| Model Number: GNX-Y903VW | Pilot: Graham Aker |
| Cost: 2500 Hp: 620 Transform: X Form Change: △[Nyuukon] | |
The personal unit of Graham Aker, the leader of the Solbraves Squadron. The Braves were developed for emergency deployment, capable of entering combat zones in a short amount of time. While the Brave itself was a pre-mass production model, it boasted both high mobility and firepower.
Ability Summary
| Ranged | Armament | Ammo | DMG | Notes |
| Main | Drake Howling | 8 | 75[90] | A simple beam rifle shot. Size increases during Nyuukon |
| Charged Main | Nyuukon | 100 | – | Increases weapon performance once per charge |
| Sub | GN Missiles | 2 | 70 [140] | Fires 4 missiles during Nyuukon. If the 4 missles hit one after another instead of at the same time it does 120 instead. |
| Special Shooting | Tri-Punisher | 1 | 20 ~ 182 [23 ~ 215] |
Simple gerobi beam Size increases and muzzle correction increases during Nyuukon |
| Special Melee | Quick Transformation | 1 | – | Summons high-speed assists. Behavior changes depending on input. At 0 ammo, Brave only transforms |
| Brave Standard Test Type Assist | 8 ~ 157 | Assist shooting support. | ||
| Shooting Derivative: Drake Howling |
(8) | 60 ~ 126 [90 ~ 189] |
Hold down A to shoot up to 3 shots. Shares ammo with main. | |
| Special Melee During Special Melee |
Stand Maneuver | – | – | BC: Cancels from Quick Transformation. Cuts tracking |
| Drake Howling (Focused) | (1) | 205[251] | BC~A: Bendable gerobi Size increases during Nyuukon |
|
| Downward Slash | – | 125[140] | BC~B: High damage one-hit. A pyonkaku with the landing property | |
| Burst Attack | This is for mankind’s survival! | – | 302(F)/283(E)/289(S) | Stabs opponent with a grabbing melee before flying upwards to fire a large Gerobi. |
| Melee | Input | DMG | Notes |
| 5B | 5BBB | 216[260] | Standard melee |
| 5BB~2B | [295] | Only available during Nyuukon Does 150 damage to self. |
|
| 8B | 8B | 134[161] | Bounce Down |
| 4/6B | 4/6BBB | 161[193] | Good Curve Rate |
| 4/6BB~2B | [285] | Only available during Nyuukon
Does 150 damage to self. |
|
| 2B | 2BB | 138[166] | Good Priority Melee |
| CC8B | CC8BB | 168[202] | Untechable Down |
Cancel Routes:
A: AB, AC, BC
AB(With Ammo): BC
BC: Various derivatives
BC~A: AB, AC
Overview
The Brave is an all-rounder unit that specializes in sneak attacks and violent rampaging. Its base mobility is about average, and its weapons are also very simple. However, what makes the Brave so special is its ability to power up its moves with Nyuukon, and also display great acrobatic movement thanks to its multiple transformation sequences. One of the things the Brave is best known for is stalling in mid-air for an infinite amount of time, thanks to the use of Nyuukon and its many cancel routes.
However, when pulling off a long sequence on an enemy, often times all it takes to put a halt to your offense is a well-placed Step. Brave users need to be aware of this, and have countermeasures in place.
While the Brave is not a unit that can lay waste to its foes in solo situations, when working together with a partner it becomes a weapon of mass destruction. While it is certainly unorthodox, the Brave has many layers to it, and how well you can do with the unit is often only limited by your imagination. .
Ability Details
Ranged Weapons
Main: Drake Howling
Regular beam rifle with 8 ammo. The power, tracking and size of the projectile are increased during Nyuukon. You can cancel this into AB, AC and BC. Despite the high ammo count, be mindful of its usage as the other weapons take a while to recover, and the ability to cancel into any one from A is important to Brave. The Rifle is held in the Brave’s left hand, which is a nice nod to Graham Aker being left-handed. 3-second reload per ammo.
