Post by Xarious on Aug 21, 2016 16:55:59 GMT -5
Throughout my time playing, I've come to realize a great many things. Not the least of which, is that the end result of the physics engine makes there to be what I would essentially call "perfect" combat, and "imperfect" combat. There are motions that should be used, and motions that should never be used. There are specific ways to use them, and specific ways not to use them. The reason I believe this, is because the ranges and predictability of certain movements define what would be the basics of, say, a kata and a poke. A poke has longer range than a fast style kata, and the kata is easy to avoid. So, naturally, a poke will always win.
If that does not make sense, perhaps it will become more clear in the second half of the post where I explain my personal tactics. Do note, these are not meant to be fun and flailing, these are my fullest understanding of the engine to provide the most effective and lethal style. I'm not trying to say you can never do other things, and I'm not saying other things do not work, but I am saying that this would theoretically be the "perfect" style that would otherwise be unable to be defeated to the extent of my understanding of the game (hence why it is here in the words of wisdom. This is, for all purposes, a very shortened version of how I teach any of my students to fight. I've compacted it to this post for anyone who is interested). Please remember that there are & will be other posts that go into far more detail regarding each of the points I note here. This is merely an overview.
Disclaimer #1: This post assumes you have already read and understood all combat-essential sections of the main database.
Disclaimer #2: This post is in no way criticizing anyone who does something other than what I say here. Like I said, it's how I base my fighting style and the most pure form of combat to my understanding of the game's mechanics.
Disclaimer #3: This is not a 100% detailed explanation. This is a broad overview. I will have other posts dedicated to very detailed, in-depth explanations. This is just a general Do's and Don't's list.
Yes, this will be a long post, but you are welcome to skip to any of the sections (I feel like I label them pretty well, and the first sentence of paragraphs make it easy-ish to know where I'm going with them) and find whatever it is you came here for.
Introduction: What is 'Perfect' Combat?
Perfect combat, in this case, is a theory that there is only ever one ideal outcome (to kill an opponent) and while there are many ways to reach that outcome, there is always an ideal set of moves and a non-ideal set of moves. It compares JKA to chess in this regard: For every move you make, a supremely complex computer will be able to predict the outcome of every possible move-set after that move and decide the 'best' move. What is the 'best' move-set? A move-set that cannot be countered. A set of moves that leaves the opponent with two options: lose, or draw. Essentially, the idea is, from the very first move in chess there are a set of successful and unsuccessful responses, and ultimately, if you play perfectly, the best the opponent can ever hope for is to draw with you--but if you play perfect, it should be impossible for them to win. Winning, then, becomes the product of mistakes, not successes. If both players play perfect, there is no winner. You can play the best game of your life, but that will not allow you to win. What allows you to win is that the opponent made non-optimal moves that resulted in their defeat.
This is perfect combat. The idea, when transferred to JKA, is that there are moves in the game that are natural mistakes (such as those that lock you in a predictable animation) and there are moves that are not. There are ideal ways to counter specific moves (sometimes multiple options which lead to the same result) and there are non-optimal ways to counter specific moves that, if the opponent is good enough, will simply result in you dying. The best example of this is a kata: if someone tries to poke me and I kata at just the right time, it is entirely possible, through the opponent's incompetence, that I will manage to kill them with that kata. This does not make me a good player; it makes them a bad one. Through perfectionist combat, I strive to optimize my movements to reduce all risk of losing while placing the ball in the opponent's field. If they mess up, they lose. If they don't, the battle may go on forever so long as I maintain perfect combat.
Single Saber: Strong Style
You have the most range and most damaging blows. Please take a moment to forget anything you know about damage. You should always assume you are playing against the best player the world has ever known, and play to make no mistakes. Your primary focus should be on not being hit, and connecting hits, not on spazz wiggling or spam parrying. Wiggling is fine, but wiggling is mostly based on the assumption that you have hit, and you have landed that hit long enough (the opponent made a mistake bad enough that you could stay in them extra long) to be able to wiggle. Never wiggle before a strike is landed, always pure swing until you connect.
Parrying requires that you allow yourself to make the mistake of being in the opponent's range during a swing, hoping you succeed at catching the block and making the parry (which, the best player will do their best to hit your opening and not your saber to prevent the block), and then striking with the parry that is, yes, faster than a normal swing, however it can still be dodged relatively easy if the opponent expects it. Against better players, parrying just creates new opportunities for them to strike. You give them a swing of your own in close proximity that they can now try to take advantage of. Not to mention the possibility of parry-parries.
