Mawk's Heroes and Villains Guides: Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker: Force Guide

Overview: Anakin is one of the stronger characters. His saber is weaker than normal. His force powers are choke and saber throw. He has a dash that has a high chance of knockdown. His health is normal.

Anakin's movement speed is normal. He is the only choker in the game who has normal speed of travel. For this reason I chose to list him as a stronger character. He can get to the enemy he's choking quicker than the others with normal walk, and does not have to worry about missing dash. Because his walk speed is normal, this means his sprint speed is also normal. He can catch up to the gunners very easily and can get away from most heroes quicker than the slower villains. His sprint leads into his very powerful dash.

Anakin's dash is powerful not in the direct hit sense. It is exactly the same as Obi-Wan's. You can control the left and right angles of the dash easier than most characters.

His dash does the most damage when hitting the enemy at certain angles. From the side and behind you can usually achieve a knockdown. You do need to learn the timing of his dash, because the end of the dash does more damage than the beginning. You can also zoom right by, so you will want to slowdown if you are hitting someone directly. As the saber fans at the beginning it does a little damage, but as the fan is coming to a close, he stops. If you time the stop for you to be right on top of your enemy, it will do the most damage. The absolute easiest way to achieve a knockdown with dash is from behind or the side when block is down. You need to time it so you get to the enemy just as the saber fanning finishes. Doing this guarantees a knockdown, minus certain cases when block works. If you time it incorrectly, you will usually fly past and then get forced. If this happens be sure to roll into hiding or jump so the force doesn't stun you. If you do successfully achieve a knockdown, finish with the saber combo.

If you are dashing head on against someone, be sure to click before you get to them so you actually do some damage. If you do not time the knockdown correctly, you will fly right past them, so get your block up quickly.

When you go head on against an Obi-Wan who is dashing you, I've noticed that it is not guaranteed if you click first you will get the hit. This is actually depending on where you are in the saber fan and which direction you're facing. At the beginning it doesn't do much, if any, damage, but from the middle to end of the dash it does more. So start your dash earlier and hit them from the middle to end of the combo, this could help you win the clash.

If you choose to go no force on Anakin, just like Obi-Wan he is one of the kings of the ground. So if you are planning on staying on the ground be sure to have block up whenever you are in the open, or just after a fight.

Anakin's saber combo is one of the weaker combos. It is exactly the same as Obi-Wan's. The good thing about Anakin's combo is that he does not have to be biased as to who he kills like Obi wan does. Since Obi requires a "normal" health character he doesn't get kills directly after pushes as much due to some villains having higher health. The combo does a couple hits then a left to right slash. The left to right slash is the finishing move, which against some of the heroes does not finish. Most characters in the game have a finishing blow that actually kills everyone but Chewie (save for Dooku). Luckily enough, most of the heroes have normal health. Only the three hero gunners have higher health than the rest. So when you do the combo you can kill all the saber jedi with one normal combo (if you hit them with the whole thing). With the gunners you may want to choke them for a bit, or just do 2-3 saber combos depending on their health to finish them.

Another good thing about his saber combo is that it is very quick. It is as quick as Mace's, just not as powerful. Again, you only really have to worry about this with the three gunners. But because it is so quick you can get in the mix of things, kill the non gunners and get out of there. I have found (during force play) because of his quickness and speed, I get more kills on him than when I play Vader, though more deaths because he cannot run away as quickly as Vader.

Anakin's aerial attack is decent when well timed. When not timed properly it will get you killed. You have to be smart with it. His attack is a mid air attack that you can time for when you land or not. It is not as good as Luke's in the air, but does about half a healthbar of damage when used correctly. A good time to use it is when someone is above you and you jump and do a fly by. You want to position it so you are going past them or through them, but still getting away. I use this primarily when someone is standing on a dome and not looking at you. Sprint-Jump in a forward fashion and swing as you pass them, then land and put your block up. The aerial attack does not stun very often, but sometimes when timed on the landing it does.

The other time you can use it is when you are dropping down on someone. I usually only use this if the enemy is lower health. Sometimes if you jump and swipe them as you land in front of them, you can backswing and they will fall over. This requires them to not hit you as you land.. Overall I don't use it very often, there is not as much of a need to when he has other great tools at his disposal.

