Guide to Flying
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Written by dataphreak


All right, so we've got guides for different weapons, wall jumping, sentries, and even individual stages, but one skill I’ve noticed hasn’t been getting a lot of love, one of my favorites, actually. That’s Flying. Now some of you may be thinking, “WTH? Flying is suck. I’m always sniping fliers!” I tell you, there are far more uses for Flying than simply soaring to 300feet in the air, and trying to snipe people, and I would like to point some of them out to you.

First thing, however, I am going to tell you how to not use flying. Here are the three main rules.
1. Never fly higher than the nearest cover on the map. That means if you are on Station 2, near the Fumbi spawn in the middle, do not fly higher than the train, for example.
2. Avoid using Flying to move. You actually walk faster than you fly, and unless you are trying to get on top of something, likelihood is that there is a walljump that will A. Get you there faster, B. Use less SP than Flying, and C. Not make you a huge red target with wings.
3. Never fly from the ground. Try to jump in the air first, or even better do a wall jump, before activating flying. It will gain you more altitude, and thus save you SP for when you need it.
All right, sounds pretty sweet, right! No air sniping, no flying around the maps, you can’t take off from the ground like superman… Yea, right. These are the first instinctive mistakes people make when they first pick up flying. Don’t let yourself pick up these bad habits. Now, on to the fun stuff.


Falcon Style

The first thing we will learn is something I would like to call the Raven Step, mostly because I played to much Gunz. This move is useful for getting over obstacles that you could not jump over normally. Put on your rental wings, fly over to a station 2 match, and go down to the train. Walk up to the side of the train, jump, then “Tap” Flying. You should see your wings start to unfold, then cancel, and if you are looking at the wing animation, you might have missed the fact that you are now standing on top of the train. Now you can rain death down upon your foes as they go after the ball.

This move works similar to a double jump, and is really useful in melee combat to get that little bit of extra height that other opponents don’t have access to. You can also perform a dodge after a Raven Step, getting you even more distance from your opponent, when strategically beneficial.

Next we will learn the Walljump Cancel. When performing a walljump, you activate Flying. This is useful for a lot of things. First, walljumps move you a long distance, sometimes to places you don’t want to go, by performing a walljump cancel, you can pause for a second and observe your surroundings before you end Flying and make your attack. Another fun use for this is confusing your opponent by performing a walljump cancel while directly over them. The will not have seen you activate your Flying skill, and will turn around, expecting you to be behind them. Also, if your walljump doesn’t get you quite the distance you want to go, you can walljump cancel and make that extra couple of feet.

Third, and fittingly, we have the Triple Jump. This is similar to a walljump cancel, except that instead of activating Flying after a walljump, you perform a Raven Step by tapping Flying. Keep in mind that this will slow your horizontal speed, but will give you that extra little height that you might need to say, get on top of a wall. This is also what you will usually use to climb obstacles that a normal Raven Step won’t climb, such as the breakable walls in OldSchool. Simply run up to one, walljump off of it, and right after your feet connect, while holding forward, tap Flying. You should activate your wings briefly, and move forward to land on top of the wall. Depending on your timing and angle, you may have to actually wallcancel instead, but this will get you up there faster than an anchor any day.


Flying+Countersword=FalconPunch?: Melee Attack Theory

Now, most people prefer to carry a melee weapon with them. Flying doesn’t lend very well to the Plasma Sword. When wielding the Counter Sword, however, you look like the Angel Of Pwnage while flying, and rain equivalent destruction. You might be wondering, “Why would I use a sword while Flying?” The answer is simple, Jump Attack. That’s right, whenever you use jump attack while Flying, it instantly removes your wings, and you go wherever your crosshairs were aimed at. The nice thing about the Counter Sword is that its jump attack is angled forward, while the Plasma Sword goes straight down. This means that by using the Raven Step, you can get that little bit extra distance on your jump attack, and maybe get that annoying Revolver user before he slaughters you. All of the Flying techniques, though useful in their own right, can take a Counter Sword user from average to excellent.

Don’t get me wrong, you can still use a Plasma Sword with flying, though aside from some extra mobility, it’s not going to give you a whole lot of strategic advantage. Unless you are performing the jump attack, which roots you in place and often gets you killed against more than 1 opponent, you are going to have to land before you pull any attacks off. One of the perks of Plasma Sword Flying, is that when you land on top of somebody, your attack still stuns them. So if you can arrange to land on top of a group of opponents, you can stun them, then fly, realign, and stun again. Counter Sword’s jump attack does not damage the opponent if you land on top of them. (Much to my frustration.)

Going back to the Counter Sword, one mistake you don't want to make is jumping directly at your opponennt. Instead try to wall jump in their general direction. It will make you much harder to hit. Once you have your target in sight, you will hit attack 3 times. The first one will execute the jump attack. The second one will execute an uppercut, and the third one will perform the first attack of the 4-hit combo. The reasonf or doing this is that the delay is much lower on the first attack of the 4 hit combo. This chain of attacks is commonly known on the S4Source forums as the Counter Sword Assault. You can follow up an Assault with a Raven Step, in order to line up another Assault. You can also switch to a Dodge+Walljump for evasive purposes. Also, if your opponent has been knocked away, you can switch to a Semi-Rifle/SMG and finish him off.

Another move I use from time to time, I like to call the Hawk Dive. One of the biggest problems with attacking at great height with CounterSword is that if you land directly on top of an opponent, you will not hit them. Another issue is that your Jump Attack animation will finish before you land. Yet another issue is that when your opponent is directly below you, it is hard to angle your attack just right. If you or your loved ones are experiencing any of these problems, then this is the move for you. While hovering, use shift to end Flying. While falling, perform a dodge, then turn towards your target, and execute a Countersword Assault. You can begin attacking during a dodge at any point, canceling the dodge halfway through and further increasing your evasion. I believe Revenge (CS Guard) also cancels a dodge, essentially becoming a HawkDive Cancel. This maneuver can also be used any time you are targeted for flying, and should help you excape relatively unscathed.


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