Poking is good, but in my opinion, becoming outdated as well. All you really want is the very middle stage of a swing (single-stage wiggling, as it were). All other stages can be blocked or overwhelmed, and they also do less damage. The middle stage also carries far more range than the early stages, which makes it easier to keep distant if you only hit with the mid-stage. The ending stages are often met with a counter-attack from an opponent, which usually creates a block. In the perfect world, you should be able to exit with your footwork and not take damage, therefore, pointing the end stage at the opponent would be unnecessary to defend with. In fact, it tends to be counter intuitive because if the opponent blocks your end-stage swing as you retreat out, then you lose your ability to delay another swing. It is for this reason that I always start a poke, enter with A-movement to hit with the mid-swing, and exit with D-movement to keep the saber away from the opponent. Yes, my side is then open, but my footwork allows me to still keep distance. The only reason you would take damage, is if 1. you timed your retreat movement wrong or 2. the opponent was close enough to have taken damage from your mid-swing. In the event of #2, they should be dead if they stayed in long enough for you to wiggle and kill them, so it should not be an issue in the first place.
Delays should be used as often as possible, however, avoid 3-swing delays. The worst thing you can do for yourself is waste your third strike on air, because you'll generally be placed in a bad position with no way to defend yourself that the opponent can and should take advantage of. After two swings in your delay set, you should back off and restart with a new clean swing. Depending on the situation, you may wish to back off after your first swing and allow yourself to reset without using a delay at all. Avoid chains because they slow you, whereas delays allow you to regain standard speed in between each strike. The only time that third swing should be used, is when the opponent has made such a terrible mistake that they cannot evade it (e.g. they got in way too close).
Offensive lowjumps are only effective with strong style single saber. There is no other circumstance where you should be lowjumping toward the opponent. The only reason you would do so in this case, is because your saber possesses the ability to override any other saber and style, or tie with another strong style saber. The momentum you gain from a strafed low jump hop toward someone will increase the power of your swing and let you break through other strong style swings anyway, making it useful for offense. With any other style though, it can effectively be suicide.
Single Saber: Medium Style
Medium is one of the best styles in the game. You are fast, but still able to do a lot of damage. In any instance against strong style, you will win if you play it right, because strong style is too slow to be able to counteract medium's speed for hitting between strikes. Medium can even strike between chained strikes without taking damage. The only reason you should lose to a strong style opponent, is by them using unpredictable patterns and you making a mistake.
Movements should be restricted to A and D swings only. WA and WD slow you down, and W swings are beyond ineffective. A-swing strikes can be made more useful by opting to turn them into delays, and A-swings by default carry the longest range of medium swings. Remember that any strike you use can have the end turned into a AW, A, or AS delay. Though, you will always want to use A because it is the quickest. Since A and D are both the same speed and other swings are just slower, I would generally advise A-A delays or D-A delays. Avoid chain strikes at all costs. Chain swings slow you down and nothing is more detrimental to medium users than being slowed.
Use cases for alternative swings are only for setting up delays (like WD-A) because the added length of the swing can change the delay timing.
As stated in Strong style, lowjumps are only ever advisable for strong, not for medium. However, medium can be used in special cases as a chasing tool against a retreating opponent or, in extremely rare cases, you can offensively lowjump with it if the opponent has burned all their swing timers and has no means of responding (though this is still ill-advised unless you are a very quick strafer).
Single Saber: Fast Style
Shortest range, least damage, but technically the quickest strike. Yes, this can be used effectively. However, because it is so easy to override fast, and because its range makes you almost have to be right on top of someone to hit them, it increases your probability of making a mistake. The biggest boon to fast style is that it suffers no speed debuff from swinging, which separates it from every other saber style.
You would essentially play fast exactly the same as you would medium, but the margin for error is higher. You have to get in closer, and while this can work perfectly fine (remember: no speed debuff means risk reduction and it makes this actually possible) its still such a dangerous thing that it should be used sparingly.
Yes, technically speaking, fast can override early-stage swings and force resets on things such as strong, but it is ill-advised to try and play for blocks on any style, especially fast, due to server considerations and the very small timing window.
Saber Staff
For all purposes, the staff is the best weapon in the game (I know, I know. I don't like it either, staff is so noobish. But I'm not gonna deny the facts). You have stronger block power than every saber except for single saber strong style. This means that in every situation, you override other sabers that make mistakes. You also have practically equal speed to a medium user, making you able to beat strong style in the exact same way: hit between swings, don't fall for stupid attempts at being unpredictable, and you will always win.
