Note: This guide is a work in progress, please feel free to contribute your knowledge or let me know where I am wrong!

Are you looking for a fighting game to fill the void that Smash Bros Melee left in your soul? Well you're in the right place! Read on to up your game and show your foes whose boss.

If you learn anything from this guide, please remember to rate it!
I also stream at twitch.tv/hivethegamer if you would like to see these tricks in action.

One of the two attack types. Sends the ball in one of four directions (straight up with no directional input, forward, backwards, or down)

Performed by attacking while on the ground. Increases the speed of the ball by 1. Can be charged by holding the attack button.

Performed by attacking while in the air with no directional input or attack + up input. Increases the speed of the ball by 1. Can be charged by holding the attack button.

Performed by attacking while in the air and using left, right, or down directional input. Doubles the current speed of the ball.

An attack that can only be performed when your special meter is full. Each character has a unique special attack.

When the ball starts moving quickly and a player hits it, the game kind of stops for a brief period of time. During this time, the character that hit the ball is said to be "in hit lag".

When a player is in hit lag and they press the bunt button, a blue circle will appear around their character briefly. Attacking (Basic Attack, Power Attack, Nair, Switch Flip, or Bunt) this blue circle will cause your player to be briefly stunned. This requires at least 1 Special bar to perform and will consume all of your current special charge.

Triangular shaped green-to-red bar on the top left and top right of the boombox on the bottom of the screen. This shows you how much time is left in the current hit lag. When it is full the hit lag ends.

When two players both use either Nair or Basic attacks at the same time and hit each other's attack hit-box, the players will clash, be pushed back, and be temporarily stunned.

As you hopefully have realized by now, Lethal League is all about causing the ball to strike your opponent. This section should give you a good understanding of the basic mechanics of the game. For more information about character specific things (special attacks and movement properties), please refer to the Characters section.


One of the main challenges of Lethal League is figuring out what the trajectory of the ball will be after your opponent strikes it. Well it's a bit more simple than you may expect. There are 3 attack types; basic attacks (on the ground or nair), power attacks, special attacks. I've listed the possible directions of the non-special attacks below;

Basic Attack & Nair

• Up
  
• Straight
  
• Down

Power Attack

• Down

Additionally, the ball will be sent in the direction that the attacker is facing (except for Switch's upward neutral attack). Armed with this knowledge you can get a rough idea of where the ball is going to fly once the opponent's hit lag ends.


Each attack has it's uses. Below is a list of properties of each attack type.

Basic Attack & Nair

• Can send ball in 3 directions
  
• Does not double the speed of the ball unless charged
  
• If charged, will reduce your hit lag.
  
• Can be clashed
  
• Hit-box is smaller when compared to power attack

Power Attack

• Large Hit-box extending above and slightly behind character model
  
• Attack Hit-box stays out longer than normal attack
  
• Doubles ball speed
  
• Long hit lag
  
• Can not be clashed

Bunting is extremely useful in certain situations to suddenly switch up the pace of the game and catch your opponent with their pants down. When you bunt a ball, it will gain a purple outline and go either forward, straight up, straight down, or behind you based on your directional input after pressing the bunt button. (Make sure you don't accidentally press back then bunt or you will turn and expose your back!) When a ball is in the purple "bunted" state, it has the following properties;

• Ball speed is temporarily set to very low (only while purple)
  
• The next attack will give the attacker 2 super charges
  
• The next attack will have reduced hit lag

Sometimes the game will go on until the ball is moving at ridiculous speeds. At this phase of the game, you are either stuck in hit lag or you are able to move while waiting for the enemy hit lag to end and the ball to fly off somewhere. Here is where the hit lag timer really comes into play.

So when the game hits this state, you have 2 options;

1. Attack the ball immediately after the enemy hit lag ends, effectively making the ball stay in the same spot.
   
2. Attack the ball when it is shot away from the enemy

#1 is by far easier as you do not need to predict any trajectory. The downfall of this method is that it leaves you open to being parried (covered next). #2 leaves you safe from parry, however it requires you to predict the direction of the ball. Using the list in the earlier section should help with this.


