Hello reader, and welcome to my first BattleCon Mini-guide. My objective is to introduce a character and flesh out his or her general playstyle by looking at five of their most prominent attack pairs: attack pairs I think any player playing as or against this character need to familiarize themselves with. The intention is to give newer players a place to start with a character and a framework for analyzing and creating other pairs as they continue to play.

It is NOT a guide to all a character’s pairs, or even simply their strongest ones. I might not even mention the entire kit. On any given beat a player has 20 combinations that he or she can play, and while a great deal of these will be removed from consideration due to the current range, opposing character, and other factors, the truth is that one will need to learn far more than any the five listed here to start using even the most simplistic characters effectively. If you only rotate out these attacks, you are going to have a bad time.



Even so, I hope this provides a strong foundation to start with.

Hikaru is an adaptable stat monster who can grant himself an increase in power, priority, defense, or range by anteing the relevant elemental token to his attack pair. Once he does so, however, he needs to play particular cards in order to regain them in future beats. Consequently, Hikaru’s gameplay has a real ebb and flow to it. Learning to successfully know when to spend them or slow down to recover them is the first step to playing him competently.

The diversity of stats Hikaru gains from his elemental tokens can lead to the erroneous assumption that he is a “jack of all trades” type of character. While he can situationally have exceptional power, the defensive stats of a heavy, or the speed of a speedster, he is significantly limited by his effective range and lack of style diversity. I like to think of Hikaru as having 101 different ways to run up to his foe and punch her in the face.

If you are a newcomer to the game I recommend giving Hikaru a try early on. His high stats and unsubtle cards give him one of the lower skill floors in BattleCon Online. More importantly, learning both his token management and how to position relying primarily on the universal bases will grant you skills that can easily transfer to any other character. That’s not to say he lacks a place in a competitive team, however. Experienced players are rewarded with an oppressive kit that can close out games in only 4 hits, 5 hits easy. If you like the idea of someone with the power to end the match in several hits, but don’t want to compromise your speed, i.e the powerhouse heavies, then Hikaru may be perfect for you.

The Opening Special.

Hikarus will almost invariably play Geomantic Beat 1, and for good reason. At Range 2 you are pretty close to your opponent, and you have all your tokens to boot. Geomantic is Hikaru’s strongest style not only because it lets you ante two tokens on the same turn, but also because you get to see the opponent’s pair before deciding upon the second one. Nothing shows off Hikaru’s diversity in its best light than Geomantic openers.
My favorite opener is Geomantic Wind Drive unless the opponent either has a clear counter to it (Gate Trap, Implosion, Coordinated, etc) or if they can clash you at Priority 6 and have better options afterwards. You won’t waste Earth or Fire if they Dodge (which happens more often than not), tag them with Fire if they dared to trade, or catch Burst with a Water ante.

Take frequent breathers to reposition and ditch the Death Style

Dodge is an absolutely ESSENTIAL base for Hikaru. Though general advice for a beginning player is, “Dodge more than you think you should,” Hikaru really needs it to reposition himself and regain his preferred Range 1-2 spacing. Cowards will try to flee from your Honorable Avatar-like fists, and Dodge is your best way to chase them down.
Meanwhile, Sweeping is far away Hikaru’s worst offensive Style. Niche at best, particularly for securing a game-winning hit, the -3 power differential on the card is rarely worth the blazing +3 Priority. That being said, a 6 Priority Dodge can be a beautiful thing. Some characters will have to commit to playing weird pairs to clash a 6 Priority Dodge, and for many it’s impossible. Even better than an often free dodge, though, is the fact that you get to dump Sweeping into the Discard for two turns. If you find Sweeping clogging up your hand, especially when facing enemies with high defensive stats, do your best Wally West impression by running up to your foe at light speed by pairing it with Dodge.

Wait, your downbeat hits for HOW MUCH?!

