A couple of minor corrections because I'm not planning on reuploading. Shield Dropping - To drop through you can either *slightly* press down to drop through, press the controlstick down and left/right to avoid spotdoding, or just press down on shield release. The stick input needed is far less precise than it is in melee, probably because there's no shield tilting in rivals 2. bit of an oversight there! sorry! Run / Dash - You can actually attack out after your initial dash by letting the control stick return to neutral during a full run, but the crouch at the very least serves as a visual indicator for when it's possible to act with a tilt. (Bonus Info: You can act out of initial dash with smash attacks or specials!) Guide isn't 100% perfect but i'm working on the process of making higher structured/higher quality videos. Things are only gonna get better from here!
Another minor correction: For ledgedashing, you don't have to input a downward diagonal to ledgedash, you can also just input left/right to get a longer length ledgedash. Neither is better/worse, it just depends on your desired positioning.
You also forgot to mention that you can use Strongs out of dash. This is different than smash games, which only ever allowed upsmash unless you did a run-cancel or an empty pivot.
@Shleppy_ "Out of dash, you can dash-attack by pressing A, you can do things like a dash grab, you can dash into shield, or you can dash into a jump. You can't tilt out of run, but there is a workaround." He then explains run-cancelling with crouch, then moves on to jumping. Also no mention of DACUS or jump-cancel grab (which, like smash, is faster than dash-grab). Or any jump-cancel options, for that matter (which is important to know for Out of Shield options). Granted, it's a hell of a lot easier for me to spot things that got forgotten than it would be for me to make a video that remembered EVERYTHING.
Not sure if anyone else pointed it out, but moonwalking isn't limited to a downward half-circle input as long as you have tap jump turned off. in a lot of cases it's actually better to moonwalk by rolling upward so that you don't accidentally fall through a platform!
Great advice! I also want to point out that it isn't actually a half-circle, you have to stop at the diagonal before you complete the half circle or else your character will fully turn around. That piece of information was vital to me being able to do it. A half-circle means a very clear full half circle to traditional fighting game players and will lead to them attempting the wrong motion and failing without knowing why
@@morganhall107It is true, but I don't expect anyone to believe me with no evidence! This video by Techtonical shows it a well: ruclips.net/video/Se9RNh0hV9A/видео.html You can see a few times when he accidentally switches sides during the demonstration which are due to his stick rolling too far to the opposite side. When it works correctly, he slows down on the diagonal before reaching the full half-circle. In numpad notation he is performing 6321 for the successful moonwalk, and 63214 results in an accidental turnaround. Here's another video by TekKnite from Rivals 1 that illustrates it: ruclips.net/video/zC2Yu_VjJcc/видео.html TekKnite says at the 30 second mark that you must stop the motion before completing the half-circle for it to work, meaning you must input 6321. 63214 will fail. If a player does a half circle, they will turn around. If they stop just before completing it, they get the moonwalk! Hopefully this explanation helps anyone struggling.
7:28 A cool little quirk about edge cancels is you can edge cancel to negate parry stun. Not too many characters can take advantage of it, but it's pretty neat regardless
For ledge dash, you can actually get a small amount of more invincibility if you drop from ledge by pressing back instead of down, then double jumping and holding directly forwards for the waveland. Doing it this way is faster and keeps you closer to the ledge since your character won't go into fast fall by pressing down
I think some clarification and additional terms could be added that you probably just overlooked or didn't think were note worthy lol(btw, great guide, definitely one ill keep in my pockets when helping newer players) Advanced tech Hitfalling: By fastfalling in the middle of the hitpause of a move, you can fastfall in the middle of the move to fall on the ground quicker This can be used to extend combos by having the ability to be on the ground earlier than you would be if you just fastfell after the end of the move but it can also make you cancel some multi-hits(for example, I can hitfall ranno's first hit of up air to mix up my follow up or combo it into an ustrong) Clarification on ledgedash and babydashing Ledgedash: There's two ways of doing a ledgedash in this game and both have their own usage The quick way: Use jump get up and then use airdodge horizentally to get a quick ledgedash with no intangibility While it doesn't let you gain intangibility, it's somewhat quicker to do and is also quicker to act out of because you didn't have to drop from the ledge You can use it whenever you need a ledgedash but don't necessarily need intangibility to get wherever you wanted to go And finally Babydashing: A worthy note is that using any move that isn't a special or shield will stop a little bit of your momentum out of your babydash if you ever wondered why your babydash went a little less further when you did a tilt or jab with it, this is why Again, great video, just felt like putting these points there
im a beginner and this is the most quality guide ive ever seen on youtube that actually makes me understand how to move in the game that also includes hard movements not just for beginners.
