[v1.4 - OUTDATED!] Unleash the Beast! - A movement/fighting guide

A full guide for the character movement/fighting aspect of the game that explains in detail how to move your character around and master all of the possible ways of getting around in the enviroment, how to use your attacks and when it's best to use them. It's perfect for beginners but also really useful for more advanced players that could use it for improving their fighting style as it contains many tips and useful techniques to take over your enemies and be the true king of Gang Beasts!
It also contains many useful example images to help the reader understand the explanations better and more easily.

Introduction

Can't defeat your friends at Gang Beasts? Have troubles getting back up when thrown out? Don't even know what the actual objective of the game is? Don't worry, this guide is here to help you know that and even more! You'll know how to move your characters around, you'll discover all of the actions and attacks they can perform, you'll undertand how and when to use them and you'll also find some useful extra tips that could help you in a battle; behind the silly gelatinous characters and their wobbly movements there are many advanced attacks and moves to discover and take advantage of in battle. Let's get started!

IMPORTANT NOTE: this guide explains the characters' movements, attacks and actions avaible in the "unstable" version v0.2.5b; wich has more actions and some differences in the execution and effects of the common ones inside the "stable" version v0.1.5a (wich isn't covered by this guide).
Therefore this guide doesn't cover all of the possible techinques you can execute in the game as more moves (like standing headbutts, front sliding and rear sliding) got added in later versions...

The controls

The controls for each player can be modified from the relative in-game menu, in this guide we will refer to the action as their name and not the relative buttons (as you can play both with keyboard and controller, both of wich can support button remapping for customizing the controls)
These are the main actions executed by each button, we will explain and analyze them (and other more advanced actions) deeper later on in this guide:
UP = moves your character up (North)
DOWN = moves your character down (South)
LEFT = moves your character left (West)
RIGHT = moves your character right (East)
LEFT PUNCH = punches with the left hand (pression), grabs with the left hand (holding)
RIGHT PUNCH = punches with the right hand (pression), grabs with the right hand (holding)
KICK = kicks with the leg closest to a possible target (pression), double kick (pressing while in the air), slide on your back/backflip (holding while in the air)
JUMP = jump when touching the floor (pression), hoist yourself up (holding while grabbing a climbable surface), jump (double tapping while holding to a climbable surface)
CROUCH = bend your back (holding while on the floor or when climbing), bodyslam (holding while in the air)
LIFT = raise up arms/cheer (while not grabbing anything), lift with the hand(s) you're grabbing (while grabbing something/someone)

The game's objective

Gang Beasts is a Fighting Game with some Party-Game elements to it (like minigames and a maximum of 8 players at the same time), to win the battles you have to eliminate your opponents by throwing them off the stage or in a particular location inside it (usually a dangerous place): to do that you can pick them up and throw them around the stage.
Each player starts with a set amount of lives, each time there is only one (or even zero) survivors the screen fades to black and the match restarts; the game keeps restarting the match until there is only one player with at least one life left (if that player dies too before the screen fades to black again the current match is considered a "draw" and basically nobody won it)


Sound easy right? Not at all as your opponents can fight back or try recovering and getting in a safe place again; to reduce or completely remove their chance of getting back up you can attack them to lower their healt bar, once a character's healt bare is fully depleted (or if the character recieved a particularly powerful hit) he will get unconscious: in this state he can't move nor fight back and is easier to eliminate but he can wake up and try recovering.

How can you know when a character is unconscious? Try looking at his eyes, if they are closed then he's unconscious (but also remeber that the characters can wink, both sometimes on their own or as a reaction to a hit they recieved)

The characters' body

Understanding the characters' body can help finding useful weak spots that can be pretty handful in battles. All of the characters in the game use many colliders joined togheter, such colliders have different sizes, function and "strenght" (some of them can hurt person more than others if hit):
- 3 capsule-shaped colliders for the body (standard damaging)
- 1 spherical collider for the head (WEAK POINT)
- 4 thin capsule-shaped colliders for the arms (2 for each arm, standard damaging)
- 2 small spherical cliiders for the hands (1 for each hand, standard damaging)
- 1 thin capsule-shaped collider for the crotch (between the legs and slightly on the character's front, WEAK POINT)
- 1 thin capsule-shaped collider for the stomach (standard damaging)

Basic character movement

These are the standard actions needed for moving the characters around in the game.

WALKING:


You can make your character walk around using the UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys: holding the keys will make the character move in that direction (you can also move diagonally), simply tapping them will make the character turn in that direction while still standing, to stop walking let go of the button(s); the characters can walk on plain surfaces, stairs or slopes (when going up a stair/slope take note that the steeper the stair/slope is and the slower the character will walk, you can try jumping or other advanced movement methods to go faster on stairs and slopes)

JUMPING:

You can also jump by pressing the JUMP button when your character's feet are touching the floor (holding the button for a longer time will make the jump slightly higher and longer), uneven surfaces can affect your jumping (usually jumping when climbing a slope/stair will result in a shorter jump but it should make your character climb it up faster if used repeatedly)

Basic attacks

These are the standard attacks needed for attacking and damaging an opponent in the game (action needed for knocking them out and letting you throw them out more easily), they are easy to execute and require a minimum amount of simple buttons pressions.

