"Confident bastard, aren't you?" ~ Kain Highwind guide

[Ghurdrich]

The purpose of this guide is to compile and serve as a hub for all the information that is coming out due to the release of Dissidia 012[duodecim] Final Fantasy, wherein Kain is a playable character. Anyone whose information I use will be credited at the bottom, and as such I would like to see this guide develop based on the Kain community rather than just the input of myself. With all that aside, let's get down to business!

[Ghurdrich]

Kain Highwind - TACTICAL STRIKER
Age: 21/38 (FFIV/TAY)
Birthplace: Baron
Height: 6'
Weight: 134 lbs

"The solitary, gentle-souled dragon knight whose heart lies with the dragons."

Commander Kain Highwind, also spelled Cain, of the Baron Dragoons is a playable character in Final Fantasy IV. He is a Dragoon from the kingdom of Baron, and is Cecil Harvey's childhood friend. He also has feelings for Rosa Joanna Farrell, but he hides them so they do not hinder his relationship with either of the two. Rosa in turn has feelings for Cecil.

(Taken from FFWiki)

[Ghurdrich]

Getting Started:

Kain is a simple, straightforward character that is easy to learn, but a little tougher to master. His unique character ability is that he is able to, after any of his BRV attacks (Minus Cyclone), press the triangle button to "DASH" to the opponent. The longer the button is held, the farther he dashes. This allows you to immediately jump to your opponent's side and keep attacking. You can also hold a direction while dashing to 'lean' in that direction, making it possible to dash to the left/right/top/bottom of the enemy, rather than straight at them (THIS ABILITY IS ANALOG ONLY. WILL NOT WORK ON D-PAD). The downside is that the dash is slow, and by the time you reach your opponent, they also have time to react, making it highly difficult to combo with this ability.

Kain's main focus is aerial, and as such, all of his grounded BRV attacks launch the opponent into the air. Because of this, he is best equipped with abilities that increase his jump height and duration (Since he falls like a rock.) Once in the air, Kain's attacks are very heavy (if slow) and he possesses the ability to sap a large amount of BRV from the foe. His attack range and power is high, which is balanced by the fact that his actual attack speed is average, and most attacks can be blocked on reaction.

In comparison, Kain's HP attacks (Mainly Dragon Fang and JUMP) are quite fast, and they all have great priority. Dragon Fang is fast enough to be able to punish the opponent's recovery, or retaliate after a blocked attack, and generally provides great stability to his HP game.

An excellent summary by Hollowed:

Spoiler:

I've really taken a liking to Kain. He plays a lot like Cecil: slow but with great damage and range, and does best when taking advantage of the environment. Kain's BRV speed is lackluster. Fortunately, he has good range and power. I think he will have difficulty fighting melee characters (somewhat alleviated if you work with the environment) but will shine against mages. Kain needs to position himself properly, use the environment, and constantly move and apply pressure.

Triangle Dash gives Kain a huge boost. It builds Assist meter for dashing while robbing the opponent of distance to do the the same. Closing the gap to combo after an assist is easier. It forces a dodge if combined with an HP, setting up a hit of your assist. The mixup potential is tremendous: dashing off the opponent's screen, attacking, or waiting for a reaction. It also gives Kain several choices in spacing.

Tilting the analog stick when you start the dash determines which direction Kain will lean relative to the opponent. This is fantastic for playing to your opponent's weaknesses. Say the opponent has no attack to punish underneath. Simply Triangle Dash above, hold it until the opponent's wake-up, and let loose a Sky Grinder. You just built a lot of meter, potentially landed an HP, set up for an assist to punish the dodge you forced the opponent to make, and potentially baited the opponent to whiff of which you can punish.

Moving onto the attacks themselves. Kain's BRV attacks are rather straightforward. His aerial attacks can either Chase or Wall Rush. Chase can be canceled immediately for all the EX Force produced by the resulting attack. Wall Rush deals more damage and enables Triangle Dash for more assist meter and sets up for combos. Wall Rush for assists and damage, Chase for EX. It's good to have the choice of which aspect to emphasize as one may be more beneficial against different opponents.

Kain's HPs are rather unique. Jump is an effective spacing and counter tool because it can be dodge canceled if charged and has invincibility on startup. Jump is movable and can be aimed with the analog stick to follow the opponent and guess their dodge. Dragon Fang is a quick Melee HP, meaning it goes through/reflects many attacks and can punish several others after a dodge. For example, Dragon Fang reflects the Emperor's Flare and punishes Tidus's Slice&Dice. Gungnir is easily Kain's most damaging HP, dealing upwards of his BRV attacks on large stages. Sky Grinder and Rising Drive, likewise, deal heavy BRV damage depending on your distance from the floor and ceiling, respectively.

