All right then, as it is a requested one, I will now make a post for the greatest Jedi duelist of the Ruusan Era, Raskta Lsu.
Raskta Lsu is a noted weapons master, the greatest Jedi duelist of her time, and knows multiple forms of lightsaber combat, so she almost certainly knows all seven forms of lightsaber combat.
Lsu's primary form appears to be a dual bladed application of Ataru, given her frequent use of acrobatics and her very fast attack sequences. She effectively uses her speed and acrobatics to overwhelm and dance around her opponents.
Another form prevalent in her technique appears to be Form V, as she also utilizes counterresponsive maneuvers in combat. This effectively allows her to respond to her opponents blows and immediately transition into a counterattack of her own.
I also noticed a dual bladed application of Juyo in there, when she was attacking with a lot of speed, savagery, and ferocity against Darth Bane on Tython.
As a result of her chosen weapons, Lsu was granted a great deal of precision in her moves and maneuvers.
Lsu was also familiar with her own Echani martial art, demonstrating great prowess in unarmed combat when she scissor kicked Bane's legs out from under him.
Through her race's penchant for Melee combat she was capable of amalgamating her Echani Martial art, Jar'kai, Ataru, Form V, and Juyo into her own personalized and highly effective style of offense.
For her defense, Lsu transitioned into a dual bladed variant of Soresu. Much like Darth Zannah, Lsu used high levels of speed and the greater surface area of two blades to greatly increase her own defensive coverage. This is an extremely effective form of defense, and it allowed her to neutralize Bane's offense as well as allowing her to catch his barrage of Sith lightning with her blades before they reached her companion.
Lsu, as an Echani, also had a talent for reading her opponents, and as a weapons master had a talent for recognizing the statistical viability of their weapons. This allowed her to quickly adapt and respond to her opponents moves and combat style. Through this type of analysis, she was not only capable of responding to her opponents' styles and moves, but those of her allies as well, being highly capable of using an otherwise mediocre duelist to supplement her own technique.
Through the understanding of those around her and her own broad array of combat skills, Lsu was highly effective at adapting to the circumstances and seamlessly transitioning between styles when the situation called for it.
So overall, Lsu has a highly personalized and effective offense, a well specialized defense, a natural penchant for melee combat and an understanding of her opponents that allows her to adapt to the needs of specific circumstances. For these reasons I judge Raskta Lsu's fighting style to be unique, resourceful, and effective.
Well now... I find myself here making a post for Revan, a popular character who's capabilities as a duelist are less explored and more easily dismissed. However DarthAnt66 has led me to see Revan's dueling capabilities in a new light with his thread here: http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=594652&pagenumber=1 which is where I will be drawing much of my raw information as to what forms he applies, though how they work in tandem with eachother as a part of his overall fighting style will be my own musings.
It is widely accepted that Revan's primary form is Niman. Drew stated that it is his unofficial opinion that Revan used Niman, and while it is unofficial, it does say something that a creator of a character with an intimate understanding of them believes that they would act/behave in a certain way. And when you look at the one in depth description of Revan fighting, Niman is featured very prominently. It also makes sense that a guy who focuses more on his force abilities would use Niman. With this in mind, Niman serves Revan's fighting style very well. His mastery of Niman makes him a well rounded opponent with a lot of versatility as well. Niman also serves as an excellent basis for further development given the fact that it borrows elements from the previous forms. Should Revan wish to take any of these borrowed elements further than the parameters of the style, then he can go to the style that served as source material and incorporate it into his fighting style to great effect without having to master that particular form of lightsaber combat. Niman also features the incorporation of physical strikes and chained in force attacks, as well as dual wielding training regimens, further adding to its versatility and potential for development.
