BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger For Xbox 360 Taokaka Guide by KOSRebirth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Table of Contents ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----[00.00] Version History ----[01.00] Tao and the Guide ----[02.00] Pros and Cons ----[03.00] About Proration ----[04.00] Move Notation ----[05.00] Normals --------[05.01] A Command Moves --------[05.02] B Command Moves --------[05.03] C Command Moves --------[05.04] D Command Moves ----[06.00] Throws ----[07.00] Specials ----[08.00] Distortion Drives ----[09.00] Astral Heat ----[10.00] Combos and Ideas ----[11.00] Arcade Strategies --------[11.01] Vs. Ragna the Bloodedge --------[11.02] Vs. Jin Kisaragi --------[11.03] Vs. Noel Vermillion --------[11.04] Vs. Rachel Alucard --------[11.05] Vs. Litchi Faye-Ling --------[11.06] Vs. Iron Tager --------[11.07] Vs. Carl Clover --------[11.08] Vs. Bang Shishigami --------[11.09] Vs. Taokaka --------[11.00] Vs. Arakune --------[11.01] Vs. Hakumen --------[11.02] Vs. V-13 (Nu) ----[12.00] Credits and Copyright ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Version History [00.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version 1.0 -- Guide mostly finished, still lacking Arcade section Version 1.1 -- Added small bit about move damage proration Version 2.0 -- Added Arcade section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Tao and the Guide [01.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BlazBlue and its predecessor Guilty Gear are among my favourite fighting games of all time. As such I felt that I would try my hand at a guide for my personal favourite character; Taokaka. Tao is essentially BlazBlue's May along with channeling a little bit of Faust a-la her Kitty Litter Special which hurls random items at the opponent. Though this is purely offensive rather than for really setting up anything big. Some say she but she's fast as all get out and her combos come out very quickly. As this is my first guide this will be a work in progress as I am still myself learning about Tao and refining my play style as I get more and more used to pulling off her combos and I start feeling the flow better. This might not be the best guide in the world but I'm going to try my hand at it and attempt to keep it updated as I learn more about the resident catgirl and any input is uch appreciated. Just contact me at thedescendantoffianna@hotmail.com with something in the subject line to let me know it isn't spam and that I should actually read it. Now a little about Taokaka. Height: 165 cm Weight: 42 kg Blood Type: O Origins: KaKa village Birthday: February 22 Hobby: Naps & Food Likes: Friends Dislikes: Twisting A young catgirl of the Kaka tribe who live in the lower class part of Kagutsuchi. Taokaka wants to get back the sky above her village that was sealed off with an enormous plate by humans who came to the land and started building a big city. She left her village in search of someone called Ragna after she heard that you could gain a lot of money for defeating him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Pro's and Con's [02.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pros: + Extremely fast + Drive cancelling makes her very unpredictable + Can air dash twice and Drive cancel twice in the air + Fairly high damage output Cons: - Has the lowest Guard Libra at 80% - No real anti-air ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ About Proration [03.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proration is the damage scaler in BlazBlue. What it means is that after an given attack the subsequent attacks will do less (or more in the case of some attacks.) damage than their standard damage. There are two types: Initial and Scaled Proration. Initial proration works like this; if an attack has say 60% proration initially and your second attack does 200 damage. That second attack and any that follow will only deal 60% of their normal damage, in the case of that second attack 120 damage. Scaled proration takes into account not only the initial proration of the first hit, but also the scaled proration of the first and every attack thereafter. Meaning that you multiply all of the proration scalers of the previous attacks to get the modifier for the damage to the current attack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Combo Notation [04.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will be using the numerical notations for Tao's moves and just in case newer players aren't aware or you have just never seen this notation before just take a look at the number pad on your keyboard. 