Charged Main: Nyuukon
Graham Aker imbues his Brave with fighting aura, enhancing all of its weapons for 10 seconds. The effect is canceled after an attack has been launched, or when the Brave is hit and staggered. Since the Brave’s firepower is lower than average, using this effectively is crucial. With a charge time of 1 second and the ability to cancel from this into every move, it’s possible to use Nyuukon as a cancel mid-attack to follow up or get away during Overheat as it recovers a tiny bit of Boost.
Sub: GN Missiles
The Brave flips upwards, points its legs forward and fires 2 missiles (4 during Nyuukon). Reloads in 5 seconds on empty. You can cancel this into BC, but not when there is no ammo available. This has a slow startup, but the missiles have excellent tracking. This is especially true for vertical tracking, with the missiles capable of curving in ways that many would consider unnatural. Thanks to the good tracking on these missiles, this is one of your main moves during shooting battles. The missiles also cause flame stun on hit. While there’s normally some inertia inherited prior to firing, during Nyuukon Brave will stop completely. Nyuukon also changes the ballistic nature of the missiles.
With Nyuukon active, Brave’s extra 2 missiles are fired from its sides, spreading out before curving in towards the enemy. For this reason, the extra missiles are useful for catching horizontal movement in the close range. However, the startup on the missiles is slow, making this unsuitable as a melee intercept tool in the close range. In addition, Brave rises upwards prior to firing the missiles, and this movement can easily put you in harm’s way in closer ranges. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use this in the close range, just that you should be careful about when you use it.
When you cancel from AB~A during S Burst, Brave will retreat slightly while freefalling.
The missiles each do 35 damage per hit with or without Nyuukon active (with cancel proration applied, the damage is 30 per missile). While Nyuukon adds 2 extra missiles, when hitting in the close range you’re most likely only going to hit two at most.
Special Shooting: Tri-Punisher
6.5-second reload. The Drake Howling BR and the two GN Cannons at Brave’s hips converge beams to fire a Gerobi. The startup of the beam is average, but the muzzle correction on this is pretty weak, making it a difficult move for catching landings or rigidity at longer ranges. However, with the Nyuukon buff the size of the gerobi increases, making it easier to land.
You can use this move fairly often thanks to its quick reload, but this ammo is shared with the BC~AC version of Tri-Punisher, and honestly speaking you’d probably want to be using that version a lot more often. You don’t have any cancel routes from this normally, but in S Burst you can cancel this into BC.
Special Melee: Quick Transformation
The Brave transforms into its MA mode and dives straight towards the opponent (5BC) or in a “く” shape (4/6BC). With available ammo, 2 Brave assists accompany their commander and fire their weapons while dashing. Even without ammo you can perform the dash, just without the accompaniment of your entourage.
You can cancel from BC into every move. The performance of your shooting attacks will be modified/improved, and your melee attacks will travel further. This is a great move for closing the distance on an enemy, but the weakness of this move is that while dashing you cannot boost dash or step cancel out of it. Also, unless you cancel out into another move, Brave will continue dashing even if it reaches the enemy until it travels for the full duration. When Brave cancels out of its dash and transforms back into its MS form, you cannot cancel that action into anything except your CSA. If you want to use this move effectively, you need to understand both its range and your available cancel options.
The attacks you launch from BC are derivatives and not cancels, meaning that if the enemy sidesteps during your dash, your attack launched from BC will not re-track. On the flipside, as long as tracking is not cut, even if the enemy retreats into green lock from red your follow-up attacks will track it as if it is still in red lock. This is one of Brave’s strengths: being able to attack enemies from high elevation green lock positioning. In addition, you can cancel from the BC~A derivative into your Sub and other cancel routes, which will reapply tracking on the enemy.
In addition to all these nuances on what might look like a simple dash, both BC and the BC~BC derivative do not expend the use of Nyuukon.
When canceling into melee attacks from BC, an 8B input will perform CC8B instead. Note that only the reach of these melee attacks will be increased—all other factors such as startup and damage remain the same.
