Cyberbots/Mechanics

Boost

Ground Boost

The Boost button can be used as a substitute for a dash input (66 or 44) on the ground. 66 and 44 cannot be used in place of a Boost in any situation other than being at neutral on the ground. Pressing the Boost button while the stick is neutral (5), or holding 6 will result in a forward dash, holding 4 and pressing Boost will result in a backwards dash. The boost can be held until your meter runs out, or you can tap the Boost button while boosting to cancel the boost, allowing you to perform non boosted attacks and throws, but you will still retain some leftover momentum for a short period.

Grounded dashes can be canceled into Specials, which will retain the forward (or backward) momentum of the dash while coming out. Performing a normal attack while dashing will result in a dashing specific version of the normal that can only be done while dashing. You can also press the attack button and Boost button simultaneously. Many of these dash normals travel forwards, and will travel forwards even if you were dashing backwards originally.

There is a small amount of recovery upon landing that can be canceled via the Boost button (either into dashes or into jumps).

Air Boost

Pressing Boost in the air will give you a more VA specific movement option compared to the fairly standardized dashes available on the ground. These air Boosts vary wildly in terms of meter consumed, trajectory, momentum, etc. Most of them are some kind of extra jump or 8 way air dash.

Like Boosting on the ground, you can perform attacks out of these air movement options. Normals will be unchanged from your usual air normals, but will retain momentum in the direction your Boost was headed. Performing special moves or Weapon attacks is a little different than normals. For example, if you cancel the early frames of a Boost into an attack that has a stationary animation, when the attack finishes, you will retain the momentum that the Boost had at the point where you canceled it. In this video, you can see Blodia doing an air Weapon attack, as well as Boosts in various directions canceled into air Weapon attacks. Note the variation in speed upon exiting the Weapon attack animation. Because Boosts have different speeds as they start up and accelerate, you will retain the speed of the Boost from the point where it was canceled.

Ground Teching

When you get knocked down, if you press the Boost button with the correct timing (usually just about as you hit the ground, or slightly before) you will quick tech, waking up with a backwards roll and you won't be susceptible to OTG attacks. There is no lockout for the timing so you can mash it if you need to. If you miss the tech window, you can hold a direction to hold forward or back, or neutral if you want to wake up in place. However, if you don't tech, it will be possible for the opponent to follow up with OTG attacks, after which you will quick tech automatically.

Guard Canceling

In Cyberbots, it is possible to break out of block stun on the ground by using the Boost button within 3 frames after block stop for an attack has ended. The round yellow spark that appears for blocking animations serves as a visual indicator for when block stop has elapsed. You want to look for when it starts to dissipate. There are many moves in the game that can only be punished on block by using this technique, and there is some devastating pressure that can be applied to a player who has not mastered it. This technique can be performed in a few different ways for different results.

• Pressing 4B plus L/H/W will result in a back dash plus your attack of choice. You will maintain your backwards momentum unless the attack you chose will travel in a different direction automatically. If you want to do a non-dashing version of a normal after Guard Canceling, you can press 4B, then B to cancel your backdash, and then your attack of choice.
• If you want to guard cancel into a special move, you should first buffer the special move input, then press 4B plus L/H/W to execute the move. So for example, if you wanted to do a guard cancel into a dragon punch type move, you would input 623 while blocking, then 4B to guard cancel plus either L or H to do a light or heavy version of the move. This only works with special move that can be performed during a dash, and is extremely difficult to do consistently due to the speed and precision required.
• If you press 7B rather than 4B, you will guard cancel into a backwards jump. This can be useful for VA's that have 8 way air dashes as they can then change their trajectory and counterattack with a jump in while the opponent is recovering.
• If you press 7B pianoed into L/H, you will get a throw if you are close enough. You can also use this method to guard cancel into command throws if you buffer the input for the command throw prior to performing the guard cancel.

As soon as you execute the Guard Cancel, you will have 6 frames of invincibility that will carry over to whatever action you choose to take. For example, you guard cancel with 4B into a non invincible move, you will still retain your 6 frames of invincibility during the startup of the move allowing you to blow through some multihit attacks that you would ordinarily be counter hit by. If you guard cancel into a move that normally has more than 6 frames of invincibility, you will still have the remaining invincibility frames that the move would give you after your 6 frames of guard cancel invincibility have elapsed.

