1. Movement abilities like dashing and jumping
   
2. What booster types are on what weapons.
   
3. Chaining the dash and Jump abilities together (dash hops)
   
4. At least some basic understanding of animation cancels, no there not a glitch on Fencer, but intentional on his class as devs allowed it instead of ever patching it out.

Now, I know some people say Fencer's dash canceling isn't a thing in EDF5 like his inception in 4.1. However, his ability to cancel animation into another animation is still around, it was just adjusted in some areas, however it opened up new options for Fencer in cancel department that was not possible in EDF4 making him more versatile than before in a lot of areas.

Disclaimer
None of these techniques are necessary for you to learn. The basic Fencer skills will carry you enough through entire game on hard, hardest, and inferno. However; learning these techniques will make you a master of the fencer armor, allowing you to be more flexible with what you can do and will make you far more deadly. Whether you're a Fencing scholar (beginner), Fencing Novice (intermediate), or an endgame Fencing Master (expert).

Loot and upgrading has very little importance to this guide, at least the advanced techniques. The armor gain for advance technique #4, the section of Shield Tactics, is also armor you can earn naturally by just playing the game. There isn't a lot of armor you actually need for it. For example by end of hard mode with all 4 characters done and no grinding done, I had over 3000 armor on Fencer already in under 80 hours. I didn't even go out of my way to pick up every drop either just what was nearby to me and drops clustered together.

Q: Why didn't you share these tips to moat's guide?

A: The techniques shown here are too complicated and extensive to cover for moat's basics guide, and he would likely be confused by what it is I'm trying to convey. I'm not 100% certain YOU may understand what will be told here. Nobody else has made any attempts at discussing these, and trust me: I do get around a lot to see different opinions. I'm also not entirely sure if moat ever went into Inferno, at least I know I've done it myself and that I have been practicing these techniques for a good while. So I'd guess that I am, in a sense, the perfect candidate for making this guide. At least I hope so.

Q: Are you some kind of elitist prick?

A: Hahaha, that's a fair question I suppose. No, I don't think I am. I am just a bit hot-headed, and I believe other hot-headed people such as myself are naturally drawn to the Fencer in some way. I've practiced, practiced, practiced, and played with numerous other fencers and they never do these techniques. I suppose advanced tech like this is not something naturally learned by any community, and would likely end up being used by players only in the top 5% - 10% or something.

Q: Did you discover these techniques yourself? If not where did you learn about them?

A: No, I haven't created any of these techniques myself. They were all discovered by other players, however: I've done my best to practice with and replicate them. The players that I watch are much more obscure, not very popular, most likely due to average players not enjoying watching people put themselves through very tough content with rough conditions. Such as starting on Inferno right away on a new save file.

Q: What's your experience with the game before I read your guide?

A: as of 7/18/2021 I solo all the inferno dlc missions with very low armor in online mode as Fencer on my main profile I hope that's good enough for you its basically as hard as the game can get unless I chose to go in with gear lacking in upgrades and also tried to do some team strats with other players although that's probably where I might be weaker on when discussing Fencer if I have 1 big regret in EDF it's that I didn't get to do these as much as I would of liked to working with people but what's done is done at this point. If you yourself happen to do some challenge runs whenever its low armor runs or speed runs with higher armor feel free to post some to me, I do like watching other players. Perhaps I can give some of my own personal critique to your run, if I can see anyway to improve it.

If your someone who is very stubborn about learning the game on your own. I won't tell you to accept my advice necessarily... but I will say you should consider player interaction between other players(it doesn't have to be with me), for a long time I did play EDF on my own, but I have to say it was only after I started to watch a diverse number of other people how they played the game to get as good I am today because ideas and creativity comes in easier from when multiple brains are at work.

I started a 2nd playfile with just one other friend.
So far this is result of our progress mind you I used a lot of fencer AT techniques on this playthrough, I really used AT#1 a lot as much as someone would use dash boosting which is otherwise known as a inertia jump.

The results is about 92% in Online mission mode already did Fencer and wing diver on inferno (will update pics & time when i reach 100%). About up to inferno on DLC1 and still have DLC2 Hardest and Inferno. The result of it is 250 hours. Notably at first on hard mode it took me about 20hours each character to finish, some like Wing Diver or Fencer 18hours. On hardest it took even less time about 16 hours due to characters getting improved mobility. On Inferno perhaps 14 hours. DLC1 took about 4 hours per character on hard, DLC2 Hard mode took about 6 hours per character the levels near end are really a lot longer.

I never repeated any level. I played the game in order the whole time. My weapons are also decently upgraded enough, while I did fencer first, I did not even meet the weapon level limit on inferno yet was still able to easily clear it with 50s,60s, 70s weapons. It was until about M70-M111 I got enough upgrades to use anything level 80+ higher although this is luck dependent and can be different for anyone. We also played having limits on entire time, we never turned off limits nor use autoloot. Most of randoms who joined us were pretty new to game we always did most of heavy lifting only time I hit a wall was probably near end as Wing Diver on M107 inferno so far but even if you get stuck you may get longtime 100% player that will join & in my case just having an extra decoy who can stay alive to help split groups on 107 can be enough to make it much easier..


So are you saying this what average person can 100% EDF in under 300 hours?
No, let me explain differences between me and someone new playing, I know how levels work already, I know what to target and how to manage enemy aggro. Although let me explain that my run wasn't perfect, I had some randoms joined who would screw the group over on some aggro missions like drone heavy mission with red drones and bees and tadpoles. But if I had to guess the common average new player it would be 500+ hours it seems, because I see many players claim this including some in forums, and other parts of internet. hmm so yes if theory is I beat game 100% in around 300 hours, that means those average players spent 200+ extra hours farming, making mistakes, learning the levels, retreating, & maybe even some time wasted by idling because the game does count time even if you sit on menus.

You can check here for at 92% the current status of my weapons from a no farm run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wknzd7B0K8

This is a hidden technique that only handful of players know how to do.

In the numerous lobbies I've been in, I haven't seen anybody performing this technique or even discussing it. Which is funny, really, for it is something you can do right away even with your starting Fencer Gear right out of the gate! You can keep your shield held up to defend yourself, and still move around fairly quickly around the map to get to better positioning or collect item boxes! Best part is, it's fairly simple. Anyone can do this technique, and always could as it has existed in game since released.

- This is the act of using weapon switching to make the game register the actions of two different booster type weapons at the same time. All with a single boost button press + weapon switch at the same time. Switch Movement is just the broad term I'm giving this ability as this extends into Switch Hopping and Switch Dashing.

(Note; The two different boosters, one for the dash the other for the jump, have to be on same arm in the two separate sets to enable this action.)

- This action works as alternative to dash hopping. It follows same concept of combining dash and jump, but in this case the dash and jump weapon don't need to be on same loadout set. This is likely to be the more used version of this technique, and it opens up a lot of loadout options on the Fencer that you might not have considered before. In my case; I like using it with Shields+any dash weapon, but few more examples double CC piercers, double CC Strikers, double arm hounds, etc. This technique can see great benefit with just single dash and jump, but just like regular dash dopping: It can also benefit if you go in with multiple dashes and jumps as it is possible to chain the technique over and over in the air.

