Like a Dragon: Ishin! (2023): Using All Four Fighting Styles

Like a Dragon: Ishin! (2023): Using All Four Fighting Styles SWORDSMAN Use Swordsman when you want a reliable guard against blades and strong damage in a duel. Light Attack builds the combination; Heavy Attack supplies the finisher. Holding the finisher changes it into a charged attack. Charge when you have a real opening, rather than standing in front of a boss hoping he waits. Summer Rainfall is the Circle / B attack. Use it against a guarding enemy to break through. It also provides the setup for the Mincemeat Heat Action once learned. Useful early targets are Rush Combo Extension, the finisher upgrades, attack speed, and Serene Heart. Ginryu's lessons add the counters and defensive techniques. Keep Guard and Fighting Stance distinct: Fair Weather uses Guard plus Heavy Attack, while Lightning's Glory uses Fighting Stance plus Heavy Attack. Dragonfang Flash is the special move. Hold Special Move to prepare the sword, then release to dash through a target. Its follow-up slashes can spend more Heat, so don't empty the gauge if you're trying to save a particular Heat Action. GUNMAN Light Attack fires ordinary shots without consuming ammunition. Heavy Attack and the related shooting combinations can use equipped special rounds. You do not need to buy normal bullets to make the style work. Keep room to reposition. A clear firing lane is useful; an enemy standing over you while you repeatedly shoot into his guard is not. Your unarmed guard won't protect you from blades the way Swordsman's does. Improve the gun itself as well as the wheel. Rate of fire changes how the style feels. Jumping Shots gives a running approach, and Texas Two-Step adds an attack after evading. Its forward version is a tackle; its other directions produce evasive shooting. That distinction matters for the Old Scratch revelation. Dragonfire Blaze slows the action while you mark targets with the right stick. Release Special Move to fire at the marked enemies. Spend that time selecting useful targets instead of waiting for the gauge to run down. WILD DANCER This is a good choice when movement matters more than standing behind a guard. Light Attack uses the sword, Heavy Attack fires the pistol, and Circle / B performs Phoenix Frenzy. Its gunfire does not use special ammunition. Dodge out of a combination and attack again from a better angle. Wild Dancer can cancel attacks into its evade, so you have more freedom to leave a bad exchange before it finishes. Don't let that turn into spinning randomly without watching the enemy. Wild Dancer has a timed parry, rather than Swordsman's sustained guard. Ghostly Wind improves the parry timing, and Vain Tengu lets you parry during an attack. Ginryu teaches the locked techniques. Evasive Shadow adds another dodge to the chain. The late First Step ability removes the pause after the extended light combo, but movement is still important even after that unlock. Dragon God Dance is the spinning sword-and-gun special move. Use it when enemies are in reach. Holding it while they are out of range spends Heat without solving the problem. BRAWLER Brawler handles grabs, throws, street objects, and several useful counters. A timed guard triggers War Cry Counter and its brief protection. Komaki's lessons expand your defensive options and eventually unlock Tiger Drop. For Tiger Drop, hold Fighting Stance and use Heavy Attack as the enemy's hit arrives. Practice on a simple attack you can recognize before expecting to counter a boss's whole moveset. Use grabs to set up wall and ground Heat Actions. Pick up objects with Circle / B. Those objects have limited durability, so use a wanted Heat Action before breaking the item through ordinary swings. Dragonwing Sortie starts with a connecting strike, then lets you keep punching the target. Mash Light Attack during it and use Heavy Attack to end it. Like the other special moves, it spends Heat. Brawler has utility even if your upgraded sword and gun do much better damage. You can use a throw or counter, then change styles for the next opening. SPECIAL WEAPONS: HOW TO ACTUALLY DRAW THEM Learn the appropriate knowledge ability, equip the weapon in the Special Weapon slot, switch to Brawler, then press Down on the D-pad again to draw it. The unlocks are on three different wheels: • Odachi: Swordsman. • Cannon: Gunman, after Professor Shinbei's introductory Cannon Coaching lesson. • Spear: Wild Dancer. Their wheel location doesn't change how you draw them. The odachi Heat Actions are listed with Swordsman, for example, but you need to have the actual heavy weapon out. Unlike picked-up street objects, equipped special weapons do not break. They also don't earn the four styles' experience while you're using them, so switch back when your goal is to level a particular style.