Weapon Master Guide

[cra]

Hi all you Ninja's out there.
First of all, this is the first guide I'm going to produce and english is not my native language

Why am I writing this, well I know there are a lot of Gamers out there who have problems with some weapons or bother to try the Weapon Master achievements. Personally I think in a way these are great, because you see in which sections weapons rule or not.

Content will be the best or say most useful Combos/Techs for each Weapon, so the average Ninja can beat every foe with some practice

@ NG Veterans, if you think I left something crucial out, pls PM me and I'll add it with credit. Don't spam the Thread, please. Thanks
However words of appreciation are highly welcomed just kidding, but it would be nice

Some Terms I'm going to use are:

Small Foes: Ninjas, Dogs, Serpents(have Health like greater foes), etc. They are all agile and can be airlifted

Greater Foes: Purple Fiends, Purple Winged Fiends, Werevoles, etc. They can't be airlifted, do some serious damage and are best killed using OTs.

UT: With kills I asume that Enemies haven't been damaged so far. Of course you kill many more if unleashed on the stairs in chapter 10 or if you are surrounded by half dead ones.


Dragon Sword/True Dragon Sword:

General:
Now the two must use Techs.

Izuna Drop -> XYXXY and flying Swallow forward+jump, Y. Flying Swallow can be done up to 3times with DS on lvl 3+4

Izuna and flying Swallow are also available to most of the other Weapons and has some decent advantages.
First, you are invulnerable doing the throw. Second on impact you damage or kill nearby enemies. Third after the impact you have enough time to block, quick UT charge or whatever


UT(half charge):
Kills 1-3 small foes on lvl 3 and 4. Can't kill an undamaged greater Foe


UT(full charge):
Kills easily 1-4 small foes and if I remember correctly 1-2 greater foes on lvl 4. With lvl 3 it should be 1-3 and 1.


Small Foes:
My personal fav is YYYYY or XXYYY on ground against small groups of Ninjas. With some luck you take out several at once.


Greater Foes:
YYYYY works quite well for dismembering limbs -> quick OT


Boss:
Well I've read that XXYY works good, but I've done most with yout XYY. No kickass damage but it's fast.



Dual Katana:

General:
I think the groundtechs beginnig with Y are just to slow. For Ninjas etc rely mostly on Techs with X. Note also that the UTs with em does a nice area damage against groups. Look forward the Stairs in chapter 10

Flying Swallow is available, but with a shorter Range to strike.

Izuna looks more amazing, but personally had more to problems to pull it off...


UT(half charge):
can't remember at the moment. will test it later




UT(full charge): Massive Carnage against small groups of enemies. So far one of the best weapons at the stairs-section.


Small Foes:
by madcap:Lightning Pierce: X X → X X X and
Underworld Drop THROW 2: X X → Y Y Y Y.


Greater Foes:
Forward+YYY is also nice against greater Foes. I couldnt find another move that resulted in fast dismembering so far. Would be glad if another Vet could pm on this



Boss:
Forward+YYY rocks quite well. Most of the time you won't be damaged afterwards and with a full hit combo the damage is near the scythe.



Falcon Talon:

General:
They are more fun as you could think at first. It's fast and cool, but the range is damn short. Pulling off Izuna is a question of luck. If you are unlucky you start the combo, Ryu is in the air and the enemy manages to pull back a step and voila, you are ready for some beating...

Flying Swallow works a bit different as the swords. The moment you hit a Ninja you are high up in the air and can do either XX or Y. sometimes it's result in instakill. Note this is only against small foes.

UT(half charge):
Kills a single small foe, maybe two if you redirect it with the analog stick, because the Talons don't have autotarget.


UT(full charge):
Kills most of the time up to 4 small foes(redirect necessary) and with some luck/timing 2 greater Foes.


Small Foes:
Well if you wonder what's good against ninjas...mostly anything avaiable imo. Greatest con is just the short range, but if you hit the damage is mostly good enough. Note that XXY(hold) will result in a throw animation, with cutting the head off


Greater Foes:
However, the greatest Move against greater Foes is XYY. Really easy and 100% dismembering success rate if all punches/kicks hit. Real good against werevolves and the chainsaw fiends


Boss:
Against them you can try XYY or the regular YYYY combo.