Brave’s loadout is mostly very simple and orthodox tools, but the mere inclusion of this one ability changes everything. By mixing in the unusual transformation maneuvers and dashes available in this move that also gives you access to new derivatives, Brave becomes many times more powerful and unpredictable.
5BC: Straight Dash
This version of BC makes Brave dash straight at the enemy, even in green lock, meaning you cannot use this for escaping unless you change targets and dash towards your assailant’s partner. When you activate this move Brave has an initial velocity of 0, before accelerating rapidly and closing in on the enemy. This means that compared to other dash maneuvers that instantly start moving on input, you will need practice with this if you want to use it for purposes such as catching landing enemies.
When the dash ends, Brave will cancel the MA form and stand still with little inertia inheritance, leaving you wide open for punishment. So always try and cancel out into another move before the end of the dash.
4/6BC: Sidewinder Dash
Brave dashes in a “く” shape towards the enemy. You can slide a great distance by canceling this into Nyukon, which inherits a lot of inertia. This is overall a good maneuver for horizontal movement, but note that you do not cut tracking with this so you cannot use it to dodge moves with strong tracking.
Assist: Brave (Standard Test Type)
Graham calls in two members of his squad to appear on his left and right and charge towards the enemy. The two Braves move at an average pace and rapid fire beams while advancing. The beams have a limited range and do not track at all.
The assists can be very useful for sealing off an enemy’s horizontal escape routes while you charge down the middle, and because the assists start their attack as soon as they appear this can also be used in certain self defense situations. However, Brave’s playstyle requires it to be constantly going in and out of transformations, so it can be hard to reserve this for situations when you need it.
As it stands, this move is best thought of as being a cherry on top of Brave’s transformation routine, and if you manage to score a hit with the assists you can think of it as being a lucky bonus.
Special Melee~Main Derivative: Drake Howling (Rapid Fire)
A during BC. Muzzle correction and startup on the first shot is excellent, but the remaining 2 shots after it do not track. This carries some momentum from BC despite the Brave stopping to shoot, and is therefore good for starting an assault from the mid-range. This can be canceled into AB and AC.
With the Nyuukon buff active, you can either use this as a one-shot in the close range, or the full triple shot in longer range encounters. Either way, this is a pretty potent tool. However, this forces vernier which can leave you open, and it also uses Main ammo.
This can be used as an attack after closing the distance quickly with your Main, canceling from A~BC~A to chase down an enemy and automatically align your axis with it, and for barraging enemies at longer ranges with the multiple shots.
BC~AC Derivative: Tri-Punisher
AC during BC. The Brave transforms back into MS mode and fires a gerobi. Muzzle correction is better here than when used normally and is good for sneak attacks or up-close shots. Take note of the slow startup of the Gerobi however—because the Brave moves so quickly from its dash and then tries to track the enemy, sometimes the muzzle correction cant keep up with the Brave’s sheer speed and you end up firing on an enemy’s last position instead of its current one.
BC~BC: Stand Maneuver
BC~BC. The Brave boosts backwards and upwards after transforming back to MS mode. This cuts tracking, consumes only a little boost, and can be rainbow step canceled. You have shooting and melee derivatives available from this maneuver.
BC~BC~A Derivative: Drake Howling (Focused)
A during BC~BC. Fires a bendable gerobi. This is a recreation of the scene where the Brave destroyed the remnants of the ELS assault when saving the 00 Raiser. This shares ammo count with the Tri-Punisher. When used normally the gerobi is thin and deals 205 damage, but during Nyuukon the Gerobi is significantly larger and deals 251 damage. The startup prior to firing is long considering the required setup from BC~BC~A, and the boost consumption when firing is also high. However, this can be used as an oki gerobi from green lock range or for catching a stationary target. Compared to Hyaku Shiki’s Mega Bazooka this has a short active time and a smaller projectile size, but you can bend this gerobi a great deal, making it a great move to pull out when the enemy is not paying attention to you.
BC~BC~B Derivative: Overhead Slash
B during BC~BC. Brave leaps upwards and slashes downwards. This is a high-damage single hit pyonkaku that also instantly knocks a target down. There is no tracking cut on the movement.
