Fate Unlimited Codes/System Specifics

This page assumes that you understand numpad notation (pictured below).

Key facts

• Meter carries between rounds, so meter management is incredibly important.
• Everyone but Berserker can double jump, but nobody can airblock. Superjumps always go forward in Fate. You can turn around midair during superjump by hitting your RG button. Holding down during a jump will make you fast fall at the apex.
• This is a 3 button fighter with A/B/C. Buttons gatling in one direction; no reverse beats.
• Every command normal is forward+button (called 6A/6B/6C). 6B tends to be an overhead if the character has an overhead; not all characters do.
• 236X, 214X, and 623X are the commands for specials. 22X, 421X, 646X and 360X are also used by specific characters
• Launchers are jump cancellable on hit, but not on block.
• Jump startup is special cancellable. Perform a tigerknee motion (special command ending in an up direction - ex: 2369X), but hit the button before leaving the ground and you’ll perform a tigerknee cancel; this technique is how you can extend combos.
• 623C is universal dragonpunch (except for Caster, bow mode archer and spear mode Gil): costs 1/3 of 1 bar, the last hit does half a bar of meter damage if it hits.
• Real combos show a red hit count, untrue combos are blue. Tech by pressing any button.

General Movement

Walking

Pressing or holding left or right on the Control Stick or D-Pad will make the character walk forwards towards the opponent, or backwards away from them. This is the slowest and most basic form of movement in Fate/Unlimited Codes, but also presents the least risk.

Dashing and Running

To dash towards the opponent, double tap forward towards the opponent, and the direction can be held to keep running forward. Runs can be cancelled into jump, attacks, or sidesteps.

Backstep

To perform a backstep, quickly double tap backwards away from the opponent. The character will do a backwards dash that has invincibility during its first half, making it useful for dodging attacks if timed properly. Interestingly, backdashes in this game can be cancelled into throw, specials, and sidesteps, making them potentially tricky to punish even if the opponent is waiting for it. However, it's still pretty punishable by whiff cancellable strings or far-reaching attacks.

Sidestep

Pressing B+C / 2B+C will make your character perform a sidestep in one of two directions; B+C without a direction input will make the character step towards the background, while 2B+C will sidestep towards the foreground. Similar to backsteps, sidesteps are also evasive maneuvers as they move the character out of the way of attacks to dodge them, however they differ in that they are uncancellable, are also much worse at dodging moves unless used pre-emptively and are throwable.

Jump and Double Jump

Inputting 7/8/9 on the Control Stick or D-Pad will make the character jump into the air, which is another way to move and also gives access to unique airborne normal and special attacks. This can also be done a second time in the air for a double jump. Jumps have 4 frames of startup, which are invulnerable to throws but are still vulnerable to strikes; interestingly, this jump startup can also be cancelled into specials, even when jump cancelling an attack, which is essential for this game's infamous "Instant Jump Cancel" or more commonly known as "TK Cancel" techniques.

Important to note that there is also 4F of recovery upon landing from any jump, even an empty jump.

Superjump

Inputting 2 shortly before an 8 or 9 jump input will make the jump a superjump instead, in which the character will travel at a higher and further forward trajectory than a regular jump, however double jumping will not be possible. Any valid superjump input will send the character on a forward trajectory, even if done with an 8 jump. Attacking an airborne opponent while superjumping will also afflict them with more hitstun than normal, which is normally enough to always allow all three air buttons to connect even at the end of long combos.

Fastfall

Holding [2] while airborne from any kind of jump after its apex will make the character fall faster from the jump, at a speed about as fast as they went up; this is called a fastfall. Doing this can make jump trajectories come down short so they are a little more difficult to intercept by anti-airs, allows most characters to land quick overhead attacks, and also allows some characters to pull off advanced combo routes with air attacks.

Do note that a fastfall can be input any time after the apex of a jump, but cannot be input at all if the character is already performing an air attack.