PUNCHING:

You can punch objects and characters: with the left hand by pressing the LEFT PUNCH button and with the right hand by pressing the RIGHT PUNCH button; the punches automatically target the closest objective around your character (mostly what's directly in front of him or the enemys' weak points, expecially the head; the character will look at objects he can punch near him), if there's nothing to punch the character will punch at the height of his shoulder. You can punch: when on the ground (standing or crouching/laying), when in the air and when climbing; punching other characters will damage them.

GRABBING:

You can grab objects and characters with the left hand by holding the LEFT PUNCH button and with the right hand by holding the RIGHT PUNCH button; the grabs automatically target the closest objective around your character (mostly what's directly in front of him or the enemys' weak points; exactly like for the punches, the character will grab what he's looking at at that moment).


If there's nothing to grab the character will extend his arm forward at the height of his shoulder and keep them in this position until you let go of the button(s), also notice that he will attemp to target and grab any nearby object/character that comes close to his arms when you do that. You can grab: when on the ground (standing or crouching/laying), when in the air and when climbing; grabbing other characters won't damage them. When you grab something your hand will "stick" to the object/person/surface you grabbed and the only way to detach it is either letting go of it, getting knocked out or having A LOT of force applied to your character that can pull him away.


Each hand can grab a different object, but you can also use them to grab the same one (both in the same spot or in different ones).


You can also walk around while grabbing an object, you can drag it around with you by scraping it on the floor.

KICKING:

You can kick objects and characters (even if the kick's range is pretty low): when on the ground (standing or crouching/laying), when in the air (in this case you'll perform a double kick) and when climbing; kicking other characters will damage them and push them a little (you can try using kicks to push unconscious enemies off ledges but simply grabbing and throwing them off is a lot more quick and effective).



If an enemy is attacking you while you are unconscious and he luckily has one of your legs between his then you can kick him in the groind and deal a lot of damage (usually a K.O. hit)

DOUBLE AIR KICK:
To execute it you simply need to kick in mid-air, your character will kick using both legs; this move can be particularly powerful if well executed (try using it when really close to an enemy, if you manage to hit the enemy's head with both legs the damage will be really high, same for the chance of knocking the opponent out)

LIFTING:

To lift simply hold the LIFT button while you're grabbing something or someone and your character will try rasing his arms and lift in the air whatever he is grabbing.



You can lift both using a single arm or both arms (but using both arms to lift the same object will let you lift it more easily), you can also try grabbing a different object for each arm and lift them both.


Some objects can be easier or harder to lift than other due to their weight (heavier objects are harder to lift and you would need touse both hands for them, lightier objects can be lifted more easily or even by using a single hand; you usually need both hands to lift a character due to their slightly high weight)
Lifting is needed to put enemies into dangerous places and defeat them, usually for surpassing the railing that most of these dangerous places have (you can also use lifting for trying to get momentum and throw what you're grabbing, to know more about how to throw people or objects have a look at the related section in this guide). Lifting an enemy does not damage them.

Basic defensive moves

You can use some moves or action for trying to defend yourself by making the weaker and more vulnerable parts of your body harder to hit for the enemies.

CROUCHING:

By holding the CROUCH button you can make your character lay on his chest and start moving on the floor while still down, you'll move a lot slowly and backwards and turning your character will be harder. What's the point of this move then? It can be used to dodge punches, if someone is trying to punch you from behind you can dodge his attack (this could also be the perfect moment for counter-attacking with a "backflip punch", keep reading for knowing more about this attack).
You can also crouch near a object or unconscious person for grabbing them better and more easily. Crouching in the air will make you do a belly flop.

RUNNING AWAY FROM ENEMIES:
While it's not an actual move of any sort it's still pretty useful, the characters start regenerating their lifebar if they don't get hit for a few seconds then simply running away from your enemies and avoiding their hits will allow you to regenerate healt (but also notice that if they're not fighting with someone then even your opponents will restore healt too...)

Advanced character movements - Part 1

You can also try going further than the simple "run-and-jump" and start using complex but really useful acrobatic moves to move your character in a lot more freedom and reach different places in easier and faster ways (or move around in situation where normal walking and jumping are impossible, like when you're trying to walk on an incredibly steep surface), they can also be used to get out of enemy attacks's range or to favorite your own hits.

JUMPING DOWN QUICKLY (INTERMEDIATE):



If you're on a platform with a railing set hign in a stage and there's floor under you then instead of jumping down normally you can grab the railing and jump while still hanging to it, if you move in the direction you want to go down your character will go all around the railing while grabbing it: when you're at the mazimum speed and you're moving down let go of the hand and you'll go down super quickly, use this technique to surprise people who are down and attack them while you're "speed-falling" on them (WARNING: you may hurt yourself with this technique due to the high speed you're travelling, having a head collision with the floor could possibly knock you out. Use at your own risk when you think it might be worth trying a sneak attack, or when you have a lot of healt...)

MEGA RAILING JUMP (EASY):



This move is a useful quick move that allows you to use a railing or a similar surface to perform a huge jump and try to surprise your enemies (and then run away from them or attack them while you're falling down).

