On behalf of Bridget, I thank you for your swift response to her question.

I have relayed your question to Bridget - hopefully I have interpreted it correctly. According to her, there are two important details to take note of for any of these Combos: 1) The Respect action has a shorter "Recovery Time" than the Taunt. Hence, this Combo can only be performed using a Respect (as indicated in the "Input Notation" provided), as a Taunt would give the opponent enough time to escape from the Combo. 2) Wild Assaults can be properly canceled into Taunts and Respects. To perform the Combo, you will be required to execute the relevant action (in this case, a Respect) immediately after the Wild Assault hits the opponent. Having taken note of these details, you will be able to cancel the "Taunt" (or, to be precise, the Respect) by... And I quote Bridget word for word here... "Just spam(ming) the buttons repeatedly once the Respect animation begins, teehee!" ... I do not fully comprehend what she means - and never have - but apparently, you can cancel the animation of a Respect at a certain point by using an Attack Action, preferably a fast one. Timing the Wild Assault and Respect correctly would ensure that the timing for the attack afterwards is more lenient. Hopefully this has answered your question satisfactorily.

On behalf of Bridget, I shall offer my thanks for your enthusiasm. ... I'm not too sure if it's appropriate of her, sending "Hearts" to others as liberally as she does. I suppose one could say she is just a very expressive, cheeky Empyrean.

Mori Calliope (Calli) and Koseki Bijou (Bijou) recently held a, as they call it, "Collab" in Minecraft. At approximately the 5:30:00 mark of their Stream, while talking about Guilty Gear, Bijou stated that she liked Ragna more than Sol because of her bias toward characters with white hair. This developed into some friendly banter between Calli and Bijou on the topic in question. Hopefully, I have interpreted your question correctly, and the answer provided is satisfactory. ... On a side note, it seems that a certain cheeky Empyrean decided to use this incident to incite a war between Ragna and Sol, for reasons I still cannot quite understand.

On Bridget's behalf, I shall take note of the current score. Sol (the "Deadbeat") - 1 Ragna (the "Pebble") - 0

Bridget is explaining this to me rather passionately, but allow me to try and answer your question as concisely as possible. There are several intricacies associated with this "Infinite Loop", but the main principle it utilises is to force the opponent to recover in the air, then to use an attack with the Air-unblockable property to hit them while they are still mid-air. All Idols with Air-unblockable attacks were able to use this trick, but Aki Rosenthal was particularly adept at it - to the point where she could "trap" the opponent in a "Combo Loop". A major change made to the world of Idol Showdown in what is called Patch 1.1.0 was the introduction of Invulnerability after an Aerial Recovery. Specifically, when any Idol recovers in mid-air, she is invulnerable to any attack - Air-unblockable attacks included - until the point where she lands on the ground. The dark colouration of the Idol after performing an Aerial Recovery is a sign that she is invulnerable for that duration. As a result of the above-mentioned change, Idols are no longer able to exploit this Air-unblockable trick to break through an opponent's guard after they have recovered mid-air. In the case of Aki Rosenthal, she effectively loses her "Air-unblockable Infinite Loop". Hopefully this explanation is comprehensible, yet not too long. Also, if there is anyone who wishes to make corrections or embellishments to my explanation, feel free to add your comments.

​​@@seekerofgrace7750 Nah, that makes sense. Thank you both for explaining! The change itself isn't a bad thing, honestly. I am sorta glad this game has some anti-infinite stuff that I kind of discovered after accidentally realizing that Fubuki has a funky theoretical infinite. The short version is that Fubuki can chain her 5H into her 5M. I don't think she's supposed to be able to but you can basically indefinitely loop 5M 5H 5M 5H etc. After hitting the 5M the third time though the enemy will turn white and be able to recover.

@Swerve Starbreak I am relieved to hear that you are satisfied with the explanation. I am also glad that you raised the example of Shirakami Fubuki's "unique" Combo route. I have plans to explain the limits and restrictions to extending Combos in a future guide. If you happen to be unfamiliar with these limits, then hopefully said guide would be of some help to you when it is released. In addition, if you happen to be a "fan" of Fubuki, you might be pleased to know that Bridget has made refinements to a Combo she performed in a past Idol Showdown video - one that involves the... "5H to 2M Link"? I believe that is what she called it. I apologise for my lack of familiarity with this jargon; but my point is that it sounds very similar to the "Theoretical Infinite" you mentioned. It would probably be some time before she reveals said Combo, but perhaps that is something that might interest you.

Please pardon me for this rather lengthy answer, but I shall break your question into parts, and try my best to answer them as comprehensively as possible: (1) "how to do deflect counter attack with xbox controller?" I have to admit that I am not familiar with these lay-outs, but what I can tell you is that Deflect Counter-attacks are performed by using the Deflect and Arts actions (or buttons) both at the same time. It helps to add a directional input towards the target to perform a Deflect Counter-attack, even if you are locked onto said target. (2) "when should you press the button to deflect?" Depending on what your question means: - If this is an extension of your first question (about Deflect Counter-attacks), there is no need to worry about timing the Deflect window with your enemy's attacks, as the action is mainly used to close the gap in your offense by switching to your second weapon. - If you are referring to the timing for deflecting enemy attacks, it can be a little tricky, as there are varied timings for every attack, which often have to be learnt through experience. The ideal method is to perform a Deflect only when you see the enemy throwing its attack towards you (or, in the case of projectiles, only when the projectile is about to make contact with you). However, if you find yourself struggling to time Deflects correctly using this "ideal method", you may opt to use the "sub-optimal" - but easier - method, by using Deflect rhythmically the moment you see the enemy shift its stance for an attack. This is a technique similar to Layered Rolling in Elden Ring (involving the use of two to three Dodge Rolls to evade potential delayed attack strings); and "Layered Deflecting" is a viable trick, given the somewhat lenient Deflect window and fast recovery. Be careful not to input Deflect too rapidly, however, as you might accidentally perform a Dodge instead which, as can be seen in my Wo Long Ultimate Challenge Run, has no invulnerability.