Controls: Dash Button + Switch weapons button.

Just as a reminder, the two buttons need to be pressed at the exact same time It's a little tight, but not that difficult to do once you start to get used to it. This is likely very easy to do on a game pad, but i'm uncertain to its difficulty on default PC controls using M&KB. For most people: Using the weapon switch on mouse wheel scroll is not recommend. I personally use custom mouse with just two extra buttons, but it isn't necessary. I assigned the dash button to left click and weapon switch to right click, then I assigned my two attack buttons to the 2 side buttons on my mouse so this technique is entirely controlled from my mouse while keyboard is only needed for direction. Using this method, the technique became very easy for me. Just use whatever is comfortable for you.

The example shown here is done with just your starting Fencer gear.
The first one is done with no direction and 2nd is done by holding forward on W. You can also press W,A,S,D to control the direction.
The example shown here is done with DLC Boosters to showcase chaining is possible, and you can do it any direction. This technique could be called Aerial Chain Switch Hopping, or "ACSH" for short. It's arguably one of most difficult Fencer techniques to do, and even I mess it up sometimes despite being pretty good at it. In the end, however, its a very worthwhile technique to master. It'll feel tricky at first, but once you get used to switching back and forth a lot based on muscle memory: The technique becomes easier to do.

The example shown was done with a leg exoskeleton and add jump. No dash booster was taken. Leg Exo and add jump both affect horizontal jump. This type of loadout is pretty nice to try with dual dexters, dual gatlings, dual cannonshot, dual high altitudes... you get the idea. It basically makes any dual-wielded jump-weapon setup much more viable like if you were using normal dash hop. However, you won't be able to do any ACSH, you're mostly doing chains from landing on ground. You'll be slowed down or even standing still at the end of it for a second or two, so be mindful of where you end the chain using this method. This can be gotten around if you bring a Fencer weapon with movement integrated into its attack such as blast twins, force axe, quake haken, and such. There's vibro roller too. Back on topic, however: I find movement to be pretty decent when add jump has additional speed from leg exo. Just chaining jumps alone is still pretty good on evasiveness with this setup.

I would like to add this makes DLC2 Bombardment Exoskeleton amazing, as otherwise: This exo makes you move slower. You can go in with add booster g or multi charger, and still have benefits of using setups like dual hell flame or any other hard to aim Fencer weapons with recoil thanks to aim difficulty being almost eliminated from Fencer. Here's a sneak peak of later technique to be discussed.
Finally, I wanted to end off this segment with a bonus video of a Lone Fencer vs a really huge swarm of wasps that you don't normally fight throughout the game. I only took about 2k damage! On Inferno online against fully powered wasps, 2k really isn't that bad for this deal. Now there's much better ways of playing these levels, but I'm just trying to showcase an idea here. Honestly, I don't use Cannon Shot too much for swarms like this. Despite that? It can work, but I do often use dual dexters which works wonders for stunlocking huge swarms all at once. Doing this while switching between shielding, it's pretty tricky maneuvering but very fun to pull off against huge swarms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUrgfpVX17I

This is the other side of the technique of switch movement. Much like a yang to Switch Hopping's yin, it is done doing the reverse of having the dash weapon on the unequipped set when you try to pull off a switch hop thus making it much simpler as you always have access to it as long as you have 1 dash weapon. For this technique? It doesn't matter at all if your currently equipped weapon is a jump weapon, zoom weapon, or has no extra function. You only need a dash on other weapon set as the jump and dash cannot be combined when jump is attempted to be done first.

Example being shown here is me using dual gatlings, and when ant decides to attack, I can dash with gatling to get away followed up by switch hop to put distance between me and my attackers, this is excellent maneuver to do if you like playing a more grounded Fencer or having more easy cooldown resets. This was done with Inferno speed ants, not bad dodging for a guy using no boosters.
Switch movement might end up like a big deal, and just dash hopping alone can be questionable design on Fencer. But I don't really see it personally as game breaking. Just an alternative way to play Fencer, Who is already just very strong to play with just normal dash hopping. Believe me. I played for a long time not knowing how to do Switch movement. It's not giving you as big an advantage as you might think, but maybe a slight advantage is better than none at all. It makes playing without boosters very viable.

This technique has interesting perks to it like reloading while moving, or getting into relatively safe battle position when equipping non dash weapons. But you can still achieve a similar effect from just doing normal dash hopping, which is how the Fencer can put huge distance between himself and enemies to get past most issues. I just really enjoy how much more setups I can do on Fencer with this technique, like having good speed on slow builds to make loot collecting much more bearable.

This is another technique that is readily available to the player right away, just like technique #1. It doesn't require boosters to make use of, whatsoever.

This technique is performed by dashing, quickly followed up with a gesture from the shortcut menu. I find this technique to be a bit easy to mess up, but how I get it more consistently is by assigning the gesture in the chat shortcut in the opposite direction of where you're dashing. As you can see, its decent for moving around map. But it's preferably without much, or anything, following you so you can focus on loot collecting. Being in the gesture state can leave you exposed to an attack, so be wary about when you use it. But it can be better than nothing if you're on an incredibly slow build on a Fencer, like full shield setups, or you just don't have access to higher boosters yet.

Extra benefits to doing this are from your resets on dash and jump ending by the time the gesture is over. So, this is an excellent way to end your dash, dash hop, or switch hop combos. I also do it when I try to revive teammates, because I find the extra distance it covers to be pretty good for covering on the ground. I would say the distance it covers is roughly about 3 dashes worth.
For the best results for this tactic, even though it can be done with any gesture, handsign 3 is the most simple and shortest one to do.
You can also perform weapon switch during the gesture dash to reload your other weapon set while performing the technique or getting ready to jump with jump booster, I'm not sure what to call this state, it's not a full neutral stance since you can't dash or jump in middle of it but weapon switching is allowed.

Before anyone asks: Yes. This technique is about as entertaining as it sounds & looks.

Don't worry, your Air Raider will enjoy the concussions from bouncing on floor more than acid and webbing that's gonna drop him dead in next 10sec on revive. Do note that if a Raider has his vehicle next to him, don't do this.
Got a group of baddies chasing you as you go to revive your teammate? Sadly, in most cases with Air Raider / Ranger, the Fencer reviving him just gets them K.Oed again near instantly. However, if you're able to pull this tactic off? You can safely get your teammate out of harm's way after reviving them.

Technically, any class can do this technique as it just only requires using a shotgun type weapon but Fencer is likely to be in the position of being last alive on the team and being ready to do revives. As you've likely already seen, when a player is K.Oed: They're put in a ragdoll state. A state in which their body can get sent flying due to crazy physics in the Havok Engine. You've probably seen examples of this already, either in your own gameplay or elsewhere. The trick to doing this technique involves this factor and, again, strict timing. You gotta shoot your ally with a shotgun first followed up by a revive from a millisecond between 1 second apart both actions doing so at same time will just kill person on revive. Since this is you attacking teammates, lag will likely interfere and make it possibly easier or more difficult. But lag is never necessary for this technique.