Here is a short video that will help illustrate this technique.

Attacks

Canceling Normals

Most characters have the chain cancels L>H and L>L>H. Some characters only have L>H and some characters have no chains. The timing for these chains can take a little time to get used to. The cancel window for a chain is during the recovery of your attack, so timing it correctly can feel a little slow.

Cancelable normals on the ground can usually be canceled on hit or block into specials, Cyber-EX's (supers), Giga Crushes (bursts), and Power Charge (LH). Some moves can only be canceled into Specials, Supers, or Giga Crushes; these are usually the later hits of multi-hit dashing normals. All normals can also be canceled with any of the above options during their startup frames before they become active.

Cancelable normals in the air can only be canceled into special moves as there are no air Cyber-EX's, Giga Crushes, or Power Charges.

Throws

Throws are done with one button. There are no whiff animations for failed throws. If you attempt to throw a player who is throw invincible, you will just perform the normal attack that corresponds to the button you attempted the throw with. There are three kinds of basic ground throws in Cyberbots.

• L throws are performed by pressing 4 or 6 in conjunction with the L button while in throw range of a throwable opponent. These throws, with the exception of Warlock's, Super-8's, and Helion's, are holds. This means that the attacking player can mash directions on the stick for more hits, and the defending player can mash the stick for less hits. Unlike other games, you only have to mash directions on the stick for more hits, there is no need to hit buttons. Riot does not have an L throw. Warlock, Super-8, and Helion's L throws are toss throws identical to their H throw.
• H throws are performed by pressing 4 or 6 in conjunction with the H button while in throw range of a throwable opponent. These throws will toss your opponent across the screen for a single chunk of damage.
• Arm Ripper throws are done with the input 632 L/H. These are holds like the L throws, but they are for damaging the opponents Arm Gauge to disarm them. Warlock, Super-8, and Helion do not have Arm Ripper throws.

Normal air throws are exclusive to Reptos and Killer Bee. These can be done by holding 4 or 6 and pressing L or H near an opponent in the air. Vise and Reptos have command grabs that work in the air against airborne opponents. Tarantula's super is a ground to air command grab that will grab opponents out of the air and on the ground.

Throws are active after 1 frame.

If two throws occur on the same frame (command throws as well as basic throws) then it is random which one succeeds.

After block stun has ended, there is an additional 1 frame of throw invincibility.

There are 8 frames of throw invincibility on wakeup.

There is no throw invincibility during pre-jump frames. The last pre-jump frame shows a VA as being airborne even though it is still considered to be in pre-jump on the ground. This can result in what looks like a VA being thrown from an airborne state, but it was just the last pre-jump frame.

The throw ranges for each character are different. Here is a chart with them. Notice that some Arm Ripper throws vary in range based on which button was used.

Reversals

There are some unusual rules for reversals in Cyberbots. After recovering from a ground hit, or after block stun has elapsed, you can do a normal attack, boost, forward or backward movement, and jumps right away. However, you must wait an additional 1 frame after recovering from hit or block stun to do a throw, special move, Cyber-EX, Giga Crush, or Power Charge. This rule does not apply after a knockdown. When waking you can perform any action as a reversal without having to wait an additional 1 frame.

Attack Levels

Source
Cyberbots has 7 distinct attack levels with hitstun and blockstun, beyond the simple Light/Heavy.

Attack Level	Hitstop	Total (Block)	Total (Hit)	Notes
1	5	11	15	Electric Hitstun is 51 frames long
2	6	13	17	Used for various Light attacks
3	8	15	19	Used for various Light attacks
4	10	17	21
5	8	19	23
6	10	21	25	Used for various Heavy attacks
7	12	23	27	Used for some Heavy attacks

Misc

Meter

There are two ways to build meter, and two ways to spend it in Cyberbots.

The first way to build meter is by attacking your opponent. As long as your attacks hit or were blocked, you will be awarded some amount of meter for them. You cannot gain meter by whiffing attacks (normals or specials) and you cannot gain meter from blocking or being hit.