This section is basically a repeat of the definition, but I wanted to stress the importance of it. As stated before, a parry is performed when a player is in hit lag and they press the button to perform a bunt. You will see a blue circle surround the ball for a brief second. If the other player attacks this blue circle in any way (Basic Attack, Power Attack, Switch Flip, Nair, Bunt), then they will be stunned for a brief period.

A parry requires at least 1 Special bar to perform and will consume all of your current special charge. This tactic is crucial when the ball reaches high speeds as the current answer most people have for this stage is #1 from the above list. Practice this tactic and you will come to find it invaluable!

As the ball moves faster and faster, hit lag grows longer and longer. This causes the players to get into a certain groove where they time out the lag in their head. When the game enters this state, switching up the hit lag timing becomes crucial. In this section, you will find some strategies to acomplish this.


Fully Charged Basic Attack
Holding the basic attack or Nair will cause your character to charge up an attack. Hitting a ball with this fully charged attack will cause the hit lag to be greatly reduced.

Bunt into Attack
Bunting the ball before hitting it not only gives you 2 super charges, it also greatly decreases the hit lag for the next attack. Don't forget that you can bunt up, down, left, or right! Make sure to press bunt before any directional input or you may accidentally turn or duck instead of bunting.

Certain Special Attacks
Special attacks will either reduce hit lag, slightly extend the hit lag timer, or something else in Latch's case. Check out below to see where each character fits in and refer to the Special Attacks section for further detail.

Reduce Hit Lag

• Raptor
  
• Switch

Extend Hit Lag Timer

• Candyman
  
• Sonata

In Latch's case, he can either grab the ball and fire it instantly (which results in firing the ball with no hit lag), or bunt from holding the ball (which results in a reduced hit lag attack).


When you lose a life and the ball starts in front of you with your tag, it is a good idea to start the round off strong. Starting with a combo off your near wall is often a good idea, not only because it will fill your special meter, but it also puts your opponent on the back foot.

Usually combos involve power attacking the ball down into the near corner, sometimes with a second immediately following the first. Then do a normal attack straight into the wall. At this point you have 3 of your super charge, 4 if you bunted it up to start. From here you can do whatever you want with the combo. Try it out for yourself and get one or two that you are comfortable with!

Keep in mind; as you repeat the same combo, your enemy will learn it. Make sure to switch things up occasionally to stay unpredictable.


When the ball is moving around the stage, it creates a pattern of movement. This pattern is more easy to visualize when the ball is moving very fast and starts to look more like a line than a single point. Occasionally when you hit the ball and send it flying at high speeds, your opponent will miss catching the ball immediately and the ball will start its pattern. This can often send your enemy into a panic where they will stand on the ground swinging wildly hoping to get lucky. If you see this behavior from your enemy, run up and try to time your basic attack with them to cause a clash. This will typically push your enemy out of the safe zone they were in and into the ball. Add on that they will be stunned momentarily and you may secure a kill.


Instead of writing up a huge section for this extremely detailed subject, I'll just put a link to YinYin's fantastic guide on attack angles. Check it out here!

Images and bios taken from Raptor Games' Lethal League website[lethalleague.reptile-games.com].

Type: Human
Age: 15
Bio: Raptor is a rookie in the Lethal League scene, hailing from the south. Though young, he’s very determined and fiercely competitive. His weapon of choice is a metal baseball bat and his special ability allows him to twist around and quickly hit the ball two times in a row.











Type: Robot
Age: 5
Bio: Switch is a skateboarding ex-working class robot. He uses his skateboard and skateboard tricks to hit the ball. He sports cargo pants to stop filth getting into his leg joints when speeding across the city. Very unlike his old robot peers, he’s carefree, a daredevil, and he likes a challenge.







Type: Mutated human
Age: 28
Bio: Candyman is a tap-dancing dandy with a big yellow head. He hits the ball with his cane and he has a special ability to change the chemical composition of certain objects to give them strange and odd properties due to his mutation. He’s jazzy, expressive and crazy. Always enjoying himself too.







