The Book of Combat

a complete guide to BDO PvP mechanics

By Crit

This book is not meant to be read in one sitting.

Treat it like a dictionary, encyclopaedia, or wiki.

Join us at ​The Red Desert​, a BDO PvP Discord community, to learn more!.

Have suggestions? ​Leave a ticket​.

Liked this book? ​Buy me a tea​! My friend will hit me up for you.
 If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

–SUN TZU, ​THE ART OF WAR

Press F to pay respects to Sun Tzu

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CONTENTS
1. THE GAME
1.1 The Purpose of the Book
1.2 BDO PvP in a Nutshell
1.3 Organization of the Book

2. USER INTERFACE
2.1 Aiming and auto-aim
2.2 Mouse sensitivity
2.3 Zoom
2.4 Cooldowns and quickslots

3. RESOURCES
3.1 HP
3.2 MP
3.3 Stamina
3.4 Black Spirit’s Rage

4. STATUS EFFECTS
4.1 What are status effects?
4.2 Effect stacking
4.3 Effect terminology
4.4 Rules of effect stacking

5​. SKILL DURATIONS

5​.1 Cancels
5​.2 Flows
5​.3 Charging and holding
5​.4 Speed buffs

6​. CROWD CONTROL DELIVERY SYSTEMS

6​.1 What is crowd control?
6.2 Single Hits
6​.3 Multhits
6​.4 Pets and summons
6.5 AOE fields
6​.6 Triggered hits

7​. STANDARD CROWD CONTROL

7​.1 CC states
7​.2 Stiff
7​.3 Stun
7​.4 Knockback
7​.5 Float
7​.6 Bound
7​.7 Knockdown
7.8 Grab
7​.9 Freeze
7​.10 The CC Counter

8​. RESISTANCES

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 8​.1 What is resistance?
8​.2 What is ignore resistance?
8​.3 How are CC chances calculated?

9​. DAMAGE MODIFIERS

9​.1 What are special attacks?
9.2 Critical attacks
9​.3 Back attacks
9​.4 Air attacks
9.5 Down attacks
9.6 Counter and speed attacks
9.7 Split damage

10. NONSTANDARD CROWD CONTROL

10.1 What are other forms of Crowd Control?
10.2 Air smash
10.3 Down smash
10.4 DS resets
10.5 Vacuum
10.6 Staggers
10.7 Slows

11. SIMULTANEOUS CC SKILLS

11.1 What are double property skills?
11.2a CC skill addons
11.2b Case Study: Penetrating Wind

12. BLOCK
12.1 What is block?
12.2 What is forward guard?
12.3 What is held guard?
12.4 What is shield guard?
12.5 What is s-block?
12.6 Countering block

13. SUPERARMOR
13.1 What is superarmor?
13.2 Old lingering superarmor
13.3 New lingering superarmor
13.4 Superarmor now
13.5 Countering superarmor

14. INVINCIBILITY
14.1 What is invincibility?
14.2 Countering invincibility

15. INPUT THEORY AND PROTECTION CHAINING

15.1 What is input theory?
15.2 What is protection chaining?

16. WALLS AND OBSTACLES

16.1 What is collision?
16.2 Objects you can collide with
16.3 Shortened movement via collision

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 16.4 Acceleration via collision
16.5 Ignoring collision
16.6 Ignoring walls

17. LARGE HEIGHTS

17.1 Considering the third dimension
17.2 Parkour
17.3 Falling animations
17.4 Circumventing falling
17.5 Jump height

18. MOUSE MOVEMENT

18.1 What is mouse movement?
18.2 Mouse movement attacks
18.3 Mouse movement protection
18.4 Mouse movement mobility
18.5 What is camera locking?

19. DESYNC
19.1 What is desync?
19.2 Protection desync
19.3 Positional desync
19.4 Simultaneity

20. COMBOS
20.1 What is a combo?
20.2 Combos in 1v1
20.3 Combos in groups

21. STEALTH
21.1 What is stealth?
21.2 Detecting stealth

22. BLACK SPIRIT’S RAGE

22.1 What is Black Spirit’s Rage?
22.2 BSR skills
22.3 Wounds

23. ESCAPES
23.1 V
23.2 Escape Escape

24. FPS
24.1 Why does FPS matter?

25. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

25.1 Guides and Videos

Acknowledgements
About the Author

Changelog

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5
CHAPTER ONE

1: THE GAME
“[I guide] others to a treasure that I cannot possess.”
–RED SKULL, IN A CONVERSATION WITH THANOS, ​AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

1.1​ THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

​

Skip this section (Chapter 1.1) if you’re only here for information.

I first discovered BDO during its open beta phase when the game was fresh and I had a lot more
time on my hands. Like many others, I was mostly interested in the PvP – though the graphics
were stunning, and the lifeskills were amusing for their realism (well – “realism”), my true focus
was to compete against others, to out-think and out-play them, to know a person’s class so well
that I could divine what they were going to do before they themselves knew it.

However, I didn’t really get that far. After only about a month of play, I had reached level 52 on
a Ranger (I only knew how to spam shotgun), and for personal reasons I decided to take a break.
The break ended up lasting nearly three years.

I came back to the game in June of 2018, with the same interests but significantly less time. As I
started to relearn the mechanics of the game, I was frustrated to discover that there wasn’t a
compendium of information about PvP. Community members often told me to simply “read the
skills”, but the truth is that the skill descriptions contain about a tenth of what there actually is to
know.

I ended up spending a lot of time trawling for information, looking through guides, asking
individuals, and trying to learn from videos. Over time, my grasp of BDO’s PvP improved, but it
was taking far longer than I had hoped.

A major problem was that I had returned to the game after “doomsday” – a series of nerfs and
changes to BDO’s PvP system that completely changed how certain mechanics worked. Many
videos were outdated, as were most guides.

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Another problem was that, though guides often covered the basics, they had left out details that
eventually became important as I improved at the game. In my opinion, they should have all
been titled guides “for beginners”.

This brief book is an attempt to correct those problems. Here, I attempt to cover the entirety of
BDO’s PvP mechanics – in a single, organized collection, and written with a significantly greater
depth of material, in consideration of both beginners and experienced players who seek deeper
knowledge. This book is not meant to be a “beginner’s guide”, but rather a reference material,
like a wiki, dictionary, or encyclopaedia.

I will undoubtedly fail in making a perfect guide, but I hope that this attempt brings many others
to success. You might say that I guide others to a treasure that I cannot possess.

1.2​ BDO PVP IN A NUTSHELL

​

Black Desert Online PvP, at its core, is a multi-person fighting game. Players trade blows with
each other, with each ability having certain effects. Depending on whoever selected the more
appropriate ability for the situation, one player gains an advantage – in HP, stamina, positioning,
timing, or control over the fight. The fight ends when one player loses all of their HP. In group
fights, the same principles apply – except that instead of considering one opponent, players must
also consider their allies and their groups of opponents.

Unlike most fighting games, players in BDO can heal quite easily. Instead, damage dealt is
extraordinarily high when players “combo” each other. If one player can begin a combo – a
sequence of skills that the other player cannot avoid – then usually that player wins the fight.
There are exceptions, of course – players can die to sheer “chip damage”, outside of combos –
but these exceptions are usually rare in 1v1, and are far more common in group fights.

So, the game becomes a constant battle, not of trying to land damage, but of trying to land
abilities that allow you to begin combos. If you can begin your combo, victory is almost certainly
yours, and this seems unlikely to change unless BDO’s average defense increases significantly.

Once you understand this major point, you can better begin to learn how to actually play the
game well instead of flailing around like a drunken, epileptic bear.

1.3​ ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

​

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There are four large sections of the book. Each of them contains several chapters on a given
theme. The sections are:

1.​ Basics and self-character control (Chapters 1 to 5)

​

2.​ ​Control of opponents (Chapters 6 to 10)

3.​ ​Avoiding control (Chapters 11 to 14)

4.​ ​Miscellaneous or advanced concepts (Chapters 15 to 25)

I have made the choice to include ​no​ pictures in this book, as (obviously) this book will only be
distributed through online channels. A text-only book is faster to load and easier for devices to
read. In the future, though, I may add links to reference materials, videos, guides, and of course
memes.

This book covers mechanics of gameplay primarily through the lens of a “1v1” – one player
fighting one other player. I believe material is easier to understand in these simple, isolated
situations. However, I will also consider group PvP situations when I feel that it is necessary
and/or helpful.

While this book will include several mechanics or exceptions unique to individual classes, such
as ​Wave of Light​ (Valkyrie), or ​Ultimate: Charging Wind (​ Ranger), this book is primarily
concerned with general mechanics of BDO PvP. I will not be covering class-specific mechanics,
such as how to perform a cancel for your class, or how to manage certain resources that may also
be unique to your class, unless they serve as a good demonstration of a concept. I personally play
Ranger, so I’ll use a few more Ranger examples since I can explain them more easily.

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CHAPTER TWO

2: USER INTERFACE
“How to play mystic?... Put your hand perpendicular to your body, just like, straight out: UP
AND DOWN.”
–​MCHANDS, DEMONSTRATING GOOD CHARACTER CONTROL, TWITCH, MARCH 2018

2.1 AIMING AND AUTO-AIM

BDO is an action-combat game. At the center of the screen there is a crosshair, or “aiming
reticle”. Whenever you use a skill, it is targeted in that direction. This is straightforward.

But targets, especially player targets, are small and move quickly and erratically. For this reason,
manual aiming is very difficult. BDO has a solution: “Aim Assist”.

To enable this feature, open settings in-game and search for “Assist”. Then, click on the
appropriate link and ensure that the setting is enabled.

This feature will detect attackable objects and “re-aims” for you. If your reticle is on top of a
monster’s tail, then it will “re-aim” projectiles to the center of the monster, thus ensuring that
you will not miss.

This is incredibly important in PvP because it decreases the amount of time you need to aim
before using an ability. Instead of centering your reticle on top of another player perfectly, you
can aim somewhere at them and given that you’re fairly close, your abilities won’t miss because
of poor aiming.

There are very few situations where you do not want aim assist enabled: shooting between other
attackable objects (usually barricades in Node Wars) and attacking the center of a group, rather
than locking on to the closest target in that group.

2.2 MOUSE SENSITIVITY

Camera angle is important to adjust quickly. Make sure your mouse’s DPI is comfortably high,
and that you have “enhanced pointer precision” disabled for your mouse (this will make it easier

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to rotate your camera by the same amount every time, which is very important for certain
combos and reacting quickly in general).

In the game, search your settings for “Mouse Horizontal Sensitivity” and “Mouse Vertical
Sensitivity” and ensure they are set to the maximum. They increase the speed at which you can
rotate your camera. You may feel dizzy at first, but the speed is incredibly important.

2.3 ZOOM

Awareness is important, and being able to see everything around you is important too.

In the game, search your settings for “Camera Vision Range”, and ensure they are both set to
maximum.

2.4 COOLDOWNS AND QUICKSLOTS

Some skills cannot be used while on cooldown. Other skills can be used while on cooldown
(“spammed”) but will lose potency (damage, control effects, and/or movement distance). Make
sure to set specialized cooldown windows in your UI, or else attach skills from the skill menu to
a quickslot, so you can keep track of your cooldowns.

Some skills can only be used with a quickslot. Other skills can be used through quickslot for
some minor benefits (see Chapter 15.1). A few skills cannot be used through quickslot at all.

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CHAPTER THREE

3: RESOURCES
“Run, Forrest, Run!”
–JENNY CURRAN, ​FORREST GUMP (1994)

3.1 HP

If your HP reaches zero, you die. HP regenerates at a constant rate, which can be increased by
equipment or buffs.

An interesting note is that, when you are hit and take damage, red markers will appear around
your character (they look like arcs), whereas if you are hit but successfully block, evade, or
totally negate (99% damage reduction through ​Protected Area)​ damage, then white markers will
appear instead.

Pets will cause white markers less often because they have 100% accuracy (they cannot miss a
hit due to Evasion). However, you can use PvE iframes (Chapter 14) against pets.

3.2 MP

You need MP to perform some skills. MP is regenerated per hit, and regenerates at a constant
rate, which can be increased by equipment or buffs. Some skills can attack MP.

MP, WP, and SP are all the same.

3.3 STAMINA

You need stamina to perform parkour (Chapter 17.2) and some skills. You also need it to sprint.
Stamina regenerates at a constant rate, which cannot be increased.

Some skills consume stamina. Some skills turn stamina regeneration off. Some skills do not
affect stamina regeneration (so it will regenerate normally).

If you reach zero stamina while spamming a skill that requires stamina, then your character will
often stop moving. This can be disorienting.

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3.4 BLACK SPIRIT’S RAGE

Like HP, MP, and stamina, BSR is a resource. However, it functions differently, so it is covered
in Chapter 22.