SWINGING FROM A ROPE (HARD):
You can swing from a rope with the lower end free (not attached to anything), to do that use this method:

- grab onto the rope with both hands (the lower the section you grab is and the easier it will be to swing around)

- hold down the CROUCH button (keep it held ALL OF THE TIME) and start moving in the direction you want to move to

- after you moved in the direction you wanted to go move in the opposite direction and when you are moving upwards hold the JUMP button

- keep repeating the last step until you've reached enough momentum. Now you can attemp doing two things depending on the distance of the place you want to go to:


1) If you can't reach your target while swinging then jump near the peak of your swing by pressing the JUMP button twice and hold both of the PUNCH buttons for trying to grab the surface of the area you want to move to, then climb back up if needed (WARNING: sometimes the characters fail to grab onto stuff if they are going at a really high speed, and in your case if this happens you could probably fall down and lose a life; use this method with caution and only when you are sure you can make a full contact between your hands and the surface you want them to grab)
2) If you can reach your target while swinging then let go of one hand and try grabbing the other surface with it when you are really close to it, once you grabbed it let go of the rope and then climb up if needed (this one can be a little bit harder to archieve as it requires huge swings but it's also safer than the previous one)


Try landing on the floor after jumping from a rope swing...

CLIMBING A VERTICAL SURFACE (INTERMEDIATE):
Somebody tried throwing you off the stage but you managed to grab onto something before facing your demise? You're so lucky! But what do you do now? You can try getting back up on a safe platform by using climbing toclimb up a vertical wall: first of all:

- grab the surface you want to climb with at least one hand (even if it's better and more effective using two)
- hold the jump button to lift yourself up (and NEVER let go of it!)

- start alternating between the LEFT PUNCH and RIGHT PUNCH by grabbing the surface alternating the two hands (or simlpy hold the surface with both hands and start pushing the JUMP button repedetly, it's a faster technique but it can be unpredictable and it could knock you away from the surface you're grabbing and make you fall and probably unable to grab it while doing so, so it's better using the slow but safer "one-hand-at-time climbing"...)



- to get on the safe floor you can press the jump button twice and the character will jump and automaticaly let go of both hands, you can use this technique to get up quickly. Otherwise you can grab the railing/floor and hold CROUCH and JUMP to lift yourslf over the floor/railing, then move in the direction of the floor to get on it and let go of both hands (it can also be done with a single hand, sometimes using only one can be more useful while other times using both is better...)

To climb a surface down just alternate between the two hands like before but WITHOUT holding the JUMP button (even if it's not needed as the level of fall damage is pretty low if you land on your feet...).

Advanced character movements - Part 2

CLIMBING A VERTICAL ROPE (INTERMEDIATE):



You can climb a rope in the same way you can climb a wall, the only main difference is that you can also try to move your character around the rope for making grabbing the thin wires more easily, or for trying to move away from the attack range of enemy punches, or even reach for trying to reach other grabbable surfaces near the rope you're climbing.
Climb down just like you climbed it up, but without holding the JUMP button (like when you're climbing down a wall).

USING CLIMBING FOR MOVING UNDER A FLAT SURFACE (HARD):

You can also use climbing to move under a flat surface, to do that:
- grab the button of the surface (or one of its borders) with only one hand
- start holding the movement key(s) for the direction you want to go
- hold the JUMP and CROUCH button while holding with a single hand to lift yourself up
- once you lifted yourself up, grab the surface with the other hand, then let go of the first one and lift yourself up while crouching again
- keep doing that until you reach the area/border you want to go to and then climb on top normally


You could also try simply grabbing and letting go of each arm without having to crouch but it can be risky as the hand might be only NEAR the roof while not actually attached to it (even if it looks like it's doing so) and you could accidentally let go of the arm you're hanging on without knowing that and fall down...

You can also use climbing to move sideways on a wall, you can use two methods to do that:
CLIMBING A VERTICAL SURFACE SIDEWAYS WHILE FACING IT (INTERMEDIATE):
To climb a wall sideways climb like you would normally do with a normal vertical climb and press the movement keys for moving your character on the side of the wall you want to climb, then keep going up and down during the climb and try to keep a certain height (it'snot actually necessary but I assume staying at a certain height would be useful somehow, if you think it's not then simply climb up only when needed). To climb a railing horizzontally (like in the picture) keep the JUMP button held and then move by grabbing and relasing the hands for reaching your destination.

CLIMBING A VERTICAL SURFACE SIDEWAYS BY SPINNING (INTERMEDIATE):


To execute this kind of climbing you have to grab a surface with both hands, then leg go of the hand closer to the direction you want to go while holding the JUMP button and use the movement keys to rotate your character, move his free hand torwards the surface you want to grab and grab it, then let go of the previous hand and repeat until you reach your objective; at this point climb up if needed. This method is a lot faster than the previous one but it could be a little bit tricky to execute...

QUICK DESCENDING FROM THIN SURFACES (INTERMEDIATE):



It's a different take of the "Quick jump down" techique, it's really similar to the original but it needs you to grab an edge of a really thin platform: now you need to jump and use your momentum to swing accross it, when you are moving torwards the safe floor below let go of the edge to fling yourself to safety (as usual, attacking enemies while falling torwards them is always a good idea as this quick attack can be easiliy used to surprise your enemies thanks to its speed;such speed can also make the attacks stronger by making the impact harder).

Advanced attacks - Part 1

Advanced attacks are a bit more complicated that standard attacks but they can be really powerful if well-executed.

