Introduction

So you've tried playing this game, and something infuriating happens. You're hitting an opponent with Cleetus's cool O,O,O,O,O combo, and then they just all of a sudden attack you out of it while they're getting hit by it! That's so dumb! Why can they do that?

Counters are an often misunderstood game mechanic of Thrill Kill. They have two functions: one is to parry incoming attacks, and the other is to combo-break out of opponent's strings.

The Two Counters

There are two types of counters in the game: high and low.

• High counters are performed by pressing Square and Triangle [S+T] together at the same time.
• Low counters are performed by pressing Cross and Circle [X+O] at same time.

These two counters can also be used in two different ways: parrying, and combo-breaking.

Parrying Incoming Attacks

This is the one most people are familiar with. By pressing either chord input, your character will do a quick animation of them preparing the counter. Both counters share the same animation, so an opponent cannot see at a glance which height you're protecting yourself from.

Counters last for 7 frames (0.23 seconds). During this time, if an attack of the correct height triggers the counter, you become invincible and charge your aggressor, resulting in 15 damage and a hard knockdown. This is invaluable, as it's a way to get an opponent to the corner to set up a devastating mixup that for most characters can end the match with.

As long as the counter animation is active, you can press counter again to refresh your 7 frame window as long as it's not active. This means with excellent timing, you can space your counter inputs 7 frames apart from one another to always be countering. This leaving no gaps for an opponent to attack, as long as you correctly guess if your opponent is attacking high or low.

However, you cannot move or attack during the counter animation, leaving you especially vulnerable to grabs if you're not crouching. It's recommended if you're on the defensive to always crouch while you parry for this reason.

Combo-Breaker!

This is the part of counters that most players of Thrill Kill do not know about, and often leads to frustration when the AI opponents seem to counter your combos frequently.

When you're getting hit by a combo, if the string switches from a high to a low attack, you can parry the low attack by pressing [X+O] as you're getting hit to counter out of the combo. Likewise, if a string you're being hit by switches from a low to a high attack, you can press [S+T] before that high attack hits you to counter out of that as well.

This requires some knowledge of the character your fighting against to know that the combo you're being hit with has opportunities to break.

Countering Counters?!

Yup, that's a thing!

If you're about to be hit by a counter, you can counter it back by pressing [S+T]. The countered-counted can then be countered only one additional time, meaning the defender has the last word if they counter the counter-counter.

For example, I attack you. You counter me. Then, I can counter your counter. After that, you can counter my counter-counter. I cannot counter your counter-counter, so this exercise in seeing how many times I can type the word counter in this paragraph ends here.

Playing Against Counters

A combo can only be broken if you give an opportunity for it to be broken by switching between a high to a low attack (or vice versa). This means a premium is placed on characters with high-damage combo strings that only hit high, so that once they punish an opponent, there's no opportunities for them to free themselves.

Powerful examples include Belladonna's basic B&B juggle starter (T,T,O,f,O), Tormentor's Charged Punch B&B (S,S,f,S,T,d,f,S), and Dr. Faustus's Low Incision juggle starter (C,T,f,T). Once the first hit of these combos land, they present no opportunity for your opponent to escape from them.

The downside is that if these combos are blocked, there's no guessing on the part of the AI. They can continue to standing block these combos and wait to punish you with a devastating combo of their own, or simply counter you from a blocking state.

This also means your character benefits from having a good number of combos meant to get around standing and crouching blocks.

Use high-only combos to punish opponents who make bad attacks after you block or evade them, and use mixup combos to attack defensive players that are waiting to block your next move.

That's it!

For more information, take a glance at each character over at the Thrill Kill SuperCombo Wiki. Each character's combo list page has blue or orange highlights depending on if that move can be countered high or low, respectively.

I hope this quick guide helps in your quest to get better at this game! If you have any questions, do no hesitate to visit the Thrill Kill community discord, where you'll find people eager to help.