Great video! Hopefully you do more as there are some sections that were really underdeveloped such as the multiple ways to shield drop and movement to grab ledge for edge guards
For anyone wondering, there are 4 methods for shield dropping (that I'm aware of): 1. tilting down (not too far/fast or you'll spot dodge) 2. hitting a downward diagonal (down+left or down+right) 3. holding left/right when you enter shield, and then hitting a downward diagonal (the most popular method from melee) 4. hitting down as you let go of shield (i.e. during the animation of letting go of shield)
For anyone else struggling with moonwalk, I've found more of a quarter circle motion from down-forward to down-back to be much easier. You might have to start it very slightly more forward than down.
Moonwalking is also possible by slamming a half circle but up... if you have tap jump off. This is disadvantageous on the floor where moonwalking down is better defensively because you get auto floor hug if you get hit. However moonwalking up allows you to moonwalk on platforms where pressing down would make you fall through.
Note that you can fast fall just as soon as you hit an opponent. This "hitfalling" is super useful to hit an opponent, get back to the ground, and reset for your next attack.
Great guide! I think there are some more techs not covered: Can you turnaround b and wavebounce? Instant RAR? Instant double jump? Attack cancel (rar)? Hitfalling I know is in the game and not covered. Same with DACUS. Another video of advanced tech would be good!
Objection Ledgedashing does not require a drop down in this game. You get the same benefit from just jumping from ledge Moonwalking can also be done with a half circle up on the control stick. This allows you to moonwalk on platforms.
I’m pretty sure if you just jump off ledge you don’t get any grounded intangibility because jumping off ledge has less intangibility than grabbing ledge
It's funny that ledge dashing and moon walking are considered advanced because I can do those with no effort but I still suck at mixing wave dashing into my movement. Like, I can do it fine if that's all I'm doing but I just suck at weaving it into other things.
unless im mistaken in which case feel free to correct me , this is not how shield dropping works, i tried it in rivals 2 and you can still stopdodge if you press down while shielding on a platform. you have to fit diagonally down i think to shield drop in this game, from what ive found at least.
Tower of Heaven song... :( Also, great video. Only thing I'd add is that you can moonwalk on a platform by doing the rotation up instead of down, as long as you don't have tap jump on
I'm subbing but if it's your goal to start doing vids for this game, you put your aether vids in a playlist so I can grab em quickly? ^^ I'd appreciate it.
Hey! Although technically part of the combat aspect of the series, Hitfalling is a extremely important technique that i noticed was not covered in this video. Great video otherwise’!
I need some help with ledge dashing. Is there an exact angle you are supposed to hold down-in at? I tend to fast-fall and am then not high enough. Is the fast-fall supposed to happen and do I simply need to time my ledge-drop fast-fall to my jump better?
I’m confused. I thought RoA2 was digital and not analog, how would you “tilt” to achieve walking vs. dash/running if you’re using something like a dpad or keyboard/hitbox/fight stick controls?
currently 10, though there are 10 more designs fully fleshed out from the first game that just need porting. they’ve confirmed at least 4 characters on the 2025 roadmap
I'm a casual Smash Ultimate player and I have a problem playing this game, every time I move the analog stick the character just dashes, I can't walk at all. So every time I try to attack an opponent it does a dash attack. I tried changing the stick sensitivity and turning on the walk mode, but then you can't dash at all. In Ultimate if you moved the analog stick a little bit you could walk and do a basic attack or smash or you could move the analog stick fast and dash for a dash attack, its intuitive. It even dashes if I use the d pad controls going left and right after turning them on. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if its a problem with my DS4 controller.
honestly that was a bit of a slip up- but considering 99% of the terminology and tech in this video originated from the smash series, it should be pretty understandable to use “strong” & “smash” interchangeably.
A couple of minor corrections because I'm not planning on reuploading.
Shield Dropping - To drop through you can either *slightly* press down to drop through, press the controlstick down and left/right to avoid spotdoding, or just press down on shield release. The stick input needed is far less precise than it is in melee, probably because there's no shield tilting in rivals 2. bit of an oversight there! sorry!
Run / Dash - You can actually attack out after your initial dash by letting the control stick return to neutral during a full run, but the crouch at the very least serves as a visual indicator for when it's possible to act with a tilt. (Bonus Info: You can act out of initial dash with smash attacks or specials!)