The best staffer should be unbeatable. Yes, I suppose it is possible if the opponent stays indefinitely passive or was the best in the world that it any duel could be an indefinite stalemate regardless of weapon, however, staff is the favored to win in every situation. The sole exception to the rule is the ability of medium style to delay through the staff. Since medium has a slightly longer range, they could technically use only delays and potentially beat the staffer. This effect of medium delaying through staff is vastly more effective in 1.00 than 1.01 due to the registry differences between versions. It can be done in 1.01, but it becomes much harder to time and successfully break through the staff.
The same advice previously given to medium and fast apply here. A and D swings only with staff. No chains. The only exception to this advice is that Staff and Dual sabers can get away with WA & WD swings more than medium, because their speeds are not so drastically reduced. This makes things like a WD swing very effective for air follows, and means that you can potentially use an approach where your opponent is on your right side as opposed to left, but this is still not highly advised.
Switches are acceptable (more so in 1.01 than 1.00 because of sabergun) though they should never be relied on. The switch to medium increases your range slightly, which gives an edge. Generally speaking, the only way you should use a switch is to give increases range, or setup for a delay (You can swing with medium, then switch to staff for an A-delay).
Dual Sabers
Not much to be said about these. Their block rate is higher because there is more stuff to clash with, making you more likely to do just that. Whether or not those blocks save you is another matter. Duals have a longer range than staff, making them also have a decent chance in a delay war when keeping distance just like medium. Against strong style, dual sabers are still quicker and can do the same as previous faster styles.
Dual sabers might as well be the "Mini Me" of staff. Their flailing-saber look makes it harder to cleanly hit someone without a block as opposed to a staff. It's like hardcore mode on a videogame: You're doing the exact same thing, except it takes a lot more effort. The only part that makes duals more effective than staff is the range, because you can play with a more comfortable distance from the opponent.
Switches with dual sabers should be avoided for the most part, for the same reason fast style should be avoided in general. Yes, they can work if timed right, but it opens you up to a higher probability of mistake making. You can, of course, use them for delay purposes.
Because of the range increase, the aforementioned WD/WA air attacks become vastly more effective. Personally, I would restrict that to primarily WD swings for follows.
General rules
These are just basic rules of types of actions you should and shouldn't do, as well as your basic approaches on things. Things that require the opponent to make a mistake for you to succeed are almost always a bad idea. Never rely on the opponent to make a mistake in order for you to survive. If you play a game of chess and see that the opponent can checkmate you but fails to do so, that doesn't make you a good player. That makes them a bad one. Always assume your opponent is the best!
Cartwheels: Never. A cartwheel is a slightly more effective kata. Maybe. It's like the politically correct way to kata that people wont get mad about. Lets review: It locks you in an animation, moves you in a predicable pattern (that you can guide, almost like a butterfly), and requires the opponent to screw up pretty badly in order to get hit. It also keeps you locked in the animation for a moment post-landing, much like most motion katas do. That's a really bad set of attributes for any movement. I'd honestly take a butterfly over a cartwheel any day.
Wall Delays: Yes, they look cool. But every wall delay (wall flip, wall run, wall grab) locks you in animations temporarily, and has a predictable movement. One of the things I teach my students right after teaching them how to do a wall delay, is how to anticipate and kill someone who uses it, just to show that they aren't useful. They may be fancy, and yes, against someone who doesn't see it coming, they may work. I've used some against staffers at times because the only way to kill them is through unorthodox movements. But the end result is that these are only as effective as your opponent is incompetent.
Glide Delays: If you have to use a fancy delay, this is the one to go with. You can start it anywhere you want, as it doesn't rely on environment. It does sort of lock you into an animation, but as long as you distance yourself correctly, this can be effective.
Lunge, DFA, roll stab, and any generic kata: Never. Lunge is fast and fancy but it requires three components: You opponent to make the mistake of being predictable enough to get hit by it, you being good enough to be accurate with it, and that the opponent actually dies from it (Spoiler alert: If they survive the lunge, you probably wont). Rollstabs are kind of the same way. Once again, they rely on the opponent being incompetent and letting themselves be hit by it, and if the rollstabee survives, you as the rollstabber will not. DFA moves... I do them because I can get away with it and I like being able to say I can kill someone with it. It's one of those do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do things. In serious combat, you will never want to use it. Ever. As for all other katas.. Self-explanatory, I think.
Dual/Staff Hurricane: I've never personally found a use for it. I find that modern delays are far more effective than using hurricanes, and much easier to do. For this reason, I'd exclude them.