Eclipse Scythe:

General:
First off the Scythe rocks against Werevolves and Centaurs and in every situation in which you know where enemies are triggered. why? read UT (full charge)
I don't know why but against the Werevolves all the other Weapons feel like toys. Nothings cuts em up so easily as the Scythe, however against small enemies it's a bit too slow.

Flying Swallow works a bit different again. If you hit an small Enemy you slam the scythe into him and have a recover animation. Didn't like it much against Ninjas. Greater Foes is just a normal slice through.

Addition from the DantheManGum:The Eclipse Scythe flying swallow attack makes you invincible to IS from other ninja while your performing it (the exploding and all). This makes it a great asset for those annoying ninja.


UT(half charge):
A single Shockwave with little range. Hits max. 2Enemies


UT(full charge):
If you played NG1 and used the Daibilaroh Sword, you know what's coming. For all those new Ninjas, you send a big shockwave killing every small foe in its way. However for greater Foes except Centaurs, Demon Mechs it isn't as effective.
Centaurs die with one shockwave, Demon Mechs will be left open for OT.


Small Foes:
Try to do XXXY and have some faith and use the Y-combos, but they are slow im comparison.


Greater Foes:
Greater Foes are killed quite easy with Y-combos, the X-combos do fine although. Try would you think is more effective In Chapter 5+6 unleash your inner Ninja and have fun all the way against Werewolves.


Boss:
Against Bosses however, the YYYYY rocks. Just keep in mind to start the combo in some distance and if everything hits you do superior damage no other Weapon beside Dual Katana in some Situations can pull off.
by Dezzmon: XXYYY



Tonfa:

General:
I am playing currently with them. My impression so far...you need to much hits to kill a single ninja, however the conter moves kill quite good. I suggest that you abuse Izuna and UT to get through the game.

Izuna and Flying Swallow work normal.


UT(half charge):
One major difference to the other Weapons. A half charge always kills a purple fiend or werewolve.


UT(full charge):
It just rocks. Kills so fast per autotarget that you have to wait and block how many fall. Usually 3-4greater Foes and small foes I had problems to count. Be assured it annihilates small groups with ease.


Small Foes + Greater Foes:
Tonfa don't have much combos to work with and the few ones work as good for both foe groups.

forward+YY: Looks kind of gay but results often in dismembered limbs.
XX foward XY: Against small ones a nice throw move.
forward XX: a little(real little) dash and aiming for the legs -> regular OT chance afterwards


Boss:
Kind of lame, but XYY works. Damage is ok. Especially the downward strike does more damage than the same combo with the TDS

However against final boss it just sucks, too slow, too little damage. I'm happy to do the flails next

[cra]

Kasuri-Gama:

General:
It is a bit more difficult to play with it, because you have a melee and ranged weapon combined. X is for the sickle and Y for the Morningstar. But ones you get the hang of it, it can rock

Flying Swallow is different again, after you hit an enemy you can try to finish him off with a landing attack, simply press Y again after the first hit.


UT(half charge):
It is suprisingly weak. It kills small foes, but no greater foes.


UT(full charge):
Kills easily a lot small foes(great against ninja dogs) and 1-2 greater Foes. Not so great...tonfa was better on that*sigh* Ninja Dogs are killed in a great range reliably.


Small Foes:
There are a lot of combos, which work fine and look stylish. In general don't try any combo beginning with Y if Ninjas are near you(shuriken interupt you). You need some time and space to get Y-moves going.

forward+XXXXX can kill several with some luck
XXXXX has little range but works
YYYYY the ultimate annihilation move, but it is slow
X,hold Y a simple throw. cuts off an arm -> OT
XYYYX nice move to but since it has a lot of Y in it, it is slow and can be interrupted
XYYY can kill up to 3, maybe more, Ninjas at once. Depends on luck and positioning, like almost every combo with Kusari-gama.

Greater Foes:
forward+XXXXX and XXXXX are your best bet so far I could test it. Cuts a limb most of the time, giving you the chance for some OT-action. The first even kills regularly. Y-combos are just to slow and are just a begging to hurt you plenty, except for foward+YYY. If it hits it will result as an instakill.


Boss:
Well, I'm currently in chap4 so the only boss to test was Genshin so far. I managed to get two full forward+XXXXX combos connected with did hurt a lot more than the scythe does. A bit quicker and more damaging is XYYY or do Flying Swallow+Y. Can deal a lot damage to Volf and Zedonius.



