Conditions are negative states that players can impose onto a target to limit what they can do. In S4 League, most conditions are physical with examples including throwing a player backwards or binding them in chains. Below is a list of conditions that players can inflict.
Flinch[]
Some attacks (most commonly melee attacks) cause the victim to flinch briefly which interrupts certain movement and skill actions. Specifically, flinching cancels wall jumping, running, reloading, and the skills Anchoring, Flying, Metallic (while it's being initiated) and Shield. If the victim is walking or falling left, right, forward or backward, this movement stops. Flinching disrupts the victim's mobility and recovery. It does not, however, interrupt attacks or dodging.
Attacks that cause flinching include the following:
- All melee light attacks
- Plasma Sword and Spy Dagger's dash attack
- Katana and Breaker's jump attack
- Storm Bat's whirlwind (first and second rotations)
- Earth Bomber and Lightning Bomber's explosions
Hit Stun[]
Some heavier attacks, such as the Storm Bat's jump attack, cause a stronger variation of flinch that locks the target's movement for a short time, known as "hit stun".
Fainting[]
Players can escape certain conditions, including hit stun, by dodging while stunned. Called "fainting", this escape costs 90 SP (90% of a player's base SP) and cannot be performed unless the player has at least that.
Note that the Twin Blade's second slash attack causes a special kind of flinching, sometimes called "electric stun", that the victim cannot escape by fainting as described above.
Note also that players who are invincible from recently having respawned are not immune to flinch.
Stun[]
The Stun condition interrupts all actions and locks a player's movement, attacks, and skills for a short time. The only action a stunned player may perform is escaping by fainting (dodging) which consumes 90SP.
Attacks that cause Stun include the following:
- Plasma Sword's jump attack
- Melee attacking a Counter Sword during its Revenge stance
- The Senty Nell's radial blast
Stunned players are marked with three orange stars spinning over their head.
The duration of stun is 3 seconds by default. In Plasma Sword's case, however, the duration of the stun depends on the distance from the attacker. A point-blank jump attack is much longer than one at the very edge of the attack's range.
Stun instantly freezes its victim stopping all movement. A victim in midair will then begin falling downward. If stunned above a pit, the victim will fall even to their death.
Players who are invincible following a respawn will flinch instead of being stunned if hit by an effect that causes stun.
Bound[]
A player becomes bound in chains when hit by an enemy Bind skill. Bound players lose their ability to move horizontally, but are free to perform all other actions, including jumping, attacking, and using skills. They can attempt to walk, run, and dodge (which will consume SP), but they will not move from their spot. The effect lasts for 3 seconds.
Similar to being stunned, a bound target will cease all horizontal movement immediately, and drop down vertically if they were airborne.
Bound can affect players who are invincible following a respawn, rendering them extra vulnerable when invincibility dissipates.
Thrown[]
Thrown players are sent flying in a fixed path that dodging and even flying won't change until the effect is over. Thrown has four possible outcomes:
- If the victim recovers before landing, they will land normally on their feet.
- If not, the victim will be grounded upon landing.
- If a victim was thrown towards a wall that was close enough at an angle of roughly 90°, they will be wall-slammed.
- If a victim hits deadly rays or falls out of the map, they will die, just like other such incidents.
Fully charged Rail Gun shots, Plasma Sword's heavy slash, Counter Sword's uppercut and fourth weak slash, Storm Bat's swing and third whirlwind rotation, Twin Blade's jump attack, Breaker's swing, Smash Rifle's smash attack, Katana's last combo hit and strong attack, Sigma Blade's Awakening, kick and last strong awakened combo attack, as well as Air gun throw opponents to varying distances.
Note that throwing an opponent off the stage or into deadly rays does not guarantee credit for a kill. If damage is not sufficient, it might count as a suicide or someone else's kill.
Also, throwing a player into the Fumbi or the goal post will cause them to pick up the ball or score.
Thrown opponents are also affected by a status similar to stun; however, they can recover with a normal dodge instead of a faint. It is also possible to recover from thrown by pressing the space bar alone. This will make the character jump (although their path won't change, since their feet are not touching the ground).
Note that these recoveries do not change or reduce thrown's distance. However, they enable the user to attack (including melee jump attacks that suppress thrown's momentum completely and save the user or even counter-attack the enemy) as well as skills (including Anchoring, which can be used to come back to the battle).
Recovering in time will also make it so that the player cannot be wall-slammed or grounded.
Tossed[]
Tossed is a mild form of the thrown effect. The knockback distance is smaller, and to recover, the target needs to perform a faint (90 SP) (unsure). Unlike Thrown, Tossed cannot cause wall-slam or grounded.
Tossed is caused by a partly charged Rail Gun shot.
Launched Airborne[]
Launched Airborne is caused by the Katana's Ultimate Slash and the Scythe's final primary combo slash. True to its name, it launches victims upwards. It does not "flinch" victims for a long time, allowing them to easily recover and counter-attack.
Wall-slam[]
Wall-slam is caused when a thrown target collides with a wall. The target is frozen in place and suffers a small amount of additional damage.
If left alone, after less than a second, the victim falls down to the grounded condition.
Until they become grounded, wall-slammed players are not immune to being thrown. Consequently, they can be thrown and wall-slammed repetitively.
Grounded[]
Twin Blade's and Breaker's special attacks ground opponents. Thrown and wall-slammed players also end up grounded under normal circumstances.
Grounded players are lying on the ground, unable to move or perform most actions. They are vulnerable, but also very low, thus harder to hit, and immune to thrown and its variants for as long as they are grounded.
It is possible to recover from grounded with a simple dodge.
If left alone, grounded characters will, after about one second, enter the Getting Up condition. However, they can be prevented from doing so.
It is possible to stun, hit-stun or flinch a grounded target.
- Stunning the target will cause it to instantly get up and suffer the effect.
- Flinching or hit-stunning the target will cause it to suffer the effect while staying down.
Flinches and hit-stuns can prevent a target from getting up or recovering, even perpetually with quick flinches.
Getting Up[]
After being Grounded and left alone for about a second, characters will normally Get Up. When Getting Up, characters will automatically return to their feet in an agile, magical-like hop. It lasts a little less than a second.
While Getting Up, characters are unable to perform any action whatsoever, rendering them vulnerable. If hit by an attack that should cause thrown, they will instead be Grounded once again.
Flinches (excluding hit-stuns) cannot affect a character who is Getting Up.
Hit-stuns cancel Getting Up and replace it.
Knockback[]
Cannonade, Burst Shotgun, Revolver, Breaker jump attack, Hand Gun and Sentry Gun cause knockback.
Knockbacks are not a condition per say, as it does not alter the character's status. It is the ability for a weapon to push a player back from the original position of the attack. The player does not lose any possibility short of having trouble aiming or falling down a platform because of it. They are merely displaced, forced to move.
Knockbacks can sometimes referred to as "pushback" or, more simply, "push".
Not to be confused with Thrown.