7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 The number positions correspond to the eight directional inputs on the controller with 5 being neutral. Any j's followed by a letter, (Ex: j.a) means jump 'attack button'. It takes some getting used to but it's a very easy concept to grasp once you've been exposed to it long enough. Anyway on to the main event. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Normals [05.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ [A Command Moves] [05.01] ~~ 5a - Standing Paw attack (165 Damage) - A decent normal, a fast attack that combos into most of Tao's other attacks. 6a - Standing Upper Paw slap (320 Damage per Hit, 2 Hit) - One of Tao's anti- airs, can cancel into a drive or jump cancel after either hit. Mainly used to bait a burst or to get your opponent into another combo. Will not hit low crouching characters or ones that push you back from Instant Block. 2a - Low Paw Swipe (165 Damage) - Quick poke that can only be blocked low. It prorates a lot so you do less damage but it's very useful for initiating combos and can gatling into any other one of Tao's moves. j.a - Jumping Paw Attack (165 Damage) - Quick aerial paw swipe, can be used on grounded characters to open up a combo or to get more hits after a drive loop before ending with Cat Spirit 2. ~~ [B Command Moves] [05.02] ~~ 5b - Standing Knee attack (340 Damage) - One of Tao's best standing normals, very good proration. Has a very good frame advantage meaning you can counter or clash most of your opponent's normals. Useful for mashers and obviously combos. 6b - Overhead Somersault (440 Damage) - Useful overhead, can cancel into her Hexa-Edge super or just combo with Cat Spirit 2 for a few strikes. Can lead to a very punishing combo should you counter hit with it. 2b - Slide Attack (210 Damage) - Fast, block low only normal. Can gatling into stronger normals, extend combos or be used for throw gimmicks. j.b - Aerial High Kick (385 Damage) - Haven't really experimented much with this but seems to work as a first strike after starting a juggle and for comboing into Cat Spirit 2. (Ex: 3a -> j.b -> 236bbb) ~~ [C Command Moves] [05.03] ~~ Almost all of Tao's C moves are chargeable, this doesn't increase their damage but it does increase their guard crush values. 5c - Standing Claw Attack (550 Damage) - Delayable, can combo into almost any other C normal, jump cancel, special, or drive attack. Not a very fast execution but can be combod from a B normal fairly easily. (Like 2a -> 5b -> 5c etc.) 6c - Forward Palm Strike (700 Damage) - Easily Tao's most damaging normal, delayable, knocks opponents back for an easy drive loop start or comboing into a Cat Spirit 1 or 3. All combo's started with this are highly damaging but it's a big risk, most every character has something they can do for it. (Ragna can ID, Tager can backdash 720.) I personally use this to start drive loops and usually as a response when I see someone trying to pull a heavy move that whiffs, (I.E. Tager's 2d if I know they're too far out) but be careful with it. 2c - Claw Strike (575 Damage) - Delayable, can gatling into 3 or 5c, specials or distortion drives. Like all of her C attacks it has a slow start up and high damage. 3c - Low Paw Combo (390 Damage 2 Hit, 440 Damage 3 Hit) - A low, 3 hit claw attack with a third hit that can only be blocked low. Can gatling into drive, specials, or supers at any strike. It's also used to start up a drive loop, one of her main BnB combos. According to some this can serve as anti-air if you position right but I haven't experimented much with that. j.c - Jumping Claw Strike (480 Damage) Basically an air version of 5c, I have used it to continue an air drive loop before finishing up with a Cat Spirit 2. Useful for causing damage to an aerial enemy before finishing up with a faster attack. ~~ [D Command Moves] [05.04] ~~ 2d - Diagonal Forward Dance (650 Damage) Diagonally drive forward, used to catch airborn enemies. Only applies on ground. 5d - Forward Dance (560 Damage) - Drive parallel to the ground. Common in drive loops for gatling after a 3c. 4d - Backwards Pounce Dance (720 Damage) - Tao jumps backwards and then pounces forward in an overhead drive. Timed correctly this can either catch airborn enemies or bait a super. Slowest of all Tao's drives. j.d - Air Forward Dance (570 Damage) - Just like 5d, except in the air. A lot of drive loops have at least one j.d in them. j.2d - Air Down Dance (600 Damage) - You drive down diagonally from the air, used in taunt combos. j.4d - Drop Down Forward Dance (680 Damage) - Tao plummets downward and then drives forward. It has been said that v-13 (Nu) cannot hit Tao with her standing drive during j.4d, that Tao will fly right over it. j.8d - Air Diagonal Dance (580 Damage) - Tao does an aerial 2d, sometimes interchanged with j.d in certain drive combos depending on how high the opponent gets off one hit. Drive Cancel - Tao has the ability to cancel any of her drives at any time (Even after she has hit the opponent if you time it right.) these are done by pressing A, B, or C. A - Midair stop. B - Tao turns ninja and passes through the opponent. C - Midair Jump 6 - Bounce towards your opponent instead of ricocheting back. