History Tropers / Horselesshorseman

If you hold an attack button while blocking, you will perform a "Chicken Guard." This will shield your character with a circular barrier that will push away the attacker, even if they use danmaku. This will give a greater loss to popularity, however.

After being stunned, hold down a direction to escape in that direction after the stun runs out.

'''Spiritual Strike Talisman''': Makes you temporarily invulnerable and sends a nearby opponent flying. Can only be used once per round.

'''Magic Mushroom''': Temporarily gives you an infinite amount of Spirit. Afterwards, you will be temporarily unable to use Spirit.

'''Virtueless Dharmacakra''': Summons a nyuudo's fist to attack the air above you. Costs a small amount of maximum Spirit and goes on a short cooldown. Using it during this cooldown will increase the cooldown's length.

'''Witch's Broom''': Cancels a non-Skill attack into a dash. Passively allows you to enter the second stage of a dash faster. Can only be used once per round.

'''Hermit-Style Plate''': Rides a small plate downwards, and can hit an opponent below you for a small amount of damage and Stun. Costs a small amount of Maximum Spirit.

'''Stick''': Can be held down to slowly build popularity over time. However, if you only use it in brief intervals you'll lose popularity.

'''Force Shield''': The next damage you take will passively be reduced. Can be used to further reduce damage, but it will no longer reduce damage for that round. Can only be used once per round.

'''Common Talisman''': Passively gives +2 to Shinto and -1 to other faiths. Not usable in battle.

'''Hermit's Decorative Sword''': Passively gives +2 to Tao and -1 to other faiths. Not usable in battle.

'''Prayer Beads to Hide in the Bosom''': Passively gives +2 to Buddhism and -1 to other faiths. Not usable in battle.

'''Innocent Hat''': Passively gives -1 to all faiths. Not usable in battle.

This is your Spirit meter. Spirit is the currency, so to speak, of your Special and Danmaku attacks. It regenerates slowly after being consumed, but will return quickly if more is not consumed after an amount of time.

If you hold an attack button while blocking, you will perform a "Chicken Guard." This will shield your character with a circular barrier that will push away the attacker. This will give a greater loss to popularity, however.

X, Y, and Skill attacks will drain from your character's spirit at the bottom of the screen. This will not drain from your current stock, but shrink the size of your bar overall. When you have full spirit this will slowly regenerate.

Once you reach 100% Popularity you will enter a Last Word State. Activating your Last Word will put you at 0% Popularity, raise your opponent's Popularity by 50%, and use your Last Word. If you do not use your Last Word the state will end and you will be placed at 0% and your opponent will gain 25%. Your Popularity can not decrease while it is at 100%. Similarly, it won't increase while your opponent is at 100%.

If you have already been holding back for some time retreating via holding back or dashing back will decrease your popularity by 1% over time. It will still decrease if you only tap back. Similarly, moving forward will slowly increase your popularity.

'''Witch's Broom''': Cancels a non-Skill attack into a dash. Can only be used once per round.

'''Miko's Shaku[temp]''': Can be held down to slowly build popularity over time. However, if you only use it in brief intervals you'll lose popularity.

'''Force Shield''': The next damage you take will be reduced. All other damage you take will be increased. Can only be used once per round.

'"Prayer Beads to Hide in the Bosom''': Passively gives +2 to Buddhism and -1 to other faiths. Not usable in battle.

''"Prayer Beads to Hide in the Bosom''': Passively gives +2 to Buddhism and -1 to other faiths. Not usable in battle.

[[folder:THE METAGAME]]

Coming Soon! Please Wait Warmly!

[[/folder]]

On the other side of this bar is your characters "Special Meter." These are passive skills that will be covered in-depth in each characters section of the guide.

Should you want to pause you should know what your options are.

Each Skill will add to Taoism(道), Shinto(神), or Buddhism(仏). Each faith give a unique bonus.

Tap back at the last second for a "Brave Guard." I don't know what this does.

As this guide is mostly concerned with the demo at the moment I will not be filling out this section until the final release.

The game just has not had time to grow. The final release will have more Items, Characters, and possibly even Spellcards for the current cast, which will completely change the way the game is played.

In addition, the final release will most certainly have more polished mechanics. Hopefully including Popularity, as it is currently very difficult to actually reach 100% in the course of a match.

A few bits of what this section will cover will show up in the characters section.