BACK GRABBING (INTERMEDIATE):

A pretty common and effective attack method in this game is to grab an opponent by the back with one hand and hit them with the other (and moving for making sure to stay always behind your opponent).


You can also try grabbing someone with both arms by the back and lift them and they'll have little to no chance to defend or escape (unless they already locked you as their character's target to attack, in this case they could counter-attack using "reverse punches")

ELBOW LOCKING (HARD):

It's a more effective version of the "back grabbing" and it is archieved by grabbing the enemy's elbows rather than back, as this won't let them be able to execute "reverse punches" on you since you've grabbed their elbows, preventing them to execute the move as their lower arms won't be able to reach you...

REVERSE PUNCH (HARD):
A reverse punch is when a character tries punching an adversary that is right behind him, it's similar to an elbow (even if it still has the arm movements used for punching).


To archieve it you have to face your adversary first so that your character "locks" his attacks on them.


Then you need to rotate your character in the opposite direction of your adversary (don't get too far or your character will stop targeting the enemy...).


Now start throwing punches at them (you can get further away but not too much or your character will lose focus and start seeking for another target to attack); it's a pretty strong move that can del a lot of damage and has a pretty big knockback, attacking with both arms repeatedly will moslty push your opponent pretty far from you. It can also be used to defend against the infaumous "back grabbing" an free yourself from it, even if it's hard to archieve...
To obtain the maximum damage from this attack try following the direction of your punch by making the character spin in the direction the punch is going, this will make it even faster and will increase the chance of putting the adversary K.O.. It can also be used in mid-air while jumping...

You can also use attacks in combination for obtaining particular moves that can be really useful in certain circumstances. Even if it's not official, they can be divided in two types:

FAIR attack combos
These combos are unofficially labeled as "fair" since they aren't overpowered and have some actual particular movements to them. I suggest using them in serious "no-buttom-spamming" battles, they can be a little bit hard to master but practicing with them a bit will make you learn how to perform them in no time. All of the current fair attack combos are mid-air or jumping only attack:

DIVING HEADBUTT (INTERMEDIATE):

It's a fast move wich is also able to deal a lot of damage, to execute a diving headbutt you need to press the JUMP and CROUCH button in rapid succession (or simply press CROUCH while in mid-air): the character will lean his body forward and when his head collides with the enemies they'll get damaged, it's a pretty strong move if well executed (particulalry if you manage to land perfectly on an enemy's head and keep contact with it the whole time: the tiny, multiple collisions will cause serious damage to the enemy)

TURBO AIR KICK (INTERMEDIATE):

A variation of the double air kick, to execute it you need to press the KICK button and immediately after the JUMP button, you character will kick in the air with a single foot (while the standard "double air kick" uses both); the damage of the attack is technically larger than the one of the double air kick and it can K.O. an enemy pretty easily but if you manage to land both the kicks of a Double Air Kick on your enemy then it's weaker (that's because the character will dash torwards the enemy if the move is well-executed, with the extra speed making the impact stronger and the damage it deals higher; while during a Double Air Kick there's no extra dash...).

DROPKICK (INTERMEDIATE):


To execute a Dropkick you need to run torwards an enemy and JUMP, then you need to hold the KICK button like if you were trying to do a Backflip while moving forward, to execute the Dropkick you have to make it so that your feet touch the enemy's head. It's a move that allows you to quickly hit an enemy and deals a good amount of damage in a single hit but it also makes you vulnerable to attacks during the landing, try executing it for surprising your enemy and after you've hit them use a Raging Assault or a Back Grabbing for finishing them (or simply run away by taking advantage of the unexpected quick attack and get some of your healt back; so son't use the dropkick too many times so that enemies won't be able to predict you as the move can be easily punished...). You can also try using it for attacking floored enemies but getting the attack to hit them is pretty hard (even if hitting the head can actually keep the enemy K.O. for more, and probably enough for you to grab them in a strategic position that can't allow them to hit you...), pressing the KICK button after you've reached the jump's peek and you're already falling can help in getting the attack to actually hit.

Advanced attacks - Part 2

DIVING AIR PUNCH (INTERMEDIATE):

To execute a diving air punch you need to move in the direction of the enemy you want to attack, jump and then immediatly crouch (holding the button); when you are getting close to your enemy punch and you have a big chance of landing a clean, straight punch to the head (it also has a good range and a fast execution, so it's a perfect attack for surprising someone who's walking in your direction to attack you)

HAMMER KICK (HARD):



To do an hammer kick you first need to lay down on the ground and grab it with both hands, then move yourself back a little (weep holding to the ground) and then jump and move forward: if done correctly your character will spin around the portion of the ground he is grabbing to (spreading your arms will help making your rotation cleaner and more precise), try doing it when ane enemy is moving torwards you and then kick him when your feet reach his head (rebember that you head might get in the way and this technique could be a lot more hard to perform with costumes wich include big hats in them, also due to how "mechanical" it is to perform and how much easy is missing a hit it's mostly a cool looking move you can use to knock-out an already weak enemy and mock him by showing your great controlover you character rather than an actually useful attack, even if it has a fairly long reach).
It also works backwards (you can do it both when you're laying on your back or on your front, just reverse the moving keys you need to press for doing the move)

Advanced attacks - Part 3

SLIDING APPROACH (HARD):


For executing this move all you need to do is to jump while walking torwards an enemy, then you want to hold the KICK button to start sliding while still moving torwards the enemy; when your leg reached their ones then you have to hold the CROUCH button and let go of the KICK button, then press the KICK button again and you have a high chance of giving your opponent a kick in their privates. This move is REALLY hard to archieve as most people don't just stand still, so it's better if used against someone who is fighting on the ground with an another opponent (expecially if they're grabbing each other, as none of them will be able to jump and they will have trobles walking because of this, making the "aim" for the attack easier...)