Health Gauge

The Health Gauge represents the remaining health of a character. A character loses the round when their health bar is reduced to zero, however the health bar in Fate/Unlimited Codes is uniquely double-layered, so it must go down to the end twice for a character to be defeated. The first half is represented in green, and the second half is represented in yellow.

Every character has their own Health Gauge values, resulting in some characters being able to endure more damage than others:

Health	Character(s)
11,500	Berserker, Saber Alter
11,000	Kirei
10,500	Saber
10,000	Archer, Bazett, Shirou
9,800	Luviagelita, Rin
9,500	Assassin, Gilgamesh, Lancer, Rider
9,300	Caster, Zero Lancer
9,000	Leysritt, Sakura

The average health in this game is around 9,900.

Mana Gauge

Mana is the essential component of Magecraft in the Fate universe, and thus translates to functioning as the main meter mechanic in this game. Characters gain mana from numerous actions, such as:

• Performing attacks (regardless of if they hit or not)
• Being hit by and blocking attacks

Mana gain varies a lot based on the action. For example, whiffing attack strings builds a very insignificant amount of mana, while actually landing attack strings on the opponent builds a decent amount.

The amount of mana that each character has at any given time is shown via the glowing meter bar underneath their health bar that is divided into 3 sections, each section representing 100% (1 full bar) of mana. This also means that the mana gauge caps out at 300% (3 bars) of mana.

Spending Mana

In Fate/Unlimited Codes, there are many ways that mana may be spent. Some mana expenditures require at least 100% (1 bar) of mana, while others can be used at any amount and can also vary in the amount of mana they cost and how quickly. Here is a list of the most common / universal usages of mana in the game and how much they cost:

Cost	Action(s)
30%	Advancing Guard
30%	623C
50%	C Reflect Counter
60%	Reflect Guard
100%	Guard Cancel, Most supers, Magic Burst in neutral
200%	Magic Burst out of hitstun
300%	Holy Grail super

Immediately after spending any mana, the character will go under a short mana cooldown where actions that would normally build mana will not build any at all. This is indicated by the meter bar dimming out a little bit.

Magic Burst

Inputting A+B+C with 100% or more mana will make the character perform a Magic Burst (also commonly referred to as an Activate or Activation) that usually does a 360 degree blast that launches the opponent away and puts the character into a special, powered-up state for a period of time with the following changes:

• Health will regenerate at a rate of 5HP/frame (7HP/f for Shirou) for the duration of the activation
• Specials can be cancelled into supers
• Reflect Guard no longer costs mana
• Prejump frames can be cancelled by crouching (known as Un-jumping). This includes prejump frames during jump cancels.
• 623Cs lose their meter draining effect
• All currently stocked mana will drain out as a kind of gauge on how long the activation has left.

With regards to the last point, activation length will vary based on how much mana the character had in stock before activation, up to a max of 600F (≈10 seconds) when engaged at 300% mana without Grail advantage, or 900F (≈15 seconds) when engaged at 300% mana with Grail. If Magic Bursting with 300% or more mana, the character will also get a character-specific bonus during their activation state.

It's also important to note that Magic Burst has two interesting properties: first, it has NO recovery (unless performed while airborne, in which case the character is inactionable until landing), so a grounded Magic Burst cannot be punished even if it whiffs. Secondly, the blast is a zero-frame attack, which means that if the opponent is not blocking before the superflash of the blast and they are within range, they are guaranteed to get hit.

Offensive

Magic Burst functions a little differently when it is performed while the character is attacking the opponent. If it's used this way, the knockback blast actually will not occur, which when paired with its lack of recovery can allow it to be used as a cancel in a combo. All the buffs from the activation state will still apply except health will not regenerate.

Defensive

Magic Burst that is performed when the character is blocking, in hitstun, or knocked down will do the blast, however it costs 200% mana minimum to perform and does not give any buffs. Just like the others, it has no recovery unless performed in the air, in which case the character is inactionable until they land. It's also important to note that this version is the version that can and will come out if input while knocked down or any time while waking up from a knockdown, so it can be used on wake-up to see or even escape certain okizeme setups and mixups (a prime example is escaping Rider's okizeme vortex with a Magic Burst during the wakeup animation).

