[Xillia 2] Ludger Solo: Julius

Ludger: Please stop countering big bro, you're not making any sense!
Julius: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Julius loves to counter. He's one of, and perhaps the most infamous case of this because one of his counters is the infamous Falling Snow. You always have to flip a coin with this man, and calling it wrong can end up like this:
My struggle: • Julius
‪@frubam‬'s struggle: • Bruh....
I've personally had takes where Julius would counter upwards of 8 times in a row. There might have been some where he goes up to 10+, but I stopped counting lmao. Like it or not, big bro decides when or if you can combo him.
Scatter Bolt is invaluable in this fight. It's a single hit, dual element arte that covers his weakness (Wind) without wasting the Fire element should it land. More importantly, it has a very generous hitbox that fans out at its max range, and also causes Ludger to backstep. The former can catch him out of any sidestep attempts while the latter can keep me safe if he goes for the Julius classic first hit counter nonsense. As a bonus, Scatter Bolt also has a 30% chance to stun, though if he triggers his counter then that bypasses the stun (what a great game).
Originally, this video was gonna just be a straightforward combo kill like Rideaux, but the back and forth in this take was kinda nice and really shows what Julius is known for, so I kept this take instead.
EDIT: Only after uploading this and rewatching it did I realize that he didn't counter the very first Scatter Bolt. So all of that could've been avoided if I just spaced my Falling Snow properly...oops. :P
Now for some combo notes:
The combos done on Julius and Rideaux were originally labbed and recorded on my PS3 around a year ago. I made some changes to the finishers for both; originally I was going to kill with Earth Spike here, but I used that on Rideaux instead. Aside from that, these are technically "old" takes, but chances are you're seeing these for the first time.
Master Chef is normally a bad idea against human bosses thanks to its air knockdown and long recovery, but if you use it on an airborne enemy at specific heights, you can get the last couple of hits to be delayed somewhat. This will give Ludger just enough time to weapon swap and remove the recovery window. I couldn't tell you the specific spacing/timing, but it is consistent.
The Meteoric sideswap is my personal favorite part of this combo, and it's not as hard as it looks (though somewhat disorienting). You just need to forward step right after Swift Strike (as in, the direction Ludger is using SS in), and so long as your positioning beforehand was good, the Armor Crusher back hit is consistent.
Turning Assault Step off makes the chain prior to the sideswap muuuuuuch more consistent. Crushing Blow will always crit on a downed target, and that meaty hitstun allows Ludger to swap, turn around, and throw a Meteoric out safely. A non-crit Assault Step has really bad hitstun and wouldn't allow Meteoric to connect. Technically, if your fingers are reaaaaally fast, you can turn around Meteoric without Assault Step coming out at all, but its so tediously precise and I wasn't using Assault Step anywhere else in this combo, so yeah just don't use it here lmao.
The backstep Zero Divide after Stun Blitz might be frame perfect. It wasn't too hard for me to pull off on RPCS3, but back on the PS3, I lost a ton of takes here by just being a frame or two off. It's really tight.
The Energy Shackles reset was ‪@JustSamu‬'s idea. There is a chance Julius can just meme me with an FS counter here, but it never happened once when labbing this reset. I'm not gonna complain lol.
If it wasn't for the chip damage from the neutral stuff early in the fight, Endless Waltz would've gotten all of its hits in. Usually this would send my OCD into overdrive, but I really don't mind it this time because this run needs more neutral as it is.
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[Restrictions]
⚔️ Ludger Solo
⚔️ Unknown Mode
⚔️ No Damage
⚔️ No Free Run
⚔️ No Menu Usage
⚔️ No Power Charge 2 & 3
⚔️ No Immunity Skills/Equipment
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[Modifications]
📝 Removed other party members
📝 Enabled Twin Lotus
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[Stats]
📈 Ludger Lv. 28 = Julius Lv. 28
⚔️ Cookware
🔨 The Longshank
🔫 Chopstick Boomsticks
💍 Knight Crest
✨ No Assault Step
🎓 Triple Crit
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[Music]
🎵 Boss Theme (Fate/Extra)
🎵 Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)

[@MagnusZero]

Ah, good ol' Anime Dexter... never change. Though it still perplexes me as to why he's programmed like this when they know he's got one of the most broken Artes as a counter attack, lmao Clean stuff as always, though. That Master Chef threw me off guard big time, and yet, it was so well placed. Dexter getting cooked literally will never not be funny. But it looks like you went all in on the backwards hitbox shenanigans this time. The sheer number of chains you can do while backwards is crazy. I always like your use of Swift Strike, as it reminds me of DMC4/5 Vergil Devil Trigger combos where we purposefully whiff stinger above or beneath the enemy for proper positioning. Continue living up to the Funni Hitbox Man title, bro.