SNEAKY EDGE GRAB (HARD):



This move can be executed for attacking an enemy on the ground when you're hanging from an edge (this technique is a lot more efficient if there are no railings), you need to let go of one hand and lift yourself for getting your shoulders over the floor's level (if you can't lift yourself with a single hand use both and then let go of one when you're high enough for attacking), then you need to grab the enemy from the body (try aiming for the legs/bottom, the back is good too as it make it a lot harder for the opponent to defend themselves) and then make your character face the opposite direction from the floor and hold the LIFT/CHEER button to lift your opponent from the ground. When you lifted them far enough from the platform let go of them and watch them fall to their demise; of course make sure that your enemy can't grab neither on you or on the platform as they might try attacking you and your hazaurous position would make defending harder, keep in mind that people might try prevent you from executing this attack by using the "edge guard" technique, they could also put you K.O.in the process.

EDGE GUARDING (HARD):
After you threw an enemy off the stage they could stillbe lucky enough to grab onto a wall, therefore (if there are no other players on the ground that could atack you) a way of making them fall more easily is to prevent them from getting up in the first place: if they are close to the floo you can CROUCH near it, make the characters' arms go over the ledge and punch your enemy in the head while they're climbing; if someone does that to you while you climb you can defend by relasing JUMP and lowering your head, if it's still not enough climb down a bit.
This defensive move can be counter-attacked too by climbing down to the player's level,you can execute it in three ways:
- place yourself over the enemy while facing the wall, now try to place your legs over the enemy's head and keep kicking it until they get K.O. and fall down; you could also try doing it while not facing the wall but it would be alot harder
- place yourself to the enemy's side but still a little bit higher than them (so that it will be a lot harder for them to hit your head) and keep punching them with the arm closer to them untile they get knocked-out and fall (while stillholding to the wall with the other)
- grab the enemy's back (or head) with one hand and keep puching it with the other, your weight will make the enemy's climb harder and slower and you'll mostly be able to put them K.O. before they can get to safety but you'll also die with them; therefore make sure you have more lives than them to execute this suicidal attack (read the "Useful Tips" section of this guide to know more tips about suicidal attacks...)

UNFAIR attack combos
These combos are unofficially labeled as "unfair" since they are overpowered moves made moslty of semi-random button mashing and continous spamming of the attack buttons, if you want a serious challenge and/or want to have better and more entartaining fights I suggest to not use them (even if they're actually the most effective attacks in the game by now). They moslty consist of ground attacks that tend to make your character move frenetically and occasionally jump due to the many forces applied on his body while attacking using these methods.

RAGING ASSAULT (EASY):

It's probably the most effective and fast way of attacking someone in the game for knocking them out: simply walk and jump at them (sprinting by attacking in mid-air is useful too, but the really best way to do this attack is simply walk at the enemy and jump torwards them normally) and then start throwing a lot of punches and kicks at your enemy as fast as you can, you'll have a high chance of getting most of the hits you threw to land and your opponent will faint almost istantly.

FISH OUT OF WATER (EASY):


Keep holding the crouch button and then start spamming the JUMP, KICK, RIGHT PUNCH and LEFT PUNCH button; your character will automatically "throw himself" at the enemy using the speed created by the attacks, your character will start bouncing all over the place and make huge weird jumps while your enemies will start flying all over the place (hopefully landing in a dangerous place or falling down an edge) and getting knocked out. It's particularly useful when you're in the middle of a big crowd as it can hit many enemies at the same time (but also remember that having meny enemies around you makes it easier for you to get hit in the head and knocked-out...)

Advanced defensive moves

These moves can be used for interrupting certainenemy attacks or preventing them,usually pretty useful for defending from sneacky hits from behind.

BACKFLIP PUNCH (HARD):

It can be useful as a surprise-attack for someone who tries to get behind you so you can hit them before they hit you (and it also prevents them from grabbing your back, as you face them with your front if you execute a backflip), to execute it do a backflip while someone is going behind you and then punch them when your character is near the half of the backflip as he will still target the enemy.

The "reverse punch" attack can also be useful to defend yourself from people who try to grab/attack you from behind, just make sure you find a way to make your character target them before they attack you (in this case you need to predict their attack and make your character face the enemy before the attack, so you can counter-attack if they manage to get behind you and grab you from your back).

