This guide was written to help the many players that have expressed frustration when dealing with RCR:U's increasing difficulty between acts. It contains a series of tips and tricks to help players have a better understanding of how to 'get their teeth' into the enemy. This is not a guide that will teach how to perform ultimate combos. This is not a guide for any specific character. This is a guide to help you understand how to land the combos you already know how to perform, with the character you already (presumably) enjoy playing.

All the Gifs in this guide were recorded by myself on Act-3 new game + difficulty. This difficulty is much higher than anything Story difficulty can throw at you. I did this to ensure that the advice would be meaningful to those wrestling with Story difficulty's challenges, for whom most players who hit these frustrating roadblocks, seem to be playing at. Most of the Gifs show very basic character combos, this is because the initial hit of the enemy is the focal point. The idea is, if you can perform this short combo, you can perform whatever more advanced combos you might happen to know.

This is my first guide on Steam, any comments or notes are most welcome. I hope you find the insights held within helpful.

Knowing what your character is good at is always a good start. Most people can be taken back by just how differently each character can handle. Whichever character you have chosen, will ultimately control which tactics are most effective. Now, that's not saying each character has one way, and only one way to play them. But, often times, players have difficulty when playing one character or another because that character is not strong with their particular playstyle. Having synergy with your character is vital to not only 'gitting gud', but also, for your own personal enjoyment.

And if you haven't already, go to this Character Move Guide and review your character's moves, and combos. The ingame move listing can be rather terrible, and inaccurate. If you're having trouble preforming a certain move. Check this guide.



if you look at the gif, you'll notice two columns for each stat, separated by a '/'. For ATK, WPN, THR, AGI, DEF, STR, and WLP the column on the left indicates current stat, and the column on the right indicates how much you can possibly have at your current level.

For STA, ENG, and SPC it works differently, the column on the left indicates how much your character has right now, and the column on the right indicates how much he can hold currently at max. However, nowhere does it show how much 'max' they can have at their level.



If you notice any of your stats are lacking, and you are near end game, consider leveling them up, these 2 guides should be helpful

Focused Stat Building


Each character has their own preset 'Special Gauge Regeneration' that is affected by your character's ATK stat.
Chris represents 'Normal' Regen. Ryan represents 'Fast' Regen. Paul Represents 'Absurd' Regen. All character in the gif to the left are lvl 40. See below for details as to which character fits into what category.

Originally posted by Streetwize:

Normal- These guys don't change at all as they level up.
Level 1: 1 SPC every ~.5 seconds (15 SPC in 7.5 seconds)
Maximum: 1 SPC every ~.5 seconds (15 SPC in 7.5 seconds)
Characters: Provie, Chris, Bruno, Alex, Mike (39 ATK)

Fast- Their boosts aren't as noticeable, but they still get one.
Level 1: 1 SPC every ~.5 seconds (15 SPC in 7.5 seconds)
Maximum: 2 SPC every ~.5 seconds (15 SPC in 4 seconds)
Characters: Rudy, Wes, Ryan (50 ATK)

Absurd- You'll notice it after you level up. Not surprising who has this.
Level 1: 1 SPC every ~.5 seconds (15 SPC in 7.5 seconds)
Maximum: 6 SPC every ~.6x seconds. (15 SPC in ~1.8 seconds)
Characters: Glen, Paul (63 ATK)

If you feel the need to brush up on your character's moves in a controlled environment without having to worry about being assaulted from all directions, the game actually has a 'training mode' that can be used.

Step 1: Access the start menu.
Step 2: Choose Save file
Stap 3: Change Game Mode from 'Story' to 'Arena'.
Step 4: Make sure you do not add any CPU players
Step 5: Hit Ready
Step 6: Begin Training

This mode will continually drop shadow style 'combat dummies' like the ones found in the dojos, however, in this mode it will simply keep spitting them out everytime you kill one off, allowing you to practice without need of revisiting the vendor to ask for more, and break your flow. You use Arena's pre-set stats, however.

Before we get into landing hits, let's review a bit what your character is capable of doing in game. A lot of players, either miss, or completely undervalue some of these things simply because they don't need to really learn them at first. But, if you are having trouble with a difficulty upjump, it might be good to remember.