[@UnlimitedMrX]

The funny thing is that he never used Falling Snow once in this take. The man kept that broken arte in his pocket and instead chose to spin kick 5 times 😂 Had to send Dexter back to the lab where he belongs after all that. I'm glad the Swift Strike sideswaps caught your eye too, those were some of the most fun parts of this combo for me in just how fast/precise they can be. Though to be compared to the GOAT Vergil himself, that's motivating to say the least. I'm gonna continue to hold that title with pride 🫡

[@mystearia5441]

Big brother Jakkun I wanna be just like you one day 😭 Anyways 0:31 is the start of my favorite part of this fight, its simple yet it flows SO SO well. Your usage of Ludger's artes to reposition yourself for silly backwards hitboxes never fails to amaze me! And don't even get me started on the Master Chef catch after the Mine Collapse connected. You really are just the

[@UnlimitedMrX]

You'll get there, I believe in you. Hell, after that Victor duo vid, I'd say you're plenty good already. Part of me wishes I could do more with Master Chef here. It's so difficult to make it work on human bosses, so I'll take what I got here. After all, I'll get another opportunity to cook Julius again in the future. 🍳👨‍🍳

[@HorangiTiger]

Man, the more I learn about X2 the more insane your gameplay looks to me. Your understanding of hitboxes is on full display here and that Energy Shackles reset looks so sus haha. Really surprising to hear you never got hit with the Falling Snow counter... has Julius fallen off? The neutral at the start is also peak btw

[@UnlimitedMrX]

Counter machine broke, pls understand 😔, big bro was tired after 5 sidestep kick counters in a row (seriously what was he cooking) I'm glad I was able to get some good neutral in this one. When I got the Lunar Reflection dodge against Disintegration I knew this take was a keeper. 😊

[@frubam]

Once again, some amazing work you puttin' in there =03! Julius gettin' cooked as usual, both figuratively and literally. The reverse hitbox shenanigans were on point as usual. The neutral before the combo was very entertaining too; I especially liked the call out of Azure Edge with Scatter Bolt *chef's kiss. The idea to turn off Assault Step was a nice touch; you don't need every skill in the game to do good work and sometimes it can even be selectively restrictive. One of the reasons I always turn off Jude's speed-up-after-Snap-Pivot skill. And to think, he could have Fallen Snow'd at 0:06, and we'd never have this beautiful fight(I see FS like the sky is blue at this point X0b).

[@UnlimitedMrX]

Thanks as always 👍 My only complaint with the neutral is that he didn't even use FS once. Most of my movements were to account for that coming out, and all he wanted to do this time was spin kick lmao. I'll still take it, though because of the cool moments like the Scatter Bolt vs Azure Edge you mentioned. Between this fight and Muzét, I've been realizing that Assault Step can do more harm than good, esoecially if it woukd allow for the boss to escape an otherwise true combo. I also try to keep as many damage increasing skills turned off as possible, unless I really need it to hit a specific amount of damage or something. Its part of the reason I list what skills (and equipment) im using in the description; I want to show only what is needed to make the take possible. :}

[@Kikaromi]

0/10 Not Enough Falling Snow Counters. But nice use of Master Chef! Didn't think I'd ever see that arte come out in a combo and actually work out. Keep on styling, Ludger-kun!

[@UnlimitedMrX]

tfw the funny counter man refuses to use the one move he's famous for... 🫠 Master Chef is sooo hard to make work against humans, but so fun when it actually works. The only other boss I've used it on so far was Chronos since he can't air recover at all, they really make it hard to cook a decent meal out here lol.