Positioning: Always keep your opponent on the left side of the screen (as a general rule. In reality, anywhere between dead center and the far left side is usually okay, but for entry purposes, you want them on the left so you can enter to attack with the A-key), and never out of sight. If your cg_fov isn't already 97, make it so! You're at a disadvantage if you have it at anything lower, because visibility is key to combat. If cg_thirdpersonrange is an allowed cvar for whatever you are doing, make use of it! Again, no sense putting yourself at a disadvantage if you don't have to.
Jumping: Don't do it. Avoid jumping at all costs. The only situations you should jump in, are these: 1. You are in single saber strong style and doing a low jump offensive strike 2. Your opponent jumps in retreat and you follow 3. Your opponent high jumps and you go to aerial kill him 4. If you have absolutely no other option for survival. However, at that point, we're once again at the chess analogy. If you have to jump in order to survive, and your opponent fails to kill you when you jump, that means that your opponent failed to put you in checkmate when they had the opportunity. Never rely on jumping to keep you alive.
Movement: Always keep moving. Always. You never want to hold shift for any reason, because walking is just unnecessary slowed movement. The fact is, you need to be moving either faster than or equal to the opponent's speed in order to stay out of the way of their swings and be able to hit them with yours. If you walk, you either become an easy target, or your strikes become easy to evade. Never stand still, because you do not want the opponent able to catch you. Keep in mind the speed debuffs. If you're using red, know that you need to keep extra distance because swings with any other style will give them a lower speed debuff and allow them to move quicker than you. If you're using medium against red, you can afford to stick closer to the edge-range because you will always be able to evade faster. Use only A, W, and D for movement, never S. Base-level teachings say that A and D are the fastest, but the reality is that W is the same speed as A and D. S, however, is still far slower. The only time you should use S, is to draw in an opponent to hit them. You can flip quickly between A and D while holding W to gain increased acceleration from movement on two planes. Curved motions are almost always preferred in my book, however (this is a huge stipulation, pay attention), if the opponent can predict where you will be, your curved motion wont matter. This is because the curved motion will be faster, yes, but it travels in an indirect path. Specifically on the ground, a straight motion from point A to point B will take the same amount of time as a curved motion from A to B because it is a more direct path even though it is slower. This is why you never want to walk circles around your opponent. Use this information wisely. I usually try for very short curved motions in a less predictable pattern to avoid people taking a straight path and beating my speed, though often if you need to break away from a close cut swing, a straight line directly left or right can be more effective than a curved one. This will, however, open you up to lowjump follows, so if you know your opponent is good at lowjumping, you always want to try and curve out of situations instead.
In the air, curved will always be better because JKA strafe physics get.. well, complicated (I'd look to Strafing Concepts and Strafe Theory for a better explanation there). So, whenever you're engaged in an air-based battle, always use the curved motions.
Wiggling: As stated above, this should not be such a crucial aspect. Some players in JKA are so purist that they never wiggle. The general rule with this, is that you should never wiggle until your saber connects with the opponent's body. This is to prevent getting blocked, but also, it is because you want to aim and hit and deal the damage in the first place. Spam wiggling is less likely to get you a hit, and more likely to let them escape. Aim. Strike. Connect. Wiggle. In that order. And unless your opponent makes a huge mistake, never full poke a swing. Hit with the mid-section-wiggle and retreat. Chasing and full poking will leave you open if the opponent doesn't die, so if you plan to full poke the hit out, then plan for the opponent to be 100% dead by the end of it.
In short, wiggling is to secure a kill, not earn it.
Chains: Chains are okay for beginners, but they begin to lose value as you advance. The important thing to understand is that, during a strike, your movement speed gets slowed a LOT. During chain striking, your movement speed remains at that slowed value until the chain ends. Delay swings, on the other hand, are different. In between each swing of a delay, your movement speed spikes back up to standard non-swing speed. This means that, to compliment the core component of always-keep-moving, you should never chain, but rather, delay or start a new strike. I suppose everything has its place, and I often chain D-D so that I can draw people in and delay a WD strike into them, but once again going back to the best-player-ever presumption, chains are generally a bad idea. Please realize that this applies to all styles with the single exception of fast style (fast style, for some reason, is not hindered by the act of swinging at all). Sidenote: Funny thing, if you chain while holding shift, your movement speed gets so drastically reduced that it almost looks as if you're standing still in strong style.
