User:Keysmash
Controls
Basic Notation
Tough Love Arena has simple controls, with only three directions and four attack buttons. All moves are described with a number and letter combination.
Examples:
- The Spices' Trip is abbreviated as 4L because it's performed by inputting back + light.
- The Carbs' Whip is called 5H since it's performed by pressing heavy + not pressing a directional input.
- Jump is performed with forward and special, so its notation is 6S.
Additional notes
- Notation always assumes you are facing right. When facing left, you will need to reverse the inputs.
- When a move can be performed with multiple input directions, it's usually notated like a standing move. For instance, carbs and meats only have one move mapped to the light button which is written as 5L.
- In addition to basic move notation, Rapid Cancel is commonly abbreviated as RC (instead of 6T) when notating combos.
- Also in combos, directions for cancels are only written out if they are different from the input preceding them.
Example: The carbs' heavy autocombo is written as 5HHH because you can simply press the heavy button three times, whereas Noodle comboing slap into whip splash is written as 5L6H because you need to hold forwards to get whip splash. - While cancels are notated as one string of letters and numbers, links and juggles will be signified by a space between the two moves.
Example: In the spice universal combo 5HL 5LHH 6S 6S 5HH you will link trip to flick (first space) and juggle two jumps as well as a sweep (second to fourth spaces). - Note that there will always be a space before and after a Rapid Cancel, even though you cancel into it as the name would suggest.
Universal Actions
To make TLA especially easy to learn for beginners, all characters share some moves. To learn about these, check Tough Love Arena/System.
Ranger Slayer
| The Ranger Slayer is a zoner with outstanding safety and zoning capabilities | |
| Pros | Cons |
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Overview
Kim is one of the game's dedicated zoners. She shines in neutral due to her arrow cancels and dash cancellable 5M. However, she has generally weak solo mixup options paired with subpar damage.
Slayer requires a team that can help her enforce her zoning patterns and convert stray hits into big damage. For example, Scorpina complements Slayer quite well because her assist provides Kim with a gigantic fullscreen presence and you can tag into Scorpina for ToD combos.
Also look to setup sandwich situations by calling assist and doing 6S~L. When setting up pressure with Slayer, you will live and breathe this mixup, as it is quite potent while also doubling as a safe way to rotate characters.
Her assist is great for this too as she jumps backwards first before firing a volley of arrows, so you don't have to worry about tagging into a scramble.
With how she controls the screen, Slayer can go toe to toe in the neutral against many of the game's top tiers while having few truly poor matchups. That being said, she lacks significant payoff and struggles to open the opponent up. She's a character who needs a lot of help from her team, but contributes quite a bit as well, and is worth picking if you enjoy zoning or want an easy way to disengage from scramble situations.
Unique Mechanic: Nock Charge
Kim's 5S is a power-up move called Arrow Nock.
- You can store one nock charge at a time.
- Attempting to charge again when already powered up only regains you the same charge.
- Charge is expended whenever you use a move with arrows (that being: 5M, 4M, 6M, j.M, 4S, 6S~L and 6S~M) or use 6S~H.
- A nock charge powers up exactly one valid move.
- Nock charge allows 5M and 4M to do chip damage and increases fired arrow count on all arrow moves (see movelist for more details).
- 5S itself can be comboed into and out of with the right routes, giving you a much appreciated damage increase if you can fit in more arrow moves.
Special moves
6S
Pterodactyl Flight 6S  .png) .png) .png)  |
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6S (Nocked follow-ups)
Pterodactyl Flight (Nocked) 6S .png) .png) .png) .png) |
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Ryu
Overview
Ryu is a grounded shoto adapted for the fast-paced gameplay of Battle for the Grid. He can control grounded space on point with Hadoukens in three variable speeds or backing up other characters with his amazing assist.
Ryu can consistenly kill characters from one hit even with somewhat limited resources, but he may struggle to land that hit due to his generally limited mix-up potential.
He can use both normal and zord meter very well and supplies a lot to his team through his double Hadouken assist, making him a strong character to play in the mid or anchor slot.
Pick Ryu if you want a basic character who deals lots of damage in flashy combos and adds great value to the team.
Elliana
Gameplay
Elliana plays out as a unique take on the glass cannon archetype, who has both abhorrent disadvantage and perhaps the single strongest combo game among the entire roster.
You do not want to lose neutral with Elliana. Her massive hitbox size, high weight and general lack of strong escape options mean that if you do, you will get hit just as much as you could have hit them. Elli does actually have one very good escape tool in Eject, her Up Special, which is invulnerable frames 5-7. Be very conservative using this move, as it puts you into one of the most vulnerable states in the game. Jab gives you a good get-off-me tool, provided you can get some space to throw it out. And despite her impressive aerial mobility, hover moves slowly, Up Special is risky and heat puts Elliana on a timer, so you have to be careful and adaptive in off-stage situations.
Thanks to her hover and more advanced techniques using her heat mechanic, Elliana is surprisingly mobile, though not agile. Her ground and air speed are among the lowest in the game, which usually means she has to take a more reactive role in neutral, harassing her opponent with her signature Missile projectile and occasionally poking with Neutral Air to create openings for her devastating punish game. Zoning can find decent short term success, but is inherently limited by the heat mechanic and Elli's below average neutral.
More than any other character, Elliana wants to skip the neutral game and go immediately to punish, where she truly shines. Even without a mine stuck to the opponent, her advantage state is unusually creative. Hover Aerials, missiles and hover by itself make it easy for her to follow her opponent's DI. When Elliana sticks you with a mine, however, your stock may as well be over. Additionally, a combo doesn't have to end in the blastzone to lead to a stock for Elli. Missiles and hover allow her great precision and flexibility in hitting off-stage opponents, while Mine and Up Tilt are very good for setting up ledge traps.
Elliana is a very explosive character. If you enjoy getting creative with your combos and like managing resources, give her a try.
| Elliana is a heavyweight glass cannon who deletes stocks with an oppressive advantage. | |
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Heat
Elliana's main mechanic is her Heat gauge. This gauge is increased by hovering, every special except for Up Special, holding Dash Attack and Ftilt, and held ("hovered") aerials.
Both in normal mode and overheat, the gauge can be decreased by using her Strong attacks or Up Special, which instantly gets rid of all heat, but rebuilds the mech upon landing with heat decreasing from full (in normal mode). Heat can also be lost by using Up Tilt, which expends all heat to enhance its knockback. You can circumvent this by holding Parry while doing Up Tilt. Heat is also passively decreased, faster on the ground than in the air and not at all in hit- or parry stun.
When Elli's heat gauge reaches its maximum, she enters overheat. In this state, her usually weak, steam-emitting Strong attacks instead become dangerous and lethal explosions. The downside is that Elliana can not use any heat-increasing moves in overheat state, including her hover. Instead, it's replaced by a small double jump.
Managing your heat gauge is key not only to surviving with Elliana, but also to unlocking her quite literally explosive combo game. Reaching overheat at the exact right time and in the correct place can lead to disgustingly early kills, but reaching it too early usually ends your combo prematurely, because the double jump only allows very limited follow-ups compared to hover.
Stronghoof
5B
5B  |
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