Yes, dashing, dashing, dashing. So much of the combat in this game is about positioning, and being able to get to a good position is key to setting up openings in your enemy's defenses, not to mention pretty darn handy for not getting biffed yourself.


There are two basic kinds of jumps, the standard jump, and the 'mini jump'. The length in which you hold the jump button determines how high your character can jump. Note the higher standard jumps have a landing animation in which you're vulnerable to enemy attack. Mastering the 'mini jump', performed by a very light tapping of the jump button, can be a vital tool in your aggressive arsenal.


Yes, if you're like me playing through story the first time, you've completely forgotten about this block button up until the near end. Time to get back in the habit of squeezing that trigger. Guard breaks are not very useful in PVE, but a well-placed block can be the difference between biffed or biffing.

• You can actually turn around and maintain your block, but the game wont recognise the turn if you hit the block button, and the d-pad at the same time. To turn while blocking, hold the Block Button first, and then hit the d-pad in the direction you wish to face.

Hitting the Block button when you are grappling with an enemy will allow you to release them from the hold. More importantly, it releases you from the hold. This is useful for when you wish to disengage the enemy under these circumstances.

• Lower tier enemys make the best Body Weapons; using higher tier enemys, such as Agents, is less desirable.
• This is a great suppliment for characters will poor 'ground game' (abilty to do damge to enemies on the floor) because you can hit downed enemies with it.
  
• This can feel a bit cheap, but if your having trouble with the AI, it can be a very nice tactic for evening the odds out a bit.
  
• Unlike using weapons, this does not give the computer to access to a weapon as well.
  
• Body Weapon damage is based on your STR stat, not your WPN stat.

• A good means for some Crowd Control.
  
• Is rarely blocked or dodged, even by advanced late game AI.
  
• Can be used to start juggles.

A Boulder Toss is different than a Body Toss as it requires the person being thrown to be 'standing' on top of you when you execute the throw. There are a few ways to 'trick' the enemy into standing up, but it can be risky to attempt as some higher tier enemys still have a chance of simply evasive rolling out of your hands. However, this move can be highly desirable for a number of reasons.

• The person in 'balled up' state cannot block, or dodge, or otherwise defend themselves; guarenteeing a 100% chance of hitting them if you do so before they return to a normal state.
  
• An enemy that was an active threat before it was put into the 'balled up' state, will remain an active threat while in a 'balled up' state. This means only one remaining enemy on the field will remain in active threat mode, rather than two. See 'Enemy Behavoir Basics' section for details on how this works.

♦ Hold one direction, either left or right, and hit the Jump button rapidly to execute the evasive roll. Do not hit any other buttons or it will not work.
♦ The evasive roll is only available once you have high enough AGI.
♦ Example: Hold ◄, A,A,A,A,A (etc)


♦ Alternate tapping left and right rapidly on the d-pad while pressing no buttons.
♦ Example: ◄, ►, ◄, ►, ◄, ►, ◄, ►, ◄, ►, ◄, ►


This was recently pointed out to me in the forums, so I'm still trying to get the hang of mastering it myself. Certainly an advanced move, the block cancel allows for your character to move at almost twice thier normal speed, as you can see here in this gif, in the begining when Rudy 'surges' forward.

To preform this Hold block, Dash, and Release Block. I'm still trying to get the feel for it, will update this section after playing with it more.

'Opener' is a terminology for the first strike landed on an enemy that allows you to flow into a combo. There is no 'ultimate' opener that works 100% of the time. Instead, here is a collection of opening moves that players often overlook. Also note, the effectiviness of each on of these opens depends on your character. Someething you might want to keep in mind if practicing in the Training Mode.


One of the better openers, if not the best opener on most characters; is starting with a jump attack, typically from a mini-jump, as it allows for a very fast execution. But not all Jump openers nessaraly need to be from a mini-jump, and not all mini-jumps attacks are guaranteed to hit 100% of the time. Like all openers, it's all about the situation.

• Knockdown Jump openers are often good for starting juggles.
  
• If able, jumping 'over' the enemy and hitting them in the back is very effective(See Advanced Openers).
  
• If you wish to follow up with a grab, make sure the attack is 'deep' into the enemy. Note how Rudy in the gif above ends up almost directly on top of the enemy after hitting him.