Remember that these are simply my personal teachings and beliefs in terms of JKA's combat. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this is what my time playing has led me to. I figured I'd toss this up in the words of wisdom for anyone interested in how I teach. Feel free to comment your thoughts, criticize things you don't agree with, support with a like, or ask questions. I may update this with pictures for reference or maybe even a video someday but for now this was solely to have all that I teach consolidated in one place. I will probably also update this with something else because there is a 95% chance that I left things out that I'd like to add, but that are not coming to mind at the moment.
If that does not make sense, perhaps it will become more clear in the second half of the post where I explain my personal tactics. Do note, these are not meant to be fun and flailing, these are my fullest understanding of the engine to provide the most effective and lethal style. I'm not trying to say you can never do other things, and I'm not saying other things do not work, but I am saying that this would theoretically be the "perfect" style that would otherwise be unable to be defeated to the extent of my understanding of the game (hence why it is here in the words of wisdom. This is, for all purposes, a very shortened version of how I teach any of my students to fight. I've compacted it to this post for anyone who is interested). Please remember that there are & will be other posts that go into far more detail regarding each of the points I note here. This is merely an overview.
Disclaimer #1: This post assumes you have already read and understood all combat-essential sections of the main database.
Disclaimer #2: This post is in no way criticizing anyone who does something other than what I say here. Like I said, it's how I base my fighting style and the most pure form of combat to my understanding of the game's mechanics.
Disclaimer #3: This is not a 100% detailed explanation. This is a broad overview. I will have other posts dedicated to very detailed, in-depth explanations. This is just a general Do's and Don't's list.
Yes, this will be a long post, but you are welcome to skip to any of the sections (I feel like I label them pretty well, and the first sentence of paragraphs make it easy-ish to know where I'm going with them) and find whatever it is you came here for.
Introduction: What is 'Perfect' Combat?
Perfect combat, in this case, is a theory that there is only ever one ideal outcome (to kill an opponent) and while there are many ways to reach that outcome, there is always an ideal set of moves and a non-ideal set of moves. It compares JKA to chess in this regard: For every move you make, a supremely complex computer will be able to predict the outcome of every possible move-set after that move and decide the 'best' move. What is the 'best' move-set? A move-set that cannot be countered. A set of moves that leaves the opponent with two options: lose, or draw. Essentially, the idea is, from the very first move in chess there are a set of successful and unsuccessful responses, and ultimately, if you play perfectly, the best the opponent can ever hope for is to draw with you--but if you play perfect, it should be impossible for them to win. Winning, then, becomes the product of mistakes, not successes. If both players play perfect, there is no winner. You can play the best game of your life, but that will not allow you to win. What allows you to win is that the opponent made non-optimal moves that resulted in their defeat.
This is perfect combat. The idea, when transferred to JKA, is that there are moves in the game that are natural mistakes (such as those that lock you in a predictable animation) and there are moves that are not. There are ideal ways to counter specific moves (sometimes multiple options which lead to the same result) and there are non-optimal ways to counter specific moves that, if the opponent is good enough, will simply result in you dying. The best example of this is a kata: if someone tries to poke me and I kata at just the right time, it is entirely possible, through the opponent's incompetence, that I will manage to kill them with that kata. This does not make me a good player; it makes them a bad one. Through perfectionist combat, I strive to optimize my movements to reduce all risk of losing while placing the ball in the opponent's field. If they mess up, they lose. If they don't, the battle may go on forever so long as I maintain perfect combat.
Single Saber: Strong Style
You have the most range and most damaging blows. Please take a moment to forget anything you know about damage. You should always assume you are playing against the best player the world has ever known, and play to make no mistakes. Your primary focus should be on not being hit, and connecting hits, not on spazz wiggling or spam parrying. Wiggling is fine, but wiggling is mostly based on the assumption that you have hit, and you have landed that hit long enough (the opponent made a mistake bad enough that you could stay in them extra long) to be able to wiggle. Never wiggle before a strike is landed, always pure swing until you connect.
Parrying requires that you allow yourself to make the mistake of being in the opponent's range during a swing, hoping you succeed at catching the block and making the parry (which, the best player will do their best to hit your opening and not your saber to prevent the block), and then striking with the parry that is, yes, faster than a normal swing, however it can still be dodged relatively easy if the opponent expects it. Against better players, parrying just creates new opportunities for them to strike. You give them a swing of your own in close proximity that they can now try to take advantage of. Not to mention the possibility of parry-parries.
