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Shogun Showdown features the Chain Master, a character who has a distinct appeal within the game. Wielding a meteor hammer, he skillfully navigates through enemy lines with a spiked yo-yo, making combat both entertaining and strategic.
As the last character to unlock, accessing the Chain Master requires a solid grasp of the game’s mechanics. You’ll need to practice with existing characters first, as the Chain Master’s abilities build upon the different tactics learned from them. Here’s how to unlock him and hone his skills effectively.
Unlocking the Chain Master
To unlock the Chain Master, you need to defeat day three with any character. This level also comes with two added difficulty aspects:
- Elite enemies may appear.
- Consumable items drop less frequently.
Elite enemies flaunt different colors, have increased health, and exhibit unique effects. Each one shows a symbol that indicates its elite ability, such as faster movements, double attacks, or immunity to forced movements. Particularly challenging are reactive shields, which can disrupt the usual calculations for lethal hits.
If you’ve relied on consumables, you’ll notice their decline in availability during this level.
You’ll unlock days for each character separately, so it’s best to focus on one character and clear as many days as possible.
|
Character |
Difficulty |
|---|---|
|
Wanderer |
The Wanderer’s basic abilities are effective and reliable, with no need to unlock other characters first. |
|
Ronin |
The Ronin presents a steeper learning curve, and their weak damage can accidentally trigger reactive shields on elite foes. |
|
Shadow |
Unique movements of the Shadow mean they have fewer skills that carry over to other characters. |
|
Jujitsuka |
The Jujitsuka is only accessible after completing day two, meaning you’d need to replay those days before facing day three. Her similar playstyle to the Chain Master makes her a good choice for practice. |
The Wanderer is the best choice for clearing day three, as the others have requirements you’ll meet throughout your progression.
Chain Master Playstyle
The Chain Master requires a different strategy than the Wanderer, so it’s essential to review his abilities before starting a run.
His standout skill is the ability to spin enemies from one side to the other. This technique doesn’t shift their facing direction, allowing you to manipulate opponents into harming their allies. You can reposition enemies on both sides, but it won’t work if you’re near an edge or next to a large enemy.
The Chain Master starts with two tilesets, both utilizing the swap feature. You can acquire the second tileset by earning three achievement stamps while playing as him. His abilities are particularly effective for collecting combo and move count stamps, along with a base stamp earned by defeating the Shogun.
|
Set |
Tiles |
Playstyle |
Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
A |
Meteor Hammer, Charge |
The Meteor Hammer inflicts damage both at range and up close with proper positioning. Use the swap toss for setup and charge as a means of escape or finishing move. |
The Meteor Hammer has a long cooldown, leaving you vulnerable between attacks. |
|
B |
Twin Tessen, Hookblade |
The Twin Tessen is excellent for positioning, while the Hookblade can execute massive combos once upgraded. |
Your initial damage output is limited, often requiring the swap toss to make early enemies eliminate one another. |
The third unlockable tileset provides you with two random tiles. While this makes planning tricky, it can sometimes yield effective tools. Keep an eye out for utility weapons like the Bo, which can both harm enemies and prevent them from attacking.
Key Tiles and Upgrades for the Chain Master
The Chain Master seeks specific tools to enhance his starter kit, which will dictate your upgrade choices.
Upgrades aimed at combos work exceptionally well with the Chain Master. The Meteor Hammer can strike and defeat two foes at once, easily activating passive skills connected to combos. If you acquire a double-strike upgrade on it, you can trigger three-hit combos necessary for more potent skills.
When selecting routes, prioritize combat and combo upgrades. Dancer upgrades are often the least beneficial as most provide minimal boosts to your swap toss.
Focus tile upgrades on enhancing your main attacks, the Meteor Hammer or Hookblade, ensuring they deal as much damage as possible.
The combo recharge skill allows for frequent use of this attack even with long cooldowns, as both attacks can reliably activate it.
Perfect Strike is an alternative upgrade route for the Meteor Hammer. Given its ability to strike multiple enemies, it has a high chance of resetting its cooldown on an exact kill, though you’ll need to limit how many damage upgrades you apply.
The free-play upgrade is beneficial for Charge or Twin Tessen tiles, providing a safety mechanism to escape danger or disrupt enemy attacks. Freeze upgrades serve as another strong option for damage prevention, though they won’t work effectively against later bosses.
With any new tiles, prioritize obtaining tools that facilitate additional combos, followed by mobility tools that can help avoid danger:
- Sharp Turn blends seamlessly into a three-hit combo when paired with Charge and Meteor Hammer. Strike an enemy, spin around to hit a second, then finish off the first with a backswing of the Meteor Hammer. The sequence of hammer-turn-charge also makes for a strategic attack followed by an escape.
- Lightning and Earth Impale function well as secondary attacks to support the alternate loadout, allowing you to weaken enemy groups for the Hookblade while dealing with problematic ranged attackers.
- The Nagiboku is an excellent option for establishing combos, hitting four tiles without reducing any enemy below one health.
- Enemy repositioning tools can be useful at the end of a combo to deflect incoming attacks or in the middle to set up a third attack tile.