Dash attacks are also very useful opening attacks, however, because they can lead to opening yourself up to attack yourself, I advise for you to be more choosey in their use, and do so in a way that allows for you to escape from counters if it is blocked.

• This opener is most effective if the distance between you and your target is not very much.

'Footsies' is the act of attacking just out of combat range, in an attempt to force an opening, rather than actually land blows. This is one of many forms of 'Baiting' your enemy into attacking, so you might counter. 'Footsies' can be anything from fiegned punchs/kicks, to jump attacks that land short, to just about anything. It's faking attacks to try to force an opening, or prompt an action you can respound to.


Similar to combo footsies, except your aim -is- to land hits on a blocking enemy. The enemys in this game have 'ENG' the same as you do, and when it runs out, it will put them in a vulrable 'winded state' like seen above. However, while this is a nice end state, it can be unpredicable weather you can keep an enemy locked in a blocking state with every combo, and thus, it may be better to prepared for them to attempt to attack as you would be when preforming Footsies.

• Some characters are better at actually 'burning' through the block than others.
  
• On faster strikers, it can be a good idea to 'stagger' your button presses, this will make it harder for the enemy to predict when it can attempt to escape the lock.
  
• If you can get 'deep', and if the combo is desirable, Block Locking can be a great opener for a grab.

These are unique to each character. However, it's important to note them as an option. Study your character’s special moves along with their jump, and dash attacks to see which are effective as opening attacks.

A Dash Stop is an opener that involves dashing and going straight into a normal combo attack, rather than that of your dash attack. There are two ways to preform Dash stops. The first is doing so without the aid of the block, the second way is using block to force the character to exit 'running state'.

Doing it without using block can be very tricky. This version of the opener involves dashing forward, then releasing the forward button and timing it so your first attack will actually be for your basic combo, rather than that of your dash attack. This is a hard thing to do reliably in this game because it seems like the running state continues a few milliseconds after the release of the button, meaning you have to pause for a very slight moment after your release of the forward button if you want to do this.

The second variant, using block a mere moment before executing your attack, there by forcing your character out of 'running state', but still having the momentum to slide forward when preforming the combo attack; is much easier to preform, but can have mixed results. Certain combos seem to be more respounsive to this than others. And testing is required not only for learning the timing, but also, learning if your opening hit is 'friendly' with this method.


A Dash pivot is a slightly advanced, and rather situational opener that is good for going straight into a combo from a run provided you are running 'past' the enemy. Basically, you dash, hit the opposite direction to turn yourself around, bringing you out of the 'running state', and go straight into your attack combo. This is much easier to preform than a Dash Stop.



A 'Cross-Over' is an opener than has you jumping over an enemy, turning in mid air, and attacking on the way down in an attempt to hit the enemy in the back, where they are not currently blocking. It can be a little tricky to newer players, but once mastered, it's quite an effective opener to mix into your arsenal.



Okay, so this one is a little tricky to explain. Basically, air-spiecal attacks register seperately from normal jump attacks. So, Even after you use a spiecal in the air, you can still preform a jump attack durring your decent. This is why you can use repeated air specials in the air, but cannot use multiple normal jump attacks. Once a normal jump attack is used, you can not longer preform air-specials.

Using an air special and transfering into a jump attack opener is highly effective in the situations when you can accuratly land your jump attack on the opponent, as it's hard for the AI to predict, and thus, is hard for it to block. However, this opener is only able to be done on characters with an approperate air spiecal attack.

There are three basic ways to execute basic grabs. 'Smack Grabs', 'Free Grabs' and 'Pop grabs'. There are also 'Special Grabs', such as Rudy's Rudy Rush; 'Running Grabs' such as Chris's Bulldog; and 'Air grabs', which are grabs preformed while in the midst of a jump. For the purposes of this guide, we will not be covering 'Special Grabs', 'Running Grabs' or 'Air Grabs', as these are very character centric, and this guide is targeted toward moves that can be preformed by all, or atleast most characters. However, I should note, learning how preform basic grabs effectivly will help you immensly with these characters that have these other types of grabs available to them. Knowing how to preform effective 'Special Grabs' on Rudy is good, knowing how to preform effective 'Smack Grabs', and 'Free Grabs' on him will make you a monster.