Another thing to be considered early on is Revan's ability to predict the course of a battle, and this is where Ant and I disagree on. I believe that Revan's ability to predict a battle primarily comes through tactical foresight and an intimate understanding of his opponents which is then supplemented by force based precognition, while Ant believes that it is primarily force based precognition supplemented by tactical foresight and understanding. Both theories have their ups and downs for Revan's combat effectiveness. Tactical foresight of this manner would place Revan at a disadvantage against opponents who bank themselves on unpredictability and disturbing the flow and rhythm of combat, while force based precognition is a more exact thing and would not be subject to this failure. On the other hand, tactical foresight of this manner speaks for a more intimate understanding and connection with the fight and one's opponent, which speaks greater for Revan's skill, knowledge, and suggests he has the intuitiveness needed to fully capitalize on the opportunity provided by knowing your opponent's move in advance, while force based precognition is more detached from the fight itself and does not guarantee that one knows what to do with this knowledge. Basically it is the difference between knowing and understanding. Knowing your opponents moves may be a more exact thing, but understanding your opponents moves speaks for a more intimate connection with the flow of the fight itself, and I find understanding to be more impressive. The reason why I believe it is primarily tactical foresight is because Revan's ability in the art of predicting the next move is primarily compared to the Echani, and the description of their fighting style is more akin to understanding of the fight, as well as the fact that not all Echani are force sensitive. Additionally Revan is more renown for his tactical ingenuity than his precognition.
From an opening stance that Revan held in a picture, as well as the elegance and smoothness shown in his combat sequences in SWTOR, I believe that Makashi may have been a part of his fighting style. Despite the fact that Makashi is the one previous style that Niman doesn't draw from, its elements could work well as a supplement, particularly to Revan's application of it. Given that the Makashi elements are the one thing Niman lacks, it serves well to fill in that void, and add to the versatility and well roundedness Niman already possesses. Makashi's emphasis on fluidity and precision also compliment Revan's tactical foresight and intimate understanding of combat quite well. Through the fluidity of Makashi, Revan is able to more effectively move along with the flow of the fight given his intimate connection with it. Through the precision of Makashi, Revan can more effectively exploit the opportunities imparted to him by his tactical foresight.
Ataru is another form that appears to be a part of his fighting style given his usage of acrobatics. Ataru grants Revan with increased mobility, agility, and acrobatic maneuvering, which allows him to more effectively position himself in ways and spots that are useful for him or avoid enemy strikes. This works well given his understanding and intimacy with the flow of battle, as well as his tactical ingenuity. Additionally, the fast paced attack sequences of Ataru provide Revan with a viable offensive technique to utilize in a more aggressive manner when the situation calls for it. Similarly to Niman, Ataru also employs dual bladed training regimens and implementation of physical combat, furthering Revan's well roundedness and versatility and reenforcing elements of Revan's primary form, Niman.
Shien is also a part of his fighting style, as demonstrated by his frequenting of the reverse grip in combat, and the battlefield role he has been in. Given that he was on the battlefield, blast deflection was a must have, and given the aggressive tactics, and conqueror role he's placed in, Shien is more likely than Ataru for it's greater focus on offensive application of blast deflection. This is one of Shien's benefits in Revan's style, it allows him to easily take an offensive role against numerous blaster wielding opponents in a battlefield scenario. In a dueling scenario, Shien is normally less useful, however Revan's tactical foresight and intimate relationship with the flow of the battle are something that Shien would play of very nicely. Shien's counterresponsive nature would allow Revan to more effectively defend against then immediately respond to his opponents moves.
Revan has also been depicted with dual blades before, and given his mastery of Niman and implementation of Ataru, Jar'kai would not only be effective in his hands, but further bolster his own versatility.
To sum it up, Revan is not an overwhelming duelist, but he is an extremely well rounded duelist, and he knows how to apply his versatility to almost any situation to achieve combat effectiveness, and for these reasons I judge Revan's fighting style to be unique, resourceful, and effective.
This was not needed, especially for it giving new members who wish to learn about Revan false ideas and facts.
You fail to recognize various points, and in return ignore *much*, making much of your text to be misleading.
Expect a proper analysis on Revan's fighting styles here: http://www.comicvine.com/profile/darthant66/blog/revans-lightsaber-abilities-overview/97613/ , by Wednesday.
