The intricacies of lightsaber combat can take years—even a lifetime—to master. What novice fans do not realize, however, is that Star Wars lightsaber battles are not just simply two people trying to hit each other with the aid of tactics that are entirely improvised in the moment. Although saber duels may look like chaotic hack-and-slash […]
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The first lightsaber combat form was Shii-Cho, which arose in the era before sabers were widely disseminated throughout the universe. Back then, those who wielded lightsabers usually fought against enemies who were forced to rely on more primitive tools. Therefore, skirmishes involving lightsabers tended to be one-sided affairs: a saber wielder against one or more […]
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Through the ages, various lightsaber combat forms have come into being across the Star Wars universe, in response to deficiencies of earlier forms as well as to changes in traditional battlefield conditions. The first form, Shii-Cho, was created at a time when lightsabers were relatively uncommon, and, because of that scarcity, their wielders held a […]
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Form III, Soresu, emphasizes defense almost to the exclusion of all other aspects of combat. This form, while highly effective within its limits, has the obvious drawback of giving the practitioner few attacking options. During the era when lightsaber combat forms were developed, the limitations of Soresu form soon became apparent, and the form that […]
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The development of the first four lightsaber combat forms can be viewed as a logical progression where each subsequent style attempts to compensate for perceived limitations in the previous one. Form V is where that step-by-step evolution gets disrupted a bit. It was not devised as a response to Form IV Ataru; rather, it is […]
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Form VI, Niman, is all about providing the practitioner with a balanced approach to fighting with combat lightsabers. It is unique among the 7 forms of lightsaber combat in that it does not formulate any new moves or tactics, as it is fundamentally a synthesis of the five previous forms. Hence, Niman contains recognizable elements […]
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The last of the traditional lightsaber combat forms to gain official recognition, Form VII Juyo, is known as “the Ferocity Form” because it enables its practitioner to generate an extremely intense, even rage-filled attack on their opponent. That characteristic makes it remarkably effective on the battlefield—but also remarkably dangerous for Jedi practitioners, as the proper […]
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