Deadlock Dashes (and how to make use of 'em) transcript

Hi, I'm Leif. This video will primarily focus on the difference between grounded and aerial dashes. Dashes in Dead Light currently have three speeds referred to as buckets. Bucket one is the fastest, three is the slowest. These speed differences exist for both air and ground dashes with the exception that dash jumps and slide cancels set the character's velocity to the same value no matter which bucket they're from. A grounded dash can be canceled early with a dash jump or at any time with a slide.

Sliding out of a grounded dash ordinarily prevents jumping until the slide is complete. It can go up or down slopes and also over some small obstacles. When started, grounded dashes reset existing velocity. They always result in the same velocity. Air dashing prevents the character from gaining or losing altitude for the duration of the dash. During [music] the dash, the character quickly accelerates over a short duration.

Unlike grounded dashes, air dashing influences existing velocity allowing better acceleration when angling away from the direction the character's moving. I already have some deeper dives on this angling in my air strafing series. At the end of an air dash, 20% of the character's current velocity above 480 is removed. This is an air drag penalty, so it's prevented by the zip line crouch window. Following the buffering changes at the start of this year, there's a new way to avoid this penalty, instant air dash.

IAD or instant air dash is an air dash performed as close to the ground as possible. A perfect IAD is done by inputting jump and dash simultaneously. When done across flat ground and holding crouch, the resulting slide will occur before the air drag penalty keeping more of your velocity into the slide. Only IAD directly into a slide on a level surface can bypass the air drag penalty. Even very small elevation changes can prevent this from working properly.

To perform an IAD successfully from slides also requires letting go of the crouch input adding another tight timing to the sequence. Executing true IADs does require sliding. Hopping afterward doesn't avoid the air drag penalties. The only time you should go for a hop after is when you're doing another IAD immediately. IADs can stack fairly well this way, but they're much less efficient than including slides. It is possible to input them when landing at the same time as a B hop, basically hopping into an IAD instead.

An IAD can also be used to wall boost increasing its acceleration by strafing into a wall with the dash. Grounded dashes can be canceled at any time using a slide. To jump out of the slide, two crouching boots can be done in sequence. Binding crouch to scroll wheel makes scrolling even once during a dash cancel it with no animation allowing a regular slide or jump to be started instantly. Recently dash canceling into a jump has been referred to as a short hop.

Dash canceling, while very useful, can never exceed the velocity of the character's grounded dash. This makes it naturally more useful for bucket one characters than bucket three. They miss out on the regular boost they would get from crouching out of a dash. This can be important if the lockout could be avoided with a slope instead. A dash hop, which is a frame perfect jump at the end of a dash, is better than a short hop for raw distance.

Learning to dash hop also allows chaining the dash into a true IAD. Short hops can't chain into an IAD at full speed this way because the crouch input delays the input buffering. So, which one is best? This is a very situational question to break down. Because dashes are always a set velocity, they're generally much more useful when stationary and less so when already moving. Without any items, grounded dashes are better than IAD from a standstill, but this changes with stamina mastery.

When reversing direction, IAD becomes much worse. When moving toward or even down a slope, a grounded dash can ignore the jump lockout on a slide automatically while an IAD you always get air dragged. Going uphill, I E D isn't even possible. Across flat ground in a direction we're already moving, I E D is a clear winner, especially when angled correctly. With a wall to strafe into, an I E D is usually better, even if you can't avoid the air drag penalty.

An exception to this could be using a short hop to get an edge boost on the wall when you're near the end. So, whenever I'm asked, "Should I ground a dash or I E D?" the answer's always both. Only doing one or the other will always be sub-optimal. Thanks for watching, and may your stamina usage result in even more speed.