Guide isn't 100% perfect but i'm working on the process of making higher structured/higher quality videos. Things are only gonna get better from here!
There’s another shield drop method, if you have two shield buttons, just hold both and push down
Another minor correction: For ledgedashing, you don't have to input a downward diagonal to ledgedash, you can also just input left/right to get a longer length ledgedash. Neither is better/worse, it just depends on your desired positioning.
You also forgot to mention that you can use Strongs out of dash. This is different than smash games, which only ever allowed upsmash unless you did a run-cancel or an empty pivot.
@@Scorpio3002 I'm pretty sure they mentioned using strongs from dash.
@Shleppy_ "Out of dash, you can dash-attack by pressing A, you can do things like a dash grab, you can dash into shield, or you can dash into a jump. You can't tilt out of run, but there is a workaround." He then explains run-cancelling with crouch, then moves on to jumping.
Also no mention of DACUS or jump-cancel grab (which, like smash, is faster than dash-grab). Or any jump-cancel options, for that matter (which is important to know for Out of Shield options).
Granted, it's a hell of a lot easier for me to spot things that got forgotten than it would be for me to make a video that remembered EVERYTHING.
And so the legendary movement guide we'll watch for years was released
I hope so maxel, I really do 🥲
@@BadmouthBlooper I've already linked this guide to two of my friends. Hope you're ready for your vid to blow up in views haha
Not sure if anyone else pointed it out, but moonwalking isn't limited to a downward half-circle input as long as you have tap jump turned off. in a lot of cases it's actually better to moonwalk by rolling upward so that you don't accidentally fall through a platform!
😮
Great advice! I also want to point out that it isn't actually a half-circle, you have to stop at the diagonal before you complete the half circle or else your character will fully turn around. That piece of information was vital to me being able to do it. A half-circle means a very clear full half circle to traditional fighting game players and will lead to them attempting the wrong motion and failing without knowing why
@@candlehandthis isn’t true, you can absolutely do a half circle
@@morganhall107It is true, but I don't expect anyone to believe me with no evidence!
This video by Techtonical shows it a well: ruclips.net/video/Se9RNh0hV9A/видео.html
You can see a few times when he accidentally switches sides during the demonstration which are due to his stick rolling too far to the opposite side. When it works correctly, he slows down on the diagonal before reaching the full half-circle. In numpad notation he is performing 6321 for the successful moonwalk, and 63214 results in an accidental turnaround.
Here's another video by TekKnite from Rivals 1 that illustrates it: ruclips.net/video/zC2Yu_VjJcc/видео.html
TekKnite says at the 30 second mark that you must stop the motion before completing the half-circle for it to work, meaning you must input 6321. 63214 will fail.
If a player does a half circle, they will turn around. If they stop just before completing it, they get the moonwalk!
Hopefully this explanation helps anyone struggling.
This video has the clearest descriptions of some of these movement techniques I've been able to find as a newcomer. Thank you for making this.
After watching this video I won my roa2 local without dropping a game while my wife won the kids in court.
Thanks for this guide!
your wife is a wonderful woman man ❤
Chapters
BASIC - 0:26
Walk - 0:26
Dash/Run - 0:42
Jumping - 1:20
Rolls - 1:47
Airdodge - 2:02
INTERMEDIATE - 2:23
Dash Dance - 2:26
Wavedash - 3:01 (3:18)
Fox-Trotting - 3:52
Fastfall - 4:03
Wall Jump - 4:25
ADVANCED - 4:43
RAR - 4:43
Waveland - 5:30
Shield Stop - 5:58
Wavedash Out Of Shield - 6:12
Shield Drop - 6:35
B Reverse - 6:47
Air Tumble - 7:06
Edge Cancel - 7:27
PRO - 7:59
Moonwalk - 8:02
Ledgedash - 8:21
Babydash - 8:41
Pivot - 9:08
hi bloop
Thanks mo. hi mo
@@BadmouthBlooper hey i just realized is hitfalling supposed to be part of this cause i dont see it anywhere
@@momaniasfc No i didn't quite consider it "movement". I could make a separate video on it, but there's plenty of resources on it out there already.