In a nutshell, here is a table of the specific ways Magic Burst can be used:

	Neutral Condition	While Attacking	Out of Hitstun
Cost	100%		200%
Knockback Blast	Yes	No	Yes

Command Spell

When a character reaches full (300%) mana, their completed Command Spell icon will appear next to their meter gauge. If Magic Burst is used while at full (300%) mana, the character will additionally get a special character-specific trait buff for the activation duration on top of the regular buffs. They are as follows:

Character	Full Mana Activation Trait
Archer	With the first 6 verses from his UBW aria completed, Archer can activate to use Unlimited Blade Works. Archer has no traditional Grail Super; UBW (and by extension the UBW-specific super) is the replacement.
Assassin	All attacks ignore Reflect Guards.
Bazett	Always has Punch and Kicks runes active.
Berserker	Gains 12 hits of super armor.
Caster	No longer has a cooldown when using certain spells.
Gilgamesh	In either mode, Gil can summon swords straight down using 22D. These swords can be charged as long as you wish to increase the damage, amount, and the range.
Kirei	Norrmals and specials deal 20% more damage.
Lancer	Only needs 100% mana to use bursts.
Leysritt	Activation fills up her super armor bar.
Luviagelita	Cannot be thrown by normal throws. She is still vulnerable to command throws, however.
Rider	If Rider has her blindfold removed via 236236B, activate her Breaker Gorgon ability in which all opponent actions are 25% slower, including grounded and airborne hitstun.
Rin	Can use jewels infinitely for the duration of activation.
Saber	Unsheathes Excalibur, which increases the overall hitstun on her attacks.
Saber Alter	Deals more damage on every attack.
Sakura	All attacks drain the opponent's mana gauge on hit.
Shirou	Activation health regeneration is more potent (heals 7HP/frame rather than 5HP/frame)
Zero Lancer	The chip damage from his specials and supers are doubled.

Holy Grail

The chalice in the top middle of the screen underneath the health bar is the Holy Grail, and it is filled by people taking damage. Once filled, one player can activate with full mana (300% meter) to gain access to a powerful super that always deals 4000 damage, even in combos.

Attacking and Hitstun

Slash Rave

Slash Rave is the name of this game's button chaining mechanic, similar to "Gatling" in Guilty Gear or "Revolver Action" in BlazBlue. With Slash Rave, characters can generally chain most lower strength normals into any higher strength normals, including chaining command normals back into regular standing or crouching normals as long as they are a higher strength and have chain cancels possible. For example, Archer can do 5B > 2B > 6B > 5C > 2C, which is a common combo string for him. This may vary for some characters though, for example Zero Lancer's 6B can only cancel into his 5C and 2C, and Assassin's 6A cannot be cancelled into any other buttons or specials.

Throws

Inputting 6A+B when very close to an opponent will perform a Throw on them. Your character will grab the opponent and perform a special damaging animation on them, sometimes allowing for a combo afterward. All throws are frame 3, so they can be a great option at point-blank range to either open up a guarding player as a mix-up, or to punish even some of the least punishable recovery moves (if the opponent is in range to get grabbed).

However, opponents cannot be grabbed when they are in jump startup or in the air, even when in range. Opponents also cannot be thrown while they are in hitstun nor blockstun, and throws will also fail if they clash with a strike on the same frame. Beware that if there is no opponent nearby to be thrown or the opponent is in an unthrowable state, your character will do a throw whiff animation that is easily punishable.

Throw Break

Inputting 6A+B or 4A+B within the first few frames after being grabbed by an opponent's throw will perform a Throw Break, breaking yourself free from their grab without taking damage and also separating the two characters. Throw breaks are also not possible if the character is in the middle of an attack.

Supers

Supers cost 100 meter generally, most are on the motion: 236236A/B. You can cancel normals into supers and specials, but you generally cannot cancel specials into supers, unless you are in activation state.