When leaping upwards, you can cancel the move into CSA as a maneuver. While this attack has a landing property, there is a long period of rigidity after touching the ground, so it’s not suitable to use this to land by itself. Instead, save some boost to sidestep after landing to keep yourself safe. This deals high damage for a single hit, making it useful as a combo ender.
While this is not a move you typically aim to hit raw, it can be useful in certain encounters, such as beating out AGE-FX Burst Mode’s 8B in a direct clash, and trading against F Burst Epyon’s 8B. When repeatedly looping Nyuukon and BC maneuvers to stall in the air, enemies that try and punish you can be caught off guard by suddenly attacking with this move. Maybe.
Even in F Burst this move causes a one-hit knockdown, so this can be an effective move against enemies rushing you with super armor.
There is a bug where if you hit an enemy’s guard with this attack it will lose all boost gauge. This is not something you can easily aim for, but if the enemy happens to guard this attack it can be a good chance for you to punish it hard.
Melee Set
Brave attacks with the beam saber held in its right hand. While the Brave’s melee set makes it not suited for rainbow step wars, it has many opportunities to land melee hits from BC dash sneak attacks. While its base melee damage is rather low, with the Nyuukon buff Brave does 1.2 times more damage on a combo, allowing it to deal damage rivalling pure melee units.
5B: Beam Saber Combo
A 3-input, 7-hit combo. While the opening slash is not particularly noteworthy as a combo opener, with the Nyuukon buff or when canceled into from the BC dash this is your main melee combo opener. With the Nyuukon buff this move’s damage rivals that of pure melee units, and you also have a nice derivative from the second stage in ~2B. The downside of this combo is its long combo time and poor cut resistance. Note that when using this combo against a wall or building you might miss out on the kick portion of this move, reducing the overall damage done.
(During Nyuukon) 5BB or 4/6BB~2B Derivative: Seppuku
Brave stabs itself dealing immense damage to the opponent, but also taking 150 damage upon itself. Only usable during Nyuukon. If you have Cherudim Shield Bits or a similar guard protecting you, the shield will fully absorb the seppuku damage. Overall this is often a double-edged sword, and it’s important to recognize when it would be advantageous or disadvantageous to use this.
8B: Stab Combo
Brave stabs the target and leaps backwards before slashing downwards. This is a single-input combo, and somewhat of a recreation of Graham Aker’s Flag fight against the Throne Eins. The stab’s performance is is not particularly good, with its slow startup making it unsuitable as a melee intercept. The cut resistance on this move is also rather poor. This might be useful thanks to the Bounce Down caused on the last hit, but you cant cancel into this from the BC dash, and really there aren’t any scenarios where this is going to be your best pick.
4/6B: Beam Saber Slash and Kick
3-input 3-hit combo. Brave slashes horizontally twice before kicking the target away. Nice wraparound on the dash-in, but this attack has a slow startup and is not suited for use in rainbow step wars.
The Brave slashes from right to left, so if your opponent steps left it’s easy to catch it, but if the opponent steps right your attack will take much longer to reach the enemy which may leave you open. With Nyuukon active you can cancel into the 2B seppuku attack from the second hit onwards.
2BB: Double Slash
2-input, 2-hit combo. Out of all of Brave’s melee attacks, this attack has the best balance of startup speed and priority, making it suitable for clashing against all-rounder units. Just note that it’s very hard to follow up after the last hit, so the return on this combo is not so great. It’s best if you can cancel out after the first hit to go into another combo.
CC8B: Rising Slash
A 3-stage slashing combo with rather poor cut resistance. If you input 8B from a BC dash, you will perform this move instead of the regular 8B.
This move consumes a bit of boost on the 2nd and 3rd stage. The first stage has a rather narrow hitbox and a slow startup, so it’s not recommended as a cancel from the BC dash. You can still use this as a follow up after landing a projectile, however.
Burst Attack
This Is For Mankind’s Survival!
