Combos are the act of chaining together a series of moves while maintaining a stun on an opponent, with the intent to do large amounts of damage.
Single/Multiple items in combos
Combos can be done with only a single item's moveset, but it is recommended to use multiple to get the best effect, as a player may be able to combine the stunning capability of one item with the high damage of another to create a devastating attack. At times, a player will often use items that they do not put Stat points into for combos, as the value may come from a stun or effect other than damage.
Countering combos
The most direct counter to combos is Instinct, as it will prevent damage and stuns from taking effect, leaving the attacker open to retaliation. Therefore, it is incredibly important to disable Instinct before attempting to land a combo. This can be done by attacking before the ability is activated, using an Instinct Breaking ability at or near the start of a combo, or to use moves that will waste a large number of dodges, forcing it to break. Certain abilities like Flash Step may also help with escaping combos.
Races' skills in combos
Certain Race skills can be used as defenses or aides to combos. Namely, Shark's Water Body ability provides a massive defense boost, allowing the player to outlast most combos, although very long ones may be able to counter this. Cyborg's Energy Core does extra damage and breaks Instinct, assuming the players are close together, and Human's Last Resort increases damage the lower the player's health is, allowing the player to hit very hard after surviving a combo, potentially helping their own. Heavenly Blood and Heightened Senses also provide slight defense boosts or health regenerations, boosting survivability.
Skills in combos with certain effects
Most combos consist of a large, stunning skill as an opening, followed by a series of moves with stuns or damage, or a combination of the two, followed by some sort of finisher that does as much damage as possible to end the combo. Many combos also incorporate moves that pull an enemy closer, such as Spikey Trident's X, in order to line them up for further moves, or skills that create damaging puddles, such as the movesets of Venom and Magma, to deal extra damage.
Combos may keep the player stunlocked continuously or have parts where the victim may be able to move slightly. In general, the combo will be more consistent with the more time that the opponent is stunned. The length of combos varies wildly, with some combos only comprising of a couple moves and lasting seconds, while some others that involve Ice being theoretically indefinite and consisting of infinite moves.
Combos for any specific item (Fruit/Sword/Gun/Fighting Style) can be found on its relative pages (for example here).
Tips & Tricks
- It is recommended to have low ping to be able to perform advanced combos as higher ping gives moves higher endlag, which in turn makes it impossible to do fast combos. 50 ping or below is ideal for this.