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13
CHAPTER FOUR

4: STATUS EFFECTS
“This too shall pass.”
–PERSIAN SUFI POETRY, CIRCA 1200 BCE

4.1 WHAT ARE STATUS EFFECTS?

Status effects, commonly known as buffs (beneficial) and debuffs (detrimental), are temporary
effects that modify character stats and abilities. These effects are temporary and expire after a set
duration, which can be very short (1 second) or very long (three hours). Some effects disappear
upon death; others do not.

Common examples include speed buffs (Chapter 5.4), slows (Chapter 10.7), and damage over
time debuffs (pain, bleed, poison, burn).

A buff is not necessarily beneficial for the player. A debuff is not necessarily detrimental for the
player. For example, some players may prefer longer animations (Chapter 13.3).

4.2 EFFECT STACKING

Some effects can apply to a single character at the same time. Other effects cannot apply at the
same time. There are rules governing which effects can and cannot simultaneously apply to the
character, which itself is known the “stacking” of effects.

Below, I discuss a system of organizing status effects that can predict whether any two status
effects will stack or not. This system only applies for combat status effects (those not given by
items, equipment, elixirs, foods, etc, which will always stack with combat status effects). This
system was developed in collaboration with Nayashe, a Maehwa on NA. This system is
imperfect and has a few exceptions that can only be identified through testing. Nevertheless, the
system described in 4.3 and 4.4 should act as a good guideline for status effects should you need
one.

4.3 EFFECT TERMINOLOGY

I organize status effects by three ways: origin, family, and name.

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There are three origins of status effects:

- Pre-awakening skills
- Awakening skills
- Skill add-ons

Whenever a pre-awakening skill or awakening skill is used, it will apply its status effects to the
user immediately, and will apply its status effects to the target if the hit connects. However, a
skill add-on only applies a status effect (to self or to target) if the hit connects. In other words,
you must hit a target for a skill add-on to activate.

There are three families of status effects:

- Offensive:
- +AP, +Ranged AP, +Magic AP, +Melee AP, +Accuracy (to self), Attack Speed,
Casting Speed
- -AP, -DP, -Ranged DP, -Magic DP, -Melee DP, -Evasion (to targets)
- DoTs
- Defensive:
- +DP, +Ranged DP, +Magic DP, +Melee DP, +Evasion (to self)
- Utility:
- All slows (attack speed slow, casting speed slow, movement speed slow, to
targets)

There are many names of status effects. A name is the description of the status effect when you
mouse over its icon on the buff/debuff bar.

● +10 “AP” for 6 seconds and +20 “AP” for 3 seconds share the same name, “AP”.
● +10 “Defense” for 10 seconds and +10 “Damage Reduction” for 10 seconds have
different names, “+Defense” and “+Damage Reduction”.

4.4 RULES OF EFFECT STACKING

The following rules define when effect stacking is allowed, and how effect stacking actually
changes stats.

A. Stacking is defined as two status effects being present at the same time on the buff/debuff
list for a character.

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 B. If two status effects have different names, they will always stack.
C. If two status effects share the same name, then:
1. If they both are from the offensive family, then they can only stack if one
originates a skill, and the other originates from a skill add-on.
2. If they both are from the defensive family, then they can only stack if one
originates from any skill, and the other originates from a skill add-on.
3. If they both are from the slow family, then they can only stack if they do not share
the same origin (pre-awakening skill, awakening skill, and skill add-on).
4. If they share the same name, and can stack, then the effect is additive, never
multiplicative. For example, stacking +5% attack speed and +10% attack speed
will become +15% attack speed.
5. If they share the same name, and cannot stack, then the one with the higher
magnitude of effect will immediately overwrite the one with the lower magnitude
of effect.

I provide some examples below to clarify. Which of the following status effects stack?

1. (i) a skill add-on of a 5% attack speed slow, and (ii) a skill add-on of a 5% movement
speed slow?
- Yes. According to Rule B, they will stack because they have different names.

2. (i) a skill add-on of a 5% attack speed slow, and (ii) a skill add-on of a 10% attack speed
slow?
- No. They have the same name, attack speed slow, so we must consider Rule C.
They are also both part of the utility family, so we consider Rule C.1 in particular.
Finally, because they share the same origin (they both originate from skill
add-ons) we conclude they cannot stack.
- The 10% attack speed slow will overwrite the 5% attack speed slow, regardless of
durations (Rule C.5).

3. (i) a pre-awakening skill effect of +10 DP, and a pre-awakening skill effect of +10
Defense?
- Yes. According to Rule B, they will stack because they have different names.
- Even though the names sound very similar, they are still different names because
they are not spelled exactly the same.

4. (i) a pre-awakening skill effect of +10% attack speed, and (ii) an awakening skill effect of
+5% attack speed?

16
 - No. They share same name, +% attack speed, so we must consider Rule C. They
are also part of the offensive family, so we consider Rule A.1 in particular.
Finally, because they both originate from a skill, rather than one of them coming
from a skill add-on, we conclude they cannot stack.
- The +10% attack speed increase will overwrite the +5% attack speed increase
(Rule C.5).
- Rules C.1. and C.2. are tricky, because they demand that one status effect comes
from a skill and the other status effect comes from a skill add-on. Having one
status effect come from pre-awakening and the other status effect come from
awakening is not sufficient for stacking.

5. (i) a pre-awakening movement speed slow of 5%, (ii) an awakening movement speed
slow of 5%, and (iii) a skill add-on movement speed slow of 5%?
- Yes. They share the same name, movement speed slow, so we must consider Rule
C. They are also part of the utility family, so we consider Rule C.3 in particular.
Finally, because (i) originates from a pre-awakening skill, (ii) originates from an
awakening skill, and (iii) originates from a skill add-on, we conclude that they can
stack.
- All three slows will apply to the target, resulting in a 5+5+5 = 15% movement
speed slow. Note that the effect is additive according to Rule C.4.
- A similar combination of slows is commonly used by Witch, Wizard, and
Maehwa.

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CHAPTER FIVE

5: SKILL DURATIONS
“A wizard is never late. Nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to.”
–GANDALF, ​THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)

5.1 CANCELS

All skills in BDO have an animation. A cancel is an input, action, or another skill that will cause
an animation to last for a shorter time than normal. This means that you can start your next
action more quickly. This is crucial:

1. It allows you to react with a different skill to respond to a new situation more quickly.
2. It allows you to use more skills in less time, thus improving your damage per second.
3. It allows you to stop actions that you no longer want to take – for example, stopping
yourself from moving too close to an enemy.

At higher levels of play, cancels are very important because they allow you to bait people – for
example, you can use one skill to feign an opening, then cancel it and quickly switch to another
skill to spring your trap.

Cancels can be either “terminators” or “accelerators”. A terminating cancel stops the skill early –
thus, if a skill applies 10 hits, then using a terminating cancel halfway through the skill will
cause the skill to only release 5 hits. An accelerating cancel speeds up the skill – thus, if a skill
applies 10 hits in one second, then an accelerating cancel will cause the skill to apply all 10 hits
in only half a second. A skill may have a terminator, accelerator, several of each, or no cancels at
all.

Cancels do not necessarily act on hits. They can shorten animation time, even when no hits are
being applied by the skill. For example, many skills have an ending animation during which no
new hits are being released, and this ending animation can be cancelled simply by pressing any
of the {WASD} keys.

Cancels can also prevent control effects from being applied. Sometimes, it’s necessary to apply
the first control effect of a skill, and cancel the second control effect. More on this later (see
Chapter 6.10).

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Cancels can be induced by confirming hits or by collision (see Chapter 16.4). These are usually
accelerators. These are fairly rare cancels.

There are many cancels in this game, and not knowing how to use your class’s cancels is
essentially the same as playing with one hand cut off.

Each class has its own cancels, and there are no cancels which are shared by all classes. Thus,
you will need to consult your own class’s resources to learn them all. Some you can find simply
by reading the skill’s description. Others you will find by asking more experienced player. And,
no doubt, there are still cancels which aren’t even discovered yet – so always remember to play
around and try stupid things now and then.

5.2 FLOWS

Flows are a unique category of skills in BDO. They can be only used after a “preceding skill”.
For example, imagine that your {LMB} causes your character to do ​Basic Punch.​ Now imagine
that your {RMB} is the key input for ​Flow: Double Punch.​

You can use ​Basic Punch​ whenever you wish. However, you can only activate ​Flow: Double
Punch​ by pressing {RMB} while your character is using ​Basic Punch​. If you try pressing
{RMB} alone, you won’t ​Flow: Double Punch​ at all. If you try pressing {RMB} too late after
Basic Punch,​ you won’t be able to use the flow either: your character has already finished its first
animation.

Because a flow ends the animation of its preceding skill, it is a cancel. However, it doesn’t have
to be. Say you hold {RMB} as soon as you see your character do a ​Basic Punch​. You’re
cancelling the end of ​Basic Punch​. What happens if you wait to press {RMB} until your
character is almost finished with ​Basic Punch?​ You’ll still cancel the ​Basic Punch a​ nimation, but
most of it will still have played out – hardly a cancel at all. This is important when you want to
make an animation last as long as possible for a mechanic called Lingering Superarmor (see
Chapter 13.3).

A single preceding skill can have multiple flows. A single flow can have multiple preceding
skills.

There are a few skills that can be used both alone and as a flow.

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5.3 CHARGING AND HOLDING

Skill animations are shortened by cancels, but they are lengthened by charging and holding.

Charging a skill increases its duration, usually before the release of some powerful final attack.
Imagine that your friend, the neighborhood Super Saiyan, takes a stance and begins screaming
(how typical of them). Say that he screams for only one second before punching the ground –
you can probably feel the ground shaking. But now, say that he screams for ten seconds before
punching the ground – you’ll probably blasted off your feet. Thus, charging a skill – by holding
down keys, or by not pressing the final key to release the skill – increases the power of the
resulting attack.

Of course, your friend the Super Saiyan gets more tired screaming for ten seconds than he does
screaming for one second. This is because charging usually costs stamina.

Holding a skill is the exact same idea as charging, but it does not increase the power of the
resulting attack. Sometimes, it will consume stamina, but in other cases it may use no stamina at
all, or even regenerate stamina. Holding a skill may also cause it to repeat – for example, by
releasing a continuous stream of attacks.

Charging usually increases damage or else strengthens the skill, but lengthening skill animations
is important for a few other reasons:

1. The maintenance of an effect, for example by making a skill’s protection last as long as
needed
2. Baiting, by encouraging an opponent that you are open to being counterattacked (you
usually are vulnerable, but the key is knowing when to stop charging or holding!)

5.4 SPEED BUFFS

Skill animations are shortened by increased attack speed (most classes) and casting speed (a few
classes). Thus, if someone receives the appropriate speed buff, then their animations will be
shortened. Protection duration, therefore, is shortened (if it is given by the skill). CCs will also
have a shorter startup time. Swaps between preawakening and awakening will be faster because
they are considered attacks. Any skill that deals damage is affected by attack or cast speed
(although not every skill that is affected by attack or cast speed deals damage).

20
Movement speed, however, usually affects only dash. Movement speed shortens the duration of
the dash and increases the distance traveled. It also affects walking and sprinting speed, but
walking and sprinting are often left unused in combat, although they are useful for some classes.

A skill cannot be affected by attack or cast speed, and movement speed. Finally, while almost
skills are affected by either attack, cast, or movement speed, there are some skills which are not
affected by at all.

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CHAPTER SIX

6: CROWD CONTROL DELIVERY SYSTEMS

“If it is not advantageous, do not move; if there is no gain, do not use troops; if there is no
danger, do not do battle.”
––SUN TZU, ​THE ART OF WAR [​ 13.09]

6.1 WHAT IS CROWD CONTROL?

In BDO, the most dangerous effects are called “CCs”, short for “crowd control”. A player that is
CCed cannot use their skills nor move in BDO; they can only use certain consumable items
(elixirs, potions, and foods). If you CC someone, you can perform whatever skills that you’d like
on them (assuming that you aren’t interrupted by someone else’s attacks), and this makes it
possible to chain CCs together, so that a player stays controlled until they die.

As stated in the first chapter, this is what makes BDO a game of CCs. The first to be CCed is
(usually) the first to die.

6.2 SINGLE HITS

Most skills today apply CC on one hit (recall that most skills are composed of multiple hits). If
you avoid this one hit, then you can happily take the other hits, and you won’t get CCed. This
becomes important when people begin exchanging CCs with each other.

Let’s say that the hypothetical skill ​Throatcut​ has a total animation time of 1 second. Now let’s
say that it hits 4 times: once after 0.2 seconds, once after 0.4 seconds, once after 0.6 seconds, and
once after 0.8 seconds. Most importantly, let’s say that it is the second hit at 0.4 seconds that
applies the CC.

Crucially, it will be safe for you to counterattack after 0.4 seconds. Even though ​Throatcut​ will
still hit you, the danger of its damage is insignificant compared to its CC effect, which you have
just handily blocked. You don’t need to wait for the whole skill to finish – you just need to wait
for the dangerous part, the CC hit, to finish and fail.