'Free Grabs' are a little more tricky to explain, as they require you to have a very good idea of what the AI is about to do. Wiffing with a grab attempt is almost always damning. So, having the ability to predict how and when to make a grab is very important. The 'Depth' of where the enemy is in location to you when you are attempting a grab is also very important, as the closer you are on top of them when attempting, the less time they have to flee out of range, thus making you attempt more and more likely the closer they are to you.


For 'Smack Grabs' the idea is to land a hit that will put the enemy in hit stun long enough so that, if timed properly, the grab attempt will always succeed. As seen in this example (right), a counter attack from a block leads directly into a strike, and then, by extention, a 'Smack Grab'. Note that the enemy is still in a stunned state when the grab is landed. This is a good example of how effective 'Smack-Grabs' can be.

Note that for the purposes of classifaction, it is only considered a 'Smack Grab' if the enemy is is put into a stunned state long enough to ensure 100% that the grab will land. Often times, certain attacks, such as jump attacks, will not put the enemy into a stunned state long enough to completely secure that grab will land, making these attacks 'Free Grabs', rather than 'Smack Grabs'.


Pop Grabs are effectivly the same as Smack Grabs, but involve snatching an enemy when they are knocked up into the air, but before they get so high as to require jumping to grab them. These can be a tad tricky, as they require you to have a good feel of exactly where the enemy is going to go when they are launched into the air by one of the various knock down attacks; as well as being sure they are 'in range' of being grabbed when you attempt to do so.

• It has been sugguested that after mastering how to Block Cancel, your ability to preform 'pop grabs' is severly increased as you can close the distance between yourself and your enemy at lightning speed.

Okay, so now we get to the difficult bit. But also the part that most people struggle with. How exactly do you successfuly land a grab without the aid of the above listed methods? Well, that's difficult to explain, as it requires you to predict with great certainty exactly when your enemy is not going to dart out of range milliseconds before the grab is landed. This requires you to have a good 'feel' for how the AI in the game operates. When it is defensive, when it is fleeing, and when it is hovering in a more idle state.

-I may write more into this section later. But for now, I'm going to move on.

It's easy to forget when fighting an enemy and perfectly alligned on the y axis with them, that you can actually move up and down. It really takes very little to simply press up or down to dodge a great deal of enemy moves. You will simply need to reposition yourself, or let them reposition themselves, to return to the same y axis point after you have dodged thier attack so you might return to trying to land hits on them again.

There is actually an area right on top of the eemy that is something of a 'safe zone', a place where it is impossible to land most attacks, but also impossible to be hit by most of the attacks the computer can preform. Because of this, when the enemy is about to attempt to strike and you are directly in front of him, it can often prove wiser to run 'through' them to dodge the attempted attack, rather than attempt to run 'away' from them.

Now, many of you are having a lot of trouble combating the AI in this game. The up jump in difficulty from pre tower, to post tower, can be quite stark; and the increased difficulty and the new, often times seeming 'super natural' abilities of the ai can leave many players feeling like they aren't getting a fair shake. That the game is giving itself forms of artificial or unfair advantages in the hopes of creating a 'false difficulty'. I am a firm believer that this is very much not the case. And while I don't think I'll be able to convince everyone of this, I still want to put this section in to try to explain what I think the AI is trying to complish, and why, in my opinion, it is actually pretty darn good. But, most importantly, what I want readers of this section to take away, regardless of how they feel about the AI's 'fairness', is the fact that the AI isn't nearly as over powered as it might initially seem.

Confidence and attitude has a great deal to do with a fighters abilities. And the same can be said for players of a video game that emulates fighting. Without a believe that the game is giving you a fair shake, or at least is 'beatable', the chances of you becoming effective at combating the AI becomes less.



Let's start with the big one. The one a lot of you are thinking. That the computer is a cheating b*****. You have to consdier, though, that the computer doesn't have eyes to see, it 'sees' your button inputs. It's not cheating. It's not clairvoyant. It just has a better reaction time than you because, well, it's a computer. But this game doesn't do 'input reading' by the definition I've come to understand that to mean, because it doesn't counteract -everything- you do with the appropriate counter measure. There are plenty of holes in the AI's defenses, the trick is learning to capitalize on them.