Banish traps improve Kain's BRV game quite a bit. They sap the opponent's BRV naturally, and also boost the number of hits on certain HPs. But oftentimes they cause the actual HP hit to miss. If you want reliability in landing that HP, Dragon Fang fills the niche of low knockback.

Surprisingly, Kain can be quite deadly hovering just near the ground. Ground Dash gives access to his fastest BRV attacks, Jump, and Cyclone. The BRV attacks are great for countering and Jump's defensive, offensive, and spacing features speak for themselves. However, Cyclone is very underrated.

Ground Cyclone boosts Kain just slightly off the ground, enough to leave him aerial for a second. Think Terra's Meteor. Going along with the added choices between ground and aerial attacks, Cyclone gives Kain a huge mixup game. Blocking and dodging are obvious. You also have choices between any of his BRV attacks, and Gungnir or Jump. Another nice quality of Cyclone is that it can be dodge canceled rather fast. I see this being particularly useful against Exdeath to bait counters as you can simply dodge cancel out of them.

I don't have much experience with Kain's EX Mode but I don't believe he can take advantage of EX Revenge that well because his BRV attacks have so many hits that they simply take too long to perform. You can pull off maybe two attacks to an assist? I do see a specific use which I've seen no one mention--combating chippers. As we know, Kain builds BRV really well. Lancet gives him an opportunity to use that large amount of BRV to regen a potentially massive amount of HP. But it won't be easy. You must take advantage of Chase to build EX while simultaneously building BRV. However, the potential is clear. One Lancet and Kain can regen enough HP to negate several HP hits. I see his EX Mode as being able to help against chippers and BRV kings alike: a tactical use of Lancet for chippers and a well timed EX Mode to "Crit Up" Gungnir or the like against BRV kings.

Kain rewards careful planning and constant pressure. You have to work to land your hits but have the choice between several playstles to account for the situation.

A side note on JUMP

As a Dragoon, Kain possesses the ability to JUMP. On the surface, this is a fairly generic HP attack, but several of it's properties make it highly useful, listed below.
- High Priority: JUMP can clash (if not beat out) all other attacks. This, combined with its high speed, makes it ideal for getting out of sticky situations (IE, you're in a corner, and Terra casts Tornado. What do you do? Just JUMP on her and reset the playing field.)
- High Speed: Mainly useful in conjunction with its high priority, but also good for a quick, reactionary attack. The recovery is quite high, but tracking within melee range is decent, and you can very often squeeze a hit in on an opponent's whiffed BRV attack.
- Melee Hitbox: Yep, you can hit them with your initial jump, which stuns them long enough for you to land on their head (Until a certain charge level, at which his hangtime becomes too great). It doesn't need saying, but that means it's a good melee punisher, too.
- Dodge Frames: Yes, JUMP has actual dodge frames! This means that, if timed correctly, it can go right past just about any attack in the game! Combine this with High Speed and High Priority and... Well, you get the idea.
- Camera Angles: JUMP rockets you off of their screen. It's really as simple as that. Makes it incredibly hard to dodge (at least, efficiently. JUMP can generally be avoided just by running around aimlessly)
- Dodge Cancel: If you've charged the move at all, during the hangtime where Kain is at the peak of his jump, you can dodge cancel out, and continue on your merry way. Useful if you see a bad situation waiting for you to land in it. Also useful for gaining height quickly (Functioning like a quick jump).

[Ghurdrich]

Move List

BRV
Land
-Piercing Lance: Dash forward with a stab, continued with several thrusts and finally a backflip that launches the opponent. Can be followed up with CHASE or DASH.
-Cyclone: Kain spins his spear, sending a small globe of air to track the opponent. Launches on hit, though cannot be followed with DASH.
-Spiral Blow: A quick poke the launches the opponent. Causes WALL RUSH. Can be followed up with DASH.