When you become familiar with many classes, you will realize that most CC skills have these
traits. They will have a startup time (during which you are safe), a CC hit (during which you are

22
in danger), and an ending time (during which you are safe). It is perfectly fine to attack during
the startup and ending times.

Just be aware that your skills have the same properties. If your skill is not a “protected CC”, you
are vulnerable during the startup time and ending time.

6.3 MULTIHITS

There are very few skills that are multihit CCs. However, these are incredibly dangerous,
because they are much more likely to succeed against you.

Because I am a Ranger, I will use one example from my class which illustrates what I mean. I
am referring to ​Fury Arrow​.

Fury Arrow is a bow skill that sounds, and behaves, like a machine gun. It constantly shoots a
stream of CC shots, the gap between each shot being about a quarter of a second. Once a Ranger
starts firing this skill off, you are very unlikely to counterattack successfully unless you have a
protected CC available.

This is because there is no more startup time and ending time to exploit – rather, there is only the
vulnerable time between each shot, roughly 0.25 seconds each.

Ah, but isn’t a quarter of a second only a little bit difficult to time something to?

Yes, but you fail to consider your own startup time of your skills. If you plan to counterattack
Fury Arrow, then almost any skill you choose will have a startup time. Let’s say it’s a very fast
skill, starting up in about 0.20 seconds (which is, by the way, faster than any grab).

You must use the grab after taking a Fury Arrow shot – otherwise, you will be CCed. Yet you
must also start the grab early enough so that you are not caught by the next shot in 0.25 seconds.

So, in total, you have (0.25 – 0.20) = 0.05 seconds to time your counterattack. You now see the
difficulty of the task at hand.

There are very few multihit CCs, but they are extremely dangerous because of their rapid hit rate
making them almost impossible to contest with a normal, singlehit CC. It is best to avoid these
multihit CCs or counterattack using protected options intead.

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6.4 PETS AND SUMMONS

A pet or summon is a monster that is called by a class for aid in battle. It has its own HP bar and
set of skills, complete with CCs attached to those skills.

The dangerous parts about pets and summons is that some of them are semi-autonomous – can
act without any player input.

The Tamer’s Heilang is a good example of this. The Tamer can use various skills to command
their Heilang to perform its own skills, one of which we will discuss soon. Thus, you now have
to deal with two sources of CCs. But perhaps the most frustrating part is that the Heilang can act
even while the Tamer is CCed.

Imagine that you have grabbed a Tamer and are now comboing her. However, because her
Heilang needs no commands to act, it will (driven by its programming and behavior) attack you,
and sometimes, it may use a CC skill on you, interrupting your combo, and quite possibly losing
you the fight.

This is frustrating and is a famously infuriating experience for any new player experiencing their
first fight against a Tamer, Witch, or Wizard. Keep pets and summons in mind as possible
sources of CCs.

6.5 AOE FIELDS

Some skills have hits that are not directly driven by their user. It is the difference between Zeus
punching you in the face (direct) and Zeus calling a lightning bolt with a clap of his hands, which
then strikes you a moment later (indirect).

This time-lag is the unique property of an AOE field CC. Even if the original user is CCed, their
AOE field can still have an effect. Even if you get Zeus into a chokehold after he summons his
lightning bolt, you cannot undo his summons, and you will be electrified moments later. There
are only two ways to end an AOE field: either wait for it to end normally, or kill its summoner,
the latter being extremely difficult unless the summoner is already very close to death.

For the AOE field’s user, this can be both a strength and a weakness. Someone, predicting that
they will be CCed in moments, may instead choose to summon an AOE field to protect himself
and discourage his assailer from continuing to combo him. On the other hand, if someone uses an
AOE field skill, they may find that the skill works too late because of its timelag.

24
For the AOE field’s opponent, this can also be a strength and a weakness. Someone might seek
to exploit the momentary gap in between the summoning and the AOE field CC. On the other
hand, someone might fail to recognize or consider the AOE field’s danger, and might get caught
by it because they believe that their opponent isn’t doing anything at the moment (they don’t
have to – the AOE field is doing all the work!).

6.6 TRIGGERED HITS

There is a final way that a CC can be delivered. These are not really a true and separate method,
but rather, another type of single hit CC. However, they are not truly player-controlled.

Stun traps (certain player items) will apply a single-hit CC to you if you step on them.

Certain block skills have a “counter” property – if you hit a player holding one of these blocks,
then their block will immediately counterattack with a single-hit CC.

Certain skills will activate additional hits if they hit obstacles (see Chapter 15). I do not consider
this to be a cancel.

And finally, a special type of triggered hit is a projectile. A projectile – usually an arrow, spear,
or magical bolt of energy – travels until it collides with an object (Chapter 15). At this point, it is
triggered to release a single hit CC.

25
CHAPTER SEVEN

7: STANDARD CROWD CONTROL

“One takes on invincibility defending; one takes on vulnerability attacking.”
––SUN TZU, ​THE ART OF WAR [​ 04.03]

7.1 CC STATES

In BDO, CCs all have animations. A player loses control over their character because their
character is being forced to go through these non-cancellable animations. I consider there to be
six main states:

1. Standing state: standing on two feet

2. Grappled state: held in the air by another character
3. Air state: with no feet touching the ground
4. Grounded state: on the ground and unable to get up
5. Recovering state: returning from the grounded state to the standing state
6. Frozen state: frozen into a block of ice, and taking only 20% of normal damage

Some CCs will fail if attempted on characters in certain states. Like real life, BDO’s subtleties
are often inelegant and annoying to learn.

The CCs that I overview below can be considered “standard” CCs. Each class’s CCs last for a
slightly different amount of time, but they all have very similar durations. The class of the target
does not affect the CC duration.

7.2 STIFF

A stiff can only be applied to characters that are either standing or recovering. It is a standing
CC.

A stiff causes a character to momentarily be unable to move, but they will remain standing. This
CC lasts for about 1 second and is the shortest of all of the CCs.

7.3 STUN

26
A stun is essentially a bigger stiff. It can only be applied to characters that are either standing or
recovering. It is a standing CC.

A stun causes a character to momentarily be unable to move, but they will remain standing. This
CC lasts for about 2 seconds.

7.4 KNOCKBACK

A knockback can only be applied to characters that are either standing or recovering. It is a
standing CC.

A knockback acts as a stiff or stun that also pushes its target backwards, away from the attacker.
It will also rotate the target so that the target faces its attacker. This CC lasts a bit longer than 1
second.

7.5 FLOAT

A float can be applied to characters provided they are not in the grappled state. It is a grounding
CC because it forces the opponent onto the ground.

A float is composed of three parts: the target is thrown into the air away from the attacker (a very
long air state), lands on the ground and is temporarily unable to get up (a short grounded state),
and then quickly gets up (a short recovery state).

Floats are particularly dangerous because they have the longest air time for their targets, thereby
providing a long window of opportunity for air attacks (Chapter 8.4).

7.6 BOUND

A bound can be applied to characters provided they are not in the grappled state. It is a
grounding CC because it forces the opponent onto the ground.

A bound is composed of two parts: the target is immediately brought onto the ground (a short
grounded state) and then quickly gets up (a short recovery state).

A bound is essentially a float with no air time.

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7.7 KNOCKDOWN

A knockdown can be applied to characters provided they are not in the grappled state. It is a
grounding CC because it forces the opponent onto the ground.

A knockdown is composed of three parts: the target is thrown into the air away from the attacker
(a medium length air state), lands on the ground and is unable to get up for a rather long time (a
very long grounded state), and then quickly gets up (a medium length recovery state).

Knockdowns are particularly dangerous because they have the longest grounded time for their
targets, thereby providing a long window of opportunity for down attacks (Chapter 8.5).

Knockdowns are unique because their recovery state can be controlled by the target’s player – by
pressing {WW}, {AA}, {SS}, or {DD}, a target can choose what direction to roll towards while
recovering. Additionally, a target can choose not to get up at all and can remain grounded for a
very long time. (However, most people always choose to get up as fast as possible).

The recovery state is potentially dangerous because it is longer compared to other recovery states
of other CCs because it is a roll. Players can receive additional damage during this recovery
state.

7.8 GRAB

A grab can be applied to characters provided they are not in the grappled state.

A grab is composed of two major parts: a grapple (with variable duration, dependent on which
class is doing the grabbing) and a grounding CC: float, bound, or knockdown. The Striker
preawakening grab, ​Massive Suppression​, makes this very apparent, so I will break down
Massive Suppression b​ elow.

First, the Striker uses the grab, and their target is grappled. During this grappled state, both the
Striker and their target are animation locked: the Striker is applying the grapple, and the target is
being grappled. During the grapple, the target can take only critical attacks and back attacks.

Next, the Striker completes the grapple, and applies a grounding CC. In this case, the grounding
CC is a knockdown. Recall that the target will now undergo three states: an air state, a grounded
state, and a recovery state. Depending on the state, the target can receive various special attacks.

28
As soon as the Striker completes their grapple, they can continue to attack while their opponent
is controlled.

If the grapple succeeds, then the following grounding CC is always successful (disregarding
desync, covered in Chapter 19).

An interesting note here is that the grounding CC applied by a grab is a small AOE. Thus, if any
people are next to the Striker’s target, then they will also be grounded as soon as the grapple
state ends.

Different grabs have different grapple states. Thus, some classes have a very long grapple state,
and other classes may have very short grapple states.

Different grabs will apply different grounding CCs. For example, Tamer grab applies a float,
Warrior grab applies a bound, and Ranger grab applies a knockdown, making it one of the most
cancerous grabs in the game.

7.9 FREEZE

Freeze is very situational and mostly used by Wizards and Witches. There are a few skill add-ons
that apply freeze with a very low chance. However, it has been included for completeness’s sake.

A freeze can be applied to characters provided they are not in the frozen state.

Like grab, freeze is composed of two major parts: a frozen state (lasting roughly as long as a
stiff), and a bound. Consider the Wizard/Witch skill, ​Freeze​ (a nice name, don’t you think?).

First, the Wizard uses the freeze, and their target is frozen. During this frozen state, the target is
animation-locked in a block of ice. They can take critical and back attacks during this time. They
also take only 20% of damage because they are protected by the thick block of ice.

Next, the ice melts, and the target is bound. The target undergoes a grounded state, during which
they can receive down attacks, and a recovery state, during which they can receive back attacks.

The frozen state is very interesting. You cannot freeze someone who has already been frozen,
and nor can you stun or stiff them (the two standing CCs). However, you can apply grounding
CC or grabs.

29
7.10 THE CC COUNTER

In the past, extraordinarily long combos were possible. However, in May 2018, a new system
was implemented to prevent these very long combos.

Every CC is assigned a value of (1), except for Stiff, which is assigned (0.7). When a target is
CCed, their CC counter goes up by the corresponding value immediately following the start of
the CC. After their CC counter reaches 2.0 or above, then the target becomes immune to all CCs
for 5 seconds.

(Since there was some confusion: grab increments the CC counter by 1.0 at the start of the
grapple state, not the start of the grounding CC afterward.)

Here’s a rather long example:

- Player successfully applies a grab to Target. The target’s CC counter increases to 1.0.
- Player tries to apply a stiff to Target, but the stiff fails. No change to Target’s CC
counter.
- Player successfully applies a knockdown to the Target. The target’s CC counter increases
to 2.0. The Target, immediately after being knocked down, becomes immunes to all CCs
for 5 seconds.
- Player tries to apply a float to Target, but the Target is immune, and so they resist the
float. No change to CC counter.

Something else important to know about the CC counter is that it only resets after 5 seconds.
This is what I mean:

- Player successfully applies a grab to the Target. The CC counter increases by 1.0.
- Player runs away. The Target is not CCed for 5 seconds, and their counter resets to 0.

OR:

- Player successfully applies a grab to the Target. The CC counter increases by 1.0.
- Player runs away. The target is not CCed for 3 seconds.
- Player successfully applies a bound to the Target. The CC counter increases and reaches
2.0.

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What this means is that, generally, you can do 2 CCs together before a target becomes immune.
With at least one stiff, you can do 3 CCs together. So, in general, it is best to apply as many
grounding CCs as possible, because they last the longest.

There are some workarounds which enable even longer combos, which I will discuss later
(Chapter 10.4).

There is one final note. After a CC is applied, the target becomes immune to CCs of the same
overall type for one second. So, (knockdown, wait 0.5 seconds, knockdown) will fail the second
CC, while (knockdown, wait 1.1 seconds, knockdown) will succeed the second CC. This makes
it very difficult to chain stiffs together, as they each last about one second. However, it is still
possible (albeit difficult).