Poking is good, but in my opinion, becoming outdated as well. All you really want is the very middle stage of a swing (single-stage wiggling, as it were). All other stages can be blocked or overwhelmed, and they also do less damage. The middle stage also carries far more range than the early stages, which makes it easier to keep distant if you only hit with the mid-stage. The ending stages are often met with a counter-attack from an opponent, which usually creates a block. In the perfect world, you should be able to exit with your footwork and not take damage, therefore, pointing the end stage at the opponent would be unnecessary to defend with. In fact, it tends to be counter intuitive because if the opponent blocks your end-stage swing as you retreat out, then you lose your ability to delay another swing. It is for this reason that I always start a poke, enter with A-movement to hit with the mid-swing, and exit with D-movement to keep the saber away from the opponent. Yes, my side is then open, but my footwork allows me to still keep distance. The only reason you would take damage, is if 1. you timed your retreat movement wrong or 2. the opponent was close enough to have taken damage from your mid-swing. In the event of #2, they should be dead if they stayed in long enough for you to wiggle and kill them, so it should not be an issue in the first place.
Delays should be used as often as possible, however, avoid 3-swing delays. The worst thing you can do for yourself is waste your third strike on air, because you'll generally be placed in a bad position with no way to defend yourself that the opponent can and should take advantage of. After two swings in your delay set, you should back off and restart with a new clean swing. Depending on the situation, you may wish to back off after your first swing and allow yourself to reset without using a delay at all. Avoid chains because they slow you, whereas delays allow you to regain standard speed in between each strike. The only time that third swing should be used, is when the opponent has made such a terrible mistake that they cannot evade it (e.g. they got in way too close).
Offensive lowjumps are only effective with strong style single saber. There is no other circumstance where you should be lowjumping toward the opponent. The only reason you would do so in this case, is because your saber possesses the ability to override any other saber and style, or tie with another strong style saber. The momentum you gain from a strafed low jump hop toward someone will increase the power of your swing and let you break through other strong style swings anyway, making it useful for offense. With any other style though, it can effectively be suicide.
Single Saber: Medium Style
Medium is one of the best styles in the game. You are fast, but still able to do a lot of damage. In any instance against strong style, you will win if you play it right, because strong style is too slow to be able to counteract medium's speed for hitting between strikes. Medium can even strike between chained strikes without taking damage. The only reason you should lose to a strong style opponent, is by them using unpredictable patterns and you making a mistake.
Movements should be restricted to A and D swings only. WA and WD slow you down, and W swings are beyond ineffective. A-swing strikes can be made more useful by opting to turn them into delays, and A-swings by default carry the longest range of medium swings. Remember that any strike you use can have the end turned into a AW, A, or AS delay. Though, you will always want to use A because it is the quickest. Since A and D are both the same speed and other swings are just slower, I would generally advise A-A delays or D-A delays. Avoid chain strikes at all costs. Chain swings slow you down and nothing is more detrimental to medium users than being slowed.
Use cases for alternative swings are only for setting up delays (like WD-A) because the added length of the swing can change the delay timing.
As stated in Strong style, lowjumps are only ever advisable for strong, not for medium. However, medium can be used in special cases as a chasing tool against a retreating opponent or, in extremely rare cases, you can offensively lowjump with it if the opponent has burned all their swing timers and has no means of responding (though this is still ill-advised unless you are a very quick strafer).
Single Saber: Fast Style
Shortest range, least damage, but technically the quickest strike. Yes, this can be used effectively. However, because it is so easy to override fast, and because its range makes you almost have to be right on top of someone to hit them, it increases your probability of making a mistake. The biggest boon to fast style is that it suffers no speed debuff from swinging, which separates it from every other saber style.
You would essentially play fast exactly the same as you would medium, but the margin for error is higher. You have to get in closer, and while this can work perfectly fine (remember: no speed debuff means risk reduction and it makes this actually possible) its still such a dangerous thing that it should be used sparingly.
Yes, technically speaking, fast can override early-stage swings and force resets on things such as strong, but it is ill-advised to try and play for blocks on any style, especially fast, due to server considerations and the very small timing window.
Saber Staff
For all purposes, the staff is the best weapon in the game (I know, I know. I don't like it either, staff is so noobish. But I'm not gonna deny the facts). You have stronger block power than every saber except for single saber strong style. This means that in every situation, you override other sabers that make mistakes. You also have practically equal speed to a medium user, making you able to beat strong style in the exact same way: hit between swings, don't fall for stupid attempts at being unpredictable, and you will always win.
The best staffer should be unbeatable. Yes, I suppose it is possible if the opponent stays indefinitely passive or was the best in the world that it any duel could be an indefinite stalemate regardless of weapon, however, staff is the favored to win in every situation. The sole exception to the rule is the ability of medium style to delay through the staff. Since medium has a slightly longer range, they could technically use only delays and potentially beat the staffer. This effect of medium delaying through staff is vastly more effective in 1.00 than 1.01 due to the registry differences between versions. It can be done in 1.01, but it becomes much harder to time and successfully break through the staff.
