Scuba Guides source note. This lesson is based on the older Scuba Guides and the supplied source archive. It is an independent community clarity rewrite, not an official GunZ publication; mechanics are not verified for the current Steam/remaster client.
Lesson content
iFrames come in three flavors in GunZ. You have True iFrames, Semi Massive Conditional, and Massive Conditional iFrames. In Gladiator, these are mostly used to dodge massives. You CAN use dash evade to dodge slashes with relative safety, but Massive Throws are much less safe to utilize.
Dash Evade, Massive Throw, and Dagger lunge are all True iFrames - You can’t slash it, you can’t shoot it, and you can’t massive it.
Stun and Recoil animations are Semi Massive Conditional. This means you can Slash and Shoot them, but they act like a block is up so you can utilize angles to dodge massives.
The Slash and Jump animations are Massive conditional iFrames. You can slash and Shoot them, but you CANNOT Massive them no matter where you throw the massive.
Massive Launch Timing
To make the most of these iFrames, it’s important to discuss the two timings of when a massive is actually thrown. You’ll see mention of white constantly below. This refers to the white charge on the melee weapon signifying a massive is charged and ready to throw. As soon as the white disappears the massive is actually launched at that direction and the hit will land. Similar to how the Slash and Sword are separate, the Massive and Massive windup are separate as well.
When launching a massive on the ground there’s a good half second delay from initial launch to actually landing.
When launching mid air the massive comes out almost instantly and actually has the iFrame trigger timing a little longer. It’s actually easier to dodge mid air massives compared to a ground massive for this reason in most cases.
Dash Evade
Dash evade utilizes a True iFrame on the forward dash. There is NO IFRAME on any other direction of your dash. Simply Dash Forwards and you’ll have 2 or 3 frames of iFrames. This particular iFrame is fairly lenient and easy to learn. For females, it’s towards the start of your dash. For Males, it starts about halfway through the dash. Basically, you need to dash earlier to get the iFrame on a male compared to a Female.
Key note : A front dash only has an iFrame on it when you hear the dash sound. If you slash then dash, the dash DOES NOT have an iFrame.
Massive Throw
About ¼ of the way after you throw a massive until the white disappears on a massive and it’s thrown, you have a true iFrame on both males and females.
Dagger Lunge
If you’re facing a dagger, the entire lunge animation is basically an iFrame. The iFrame starts just before forward momentum happens and doesn’t end until the dagger starts being retracted to its initial default position.
Stun Animation
This is the particular animation you receive when you get massived. During the entire animation, the game treats you as if you have a block up concerning massives. There’s no real trigger telling the game that your block is being held, meaning you can overspam the block button, getting even more blocks than even Block Animation Locking can get you.
Recoil Animation
This behaves exactly like the Stun animation, only you can also turn. The biggest note here is that any time you’re turning while in the recoil animation you cannot get massived. You do NOT need to rely on the Mirror rule when in a Recoil animation, you just have to be in the process of turning when the white disappears on your opponents massive to trigger this iFrame.
Slash Animation
By starting a slash EXACTLY when you see the white disappear from your opponents massive and turning at least 90 degrees, you enter into an iFrame. There is no angle or position you can throw a massive to that breaks this iFrame. NOTE : Due to the Massive iFrame, even though you’re slashing at the opponent, they will NOT take any damage nor get flinched. KEY NOTE : This is ONLY available on a female character WITH a Katana. Males (Regardless of weapon), Greatswords, Kodachis, and Daggers CANNOT use this iFrame.
Jump Animation
By far the hardest iFrame to master. You need to jump EXACTLY when you see the white disappear from your opponents massive. DO NOT SLASH OR BLOCK as this will overwrite the animation of the jump that the iFrame is associated with. This is ONLY available on a female character WITH a Katana. Males (Regardless of weapon), Greatswords, Kodachis, and Daggers CANNOT use this iFrame.
Working Around iFrames
You’ll notice that some highly skilled players will utilize these various iFrames to take advantage of you. Really the only way to work around someone abusing iFrames is to not throw a massive, delay slightly, or utilize feints to screw up their timings. Below are a few examples - Note : These examples are only concerning when to throw your massive.
Dash Evade : Simply throw your massive as soon as you see them dashing. The ping delay will typically let your massive land outside of the iFrame timings.
Massive Throw : Simply put, whoever manages to throw the massive first is going to win this exchange typically. They’ll see themselves with the iFrame while you won’t see yourself with the iFrame. The slower one gets smacked 9 times out of 10. The safest option is to utilize another iFrame to dodge their massive and immediately throw your own, as they’ll be momentarily defenseless.
Stun/Recoil : You want to time your massive to land JUST as they come out of this animation. At the exact point someone is no longer Stunned or Recoiled, their block is down no matter what. This means it’s next to impossible to dodge a massive or a slash. You have a very brief moment (1 to 3 frames) where your opponent cannot do anything to stop whatever damage you want to throw. The only thing they can do is Jump or Slash evade if you’re throwing a massive, and they can’t do anything at all if you time a slash for it.
Slash / Jump : You really don’t want to try working around these, as you’ll be taking sacrificial damage to land a massive at best in this scenario which will just reset the fight back to a neutral state. Not to mention, the iFrame itself works off of the users reflex and what they see, not what you see. Your best course of action is to not throw any kind of massive unless they’re in another animation or movement.