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Throws [06.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5b+c (1050 Damage) - Tao grabs a hold of the opponent and kicks them away. 4b+c (1100 Damage) - Tao grabs the opponent and slams them into the ground, if no inputs are pressed then she does a pose holding her arm up in the air while looking back at you. j.b+c (1250 Damage) - Tao does a piledriver on the enemy from midair crashing them into the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Specials [07.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 236a Cat Spirit One! (370, 330 Damage) - Press A for more hits. Decent thing to end gatling combo's with, fairly easy execution. j.236b Cat Spirit Two! (380 Damage) - Press B for more hits, used for ending air drive combos. 236c Cat Spirit Three! (560, 580 Damage) - Press C for more hits. Like all of her C moves this is slow, highly damaging, and possibly a big risk. Block high only. 214a Kitty Litter Special! Diagonal (216 Damage) - Tao throws either an apple, pillow, or bomb at the enemy. Pillow and Bomb hit twice. 214b Kitty Litter Special! Forward (216 Damage) - Tao throws either a puppet, fish bone, or baseball that will fly from one end of the stage to the other unless you get hit. 214c Kitty Litter Special! Heavy (288 Damage) - Tao throws a bowling ball that travels across the floor of the stage. 22c Slashy-Slashy! (80 Damage per hit) - Tao crouches down and attacks with the nails from her paw, press C for more hits. 214d Cat Jump! - Tao leaps forward allowing for some great mix up opportunities. You are vulnerable to counter hit through the entire leap though. j.214d Sticky Kitty - Delayable, at the end of the screen Tao jumps and sticks to the wall as long as you hold D. End by letting go of D to drop straight down, useful for getting enemies out of corners if correctly placed, or to confuse enemies by landing high and keeping them in the corner. If ended with 6 Tao leaps off the wall. Charge 2 -> 8d Trick Edge! (780 Damage) - Tao slides backwards, moves diagonally up, then drives straight forward. Press 2 or 4 for an extra move. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Distortions [08.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tao's distortion drives are her only reversals (other than throw counter if you can manage it.) 236236d Cat Person's Secret Art: Hexa-Edge (450 4 Hits, 1900 5th Hit) - Tao slashes for 4 hits before knocking the opponent back on the fifth. 214214c I'mma Beat the Crap Outta You! (2957 Damage) Tao pounces on the enemy and claws them for an impressive 40 hit combo ending with her sending them flying. Being a throw it is unblockable (I don't believe you can tech out of this like Tager's Gigantic Tager Driver or Genesic Emerald Tager Buster) and you can gatling into it as well as snatch opponents out of the air. will not hit crouching enemies. 236236b Almost Becoming Two! - Tao gains a doppleganger for a short time. According to many of the boards I've read, damage is halved in this mode but proration is locked at 90% (Meaning you get better damage off of all moves in the combo) so it's a trade off. You can actually get much more damage like this if you can get you opponent into combos because of the fixed proration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Astral Heat [09.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As with all Astral Heats there must be three conditions met before it can be used: It must be the final round of the match, you must have 100% Heat, and the opponent must have no more than 20% of their HP remaining in order to perform. Charge 4 -> 1 -> 2 -> 8d Attack Meow Pow! (Instant Kill) 100% Heat Required, Tao jumps to the edge of the screen and dashes forward. The scene then switches to a strange field with Tao and various other Kaka bouncing the opponent around the screen ending with Tao leaping up and slashing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Combos and Ideas [10.