The same advice previously given to medium and fast apply here. A and D swings only with staff. No chains. The only exception to this advice is that Staff and Dual sabers can get away with WA & WD swings more than medium, because their speeds are not so drastically reduced. This makes things like a WD swing very effective for air follows, and means that you can potentially use an approach where your opponent is on your right side as opposed to left, but this is still not highly advised.
Switches are acceptable (more so in 1.01 than 1.00 because of sabergun) though they should never be relied on. The switch to medium increases your range slightly, which gives an edge. Generally speaking, the only way you should use a switch is to give increases range, or setup for a delay (You can swing with medium, then switch to staff for an A-delay).
Dual Sabers
Not much to be said about these. Their block rate is higher because there is more stuff to clash with, making you more likely to do just that. Whether or not those blocks save you is another matter. Duals have a longer range than staff, making them also have a decent chance in a delay war when keeping distance just like medium. Against strong style, dual sabers are still quicker and can do the same as previous faster styles.
Dual sabers might as well be the "Mini Me" of staff. Their flailing-saber look makes it harder to cleanly hit someone without a block as opposed to a staff. It's like hardcore mode on a videogame: You're doing the exact same thing, except it takes a lot more effort. The only part that makes duals more effective than staff is the range, because you can play with a more comfortable distance from the opponent.
Switches with dual sabers should be avoided for the most part, for the same reason fast style should be avoided in general. Yes, they can work if timed right, but it opens you up to a higher probability of mistake making. You can, of course, use them for delay purposes.
Because of the range increase, the aforementioned WD/WA air attacks become vastly more effective. Personally, I would restrict that to primarily WD swings for follows.
General rules
These are just basic rules of types of actions you should and shouldn't do, as well as your basic approaches on things. Things that require the opponent to make a mistake for you to succeed are almost always a bad idea. Never rely on the opponent to make a mistake in order for you to survive. If you play a game of chess and see that the opponent can checkmate you but fails to do so, that doesn't make you a good player. That makes them a bad one. Always assume your opponent is the best!
Cartwheels: Never. A cartwheel is a slightly more effective kata. Maybe. It's like the politically correct way to kata that people wont get mad about. Lets review: It locks you in an animation, moves you in a predicable pattern (that you can guide, almost like a butterfly), and requires the opponent to screw up pretty badly in order to get hit. It also keeps you locked in the animation for a moment post-landing, much like most motion katas do. That's a really bad set of attributes for any movement. I'd honestly take a butterfly over a cartwheel any day.
Wall Delays: Yes, they look cool. But every wall delay (wall flip, wall run, wall grab) locks you in animations temporarily, and has a predictable movement. One of the things I teach my students right after teaching them how to do a wall delay, is how to anticipate and kill someone who uses it, just to show that they aren't useful. They may be fancy, and yes, against someone who doesn't see it coming, they may work. I've used some against staffers at times because the only way to kill them is through unorthodox movements. But the end result is that these are only as effective as your opponent is incompetent.
Glide Delays: If you have to use a fancy delay, this is the one to go with. You can start it anywhere you want, as it doesn't rely on environment. It does sort of lock you into an animation, but as long as you distance yourself correctly, this can be effective.
Lunge, DFA, roll stab, and any generic kata: Never. Lunge is fast and fancy but it requires three components: You opponent to make the mistake of being predictable enough to get hit by it, you being good enough to be accurate with it, and that the opponent actually dies from it (Spoiler alert: If they survive the lunge, you probably wont). Rollstabs are kind of the same way. Once again, they rely on the opponent being incompetent and letting themselves be hit by it, and if the rollstabee survives, you as the rollstabber will not. DFA moves... I do them because I can get away with it and I like being able to say I can kill someone with it. It's one of those do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do things. In serious combat, you will never want to use it. Ever. As for all other katas.. Self-explanatory, I think.
Dual/Staff Hurricane: I've never personally found a use for it. I find that modern delays are far more effective than using hurricanes, and much easier to do. For this reason, I'd exclude them.
Positioning: Always keep your opponent on the left side of the screen (as a general rule. In reality, anywhere between dead center and the far left side is usually okay, but for entry purposes, you want them on the left so you can enter to attack with the A-key), and never out of sight. If your cg_fov isn't already 97, make it so! You're at a disadvantage if you have it at anything lower, because visibility is key to combat. If cg_thirdpersonrange is an allowed cvar for whatever you are doing, make use of it! Again, no sense putting yourself at a disadvantage if you don't have to.