BACKFLIP KICK (HARD):


It's an attack useful for giving a really strong hit to somebody who's getting closer to you from behind, to execute it all you have to do is do a standard backflip and try to make your legs touch the enemy; if well-executed it will deal a lot of damage (depending on how much time your legs touched the enemy, "more contact" = "more damage"; a full contact will have a great chance of knocking someone out)

HAND LOCK (HARD):

This technique allows you to completely stop an enemy from attacking using their hands, to execute it try grabbing an enemy's hand and keep holding it: any punch thrown with such hand will be slowed down by your character holding it and your hand will also impede the enemy from hitting your body/head, it works best if yoy grab both of the enemy's hands. If you grab both of an enemy's hand you can keep holding them until you regerate enough healt (so if you have less healt than them then executing this technique will remove or reduce the enemy's advantage), to defend from this attack you have to either use kicks (floored kicks have a too short range, so it's more useful using Double Air Kicks or Turbo Air Kicks) or diving headbutts...
Take also in mind that both the players will be really vulnerable to attacks from other player while doing and Hand Lock...

Throwing

Instead of simply holding your opponents over their death and letting go of them you can try throwing them instead, wich can make you trave less distance and is more effective as they may not be able to grab onto something when thrown away. To learn the best place for grabbing an opponent read Point 2 in the "Useful tips" section of this guide.

RUN-UP THROW (INTERMEDIATE):

This is the simplest kind of throw: to do that hold an object/person with both hands and start moving torwards the place you want to throw.

Then hold the LIFT button when you're near such place and let go of the object/person when at the peak of your lift; if well done you should have thrown the person/object away from the point where you threw them (and hopefully where you wanted to throw them).

CATAPULT-THROW (HARD):

It is a throw that allows for a good travelling distance for the lauched object/person; it can be archieved by lifting the object and then letting go of the LIFT button just as it starts going over your head so that it gets behind your back.


After that start moving in the direction you want to throw it and when you're near it hold the LIFT button to start lifting it up behind you.


Then let go of the object just as it starts going behind your head (it works best when you grab someone by the side, one hand for the head and one for the bottom/leg).

SPINNING THROW (HARD):
It's one of the hardest throw to execute but it can be used to make objects and persons travel at a fairly good distance, it needs less space for being executed than the catapult throw but actually managing to use this throw in a small space is really hard as it is a lot more easily performed by travelling high distances.


To perform it you need to grab someone by the sides (one hand for the head and one hand for the bottom/leg)


Now start dragging them with you while you're walking walking in a curved trajectory to gaign some momentum...


After you gaigned enough speed throw them and they should be thrown really far and high thanks to the momentum you build with the spin if you threw them well.




Holding (or spinning) your opponent can also be used to make them lose balance, once they start becoming less rigid and floppy throw them on the ground and try taking advantage of the split second they are "glued" to the floor due to the hard impact and run to them trying to attack their head (sometimes the impact with the ground could also knock your opponent out, expecially from high drops)

SPRING-THROW (HARD):
This kind of throw is more useful for objects rather than characters (since thet are too heavy...)


To do it you have to grab a small object with both hands and then make some steps in the direction you want to throw it with it in front of you, while you walk hold the LIFT button to lift the object for a bit and then stop both moving and lifting.


After your head gets pushed near the floor by the weight of the object on it hold the LIFT button again and when your character gets up again let go of the object.


If you did it whell the spring-like movement of the character's object should let you throw the object pretty far and in a straight direction in front of you.

Attacking using the enviroment (or objects inside of it)

While you may have to use moslty your fighting abilities to defeat the opponents you can also try using the enviroment or objects you can find inside of it to attack your enemies.

FALLING/HARD COLLISION DAMAGE (EASY):



When you fall down a high place your character will get hurt and take damage, depending on the speed and height of the fall the damage can be bigger or smaller (usually the faster the fall is the more damage you get, an higher fall gives you more time to gaign speed while falling before hitting the floor); usually bashing your head hard on the ground can knock you out. Try using drops and throw your enemies from high places for damaging them AND taking them off you, giving you time to regenerate some healt while they get back up to you (if you make them lose balance they could also be able to hit the floor with their head and be knocked-out or at least get a good amount of damage, you can simply throw them off but if they hit the floor with their feet or body the damage will be significantly lower).
You can also try bashing your enemies against walls for damaging them, ususually by spinning them; but it's actually pretty useless as lateral collisions with surfaces are a lot slower and deal a minimum and insignificant amount of damage, also throwing someone with enough force against a wall to damage them for good is extremely hard as it requires A LOT of force)

BASHING OBJECTS AT THE ENEMIES (INTERMEDIATE):



You can attack enemies using small objects you can find in the enviroment, to bash someone with an object you need to grab the object with a single hand (be sure to grab a small and light object) and then start spinning it in the enemy's direction when really close to them, when it's gonna hit the enemy character lift it and try to make it hit the head. It's a silly attack that deals little to no damage, using phisical attacks (punches, kicks etc.) is a lot more effective so using this technique should be avoided unless you want to have a bit of fun (but risking to get beaten up badly while you mess around with a silly object...)
It works with other people too and it's actually more effective as it does more damage, but you can do it only with a dead person (someone who is dead but still on the stage, so that their corpse can be picked up by other players...) as living people could easily interrupt your motion by moving themselves so it's extremely hard to use corpses for this attack...

THROWING OBJECTS AT THE ENEMIES (HARD):



You can also try throwing objects at people, you can throw them with any kind of throw but the catapult-throw and spring-throw are the most effective since they are really precise and can make the object travel really far; it's best to throw objects at crowded spaces with a lot of people all near each other trying to make their attacks target the object you threw and confuse them (you can also try throwing objects directly at them but the damage is minumum and not worth your time, also making a precise throw is hard and the chances ofmissing are really high...)