Lunar Staff:

General:
Personally I think that Lunar has been upgraded since NGB. I have to point out, that this freaky staff has a high probability to smash limbs. Really useful against greater foes. It's speed is slightly faster than the scythes'. Only weak point are the standart UTs.

Flying Swallow works different again and sucks, check it out for yourself.

Izuna has a different input, so look it up in the combo list


UT(half charge):
pretty weak and it doesn't matter if you just to do the simple Y or circle,Y.


UT(full charge):
The standart Y UT does damage only in the final sequence when the staff is temporary on fire. If you played NGB or NG Master Ninja Hurricane Pack1, you get the spinning UT with circle,Y. This rocks and doesn't depend on hitting an enemy in the beginning. Needs practice to pull off.


Small Foes:
Against small groups stick with the X combos as for example XXXX,XXXY. A bit slower but more effective if you don't get interrupted is XYYYY.

Facing single enemies or two standing close together refer to forward+X,XXXX,X,forward+XXXX or just YYYYY.

Greater Foes:
Yeah finally the best feature of this weapon so far. Against Fiends it usually smashes limbs with just one or two hits with X. You have a nice range, and fast chance to OT them. Against werewolves it does a great job, too.

Boss:
Tested it on Genshin and Alexei, greater fiend of gayness. Forward+XXXXX works well. Even the standart XXXXX is ok and with some luck can connect a YYYYY combo. Forward+YYY is fast and does ok damage, you can compare it with the DS XYY. Finsl Boss is really easy with XYYY when he is clinging to the edge.



Flails:

General:
The Flails are fast and a lot of fun against Ninjas. But they are a lot weaker against greater Foes, cause of their lower decapcitation rate.

Flying Swallow is nice, just test for yourself.

Izuna is standart.


UT(half charge):
Kills only more than one smaller foe, if they are real close to each other.


UT(Full charge):
With some luck you get a couple of kills against smaller foes, however it has only a weak autotarget Kills 1-2 greater foes.


Smaller Foes:
Spam flying swallow, YYYYY or XYYYY or Izuna or one of madcap's entrys.

by madcap:
Dragon Slaughter: X X X → X X X X X X
Furious Strike: X X X → X X X X X Y X X X X
Piercing Mountain: X X X → X X X X X Y Y Y Y Y Y
and the best one
Izuna Drop THROW: X Y X X X Y


Greater Foes:
Flying Swallow can chop heads or limbs off, but don't rely too much on it. Best way to survive is doing X-Combos and hope for an opportunity for OTs.


Boss:

XYYYY worked really good against Alexei. forward+YYYY works good against fast bosses.


Conclusion:
Here is a short list depending on the fun factor of the weapons:
1. Flails ( watch my Ninja Cinema vid after i uploaded it on Friday)
2. Falcon Talon ( Badass Melee combat)
3. Dual Katana ( What's better than 1 Katana? Right Chuck Norris or two Katana)
4. Dragon Sword ( Most balanced weapon in my opinion)
5. Scythe( yeah loved chap 5+6 with it, but in general I dislike slow weapons)
6. Lunar( not final since I haven't played with it so far)
7. Tonfa ( Only pro is UT full charge, else way too slow and ridiculous range)
8. Kusari-gama ( slow and difficult weapon, but some nice moves. Sucks in the final 3chapters)

I would use the Talons against Werewolves, Lunar against greater Fiends, Scythe against Bosses after chapter 6 and (T)DS against small foes, especially ninjas. Maybe I include the Flails too, after I had my final run.

Hope some feel encouraged to give the Weapons a try.

[purfectionist]

cool list thanks for the tips

[DanTheManGum]

Of note: The Eclipse Scythe flying swallow attack makes you invincible to IS from other ninja while your performing it (the exploding and all). This makes it a great asset for those annoying ninja.

[Lewi]

great guide haha the broken english is classic mde me laugh but yea the guide is great...i was wondering how i did that throw that seemed so effective and more comprehensive than the otha guides (more detail)

[cra]

well i trying to improve my english writing, but as long as you guys understand me I achieved what I wanted to do

@lewi do you want more detail or did you mean this guide is more detailed than others?

[Lewi]

no i was commenting at ur HIGH level of detail
wen its 100% it wil b epic

[I GRIMJOW I]

Great guide man, kudos for that. And btw, good luck with 'die Mannschaft' against Portugal dude!

[cra]

thx, but don't think that we will win against portugal.