Now Anakin has saber throw and since his walk speed is quicker this allows you to not die to an enemy saber throw as easily as the slower villains. When you are in a saber throw contest with someone you can usually predict their throw by how they move. Unless they are extremely new or you are standing still, they will most likely not stand still to throw at you. So if they move and you see the saber, be sure to move out of the way. You can also throw to the way you think THEY will move, that way they step into it. The double saber hit does a lot of damage because it goes through them, and then the boomerang back hits them again. This doesn't work at the very edge of your saber distance, so you'll want to learn with practice how close/far they need to be.

Anakin's Saber throw is even better when linked to choke. On the normal health characters, which are all the Jedi type, you can choke from full energy to empty and their health will end up below half. I really only do this if they are below me and I can't get down there and kill them safely. But anyway, back to saber throw with choke. You can choke the enemy to just below half then switch quickly to saber throw (DO NOT INFINITE CHOKE: SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR INF CHOKE SIGNS ON ANAKIN). Since you are already aiming at them perfectly due to choke, you can saber throw as soon as you flip it, to finish them off. This is great when you are behind something or the lip of a roof is keeping you from going down and sabering them.

Choke is a great tool for Anakin. Choke not only takes damage from an enemy, but it also stuns them, leaving them helpless and vulnerable to your quick saber. Since most of the heroes going after you have normal health, you'll find you can kill VERY quickly. As you choke them your movement speed will be cut in half, so prepare for that. It is still faster than Vader, Dooku, or the Emperor's choke movement speed. You can choke, get up to them, saber them, run away or whatever the situation calls for.

If you choose to choke from a rooftop be wary of who is on your minimap, because you could get pulled away from your prey if you walk down to get them.

I recommend using rooftops as much as possible. Be sure you always know if a puller is behind you and always keep your block up if you expose yourself. Peeking over a roof may actually get you pulled if you don't have it up. The game makes it so you just have to show a stray hair and can be pulled. If you are on a domed roof (highly recommended), be sure to cover your body completely by the dome if a puller is near.

When you are on roofs, most hero players will try to come get you. This is just laying the meal at your table. It is so quick and easy to kill a hero in a small space with Anakin that you don't even have to choke for more than a second. When the enemy is choking their character rises up stunned, then when choke is done they have half a second before they can move again as they recover. If the distance is small, such as on the rooftops with domes, all you really have to do is hit choke for a second, move forward and saber them. Once you release choke your movement speed will be normal, so you will already be to them before they land and recover. Use this if you are battling multiple enemies on the same roof.

I wouldn't recommend dashing with choke unless they are really low health. Sometimes you blow right by and by the time your dash recovers and you turn around you'll be pushed or pulled. You can time it very well if they are at the edge of your choke, but the close up stuff don't dash with.

If the heroes dash at you, you can stop them in their tracks with choke right at your feet. As soon as they click from a sprint they will stop dead in their tracks from choke. If they just keep sprinting all you will do is take damage away from them. Be wary of the Aaaylas though, be sure to sidestep before you choke as they dash, because sometimes they hit you and you die even though it shows them choking, quite lame. Also be wary of the dashers who pull 180s. They won't be stunned until they click to attack out of their sprint, so if they swing around and you haven't turned in time your choke won't stun and you'll likely get dashed.

One final trick with choke: When you are low energy and the enemy is further away, you will find that you cannot get to them with a single choke. Its a very good trick to make them choke, then release, choke then release. Your timing has to be perfect with this or else your prey will escape. Also this allows you to cover the distance quicker and not have to worry about losing energy since it refreshes as you walk. So you choke for a second and let go, repeat this as you continually get toward them. It works twice as well with the energy regen award on.

Anakin vs. Pullers: Stay hidden as much as possible. Beware the moisture vaporators, they are not good protection. Most of the pullers you will see are inexperienced players who will jump up to you, or dash at you thinking they will have you. Just choke them and take them out. Don't run and jump head on against a puller, You only do this with certain characters and Anakin is not one of them. You will most likely end up pulled and dead. If you are tracking a puller and they are on the roof and you the ground, make sure you have buildings to hide behind as you progress forward, because block only lasts 9-10 seconds. Pretty much use hide and stealth tactics and wait for them to come to you.

Anakin vs Pushers: This is an easy one. Push has the exact same distance as choke, so keep your block up and try to get close to them. If low energy use the 1 second choke method over and over to get closer to them and finish them. You really shouldn't die to pushers unless they take you by surprise. You have the huge advantage since choke goes through block.