Miscellanous moves

These moves are mostly harmless moves, they don't damage your opponents but some of them can be used to help perform other attacks or movements.

BELLY FLOP (EASY):

A move you can perform by pressing the crouch button in mid-air, it can be used for performing a diving grab but other than that it's pretty useless since using it alone on an enemy causes little to no damage (also be careful since bashing your head on the floor might damage you or even knock you out, to avoid that let go of the CROUCH button before hitting the floor)

DIVING GRAB (EASY):


To execute this move simply perform a belly flop and try landing your chest (the area of the body near the shoulders) on a character/object you want to grab, just before you touch them hold the PUNCH buttons for both hands and you should have made a cool grab, wich is also faster than normal standing grabs (it is particularly useful for grabbing unconscious people by the side, as it is a faster and more precise way of doing it)

STRADDLING (EASY):

To straddle a knocked-out player you have to jump on their back (if they're laying on their belly) or on their stomach (if they're laying on their back), in both cases you can also jump at their "neck" and straddle the head (wich is also more effective); straddling an enemy can make them get up slightly harder since they have a weight on their body that makes it more difficult for the character to get up.

You can also attack while straddling, a simple and useful technique is grabbing the head with an hand and punching it with the other (as punching normally might be useless as your arms might not be able to reach the enemy's head, to grab it for the "bashing session" try crouching to get closer to it).

BACKFLIP (EASY):

A move executed by pressing the JUMP button while holding down the KICK button when you're standing still. It can be used to make fun of other players like cheering but it can be a lot more unnerving and effective; unlike cheering, it can be combined with other attacks (for example combining it with punches will make you execute the "backflip punch"). It can also be esecuted by holding the KICK button after jumping from an high place but it can be dangerous as you could bash your head on the floor and hurt yourself if not timed well...

SLIDING (EASY):


To slide simply hold the KICK button while you're in mid-air and your character will prepare himself to slide when he touches the floor, once that happens he will move with his back touching the floor for a bit. Sliding down a slope will make you slide faster and for more than sliding on a flat surface, sliding a slope that goes up will make you tumble back down (and make you an easy target).

SPRINTING (EASY):

To sprint simply start pressing repeatedly the two PUNCH buttons and the KICK buttons and the forces applied to execute these moves will make you travel distances faster, using it in the air is even more effective (just be careful to not jump down and suicide due to the speed!)

CHEERING (EASY):

Cheering is really simple, to do it simply hold the LIFT button while not grabbing anything and your character will lift his arms up (and wabble his head while walking); it's mostly used for taunting other players or trying to get attention without having to speak "in the real world". Trying to punch while cheering is useless, instead of punching from an higher point (like most people would expect) the character simply lowers his arms before punching and then executes standard targeted punches.

FANCY HANGING (EASY):

It's a cool move you can use to show your acrobatic skills and mock other players (it's useless as an attack since it dealsno damage, the momentume generated by it could make it work as some kind of weird variation of the "quick jump down" technique but simply using that one would be better and more effective); to do it you need to grab a railing with both hands on the same point (you can also use the floor if you crouch)


Then press the JUMP button and move in the direction of the point you grabbed while holding, lef go of the JUMP button as soon as you rotate to the other side of the railing (or over the floor if there is no railing) and you should place your character in a fancy pose with his belly up in the air (the better the move is escuted and the higher the chaarcter's body should be, to execute it better try placing the character's hands pretty close togheter so that his head can't go trough his arms...).

LIMBO WALKING (INTERMEDIATE):

To walk like you were playing a limbo game you have to slide and then keep holding down the KICK button and also hold the CROUCH button, now wait for the character to place his feet on the ground and let go of the KICK button (but keep holding CROUCH). If done well your character won't get up and he'll be able to walk with his back on the ground if you keep holding the CROUCH button; it can be used to slightly increase the power of punches by relasing it and then punching while the character is getting up (so that his momentum adds to the punches' speed and makes them stronger) or making kicks between the legs easier but it's generally useless, it could still be a cool taunting move though...

Useful tips

1) NEVER crouch while trying to fight an enemy, by chouching you'll lower your head and move it more forward, making it an easier target for your opponent .

2) To lift an opponent more effectively when using both hands to grab on the same point try grabbing them from the body: grabbing from head, feet, arms or hands will make you lift the person only a bit and usually not enough for putting them out (you can still try to throw them though)

3) If you knocked an opponent out but you have to travel a good distance to throw them off you can try holding them with an hand while moving torwards the edge/dangerous area and keep punching them with the other (also kicking at the sime time can help too)

4) Remember that you can't climb on other characters or small objects, if you are hanging over a fall from a person try grabbing the nearest piece of enviroment avaible as you can't lift yourself up while grabbing someone, to do it you need to grab a climbable surface with at least one hand (so if you grab a person with an hand and a wall with the other you'll still be able to lift yourself up, if you grab a person with both hands you won't be able to do it)

5) If you got knocked-out you can wake up faster by starting to press repeatedly all of the action button (basicall anything except for the movement keys, so to wake up faster you can press: JUMP, CROUCH, LIFT, LEFT PUNCH, RIGHT PUNCH, KICK. Try to press as many as you can and as fast as you can and you'll wake up almonst istantly, it's pretty useful to defend from people that keep hitting you from preventing you to get up)

6) If you are playing a 1vs1 and your enemy has only 1 life while you have more than them you can use suicide attacks (like picking them up and jumping down with them, or trying to jump down and attack them if they are trying to climb back up using tips previously explained in the guide) to win more easily and quickly, just be careful to not let your opponent save himself! (so think before attemping a suicide attack...)


