Brawlhalla Nix - Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Welcome. I am MJ and the moment Nix came out, I knew I had to try and learn to use her effectively. I spent the next month or so playing with her and after obtaining the Black color, playing in Ranked for a while and then spending some time chilling in the Experimental arena, I feel confident enough to start this guide and try to share some of what I have learned with any wide-eyed newbie who just so happens to opt for playing Nix as their first main.

About Nix

Nix is a female Legend, unlockable with 5400 coins. Her weapons include a scythe and a pair of blasters. Her stats are as follows:

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 5

Defense:7

Speed: 6

She is mostly used as a defensive hit-sponge, effective at dishing out continuous damage while taking the same.

Statistics

Nix's stats are very obviously based on defensive gameplay. She can take a lot of punishment due to this, and it can make your opponent very infuriated since they would often have to smack you off the stage multiple times to get a KO, and not have you twirl back onto it.

That being said, Nix is no pushover when it comes to attack. Her default stats, combined with various stances, allow for literally any type of battle strategy. With the Strength stance, her stats round up to 5 5 6 6, making a nice, balanced Legend that can work with any playstyle you prefer. For example, I rarely enjoy staying on the defensive, so with increased attack, I can just as well rush my opponents head-on with light attacks, and finish them off with one of Nix's extremely strong Heavy attack, which I will get to later.

Her speed and attack speed are rather impressive for a champion designed around defense, again adding to the fact that if you want, you can use Nix effectively no matter what strategy you opt for.

Even though speed as a stat rarely matters that much in the actual game, with all the jumping, recovering and dodging, Nix is noticeably faster than slow legends such as Cross or Queen Nai, so it does bring a minor advantage.

Weapons

Nix uses two quite polarized weapons - a scythe and a pair of blasters. While being primarely used for different things, by smart throwing, picking up and replacing these weapons mid-game, they can be very useful together. This, though, is a lesson for a more advanced guide, so I will stick with the basics. Just a quick note - I will assume you know how the light attacks work for both weapons, and only go in depth with explaining the heavy attack mechanics.

Blasters

These speedy powerhouses are amazing weapons on any Legend, and my personal favorite. Nix is no exception. Blasters work very well when attack speed and strength are in balance, because it then allows for quick, rapid strikes which will floor your opponent in no time due to high damage.

The NeutralLight and ForwardLight are very quick and easy ways to dish out damage at the beginning on the game. DownLight is one of them, too, but with even more damage potential since it can be surprisingly very effective mid-air, provided you know how to gravity-cancel. These three attacks are the easiest to land because of no wind-up time and the overall wide range of effectiveness.

AerialNeutralLight is, at least from my experience, not a very useful attack, and can be easily replaced with its much more effective heavy counterpart, without any drawbacks. AerialDownLight, on the other hand, is a god-send. It is a very quick and effective way to deal damage and, if your target is on the ground when it's done, it can be easily chained with the AerialForwardLight for an additional bit of damage. Speaking of that attack, it is useful in many situations because of its long reach and quick execution time, most prominently when falling onto your opponent from an angle, or when battling mid-air. It is even powerful enough to get a KO is the opponent is sufficiently damaged, which is not the case with most other light attacks with the blasters.

Nix's heavy attacks with both weapons are very hard hitters. For some reason, I get the impression her attacks get additional knockback for some reason, since they throw opponents around like sock puppets, even when they didn't take much damage. A good example is the epitome of simple yet awesome attack designs - Nix's NeutralHeavy. It fires a hook-like projectile on a chain straight up for about one Legend's length. If an opponent gets clinged on by the hook, Nix slams them down into the ground. I cannot explain it, but this attack is really satisfying. Not just that, it works well mid-air with gravity-cancel, and can easily plummet your opponent downward, off the stage.

Her ForwardHeavy is pretty simple in its utility. Nix fires a dark shot from her blaster, charging forward. Immediately after, she blasts another one, stepping forward once more. If you hit your opponent with the first shot, the next one cannot be dodged. This is one of the attacks I mentioned, that do more knockback than expected, and it is a great way to finish off some unaware fool by charging at them, dodging at the last second, turning back and blasting them away.

DownHeavy is a very defensive move. Nix fires her dark chains into the ground, ripping a portal open, after which she yanks the chains out upward, creating somewhat of a dark smoke cloud slash explosion, which reaches higher than a legend's height. This attack is great at punishing overzealous opponents who won't back away even for a second. A quick turn during the chase and a pop from this weapon can surprise most opponents, especially since it requires little wind-up time. An important thing to note is that it sends your opponent upward, and why that is important will be explained immediately.