The second way to build meter is to hold L and H simultaneously when you do not have a full super bar. This is called a Power Charge, and your VA will enter a charging animation and build meter until you release LH. Power Charge is a very important mechanic, not only for building meter, but for canceling normals and weapon attacks to make them safe, or to give extra frame advantage. Many weapon attacks can have their recovery reduced by Power Charge canceling the move right after the projectile has been released. There are many normal attacks, such as Blodia's 2H, that should pretty much always be Power Charge canceled if you do not have a full meter so as to give extra frame advantage on hit or block. Another useful technique is to Power Charge immediately after a throw attempt. If your opponent does something that makes them unable to be thrown, instead of having your normal come out, you will Power Charge cancel the startup frames of the normal and be safer. If you were successful in your throw attempt, the Power Charge cancel input will do nothing as you will be in your throw animation. This technique is also important for many advanced combos as a way to make it possible to link from attacks that might be minus on hit otherwise. This is more useful for some VA's than others. For example, the minimum Power Charge animation that Reptos, Guldin, and Gaits can do is 16 frames. For every other character, it's 8 frames, which makes it more useful for them. For some characters this ability is so valuable that players will elect to spend their meter as fast as they have built it so as to continue to have access to Power Charge canceling. One danger that Power Charging presents is that if you are hit by an attack while charging, you will lose your arm regardless of how much of your Arm Gauge remains. You will not lose your arm while charging if you are hit with a throw, command throw, or hit grab. If you are hit while charging with a hit grab that fails to activate its capture state, then you will lose your arm.

After building a meter, your VA will glow for 10 seconds. This is affectionately called "lightning skin" by the community, but there is no official name. During this 10 second window you will do 20% increased damage. If you spend the meter before these 10 seconds have elapsed, this 20% damage buff will go away. It can be good to avoid using your meter right after gaining it so as to try and make as much use of this increased damage as possible. Conversely, when an opponent has just built a meter, it may be prudent to play extra safe until the 10 seconds have elapsed, as any damage you take during this window will be increased. This buff does not carry over between rounds. For example, if you build a full meter right before the end of a round, at the start of the next round you will retain your meter, but you will not retain the lightning skin buff.

The first way to spend meter is with your Cyber-EX super attack. Every Cyber-EX is done with the 236236 L/H input. These are unique to each character.

The second way to spend meter is with your Giga Crush attack. This is a universal attack done by pressing L and H at the same time with a full meter. These attacks tend to have large hitboxes and are very invincible. Among the normal characters there are four main types. These are divided by model, so the Blodia models (Blodia, Riot, and Swordsman) will all have similar Giga Crush attacks. While Giga Crushes from the same model type all look the same, there are minor differences in hitbox size, startup, invincibility frames, recovery, etc. The bosses (Gaits, Helion, Super-8, and Warlock) all have unique Giga Crushes.

Jumping

The number of pre-jump frames varies from character to character. These frames are not throw invincible. It is possible to throw someone during their pre-jump frames and not have the throw visually start until their first frame in the air. This looks rather unusual, similar to a netplay rollback, but is a normal occurrence. When you land from a jump, there's a short landing recovery window. This landing recovery can be canceled by using the Boost button.

Blocking and Unblockables

As you'd expect, blocking is done by holding 4 or 1 to block high or low, respectively. A mid refers to any move that can be blocked high and low. Air blocking works with 7/4/1 and can block everything except for throws (limited to Vise, Reptos, Killer Bee, and Tarantula's super).

If you attack a VA in the air from behind, they won't be able to air block. This can be hard to do exploit against hover-type VAs, who can turn around in the air when they press Boost.

Cyberbots has many unblockable situations due to some engine quirks, which usually involve Weapon attacks.

In general, the direction you have to block is based on which way you're facing. This results in having to block moves that look like crossups as if they hit in front, like Swordsman's j.L here. This can occasionally set up unblockables with multi-hit crossups, mostly j.2H like shown here.

You can set up an unblockable by switching sides with an active weapon out. For example, Tarantula can shoot missiles and switch sides with Tarantula Stamp ([2]8A) as you can see here. In theory, the defender has to block projectiles based on the side the owner is on, but they're only able to block opposite the direction they're facing. You can see another example with Swordsman's mine here.