Anakin vs. Gunners: These aren't quick kills with Anakin. So choke them a bit then saber them. Chewie will be the worst but if you saber combo him three times it usually takes him down. Beware of Han's detpacks, people are learning the throw technique and you could get a blast from behind. The quick kills are choke to about half then finish them with the saber. Chewie takes a bit extra and can slip away, sometimes the 1 second choke with a combo works then as he is running away do it again. Don't forget a well placed backhand can stun them.

Glitch signs with Anakin: I hate having to put these in my guides but I despise inf. chokers. Free energy is not a way to win this game, nor a way to play it. Anakin is the easiest character to tell if infiinite choke is being used, due to his run speed. I warn in advance, don't accuse someone who is in close proximity to you of using inf choke. It may look like they are running fast due to lag, or due to them doing the choke then drop and getting there quicker. The one's you need to watch for is if you are being choke by Anakin far away and he comes in at normal walk speed. When he does this he is infinite choking and needs to stop. Though most people are avoiding getting caught by not killing with one whole kill of just choke, it does not mean they don't use it. The other time you can tell is if you are being choked and then it stops, and then get choked again and it continues choking. What they have done is choke you, run out of energy, then activated inf. choke. This means they don't know my 1 second method when low on energy and want an easy way out. I have caught prominent regulars using inf. choke and I don't want any of my readers to use it. If ever a patch was made that dropped the choke glitches, you'd be surprised who would all of the sudden start sucking as villains.

Anakin Skywalker: Non-Force Guide

Anakin is a very powerful Non-Force character. He has a quick saber, a great dash, a half decent aerial attack, and (besides Maul) has the only other normal movement speed on Villains.

One of the reasons Anakin is primarily chosen in Non-Force is his dash. Many people like it because it has a stun built into it. It does quite a bit of damage during the first "fan" of the saber and even more at the end. On top of that, the dash also has a chance to block.

Utilizing the dash is a primary tool, however people tend to over-use it and end up dead. The primary technique the inexperienced use as an Anakin is Dash-Roll. You can go into any Non-Force server and see an Anakin or Obi-Wan just dash-roll dash-roll dash-roll. While this may be deadly to the average player, to those who have seen it way to much, it is an easy kill. If you can avoid dash-roll it will save you more than actually doing the move. You are vulnerable as you are rolling, and there is nothing you can do about it. So the experienced enemy will evade or block your dash and watch you as you roll. They will then sprint or dash toward your rolling path and kill you as you stand up (because there is a quick recovery time after your dash).

Some people will also expect you to dash roll and if you dash them and they aren't prepared, you can always finish the dash and start your saber combo or backhand them. They will have likely dropped their block in preparation to dash a possible roll.

The dash is best used against an enemy who is unprepared. Catching them from the side, behind, or while their block is down is a lot better than just head on. Dashing them during these moments makes it so there is a pretty good chance to stun them. Be sure to read my Anakin and Obi-Wan force guides where I describe where during the dash you need to connect with the enemy.

A very valuable trick of dash you can use as Anakin is the fake dash. Now I'm not talking about glitching with slow run, you should all know now that I don't like glitching at all, I'm talking about sprinting and stopping without doing a dash. Because there are so many Anakin/Obi Dashers in game, there is an expectation of one dashing. So if you use this expectation to your advantage, you can possibly surprise your enemy. Try sprinting toward them but stopping the dash in front of them (out of saber range just in case). In most cases they will do something to try to defend against your dash. They could move, click their combo, dash also, sprint away, jump, there are plenty of things they might do. Most of the time if they do one of these you can really dash them at this point because a good portion of those moves will leave them vulnerable. So test out the waters with fake dash and see how people react. Since the game is online there is also a slight lag factor when you fake dash: it may look like you're closer to them than you really are which will make them react.

Anakin's combo is very powerful, in the sense that you can "null" easily with it, you can interrupt other combos with it, and it is very quick. Damage-wise, it is a little weaker than the other Villain's combos. You can kill the normal health characters with a full combo, but the higher health may take a couple tries. Occasionally the final swipe of the combo will knock an enemy down, and sometimes it won't. So when you are fighting a higher health character (normally against another Villain in FFA) be sure to back up after the first combo. They'll usually swing or backhand, and you can evade and finish them with a second combo. Just keep an eye out for when/if you don't knock down, because there have been many moments when I have been Vader and an Obi didn't get me in one combo and I've stunned them with a backhand.