Type: Human
Age: 23
Bio: As a renowned b-girl, Sonata is all about pushing her body to its physical limits in the name of showmanship and impressing her audience. She joins the game to boost her recognition and fame. She wields a giant boombox hammer effortlessly, owing to her diligent training.







Type: Cyborg Crocodile
Age: 20
Bio: Latch is a crocodile outfitted with a mechanical tail. Enhancements to his spine and brain allow him to function in human society. He is in possession of tremendous physical as well as mental strength. His personality is calculated, his movement is raw.

Raptor's special can be used from any hit lag by pressing the attack button while still in hit lag. The basic functionality allows the player to change the direction and angle of the attack at will. The up and down angles of the special attack are identical to his neutral attack up and down angles. Essentially, you can change from any hit lag (including smash attack) to a neutral attack in one of 6 directions; left up, left straight, left down, right up, right straight, right down.

Raptor's special attack can be used to completely eliminate hit lag from his attack. This becomes extremely useful when the ball is moving very fast and your opponent is expecting to have time to position theirself to catch the ball from your attack.

Be aware; his special has a chance of disconnecting multi-player sessions if used on a knocked out opponent, so be careful!

Strategies

• If you see your opponent positioning to catch your ball, use your special to change the direction (ex: from left side to right side) which will throw them off.
  
• When the ball reaches high speeds, use the special attack immediately after hitting the ball to completely eliminate hit lag.
  
• If your opponent is positioning to catch your ball, use the special attack at the very end of the hit lag timer to slightly extend the timer and confuse your enemy. Chances are they will attack when they thought the timer would run out and leave theirself open to the ball.

How to Counter
Coming soon...



Coming soon...




Candyman's special can be used from any hit lag by pressing the attack button while still in hit lag. The special attack changes the properties of the ball, allowing it to phase through walls and appear on the opposite side of the stage. If the ball phases into the ground, it will appear out of the ceiling. If the ball phases through the right wall, it will appear out of the left wall.

Similar to Raptor's special, Candyman can change the angle of his attack when using a special to one of 3 angles (straight, up, down). For instance, if Candyman starts his special with a smash attack, the player could choose to hold up and send the ball in a direction that will not be expected by the enemy when they see the smash attack animation.

The angle that the ball enters the wall will be preserved, unless you are directly against a vertical wall(ex: the ball was bunted into a side wall) in which case the ball can only travel straight across.

When Candyman activates his special, the ball turns into a replica of his head and it starts a timer which is not visible anywhere. When the timer runs out, the ball will return to its normal properties. If any Candyman (including enemies) attacks the ball while it is in the special mode, it will restart the timer. This can allow a skilled Candyman to send the ball through walls many times, theoretically an unlimited amount.

If an enemy who is not a Candyman attacks the ball while in the special mode, it will immediately return to normal.

Strategies
Coming soon...

How to Counter
Coming soon...



Sonata's special can be used from any hit lag by pressing the attack button while still in hit lag. Once activated, the ball can be controlled using up, down, or forward inputs while the ball is still in the air and has not touched a surface.

Strategies

• Cause the ball to move horizontally along the top of the map as a setup for a smash attack.
  
• Going up, down, then straight in rapid succession if the opponent is in front of me to hit them in the back unexpectedly (as seen here[gfycat.com])
  
• If up high with no chance of the opponent deflecting directly, moving it down then horizontal for an unexpected line of death
  
• Moving it up to start a hard-to-predict series of bounces

How to Counter
Coming soon...




Latch's special can be used from any hit lag by pressing the attack button while still in hit lag. Activating latch's special causes him to take the ball into his mouth. From here, latch has 2 options;

1. Fire the ball automatically in one of six directions, once the hit lag timer expires.
   
2. Bunt the ball at any time during the hit lag timer.

Strategies
Coming soon...

How to Counter
When Latch uses his special, he can not parry. Therefore you can easily counter his special by watching the hit lag timer and attacking when it runs out. If the Latch chooses to bunt the ball, you must be quicker than them and hit the bunted ball first.