Another way to set up an unblockable is by forcing an opponent to block an attack with a lot of hitstop high or low, and attacking with something they have to block the opposite way. In this example, you can see that the Jackal player blocks Lightning's missiles high, and then is hit with a low while in block-stop from the missiles, making it unblockable.

The next type of unblockable is more familiar - if you force an opponent to block a low and high hit at the same time, they won't be able to block. Cyclone is effective at setting this up with its mines, which hit low, and its long-reaching jump normals.

Finally, Guldin's jump and boost Weapon are both randomly unblockable if they connect on the first frame, since they have no startup. Curiously, the same thing happens in ST with Old Shotos' air tatsu.

Juggles

There are a few attacks in Cyberbots which can juggle. Each hit in one of these attacks sets the opponent in a state that allows them to be juggled. If you Power Charge cancel one of these sequences, you can juggle with attacks that are not normally part of the juggle sequence. For example, Swordsman's dash H attack will juggle airborne opponents four times, if you Power Charge cancel the first hit of this move against an airborne opponent (which will put them into a juggle state) you will be able to hit them in the air with any attack as they come down. Only the few moves that put opponents in a juggle state allow for this.

Weapon Attacks

Weapon attacks mostly function as projectile normals, except they cost some amount of your Weapon Gauge. This gauge will refill on its own over time, effectively giving weapon attacks a cooldown. The weapon gauge also serves as a visual indicator for when a VA has activated a weapon attack from a position where you can't see them (above the screen). They do no chip damage, and can be canceled in the same way normals can. Some VA's have special moves that are performed with the Weapon attack button. These function just like special moves usually, cause chip damage despite using the Weapon attack button. There are some exceptions to this (Fordy and Vise). Weapon attacks are unique to each character, and even if they look visually similar will have different properties. This video, for example, shows the difference in startup and recovery for weapon attacks with their recovery canceled via Power Charge cancelling even though both VA's are using the bit type weapon attack.

Side Differences

The only known gameplay difference between Player 1 and Player 2 sides is that Player 1 has the potential to cross over opponents in the corner while Player 2 doesn't. This only works if you do not attack the opponent while trying to change sides. Video example here. The other difference is that Player 1 and Player 2 have different colors. There are only two colors for each character in the game, and they are locked to Player 1 and Player 2 sides. For example, Player 1 Blodia is always red, and Player 2 Blodia is always blue.

Arm Gauge

The Arm Gauge works as a kind of substitute for a dizzy or stun mechanic in Cyberbots. If you take too much damage too quickly, your arm will fall off. To recover it you just have to walk over it. If you do not recover it and it is far away from you for a long time, it will fall from the sky onto your current position, but you must wait for it to hit the ground to be able to pick it up. Without an arm, each VA loses access to the specific normals and special moves that made use of their arm. Some VA's retain all of their important special moves without an arm but others are completely crippled by the lack of it. A universal detriment to losing an arm is that you cannot throw without it. Since the only defense against tick throws for some VA's is trying to counter throw, not having an arm can put you at a severe disadvantage, leaving the opponent the ability to attempt zero risk tick throws on you until you can recover your arm.

Character Stats

Variant Armor	Defense Modifier	Guts**	Boost Type	Boost Count
Blodia	1.00	?	Dash	2
Swordsman	0.93	?	Dash	1
Riot	1.05	?	Hover	*
Reptos	1.10	?	Dash	2
Lightning	1.00	?	Dash	1
Jackal	1.03	?	Jump	4
Fordy	1.14	?	Dash	3
Tarantula	1.10	?	Jump	5
Killer Bee	1.19	?	Hover	*
Guldin	0.95	?	Dash	1
Vise	0.88	?	Dash	1
Cyclone	0.93	?	Jump	3
Gaits	1.03	?	Dash	3
Helion	0.93	?	Hover	*
Super-8	0.95	?	Jump	8
Warlock	0.93	?	Hover	*

* Hover boost gauges last for 5 seconds of sustained flight.

** It appears there is another modifier which alters defense during combos or based on current health. Specifics are unknown.