Wiki / Combat
Perfect chain
Press the next hit exactly when the weapon blinks: it costs nothing, hits far harder and cannot be interrupted.
Status: Built · Last checked: 14 Nov 2026
After one of your hits lands, your weapon blinks and a soft two-beat heartbeat plays. Press the next attack on the second beat, as the weapon blinks, and that attack is a perfect chain: free, much stronger, and the enemy cannot interrupt it.
How to do it
- Land a hit.
- Listen for the two soft beats and watch the weapon.
- Press once, on the second beat, as the weapon blinks.
It must be the only press you make during that hit. Mashing the button is never perfect. A slow finger is fine: a long tap that began at the right moment still counts. You hear the heartbeat for your own fighter only.
What it gives
| Ordinary press | Perfect press | |
|---|---|---|
| Stamina when the hit lands | Costs a little | Costs nothing, and gives a little back |
| Damage of a whole string | Small | More than double |
| The last hit of the string | A normal throw | Throws further, once the enemy is already hurt enough |
| Can the enemy interrupt it? | Yes, in the gaps | No: they stay staggered until the hit lands |
A miss always costs the usual miss amount, also after a perfect press.
Perfect links: into the heavy, the skill, the ultimate
The same blink follows any light or heavy that has landed, so you can climb the combo ladder perfectly too.
| Press on the blink | Result |
|---|---|
| Attack, and keep holding | The heavy strikes at once, without loading, as a perfect hit. Let go sooner and it is the next light, perfect too |
| Skill 1 | The Fire bolt at half its cost; the enemy stays staggered until the bolt has hit |
| The ultimate | A perfect link into Sunfall |
If the enemy has been pushed out of reach, your hero steps in by itself so the linked move lands (never off the platform).
The way out: the escape window
A perfect combo is not a free win. In the last instant before each linked hit, the enemy can still get out:
| The enemy presses | Result |
|---|---|
| Guard, freshly | A perfect guard of that hit, with its usual reward |
| Back dodge | A perfect dodge: untouchable for a moment, and the combo drops |
| Back dodge too soon | No perfect dodge for a moment |
| Attack, skill, or a guard that was already held | Nothing comes out |
With ordinary (not perfect) timing the usual gaps are there, and the enemy can guard, dodge or hit back between hits.
Near the edge
A perfect link keeps the enemy staggered until the next hit lands, but only over a platform. Once they are off the edge or thrown well above the floor, they can jump, use the recovery leap and grab the corner as usual, and the link may miss.
See also
Strings · Stamina · To check (one switch about this rule is waiting for the owner's decision)
Nerd section: the exact numbers
The window
| The blink | 0.1 seconds (6 frames) |
| Grace | 2 frames before and 2 after, so 10 frames (0.17 s) in all |
| The condition | It must be the only press made during that hit |
| The heartbeat | Two soft low beats on every chaining hit; the second falls on the blink. Heard for your own fighter only |
| The first beat | Comes 5 frames before the blink (taken from the build notes, not a number in the game's numbers file; see To check, row 25) |
| After a landed hit that ends a string, or any heavy | The blink comes 5 frames after its last hitting frame |
What a perfect chain gives, exactly
| Ordinary press | Perfect press | |
|---|---|---|
| Stamina when the hit lands | −3 (light) | costs nothing, +4 |
| Standing string | 1 + 1 + 2 = 4% | 1 + 3 + 5 = 9% |
| Running string | 2 + 1 = 3% | 2 + 5 = 7% |
| Sprint string | 3 + 1 = 4% | 3 + 6 = 9% |
| Last hit of the string | Normal throw | Throws 30% further, once the enemy is at 35% or more (below that: more damage, no extra throw) |
Perfect links, exactly
| Press in the window | Result |
|---|---|
| Attack, and keep holding | When the press has lasted a third of a second the heavy strikes at once, unloaded (the cleave: 8%), as a perfect hit |
| Skill 1 | The Fire bolt at half cost (6 stamina) |
| The step-in | Up to 44 pixels during the wind-up, never off the platform |
The escape window, exactly
| The window | The last 4 frames (0.07 s) before each linked hit |
| Perfect dodge | Untouchable for 0.27 seconds (16 frames) |
| Back dodge too soon | Locked out of a perfect dodge for a third of a second (20 frames) |
| Other weapons | The Guard press of dual wield (the sidestep) and of the bow (the leap back) in the window is a perfect dodge |
One switch in the game (PERFECT_LINK_LEAVES_GAP) turns the "cannot be interrupted" rule off, leaving normal gaps. It was left for the owner to confirm: see To check, row 1.
Near the edge (changed 14 Nov 2026)
Once the enemy is off the edge, or thrown more than 20 pixels above the floor, the stagger ends at the hit's own length. Before this fix a perfect link could hold a fighter stunned while they fell, a knockout at under 10%. Checked by tests/link-edge.test.ts: at 0 to 20%, standing 4 to 30 pixels from the edge, a perfect string or a light linked into its heavy never knocks out where mashing does not.