Lightsaber Combat Information

Just like Force Powers, your skill in a Lightsaber Style(s) will be ranked, out of the three following variants: Novice being the lowest, Advanced being experienced, and Mastery being the most skillful of your class with that Style.

Below are the the Lightsaber Styles used in Modern Day Lightsaber Combat:

New Jedi Order

Fast Style
Consisting of short and quick motions with the blade that could be chained and combined almost indefinitely, this style allowed for multiple attacks at an extremely fast pace.

Users of the fast style would typically utilize a defensive stance where the lightsaber was held across the front of the user, ready to parry attacks and deflect blaster shots or to launch short, fast jabs and cuts.

Medium Style
An intermediate style between the fast and strong styles, the medium style was based on a perfect equilibrium between speed and power. More often than not, the medium style was the first taught to a lightsaber duelist. It was simple in technique, yet more technical and powerful forms could be built from its foundation.

Users of the medium style would typically utilize a neutral stance, the lightsaber being held in medium position in front of the user ready for both defensive and offensive maneuvers.

Strong Style
The strong style was based primarily on powerful strikes to batter through an opponent's defense, sacrificing speed for unrivaled power.

Users of the strong style would typically utilize an aggressive and powerful stance, the lightsaber being held high and back, ready to deliver powerful swings with the blade. A few more physically powerful beings such as Desann used a one-handed variant of this style to great effect.

Old Jedi Order

Form I: Shii-Cho
This fighting form is really an extension of the traditional metal bladed techniques it was created from, with its basics of attacks, parries, body target zones and practice drills, and the principles of blade contact remained essentially the same.

Form I was said to allow focus and a slightly improved chance of connecting with the opponent. Because the ancient Jedi did not have lightsaber-wielding enemies, Form I was not developed with lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat in mind. Nonetheless, because of its few advantages and disadvantages, Shii-Cho was an effective form to fall back on when no other form would do to suit the current combat situation.

Form II: Makashi
After Form I's proliferation as a lightsaber combat technique, Form II came about as a means of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. It was described as being very elegant, powerful, and requiring extreme precision, allowing the user to attack and defend with minimal effort, while his opponents tired themselves out. Practitioners often wielded the blade one-handed for greater range of movement and fluidity. The form relied on parries, thrusts, and small, precise cuts—as opposed to the blocking and slashing of the other forms.

Form III: Soresu
Form III involved preparation for prolonged battles where the user observed and learned as much as possible about their opponent's or opponents' technique while engaged in combat. Also, by being more capable in lengthy battles, a Soresu user had the ability to gain control of a combat situation, creating multiple options for the Jedi employing the form. A Form III user could choose to kill, disarm, or even reason with their opponent.

Many Soresu practitioners survived the lengthy Battle of Geonosis, owing to the endurance gained from the form and its specialization in fending off and deflecting blaster fire. Soresu's greatest power lay in the endurance and control a practitioner eventually developed.

Form IV: Ataru
Ataru was an aggressive combat form relying on a combination of power, strength, and speed. Practitioners of Ataru were always on the offensive, attacking with wide, fast, and powerful swings. Form IV practitioners constantly called upon the Force to aid in their movements and attacks. By allowing the Force to flow throughout their body, they could overcome their physical limitations (including old age, as was the case with Master Yoda) and perform amazing feats of acrobatics, such as somersaults and backflips, not only for attack, but also to evade the attacks and strikes of their opponents. Jedi utilizing Ataru needed to incorporate all the Force powers that involved surpassing normal physical ranges of motion, speed, and agility in order to be successful. Running, jumping, and spinning were all emphasized in learning the elaborate kinetics of the form.

Those who used Form IV could move at high speeds and could rain strong blows, jumping and attacking through the air. Powerful and quick spinning attacks could be utilized from all angles, either from ground or air. A master in Ataru combat could appear like a blur to their opponents, attacking from all directions—from the front, the sides, overhead, or behind. The Force not only allowed them to perform athletic feats not possible otherwise, but it also helped guide their actions and movements in combat.

Form V: Shien/Djem So
Shien
To the Jedi of the ancient Republic who developed and employed the classical Form V, Shien, the form was known as the Perseverance Form. Shien was described as being well adapted to guarding against blaster fire and enemy strikes without compromising one's ability to launch powerful counterattacks, though was less effective against a single opponent. Shien was known to have existed at least as early as the Jedi Civil War. With its focus against blaster fire, Shien kept in mind that Jedi were often outnumbered by their opponents and needed to defend themselves while retaining offensive capability.