@@BadmouthBlooper might wanna put a disclaimer in the description then
This video will def blow up, eventually becoming a staple in the new era of Rivals 2 content
7:28 A cool little quirk about edge cancels is you can edge cancel to negate parry stun. Not too many characters can take advantage of it, but it's pretty neat regardless
For ledge dash, you can actually get a small amount of more invincibility if you drop from ledge by pressing back instead of down, then double jumping and holding directly forwards for the waveland. Doing it this way is faster and keeps you closer to the ledge since your character won't go into fast fall by pressing down
I think some clarification and additional terms could be added that you probably just overlooked or didn't think were note worthy lol(btw, great guide, definitely one ill keep in my pockets when helping newer players)
Advanced tech
Hitfalling:
By fastfalling in the middle of the hitpause of a move, you can fastfall in the middle of the move to fall on the ground quicker
This can be used to extend combos by having the ability to be on the ground earlier than you would be if you just fastfell after the end of the move but it can also make you cancel some multi-hits(for example, I can hitfall ranno's first hit of up air to mix up my follow up or combo it into an ustrong)
Clarification on ledgedash and babydashing
Ledgedash:
There's two ways of doing a ledgedash in this game and both have their own usage
The quick way: Use jump get up and then use airdodge horizentally to get a quick ledgedash with no intangibility
While it doesn't let you gain intangibility, it's somewhat quicker to do and is also quicker to act out of because you didn't have to drop from the ledge
You can use it whenever you need a ledgedash but don't necessarily need intangibility to get wherever you wanted to go
And finally
Babydashing:
A worthy note is that using any move that isn't a special or shield will stop a little bit of your momentum out of your babydash
if you ever wondered why your babydash went a little less further when you did a tilt or jab with it, this is why
Again, great video, just felt like putting these points there
@@HastyMang0 Thanks! Hit-falling vid is up next
Thank you i knew all these tech were in the game but couldn't find a video explaining and how to perform them
im a beginner and this is the most quality guide ive ever seen on youtube that actually makes me understand how to move in the game that also includes hard movements not just for beginners.
Holyyy The editing was soooo good in this video!!! I'm so jealous!
Thanks for watching! It took an *extremely* long time
Great video! Hopefully you do more as there are some sections that were really underdeveloped such as the multiple ways to shield drop and movement to grab ledge for edge guards
For anyone wondering, there are 4 methods for shield dropping (that I'm aware of):
1. tilting down (not too far/fast or you'll spot dodge)
2. hitting a downward diagonal (down+left or down+right)
3. holding left/right when you enter shield, and then hitting a downward diagonal (the most popular method from melee)
4. hitting down as you let go of shield (i.e. during the animation of letting go of shield)
The camerawork in this video is insane. Like at 0:20 How the heck did you do that?!
the replay editor in-game lets you do a lot of cool stuff with camera angles
During a full run, you dont have to crouch to cancel into a tilt or jab, you can just let the analog stick go back to neutral then input the attack
You have to wait longer before you can input the tilt that way. Inputting it immediately after going to neutral will still give you dash attack
Just tested it, yeah its about 5 frames longer than doing crouch->attack
Wow , this was so well made
4:25 with tap walljump on you can still walljump by tapping away:)
Thank you so much this is so helpful!
Compendious and comprehensible! Thanks for the helpful guide. 👍
For anyone else struggling with moonwalk, I've found more of a quarter circle motion from down-forward to down-back to be much easier. You might have to start it very slightly more forward than down.
This is a fantastically made video. Thank you
Until the rivals team makes an oficial tutorial this is gonnave my go to video to learn new movement great video dude
A tip for short hopping, flick the jump button by sliding your finger across it instead of tapping it like you would for an attack or special.
The moonwalk also works with rolling your control stick UP instead of down.
That's how I did it in ROA 1 :)
You can also cancel the beginning of your up special with the air tumble for a recovery mix up!
Thanks for the gas now I can make it to platinum
Time to watch this religiously
Moonwalking is also possible by slamming a half circle but up... if you have tap jump off. This is disadvantageous on the floor where moonwalking down is better defensively because you get auto floor hug if you get hit. However moonwalking up allows you to moonwalk on platforms where pressing down would make you fall through.
Note that you can fast fall just as soon as you hit an opponent. This "hitfalling" is super useful to hit an opponent, get back to the ground, and reset for your next attack.
Video on this specifically coming soon
Great guide! I think there are some more techs not covered:
Can you turnaround b and wavebounce? Instant RAR? Instant double jump? Attack cancel (rar)?
Hitfalling I know is in the game and not covered. Same with DACUS.
Another video of advanced tech would be good!