Talking token expenditure is great and all, but sooner or later Hikaru is going to want his elements back. Of all of his regain effects: Trance, Palm Strike, Focused, and Four Winds, Trance is the only one that does not need to hit to succeed. Thus, while Trance is statless but for 0-1 range and impossible to stick tokens onto, you are going to want to find ways to play it very often.
But why Trance Strike? Well, there’s both an obvious answer and one a bit more complex. First and foremost, it’s a highly consistent pair. You are giving range to Strike, which counters Grasp and other minor movement, and Strike’s 5 Stun Guard means even if an opponent tries to take advantage of you when you are down tokens, there’s a chance you’ll trade evenly or perhaps even positively.
That should already be sufficient reason to play it, but I also want to touch on the concept of base management here. Hikaru often needs to rely on Drive and Shot for his hit confirm, as he has very little movement and range in his own kit. Rotating Drive, Shot, and Dodge has the potential to be very powerful, but unfortunately is very predictable as well. To win consistently with Hikaru you will need to be able to make the most out of your other bases. This way you can threaten big Drives across multiple turns and get clean beats vs those that always anticipate them.
Trance Strike is one way to gain momentum and options without the use of tokens or payout bases. What other bases would YOU play with Trance, and when, to increase YOUR base efficiency?

Consistent recovery with the option of enhancing with token.

Focused, like Trance, is a down beat style for Hikaru. It trades the certainty of token regain for some utility in Prio and Stun Guard as well as the option to ante. Focused Shot can often get the job done without ante vs. meeker opponents thanks to its 4 stun guard. Against heavier hitters a Stun Guard ante will usually the trick, and Earth has the potential to turn this down beat into quite a positive trade. I suppose you can add Fire if their Dodge is down, but at 3 priority and an obvious play, this is frighteningly easy to clash.
In addition to clash, another weakness to this pair is its use of Shot without additional power. Since Hikaru relies on Drive and Shot in many matchups, using Shot as a down beat, rather than with Geomantic or Advancing, can rein in your explosiveness. Then again, key token reacquisition is just as valuable as big damage.

The Marco Special. If you don't know who Marco is...

We’ll end the pairs with the most niche of those mentioned here. Not only is Advancing Burst important to grok on its own, but I also find it necessary to talk about its two components. First, the attack as a whole. Advancing Burst’s greatest use is its ability to “Corner Cross,” using Advancing’s Start of Beat to hop over an opponent when trapped in the corner, then Burst’s Retreat to evade any incoming Range 1-2 plays.
In addition to Strikes and Grasps lacking in Range, Advancing Burst in the corner also beats incoming Bursts. You’re likely faster than the enemy Burst, definitely if you ante Wind, and thanks to the corner they cannot escape to Range 4 which is the usual advantage in Burst v. Burst.
Advanced is Hikaru’s second most potent Style, with a 0/+1/+1 statline and the potential to +2/+1 with little setup required. Using Advanced well is a key part of the Base efficiency I mentioned before, as it can be paired with just about everything and make it work. When Hikaru wins a beat with Advancing’s extra Hit Confirm or crossing up shenanigans, that’s one more he didn’t need to use Drive or Shot to do so.
Likewise, the proper use of Burst separates the beginner Hikarus from the more experienced ones. Burst is a risky commitment, as you are creating distance instead of closing it, but an opponent who does not have to respect Hikaru’s high power Bursts is a very tough foe to defeat. DO NOT FEAR THE BLUE!

Here I like to list just a few more notable attack pairs for Hikaru, but I am not going to talk about them here. A huge part of BattleCon is being able to evaluate style and base interactions on the fly, so take a few seconds to mull these over if you have not already.
Advancing Water Drive
Trance Dodge
Sweeping Fire Drive

I hope you enjoyed this meditation on Hikaru pairs, and that it was an informative, if rambly, guide. As you are playing as or against him keep these attacks in mind, in addition to the others you discover, and how they all come together to reveal his strategies and winning conditions.
Did I help? Did I hurt? Did I totally pick terrible pairs? Let me know in the comments =)