Boomerang or Bust

[Jakehogg]

For the past few months of my Nidhogg experience me and my sparring partner have chosen to include boomerang in all of our daily matches. We stumbled upon this game mode while sifting through all the settings on a slow night; we played with low gravity, dabbled in spine swords, and even tried out throws only. All of these options proved to be fun to mess around with but the true beauty was the pure layers that boomerang swords added to the game. The setting proved itself to us so much that we ended up making it a constant in our nightly duels.

Boomerang swords not only creates faster paced game-play but also opens up a whole new form of strategy. Some may argue that having boomerang swords off creates a bigger risk reword system in which throwing a sword proves to be extremely risky; When one throw a normal sword the opponent has three options: block, jump, duck; these options do create a more sparring focused game-play but it can take away from the great throwing aspect that the creators included in the game. When boomerang swords are on the offensive must not only worry about losing a sword, but also may have to worry about dodging it; this attack will force both players to dodge which in turn creates more movement creating a faster paced game. This setting adds more reward to the risk reward play-style of sword throws.

The addition of boomerang sword not only changes the play speed but also adds a lot more strategy to certain situations; a few examples include: duel sword ledge defense, sabotaging comeback sweep-kicks, two front attacks, and temporary jump blocks; all of these strategies will be included below this essay.

My main point of this essay is to encourage the use of boomerang swords, I truly believe this adds so much more to duels and is a great test on ones awareness and creativity. I encourage anyone and everyone to share their boomerang strategies below in case I missed any. Thanks for reading, Jakehogg out.

[Jakehogg]

Duel Sword Ledge Defense: This move requires multiple swords. While the defensive play has the high ground the offensive player must jump to move on. While this is usually defended by a raised sword, two swords makes twice the difference; by throwing one sword and picking up the other, the defensive player creates a smaller window of jump time for the offensive player. While the first sword boomerangs back use the second sword to block then quickly throw, this creates a constant threat for the offensive player giving the defensive an even greater advantage.

[Jakehogg]

Sabotage Comeback Sweep Kicks: to preform this move a player must throw their sword and have their opponent dodge the throw; this move can only be preformed if said opponent decides not to jump over the player and chooses to crawl under them. While the opponent is crawling the thrower can then sweep kick them to pop the opponent up into standing position. Although this move takes a weird situation and a bit of luck, it is almost always unexpected by the opponent.

[Jakehogg]

Two Front Attacks: this move is fairly simply but works with great efficiency. Any general would rather fight with the advantage of a two front war so why should Nidhogg be any different. This move requires multiple swords; by throwing one sword that the defender dodges the offensive player can pick another up and attack from the low, this leaves the only option of survival for the defender being a jump. The defender can either jump over the attacker which could be met by a simple sword raise and back-up maneuver or could the accounted for by a quick throw while they're right over your head leaving the only proper dodge being a swift backwards jump kick avoiding the sword and the attacker. Although this move can be mighty one must be careful and avoid the comeback of the boomerang for this strategy can be ones very demise.

[mikemyers999]

i didn't see a like button, so uh...

[like]