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CHAPTER EIGHT

8: RESISTANCES
“What’s the point in outplaying an opponent if they can RNG carry themselves through a cc and
punish me instead?”
–​DAYNIM, TOP NINJA NA, STATING HIS OPINION ON THE MAY CC CHANCES, REDDIT, MAY
2018

8.1 WHAT IS RESISTANCE?

Recall that CCs are applied on usually one hit (though sometimes multiple hits). Every hit can
sometimes miss (due to accuracy and evasion stats) but the CC will always try to work,
regardless of hit or miss. There are only two stats that affect CC chance: resistance and ignore
resistance.

Resistances come as a %. Everyone naturally has 20% base resistance – in other words, every
CC will normally have an 80% chance of success on someone without additional gear, food,
elixirs, alchemy stone, or other buffs. This base resistance can be increased by many factors.
This base resistance can also be decreased by debuffs.

Moreover, resistances come in four flavors:

- Stun/Stiffness/Freezing
- Knockdown/Bound
- Grapple
- Knockback/Floating

Some items increase only one of the four flavors of resistance. Other items may increase several,
or all, flavors of resistance.

8.2 WHAT IS IGNORE RESISTANCE?

Ignore resistance is the companion stat to resistance, and it also comes in four flavors. Everyone
naturally has 0% ignore resistance.

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8.3 HOW ARE CC CHANCES CALCULATED?
resistancetotal = 0.2 + resbuf f s + resskillpassives + resequipment
ignoretotal = ignorebuf f s + ignoreskillpassives + ignoreequipment
·​ For calculations, use a decimal (0 to 1), not a % (0% to 100%).
​

·​ resistancetotal is displayed in the character menu for each of the four flavors.
·​ ignoretotal is never displayed and must be manually calculated.

chancecc success = (1 − resistancetotal + ignoretotal ) * 100%

·​ ​This success rate is always 40% or higher. If the calculated chance goes below 40%, use 40%
instead.

Learning to deal with resistances is difficult, and unique to each class. Consult your class’s
community and guides for individual assistance.

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CHAPTER NINE

9: DAMAGE MODIFIERS
“BIG DAMAGE ON MY PING!”
–UNKNOWN

9.1 WHAT ARE SPECIAL ATTACKS?

Special attacks are attacks have been modified to have increased damage in certain situations.
Imagine that I use the real-life skill ​Kick​, and aim it at your behind. You probably won’t take
much damage. Now imagine that I use ​Kick​ at your crotch. In certain situations (for example, if
you are a male) you will take a ​lot​ of damage – enough to provoke you into using ​Basic Punch
and then ​Flow: Double Punch​ at my face.

There are five types of special attacks:

1. Critical attacks (all skills)

2. Back attacks (most skills)
3. Air attacks (some skills)
4. Down attacks (some skills)
5. Counter attacks (PvE only)

Any hit can be a critical hit, but you can only have one of the back, air, down, or counter attacks.
For example, you can achieve Crit+Air, but not Crit+Back+Air, or Down+Air.
Air attacks and down attacks take priority over back attacks.

Special attacks are additive. A crit gives +100%, and an air attack gives +70%, so a critical air
attack will deal 100+100+70 = 270% of normal damage.

It is sometimes important to see when you achieve these attacks. For example, by shooting an air
attack after a knockdown skill, a Ranger can confirm whether the knockdown succeeded: if a
message appears for AIR ATTACK, then the knockdown succeeded.

For this, ensure that “Skill Decisions” are enabled in settings, unless you feel that the messages
are too distracting.

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9.2 CRITICAL ATTACKS

All skills have a property called “critical hit”, which if you are lucky causes a hit to deal 200% of
a non-critical hit. Every hit of a skill has a chance to do double damage, and this chance is
dependent on your Critical Rate, a character stat affected by equipment and buffs.

A critical attack deals 200% of a non-critical attack. Any skill can crit.

Some skills operate entirely on your base critical rate. Some skills increase critical rate
temporarily. Some skills always deal critical attacks.

As a note for the math-inclined: because skills usually have multiple hits, it is important to
remember that a critical hit does not double the damage of the entire skill, but merely the damage
of that one hit. If a skill hits ten times and has a critical rate of 30%, we would expect three of
those hits to deal double damage. This translates, very nicely, into a skill damage increase of
30%.

However, the skill might have more crits, and the skill might have less – there is still some
variation, but a lot less than you would expect. This is known as a ​binomial distribution​, a
probability distribution for events that can be expressed as either having happened or not (crit or
non-crit).

9.3 BACK ATTACKS

Most skills have a unique property called “back attack”, which if activated causes the skill to
deal 120% of a normal attack in PvP (150% in PvE).

To achieve a back attack, you must attack a target from their behind, and they must also be either
standing or getting up (more on this in Chapter 6.1).

In terms of the angle, you don’t have to attack from perfectly behind – anywhere behind your
target is fine. Imagine a circle around your target. Now divide that circle into two halves – one in
front of the target, one behind the target, and each one spanning an angle of 180 degrees (half of
the circle). A back attack occurs whenever you attack from the back half. Even if you’re very
close to their sides, if you’re still in that half-circle, you will be doing a back attack.

The distance at which you can do a back attack is a bit trickier than the angle. For each skill, it’s
different. Some skills will allow back attacks from a very long distance – the length of a horse,

35
for example – whereas other skills require that you get incredibly intimate with your target
before the skill recognizes the hit as a back attack.

9.4 AIR ATTACKS

Some skills have a unique property called “air attack”, which if activated causes the skill to deal
170% of a normal attack (200% in PvE).

To achieve an air attack, you must attack a target that is currently in the air. A PvP target is either
in the air because they have been hit with knockdown/float/air smash, or because their skill puts
them into the air for you (how kind of them).

You will always be able to air attack a target that has been freshly knocked down, floated, or air
smashed, if they have not yet reached the ground. You cannot air attack someone laying on the
ground.

Air attacks are the strongest of the special attacks because their windows of opportunity are so
small. Moreover, these windows of opportunity are different for knockdown, float, and air
smash, and are also different for skills that place the target into the air for you.

You can air attack someone who is falling off a cliff (the horizontal fall state, Chapter 16).

I am not actually sure if you can attack someone who is being held in the air by a grapple. If you
find out, contact me!

9.5 DOWN ATTACKS

Some skills have a unique property called “down attack”, which if activated causes the skill to
deal 120% of a normal attack in PvP (150% in PvE).

To achieve a down attack, you must attack a target that is currently laying on the ground. A PvP
target is always on the ground because they have been hit with
knockdown/float/bound/grapple/freeze/down smash.

You can only achieve down attacks immediately if a target has been bound. All other attacks
have an animation portion during which they are not grounded (for example, being grappled by a
grab, or being thrown in the air by a float).

36
You cannot achieve down attacks if a target is getting up from the ground. This counts as a
standing state, not a grounded state.

Down attacks are the most versatile of the special attacks because their requirement – that an
opponent be on the ground – is a common situation. Most CCs have a period during which the
opponent is on the ground.

9.6 COUNTER AND SPEED ATTACKS

Some skills have a unique property called “counter attack”, which if activated causes the skill to
deal 120% of a normal attack in PvP (150% in PvE). Same deal with “speed attack”.

Neither of these are applicable (or even easy to use) in PvP, so they’re only included here for
completion’s sake.

If you’re really interested, I’ll tell you that you counter attack a monster whenever you attack it
while casting, and that you speed attack someone whenever you attack while you are sprinting.

9.7 SPLIT DAMAGE

Split damage is interesting, as it’s not mentioned often, and it’s a rare property of only a few
skills. It is not a true special attack as considered by the game, but it nevertheless should be
mentioned. The idea is very straightforward: the more targets a skill hits, the less damage each
individual target receives. There are three ways to observe split damage:

1. True split damage: if a skill deals 100 damage total and hits ​n​ targets, each target receives
100/​n ​damage.
2. Projectile split damage: if a skill releases multiple projectiles and each projectile can only
hit one target, then each target will take less damage.
3. Threshold split damage: if a skill hits more than a certain number of targets, then the skill
will hit less damage on each target.

Most skills do not have split damage. However, you will occasionally hear the term come up, so
I’ve included it here, as it becomes very important in group PvP (you don’t want to lessen your
damage against multiple people).

37
CHAPTER TEN

10: NONSTANDARD CROWD CONTROL

“Uh, what the f*** is that, dude?”
–​YOFAMSTEVE, IN RESPONSE TO A 16 SECOND COMBO, NOVEMBER 2018

10.1 WHAT ARE OTHER FORMS OF CROWD CONTROL?

There are some forms of CCs which are not considered by the game to be “true” CCs, in that
they are not counted by the CC counter. However, they nevertheless prevent or severely limit a
player’s control over their character, so they are discussed here. In many cases, these
nonstandard CCs are very dangerous and should always be considered when engaging an
opponent.

10.2 AIR SMASH

An air smash can only be applied to characters in the air state. It is a grounding CC because it
forces an opponent on the ground. An air smash has 100% success rate, always.

An air smash stops the float animation and “replaces” it with an air smash animation, which is
composed of a long air state, a very short ground state, and a short recovery state.

However, the air smash’s air state is unique, because a target can actually receive standing CCs –
stiff and stun and knockback. Thus, someone who has been air smashed and is in the air can be
hit by any CC. Thus, you can float, air smash, and then knockback someone.

10.3 DOWNSMASH

A down smash can only be applied to characters in the grounded state. It is a grounding CC
because it forces an opponent on the ground. A down smash has 30% success rate, always.

A down smash stops any grounding CC’s animation and “replaces” it with a down smash
animation, which is composed of a short ground state and a short recovery state.

Note that down smash can shorten the length of a knockdown if used too early. A knockdown
lasts for roughly three seconds. If an opponent is knocked down, then down smashed after half a

38
second, then the total time they will be CCed is only 1.7 seconds (0.5 seconds of knockdown,
then 1.2 seconds of down smash). Note: times are estimates, not exact durations.

10.4 DS RESETS

Down smashes can circumvent the CC counter when used after a knockdown. Thus, the
following combo is possible:

- Grapple (CC counter goes to 1.0)

- Knockdown (2.0)
- Wait until the knockdown is almost over
- Down smash (2.0)
- CC counter resets because knockdown + down smash + down smash is longer than 5
seconds (0.0)
- Knockdown (1.0)
- Grapple (2.0)

A down smash after a knockdown that resets the CC counter from >2.0 to 0.0 is called a “DS
reset”, because it enables more CCs to be applied. DS resets can be used to indefinitely CC
someone, provided that their down smash luck is incredibly good (recall that each downsmash is
normally only 30% success).

A down smash after a knockdown is called a “DS reset”, because it resets the CC counter to 0.0
using two down smashes and enables more CCs to be applied. DS resets can be used to
indefinitely CC someone, provided that their down smash luck is incredibly good (recall that
each down smash is only 30% success).

A general DS reset can be performed using the following method:

- Any knockdown
- Wait ~2 seconds
- If one down smash succeeds at the appropriate time, you have successfully done a DS
reset. (Usually need 2 due to random timing, since most down smashes must be spammed
in order for a DS to occur).
- Apply new CC as normal

I developed a smash method for Ranger, because the class has fast down smash skills with no
cooldown (​Penetrating Wind​ and ​Charging Wind​). A few weeks later, Ionita Ionita -
ToyohisaShimazu (EU Ninja) developed an analogous method using the skill ​Floor Sweeping​.

39
These two methods each rely on two consecutive down smashes, because each down smash is
randomly timed (during the spam of down smash attempts), and at the time I believed that I was
the first player to develop, refine, and regularly use a DS reset.

However, FrostBite - SlimShadii (an EU Sorceress) was actually the first to develop a DS reset.
His method involves only a single down smash, through the use of ​Blades of Darkness​ (a
Sorceress skill with a 100% down smash). Because of the guaranteed success rate, the down
smash can be precisely timed, and therefore only 1 DS is required.

In general, note that:

- Most opponents do not need to be DS reset in order to be killed in one combo

- DS resets are almost entirely unprotected and are most useful in 1v1

DS resets are risky to use because the timing is very precise and the luck requirement is high (for
classes besides Sorceress). For someone using two down smash skills to attempt a DS reset, they
have a 9% chance of success.

10.5 VACUUM

A vacuum is an effect that pulls a character to a new point. When you are in the pull of a
vacuum, your character is dragged to a certain point, which is specified by the user of the
vacuuming skill. You are still able to perform any skills and actions, but you will be inexorably
“dragged” to the center of the vacuum. Many people refer to vacuum skills as THE BIG SUCK.

A vacuum is essentially an AOE field that deals constant hits to targets around it. For every hit,
targets are moved a short distance towards the center of the vacuum. Vacuum hits cannot be
avoided except by using Invincibility (Chapter 13). This it makes it very hard to get away from a
Vacuum, which a few classes exploit to an infuriating degree.