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is where I will be putting the combos that I have worked out, or have seen on other forums and have tested. (Credit given where needed.) The first few are from the limited editions bonus disk c -> c -> 236aaaaa -> 6d 9c -> c -> c -> 236236d -> 66 -> c (Requires 50% Heat) 4b+c -> 236cc -> 3d~3 -> c -> 9d~9 -> 236bb -> c -> 9d~9 -> 236bbbbb 6c -> 236cc -> 3d~3 -> c -> 9d~9 -> 236bb -> c -> 9d~9 -> 236bbbbb c -> 9c -> b -> 3c -> 6d~6 -> c -> 6d~6 -> a -> (c -> 9)x2 -> c -> 236bbbbb 236236b -> 66 -> b -> 66 -> taunt -> b -> 66 -> taunt -> 236236d (Requires 100% Heat) 214214c -> taunt -> 214214c -> c (Requires 100% Heat) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Arcade Strategies [11.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this section I will be putting my personal strategies that I used for going through Arcade mode on the Hell difficulty with Taokaka. ~~ Vs. Ragna the Bloodedge [11.01] ~~ I haven't fought too many Ragna in Arcade mode but the strategies for normally fighting him should still apply. Watch out for Inferno Divider as it can be used out of many of his attacks and interrupting in your combos if he's quick about it. Any of his drive attacks can be annoying as they leech some of your health and give it to him. ~~ Vs. Jin Kisaragi [11.02] ~~ This guy gave me some problems, mostly the freezing moves and the fact that his crouching upslash has invincibility frames for most of the attack. Meaning that you could think you're interrupting with a Hexa-Edge only to have him take no damage and whack you into the air causing you to lose a combo opportunity and 50 Heat. It can be difficult to do but if you can get him into a drive loop you are set for some good damage. This one isn't as bad as it could be because of Tao's ability to crawl under most all of the game's projectiles by holding 3. If you can get it off a 6c -> 5d -> (j.c -> j.d) x3 -> 236bbbb will give very good damage though the Cat Spirit 2 at the end whiffs a lot because he recovers too quickly. If you aren't throw countered or countered by the upslash then 6c despite the slow startup is a rather good move. The back throw (4b+c) would be a good choice too if it wasn't for the ice moves he has up close. ~~ Vs. Noel Vermillion [11.03] ~~ The main thing to remember here is to stay out of her drive attacks. Getting caught in a combo of these makes for some pretty heavy damage. As always watch for openings and punish accordingly. Definitely use Tao's speed to your benefit in this fight as most of your attacks (Other than the C attacks) will usually beat out her moves. Delayed right a C attack can catch her in the recovery from her attacks and can lead to a pretty damaging combo string. All in all a pretty simple fight. ~~ Vs. Rachel Alucard [11.04] ~~ Rachel isn't all that hard either, avoid the frog and lightning rods and get quick combos off on her and she should drop fairly quickly. Most drive chains will work on her as well as most ground combos though I did have some trouble getting the full drive chain to connect all the time. She may be rather fast but if you get the first strike in you can usually go the full length of a combo without much trouble. ~~ Vs. Litchi Faye-Ling [11.05] ~~ This one is really annoying, throw counters help a lot and a well placed Hexa- Edge can be a lifesaver. Her reach is insane, being able to beat out Tao's drive attacks with a kick or that pole of hers. Catching her in her breakfall is a really good way to keep the pressure on her so you don't wind up on the receiving end of a corner juggle. Keep her in the air as much as possible and possibly play a bit more defensively than you normally would here. Switching between low and high attacks is a very effective way to start combos as she has a little bit of trouble stopping the changed up attack. That being said 3c is very good at this being that unless she's already guarding low your third hit (The one that is block low only.) will almost always get through leaving you a nice opportunity to start a drive loop on her. Also if you can manage it a Hexa-Edge teamed with catching her on her breakfall after the wall bounce works rather well. ~~ Vs. Iron Tager [11.06] ~~ After much working and many frustrating fights I have defeating Tager down to almost a science. The main point here is to keep him off of his feet as much as humanly possible. This means 6c and anything else that will pop him into the air are your best friends here. A method that has yet to fail me is to move to the other side of the screen from Tager and wait for him to perform his 2d move (The tackle where he covers himself in that yellow energy.) and hit him with a 6c. From there it's really up to you as to where you take the combo as you can do almost anything from this