Love the Tower of God tracks
Objection
Ledgedashing does not require a drop down in this game. You get the same benefit from just jumping from ledge
Moonwalking can also be done with a half circle up on the control stick. This allows you to moonwalk on platforms.
I’m pretty sure if you just jump off ledge you don’t get any grounded intangibility because jumping off ledge has less intangibility than grabbing ledge
It's funny that ledge dashing and moon walking are considered advanced because I can do those with no effort but I still suck at mixing wave dashing into my movement. Like, I can do it fine if that's all I'm doing but I just suck at weaving it into other things.
I would also mention wavebounce and b-turnaround
unless im mistaken in which case feel free to correct me , this is not how shield dropping works, i tried it in rivals 2 and you can still stopdodge if you press down while shielding on a platform. you have to fit diagonally down i think to shield drop in this game, from what ive found at least.
hitting down while in the shield release animation also works and is much easier
You can still do it by hitting directly down but you have to tilt it instead of hitting fully down. I do find diagonal easier tho
Use walk mod and you will not spot dodge
Half Circle Forward motion for Moonwalking? SNK would be proud!
w video 🔥
Tower of Heaven song... :(
Also, great video. Only thing I'd add is that you can moonwalk on a platform by doing the rotation up instead of down, as long as you don't have tap jump on
this is what the movement should have been like in ultimate
You can ledge dash out of tourney winner in this game too
What is the fastest way to grab ledge from stage? In order to steal it
I'm subbing but if it's your goal to start doing vids for this game, you put your aether vids in a playlist so I can grab em quickly? ^^ I'd appreciate it.
Hey! Although technically part of the combat aspect of the series, Hitfalling is a extremely important technique that i noticed was not covered in this video. Great video otherwise’!
I need some help with ledge dashing. Is there an exact angle you are supposed to hold down-in at? I tend to fast-fall and am then not high enough. Is the fast-fall supposed to happen and do I simply need to time my ledge-drop fast-fall to my jump better?
amazing guide ... 1 tiny problem tho. I use keyboard '-'
I’m confused. I thought RoA2 was digital and not analog, how would you “tilt” to achieve walking vs. dash/running if you’re using something like a dpad or keyboard/hitbox/fight stick controls?
Would it be good to bind short hop and full hop to separate buttons?
guide not clear, got trapped in orcanes pool for eternity
You forgot about b-turnaround :)
Hey quick question, is wave bouncing in Rivals a well or no?
This game looks so good. How many characters?
currently 10, though there are 10 more designs fully fleshed out from the first game that just need porting. they’ve confirmed at least 4 characters on the 2025 roadmap
Dang I knew everything and I'm still bad at this game
It’s ok this game is pretty much just melee 2.0 so ur fighting all the melee ppl who only have played that til now
@KeShaunB3 brother I am the melee player
I'm a casual Smash Ultimate player and I have a problem playing this game, every time I move the analog stick the character just dashes, I can't walk at all. So every time I try to attack an opponent it does a dash attack. I tried changing the stick sensitivity and turning on the walk mode, but then you can't dash at all. In Ultimate if you moved the analog stick a little bit you could walk and do a basic attack or smash or you could move the analog stick fast and dash for a dash attack, its intuitive. It even dashes if I use the d pad controls going left and right after turning them on. I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if its a problem with my DS4 controller.
@@RoughRunnerAce98 Im not sure but it sounds like its an issue with your ds4 and how you have it handling inputs
im in love with u
im still not used 2 wall jumping in this game coming from melee lol
You can change your controls to Tap Walljump to allow you to use smash-style walljumps instead.
@@rpotts oh wtf i had no idea thanks for that
ah yes the r button on my controller
watch someone discover game changing movement in a week that makes this video outdated
don’t do this to me…
I know a movement tech you didnt talk about.
Oh nah bruh
u good salamistick?
@@BadmouthBlooper i know that aint badmouth blooper bruh
@@salamistick1525 oh i know who u are…
Way too many mechanics for me ToT im gonna leave this shiz to the pros lol
Holy shit why can’t these games just be playable without having to devote 2 hours everyday training.
It's not a smash attack, it's a strong attack. Smash doesn't own the plat fighter genre.
honestly that was a bit of a slip up- but considering 99% of the terminology and tech in this video originated from the smash series, it should be pretty understandable to use “strong” & “smash” interchangeably.
Smash is cooler.
Don't get hung up on such semantics like a Kyle or Karen.
ngl since smash has been dominating the genre, the terminology just sticks