You can even do it while person is alive the timing to it is actually the same as when there dead, although I always felt like its morally wrong just to randomly kill your teammate so just know if you try it while person is alive let them know your gonna do this.

Any shotgun type weapon in game works, at least any weapon that shoot multiple pellets at once. A good example for Fencer which is the Dexter series of Shotguns. A dexter is a fairly popular choice, however: Don't go expecting others to attempt a technique like this. Not many people think of trying something like this, and when they do know of it: The timing may be a bit tricky. Don't go yelling at them to do it, or anything, either. A calm mind and a steady hand is necessary to pull this off.

Shields aren't talked about much in EDF5, sadly. But that doesn't make them weak, not at all. Those in the know say they're incredibly strong, even against solo-online multipliers! I would even say that this next tactic that I'm about to talk about is a Fencer's Trump Card, and what really makes him such a unique character as no other class can fill this role: Going into center of the map and acting as a stationary target that attracts a majority of enemies while your teammates clean up the hordes!

Sure, you can dash hop around and attempt to lead bugs in circles. But it can be difficult to think of your positioning on the fly, especially when some stages have ground and air units in it at the same time, and enemies won't cluster up as well trying to chase a Fencer that is moving across vast distances in a short time. This strategy won't care how big enemy groups can get, and it won't care about buildings for cover. It could take ages for your enemies to KO you, and your team won't have to care too much about friendly fire. Your Raider could drop a Tempest ATS for 500k damage on you, and you'd likely come out fine!
Note: Don't actually drop Tempests on Fencer, the shield will take over 100,000 damage leaving only 40,000 and Fencer will take 3k damage. Use other air raids instead.

Have you ever used the Barga and said to yourself: "Man, the armor on this thing can't last for **** against bugs. I wish it was more tanky!" Well I have news for you: Fencer shields got you covered! While the Fencer may have less armor, the Barga itself always takes the full brunt of attacks with no damage reduction. Doesn't help that it's a massive target. Along with that, Fencer has access to tanking immediately with a shield! Unlike Barga, where credits need to be built up and Air Raider needs to wait for it to drop.

It doesn't end there! He can also manually reload shields at any time! Although, in my case, I almost never need to do this on any level. I've found I can tank through entire levels without reloading them, but you might. Say you're knee deep in bugs because your teammate(s) isn't killing fast enough. Try to delay next wave by leaving some enemies up and then reloading the shield.

Note: The models of the shields are not good indicators of the diameter of its protection, such a field is invisible to the player's eye. However, know that the perimeter of a held-up shield always covers where you aim. Even if you backdash with just one shield.

But what is a "Perfect Bait Fencer" (or PBF)?

Well first, you need satisfy one of these 2 conditions:
1. Dual Tower Shields + Deflect Cell + Shield Fortification. Shield Degrees over 360
2. Dual Great Shield +Deflect Cell+ Shield Fortification

How this works:
The heavy shield roughly covers almost half of Fencer's body from the front when one is held up. But, if you choose to hold two shields up: It will almost cover the entire backside as well, with only a tiny gap in the back!
Then, when you add a Shield Fortification, it adds extra degrees of defense. So tower shields can cover the entire body! Dual Great Shields won't really need fortification, since they alone leave just 20 degrees open in your back. But it can still be useful for extra armor!
Note: The the DLC deflect cell can reduce damage even further by 45%.

Now, you may be asking: "Why use deflect cell over barricade system?"

Well, see: When you hold two shields up, damage is reduced by 80% on top of another 80%. With Great Shield, 90% on over 90%. You also have an additional 40% reduction from deflect cell. With all that damage reduction, you reduce nearly all damage in game to single digits! If it isn't already just 1.

Now, barricade does 100% reduction and you won't take any damage at all. But! The shield dies way more quickly due to you standing perfectly still, with enemies unable to knock you around. With Deflect, you can still be knocked around and it doesn't really make shields take more damage over barri. It simply just lasts much longer.

Here's a demonstration. In this video, you will recognize this swarm from one of our first techniques learned here. This time, I go in with double shield & don't even bother picking up any health packs. This demonstration was done with subpar gear! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02IMbmtTsaY

This next video showcases the shield's full capability! As I said before, damage is essentially reduced to 1 with great shield. What this means is enemies needs to basically hit me 5000 times to knock me down! This level in particular has one of the worst swarms in the game, but with dual shield? Fencer can withstand full barrage of attacks for an entire minute and 30 seconds! All while letting enemies gather in one spot around you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmuZZedPFVo

This is an unrealistic situation, however, for if I had support from teammates: You could survive anywhere 10x-30x longer. The whole point to dual shields is for your teammates to pick off what's attacking you. The strategy itself is worthless if enemies aren't going to get killed by anything else. There is small concern with where enemies may knock Fencer into, but its not that big of problem with deflect cell. You also don't need to worry about teammate's explosives with this technique, as Fencer needs no cover from anything and all damage is reduced to 1 on him. 3k Not bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4tKukpJpbg

I have to mention: Spiders and Deroys are probably the worst enemies to try this against since they deal multiple hits that add up quickly rather than focus on big damage. But this strategy can still work against them, just be sure your comrades know to target them.

Extra Note: Jumping in place may help you avoid some attacks &avoid getting stuck on terrain, making it so you last even longer. But it isn't necessary.

This is a great Fencer tactic that can also act as a good change of pace on how to play Fencer, opting for teammates using big dps with explosives, missile launchers, etc. against a pile on of enemies in one place. It won't be a tactic you'll do very often, but this can certainly turn those levels that you're stuck on into an easy sweep with good coordination between you and your allies. Be sure to keep your distance from your allies to keep aggro mostly on you, the Fencer. In opposite to Wing Diver's Big Bang Core strategies, where the good offense makes good defense, Fencer's is the best defense making for the best offense. Oh, and keep some movement equipment with you in your other slot to get to your desired positioning. Can't really draw aggro while you're behind everyone.

Another strategy: Using building doorways, shooting behind the wall for cover, is great with a shield and gatling for enemies can't really see you. Good for humanoid only levels, which are all based in city maps, where you can easily find doorways to wedge into tight spaces. This is usually for early game, because rocket and mortar aliens make this tactic obsolete. You're better off going in with Barricade + Shield fortification, which usually gets the job done anyways. This isn't a tactic that you'll do much of, just that it has good use in levels like this.

This other tactic is more of a one level only deal: In the very first drone mission, using any shield, just reflect drones for an hour and you'll get through it pretty easily. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1aq4LQ4N2w

Now, I know my fellow soldier Gordon- (the one cleaning up the grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. for this guide) -may question my motive with this tactic since it involves using live NPC teammates as human sacrifices. But, such a gag technique does have interesting uses.