Nix's AerialUpHeavy is an amazing, amazing attack. If you'd like to read my fangirling over this one, go read my guide on Ada, but it really is a very effective attack. Nix jumps in the air, firing two insignificant shots which deal minute damage. After those two initial shots, she fires a heavy blast which does a lot of damage and has made more of my opponents hit the roof then rain on a summer storm. It is quick, unexpected, locks your opponent into place if hit properly, and has very high knockback.

The AerialUpHeavy is very well paired with the next attack on the list, the AerialDownHeavy. With this one, Nix plummets downward, blasters-first. After hitting an opponent, she fired from both blasters at the same time, knocking the opponent upward if they are on solid ground, or down to their deaths if on a platform or mid-air. This attack in and of itself is amazing for almost all situations, mainly edge-camping and keeping the opponent from recovering after being knocked off the stage. However, it also goes amazinly well with the previously mentioned attack, as knocking enemies down into the ground and making them bounce sets them up for a perfect AerialUpHeavy.

Overall, blasters offer many, many ways to chain strikes and dish out large amounts of damage in a short amount of time. After a lot of time in Training Mode you will figure out the various combos, just remember to use gravity-cancel, it does wonders when chaining blaster attacks.

Scythe

Scythe is the most recent weapon in the game, and one of the most interesting to play with. Since the hammer, throwing people around like sock puppets has never been easier or more fun. Scythe is practically created to keep your opponents mid-air while dishing out large amounts of damage. In Nix's case, it works wonders because of her resilience to punishment while attemptin various combos and strings.

Scythe is, as of me writing this guide, the only weapon in Brawlhalla with directional inputs on light attacks. Depending on what arrow you hold while executing a light attack, Nix will do different moves or throw the opponent in a different direction. I will get to it in a moment.

The NeutralLight and AerialForwardLight are practically the same attack, the only difference being that the second one is mid-air. They are great for quick damage and, in NeutralLight's case, perfect for setting up a textbook NeutralHeavy. Other than that, I recommend these in every situation, since they are quick, easily striged with other attacks, and do a fair amount of damage, especially on Nix.

ForwardLight is on of the directional attacks. If you hold the forward arrow during this attack, Nix will swing the scythe again, sending your opponent forward. If you only tap the attack and then release the forward button, Nix will highkick the opponent into the air, making it easier to set up a different kind of follow-up attack.

Similarly to this, DownLight will either pull your opponent toward you while Nix spins the Scythe, sending them into the air, or, if you hold the forward button after executing it, make Nix kick the opponent forward. In any case, both the DownLight and ForwardLight are great attacks for setting up combos, with the variant changing depending on the desired combo.

AerialNeutralLight and AerialDownLight are extremely useful attacks. They work in a similar fashion to previously mentioned attacks, in a sense that changing the directional output changes the direction in which Nix throws the opponent, but even beyond that, they are widely utilized for beginning combos, catching your opponent off-guard while edge-camping, or simply dealing some quick damage when in mid-air.

NeutralHeavy is a rather interesting attack. Nix fires a rift in space with her finger, catching anybody inside into a lock, then pulls them towards her and smacks them away with her scythe. It's a really quick animation and that makes it easier to surprise opponents who like to stay overhead. It is usually a great finisher to a scythe combo, especially if your opponent is already battered up.

SideHeavy is a menacing-looking attack. Nix charges forward, crossing a big distance, after which she swings her scythe in a wide arc. This attack does not hit for the first few frames of Nix charging, so it needs to be timed right and performed at a certain distance for it to work. If you do connect, though, she sends your opponent flying in the other direction. The animation is rather slow, but the payoff is large, and it's great for charging at opponents trying to escape, or finishing a ground combo.

DownHeavy is, again, a large-wind-up-time type of attack, but with high damage. Nix crouches and swings her scythe in front of her, in a wide arc. A very simple attack that can catch opponents off-guard, especially while they're trying to climb back onto the stage. It's not very string-able since it makes Nix stop in her tracks to perform it, but it does find a lot of utility nonetheless, especially while aiming for a final blow.

Aerial heavies are cool-looking and simple attacks. AerialUpHeavy makes Nix ascend upward diagonally while spinning her scythe, smacking anyone caught in the spin forward. In mid-air battles this attack is a quick way to send your opponent away from you, and it can easily be stringed with many light attacks for a powerful combo. AerialDownHeavy is a rather basic attack - Nix drops downward quickly, scythe-first. After hiting something, she swings downward once. Very simple and very efficient for edge-guarding or other forms of not letting your opponent up.