Djem So
Djem So was the creation of a group of Form III masters who felt that Soresu was too passive. It addressed the shortcomings of Form III, in which a Jedi Master may have proved to be unbeatable but was likewise unable to overcome a skilled opponent. Utilizing a combination of blocks and parries, a Djem So user maintained a proper foundation in terms of defense against both ranged and melee attacks. While a Soresu user stayed on the defensive, however, and only counterattacked when necessary or when an opening appeared in his opponent's defense, a Djem So practitioner was not nearly so passive. Immediately after defending against an opponent's strike, a Djem So stylist would follow with an attack of their own, bringing the force of the opponent's own blow against them and seeking to dominate the duel. Djem So placed a heavy focus on brute strength and pure power, with wide, powerful strikes and parries followed immediately by counterattack.

Form VI: Niman
Form VI attempted to balance all elements of lightsaber combat, combining the techniques from Forms that came before into a less intensely demanding combat style. In practice, Form VI was a combination of older forms (Forms I, III, IV, and V), and all of them in moderation. In the blending, much of the individuality was lost, but the strengths were spread evenly, and there was little weakness in it. Due to its "jack-of-all-trades" nature, the success of this form was largely dependent on the practitioner's intuition, improvisation, and creativity in combat rather than the rote responses derived from other forms. This broad generalization made Form VI well suited for diplomats, as they could spend their time training in the areas of politics and negotiation instead of combat training.

Form VII: Juyo/Vaapad
Juyo
Juyo was described as the most vicious form of lightsaber combat, and was said to be filled with both fury and "malignant grace." The form was given the title of the most difficult and demanding form in all of saber combat. Skilled combatants with Juyo were said by Jedi Master Vrook Lamar to be able to "eviscerate a lone enemy." According to the Sith Lord Darth Traya, the form was both chaotic and erratic, with a heavy focus on offense. It was later restored to the Legacy Era by the Grand Master Xand.

Jedi battlemaster Cin Drallig listed bold, direct motions as characteristics of Juyo, qualifying them as more open and kinetic than Form V, but with a less elaborate appearance than Ataru. Drallig contrasted the tactics of Juyo as not nearly as graceful or linked as those of Ataru, instead referring to them as "seemingly unconnected staccato sequences." He also listed one of the strengths of the form as its unpredictability. The form was said to necessitate greater energy than Form V, due to a broader wielding of a user's focus and a deeper emotional link. Despite the challenges inherent in the use of the form, it could serve as a pathway to considerable power.

Vaapad
Vaapad was described as more than a fighting style; it was a state of mind that led through the penumbra of the dark side, requiring the user to enjoy the fight, and relish the satisfaction of winning. The practitioner of Vaapad would accept the fury of their opponent, transforming them into one half of a superconducting loop, with the other half being the power of darkness inherent in the opponent. The form was also mentioned with a cautionary warning by the Jedi that use of Vaapad led the user perilously close to the dark side due to its focus on physical combat. Vaapad required a constant and sizable stream of Force use from the user, with a barely contained explosion of Force power essential to all variations of Form VII as another prerequisite for its use. The form's attacks appeared to be unconnected, its motions seemingly unpolished to an untrained observer.

During the latter years of the Republic, Jedi Master Mace Windu developed Vaapad by drawing inspiration from the movements of a creature, known as both the Vaapad and the Juyo,[13] native to the planet Sarapin. Vaapad users appeared to wield many lightsabers at once, moving too fast to see, just as the vaapad creature would attack with blindingly fast tentacles that were impossible to count until the vaapad was dead. A Vaapad user's attacks would flow into each other with liquid precision, creating the constant near-invisible weave of energy which was the ready-stance of Vaapad. It was also possible to apply Vaapad in unarmed combat, with the user's arms becoming too fast to see, as well as in the use of dual lightsabers. While observing the duel between Darth Sidious and Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker considered Windu's Vaapad bladework to be "an oblate sphere of purple fire" which contained dozens of blades attacking from every angle.

After his fall to the dark side prior to the Clone Wars, Count Dooku described the power of Vaapad as skirting the dark side of the Force, but said in a duel with Weequay Jedi Sora Bulq that the form was bridled and weaker without use of the dark side. Dooku later subverted Bulq to his cause. After Bulq fell to the dark side, he claimed that he had perfected the form, which Windu disputed while engaging Bulq in a lightsaber duel. While Bulq had previously practiced Vaapad with Windu, he was unable to defeat him in combat and their duel ended in a stalemate.

*Take note, Juyo/Vaapad being the greatest offensive of all the Styles requires you be a Jedi Guardian in order to learn it.

*Players that wish to have a New Jedi Order Style, instead of the Shii-Cho, from the Old Jedi Order styles may select from one of the 3 New Jedi Order Styles as their starting Lightsaber Style(s).