To perform you simply only need this type of loadout,
Any Light mortar+ Any Disrupter

Fire a Light Mortar to send your ally into a ragdoll state, and while they're in midair: Fire your disrupter on them. The disrupter will work like the shotgun tactic shown before, but for longer distance with its fast and instant projectiles sending your ally into the sky where incoming enemies will give chase to them instead. Don't worry, they can't die until they land on floor. Ya might even get a chance to save them after they land? Maybe? Not sure.

This tactic can and will buy your group a few seconds of time. It is very much like shield strategy, except Fencer got tired of being the bait. If you're planning on extensively abusing this strategy for more time? Then get ready to launch more than one NPC.

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(Note from Gordon regarding this technique, aimed at Vlad for putting this here:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGSneujgGT8

(or just shot bending)

Legend has it... that among the Fencer Units... one soldier, before his previous job as a construction worker, had a lucrative career as a magician. This Fencer, using the bizarre skills he had learned during his days of sleight of hand and magic hats, was capable of "using his mind" to bend the trajectory of his own projectiles.

Now, some readers might be thinking: "How in world are you doing that!? It looks so simple, but no matter what I do: It just seems impossible! How does one 'bend' how their shots fire?!"

Magicians aren't really supposed to give away their tricks of their trade in "magic". But, a world torn asunder by aliens needs a bit more magic in the world. Thus, read and be amazed viewers... to bear witness to the truth of such marvelous and magnificent skill in MAGIC PROJECTILE BENDING! (shot bending for short)

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Okay, okay. Enough of that act. The magician in question quit that job forever ago, anyways. On to explaining this technique in detail!

Like technique #4, in the Misc Shield section where I'm hiding within a doorway and shooting around it, this technique is similar in for the way it uses cover. However, as you can no doubt tell, aiming like this is unnatural. We have discovered that, when Fencer is reloading his shield, he will keep his guns centered regardless of where your aiming. BUT! The projectile will still shoot where you're aiming and exit from barrel end of the the weapon!

Note: We have recently discovered that it doesn't HAVE to be a shield that's reloading to perform this technique. Reloading any weapon in the same slot, besides the weapon you want to bend the shots of, makes this technique work. However: Shields are recommended for this technique due to their long reload times. Any other long-reload weapons work too, like gatling guns, but Tower/Great shields are always longer & shields have their own dedicated reload button. Except for Super Heavy Crusher Mortar, that takes 60 entire seconds. Shields may still do you better, though.

Requirements in simple terms
In short, all you need to do is attempt to aim and shoot a projectile weapon while reloading a shield (or other weapon). This will work with any Fencer weapon, but avoid using Fencer weapons that are explosive, pulls you in any direction, or has a special firing animation. Like Heavy Mortars, Missiles, Blast Twins, Blastholes, or any CC Striker.

Remember: If your shield (or alt. weapon) is full, you only need to reflect once and then you can manually reload your shield to trigger this state. But be aware that when your reload is over, your aim will return to normal.


Now: This is absolutely nothing more than a sort of cheese strategy for most humanoid-only levels, or in any level where you can reduce enemies to just humanoids. Remember: Buildings are a Fencer's best friend.

Now, before we get to talking about this technique in particular: Let us start off with a few examples of a problem when using dual wield heavy artillery weapons.

Handcannon

Heavy Cannon

Heavy Mortar

Look at all three examples above back to back. Tell me, can you see a common problem across all of them from rapid firing an even clip?

If you guessed that they are not perfectly synced on reloads: You'd be right! This is a common problem when dual wielding artillery weapons: The firing rate will become uneven between the weapons, and leave you exposed to possible attack and / or lower your rate of damage.

In the midst of such a problem, the common long-range Fencer will only have two options on how to act during this problem. The first: Firing a shot from the weapon one that is reloaded while other is still reloading, but as we said: Your firing rate will become uneven the more this happens. The other is to wait for other to fully reload before firing, possibly wasting a few likely precious seconds.

But for people like us who sought better? There's another option.

First, let's talk about why one of the dual-wielded weapons reloads sooner than other first with no delay. You see, when a weapon empties the last shot and it has a recovery animation of any kind: The weapon doesn't start the reload until animation is either completed or interrupted. This is clearly seen by most long range Fencer weapons, but another example could be the Fang Sniper Rifles for the Ranger. Lucky for him, though, he can cancel out of it with weapon swapping.

Rapid firing Fencer's Cannons is the result of cancels being used to speed up long range DPS, with both weapons being fired canceling the reload delay on the other.

Now for that third option, the technique that can bypass this problem! It needs a tool that can cancel a character out of the recovery animation. But wait! You're using two cannons! You can't dash with them, or boost jump out! What tool could we use then?

The answer: Recall Advanced Technique #2 with the Handsign 3 gesture. That's right, the shortest gesture in the game comes with its own animation that can be canceled into! By using this gesture the second you empty the last dual wield weapon being fired you effectively can reload both heavy weapons at the same-time to more effectively keep them in sync and ready for the next volley of burst damage!

Handcannon Gesture Cancel

Heavy Cannon Gesture Cancel

Heavy Mortar Gesture Cancel

There you have it, another problem fixed means another worthy technique to add to this guide! If you're looking to burst down anything from long range with Fencer if you bring heavy weapons, keep Handsign 3 in mind!

You might be thinking: "What about Dispersal and Light Mortar?" Sadly: It won't do them much good. Those have very light recoil so they don't gain anything significant from doing technique like the heavier weapons. But if you're curious: It is only slightly worth it on Light Mortars and not at all on Dispersal. I'm betting the most notable gains would be on Muzzle Stabilizer Handcannons, since you exclusively burst fire with them. There's no real downside to performing this technique in the end, since like we already said: The recovery animation locks you in place and the gesture is short.

Some quick tips for you:

• If you read ahead in our guide and are using Intermediate Technique #3, you'll have a gun firing off constantly so reload delay won't be there on sustained damage.
  
• If you're doing this trick with Dual Cannonshot, you can always just use the jump instead of Handsign 3 to speed up your reload. Of course if you're using dual wield zoom weapons, this won't apply to you.
  
• AT#1 cannot be used with this technique unless its cannonshot or light mortar that you bring on the 2nd set, but I'll repeat again: this technique is best done with two zoom-weapons or dual heavy mortars.

After a bit of time after I started this guide, I've decided to add something else besides the difficult-to-master advanced tech I set out to make this guide for. Something that players may still want to know to possibly improve their capabilities with Fencer. Something else that won't seem necessary to adding to Moat's basics guide:

Intermediate techniques.

These will, by estimation, be at least a bit more well known than the Advanced Techniques shown before. Hopefully, they may also be a bit easier (even if their names may make them sound more complicated-) If you're a veteran EDF player, you'll most likely recognize at least some of these techniques as I go over them. That is to say, these probably won't be anything new for you if you played EDF 4.1. But if you skipped that title and just went straight into 5, then hey: No judgement here. These lessons were set up specifically for players like you.

Note: Keep in mind that, for the most part, when I talk about these techniques? They can be greatly influenced by weapon upgrades or armor. Or both.