Air
-Thrust Rush: Aerial slashing attack that hits the opponent horizontally, and launches them according to player's directional input. Neutral finish causes WALL RUSH. Can be followed with CHASE or DASH.
-Celeste (Celestial) Shooter: A thrust upwards in the air, launches according to player's directional input. Upwards finish causes WALL RUSH. Can be followed with CHASE or DASH.
-Crash/Crush Dive: A rolling downward attack. Slashes an opponent below. Launches according to directional Input. Downward finish causes WALL RUSH. Can be followed with CHASE or DASH.
-Cyclone: Same as land version.

HP
Land
-Jump: Staple dragoon attack. Can be charged on the ground. Further charge extends range and recovery time. Can deal melee damage+stun on initial jump, HP damage is dealt on landing. Initial jump also has dodge frames. A good counterattack with high priority. See section on JUMP above.
-Dragon Fang: A powerful thrust of Kain's lance. Good range, good speed, good tracking. Aims about 74 degrees up or down, but cannot hit an opponent that is directly above or below. Causes WALL RUSH.

Air
-Dragon Fang: Same as land version
-Gungnir: Throw lance at opponent. Excellent damage and priority, but slow. Continues to hit opponent until they hit a wall, therefore a good move to use when backed against a wall. Obviously, causes WALL RUSH. Also noteworthy is the fact that if Gungnir hits a wall or obstacle before it fades away (and before hitting an opponent) a small explosion triggers, giving it a secondary AoE hitbox. This is useful in stages like Kefka's Tower and Pandemonium, where walls often get in the way of being able to land an HP attack effectively.
-Sky Grinder: Kain flips and falls downward with a thrust. Slow startup, but deals constant BRV damage until they hit the floor, therefore a good move to use near the ceiling. Causes WALL RUSH.
-Rising Drive: Same as Sky Grinder, but upwards instead of down. Hits foe for constant BRV damage until they hit the ceiling, therefore a good move to use near the ground. Causes WALL RUSH.

NOTE: All of Kain's aerial HP Attacks, with the exception of Dragon Fang, work best if you put as much distance between you and the surface you'll be moving towards, because the attack will continue until you reach that surface for WR, racking up a lot of Bravery in the process.

[Ghurdrich]

EX MODE - Holy Dragoon

Abilities:
Regen - We all know what this does by now, right? HP gradually goes up while in EX mode.
Critical up - Everybody gets this one in Duodecim. In EX mode, you have a higher chance of dealing criticals.
Lancet (R+[]) - Kain sends his spear into the ground, which comes up right under the opponent. Pretty standard as far as HP attacks go, but absorbs HP, giving Kain back vitality equal to the damage dealt. Oddly enough, can be followed up with DASH.

EX BURST: Pride of Dragoon!
Kain rockets into the air, preparing for a deadly jump. While he launches, a button is displayed which you must mash. The button changes about one third of the way through, and then again at two thirds.
Succesful bursts result in a jump all the way to the moon and one very powerful attack for heavy damage.
Failed bursts result in a jump to the sky (no moon) and one semi-powerful attack for moderate damage.

[Ghurdrich]

COMBOS:

I'm going to refrain from posting combos until the game proper comes out. After all, there is a lot of discrepency between what can be used on AI, and what can be used on humans. Not to mention the fact that the AI is kind of random on what they want to escape from.

[Ghurdrich]

ASSIST:

Since only Cecil is available to assist in the demo, I'll start with him.

CECIL HARVEY - An excellent assist overall, and amazing when paired with Kain. Kain's biggest hurdle is being able to land his heavy hits, but with Cecil's Radiant Wings, that hurdle effectively disappears. Shadow Lance is a bit more questionable in its usefulness, since it sends opponents away, and that's not where we want them. As for HP assists, Kain doesn't really need much help landing HP attacks, least of all from Cecil.

[Ghurdrich]

CREDITS:

Thanks primarily to everyone who's been contributing valuable information to the discussion in the Kain section: Viva L'Empereur, majiger, Xeltos, K'Genesis, TWOxACROSS, ujhbn, Fullmetal, Speedforce, and Hollowed!

Thanks also to Square, for finally putting the character I actually wanted to play into Dissidia

[Ghurdrich]

As a final note, EVERYTHING in this guide is subject to change, and WILL BE CHANGED immediately. This means that there will be a lot of change on the full release of the game. If anyone has any additions, or changes (or if anything is outstandingly wrong) please feel free to PM me, and I will change it as soon as I can.

Lastly, the images will be back when I can be bothered to rework them into a scheme that works (Yes, I realized how terrible it clashes when it was all put together. I blame alcohol.) But for now it's text. If you see this guide pop up on some other site without proper credit given, please notify me here.