A Combo Breaker allows your opponent to attempt to break out of combos. If you think your opponent will attempt a Combo Breaker, you can either mix-up your combo or execute a Counter Breaker, which will counter your opponent’s Combo Breaker attempt and allow you to continue your combo. After a failed Combo Breaker attempt, your opponent will be put into a lockout state in which he or she cannot attempt another Combo Breaker for an extended period of time.
COMBO BREAKER
When you are caught in a combo, you have the ability to guess how your opponent will continue the combo and attempt a Combo Breaker. To perform a Combo Breaker, you must guess the strength of the attack (manual, Auto Double, or Linker). Light Punch + Light Kick will break all Light attacks, Medium Punch + Medium Kick will break all Medium attacks, and Heavy Punch + Heavy Kick will break all Heavy attacks. A successful Combo Breaker not only allows you to escape the combo, but it also causes the Potential Damage to refill instantly.
LOCKOUT
Should you attempt a Combo Breaker that is unsuccessful, a red or yellow “X” will appear over your head; this is called a lockout. A lockout means the player who attempted the Combo Breaker guessed wrong and is now locked out from being able to attempt another Combo Breaker for 3 seconds. This allows the player to continue his or her combo without the threat of getting the combo broken during the lockout period. Attempting a Combo Breaker by guessing the wrong strength of the attack results in a red “X” lockout; guessing the correct strength of attack but doing so after the window to break the attack has passed will result in a yellow “X” lockout. The purpose of the color of the “X” is to show why a player is locked out. This allows that player to know if he or she is locked out because hed or she is not breaking the correct strength of the attack, or if that player is breaking the correct strength of the attack but mistiming the Combo Breaker.
COUNTER BREAKER
If you believe your opponent will attempt a Combo Breaker, pressing Medium Punch + Medium Kick at the point you believe your opponent will attempt to break will activate a Counter Breaker. A Counter Breaker will parry your opponent’s Combo Breaker, automatically go into an Opener, and reset the KV Meter, allowing for a larger-than-usual combo that inflicts more damage. After your successful Counter Breaker, your opponent also receives a lockout in the form of a red “X” and a longer lockout of 4 seconds instead of 3 seconds. If your Counter Breaker is unsuccessful, your combo stops and your Counter Breaker leaves you open for your opponent to start a combo of his or her own. An unsuccessful Counter Breaker also causes the Potential Damage to begin to refill.
COMBO BREAKING A MANUAL CANCEL
A manual cancel is much harder to break then an Auto Double. You can combo break manuals just like Auto Doubles: hit both buttons of the same strength of the attack. You can break a manual, however, only during the manual’s short Hitstop, which is a freeze-frame when the attack connects.
COMBO BREAKING LINKERS
To break a Linker, you must execute the Combo Breaker that corresponds to the strength of the command of the Linker. Light Punch + Light Kick will break a Light Linker, Medium Punch + Medium Kick will break a Medium Linker, and Heavy Punch + Heavy Kick will break a Heavy Linker, even though Heavy Linkers are not executed with Heavy attacks.
COMBO BREAKING SHADOW ATTACKS
To perform a Combo Breaker while being hit by a Shadow attack, you must perform a Combo Breaker of any strength on 3 of the 5 hits of the Shadow attack. Each time you correctly time a Combo Breaker on a Shadow attack hit, a voice-prompt will count the number of correctly timed Combo Breakers. A failed Combo Breaker on a Shadow attack results in a red “X” lockout, even if you correctly time 2 of the 3 Combo Breakers needed but mistime the third. As long as you do not mistime your Combo Breaker, however, you will not be locked out. This allows you to time a Combo Breaker on 2 hits of the Shadow attack, but not a third, in an attempt to bait a Counter Breaker without being locked out should your opponent continue the combo instead of activating his or her Counter Breaker. If a Shadow attack is used as an Opener to start a combo, you cannot combo break the Shadow attack. Shadow attacks also do not use up any KV Meter in the combo, allowing for bigger combos that will inflict even more damage.
COMBO BREAKING ENDERS
Enders are unbreakable unless they are done right after an Opener. After a successful Opener, if you attempt to go right into an Ender, your opponent will now be able to break the otherwise unbreakable Ender.