[Screwface89]

I thought it was only possible to do certain bosses with the bow etc. how do the 1 weapon achievements work? when like the boss before the very last 1 you have fire bows at his head ??

[cra]

all questions concerning this topic have been answered in mapcap's FAQ.
You can use Projectiles(subweapons) and Ninpo freely to kill enemies, even use different Weapons to activate switches. The achv is ruined if a different weapon connects with a hit(maybe also while blocking->unconfirmed)

Hope I could answer all your possible questions. If you need something else, check out Madcap's Weapon Achievement FAQ <- linked

[Azulgrave]

Very nice guide. As for your english its better then some people on the board that use it as their main language :P and way better then anyone on most othere boards >.> thank's for the guide bro didn't need it but the amount of effort put into this deserves thanks!

[cra]

Thx Azul

For everyone, I going to upload 2 vids. The first concerning how to block the explosions of spider bots in Chapter 7. The second how to play with Flails lvl 3 in chap 1

If you want, I could try to do it with the other Weapons too.

[Screwface89]

Thanks again cra, and i agree with Azul your english is brilliant and the guide is even better. Your efforts on this forum should not go missed!

[WhiteHaven]

Thanks for this guide...I am sure that it is going to help me alot. NG2 is tough game, so I appreciate every help I can get!



PS: my first post after several months here

[phlipmowed]

thanks for the great guide! I wish they were all this detailed.

[cra]

I have bad news. I can't upload since the games are replays on the consecutive files. I'll do it on mentor. sorry

[Xx Overkill VR]

nice guide...... will you be interested in adding this to the Super Guide? lordvader178 is struggling with the enemies and he is yet to do a weapon section..... you just covered the weapon section completely with this thread....... message me to let me know...

[Xx Overkill VR]

can you just put in the beginning of the first post the rules to unlocking the weapon master ach

1)use of ninpo and projectiles is allowed
2)swinging any other weapon is ok as long as it doesn't hit any enemy..so u can use other weapons to hit a switch on the ground
3)u can get the achievement from new game +
4)remeber to switch back to the specified weapon :
(*)after fighting volf the first time
(*)after ur last fight with genshin
5)-IMPORTANT- EVEN "ONE" SLASH TO ANY ENEMY WITH A WEAPON OTHER THAN THE SPECIFIED RUINS UR CHANCE OF UNLOCKING THE ACHIEVEMENT!!!!!

[madcap1]

Originally Posted by Xx Overkill VR

can you just put in the beginning of the first post the rules to unlocking the weapon master ach

1)use of ninpo and projectiles is allowed
2)swinging any other weapon is ok as long as it doesn't hit any enemy..so u can use other weapons to hit a switch on the ground
3)u can get the achievement from new game +
4)remeber to switch back to the specified weapon :
(*)after fighting volf the first time
(*)after ur last fight with genshin
5)-IMPORTANT- EVEN "ONE" SLASH TO ANY ENEMY WITH A WEAPON OTHER THAN THE SPECIFIED RUINS UR CHANCE OF UNLOCKING THE ACHIEVEMENT!!!!!

Or you could just use my guide I guess its invisible so here is the link again
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/f...ad.php?t=76858

[Xx Overkill VR]

Originally Posted by madcap1

Or you could just use my guide I guess its invisible so here is the link again
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/f...ad.php?t=76858

yeah sorry about not seeing your guide.... i know how you feel..... i have 2 guides that are invisible to everyone and they answer many peoples questions about bosses and ToV's. If you want i can add your guide to the super guide,you will get credit and all will see........

[calzord]

Nice work on the guide, I think i might give the weapon achivements a go now.

[ScroteyLiberace]

Tonfa -
XAY combo ->hit, warp, hit XAX combo - hit, warp, throw (lift)

I've been fiddling around with the Heavenly Justice move on the tonfa (hitting 'A' or LT+dir during a ground combo) and following with the Broken Lantern ('Y' immediately after) and it seems to lead into some good throws and other combos.

To get this to work, just start any basic combo and tap the jump button, 'A' (preferably with a direction in mind). 'A' seems to be easier to get the Heavenly Justice to work, although if you can LT+dir quickly and consistently enough it would actually be safer. Hayabusa will do a little warp in the middle of the combo, and then smack 'Y' a few times and you'll often end up in a slightly different position with a good combo in.