Originally posted by DarthAnt66
This was not needed, especially for it giving new members who wish to learn about Revan false ideas and facts.
You fail to recognize various points, and in return ignore *much*, making much of your text to be misleading.
Expect a proper analysis on Revan's fighting styles here: http://www.comicvine.com/profile/darthant66/blog/revans-lightsaber-abilities-overview/97613/ , by Wednesday.
I apologize I didn't mean it that way. However I know we have had numerous discussions on Revan, but numerous factors that define his combat prowess were not included in your analysis. Besides the subjects we discussed in chat, it wasn't that bad. Glad we got it worked out on The Outcast Forums though. 🙂
Looking through your analysis again, I feel you made an excellent observation on Revan using Makashi. I like it. 👆 :
From an opening stance that Revan held in a picture, as well as the elegance and smoothness shown in his combat sequences in SWTOR, I believe that Makashi may have been a part of his fighting style. Despite the fact that Makashi is the one previous style that Niman doesn't draw from, its elements could work well as a supplement, particularly to Revan's application of it. Given that the Makashi elements are the one thing Niman lacks, it serves well to fill in that void, and add to the versatility and well roundedness Niman already possesses. Makashi's emphasis on fluidity and precision also compliment Revan's tactical foresight and intimate understanding of combat quite well. Through the fluidity of Makashi, Revan is able to more effectively move along with the flow of the fight given his intimate connection with it. Through the precision of Makashi, Revan can more effectively exploit the opportunities imparted to him by his tactical foresigh.
After making my Bane post, I noticed someone whose fighting style was very similar, yet very different, the two seemingly mirroring each other on opposite ends of the Dark/Light spectrum. I've been procrastinating on this one for a very long time, but I am done now. I present my post for Luke Skywalker, son of the Chosen One, and Grand Master of the New Jedi Order.
Luke Skywalker was primarily a practitioner of Djem So, like his father, but also had Soresu and Ataru under his belt, likely traits passed down from his two masters. Given that much of the knowledge on Lightsaber forms was lost or destroyed in the Purge, Luke was forced to personalize much of his style, as well as creating the new fighting styles for his order known as "fast style," "strong style," and "medium style." All of these elements exist in Luke's own personalized fighting style, and each hold great effect in the way that they perform in conjunction with each other.
What is perhaps the greatest element of his fighting style, is his skill in Djem So and the Strong Style he modeled after Djem So. Djem So granted Luke with an excellent foundation to further develop his style from, given the fact that it provides a powerful offense, an effective defense, and frequents counterresponsive measures in combat. This granted Luke with general versatility as well as adaptability in combat, though it was also bold and powerful. Djem So's reliance on physical strength also played off of Luke's capabilities well, as his raw power in the force allowed him to augment his physical strength to the point of parity with the likes of Darth Vader, and even being capable of overwhelming Vader. Luke also utilized compassion as a primary element of his form V mastery, using it to balance out Form V's aggressive nature. This allowed Luke to take full advantage of Form V's aggression without letting it have too adverse an effect on his focus or emotional state. This granted Luke a great deal of control and refinement of Djem So. Luke's "Strong Style" he developed for his new Jedi Order was largely based on Djem So, but also carried trace elements of Juyo, Makashi, Shii-Cho, and Ataru, furthering his versatility and adaptability, as well as allowing him greater opportunity for personalization.
Next is Luke's considerable ability in Soresu, derived from Obi-wan's teachings. With Soresu, Luke was able to combat blaster wielding opponents very effectively, as well as being able to use it to back Djem So's own latent defenses, and facilitate his survival in situations in which he is outnumbered. This also allowed Luke to fall into a defensive role when overpowered, and wait for an opening to present itself.