The enemy can't do anything you can't do.. Well, that's not true. It has instant button presses. But that's about it. Every enemy you fight, in essence, can do anything you can do. It doesn't have any magical computer powers. It just has a good reaction time, and faces you when it walks or runs away from you so it doesn't look stupid. This is actually a much more fair playing field than in a lot of games. I will explain further below.


Instant Input: Yes, in the game the computer does indeed have instant inputs, and in other fighting games, where preforming a move could take anywhere from 0.5 seconds, to 2 seconds, this is a huge advantage. But in RCR:U, all moves are typically either one button press, or two button presses at the same time. Meaning your input is just as 'instant' as thiers is.


Backward Running Okay, so this -is- an actual advantage to the computeer. But it's not nearly as much of an advantage as it might seem at first. The reason the computer runs 'backwards' is purly for astedic reasons. It would look funny if, everytime an enemy wanted to flee out of range of one of your attacks, it turned around, ran away, turned back around, and faced you. So, to turn around and run, takes 1 frame of animation, to turn back around to face you, would be another frame. The game is animated at 60 frames a second so not to much of an advantage, really.

Impossible Dodging As stated above, the computer is 'dashing away' from you. And while it's facing you may make it 'seem' like it's doing the impossible, the fact of the matter is, you can actually do the exact same thing if your reaction time is quick enough. There are some examples below.

Let's start with some basics of enemy behaviour you may, or may not have noticed. Please note, when I say 'the computer', I mean 'the AI'. It's an old video game term for it.

It might seem like you're totally outnumbered, but it's important to note that only 2 of that horde is actively trying to attack you. The rest are in waiting, holding a position so that, if one of those 2 happen to be knocked down, killed, or locked into a combo, etc.; they can shuffle in to take on the aggressive role. Position also plays a key role into who the game assigns as aggressive.

The two enemys that are currently threatening will typically try to get on either side of you, mirroring your movement and looking for an opening to strike.

Homeboys deserve some special note. They tend to sometimes prefer running sucker punchs out of nowhere, before eually rapid retreats. Because they dart in and away quickly, and because range factors into who the game assigns as being an active threat, they sometimes can cycle in and out of the 'Threat' role very quickly amongst other members of the mob.

Side note, there's no offical name for these guys, that I know of. I just call them 'home boys' because they use a similar tactic, and look similar to one of the original gangs in River City Ransom (yellow shirts). Homeboys in classic were not gangsters, but couch potateos, according to the booklet. These characters tend to all have internet handles as names, making me think they are just the newer, internet savor version of the same concept.


Enemies behind you are always more aggressive than the ones in front of you. In fact, you can use this to your advantage by turning your back to enemys you are trying to 'bait' into attacking.


Normally, the enemy will be more defensive prone, looking for what they percieve as good 'opening' in your defense before attempting to attack and land a hit.

However, the Ai actually has a timer that forces them to attempt a more reckless attack after an alotted time. Meaning, they will be less 'picky' as to what they consider a good 'opening' in your defensives. More agressive enemys, tend to move slightly differently, more active in attempting to move into position then when they are in the more defensive prone mode. Keep an eye out for this, as being able to recognise how 'aggressive' and enemy is, will go a long way in being able to predict when it is going to attempt an attack.

Also, keep this in mind when you are attempting 'Footises' or other openers. Eventually, they will attempt to attack you.


This is actually a universal game mechanic that will happen with players as well. But it's perhaps felt the most when fighting the computer, so I put it here. BMD is basically a system worked into the game to prevent you from using easy to execute endless combos. If you attempt to do moves to similar, you will prompt a automatic 'guard break' from the enemy. If you'd like a more detailed breakdown on how this system works. Please check this guide.

The Anti-Infinte Breakdown

The enemies who engage in attacking will attempt to land blow, but will also attempt to do so without hitting the enemy on your other side. Many people get a 'Hive mind' vibe from the enemy because of this, if the two fighters didn't act in unison, they would be knocking each other over all the time.

This is important if you find yourself needing a weapon to deal with enemies. If you pick up that weapon and use it against the computer. The computer, given the opportunity, will pick up that weapon and use it against you. The good thing about this is, an enemy that is holding a weapon, cannot block. However, it's important to note that the feature of enemy’s using weapons freely was removed from the game for a reason. It was because, when given weapons, they tend to throw them and hit you while they are off screen.