Sometimes you will not kill a normal health character with a single combo. If you are not close enough to be hitting them on the start of the combo, you may only swipe them with the end of the combo (which generally takes about 50% health away from them). In these cases they usually do get knocked down with the final swipe so you can finish them, but be wary if they aren't stunned.

Single click is beneficial against those who are dashing you, even if it is a block-dasher character. Most of the time if you side step and single click while someone is dashing it will knock them down, then you can finish them with a combo. With a built-in-block dash type, it is still beneficial to use this tactic because it will likely save you from being knocked down and only take a little health (Yes even Grievous and Aayla if timed right). You can also single click when someone starts their combo on you. Just click once and it will interrupt their combo, then start your combo. In most cases yours next combo will start quicker because you didn't try to do a full combo. In other words, their recovery time seems longer since they were doing their combo. So you can then push forward with your combo, or spin around real quick and do a backslash.

Anakin's aerial is powerful because it has two uses. You can use it mid-air, and you can use it while landing. Always remember that when you are aerial attacking, there is a chance for you to be backslashed which usually stuns you.

Using the mid-air aerial is best when you turn your character's saber side toward your enemy (since the damage comes from this side). Now it's a mid air attack because it's likely you and your enemy are both jumping or force leaping across eachother's paths. These can be epic battles and you'll want to time it well because when you're in the air and click once, it goes really quick. You will want to be careful primarily against Aayla and Luke when doing this, because their aerials do damage in front, above and below them. So if you clash with them mid-air, try to angle toward their left side if you can.

Now the aerial can be timed when you land and do a lot of damage and sometimes stun too. If you leap over to someone and click just as you land, there is a good chance you'll be the victor in the clash. Sometimes if you turn so your back side is facing them as you land, the aerial will act as a backslash and stun them. Again, be wary of them turning around and backslashing. Sometimes if they are aware of me, I leap over and watch them backslash but I jump just before I land and if I have enough energy I do a couple side jumps. Since they were backslashing waiting for you they may not look up to find you and you can land on them anyway.

There are moments when you can force leap at an enemy and click just as you are reaching their head (when they are facing away from you), once you land and recover do a quick backslash. This surprises them since you came from behind, so they will likely step forward and try to combo you just as you are backslashing.

When playing on a Non-Force server, you'll want to be sure to use all the levels of height to your advantage. So be sure to use the roofs and ground, and practice on both equally so you know how to defend and attack on both. Anakin has advantages on both the roof and the ground. He is very powerful dashing on the ground and has normal movement speed so he can generally escape to safely fairly easily. Not only do roofs make it so you can see the surrounding area, but they are also a good defense point. Many people will see you on a roof and just jump up trying to get you. Mind the lag as sometimes it won't look like they are going to aerial. I generally sidestep as they land and hit them with a combo.

You can also dash off roofs and do some damage to your opponent. Normally this won't stun them, however sometimes it does a mid-air freeze on them and they will be vulnerable when they land. The mid-air freeze makes it so they can't do anything until they fall and you'll notice this because it looks like they are fully recovered but wont' be doing anything. It will also look like they are falling at an off angle.

The domed rooftops are great to stage a defense and an attack as Anakin. If you are on top of the dome and someone jumps up toward you, you can always dash them and do damage (sometimes stunning them). Also if they land on the flat area below you, they may do a combo to get you. If you're positioned correctly it won't damage you but you can attack them with a combo when they are in recovery from their swings.

When fighting on the ground with Anakin, be sure to realize where your escape points are (ie: corners to run around or roofs to jump on). You will definitely be targeted because Anakin is a known open space dasher. Most tactics to use on the ground have been discussed in other guides, but you'll want to be sure to manage your energy. Test your enemy with fake dashes, or do a real dash and see what they do. If they jump, next time do an aerial. If they block, try to go past them with your dash so you have room to breath when you recover. Remember you can be single clicked too, so don't think you're invincible when you're dashing (even CD).

Anakin is definitely one of the better Non-Force characters, and you should have fun playing him. Just remember that it's not all about Dash-Roll, and using strategy to beat your enemies is very helpful on Anakin.