Also for consideration is Luke's skill in Ataru, derived from his studies at the feet of Yoda. Luke was known to utilize both his weapon and his body when practicing Ataru. This granted him an all offensive form to utilize in combat, as well as granting him bodily control, skill in unarmed combat, and skill in wielding dual blades. His skill in unarmed combat was demonstrated in his fight with Caedus, where the two brutally smacked each other down, as well as when he landed a kick on his father, and several other times. Luke has also demonstrated his proficiency in dual bladed fencing, applying it with Jacen's lightsaber and his own against the Yuuzhan Vong to great effect. In short Ataru granted Luke an all offensive technique to apply, as well as significantly boosting his adaptability and versatility in combat.
Luke being the creator of the New Jedi Order's styles is intimately familiar with them himself, so those styles would be under his belt as well. Medium Style appeared to have much in common with Niman and Shii-Cho, as well as containing trace elements of Soresu. Much like his father's style, the incorporation of these elements served to unify his style. The basic Shii-Cho elements gives him a foundation to further develop and build off of, while the well rounded Jack-of-all-trade Niman elements serve to link the various elements in his style together. All in all, the Medium Style served as something of a foundation and glue for Luke's own fighting style.
The other New Jedi Order Style that Luke created was Fast Style. Fast Style was largely similar to both Ataru, and Soresu, while containing some trace elements of Shien, which leads me to believe that Luke developed it based off of Obi-wan's own fighting style. This style's incorporation of Shien and Soresu elements further bolstered Luke's own ability to deflect blasterfire to great extent. Its incorporation of Shien and Ataru elements granted Luke fast paced attack sequences, as well as bolstering his own counterresponsive abilities. Its incorporation and pairing of Soresu and Ataru elements allows Luke to more effectively wield Ataru and Soresu in conjunction with each other.
As a note about the New Jedi Order's Styles, they seem to be significantly less developed than the Seven Forms of lightsaber combat, but this allows and necessitates greater personalization of an individual's fighting style. This allowed Luke to more effectively blend the elements of his fighting style together, granted him some unpredictability in being less orthodox than the Seven Forms, and allowed Luke to easier tool his style to perfectly compliment himself, and tailor it to the needs of the moment, as well as his time period.
In some ways, Luke's fighting style bears resemblance to Darth Bane's, and this was in fact my main inspiration for making this post. They both contain largely the same roots: Djem So as their primary form, Soresu as their defensive form, and a third all offensive form (Ataru for Luke and Juyo for Bane). Both utilize those roots and techniques in very different ways however, and their differences are very reflective on the philosophies of each and their respective sides of the Force. Bane's fighting style contains a lot of extremes, reflecting the intense and extreme nature of the dark side and the Sith, while Luke's fighting style does not contain these extremes, but rather works his forms together into one, reflecting the harmonious nature of the light side and the Jedi.
To sum up Luke's fighting style, Luke was born with prodigious talent and power, in an era where much of the fighting style knowledge had been lost. This forced Luke to adapt and personalize his own fighting style, as well as clinging and expanding on every piece of knowledge he could find. This led to Luke blending several fighting style elements into one single amalgamation with perfect harmony. Basically, Luke merged several different techniques and fighting styles into one unified method and technique, and that became Luke's fighting style, and this fighting style made use of his raw power, contained a powerful offense, a staunch defense, versatility and usefulness in several situations. For these reasons I judge Luke's fighting style to be unique, resourceful, and effective.
Well, today is the birthday of one of my droogies, and I promised him that I would make a fighting style post for one of their favorite characters a few months ago, so I thought this would be the proper opportunity to create my interesting fighting styles post for Ahsoka Tano. Though she hasn’t had the opportunity to develop her abilities to the same caliber and extent as many of the great lightsaber masters I’ve included in my thread, Ahsoka is still an incredibly talented duelist for her age, and her chosen fighting style is a pretty damn effective one. Happy birthday King Joker, my crazy droogie, this post is my birthday present for you.
Ahsoka has a pretty wide arsenal of training and skills when it comes to martial combat, and each one of those forms and disciplines supplements each other very nicely and effectively in combat. This provides Ahsoka with a lot of options, versatility, and general knowledge of the techniques themselves that she could use herself, or recognize in her opponent’s fighting style and respond to accordingly.
