ninja is going to jump.

B)You are in a direct line with your opponent — RISING CASE ONLY —

If you are in a direct line with your opponent, the rising jump attack hits very rarely. Why? Remember that the ninja jump attack hits TO YOUR RIGHT for the majority of the jump. It only strikes the very bottom of the ninja at ONE TINY period during the jump.

Unless you time it perfectly, it’s not going to hack it. This is also why a perfect guard break is so **** hard to do as YOU ARE TRYING to hit someone with the bottom of your jump.

C) Against a mage — ALL CASES except FALLING —

Unless they’re jumping, elevated, or idiotic (like jumping to meet you), you will NEVER HIT A MAGE with a rising jump attack. NEVER.

They’re too **** short.

~~~~Edit
I can’t believe I’m writing this.

As of this time, like, every single ninja has turned into a some sort of dagger wielding bunny and I am no longer unique in the fact that I can actually hit people with jump attack after writing that guide.

Yet, the fact that the original guide is missing some updated moves for it, it’s just kind of.. off. Like, because every ninja has an insanely long dagger now, a few more things are possible.. such as:

1. The Hitbox is now ridiculously generous. You can easily hit things that are behind you during a diagonal jump attack. It’s huge. Just kind of sweep the path people are walking.

2. You can hit mages. Kind of. It’s still kind of hard. But it’s no longer the 1 in 100 chance that was before.

So, without further ado.. More moves for the jump attack!

— Standing Block Counter —

Description: A method for attempting to get past a standing block.

Use: Used after basic tapping the FRONT of an enemy.

Execution: After basic tapping, you should be staring at the front of the enemy. At this point, run straight at them and a little to their left side, then execute the rising jump attack.

Only Good For: Idiots who don’t track you with their block after your front tap.

The general idea is that some people have this weird idea that they should block after you’ve tapped them once with a basic. On the one hand, it might get you out of a repeated stun-grip chain, but on the other hand, if you don’t track their position constantly with the block, your block might as well be useless.

This move takes advantage of the fact that the rising jump attack starts at your immediate right, enabling ninjas to be able to hit things to their right. Thus, if they face you with a block and you run past to their side past their block and execute a jump attack immediately, you will hit an open spot in their block.

*** Alternative: If they get too block happy.. special them. Obviously.

— Counter Attack —

Description: A simple rising jump attack right after blocking an initial swing.

Execution: Simple. Block, and do a rising jump attack. If their attack speed is slow enough, you can even get the hit in between their first and second swing. If their attack speed is ungodly fast (read: raij swordies, grip ninjas, …basic? archers), this won’t do anything if they continue their basic combo. Feel free to screw with some blacksmith minds though.

Only Good Against: Blacksmiths, non-aspd swordies.

Really Bad Against: Swordies with 50/50 attack speed and always swing twice for some god forsaken reason.

Notes: You’ll either bug them, get hit and fall down, or hit them with a jump attack. Either way, you’re out of direct combat with relative safety.

— Retreat (Best with long daggers) —

Description: A backward jump attack that attempts to hit something right in front of you. This is generally impossible unless they run forward into you, thus the main tactic is to bait them into advancing forward.

Use: Rising Jump attack backwards away from the enemy.

Execution: A backwards jump attack, usually done after running at an opponent or gliding towards the opponent. (A tap might work, but most people will block after a tap. If so, see the above move.)

Only good for: People who like attacking a glide head on with a single basic attack and people who generally like to run forward into people.

The basic idea is to attack while ensuring you remain at a safe distance after your attack. The only way this attack generally hits is if the opponent is moving towards you in some way (either normal movement, or being carried forward because they swung once.) Thus, the set up for this is to bait them into swinging forward by gliding really close, or moving really close so they’ll move forward and attempt to do something.

Of course, they have to take the bait in order for the attack to hit. If they choose to block, nothing happens and you reset to a safe distance.

— Mage Assist: Ice —

You can jump attack someone who is bounced up by a Mage’s ice spike…

True, the timing’s kind of hard, but you can still do it. It seems to be a lot easier now than before, so.. -shrugs-