So without further ado, click that folder labeled Reimu Hakurei, and hope that I've written what should go in there.

* Sets Blocking(On, Off, Only after a combo[Autoblock], Random)

This is your Spirit meter. Spirit is the currency, so to speak, of your Special and Danmaku attacks. It regenerates quickly, but you don't want to be without it.

As the game stands now there is no formal training mode, however it is plenty possible to create your own using a few tricks.

If you haven't yet created a Profile that uses buttons you don't need to press to play the game do so now. For this I assign QWER for motion and the numpad for attacks.

Next there are 6 cheats that can be used in either Vs. mode.

* F1: Sets Player 1's Popularity to 100% and Player 2's to -100%.
* F2: Sets Player 2's Popularity to 100% and Player 1's to -100%.
* F3: Swaps between Manual Blocking, Auto Blocking, and Auto Instant Guarding.

Now, the most important one:

* F4: Toggles "Training Mode" the health bars will remain blue, you may declare the same spellcard as much as you want, the timer will not count down, health will return to 100% after a combo, Spirit will return to 100% after a combo, and the final two cheats become available. Hitting it again will return to a regular fight, however your health bars will remain blue.
* F5: Lowers Maximum Health by 10%. Loops back to 100% after reaching 0%.
* F6: Lowers available spirit by 10%. Loops back to 100% after reaching 0%.

Use F3 to test how combos work when blocked or Instant Guarded.

If you use a profile that is set to the same keys as you, you can have an opponent that will act at the same time you do. I'm fairly certain that Player 2 takes commands 1 frame earlier than Player 1 in this scenario, however it still remains useful to compare the speed of normal attacks. Unfortunately, Special attacks do not seem to come out at the same time, so it cannot be used to compare those.

If you're in a pinch, you can activate a potentially game changing "Item" Spellcard as much as you want, but they will always come with a nasty side effect.

* Buddhism specializes in close combat. Its bullets are larger but have worse range. A "high speed attack" (arrow key + strong attack) can be comboed.

Every 400 or so damage will raise your popularity by 1%.

You will gain about 5% to 10% if you land a "Counter Hit." This is when you hit an opponent while they are still in the middle of an attack animation. These will be covered more later on. In addition, your opponent will lose that much Popularity.

Your first spellcard declaration per round will grant 5% and reduce your opponent's by 5%. If you declare another without using the first one it will reduce 5% from you and your opponent. After this it will be 10% for 5% and will continue to double.

After your first spellcard use per round, each spellcard declaration will increase your percentage by 10% or 5%, and your opponent's will decrease by that much. I do not yet know what influences this value.

Once you reach 100% Popularity you will enter a Last Word State. Activating your Last Word will put you at 0% Popularity, raise your opponent's Popularity by 50%, and use your Last Word. If you do not use your Last Word the state will end and you will be placed at 0% and your opponent will gain 50%. Your Popularity can not decrease while it is at 100%. Similarly, it won't increase while your opponent is at 100%.

Landing combos also seems to reduce your opponent's popularity slightly, though I do not know the conditions for this to happen. Just fight courageously and hopefully your opponent's Popularity will fall.

If you have already been holding back for some time retreating via holding back or dashing back will decrease your popularity by 2% every second or so. It will still decrease if you only tap back.

Moving forward will slowly increase your popularity.

Landing a Guard Crush will increase your Popularity by 5% and decrease your opponent's by a little more.

I've also heard rumors that spamming Special attacks will lower popularity. I have found nothing to prove this true beyond the initial spellcard use penalties.

[[/folder]]

''Spellcards''

''Faith''

[[folder:ADVANCED MECHANICS]]

'''Fighting'''

Tap back at the last second for an "Brave Guard." I don't know what this does.

If you hold an attack button while blocking, you will perform a "Chicken Guard." This will shield your character with a barrier that will push away the attacker. This will give a greater loss to popularity, however.

Your characters picture should also be covered by a wheel. This wheel contains three segments Grey(Neither), Blue(Yes), and Red(No). I don't know what this does, but I felt you should know what it said.

If you hold an attack button you will "Chicken Guard." Not entirely sure what this does either.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:KOKORO NO HATA]]

''Expressive Poker Face''

Some characters will have complete changes to the mechanics of their attacks rather than the usual change. These will be covered in each characters section.