Brave crashes Drake Howling into the target as it is being covered in ELS, pushes the target some distance forward, withdraws while shooting missiles before ending with a big gerobi. While the super armor active time is short and disappears as soon as the ELS appear on Brave, it’s an excellent Burst Attack that has good cut resistance at the start of the attack, good chase distance, reach, and tracking. The Brave is vulnerable during the 2nd stage where it stands still firing, however. This can also be used to end certain combos up-close.
Overall this is one of the best Burst Attacks in the game, and it is valid to aim to hit this as a means of making a comeback.
Overheat Airstall Maneuvers
The Brave is one character that can air stall not only for a long period of time, but also remain difficult to hit. You could even go so far as to say that this is one of the Brave’s specialties, and learning how to effectively use these Overheat maneuvers is important for all Brave players.
These are the main reasons Brave’s Overheat airstall maneuvers work so well:
- A 1-second charge time CSA
- A BC that can be used even in Overheat
- A BC~BC that cuts tracking
- A BC~BC~B that allows Brave to gain vertical height
- An abundance of cancel routes
Here are some basic Overheat airstall maneuvers:
- BC~BC: An Overheat airstall maneuver that doesn’t require the use of CSA. This does not allow you to change your vertical plane by much. This maneuver is best used when you want to wait and see what happens next—if the enemies start targeting you, you can use any of the below airstall techniques to stay slippery, and if they decide to leave you alone you can simply do nothing and land.
- BC~BC~CSA: Brave’s CSA inherits a good amount of inertia, so you can cancel out of the Stand Maneuver into CSA to float upwards a bit while gaining the Nyuukon buff. BC~BC cuts tracking, so even without inputting a sidestep you can use this maneuver as a pseudo backward fuwastep. This puts some distance between you and the enemy, so it is useful for using before landing. Note that you cannot loop this repeatedly as there is not enough time to repeatedly charge CSA.
- BC~BC~B~CSA: This is the main airstall maneuver sequence. This allows you to rise higher than the other maneuvers, and gives you plenty of time to charge up CSA. Note that ending on the BC~BC~B leads to a very long period of rigidity, so ending with that technique is not recommended.
- BC~(A~)AB: This is less of an airstall and more of a cancel route you can use when out of boost. This can only be done when you have Sub ammo.
By using a combination of the above maneuvers, you can stay airstall near indefinitely. The main sequence to loop is [BC~BC~B~CSA~A or AB], with the A or AB being used to expend the Nyuukon charge so you can charge it up again. Note that the window to start the loop again is very wide, so instead of rhythmically performing the loop over and over, it’s better to react to whatever the enemy is doing. You can delay the next loop sequence, guard after CSA or BC~BC, etc. Remember that after the A or AB every attack from that sequence preserves red lock.
Sequences like [A~BC~A~AB~BC~A~AB~BC~BC~B~CSA] mix in both derivatives and cancel routes, allowing you to continue chasing and tracking the enemy. Remember that cancel routes reapply tracking while both cancel routes and derivatives allow you to preserve red lock on enemies that move into green lock range, so the AB and BC parts of the sequence listed above will reapply tracking on enemies that cut tracking. Just note that even if you switch targets during such sequences, you will still continue attacking the first target.
There is an Overheat penalty that kicks in after 25 seconds of airstalling, but under normal circumstances you shouldn’t have to be up there that long.
Recommended Combos
[ ] damage numbers indicate the combo was performed with Nyuukon active.
( ) damage numbers indicate that the combo can be performed in Overheat using direct cancels.