Defense

Guarding

Holding a direction away from the opponent in a neutral state when about to get hit by an attack from the front or sides will have your character guard against the attack instead. In this game, guarding is only possible on the ground, not while airborne. There are also some moves that must be blocked in a crouching position (with [1]) such as Archer's 2B, and others that must be blocked in a standing position (with [4]) such as Kirei's 6C, however most moves can be blocked both ways. There are certain attacks that will still damage a character even if they're guarded (signified by a red blocking effect instead of blue), however the damage will be greatly reduced and not put the guarding character into hitstun. This is called chip damage, and unlike damage sustained from a regular hit it is not capable of killing a character.

Advancing Guard

Pressing 4A+B with 25% mana during blockstun will perform an Advancing Guard (or more commonly known as a pushblock), which will push the attacker a distance away from the defender, allowing an opportunity to escape or punish the attacker's pressure. Pushblocking has no cooldown, but does force the defending character into 20 frames of blockstun and is intentionally weaker if either character is against a wall or corner. Versus high blockstun moves, this can cause the defending character to be actionable sooner instead of later and thus able to take advantage of a gap in pressure, but against low blockstun moves this can actually cause them to be even more disadvantaged than normal. There are also plenty of attacks that either have incredibly good range or forward advancing movement that pushblocking can be ineffective against, such as Archer's 214X series or most of Assassin's moves in general. Pushblock also cannot be used against projectiles.

Guard Cancel

Pressing 6B+C while in blockstun with 100% (1 bar) mana will make the character cancel their blockstun into an invincible that does no damage, but launches the opponent far away on hit. It can be used as a more reliable way of escaping blockstrings, however Guard Cancels are blockable and easy to punish once blocked.

Reflect Guard

Pressing the D button with at least 60% mana will have the character perform a Reflect Guard (RG), which is a defensive stance that can parry physical attacks for a brief amount of time (about 5 frames). On a successful reflect, the opponent will be staggered and the meter cost will be refunded. Even if a Reflect Guard doesn't catch anything, the recovery can be cancelled into normals, specials, supers, throws, and normal jump. Reflect Guard also cannot be used against projectiles or supers.

Reflect Counter

Upon a successful catch with a Reflect Guard, the defender can cancel it with unique follow-ups by pressing any of the 3 attack buttons, and the meter spent on the maneuver will be refunded. The A button will perform a quick attack that can be cancelled into regular normals or specials, and the B button will perform a longer ranged attack that can be cancelled into specials and supers. The C button will perform a follow-up that costs 50% mana, but drains mana from the opponent and can also do something else special on hit such as launch the opponent far away, force them into a knockdown, or grant a combo opportunity.

Reflect Cancel

Reflect Guard can also be used as a cancel that can cancel anything on startup, hit or whiff except for supers. This is typically referred to as a Reflect Cancel (RC). It can cancel into offensive moves, but not defensive actions like block/backdash. Unlike Reflect Guarding in neutral, Reflect Cancel has a cooldown, costs half a bar of mana (50%) and locks you out of meter gain for a short period of time. When used in a combo, it also undoes some of the gravity scaling in a combo, making it easier to extend afterwards.

Uniquely, it is also possible to Reflect Cancel the reeling animation after striking an opponent's Reflect Guard.

Knockdown

OTG State

The OTG State is the short amount of time that a character can still be hit by attacks that can reach them on the ground before they go invincible for wake-up. Unlike most games, hitting the opponent off of the ground or while they are in OTG state does not scale the damage uniquely.

Ground Recovery

Pressing A, B or C just before or upon hitting the ground while in hitstun will make the character break their fall when they land. The A button will make the character wake up almost in place, while the B and C buttons will make the character wake up while sidestepping into the foreground and background, respectively. These can be delayed after hitting the ground, however it leaves your character vulnerable to getting hit OTG, and after a while the character will wake up from their knockdown on their own.

