This is a guide for players who have learned the basics of how to play the game and want to get better. The guide covers how to do well in the current beat. This guide does not go into planning ahead for future beats(a more advanced strategy).
Other BattleCON Guides:
Introduction
All credit goes to Pasture Master!
This guide will go over what you can do to increase the likelyhood that you will net some advantage in the current beat of the game. As thinking ahead in BattleCON is just as important as the current situation, this guide is meant for begginers that are learning the game, but want to improve their skill in this way.
This guide mainly only covers bases, which is the most important knowledge for beginners to understand, but bare in mind that styles will make everything said in this guide less likely to apply to all cases.
Netting Damage
The most common and apperent way of gaining an advantage is to deal more damage to the oppoenent than they deal to you on a beat.
The most important thing to look at each round is your opponent’s discards, which by process of elimination tells you what is in your hand(BattleCON: Online also lets you look directly at what your opponent has in hand). This tells you all the options that an opponent has available to them, making it much easier for you to determine what opponent will do during the current beat.
For example, if you Opponent has Burst and Dodge in their discard pile, it is unlikely that they will be moving away from you, and you should make a decision of what to play using that knowledge.
Stunning
Arguably the simplest way of doing more damage to your opponent than they deal to you is by stunning them with your attack before they get to deal damage with theirs.
To do this you need both more Priority than the opponent and need more Power than their Stun Guard(and Soak).
For example, if you think an oppoent will play Burst, Shot will hit them before they attack, and since Burst has no Stun Guard, the damage from Shot will stun the opponent.
It is also important to note that Power Antes and Priority Antes can allow you to stun a against a base you normally wouldn’t.
For example; a Power Ante will allow a Grasp to break the Stun Guard of a Shot, and a Priority Ante will allow a Drive to activate before a Grasp.
Positioning
Another way of making sure that you deal more damage to the opponent is making sure you are not in your opponent’s attack range, while making sure they are in your attack’s range.
For example, if you are at range 2 and your opponent has both Drive and Shot in their discard pile, the only way that they would be able to hit you is if you move closer to them, or they play Burst. This makes a Shot a vary favourable base to play at this point, as you will not move closer to the opponent, and if the opponent plays Burst, you will have more priority and stun them.
The most common base to take advantage of positioning is Burst, as if the opponent plays either Grasp or Strike, playing burst will move you out of range of their attack, then Burst will attack back. However, positioning isn’t alwasy about being further away from the opponent, as moves like Burst have a minimum range of 2. So, if you predict an opponent will be paying Burst, Drive becomes a favourable base, as even if your opponent manages to raise their stun gaurd of Burst above the damge of Drive, Drive can move you into 1 Range of your Opponent, garenteeing Burst will miss.
Hiting Harder
You don’t always need to avoid taking damage from an opponent to deal more damage than them. To do this you need more Stun Gaurd(and Soak) than the opponent’s Power. For example if your opponent plays Grasp, and you play Shot, the Grasp will deal 2 Damage to you, but Shot’s Stun Guard will prevent you from being stunned, and you will attack back with 3 damage.
Once again, Stun Gaurd antes can make bases that would not other wise hit. For example, your Drive will not be Stunned by Grasp if you ante Stun Guard.
It is also important to remember that Stun Gaurd does not help if the damage from your opponent’s Attack will reduce you below 1 HP. If you have 2 or less HP, never accept taking damage, so the above two options are your only options(Stunning and Positioning).
Optimal Attacks Based on Opponent’s Discards
You may have noticed at this point that I have suggested certain bases based on what you think your opponent is going to play. There are some situations where a certain base will always be benifical or nuetral just based on what is in your opponent’s discard(some of the following are also based on Range). So with the above in mind here are the optimal plays based on what is in the opponent’s discards(and how they counter what is left in their hand):
Opponent Discard: Burst, Shot
- Grasp will push Strike away from you before it can hit, and will stun Drive before Drive activates.
Opponent Discard: Drive, Shot
- Burst will move away from Grasp and Strike, and hit after they miss.
Opponent Discard: Strike, Drive
- Shot will not be stunned by Grasp, and has the range to hit and stun Burst before Burst activates.
Opponent Discard: Strike, Grasp
- Drive will move to hit Burst, and will hit and stun Shot before it can activate.
Opponent Discard: Burst, Grasp
- Strike will hit and stun Shot before Shot actives, and will not be stunned by Drive, and then will hit back with higher damage.
Note: Not every pair of bases in the discard pile results in there being an optimal base to play.
Other Advantages
Often you can get into situations where their are few good options for you to play that will net you a damage advantage(or net you one without being defeated). In many of these cases playing Dodge is a good play, first to get you out of the bad situation you are in, and secondly it can give you other advantages.
This guide will not go into detail about these other advantages as that gets in to longer term strategies but keep in mind that dodge can accomplish the following:
- Put you into a better position for the next beat.
- Give you a Character specific advantage (if played with certain styles).
- Cycle styles through your discard to get back a style you want to play again.
- Give Force (if played with Switch).
In most cases, Dodge is never a bad play(especial when the opponent has Shot in their discard pile), so if you are ever unsure about the best thing to play, Switch(or another style that benifits your Character regardless of whether it hits) Dodge is often a good play.
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