| Ranged Weapons | ||
| Input | DMG | Notes |
| A>>A>>A | 158 [173] | |
| A>>AB~BC~BC~B | 174 [189]
(167 [182]) |
If the enemy is too far away, it can guard in time |
| A>>5BBB | 201 [216] | |
| AB>>A | [170] | |
| AB~BC~A(2hits) | 147 | AB BnB #1 |
| AB~BC~A(1hit)>>AB | 140 (136) | AB BnB #2 |
| Melee | ||
| 5BB(3hits)>5BB(3hits)>A | 258 (295) | Best damage from 5B starter. But only a bit more damage than the below. |
| 5BBB>A | 247 [291] | Recommended 5B combo. This has the best DPS. |
| 8B(2hits)>8B>BC~BC~B | 215 [242] | |
| 4/6BBB>5B~5BC~2BB | 228 [260] | Recommended 4/6B BnB. Good damage with or without Nyuukon. |
| CC8BB>2BB | 235 [269] | CC8B BnB #1 |
| CC9NN>BC~BC~B | 235 [269] | CC8B BnB #2 |
Strategies
- Brave is a unit with access to all-rounder type weapons, including its Main that is useful in many situations, a well-tracking AB, and a gerobi AC for damage. But on top of that, Nyuukon and BC add the extra spice Brave needs to make things interesting.
- If you just look at Brave’s ranged damage numbers, its ranged tools don’t deal very good damage. This means that Brave isn’t suited for drawn out midrange battles with other shooting specialists. At the same time, Brave’s first stage melee performance is also rather poor, making it unsuitable for direct melee confrontations. But this is kind of where the bad news ends—Brave’s BC gives it access to an extremely fast dash and an abundance of cancel routes, allowing it to engage in plays and strategies that no other unit is capable of.
- To put it simply, Brave can close the distance on an enemy anytime in the mid range, and either unleash a gerobi or melee attacks in quick sneak attacks. Its Nyuukon buff also allows it to raise its damage dealt significantly.
- The Brave’s Overheat airstalling maneuver loop is very useful for avoiding punishment or buying time. It is one of the Brave’s biggest unique values, so make sure you get comfortable with using it. However, do ensure that you only use it when absolutely necessary— there’s a time and place for everything.
- A~BC~*B is also a very strong cancel route for Brave, as it allows you to close the gap quickly with BC and follow up on a Main hit with a melee attack even from a great distance away. Just note that the BC dash cannot be canceled out of via traditional means, so if you come into danger en route use the ~BC Stand Maneuver to evade.
- Brave might be amazing with the Nyuukon buff and its buffed AC and melee attacks when canceled from BC, but once you’re out of those buffs you’re noticeably weaker. If your initial charge fails and you find yourself out of options facing down a tough opponent, run with all your might.
- While dashing in with BC, watch out for an enemy sidestepping or cutting tracking. If they do so, any derivative from BC will completely whiff the enemy. If you see an enemy cut tracking, perform any melee attack and sidestep quickly to end the sequence and turn tail.
- BC is a move that is pivotal for success with the Brave. If you use it poorly and too often you will just end up getting your butt kicked, and if you don’t use it enough you won’t be of much use on the battlefield. The best way to land effective BC dashes is to first play a standard shooting battle, and once you see an opening quickly activate Nyuukon and dash in.
- While Brave is great at sneak attacks, it cannot be played like a melee unit that can wildly flail around and get hits, or go for okizeme setups. If you score a down, it’s often in your best interest to simply run away and go assist your teammate.
- When working with a teammate, your partner can easily take down foes that try and counter you by sidestepping when you use BC. In exchange, your partner can force an enemy to spend its boost, leaving it open to punish from your BC. Look for more combinations that put enemies in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario.
- All in all, Brave is a high-risk, high-return unit that requires you to play it true to its namesake. If all goes according to plan, there will be no need for you to sacrifice yourself to save humanity.
- F Burst is the comeback Burst that greatly powers up your melee attacks, and makes your Nyuukon-buffed melee attacks even more powerful.
- E is the standard choice for Brave that has poor self defense. Flipping out after receiving damage and immediately counter attacking with the Burst Attack is also a valid tactic.
- S Burst gives lots of cancel routes, and given Brave’s multitude of shooting attacks they can leave an opponent with nowhere to run. However, because you will be repeatedly bombarding the enemy, there won’t be many chances for you to get your Nyuukon buff up.
- Best Brave partners from best to worst: 3000, 2500, 1500, 2000. Brave generally likes having a partner that can draw attention away from it, giving it the opportunity to get in with sneak attacks.