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(Note from Gordon: The name, both the full version and the shortened variant by me, sounds like something an Anime Protagonist would shout out before obliterating a monster, or something. It certainly feels, and kind of looks, like unleashing an "ORAORAORA" on these aliens too.)
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Requirements: Blast Twins Spear alone is enough + Dash Cell

Minimum Recommended Setups: When its reasonable to practice the technique, so likely not until you acquire hardest gear: At least Blast Twins Spear M3 on 1.9 swing speed, if not 1.9 then 1.5 would work. Along with it, the Dexter Shotgun ZA. RoF for the Dexter might not matter too much since you're not going rapid fire with it, instead placing the shot in between jumps. Finally: Dash Cell + Add booster since you'll use Dexter too along with this. Multi Charger can also make for an okay replacement. Especially MC 3-3, or DLC 1's MC 4-4.

Highly Recommended Setup: Blast Twins M4/M5 on 1.9 Swing Speed + Dexter Shotgun ZG/ZGXE
Dash Cell 5/G + Add Boost 5/G / MC 3-3 or 4-4.

I hate making upgrades a requirement for a technique, but I can't really ignore the fact that this technique requires faster swings with less frames. I can see Jackhammer + Dexter being a better choice if frames are too long, but BTS is better.

Vs online in solo play on Inferno within limits

About 50% more time to kill just using blast twins alone from this experience

Controls: Hold both attack buttons, and dash hop backwards. Repeat process however many times you can with the number of dash and jumps you have. This technique can't be done in the air with switch hopping. It's impossible because you lack the normal jump boost.

With just a Dash cell alone, you can still attack rapidly. But you'll only be using blast twins and nothing else. I believe its slightly slower as well, but still: It can work pretty well for solo weapon use. Now with both the DC and an add Booster, It grants the user extreme levels of close range damage, while also granting the Fencer a way to move around and quickly escape areas which makes it heavily favorable among veteran Fencers.

While it is simple to just hold attack buttons when in the enemy's face, you will of course need to decide when its best to stop attacking to adjust to a better position. Much like if you were surrounded, or if your target manages to escape. If you see a Fencer using this setup entering your lobby, then I can almost guarantee that this Fencer probably means serious business in your lobby.

Twins spear DPS is much higher than Jackhammers, and its still receiving help from dexter in between jumps. Said jumps also putting the dexter into its optimal range for maximum damage, as bullet weapons tend to drop off in damage the farther away you are. Twin spear is also capable of pushing through stunlock from attacks on Fencer, granting him even better mobility than jackhammer+dexter would.

Now: The ground of this technique with the dashes would of have existed since EDF4.1, however: It would of been much much slower since there were a higher number of frames in the attacks for the Twins Spear. On the bright side, Dash Canceling would have made this easier. However, dps would still have been much lower. In truth? It would be better if you brought two twin spears in 4.1 and used up their clips one at a time. (not shown, because this is an EDF 5 guide. Not 4.1.)

Requirements: Any hammer type weapon. This includes the DLC Happy Body Pillow, Vibro Hammer, Haken, Vulcan, Finest, Roller, and Ultimate. High amounts of Armor is a requirement for this strategy since you expect to get hit, but the amount can vary depending on what you're fighting, what type of hammer your using, and most importantly: The difficulty and limits.

Lore: Some scientific stuff about when Fencer begins swinging the weapon he releases a very strong pressurized air that coats his body in complete 360 degrees. Like shields, this field is invisible to viewer's eye. But it isn't problem at all since its always 360 degrees. The defense rating varies from each hammer type, and thus shares many similarities to shields. However: It lacks the advantage of shields gaining mod support, and it misses out on the ability to stack two defense ratings from holding two shields as you cannot swing both weapons at the same time.

How is it done: By swinging the hammer in any phase of its attack. Be it light, medium, or max charge.
Hammers have some of longest attack frames of any Fencer weapons, so the defense ability does pair well with it. Dual wielding can lead to you always being in defensive state by repeatedly attacking. However, they're not exactly the best at returning to neutral stance. Because of the long attack frames, you'd likely need to end off with a dash to get back to neutral as quickly as possible. But this is only if you dual wield, if you do hybrid combinations you can use jump booster to get back into neutral stance instantly.

Why do it?: The intention is for Fencer to be able to hold down an area in close range for an extensive time, using perfect defense while still being able to fight back against massive hordes. Perfect for being an active decoy, which Fencer is known to do. The defense is much weaker than the capability of shields, but even if that's the case: If a Fencer is going solo with no support to back him up? This is viable approach against swarm enemies. (Except for hornets-) Admittedly: The Fencer has a plentiful amount of tactics with the hammer that may work better in more situations which might be considered more effective than doing the dual wield version of this technique. I believe a hybrid variant with dash hops is better for lower armor decoy runs.

In addition: The attacks from regular Vibro Hammers tend to be weaker than Vulcan Swings, so its a little safer to use it around NPCs. There's a lower chance of lethal damage than the Vulcan's explosion attack. But just remember: If you use hammers, it's best if you go in alone because they will still deal some hefty damage to your allies. That, and you need to get in close to enemies to use them anyways so you'll be leading them into a death trap. But moving past that: Hammers are consistently powerful tools from the beginning, as Fencers that are missing late-game equipment can still perform some powerful strategies. After all, like with shields, you are also completely immune to knockdowns and grabs with 360 degree defense from any angle while swinging. You can even gain the defense while in a red ants/tadpole's mouth or Aranea's web to drastically lower their damage.

Overall:
Vulcan/Finest/Ultimate: Recommend for use against all bug enemies, but is also decently powerful against tadpoles. Don't expect completely easy fights with them, however. Smashing through a swarm will require quite a bit of armor, and possibly lucky health drops, to get anywhere. This sort of strategy will be easy in offline mode, but it can work in online. The multipliers just makes it a rougher but exhilarating experience. Homing while teammates are still alive, or camping with a shield under a building, would be a better strategy for those with low armor. Here's a demonstration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAZtM5dZaZE

DLC Waifu Body Pillow / Vibro Roller: Either one of these 2 can be be used in conjunction with a jump weapon in an attempt to lead fast hordes around as a decoy, like the flying types. These weapons are not good for attacking but are exceptional in kiting while keeping defense up. Here I will demonstrate, along with a bit of advance technique #5. (I'm not as good as my Senpai who I learned it from but I will strive to be as good as him.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poD9EjXJDJE

Haken: Can be used to hold down an area against any ground type enemies (& tadpoles to some extent). Its uses a wide attack to hold enemies down to prevent them from moving. The defense is weaker than most other hammer types, so don't use it to strictly take hits. But still, even a slight defense bonus can save you from a really damaging blow while you're going on the offense or waiting on dash to recover. Its recommended to dash left and right to make the max charge attack cover an even wider area, and be sure to keep the weapons on a uneven clip if you use two of them even to keep attacks alternating infinitely.[/i]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JYmNt17b8E


Final Thoughts: A classic strategy, returning from EDF 4, buffed by being usable with hybrid loadouts and being able to chain dashes or jump-dashes together without needing to attack to cancel it, thus allowing you to easily grab healing items without praying to lady luck that enemies would just push you into health like before. The newly added collection ring during dash and jump is very welcoming to this technique. Despite it being buffed, it is slightly inferior to most other strategies that I, or the previously mentioned basic guide, have already said. But it is fun to use if your looking for a different way to beat levels.