Now this still doesn't make the Tonfa a weapon of choice for any particular area, but it does add a nice manoeuvre to a rather meagre repertoire. The results may be a bit random for mentor or master ninja difficulty (but then again why would you be using tonfa on those unless you're going for a masochistic weapon master karma score), but the mix of offence and defence does help a bit. It's always nice to see a missile weapon like an IS fly past your head instead of into it because of the little warp. The warp so far does not seem to be great for avoiding large foes. EDIT - changed my mind, with no direction pressed it likes to warp right behind the big foes. Sweet.

EDIT - Bosses (well, only a couple so far)
Completely beat the lipstick off of Alexei using the technique. Almost every attack of his missed when I started in with an X,x,x and then warped to a Y,y,y. Fun stuff. Then again, it's my 5th acolyte walkthru and I've already done most of mentor so the bosses aren't really difficult anymore. If anyone can use this effectively on the smaller bosses (Genshin, Alexei, Elizébet, Zedonius) on Mentor or Master Ninja give us your thoughts.

Genshin - barely got hit, the tonfas busted him open like a [insert DVDA or holiday turkey reference here].

Cheers,

SL

p.s. Beautiful work on this guide cra/Darknephelim, mein deutscher König.

p.p.s I hope you don't mind me continually editing this post rather than posting new ones - I don't want to detract from the main guide. I'll change, delete or update this post as cra requests.

p.p.p.s I really have to agree with Dezzmon's XXYYY for the scythe, I used it almost exclusively for bosses. Then again...acolyte for me.... [I guess the actual combo is XXY, and then I was just adding a YYY to it]

Falcon's Talons-
Flying Swallow (jump towards enemy and Y) then XY to go straight into an Izuna Drop, this rocks against ninjas (and pretty much only ninjas though).

[cra]

nice one dude, it is to long anyway to include in it my posts

[sekoku]

Well, I can confirm that as long as you switch weapons before killing the bosses with the weapon you're not doing the achievement for, you still can get the achievement.

It's nice to be able to do max damage and then switch to the achievement weapon to kill the boss to continue the game with.

[madcap1]

Originally Posted by sekoku

Well, I can confirm that as long as you switch weapons before killing the bosses with the weapon you're not doing the achievement for, you still can get the achievement.

It's nice to be able to do max damage and then switch to the achievement weapon to kill the boss to continue the game with.

I wouldnt not be willing to take that chance, I know a few people that with what you said did not work for them just do the no melle run is your best bet with weapon achievements, Plus it was also confirmed by a few people that you can not switch weapons maybe for you it worked but I would no want to take that chance with this, Im gald you got the achievement though

[ScroteyLiberace]

Just decided that the kusari-gama was the least fun of any weapon in the game, even though the Immense Tragedy (YYYYY) combo was somewhat fun when it actually got going.

Then I saw that cra/Darknephelim had it last as well...unexpectedly enough I think his 'Fun' factor list (which I at first thought was subjective and that my list would be completely different) may actually be a fairly accurate gauge in general. Apart from the fun with the tonfa warp (really easy if you just use XAY) I think I would list the weapons in nearly the same order of enjoyability.

SL

[Cavalieroscuro]

During my second play,I hit an enemy accidentaly when I toke the DS 4th level,but I shut down my console and reloaded the previously savegame before it saves.The achievement is corrupted?

[ScroteyLiberace]

Should be fine, the only problem would be if the save file was corrupted. If you had it on auto-save (don't - use manual) then that would have been a problem. I use a save slot at the beginning of each level (slots 1-14) and a mid-level slot (20). I know it's overkill, but I can go to any level at will (this will be simple with the new update) and have lots of backups if a save file gets corrupted. It happened once to me 90% through a game (Bionicle Heroes) and I unfortunately had only one save file......

If the save file works then don't worry about it. I've ended up smacking enemies around with the scythe and DS accidentally when they switch. I always just let myself die and reload the fight - you'll get your achievement as long as the save file is 'clean' of other weapon kills (or damage, depending how trusting you are).

[ScroteyLiberace]

I can't believe it - I am on the last weapon (lunar staff - second time around actually as I messed up somehow the first time), and just now realized that you could load an "All Chapters Completed" and keep your entire inventory and health....

I spent all week doing each weapon and ninpo from scratch...not that acolyte was challenging but I could have ignored the majority of the enemies and saved a ton of time. What a friggin' dolt Starting with an extra 200K essence, items, and a full health bar rocks.