position. Another is to hit him when he breakfalls as after the flip he is vulnerable again and cannot stop your attack. The only thing to watch out for is getting throw countered by Gigantic Tager Driver or at 50 heat by the Genesic Emerald Tager Buster as these do very big damage. Other than that Tager shouldn't have an answer for any of your moves if you time it right. ~~ Vs. Carl Clover [11.07] ~~ This wasn't too hard of a fight for me, as long as you don't forget where his puppet is and keep some fairly good pressure on him he should go down rather easily. His size was the most annoying part, when most of my drive loops would catch any other character they would whiff against him. Other than that and the puppet occasionally catching me in the startup of a combo nothing really else to say about this one. ~~ Vs. Bang Shishigami [11.08] ~~ First off watch out for his parry moves and try not to let him get too many seals for his Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan. Quick combos are your friend here, get in, hit him quick and get out. Don't get greedy and give him chances to parry your moves. If you see him about to and have enough time to do so a quick drive interrupting your combo will usually give you enough time before the actual attack to hit him and stop it. A 2b into a 2c or 3c is usually fairly good at catching Bang off his guard. ~~ Vs. Taokaka [11.09] ~~ Whether or not it can happen I'm not sure but I have yet to run into a Tao in Arcade mode. ~~ Vs. Arakune [11.10] ~~ This fight can get real old real quick if you get cursed, so try to keep that to a minimum if at all possible. In the event you do get hit with Arakune's curse, try to hit him as fast as humanly (Catly?) possible to dispell it. If you don't you will find it getting harder and harder to find an opening to do so. The main thing for this fight is to find an opening and punish Arakune for leaving it. Keep the pressure on him and he won't have the chance to curse you leading to a pretty easy victory. (Provided you don't get cursed and make things a hundred times harder for yourself) ~~ Vs. Hakumen [11.11] ~~ This guy can be pretty annoying because of his high defense and his insane damage, but don't worry. All is not lost when you reach the inevitable ninth fight with the man in the iron mask. (At least I think it is inevitable, I have yet to not fight Hakumen in Arcade mode as the ninth fight.) All you have to do is not getbaited into his counters and avoid that sword as much as possible. Hakumen is a damage factory but he is a little slow in some of the startups, if you can catch him at the end of one of his counters or swords swipes and don't get too greedy you should pull some pretty good damage. Don't be close to him more than you have to and remember that you can cancel drive attacks at any time so you can avoid a counter you might run into. ~~ Vs. V-13 (Nu) [11.12] ~~ This will probably be the most annoying fight you will ever face. (Aside from the one with Arakune if you let him curse you.) Nu has extreme power, her range is insane and she is pretty fast. As much as you want to avoid the swords up close it is best you stick as close to her as possible and use fast combos to keep the pressure up on her. For this Cat Spirit 1 will be your best friend. Most of your problems will come from the fact that she can juggle you with little to no effort and take about half your health if you're not careful. I ended up having to forgo the drive chain entirely here and just pray that I could get her trapped in a corner and combo the everloving out of her. One way for some pretty good damage is to get Nu into the corner however you can, then Cat Spirit 1 until you are almost outside of your claw range, then follow up with a 5b overhead flip, this should hit Nu unless you waited too long from which you should be able to keep going with another Cat Spirit 1 restarting the loop. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ Credits and Copyright [12.00] ~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ BlazBlue Zetaboards for move damage and proration info. ~ Arc System Works for making such an awesome game. Copyrighted to Matthew Taft(KOSRebirth) on GameFAQs, this guide is only to be posted on GameFAQs. It may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal use. It may not be placed on any website without my consent. Use of this guide in whole or in part without that consent is prohibited. If you would like to post my guide somewhere else then simply email me at thedescendantoffianna@hotmail.com saying so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~ END ~~ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------