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Note from Gordon: Jumping headfirst into battle with hammers, Vulcan or otherwise, is believed to almost be MORE honorable an act than taking on a swarm with a shield and spear. To those who use hammers: I salute you, you brave and invincible knights!

Requirements: This technique is not for melee weapons, but instead for Dual-Wielding Two of the same gun in one slot. Most of Fencer's guns will work with this technique, but it is is highly recommend to use with automatic weapons that keep firing as you hold the trigger. High-ammo clips and fast firing rates helps this technique be easier to do. For an example of what NOT to use with this technique: The disrupters. They are for pure burst damage with a large yet limited clip that will unload everything at the first click of the trigger, until you switch weapons.

How to do: Empty either your left arm or right arm weapon until half of the clip is emptied, or around half of it, and the other remains full. The amount depends on how long the reload time is on the weapon(s) of choice. Once one clip has been emptied to your satisfaction, hold both attack buttons. You will always/almost always be able sustain continuous fire, like he has no downtime on his attack during a weapon's reload.

Why do it?: Your burst damage will be lower as a result, however: You will be able to provide continuous sustained damage instead. This technique is a bit situational in terms of its usage. If you are sitting / holding a spot, such as spawn camping fast respawners, hampering down inside narrow spaces like in caverns, trying to destroy multiple spawners quickly, or supporting a teammate from a distance? Then this technique sees great usage! If you're doing hit and run and are able to move around the map easily, then burst damage is more useful. Especially since Fencer is very good reloading while moving thanks to basic dashopping. (Or advanced technique #1) In the end, you'll have to be the one to decide when this technique is most appropriate.

The best weapons to do this technique with are the Hell Flamers, Gatling, Dexter, FGX, Light mortar, Dispersal Mortar, Cannon shot, the Hand cannons. A reminder: These weapons need to be dual wielded, but with weapons such as Dispersal and Cannon shot: Since their clips are low, its recommended to empty the entire clip of one gun while other stays full, wait for it to reload, and then begin emptying the other full clip while reload is going.

Requirements: Any Mortar weapon, the stats don't really mortar (haha see the joke i made there hahaha god help me) except for maybe damage for one-shot potential. Along with this, at least the "Add Booster 2" to give you 3 jumps. A higher number of jump boosts gives you more room to work with for this technique. Transport ships could be used stand on top of make this technique even easier and safer to do.

How to do: Simply jump boost into air 3+ times, and aim below to fire your mortar on groups clustering up beneath you.

Why do it?: This is mostly for use against ground units, and is a superior technique in the decoy-game for Fencer. Not quite as likely, but it could possibly be used for flyers. That is, if you can even hit them. Even if you did? There is a danger factor of a flyer flying directly in front of you, and getting you getting you caught in your own blast. So yes, keep it to ground units for your own sake if no-one else's (unless ya wanted to show off).


Each mortar type has its own potency.

Light Mortar: Very strong in offline mode through whole game and into the dlcs packs, depending on difficulty and weapon LV as always. But they can also also be strong in online mode in the early missions, such as 1-20 on any difficulty, as it can potentially one shot with enough upgrades on damage. You can see the light mortars as the hand cannons equivalent, as it is an explosive weapon that is specialized heavily into rapidfire from dual wielding.


Heavy Mortar: The advantages to this mortar series is, even if low on damage upgrades, it can one shot most group types and cause heavy damage to heftier opponents, such as mutants, since the damage is very high for an explosive and its AoE is the biggest of all mortars on single projectile. However? It comes with a zoom feature, not a boost-jump. In order to do aerial bombardment, you will need the assistance of a jump from another weapon that has a jump booster.

It's recommended to bring a Fencer dash weapon with fast attacks, like spine or blast twins, to break out of heavy mortars's huge recoil to reset you faster into neutral position in order to do switch hops. This weapon is like heavy cannon equivalent: It specializes in damage, but is slow to fire. This Mortar takes the most skill to use since it has no jump ability, but it's worth using and is reliable throughout whole game in both offline and online. It's not recommended to dual wield heavy mortars on most occasions, but with another loadout for dash hopping: There are some special cases where you can use two at a time.

One extra thing to note is heavy mortar has the fastest shot travel speed among mortar weapons, about 7x faster than dispersal & 1.7x than light mortar, so it's also the most accurate. Meaning you're likely going to hit what you shoot at, even over long range.


Super Heavy Crusher Mortar: A variant from heavy mortars, but this has one of the biggest AoE in entire game. Almost rivaling Tempest AT's radius, and the 2x AoE of great plasma cannon. This high damage and massive AoE is only set-back by only having one shot and an absurdly long reload time. The best use out of this mortar is to shoot when its gonna count most by rounding up a huge swarm of enemies, then deleting them in one go.

Since it's a dlc weapon, its main usage is wiping out mutants. Most mutants will be one shot both offline and online, however: Online Silvers will likely eat 2 of these things at worst. Even so: If you gather 50 silvers into the radius of one shot with this, it will likely come out to over 1,000,000 damage in a flash. Likely the reason why the reload is so long. I can see this weapon having an incredible amount of potential with two Fencers. One of them doing advance technique #4, and the other using Super Heavy Mortar.

It is very much usable in solo, however, and I usually like to use it for skipping entire waves in just one go if I can catch them off guard from a fresh spawn. I also love to pair this with blast twins, using advance technique #1 while mortar is reloading, and I can use it cancel out of recoil. Can also be used to disable deroys easily if they walk by each other.



Dispersal Mortar: This mortar comes with a jump, and is the equivalent of the cannon shot series. It is said that this mortar is supposed to have an intense recoil, but it is far less than its counterpart from EDF 4 and of cannon shot. It has low clip, but it specializes in launching a cluster of mini explosives all at once which can result in high burst damage with overlapping explosives. It's a very good mortar for evasive builds and complements this technique well, as you can fire it and hop away right away.

This weapon can devastate any weaker mobs and some tougher opponents if shot in close range, however: Effectiveness can go down against Mutants. The heavy mortar series would have more potential with AoE on its explosives for such foes, but it is more difficult to use than dispersal. Long range attack can also be a problem for the dispersal mortar, because it has incredibly slow shot speed and poor accuracy that doesn't even change from first version to last version of the weapon. So it's more like a shotgun mortar. That being said, it is very good to use against flyers as well. Even against deathqueens for being able to easily knock them away or outright kill them. Only problem is being able to HIT them with these if they keep themselves up high.

Requirements:
1. A Heavy recoil weapon such as heavy mortar, gallic/battle/rage cannons, or cannon shot. Also works with slow CC strikers attacks or slow CC piercers attacks.

