Soulcalibur V Character Tips: Cervantes

SoulCalibur V is the latest release in the popular fighting series.  It came out in early 2012.  The game can be bit difficult for newcomers since it is a 3D fighting game.  This means that along with moving forward and backward, you can move side to side, strafing your opponent, which allows for a lot of new strategies and things to consider.  For instance, vertical attacks can now be dodged by strafing.  This strafing is called the 8 way run.

So you want to play SoulCalibur V.  However, you don’t know how.  All you know how to do is mash buttons, which never ends up working out well against anyone who has even a basic knowledge of a character.  The following is going to teach you how to effectively play with Cervantes, a sort of, well ghost pirate who has bits of soul edge inside him.

(Note:  The control schemes are going to assume that you are playing on the Xbox 360.  If you are playing on something else you will need to simply adjust the “X”, “Y”, “B”, or “A” button to match the controller you’re using.)

(Note: To denote directional stick movement, I’m going to use arrows, except for diagonal inputs, which I will use a slash for. /=down and back, \=down and forward.  Two arrows will mean to tap it twice or hold it (as in, running attacks). ? is away from the opponent, and ? is towards the opponent.)

Cervantes has a lot of high damage attacks and is effective at any range.  This makes him more of an offensive powerhouse, rather than a defensive one.  Like with Maxi and Nightmare, you will have a much easier time if you keep attacking with Cervantes, and don’t let the opponent get a chance to attack back.

One of Cervantes’ best moves comes from his stance, ?/? Once in the stance, press Y.  This move propels Cervantes across the screen very quickly, and if it contacts the opponent it throws them up into the air.  If you really want to master Cervantes then you need to be able to do the fastest input for this move.  It is pretty difficult to do, however it is incredibly fast, does good damage and sets up a combo.  Y? and then ?X+Y is a goo choice.  Then when the opponent is standing up, use ?B+Y.  This is an unblockable attack that can hit the opponent at any range.  It is very fast, though it can be ducked and strafed.   On wakeup though, the opponent probably won’t have time to react.  Another way to start this combo is to use ?X+Y This move functions just like the fastest input of ?/?Y.  It is a lot slower but Cervantes teleports backwards, allowing him to dodge attacks and then counterattack.  This can be a good choice to open a battle as well.

Cervantes has several moves that require timing your button presses, such as counters (B+Y, etc.) and moves like /X,Y,Y and ?/?B,Y,Y.  These moves are very powerful, but very difficult to input correctly.  Mastering Cervantes could require a lot of time practicing these moves in training mode.  Aside from that, there are a lot of powerful moves that aren’t so difficult to use such as rising X+Y or his brave edge grab.

You just need to remember to keep attacking with Cervantes unless you have mastered his counters.  That could lead to a lot of possibilities defensively.  The thing you need to be careful with is that a lot of Cervantes’ best moves come from his stance, which is slow initially.  Don’t let the opponent get a hit in while you’re in the middle of your stance.  You could take massive damage from something like Astaroth’s Poseidon Tide Rush.  So watch your opponent.  Depending on how aggressive they are, you may have more or less chances to enter your stance.  Also, don’t forget to change it up.  I’ve seen Cervantes players get predictable, using the same moves over and over.  He doesn’t have many attacks that change from mid to low or vice-versa, which makes it harder to break the opponent’s guard.  So make sure to utilize moves like /B, etc. to get in damage and attack the opponent on wake up.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Cervantes has a lot of attack options against aerial opponents.  This can lead to players trying over and over to launch the opponent into the air for massive damage.  This however, can lead to the opponent strafing all of your attacks.  So just remember to mix it up.  Cervantes has good X moves as well as Y moves, so don’t be afraid to use them and you should do fine.  Cervantes however, is a character that doesn’t take too long to get pretty good with, but he takes a lot of time and effort to master.  Don’t forget that.

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