Jumping: Don't do it. Avoid jumping at all costs. The only situations you should jump in, are these: 1. You are in single saber strong style and doing a low jump offensive strike 2. Your opponent jumps in retreat and you follow 3. Your opponent high jumps and you go to aerial kill him 4. If you have absolutely no other option for survival. However, at that point, we're once again at the chess analogy. If you have to jump in order to survive, and your opponent fails to kill you when you jump, that means that your opponent failed to put you in checkmate when they had the opportunity. Never rely on jumping to keep you alive.
Movement: Always keep moving. Always. You never want to hold shift for any reason, because walking is just unnecessary slowed movement. The fact is, you need to be moving either faster than or equal to the opponent's speed in order to stay out of the way of their swings and be able to hit them with yours. If you walk, you either become an easy target, or your strikes become easy to evade. Never stand still, because you do not want the opponent able to catch you. Keep in mind the speed debuffs. If you're using red, know that you need to keep extra distance because swings with any other style will give them a lower speed debuff and allow them to move quicker than you. If you're using medium against red, you can afford to stick closer to the edge-range because you will always be able to evade faster. Use only A, W, and D for movement, never S. Base-level teachings say that A and D are the fastest, but the reality is that W is the same speed as A and D. S, however, is still far slower. The only time you should use S, is to draw in an opponent to hit them. You can flip quickly between A and D while holding W to gain increased acceleration from movement on two planes. Curved motions are almost always preferred in my book, however (this is a huge stipulation, pay attention), if the opponent can predict where you will be, your curved motion wont matter. This is because the curved motion will be faster, yes, but it travels in an indirect path. Specifically on the ground, a straight motion from point A to point B will take the same amount of time as a curved motion from A to B because it is a more direct path even though it is slower. This is why you never want to walk circles around your opponent. Use this information wisely. I usually try for very short curved motions in a less predictable pattern to avoid people taking a straight path and beating my speed, though often if you need to break away from a close cut swing, a straight line directly left or right can be more effective than a curved one. This will, however, open you up to lowjump follows, so if you know your opponent is good at lowjumping, you always want to try and curve out of situations instead.
In the air, curved will always be better because JKA strafe physics get.. well, complicated (I'd look to Strafing Concepts and Strafe Theory for a better explanation there). So, whenever you're engaged in an air-based battle, always use the curved motions.
Wiggling: As stated above, this should not be such a crucial aspect. Some players in JKA are so purist that they never wiggle. The general rule with this, is that you should never wiggle until your saber connects with the opponent's body. This is to prevent getting blocked, but also, it is because you want to aim and hit and deal the damage in the first place. Spam wiggling is less likely to get you a hit, and more likely to let them escape. Aim. Strike. Connect. Wiggle. In that order. And unless your opponent makes a huge mistake, never full poke a swing. Hit with the mid-section-wiggle and retreat. Chasing and full poking will leave you open if the opponent doesn't die, so if you plan to full poke the hit out, then plan for the opponent to be 100% dead by the end of it.
In short, wiggling is to secure a kill, not earn it.
Chains: Chains are okay for beginners, but they begin to lose value as you advance. The important thing to understand is that, during a strike, your movement speed gets slowed a LOT. During chain striking, your movement speed remains at that slowed value until the chain ends. Delay swings, on the other hand, are different. In between each swing of a delay, your movement speed spikes back up to standard non-swing speed. This means that, to compliment the core component of always-keep-moving, you should never chain, but rather, delay or start a new strike. I suppose everything has its place, and I often chain D-D so that I can draw people in and delay a WD strike into them, but once again going back to the best-player-ever presumption, chains are generally a bad idea. Please realize that this applies to all styles with the single exception of fast style (fast style, for some reason, is not hindered by the act of swinging at all). Sidenote: Funny thing, if you chain while holding shift, your movement speed gets so drastically reduced that it almost looks as if you're standing still in strong style.
Remember that these are simply my personal teachings and beliefs in terms of JKA's combat. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this is what my time playing has led me to. I figured I'd toss this up in the words of wisdom for anyone interested in how I teach. Feel free to comment your thoughts, criticize things you don't agree with, support with a like, or ask questions. I may update this with pictures for reference or maybe even a video someday but for now this was solely to have all that I teach consolidated in one place. I will probably also update this with something else because there is a 95% chance that I left things out that I'd like to add, but that are not coming to mind at the moment.