Looking for weapons with descriptions like these, the cannon description always gives me good laugh when I read it.
Followed up by

2. Dash/Jump boosters, fast CC Strikers or fast CC piercers. These can cancel out of list 1's animations with a shorter ones.

How to do: Fire the heavy recoil weapon, and perform one of actions from list 2. The jump booster has fastest and most instant reset of the technique, so most players do this technique without even realizing the specifics behind it or the other methods to doing it. Since jump boosting is very popular choice and very commonly used, this is probably why this technique isn't heavily examined. This is mentioned and lightly touched upon on moat's guide.
Now 2nd best method for going back into neutral is, depending on upgrades, either spine driver/blast twins spear doing 1 attack. They have VERY fast recovery, especially twin spear on 1.9 swing speed. I like these options quite a bit for evasiveness, for when I run out of jumps or don't have jumps equipped to do what I need, or if I want to perform advance technique #1.


3rd best method is blasthole / flashing spear single attack. These weapons are slower to recover than the Spine Driver or Blast Twins, but are certainly better than the 4th option below.

4th best method is either dashing or waiting to absorb heavy recoil fully. Dashing doesn't sound useful here, but at least you're relocating and may: A) Dodge an incoming attack, or B) Make enemies have to travel some more distance before striking you again.

5th method, and possibly the worst way, to go for neutral position reset is by using CC striker attack. They have some of longest frames on attack to wait to fully recover, but on the bright side: Hammer type weapons have defense up while waiting on reset. Even so: If you use a CC striker, then the 4th place best methods above might be wiser to attempt.

Why do it?: So you can break from long recoil animation and attack with CC, auto cannons, missile weapons, weapon switch, or use switch hops. If you primarily use the basic dash hopping, then there's not as much benefit to learning this technique fully besides for weapon switching quickly or performing something like Intermediate Technique #1. Neutral resetting is also the reason why your weapons like Gatling and hell flame pause during a jump boost, just think of jump boost as a half-second short animation.

Requirements: Any blade weapon from CC strikers. Hell Flame from CC autocannons can also pierce, although the ability is lacking significantly until Hell flame revolver due to the range differences.

Lore: The Fencer's blade weapons are made from Shield bearer technology as such the field it projects made into a weapon for blade's projectile. Hell flame is able to pierce because it is a flamethrower and flamers are considered lightweight objects with no mass that can go through the screen.

Why Do it?: In offline this can be a great choice for any stages with shield bearer's protecting priority targets like enemies or spawners such as anchors, by bringing this weapon you won't need to focus on killing the shield bearers and can attack from long distances. Unfortunately the blade nor the flamethrower cannot hit the shield bearer itself and neither will it pierce anchors like the blade could to tunnel spawners back in EDF4.

In online mode I can only recommend using/trying this technique in 3 levels, first DLC2 Mission 4 Engage Aliens Troops 1. This level can be sort of difficult, but however it contains major weakness to long range weapons being able to pierce the field and is really the only level out of entire EDF5 missions that benefits blades greatly. You see there are humanoids within bearers's fields there AI is scripted very special like in this stage to stand still and not leave the field until a player comes within close range. However there not only thing that changes upon getting close to field, getting close also triggers group of deroys to attack. You can take as much time as you want killing them, without ever triggering the deroys. Then when your ready to fight deroys get ready to disarm them with homing or cannons for straight killing, blades can still be used to reach every single one too, even force axe G3 can reach tallest deroy with 2nd charge.

Now the other 2 levels can count as one really, it's when you face off against mothership#11. You see mothership #11 also deploys a shield bearer field however like shield bearers you can't hit blocks inside barrier, HOWEVER! The blades provided they have the range can still go through the entire field to hit any blocks that are on outside, the field won't be able to stop your blades projectile making the blades one of easiest to use Fencer weapons against this enemy. In offline mode, well upgraded dyna force blade can 1 shot the blocks & still provide fencer mobility via dashes and cancels making it one of best options where other long range options would leave you exposed to getting heavily hit.

In online mode it'll take 2 max charge hits however it isn't bad choice if your in a team. You could get lucky and hit multiple blocks and the blades have a forward pull so they can dodge incoming hits while you strike. I recommended pairing with a shield and dyna blade, normally this is taboo combination but it can work really well here, I'm confident in saying this because I saw a JP Fencer 250 it on inferno using this and winning... You can make better uses of ground level speed using tall building cover, dash hopping into air while blocks are out in full force tends to leave you highly exposed to getting hit.

Update 6/13
I've actually been attempting the last level in dlc2 online solo inferno with the dyna with many attempts and I have to say, I've changed my mind and probably have to take my own advice about blades being too weak in online mode. In the end I decided the Rage Cannon/ Battle Cannon is just much better to use for 1 shotting the blocks. Don't get me wrong about Dyna but dyna just kills to slow in online, in offline the values aren't doubled so its much more acceptable to use there. Anyway the cannon really isn't that bad there if its accompanied with jump weapon and doing AT#1 with shield in other loadout & IT#5. The shield itself I find really helpful for blocking/pushing u out of way a lot of damage the lasers could of possibly inflict on you.

What is Movement Looping?


Movement looping is the Fencer ability to stay moving without his cool-downs severely stopping him. This is important if your choosing to be mobile Fencer and a decoy for your team to go on offensive.

So for most of the game looping isn't actually important except when it comes to facing any flying type enemy or long range enemy without a shield. Basically the part of the game that's actually difficult for most Fencer players. For most ground type enemies with short range attack of 100-200 meters. The fencer's speed allows him to put distance between himself and the enemy, so that's why looping isn't too important for those enemies because they can't keep up and you have plenty of time to wait for the cooldown. There is 1 ground type that you might keep looping more in mind for and that would be green ants.

So there is few methods where you can loop with just the dashes and jumps themselves and there is some where a Fencer weapon is needed. I will try to explain the different types starting with least amount of dashes and jumps. Also I would like to credit fellow EDF player masanobu for some additional methods to looping that can viewed on lower half of this Guide for explanantion and via some short clip videos. I will also attempt to cover some his methods myself.