7) Sometimes your character's arms could get behind his head and you would be unable to move them out.

To solve this problem simply CHEER for making the character raise his arms up and free them. Look at these images to understand better:



8) Some stages have a particular object/place for putting enemies out of the game that doesn't act immediately but it's slow or not always there, to prevent enemies from getting back up during these slow eliminations (or for making them stay in the killer area for when the killer event occours) you can try to attack them and keep them unconscious for a longer time and making their escape harder, just make sure to not kill yourself in the process...



9) Even if it's pretty hard to find a moment where you can be alone in a battle, you can try using ropes and cables that appear in certain levels to your advantage, a simple example could be breaking the ones attached to suspended platforms for making them fall.

To do that hold both the PUNCH buttons and jump at the rope you want to break for grabbing them (if you're scared of falling down simply start climbing it slowly when you're near it, but you may get attacked by other people that could try to stop you while you climb) and then climb up a little bit (just a little, you don't have to trave a lot of vertical distance).

At this point let go of the JUMP button and the lower arm and use it to punch the cable under the upper arm you're using to grab it.

If you did well the cable will break and the platform if was attached to will fall but you will survive since you grabbed the portion of the cable wich was still attached to a solid part of the map (not hoisting yourself up was needed to put the free arm lower than the arm that is grabbing the rope, so that only the part below it gets punched); you can also try kicking but the character might start kicking backwards erratically, so it's better to use the punches instead.
Theorically you could just walk near a cable and start punching it really fast while still on the floor but it could be dangerous for you since if the platformfalls down you falldown with it, so grabbing to the rope and then punching the lower part of it is a lot safer process (and remember that other people could try punch other wires, so look at what the players near other cables are doing before attemping to break one on your own...)
REMEMBER: the platforms usually fall more easily when they: have a single wire hanging them, swing too fast when they have only 2 or less wires, have too much weight on them. If they have all of their cables intact then you can just break them by going near them and punching them continously...)

Credits

Thanks a lot for reading this guide! I hope it helped. Credits go to:
- Scrooge McDuck (ME) for making this guide (text and screenshots)
- Steam user Conconmadman for suggesting the "Elbow locking" move
- Steam user Darkjanggo for pointing out some errors in the "Dropkick" and "Headbutt" moves' execution (now fixed)
- Steam user Nachos for suggesting the "Hand lock" move
- venomsplasher for the guide's logo ( http://venomsplasher.deviantart.com/ )
- The great developers of Boneloaf for developing this amazing game known as "Gang Beasts"!

Have fun playing the game!

Guide's changelog

v1.0 - [07/06/2015]
- First version published

v1.1 - [07/07/2015]
- Added a "Guide's changelog" section, the one you're reading right now
- Added the "Fancy hanging" move
- Added many example images and replaced some of the old ones to be more coherent with the move being explained to make it more simple to understand
- Placed many of the example images between the text, so that each main section of it has an image right above it for making understanding how to perform that specific move more easily
- Improved some parts of the guide (made the explanations easier, removed useless repetitions and fixed some spelling errors)

v1.2 - [08/23/2015]
- Added the "Elbow locking" move
- Added the "Sliding approach" move

v1.2.1 - [09/03/2015]
- Added the user Conconmadman to the guide's credits
- Added the user Darkjanggo to the guide's credits
- Improved the "Throwing" section of the guide a little bit

v1.3 - [09/07/2015]
- Added the "Reverse kick" move

v1.4 - [09/09/2015]
- Added a guide's version number to the title and the "Changelog" section of the guide (knowing when the guide gets updated will be easier as looking at the title will let you know wich version it currently is)
- Added the user Nachos to the guide's credits
- Added the "Quick descend from thin surfaces" technique
- Added the "Sneaky edge grab" move
- Added the "Edge guarding" move

[Nzo]

um no update?

[ABG/OGZ/DBANZ]

what is the lift button for throwing

[302nick]

Suggestion: I have a suggestion for a cheer, thee zombie walk (easy): Hold kick and headbutt whie raising your arms with lift and you will look sorta drunk and flop forward when you go back and back when you go forward

[CloverUTY]

Is it possible to spawn enemies in Local? I can't get into Multi, and Waves has 1 map and is boring.

[not cole]

Thanks a lot this was really helpful.

[I'VE PLAYED THESE GAMES BEFORE]

can you also add slams on this guide?

[Gram]

I can sum up my strategy with one quote:
"I'M GONNA HEADBUTT YA, I'M GONNA HEADBUTT YA, I'M GONNA HEADBUTT YA"
~The Gmod Idiot Box
(the original one)

[Nom Nom]

how can i actually play online plz help

[Gram]

"you can jump by pressing the JUMP key"
10/10 very descriptive

[SRO]

Really good guide dude, but wall climbing can be much more simpler. All you do is hold down the grab buttons, and spam the jump button.