Some vacuums also turn targets. Valkyrie’s ​Wave of Light​ causes opponents to face away from
the Valkyrie. This is prevented if the opponent is in Superarmor (Chapter 12) or S-blocking
(Chapter 12.5) or protected by frontal guard skills (Chapter 12.2). It also causes guarding
opponents (Chapter 12.3, 12.4) to face towards the center of the vacuum. Mystic and Sorceress
have equally large vacuums but they do not rotate their targets at all; Striker vacuum is much
smaller and does not rotate its targets either. Sorceress and Musa vacuums “drag” their targets
along because the vacuum moves.

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10.6 STAGGERS

Whenever you take a hit while walking, regardless of whether it has CC or not, you will undergo
a “stagger” animation – your character will jostle a little from the force of the hit. This stagger
animation does not prevent you from not controlling your character. However, it causes your
walking animation to be slowed very slightly. This is purely an artifact of how BDO animates
the game, and so the effect of stagger is lessened by having a very good computer (Chapter 23).
This effect is significant for skills with a huge number of hits, and can slow animation walking
speed by up to 20%.

This effect is particularly devastating in nodewars and siege, PvP with enormous numbers of
people and hits.

This effect is stronger if the target is using a “held” guard, a “shielded” guard, or s-block
(Chapter 11) – the animation of the stagger is longer, and so a player experiences a greater slow
effect. A particularly deadly trick is hitting someone’s block to make them stagger, which delays
their response long enough to get behind them. An exception to this delay are skills that can only
be used when a player is using a block known as a held guard (Chapter 12.3), such as the
Maehwa skill ​Royal Rage,​ and these skills are not affected by staggers.

Stagger is mostly insignificant in most fights, except for people trying to maximize their own
experience and knowledge. Until you completely understand how the other CCs work, do not
bother learning or taking advantage of staggers. I mention them so you know what to look for.

10.7 SLOWS

A slow debuff is the opposite of a speed buff (Chapter 4.4). Recall that skill animations are
shortened by increased attack speed, casting speed, and movement speed (depending on the exact
skill). Thus, a slow debuff will increase skill animation duration.

This can be a curse, because it locks you into animations and prevents you from reacting quickly.
If you are stuck in a vulnerable animation, then your vulnerable animation will be longer. Your
decision making will be slowed because you cannot instantly react.

This can be a blessing, because it may lock you into animations that provide protection. If you
are slowed and then use a skill that provides Invincibility (Chapter 13), the duration of the
Invincibility will be increased.

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Slows only affect skills that are started afterward. So, if you are slowed during a skill, that skill
will not be slowed. However, any skills afterward will be slowed.

Like speed buffs, slow debuffs have variable amounts of action. Some slows are powerful; others
are barely noticeable.

As a final note: going overweight will produce a slow that acts on attack, casting, and movement
speed. When you reach very high overweight levels (200%+ levels) your animations can almost
get comically long. (105% is still rather comfortablely fast.)

42
CHAPTER ELEVEN

11: SIMULTANEOUS CC SKILLS

“It’s super effective!”
–POK​É​MON SERIES (1996–PRESENT)

11.1 WHAT ARE SIMULTANEOUS CC SKILLS?

Some CC skills have both a standard CC (Chapter 6) and a down smash or air smash. Usually,
the CC is applied first, and then the smash. This has caused confusion: if someone is grounded,
and we use a skill that both knocks down and down smashes, what happens?

To understand what happens, you must remember a few things:

- The CC is first. The smash is second.

- Down smash can only apply to ground state targets.
- Air smash can only apply to air state targets.

To explore what I mean, I’m going to bring up the Striker skill ​Spiral Cannon,​ which is a
simultaneous CC skill because it applies both knockdown and down smash. Imagine that a
Striker uses ​Spiral Cannon​ on an opponent that is currently in the ground state (the Striker just
finished using their grab-knockdown, ​Massive Suppression)​ . What happens if the knockdown
succeeds?

- Spiral Cannon is used.

- The skill tries to knockdown and succeeds.
- The knockdown causes the opponent to enter the air state (as part of the
air-ground-recovery state sequence).
- The skill immediately tries to down smash and fails because the opponent is in the air
state, and not in the ground state.
- The opponent is only knocked down.

What happens if the knockdown fails?

- Spiral Cannon is used.

- The skill tries to knockdown and fails.

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 - The skill immediately tries to down smash and succeeds (30%) because the opponent is
in the ground state (from the very first grab-knockdown).
- The opponent is down smashed.

OR

- The skill immediately tries to down smash and fails (70%) even though the opponent is in
the ground state (from the very first grab-knockdown).
- No follow-up CC is applied by Spiral Cannon, and the opponent begins to get up from
the very first grab-knockdown.

Here is another example, from the Ranger skill ​Vine Knot,​ which applies both float and air
smash. Imagine that a Ranger uses ​Vine Knot​ on an opponent that is currently in the ground state
(the Ranger just finished using their grab-knockdown, ​Spirit’s Shackles)​ . What happens if the
float succeeds?

- Vine Knot is used.

- The skill tries to float and succeeds.
- The float causes the opponent to enter the air state.
- The skill immediately air smashes (100%).
- The opponent is air smashed.

What happens if the float fails?

- Vine Knot is used.

- The skill tries to float and fails.
- The skill tries to air smash and fails because the opponent is in the ground state, and not
in the air state.
- The opponent begins to get up from the very first grab-knockdown.

I leave the explanations of other double property skills as an exercise for the reader.

11.2a CC SKILL ADDONS

Some skills have skill-addons that add either a % chance to CC or a chance to down smash or air
smash. However, simply adding this % to the original number is not the correct way to calculate
the real % chance of success.

44
For skill add-ons that have a % chance to CC, there are actually two events that must be
considered:

- The chance for the skill add-on to “activate”, that is, to ​try​ to CC
- The chance for the CC to succeed (as discussed in Chapter 7).

To calculate the real chance of an opponent being CCed, you must multiply these probabilities
together.

For skill add-ons that have a % chance to air smash, there are actually two events that must be
considered:

- The chance for the skill add-on to “activate”, that is, to ​try​ to air smash
- The chance for the air smash to succeed (100%).

However, as any ten-year-old knows, the probability of an uncertain event and a guaranteed
event is simply the probability of an uncertain event alone: P (x) * 1 = P (x) .

For skill add-ons that have a % chance to down smash, there are actually two events that must be
considered:

- The chance for the skill add-on to “activate”, that is, to ​try​ to down smash
- The chance for the down smash to succeed (30%).

To calculate the real chance of an opponent being CCed, you must multiply these probabilities
together. So for a skill that normally does not have down smash, with an add-on giving 20%
down smash, the final probability is

P (try downsmash) * P (downsmash success) = 0.2 * 0.3 = 0.06 = 6%

Not as good as it sounds.

For skills that already have down smash, combined with skill add-ons that have a % to down
smash, the math is far more annoying, so I will guide you through an example using the Ranger
down smash skill ​Penetrating Wind.​ The following math is rather intensive, so you can skip it if
you’re not interested.

11.2b CASE STUDY: PENETRATING WIND

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The Ranger skill ​Penetrating Wind​ has a normal down smash, which we know has a 30%
success rate. It also has a skill add-on down smash, given as “15% chance of Down Smash for
target”.

We cannot add these two probabilities together (15+30=45) because these events are mostly
independent. Thus, we will have to do some simple math.

Consider the probability of down smash: P (normal ds success) = 0.3

Thus, down smash succeeds 30% of the time, and fails 70% of the time.

If the normal down smash succeeds, then we do not need to consider the add-on down smash,
because we only can down smash once per skill. Thus, we can add 30% to our final total success
rate.

P total (ds success) += 0.3

What if the normal down smash fails? Now, we must consider the probability of the add-on
down smash both activating and working, initially given that our normal down smash fails.

P (normal ds f ail) * P (ds addon activation) * P (ds addon success)

= .7 * .15 * .3 = .0315

We add this probability to our total down smash success rate.

P total (ds success) += 0.0315

The final probability of down smash for Penetrating Wind, including the down smash skill
add-on, is as follows:

P total (ds success) = P (normal ds success) + P (normal ds f ail ∩ ds addon activation ∩ ds addon success)
= 0.3 + 0.0315 = 0.3315 = 33.15%

Not really that great. I verified this in-game with way too many hours of Penetrating Wind tests
and the results checked out.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

12: BLOCK
“Jigglypuff!”
–JIGGLYPUFF, SUPER SMASH BROS BRAWL

12.1 WHAT IS BLOCK?

Block is one of the three mechanics in the game that can prevent CCs, both standard and
non-standard. However, they only work against hits coming from the front of the character (180
degrees angle).

While a block is active, hits from the front of the character (180 degrees) will fail to hit the
opponent. Therefore, standard CCs and nonstandard CCs cannot work against the opponent,
because they are attached to those hits. Instead of lowering the HP of the character, the hits
damage a “block meter”, a replenishing resource that varies from 100 (full) to 0 (broken). The
block meter’s strength is only dependent on the DR (Damage Reduction) stat, and is not
dependent on HP or evasion. The block meter appears roughly left of the character.

Vacuum pulls are not prevented by blocks.

For projectiles (Chapter 6.6), blocks will only activate if the origin point of the projectile is in
front of the block. For example, if a Ranger shoots the skill ​Blasting Gust​ at a blocking
opponent, and it appears to land behind them, the skill will still be blocked because the Ranger is
in front of the block.

Block regenerates quickly, but it also can be broken quickly, so blocking for extended periods is
usually not a good idea.

Blocks appear in four main flavors:

- Forward Guard: a temporary block that is attached as a protection for several skills.
- “Held Guard”: a block that can be held as long as needed.
- “Shield Guard”: a more powerful version of Forward Guard that allows you to move
while blocking, and provides Superarmor (Chapter 1) to the back of the character.

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 - S-Block: a block that activates for some characters if they take damage from the front,
while they move backward.

12.2 FORWARD GUARD

Some skills have a property listed as “Forward Guard”. The durations of these blocks are tied to
animations, so a sped-up animation will also have a shorter duration block.

Some skills have forward guard during their charging phase. Other skills have forward guard on
only part of the animation. Other skills have forward guard for the entirety of the animation.

These blocks can sometimes be animation cancelled depending on the skill to which they are
attached.

12.3 HELD GUARD

Some skills have a forward guard that can be held as long as necessary. The player decides when
to start and when to end the block. A held guard can be cancelled immediately through any
movement or skill.

The cost of these held guards is that they can only be used while stationary – and it is very easy
to get behind someone who is standing still. Thus, experienced players will tend to hold guards
for longer periods of time only if the opponent is far away.

A held guard has a stagger animation. Every time that a hit is blocked by a held guard, the
character will “vibrate” and then move backward slightly, away from the direction that the guard
is being held in (not away from the origin of the hit!)

If a held guard is broken, the character undergoes a breaking animation for their block. This
breaking animation is vulnerable but can be cancelled by other skills.

12.4 SHIELD GUARD

Warriors and Valkyries have a held guard that can be used while moving, albeit very slowly,
known as a shield guard. However, these shield guards are much more powerful than either held
guards or forward guards, because they also provide a Superarmor effect for the character. Thus,
while a character is only protected from damage and all CCs from the front, they are also
protected from standard CCs from the back.

48
A shield guard continues to provide superarmor (Chapter 12) even if the block meter is
completely depleted. If a shield guard is broken, then the character undergoes a stagger
animation that has superarmor, after which shield guard can be reapplied.

A shield guard has a stagger animation identical to that of the held guard. The stagger effect will
be the same.

If a shield guard is broken, the character undergoes a breaking animation for their block. This
breaking animation still has superarmor. After this, the character will be exposed to attacks, and
it is best to either use more skills as the superarmor ends, or to reapply the shield guard (because
the block meter will have regenerated a little bit during the breaking animation).

12.5 S-BLOCK

Some characters have an ability called s-block, which is not listed as a skill anywhere. While a
player moves backward, they will automatically block any incoming hits from the front. If they
take a hit, they will temporarily stop moving as they undergo a blocking animation. If they do
not take a hit, they will continue walking backwards.
S-block does not activate from hits coming from the back of a character.

S-block is normally triggered by moving backward {S}, but also is triggered by moving
diagonally backward {AS} or {DS}. However, the direction of the block is always dependent on
the orientation of the character, not of the player’s view.

S-block can be cancelled immediately through any movement (that isn’t backward) or any skill.

S-block can be very quickly rotated by continuing to move backward while rapidly changing the
player’s camera angle.

If an s-block is broken, the blocking animation will no longer occur, and the player will continue
to walk backwards, which is of course an animation that is vulnerable and easy to CC.

12.6 COUNTERING BLOCK

You have five options:

- Break their block meter with damage (usually risky for non-ranged characters)

49
 - Grab them
- Get behind them
- Get your attack behind them (pet/summon/AOE field)
- Encourage them to stop blocking (try asking nicely /s)

I won’t go into detail here, because that’s more of a matter of strategy than of mechanics, which
this book is focused on. However, I will make some brief notes:

Block meter can be broken through damage. However, players will continue to take damage
through DoT (damage over time) skills that were landed before the block began. Immediately
after breaking block, they will begin taking damage again, and this is a useful cue for you if you
need it.