There was a saying in an old amongst the community of an old melee fighting game I used to play, it was 'Make your time'. The concept of the saying was that 90% of the fight is actually picking and proding and 'looking' for that approperate opening in your opponents defense, before capitaizing on it. Most of a fight is not about landing hits, it's about getting into the right place, at the right time, to land said hits. To me, that is the mark of a game that truly understands how to emulate the fighting experiance. And, in my opinion, RCR:U's AI gets this in spades. Unforunately, most brawlers don't really embrace this philosophy. Patience is not something that is usually expected of you in a brawler. So players who don't share this outlook, or even exposed to it in thier previous game experiance, can be a little overwhelmed, and bewildered how exactly they are supposed to engage the end games enemies.


I'm not quite sure how to explain the concept of having 'momentum' in a fight to someone who isn't already familar with the term, but I will try my best. Momentum iis something like the 'speed' of the fight, and how that 'speed' effects one fighter oppistivly or negatively over another at any given moment. Now, it's important to note this, because, the momentum inwhich you engage the enemy, given how the AI is designed, is entirely up to you. If you like to fight fast, you can fight fast, if you want to slow the pace of the fight down and be more defensive, you can. The AI itself will never attack you for more than a few hits, and will never press you like a player might to attempt to 'keep' it's momentum. When the computer does land blows, it will get a few licks in and then attempt to get a few ground licks in before returning to it's pincer mode when you get back up. Every time this happens, it returns the momentum to you. Just something to keep in mind. You control the pace of the fight. Not the computer.


The number 1 rule when fighting multiple enemies is to make sure your back is always as secure as possible. As pointed out in 'Enemy Behavoir Basics', one of the AI's main tactics is to 'pincer' you between 2 of them so that while your fighting one, the other can land hits on your back. You must always be aware that your back is your biggest weakness, and always take steps to ensure that it is not exposed to attack. Here are a few ways inwhich to do so.

A good way to achieve this, is something I like to call Sweeping. Sweeping is simply moving from one side of the mob to other attempting to wrangle them into staying on one side of you, as seen in the Gif to the right.

Move, dodge, dash and otherwise stay mobile, keep your back away from the enemy. This is not the only way to secure your back, but in some situations it will be the best way.

Put you back to a wall or another defensible area to make it hard for the enemy to get behind you. This is often a more 'go to' tatic for more counter based fighter styles.

Use some form of crowd control attack to knock down enemys sneaking up behind you before focusing on the enemys in front of you. This only gives you a small window, but often times is all that is needed for you to reposition yourself, or even finish off a few enemies.

Watching your back doesn't mean you always need to have absolutly no one behind you at all times. Often times, this can be impossible. But you don't want anyone to be behind you that is in range of attacking you. At least, not for any lengthy period of time.



This one is very important. It goes hand in hand with 'Watching Your Back'. Sometimes it's best to -stop- attacking an enemy, even after you've successfully gotten your teeth in them. Attempting to muscle through an entire combo while his buddy is closing in will almost always result in you getting sucker punched. Don't be so eager to execute your combos that you put yourself in a position to take damage. Stop, adjust, reposition.

This section shows the various updates I have made to this guide after it's publication.

6/27/2018: Changed guide picture. Altered guide description.

5/20/2017: Added Change Log section to guide. No other changes have been made as of this moment, but I will get to it. Just don't updates to be coming out very fast. I should note, however, I am very much reading every comment. I'm not ignoring people, just gonna be slow in editing and updating.

I wanted to make this guide longer, but I feel like if I don't release it as it is now, in it's current state, that I may not do so at all as I am begining to get pulled into other things. I hope those reading this find the information useful and I am very open to people leaving their thoughts and comments below. I have a pretty busy life, but I will try to update this guide more later on.


A huge thanks to the following members of the community that helped me with this.


Streetwize: Specifically with all the mechanical stat stuff. Thanks for all the testing and stuff, man. As well as making sure the Stat section of the guide was as accurate as possible. Keep doing what you do.

Wiz
JohnXuandou
Lazy Joe
pinisBIGdoor: Big thanks for explaining Block Cancel on forum.