Note that some moves disable this ability to break the fall or use the other recovery options on wakeup, such as Kirei's 623C or Archer's Bow j.236236A.

Air Recovery

Pressing A, B or C after air hitstun runs out will make the character flip and thus recover from the hitstun. Holding either direction ([4] or [6]) while recovering will influence the direction the character will flip; holding [4] will flip the character far backwards, while holding [6] will flip them forwards, and holding no direction will have them recover slightly backwards.

Advanced Techniques

Everything below here is a chronicle of emergent gameplay mechanics and tactics that have been discovered by players of Fate/Unlimited Codes. Many of them are incredibly relevant and viable in high-level gameplay, and thus players who are looking to play this game competitively are recommended to learn them.

Instant Jump Cancel

Localized in the PSP version as "Instant Jump Cancel", but more commonly known as Tiger Knee Cancel (TKC) or sometimes Jump Cancel Cancel (JCC), is a technique in which a character cancels their jump startup frames into a special or super. This can even be done during the startup frames of a jump cancel after landing a jump cancellable attack, which allows for moves that normally don't lead to much getting many new combo routes that would otherwise be impossible.

For example: Normally, Kirei cannot special cancel his 2C on hit, only jump cancel, which will only lead him into a short air combo ender. However, if he cancels the jump cancel's startup into a special, then he can do something like throw a 236A key after 2C, which can allow him to link 5B into a different combo afterward. However, jump startup in this game is only 4 frames, so this can be tight. Instead of having to input the motion after the jump cancel frame perfectly, Kirei will instead input it as 2369A, in which case he will have much more time to buffer the motion before the jump cancel so it can execute even with the very short jump startup window.

There is one exception though; you cannot TK Cancel a special move into itself (same motion + same strength), so TK Cancels like trying to loop Archer's 623B into itself are not possible, however TK Cancelling his 623B into 623C is a valid TKC.

Below are some recommended methods of inputting TKCs:

tkc 236X = 2369X

tkc 214X = 2147X

tkc 623X = 62369X (stick/pad) / 6239X (hitbox)

tkc 421X = 42147X (stick/pad) / 4217X (hitbox)

tkc 22X = 228X, do 282X for normal TK. Sometimes 282X is easier for a specific TKC into it to for some players.

tkc 646X = 6469X

tkc 236236X = 2362369X

Execution tip: If you're getting airborne moves instead of the grounded moves when attempting a TKC and you've been inputting the special move properly, then you're probably pressing the button for the special too late; try to input the jump direction and the button for the special at the same time!

Un-Jumping

Un-jumping is a technique in which a character cancels their prejump frames into a crouch (8~2). This is a residual engine quirk that has been in most previous Eighting 3D engine games (Bloody Roar 3 & Extreme and Clash of Ninja), and is still present in Fate/Unlimited Codes, however in this game it can only be performed during an activation. This technique has its advantages in allowing characters to perform juggles that are not possible by normal TKC rules (such as Archer's Bow 2C loop), but it can also be used to dodge throws if timed almost perfectly(?).

Unscale Glitch

The Unscale Glitch, more commonly known as just Unscale, is a bug with the game's damage scaling system which can cause a super move to deal full damage in the middle of a combo instead of their typical 50% damage when used in a combo.

The way to perform this glitch is simple, but not always easy; it is caused by a projectile hitting an opponent after a super move has been initiated, but before or at the same time the super hits the opponent as well. Many characters can use this to their benefit to end combos with incredible amounts of damage that may kill the opponent when they normally would not have, but the difficulty and viability varies between characters due to their frame data and access to projectiles in combos. For example, Archer's air super in Bow mode is relatively easy to unscale with, while Rider's only possible unscale must be performed frame perfectly.

We can get an example of this from Kirei yet again. Kirei can tkc his 623A into 236A, and then if he inputs 236236B fast enough after recovering from the key throw, the key he threw can connect during his super's startup and it will cause the super to have no scaling during the combo and deal its full damage.