Grab ignores block.

Blocks operate over 180 degrees. Attacking from the side, but slightly in front of the opponent,
will cause hits to be blocked. Attacking from the side, but slightly behind the opponent, will
cause hits to succeed.

Recall that pets, summons, and AOE fields do not originate from your character, but rather from
another point. If they are behind the block, then they can apply CC, even if your character is in
front of the block.

Held guards, shield guards, and s-block can all be essentially cancelled instantly, so if you’re
intent on making someone drop their block, make sure you’re prepared for what they do
afterward. There is no warning.

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

13: SUPERARMOR
“Against those skilled in defense, the enemy does not know where to attack.”
–SUN TZU, ​THE ART OF WAR [​ 04.20]

13.1 WHAT IS SUPERARMOR?

Superarmor is one of the three mechanics in the game that can prevent CCs. It only prevents you
from being affected by almost all standard CCs, excluding grab. However, it works for all
directions (no need to worry about getting CCed from the back!).

Superarmor does not prevent non-standard CCs (for example, vacuum, slows, or staggers).
Superarmor often does not affect damage taken, other than preventing air attacks or down attacks
(because those require air and grounded states, which are primarily due to getting CCed). Some
superarmor skills will reduce damage taken, though this is an exception rather than a norm.

Superarmor is usually an effect attached to part or all of a skill’s animation. If the skill is
cancelled (by use of any new skill or by {WASD} or by getting grabbed) then the superarmor
effect will end.

Some skills have very long superarmor. Other skills have very short superarmor. Musa and
Maehwa are notable classes because they have superarmor on a spammable dash.

13.2 OLD LINGERING SUPERARMOR

This section is outdated and included to provide a bit of history and background.

In the past, some skills had “lingering” superarmor. Even if these skills were cancelled, the
superarmor effect would still be active. This acted as a protective blanket for the very next skill
used.

For example, if a Warrior used their held guard, then used the skill ​Solar Flare​ (a skill with no
protection itself), then the superarmor from the held guard would protect ​Solar Flare.​

The old lingering superarmor was removed in May 2018. This mechanic is no longer applicable.

51
13.3 LINGERING SUPERARMOR NOW

Today’s definition of lingering superarmor is slightly different. It refers to skills that have very
long superarmor durations because of a long, but cancellable, animation.

The ranger skill ​Breezy Blade​ is a good example of this. Its animation is composed of two parts:
a dashing attack, and a slow re-sheath of a sword. The superarmor lasts from the start of the skill
to the completion of the re-sheath of the sword.

The dashing attack cannot be cancelled, but the re-sheath of the sword can be cancelled by use of
a new skill or {WASD} input. The re-sheath of the sword also takes a very long time. This
re-sheath is the lingering superarmor portion of the skill, because it lasts far longer than
expected, yet it can be cancelled at any time.

Today’s lingering superarmor is used for two main reasons: to remain protected for very long
periods of time (usually to wait for other cooldowns), and to bait opponents into thinking that
someone is vulnerable. The second reason is especially effective against new players, who do not
understand what lingering superarmor is and what it looks like.

Some blocks also linger. Some Invincibility effects (Chapter 13) also linger. However, these
skills are rare, so “lingering” usually refers to superarmor.

13.4 COUNTERING SUPERARMOR

You have three options:

- Kill them through superarmor with damage alone

- Use grab or non-standard CCs
- Encourage them to stop using superarmor

I won’t go into detail here, because that’s more of a matter of strategy than of mechanics, which
this book is focused on. However, I will make some brief notes:

Characters can still be killed through superarmor, because it does not prevent damage.

Grab ignores superarmor. Non-standard CCs (vacuum and slows) and other debuffs also ignore
superarmor. Staggers do not affect superarmor animations and so are not useful.

52
Players can be encouraged to exit superarmor skills by either endangering them (threatening
them with damage, grab, non-standard CCs, or debuffs) or by baiting them (convincing them that
they should leave superarmor to attack you). As with block, superarmor can be cancelled
instantly, so if you’re intent on making someone stop using superarmor, make sure you’re
prepared for what they do afterward.

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

14: INVINCIBILITY
“You don't need guidance, Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then, you will
be invincible.”
–SENATOR PALPATINE, ​STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002)

14.1 WHAT IS INVINCIBILITY?

Invincibility is one of the three mechanics in the game that can prevent CCs. It prevents a
character from being hit or CCed at all – they are untouchable.

Invincibility is usually an effect attached to part or all of a skill’s animation. The portion of the
animation that has invincibility is commonly referred to as an “iframe”, which is the term I will
be using from here on out.

You can identify whether someone is in iframe or not by using your aiming reticle. If you point
your reticle on them, and it does not change to red, then they are not a valid target because they
are in iframe.

Iframes are very powerful defensive tools, so they are usually very short (making them
ineffective for blocking multiple hits) or very long and non-cancelable (making characters easy
to catch as soon as the iframe ends).

Sorceress is the undisputable queen of iframes, as most of her defensive capabilities are iframes.

14.2 COUNTERING INVINCIBILITY

Iframe does not have any mechanical counters. To make someone’s iframes ineffective, you
must make them waste them. This is tactical.

Each class has their own set of iframes and each class has their own strategies for countering
iframes.

54
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

15: INPUT THEORY & PROTECTION CHAINING

“God does not play dice.”
–ALBERT EINSTEIN

“Not only does God play dice, but… he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.”
–STEPHEN HAWKING

15.1 WHAT IS INPUT THEORY?

Have you ever noticed that some skills require two or three keys?

These skills are activated as soon as the necessary keys are pressed. However, you cannot press
two or three keys at the same time. One key will always be earlier, and one key will always be
later.

Unfortunately, BDO’s engine doesn’t know that you intend to press more than one key. So, if the
first key you press triggers a different skill instead, then you will perform the wrong skill – you’ll
use the skill that uses only the first key, and not the skill that uses two or three keys!

Luckily, most skills that require multiple inputs have a “regular” key, such as {LMB}, {RMB},
{Shift}, {Q}, {E}, or {F}, and a “movement” key, {WASD}. Most of us have therefore learned
(unconsciously) to press the movement key first whenever we want to use a multi-input skill.

I’m going to use a Ranger example again. Our backwards dash is activated by {RMB}, and our
sideways explosion is activated by {A} or {D} with {RMB}. If I want to use the sideways
explosion, then I need to press {A+RMB}. I also need to press {A} first, or I will use the
backwards dash instead.

This can be frustrating for some Rangers, because the sideways explosion is an iframe. However,
because we need to press {A} or {D} first, we walk a little bit to the left or right first, which is
vulnerable. Therefore, it seems that we get caught a lot in what is supposed to be an iframe! This
makes the skill seem buggy or random, as if the game is throwing a dice to see if we’ll be in
iframe or not.

55
Therefore, using quickslots for skills is useful – it removes the need for a {WASD} input,
thereby removing any vulnerable walking frames.

However, quickslots behave rather oddly. Some skills can be cancelled by the normal-input
version of one skill, but cannot be cancelled by the quickslot version of that same one skill. In
this case, there will be a gap between the first skill and the second quickslot skill.

15.2 WHAT IS PROTECTION CHAINING?

Protection chaining is a simple idea: continually use blocks, superarmors, and iframes, so that
you are continually protected. In theory, a protection chain should have no gaps.
Yet some protection chains have gaps in them because of input theory. If you need to use a skill
that requires {WASD} as an input, then there will be a momentary gap when after you press
{WASD} but before you add a second key.
Here’s some simple rules to determine which skill transitions are absolutely safe:

- Transitioning between two protected flows is safe.

- Transitioning between any protected skill, and a second skill that doesn’t require
{WASD} inputs, is safe.
- Transitioning between any protected skill, and a second skill that requires {WASD}
inputs, is safe ​only i​ f the inputs for the second skill are held down during the first skill, so
that the second skill is used as soon as possible.
- Transitioning between s-block and a second skill is safe ​only​ if you can ​add​ the inputs of
the second skill to {S} to activate it. Lifting the {S} key and then using the second skill
leaves a gap.
- Transitions between any protected skill, and a second quickslotted skill, is only safe if the
quickslotted skill cancels the first skill.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

16: WALLS AND OBSTACLES

“Two or more identical fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state within a quantum
system simultaneously.”
–WOLFGANG PAULI, THE PAULI EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE

16.1 WHAT IS COLLISION?

Two or more characters cannot occupy the same space. If a first character walks towards another,
they will stop before they go inside the second character.

16.2 OBJECTS YOU CAN COLLIDE WITH

You can collide with the following objects (sometimes termed “units”):

- Attackable: Other characters (regardless if they are in your party or not)

- Attackable: Monsters and Bosses
- Attackable: Pets and Summons, Mounts
- NPCs
- Non-attackable: Environmental objects that you must climb over (you cannot hold {W}
and simply walk on top of them)
- Non-attackable: Environmental objects that are larger than the size of a shoe (rocks, trees,
walls)
- Non-attackable: Skill effects/fields

These colliding objects will also stop projectile-based skills, as they block line-of-sight.

16.3 SHORTENED MOVEMENT VIA COLLISION

Most skills that travel will collide with the objects mentioned above. In other words, they will
not travel the full distance.

However, some skills have a unique property: they cause collision for these travelling skills, but
not for simply walking or projectiles. These are non-attackable collision objects. For example,
the Dark Knight skill ​Air Strike​ will travel a shorter distance into the Ranger skill ​Ultimate:

57
Charging Wind,​ even though the Dark Knight can walk through the Ranger skill without any
problem.

This is a form of cancel (although it is one player cancelling another player’s skill) and collision
(because a shorter distance is traveled). These interactions are common and must be considered
when maneuvering precisely, or when attempting to gap-close.

16.4 ACCELERATION VIA COLLISION

Some skills are accelerated when colliding into attackable objects. McHands, a Warrior on NA,
explained it to me as follows (paraphrased):

“Skills have differing relationships when collision happens at different points of an

animation.

A basic example would be weapon swapping when ​Forward Slash c​ ollides with the
enemy. Swapping during the collision will make the weapon swap quicker.

A [more advanced] example would be weapon swapping to Greatsword (the Warrior

awakening weapon). There are four weapon swaps ({WASD}) and each one has a
different animation. They all have frontal guard, but they result in a different type of
collision.

By manipulating the camera and considering which collision type you use, you can time
when the collision occurs. This allows you to perform an extremely smooth, fast
animation cancel.”

And as explained to me by Sensei, another Warrior on NA (paraphrased):

“You don’t have to necessarily collide with an [attackable object]. Colliding with a
[non-attackable skill effect/field] has the same effect.”

In simpler terms:

- You can accelerate cancel some skills using collision.

- Each skill collides in a unique way.
- By manipulating the collision, timing, and camera angle, you can control these cancels at
a very fine level.

58
McHands encourages readers to test how this works using all classes, as he is only experienced
with it for Warrior. I concur but leave this as an exercise for the reader.

Berserker has another example of acceleration via collision, as explained to me by ExpiredSushi,

a Berserker on NA (paraphrased):

“Berserkers have a skill called ​Fierce Strike​, which consists of three attacks. The last
attack applies a float. However, the first two attacks are very slow and impractical.

However, if the Berserker collides with an [attackable object] while using ​Headbutt​, and
activates ​Fierce Strike,​ then the slow first two attacks are skipped, and the skill
immediately proceeds to the third attack.”

16.5 IGNORING COLLISION

Some skills ignore collision with attackable objects. This allows you to move behind opponents,
forcing them to turn their camera to face you. This also allows you to move behind blocks and
apply CCs from behind very easily.

Many dash skills do not collide when moving backward. A common practice is to turn your
camera around, and then move backward, ​through​ your target, and then attack their back.

16.6 IGNORING WALLS

Most skills collide with non-attackable objects. However, some skills can nevertheless apply hits
through these objects. In other words: instead of having the character ignore collision, the skill
has the ​hits​ ignore collision.

These skills are never projectiles, and often are AOE fields. Their hits will often ignore trees,
boulders, barrels, fences, and thin and low walls. In fact, you can grab people through thin and
low walls (they will be teleported to your side).

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

17: LARGE HEIGHTS

“It’s over, Anakin! I have the high ground!”
–OBI-WAN KENOBI, ​STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)

17.1 CONSIDERING THE THIRD DIMENSION

All characters, if they go up, must come down. Some characters can stay up for a very long time
(Tamers, Ninjas, Kunoichis, Strikers, Mystics, and Lahns) but they eventually return to the
ground – no one can permanently fly in this game.

Nevertheless, because BDO’s terrain is three-dimensional (including hills, buildings, and walls),
you should always consider height.