Ahsoka is very much an offensive fighter, and as such, her offensive array of abilities is a bit more developed than her defensive technique. Her offensive technique is a conjunction of various forms, and it is derived from the fast paced nature of Ataru and it’s chaining in of physical strikes, the redirective parrying and counter responsive nature of the Form V variants, and the versatile and balanced nature of Niman.
Her training in Jar’kai is reinforced by the dual bladed training regimens of both Ataru, and Niman, and thus her understanding of dual bladed fencing is derived from the form specially made for dual wielding, and heavily supplemented by the dual bladed techniques, regimens, and strategies found in Ataru and Niman. Not only is her practice of Jar’kai supplemented by her skills in Ataru and Niman, but her skills and practice of Ataru and Niman are increased and amplified by her talents in dual bladed fencing. In her practice of Ataru, Ahsoka’s ability to wield two blades would increase her striking speed, and thus make her fast paced offensive even more deadly. Supporting the advantages given to her by Niman, Ahsoka’s practice in Jar’kai grants her a greater versatility and well roundedness than would normally be afforded to her by Niman’s broad generalization, especially with a shoto as one of her blades. And the usage of two blades at once would increase the effectiveness of the parrying and immediate counter response nature of Form V.
Ahsoka’s defenses appear to be less developed than her offensive ability, and in this way, I find a surprising parallel between Ahsoka and Darth Maul. Both are more reliant on their offensive technique than their defensive, so their defensive technique remains underdeveloped relatively speaking. Much like Maul, Ahsoka compensates for this by utilizing evasion, versatility, and well roundedness to facilitate her survival when pressed on the defensive. Ahsoka’s defensive strategy incorporates the agile and acrobatic moves of Ataru, tooling them for evasion as a counter to aggressive measures taken by her opponents. Her practice of Niman, which was rooted primarily in Soresu, serves to provide her with a balanced, well rounded fighting style. This provides Ahsoka a great deal of versatility, even when being driven back by her opponents offense, as well as providing her protection with it’s balanced blade work, in the way that it minimizes her weaknesses through broad coverage of them. Ahsoka also has quarterstaff training under her belt to help her understand how to counter the attacks of opponents wielding staff type weapons. This furthers the minimization of her weaknesses provided by Niman, as well as her adaptability in combat.
Ahsoka also has skills in hand to hand combat, which I believe are derived from her study of Ataru and Niman. Ataru’s emphasis on using the whole body as a weapon works well with chaining in physical strikes with her lightsaber moves, and Niman’s well roundedness and compensation for the relaxed focus on blade work integrates physical strikes at times in its training and application.
Ahsoka’s Shien reverse grip is a rather unique thing among duelists, but for a student of Anakin/Vader, it is a fairly standard trait to possess. Her reverse grip plays a part in her practice of Jar’kai, placing both of Ahsoka’s blades in an optimum position for not getting each other’s way. due to the angle of her blades. As the reverse grip is not as standard, her enemies would not be as accustomed to dealing with opponents such as her. The way in which both of Ahsoka’s blades are angled out from her body also provides her with a tighter coverage of her body, increasing the energy efficiency and practical efficiency of her defenses.
So while Ahsoka’s style is not the most developed given her relative inexperience, its components still greatly supplement each other. Her offensive technique is highly varied, taking Ataru, Shien/Djem So, Niman, and Jar’kai and using their compatible elements to supplement each other. Her offense boasts versatility, speed, quick and effective responses, and it blends all of those elements together in a way that allows them to play off of each other. Her defense, while less developed and complex, is still well thought out. For Ahsoka’s defensive technique, she favors evasion, minimizes weakness through well-roundedness, is highly adaptable, and practices two forms with a defensive root in Soresu. For these reasons I judge Ahsoka Tano’s fighting style to be unique, resourceful, and effective.