D = Dash
AB = Add Boost

1. The J/L dash hop loop or a simple 1 vertical Jump(1D - 1AB)
   
   Dash Hop no direction j dash hop / L dash hop / 1 vertical boost → Land
   
   The j/L dash hop is what happens when you do a dash hop but without any directional input, j dash hop is when both inputs are pressed within short distance of each other. You will get an L jump if there is huge delay between dash and jump which is 50% horizontal and 50% vertical. Yes you can loop with just 1 vertical jump on end this isn't bad if your just facing only drones for example but for everything else you absolutely you do want to be mixing in the dash.
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnNubVnkU1s
   
   
   
2. Special Type Hammer Loop or (Dakimakura(DLC)/Quake Haken Loop) (1D - 1AB)
   
   Dash Hop → Charge Hit in air → land → Dash → Charge Hit
   
   Now I say special type hammer because I've gone and tested with most CC strikers and truly only CC strikers that works for this method is the Dakimakura and any of Quake Hakens minus vibro haken, vibro doesn't have same attacks as Quake. Regular hammers take too long to charge. Dakimakura only has 2 stage attack and very short meter to fill and starts off with 2 second reload and has defense and you can use it at start of the game or on second playthrough on start of inferno runs with no gear. The runner up Quake Haken isn't available until level 40 so that can be sometime before you find a suitable replacement for Dakimakura.
   https://youtu.be/JwOvsaQQ1Mc
   https://youtu.be/WDit2FjH7Sc
   
   
3. Blast Twins Loop (1D-1AB)
   
   A lot more complicated talking about inputs for this
   
   Blast Twins is a weapon almost all Fencers know of and its popular for good reason. It comes with very top tier damage and allows for Fencer top speed. However it won't have defense but it is good for pushing through attacks if they manage to hit you. Another thing to note is this weapon needs its upgrades much more so than other options to actually shine. I will say you can loop any blast twins provided there almost near max upgraded but later versions have higher clip allowing more breathing room on movement variation. Now to me this weapon feels most difficult to try and loop on a 1D-1AB because when you hold attack button it's easy to lose track of ammo because of its fast attacks, but it is much easier to not screw up when you have something like 4D-4AB and above to use when such mistakes happen.
   https://youtu.be/8n6wZAU6Kbo
   
   
4. 2D-2AB Loop
   
   Dash Hop → J/L dash hop → Land
   
   What makes this loop different from just 1D-1AB version is you travel bit faster & further since you have the momentum of a dash hop.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3rvB9jjG1s
   
   
5. Force Axe G2/G3 Loop (2D-2AB)
   
   Dash Hop2x → Land → Dash → Max Charge Hit
   
   So why doesn't force axe work on 1D-AB? That would be because the charge time is too long. Takes a bit more skill to make this work.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSPgs_JZ4Mo
   
   
6. Vibro Roller D1,D3,D9 Loop (2D-2AB)
   
   Dash Hop2x → Land → Max Charge Hit → (Optional Dash if charge is late or when reloading weapon)
   
   Vibro Roller has one of longest attack animations but this varies depending on model, D1 starts off with very low amount of distance while D3 and D9 goes long. Ahh but I see there's D2 model what is wrong with it? I'm glad you asked allow me to show what is wrong with it.
   
   
   Yes a charge of 10, that is freaking very long and if your charge speed is not upgraded it can take around 10 seconds on waiting to charge which is ridiculous. D1 has only 2 charge, D3 4 charge, and D9 a 2 Charge, those are way faster on charging even if they lack in charge speed upgrades.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nf7oMH9ZnI
   
   
   
7. 2D-3AB Loops
   
   Dash Hop2x → Land → Dash Hop → pause 3sec while fencer is walking forward
   
   Dash → Vertical Boost2x → Dash Hop → Land
   
   The pause from the first set isn't the most optimal loop but at least your walking forward technically still moving. 2nd Set is interesting as it can make 2 jump vertical height work for reset as long as you throw in a ground dash to help.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVugD0yMkZo
   
   
8. 3D-2AB Loops
   
   Dash2x → Vertical Boost → Dash Hop → Land
   
   Dash → J/L dash hop → dash hop → Land
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbb_PT4c80w
   
   
9. 3D-3AB Loop
   
   Dash → Dash Hop → Vertical Boost → Dash Hop → Land
   
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efmdkzXKou4
   
   
10. 3D-4AB Loop
    
    Dash2x → Dash Hop → Land → Dash Hop → Vertical Boost → Dash Hop → Land
    
    https://youtu.be/Sr7gWlv22xI
    
    
11. 4D-4AB Loop
    
    Dash Hop3x → Land → Dash3x → Dash Hop → Land
    
    https://youtu.be/AVrYhVUg2AY
    
    
12. Dyna Force Blade (6D-6AB) Loop
    
    Dash Hop6x → Land → Dash → Max Charge Hit
    
    It is vital to have max charge speed upgrade for 1.9 so you can reach 9 charge as it does take all 6 dashes and boosts. If you use dlc2 dash and boost it may take less charge speed upgrades.
    
    https://youtu.be/TH34wS9eMec

With that I believe I am done writing about looping. You can use any of these loop methods as starters, or as finisher to your movement combos so you can keep the loop, and you do not have to go in with exact dash and boosts I used you can use all of them with highest amount of dash and boosts that you have. Also remember when in doubt do the J dash hop at end of movement combo if you have trouble knowing amount of dash and boosts, I myself rely on it a lot and it has helped me numerous times in what could otherwise be bad situations.

I'm sorry, I figured I'm very tired of trying to share my opinion about things. in the end people can come to there own conclusions.


Anyway this also makes the guide shorter to load so I figured this would be good for that. I don't consider what I deleted to contain any real relevant information.


Note to Gordon
I would like to apologize directly to Gordon, I know you spent some time editing some of those sections, I'm not proud of deleting work that took time write out from the both of us but right now I have lot of mixed feelings that I won't go into here and I didn't feel comfortable leaving that info up. In case your around to read, I really appreciate all the help you gave with the guide, while I know you aren't as good at game as me, I still wish I had your optimism when it came to EDF, something I find that I lack myself which leads to me being just pessimistic.

The guide was written mostly by me; Vlady.
Grammar check from; Gordon Freeman. (Still a WIP, and this will stay here until Gordon himself gives the OK!)
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(Note from Gordon: Likely won't be done until Vlad himself finishes up the guide completely. SOMEONE'S gotta keep this text clean. Okay, but in all seriousness: Thanks for letting me help ya, Vlad. I learned some things too!)

If I discover anything else worth mentioning? I'll make sure to report it here in the guide.
If anyone has any questions about anything Fencer related, you're free to ask me. I've done just about everything with Fencer, so I can confidently give you any answer you seek.

You'll notice, perhaps, some info isn't on here. Please understand that, again, this is for people who already know the basics that were covered in Moat's guide already. But if it's something that needs to be really discussed in great detail, tell me and then I'll think about adding it.

...Honestly? I'm not sure why the hell I even wrote this guide, nor am I sure if there's anyone even around who's willing to learn about "Advanced EDF" things. Especially after all that's been going on from 2020-2021 so far. In any case? This guide will be here to stay around, seeing as nobody else covers these tactics...

At least, not in English.

Alright.. guys I need to chill out. Good luck don't worry I'm still here if you got any questions, but I don't wanna be occupied by my guide for too long. There's lot other things I wanted try doing not EDF related.

Scratch that last thing I said, I'm done taking feedback, I'm not proud of some things I said, and maybe I deserve to be ridiculed for some of it, but at the end of day I'm just human and I need some time away sometimes without my notification box popping up so please understand comments will stay disabled.

Okay tell you guys what I'll put it back up, just stay on my good side and comments will stay open. I'm not saying you should praise every little thing I write in here, I completely understand everyone has opinions and I respect it even if it conflicts with my own perspective, this guide is mostly meant to just be informative towards Fencer techniques that is difficult to explain. I don't want to really delve too much into opinions here.