Some skills can only hit in front of you, but cannot be aimed up or down. This is a big problem
when fighting on hills, so when using these skills make sure you’re attacking from the same
height – otherwise, some skills might travel straight into a hill (if you have the low ground) or
straight into the air (if you have the high ground).

You should also consider height when other classes – especially the classes with long jumps –
get into the air. Again: most skills simply will not be able to hit them. Grabs will certainly fail, as
you cannot grab upward or downward past a certain height difference.

The exceptions are some projectile skills, which can be aimed up or down, and AOE fields,
which automatically adjust to the height that they are set at.

17.2 PARKOUR

BDO has a parkour system, which allows characters to jump, climb obstacles, roll, hide, swim,
and fall. These animations cost stamina and are never protected.

When attacking an enemy at a different height, always consider whether you need to use the
parkour system. In some cases, it may be safer to take a longer route to the opponent while
chaining protections. In other cases, it may be faster to simply use the parkour system.

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Some skills have a jump animation, which put the character into the air. If these animations are
steered forward, then they can be used to climb obstacles without being in a vulnerable
animation.

17.3 FALLING ANIMATIONS

If you fall off a cliff in BDO, your character undergoes a falling animation, and then a recovery
animation. Both are vulnerable (but the falling animation is harder to hit). The recovery
animation will also cause you to take damage, depending on the distance you fell. (You can die
from fall damage.)

If the fall is from a low height, the fall state is upright, and the recovery state looks like a squat.
If the fall is from a high height, the fall state is horizontal, and the recovery state looks like
someone standing up. As mentioned previously, a horizontal fall state can be air attacked.

17.4 CIRCUMVENTING FALLING

Because the falling and recovery states are so vulnerable, it is best to avoid falling. However,
sometimes falling off a cliff is necessary to escape or pursue opponents.

Some skills allow you to fall “gracefully”, without any fall animation. These skills are different
for every class. Moreover, some skills will only work to gracefully fall certain heights, and any
greater heights will result in a falling animation anyways.

I encourage you to test which skills allow you to fall gracefully, as it will improve your mobility
on complex terrain compared to people who can’t.

17.5 JUMP HEIGHT

Many skills will involve upward and downward movement (a jump). This height, as well as
normal jump height, can be increased by a stat called jump height. Improving this stat is usually
unnecessary, but it allows you to parkour over taller obstacles using skills or jump, so some
players inevitably become Superman and stack this stat.

It’s rather fun. You should try it.

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

18: MOUSE MOVEMENT & CAMERA LOCKING

“Modern problems require modern solutions.”
–​DAVE CHAPPELLE, ​CHAPPELLE’S SHOW​, SEASON 2 EPISODE 1

18.1 WHAT IS MOUSE MOVEMENT?

Go to settings. Search for “Use Mouse to Move”. Make sure the setting is enabled.

When you have this setting enabled, you can press {ctrl} to bring up your mouse cursor. You can
then click on the ground to move to that location, like in older games. This has applications in
PvP, because it works by forcibly changing the direction of your character.

Many skills can be re-aimed as you’re doing them, but some skills move in one direction only
and cannot be re-aimed once they are used. In other words, you are “animation-locked” in the
direction of your camera that you had when you started the skill. You cannot use the camera to
reorient your character.

However, mouse movement allows you to circumvent this limitation by making your character
face the direction of wherever you clicked. This is useful for both movement and protection.

18.2 MOUSE MOVEMENT ATTACKS

Consider the Maehwa skill ​Petal Drill,​ which slashes the ground in front of the Maehwa and
provides superarmor. If a player uses it while facing the wrong angle, it will miss.

However, skilled players can press {ctrl} and click on the ground to forcibly turn their character,
causing ​Petal Drill​ to change the direction of its slash. They can then press {ctrl} to re-enter the
camera control mode and continue their fight.

This allows players to re-aim skills for the pure damage, if they so wish. This also allows players
to control the direction they are facing, making it easier to prevent back attacks during this skill.

Some classes can do this with success.

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Vacuum animations can be controlled using mouse movement, but the center of the vacuum
cannot change (even if the animation suggests that it does).

18.3 MOUSE MOVEMENT PROTECTION

Consider the Ranger skill ​Nature’s Tremble​, which forms a wall of light in front of the character
and has a frontal guard. Normally, the direction of this block cannot be changed after using the
skill.

However, skilled players can press {ctrl} and click on the ground to forcibly turn their character,
causing ​Nature’s Tremble​ to suddenly change the direction of its block. They can then press
{ctrl} to re-enter camera control mode and continue their fight.

By clicking multiple times in Mouse Movement mode, a player can continually adjust the
direction of the block, making the skill equivalent to a 360 degree block in the hands of a skilled
player.

This makes the block a lot safer, because the player can always keep their opponent in front of
their character, and thus continue to block them, even if their opponent moves around them.

Many classes can do this with a great degree of success.

18.4 MOUSE MOVEMENT MOBILITY

Consider the Wizard/Witch skill, ​Teleport.​ Normally, it causes the character to teleport in a
certain direction, which is confined to the direction of the camera at the start of the skill.

However, skilled players can press {ctrl} and click on the ground to forcibly turn their character,
causing ​Teleport t​ o suddenly change direction. They can then press {ctrl} to re-enter camera
control mode and continue their fight.

Depending on when they click on the ground, a player can change direction early or late during
the skill’s animation, thereby controlling how far their character moves before changing
direction.

This makes movement significantly more unpredictable, as you can no longer determine where
the character will end up based on where they face at the start of the skill. This is also very
creepy, in my opinion.

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Wizards and Witches are the most common use case for this, followed by Lahn flight, but every
class can do this to some degree.

18.5 WHAT IS CAMERA LOCKING?

When you use mouse movement, your camera angle is fixed, but your character can turn in any
direction. When you use camera locking, your camera angle can turn in any direction, but your
character is fixed in only one direction. This is achieved by pressing and holding down {MMB},
the middle mouse button.

When camera locking, all skills will be applied in the direction that your character is facing, not
the direction of your camera. The only exception is projectile skills, which are still normally
aimable.

For most characters, this comes in useful with dashes. Dashes forward typically travel a longer
distance. However, this normally prevents the player from looking backward. By using {MMB},
a player can have their character continually dash forward while still looking backward for
pursuing opponents.

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

19: DESYNC
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
–MURPHY’S LAW

19.1 WHAT IS DESYNC?

Desync, properly called desynchronization, is an infuriating aspect of BDO, where something

happens that doesn’t make sense. Here are some examples:

- Your iframes/superarmors/blocks not working

- Your opponents escaping grabs early
- Your opponents teleporting around even though they are CCed
- Your opponents appearing to be CCed, but also not lying on the ground

To understand desync, you must know a bit about how the game works.

When playing BDO, there are two main parties involved: your client (the program on your
computer) and the server (the computer owned by Kakao that controls all player information).

In normal games, there is a delay between the client and the server. When you activate a skill in
a normal game, it takes some time to activate, because your client must send a message to the
server that you want to use a skill, and then receive a message from the server that your skill has
been used. When this time delay is large, you are “lagging” because you have high “ping” (a
measure of the time delay).

BDO is different. When you activate a skill, it immediately activates on your screen. At the same
time, your client sends a message to the server saying you’ve used a skill. What happens if you
use a skill that gives you iframe, but then your character gets CCed on the server, before the
server receives the message from your client that you’ve used the skill?

Your skill goes on cooldown, consumes its resources (mana, stamina, etc), but you are teleported
back into the CC. Your skill has no effect. It’s almost as if it hasn’t gone off at all (and according
to the server, it didn’t). Sucks, right?

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Desync is BDO’s particular flavor of lag, and it is more frustrating because it involves things
“not working”, rather than “working late” (as is the case with older games). There are many
ways desync can occur, and I’ll try to list them below, along with explanations and possible
adjustments you can make.

It is important to note that while many of the best players are frustrated by desync, they consider
it to be “part of the game” and have learned to compensate for it, just like how players deal with
lag in other games. Most of these skilled players can even exploit desync.

19.2 PROTECTION DESYNC

When you use a superarmor, block, or iframe, there is always a chance of desync. If your
opponent CCs you during the brief time between your client saying you used the protection and
the server hearing you used the protection, then you will desync. Your skill will go on cooldown
and use resources, but you will teleport, or desync, back into the CC.

- On your screen, you clearly use the full skill, and are confident that it worked… but then
you get CCed anyways.
- On your opponent’s screen, you never even use the protection skill, and they CCed you
fair and square.

Sometimes, you may experience a “partial” CC. Instead of being CCed for the full duration of
the CC type, you simply stand there, unable to move. This partial CC is a standing state CC, so
you cannot be down attacked or air attacked (but you can also receive all CCs). Moreover, it
does not have any recovery animation, so if it is a grounding CC, then it will last shorter than
normal.

The desync for a block is complex, and is due to movement desync (see next section). If you are
blocking while moving backward, you will experience a smaller effective blocking angle.

The desync between iframe and grab is particularly complex, because grab is a two part CC
(composed of a grapple and a grounding CC) and because iframe is the only counter to grapple.

You might see yourself:

- Teleporting back into a grab, like a normal protection desync

- Teleporting back into a grab but getting up early from the grounding CC
- Teleporting back into a grab, but only getting grappled, and not grounded

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 - Being grappled but still able to use skills (they go on cooldown on your client but the
server doesn’t register them as being used)
- Not being grappled at all, but still being pulled to your opponent

Your opponent might see:

- They start the grapple animation, but you escape untouched
- They succeed the grapple, but you get up early
- They succeed the grapple, you disappear, then reappear on the ground in the normal
ending location
- They succeed the grapple, you disappear, and reappear far away (if you were holding
down dash)
- They succeed the grapple, but you don’t get affected by the grounding CC, and you
counterattack or escape as soon as the grapple animation ends

Great game, right?

If you are the grab user, expect your opponent to get up early if you grab them during an iframe,
or expect them to disappear and then reappear (they are iframed during the disappear). You can
reapply CC after they reappear.

The last situation, a successful grapple but nonexistent grounding CC, is so rare that players will
laugh at how bad the game is, so you don’t need to worry about it (and there’s nothing you can
do about it, either).

19.3 POSITIONAL DESYNC

Sometimes, if you CC someone while they are moving using a skill, they will appear to get CCed
at their ending location, but then will desync back to their original location. This is incredibly
frustrating if you are trying to use non-AOE CCs as a follow-up (for example, grab).

There’s not much you can do here, other than to “expect” that they might desync if you CC
someone during their movement skill, and to either wait a little bit (in case they desync) or to use
a large AOE CC that will catch them afterwards, regardless of whether they desync or not.

19.4 SIMULTANEITY

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One phenomenon related to desync is something I call “simultaneity”, the occurrence of two
things at the same time. In this case, simultaneity occurs when two players use a CC at the same
time. Here’s what might happen:

- Alice and Bob use a CC at nearly the same time, with Alice being slightly faster.
- Alice’s CC hits Bob and succeeds.
- Alice finishes her CC animation. Bob starts (and might even finish) his CC animation,
and it goes on cooldown and uses resources on his screen. However, Alice does not take
any hits.
- This looks extremely weird.

OR:

- Alice and Bob use a CC at nearly the same time, with Alice being slightly faster.
- Alice’s CC hits Bob and fails.
- Bob’s CC hits Alice and either succeeds or fails.
- This looks normal.

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CHAPTER TWENTY

20: COMBOS
“You can’t break a man the way you do a dog or a horse. The harder you beat a man, the taller he
stands.”
–THE JACKAL, ​FAR CRY 2

20.1 WHAT IS A COMBO?

A combo is a sequence of skills that uses CCs on an opponent so that the opponent cannot escape
until the combo is complete. As mentioned earlier, combos can only last for 3 CCs at most (with
some exceptions.

The best-designed combos maximize the amount of damage that an opponent takes before they
get up. This is usually done by:

- Using skills that buff attack speed (able to use more skills in the same amount of time) or
damaging power
- Using skills that debuff the opponent’s defenses
- Maximizing the amount of skills used during one CC before applying the next CC
- An exception to this is if you observe desync, and know your opponent will
escape faster than normal, then you should re-CC early
- An exception to this is if you know your opponent has high resistances, then you
should attempt to re-CC early, so that if your attempt to CC fails you have time to
try again
- Using special attacks (back attacks on standing or recovery states, air attacks on air states,
down attacks on down states)
- Ending with a grounding CC (which lasts longer than a standing CC, and so that
additional damage can be applied during the recovery state)
- Optional: using non-standard CCs to improve special attack time (for air smash) or
lengthen CC time (for down smash).

There are a few reasons to shorten a combo:

- Because you are lazy and the opponent will die anyways

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 - Because you have observed desync and wish to be cautious in case your opponent
escapes earlier than expected
- To save skills for other opponents, if in a group fight

A well-made combo will obey the above rules. Combo creation is specific to each class, so I
won’t say much more on how to make them.