Other than katars, gauntlets (and maybe swords), Scythe is one of the best weapons for long combos in the game. I will cover some basic combos with Nix in the next section, but most of them are best discovered by the player, through practice and learning from experience. People complain that the scythe is too overpowered, but in my opinion, it provides a nice alternative for long combos other than the established gauntlet fest.

Strategies And Combos

Basic playstyle strategies

As mentioned at the beginning of the guide, Nix's overall effectiveness lies in her ability to efficiently stay far enough to avoid getting clobbered, while dishing out consistent damage at the same time. This, however, does not mean that Nix is unusable as a 'charger'. Both her blasters and scythe have excellent combo potential, and jumping into the window of opportunity and executing one of those can reward a skilled Nix player immensely.

That said, if you do prefer to stay away from damage and continue to support the passive playstyle which is getting oh so popular these days, Nix's heavy attacks all have a wide range of effectiveness, making it easy for you to keep your opponent away. This is not my preferred method of playing, but if you insist on this playstyle, you will find a lot of utility in this Legend.

Combos

Some basic combos with the blasters include DownLight + ForwardLight, which does moderate damage early on, DownLight + Jump + AerialForwardLight, which is a very popular one, and, surprisingly, NeutralLight + Jump + AerialUpHeavy, which I wasn't sure if it would work in an actual game, but most opponent do not expect it immediately after a light attack, so it catches them off guard. There are many, many combos, a lot of which include gravity cancel, but I find that one of the charms of this game is discovering your playstyle and 'special moves' all on your own, so do not be afraid to enter Experimental or Training modes and test some of them out.

Scythe has a metric ton of different ways to string attacks, but most basic ones are NeutralLight + NeutralHeavy, a simple combo which can be enhanced by adding additional combos before it such as AerialDownLight + SideLight or simply a DownLight. One of the beauties of the scythe is that there is no rigid combination of attacks you must do every time in order for it to be effective. You can cut combos in middle and skip some attacks depending on the situation, and still have it work like a charm. You can replace the NeutralHeavy with Jump + AerialUpHeavy and still get a KO no problem, it all depends on your timing, skill, practice, and sometimes just plain ol' luck. As I've said above, figure out your own winning strategy, and never be afraid to try new things and improve on the old ones.

2v2 Tips

Nix can be a bit problematic in 2v2s since a lot of her attacks have a wide range, so team damage is usually an unavoidable side effect. That said, if you have the right partner and a lot of practice, you can work with them and make them dodge while the opponent does not expect it, resulting in an effective use of Nix's humongous hitboxes. If you and your partner each take an opponent to different parts of the stage, this stops becoming a problem and Nix continues to be as effective as ever. I've played 2v2 with Nix for a long time and I've learned that all you need is a bit of quick thinking and avoiding making dumb moves, and you'll be just as effective as any player in the matchmaking queue.

Spamming

New players can easily find joy in spamming Nix's heavies, especially the forward variant, and with both of her weapons. My simple advice is - Don't opt for this strategy. Anyone above Bronze can see right through your attacks if you keep spamming them, meaning you'll get punished for it every time. Spamming simply does not work on the long run, and even though it might win you some matches early on, it really is difficult to beat anyone if you reach the higher ranks but haven't learned to play any other way all along. Not to mention how hated you'll be in the community, because nobody likes a bad sport, be it tilting, running away, or in this case, spamming. Opinion from an experienced player - I actually rather enjoy getting a spammer in Ranked 1v1. Free ELO. :)

Conclusion

I hope this guide helps some people in their quest to improve their playstyle with this Legend. After maining 4 different Legends during my experience in Brawlhalla, I always come back to Nix as my personal favorite character in the game. I really enjoy the art style of her and her attacks, the effectiveness in combat, and the clever combination of weapons that makes her a very fun Legend to play around with.

If you'd like, you should check out my beginner's guide on Ada. It's similar to this one, except with worse grammar and a slightly noobish approach to blasters. I had only 100 hours back then, and it was my first guide ever, so give me a break, aight?

I would once again like to thank Blue Mammoth for keeping this game alive and updated. I enjoy taking some time off every day and playing a few matches, and I hope this game becomes one of the highest-acclaimed fighting games on the market, because it really does deserve it. Thank you for reading, I hope I wasn't too boring, and I hope you learn something new every day and never stop improving.

See you in Diamond!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=928969440

Nix - Beginner's Guide