20.2 COMBOS IN 1V1

A 1v1 combo can be elaborate and use many unprotected skills, because if your opponent is
CCed, then there is no one to interfere.

However, if the opponent has a pet, summon, or AOE field active, then you should only use
protected skills during your combo (easy) or use protected skills when you are going to get
CCed, and unprotected skills when you aren’t (hard).

20.3 COMBOS IN GROUPS

A combo for group PvP includes as many protected skills as you need to block attacks. The more
experienced you are, the better you can make your group PvP combos while remaining safe. For
example, if you know there is no one focused on attacking you, and there aren’t any AOEs
targeting you, then you can do 1v1 combos and remain safe.

However, most combos in groups will tend to be shorter and worse than 1v1 combos, especially
because you need to remain protected and moving as much as possible to remain hard to catch,
and because people will often spam CC skills that will end your own CCs early.

Coordination between group members in order to make good multi-person combos requires a lot
of experience. For example:

- My Ninja partner stiffs an opponent and calls it out.

- He uses ​Serpent’s Ascension,​ which applies a float and delivers air attacks for 170%
damage. At the same time, I use the Ranger skill ​Penetrating Wind​ to also deliver air
attacks.
He and I both use one skill for pure damage.
- I use ​Blasting Gust,​ applying a knockdown as the float ends, and immediately afterward
he uses ​Shadow Stomp​ to deliver air attacks, while I use ​Penetrating Wind​ again for more
air attacks.

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- We both continue using down attacks for pure damage.
- I do a DS reset as the knockdown ends.
- He uses ​Suicide Fall​ to grab the opponent and re-CC them after the DS reset.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

21: STEALTH
“Stars, hide your fires;
Let not the light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.”
–MACBETH, ​MACBETH (1.4.57-60)

“Broken mechanic that doesn’t belong in this game”

–JORDAN, BDO NA WARRIOR

21.1 WHAT IS STEALTH?

Stealth is a character state activated by certain Ninja and Kunoichi skills. While in stealth, you
cannot:

- Target the stealthed character (you can still aim in their direction though)
- Collide with the stealthed character

While in stealth, the character:

- Moves slower while using it

- Loses stamina while moving
- Recovers stamina while stationary
- Can use ​Ghost Step​ if ​Oni Shadow​ was used to enter stealth
- Leaves stealth if they take damage
- Leaves stealth if they are CCed by standard CC skills
- Leaves stealth if they do anything other than move (or use ​Ghost Step​ if ​Oni Shadow​ was
used to enter stealth)
- Leaves stealth if they undergo a falling and recovery state
- Cannot parkour
- Cannot collide with attackable objects
- Will continue to be attacked by monsters if they were attacked prior to entering stealth
(including pets and summons)

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21.2 DETECTING STEALTH

There are three ways for removing someone from stealth:

- Use a ​Flare​ (a specialized item that shines a light on the nearby area)
- CC them
- Damage them

Stealth is almost always initiated through a skill called ​Concealment,​ which dashes the stealther
forward a small distance. Use AOEs close to this location, or anywhere else you might suspect
might be hiding. Generally, your chances of destealthing someone are highest right after they go
into stealth, as you know exactly where they are.

Finally, some skills which auto-target (automatically finding location of nearby targets and
locking onto them, such as Mystic’s ​Wolf Frenzy​ and Wizard/Witch ​Chain Lightning)​ are very
useful for this purpose, as they do all the finding-work for you.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

22: BLACK SPIRIT’S RAGE

“You are right. I do have the power. I have all the power in the world!”
–PHOENIX KING OZAI, ​AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

22.1 WHAT IS BLACK SPIRIT’S RAGE?

Black Spirit’s Rage, or BSR, is a resource equivalent to a “super meter” in fighting games. It
recharges slowly, and can be discharged to massively buff a character or unleash abnormally
powerful attacks, or can be transferred (at a cost) to other characters. It ranges from 0.0% to
100.0% (though the maximum can be further increased with equipment) and is earned in several
ways:

- Passive regeneration (.15% per second)

- Taking hits (.1% per hit)
- Killing one player (1%)
- Transfer from another player (variable amount)

22.2 BSR SKILLS

There are several ways to use BSR.

Firstly, 100% BSR can be “Absorbed” by pressing {Z} to provide special buffs. This animation
is unprotected, and the buffs last for 60 seconds. There are two versions of ​Rage Absorption​:

- Innate: some buffs that are unique to your class and usually very bad.
- Common: increased damage and either attack speed or casting speed.

Secondly, BSR can be transferred to another player in party or platoon by pressing {X}. You
will automatically lose all your BSR, and transfer exactly half of it to the target player. If their
BSR exceeds their normal maximum, then it will continue to build up until it reaches 200%, but
past their normal maximum it can only be gained from transfers from other players.

Thirdly, BSR can be used to enhance the effects of certain skills. There are five categories of
BSR-enhanced skills:

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 - 10% BSR consumption
- 25% BSR consumption
- 50% BSR consumption
- 100% BSR consumption (ultimate)
- 200% BSR consumption (ultimate)

Under some situations, BSR skills can be used. The 10% and 25% BSR skills usually require
additional key input (instead of 2 keys to use a skill, 3 skills might be used), and the 50% BSR
skills and t the ultimates usually activate automatically if they are used when your current BSR is
above their minimum requirement.

10% and 25% BSR skills usually gain some sort of minimal effect - for example, larger AoE
radius, longer or shorter animations, etc. These are usually highly situational.

50% BSR skills usually become protected CC skills (unprotected CC gaining protection, or
protected skill gaining CC).

10%, 25%, and 50% BSR skills are only available for Awakening skills.

There are two ultimates in Preawakening (100% and 200%), and two ultimates in Awakening
(100% and 200%). These can be very useless or very powerful, depending on the class.
Ultimates are usually some form of AOE protected CC with high damage.

Often, it may be better to not use BSR skills. All BSR skills can be toggled on and off by
pressing {ALT + B}. BSR skills can also individually be toggled by locking them using the
appropriate menu in the skill page.

22.3 WOUNDS

All BSR skills apply a new type of debuff through the “wound” system. When a character
receives damage from a wound, they will be unable to recover some of the HP lost due to the
BSR wound. In other words, their maximum effective HP is lowered by a certain portion of the
BSR skill damage.

The portion of damage that is converted into a wound is as follows:

- 200% BSR skill → 100% of damage dealt will become a wound.

- 100% BSR skill → 50% of damage dealt will become a wound.
- 50% BSR skill → 30% of damage dealt will become a wound.
- 25% BSR skill → 20% of damage dealt will become a wound.

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 - 10% BSR skill → 10% of damage dealt will become a wound.

Wounds prevent HP recovery through traditional means. HP potions, +HP regeneration effects,
and +HP skills or skill add-ons have no effect. There are only two ways to remove a wound:

- Wait until the wound has been “healed”. Wounds self-heal at about 2 HP per second.
- Die.

Logging out does not affect your wound.

Here is an example:

- A Berserker has 5000 maximum HP.

- A Warrior uses ​Spinning Slash​ 100% BSR skill on the Berserker and deals 2000 damage.
- 2000 damage * 50% → 1000 HP wound is inflicted.
- The Berserker’s maximum effective HP has decreased by 1000 HP, so they can only
recover up to 4000 HP through potions, buffs, items, or skills.

Two things can happen that make the wound disappear:

- The Berserker dies.

- The Berserker waits 8 minutes and 20 seconds, after which the wound is fully healed.

Wounds can stack with each other, making this a very good griefing tool. Please don’t.

The wound system has been poorly received in NA/EU servers and may be reworked soon.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

23: ESCAPE
“For he that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day.”
–DEMOSTHENES, AFTER THE BATTLE OF CHAERONEA, 338 BCE

23.1 V

This game has two built-in methods for escaping a fight. The first is the skill ​Emergency Escape.​
When used by pressing {V}, this skill turns you into a black spirit for 6 seconds. You become:

- Very hard to see (almost invisible)

- Very fast
- Invincible
- Unable to use skills
- Unable to jump
- Unable to parkour

After you return to your normal form, you are temporarily stunned. Nevertheless, this provides a
good away to escape a fight every five minutes.

Important notes:

- You can use this skilled while CCed, unless you are knocked down.
- If you are knocked down, you cannot use the skill.
- You can still take damage over time from debuffs during this skill.

You can extend V duration:

- Press {esc}{esc}, in a double tap, after having been in V for three seconds.
- Press {alt c} to enter PvP mode, after having been in V for five seconds.

23.2 ESCAPE ESCAPE

If you press {esc}, you will open the game menu. If you press the button labeled ​Escape,​ you
will teleport to a nearby location, like loading into the game. You become:

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 - Invincible
- Unable to perform any actions

You will teleport to a nearby location in non-combat stance. Nevertheless, this provides a good
away to escape every fifteen minutes.

Important note: if you use this while in the grapple state, there is a chance that you will teleport
to the same location that you started in.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

24: FPS
“The human eye can only see at 60 FPS.”
–FALSE BUT GOOD MEME, COMMONLY USED BY /R/PCMASTERRACE

24.1 WHY DOES FPS MATTER?

Higher FPS results in shorter animations. A player with 150 FPS can use more skills in the same
amount of time than a player with 30 FPS. Many players prefer playing in optimization mode: a
shorter animation mode means they are able to deal more damage, react more quickly, and move
faster.

Not much to say here. Just get high FPS if you can. It’s displayed in “Settings/Display
Settings/Display Quality/Graphics”.

You thought BDO wasn’t pay-to-win? Try fighting someone with 150 FPS.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

25: GUIDES AND VIDEOS

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
–SOCRATES

25.1 GUIDES AND VIDEOS

Join us at ​The Red Desert​, a BDO PvP Discord community, to learn more!.In particular, see the
FAQ and Info channel, or ask questions in the other channels.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is full of details that I myself did not fully understand when I started writing. For that,
I’d like to thank members of the Black Desert Online class communities, especially the Warrior
community (for explaining their block), the Valkyrie community (for explaining their vacuum),
and the Wizard/Witch community (for explaining Freeze). Thank you for bearing with my idiocy
with your patience.

I have also tested a great deal of the mechanics found in this book, as I did not find them
mentioned anywhere else (for example, DS resets). For that, I’d like to thank my friends,
members of my former guild (Iridescence), and various members of the NA Velia 4 Battle Arena
community. Thank you for being my helpful and insightful guinea pigs (or researchers, when
you had to hit me instead).

As with all books, the quality of this work is in no small part due to a group of kind editors and
contributors, who helped me with both style, clarity, and content:

- [NA] – AllLuckNoSkill (CollegeTuition, Ninja)

- [NA] – Dsdavidds (ArienBM, Ranger)
- [NA] - Exitious (Nayashe, Maehwa): significant collaboration and discussion in Ch. 4
- [NA] – Yoruhime (Kaomiyo, Kunoichi)

I’d like to thank the members of the international Black Desert community. Thank you for the
feedback, which I continue to update the guide with. Thank you for playing with me, and against
me. Thank you for the inspirational PvP videos too!

And finally, if you’ve read up to this part, thank you, reader, for joining me on this journey.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello! My name is Crit. I am a ranger going by the family name “Critical” on the BDO-NA
server.

My online gaming passion is PvP, and I have been playing PvP games for about ten years. I
started seriously playing Black Desert in June 2019. I am not that good at PvP, myself, but I am a
dedicated theory-crafter with a liking of discovery, quantification, and the scientific method. I
also have a pretty good typing speed (110 wpm) honed by years of simultaneous PvP and
trashtalk.

You can usually find me AFK fishing in Duvencrune, in the Velia 4 Battle Arena, or on the
Arsha channel.

In my spare time, I enjoy cooking, classical music, drama films, and ballroom dancing.

- /u/critical_view
- Discord: Crit#7771 (find me in the BDO Ranger Discord!)
- YouTube

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CHANGELOG

- 2019-1-1
- Published
- Multiple changes immediately following publication to correct content errors and
formatting
- 2019-1-2
- Fixed minor errors regarding classes that have access to freeze and iframe
- Clarified CC counter mechanic for grabs
- Added a new sub mechanic for detecting stealthed targets via auto target skills
- Corrected some math terminology
- 2019-1-11
- Minor typo changes
- Added a clarifier on the interaction between projectiles and block
- Added Chapter 4 regarding status effects, focusing on stacking status effects
- 2019-2-5
- Updated stealth section to reflect nerfs to stealth
- Added information on the wound system
- Improved links in Table of Contents
- Minor edits
- 2019-3-17
- Edits to down smash reset explanation
- Added brief note about the red and white hitmarkers in Chapter 3.1
- 2019-4-11
- Updated the BSR skills section
- 2019-4-20
- Clarified that staggers only work on walking targets, or guarding/shielded guards.
-

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