animation cancelling is core to naraka, it allows you to:

• have more control over your character.
• carry out actions quicker.
• spend less time in vulnerable states.
• do a lot of cool* stuff

animation of one action is cancelled and replaced by startup animation of the next action. the startup frames of the second action becomes the delay between the two.

categories

some actions share the same time windows, and can be thought of as a group.

• grapple
• jump, crouch & dodge
• parry (& quick parry)
• weapon swap/sheath
• equipment
• directional movement
• abilites

grappling

only action that can cancel almost every weapon and movement animation at any point of their animation.

there are exceptions to this, mainly focus attacks, a few are:

• dagger f.V
• greatsword f.V

uses are limited by its slow speed.

jump, crouch, dodge & parry

these four actions share roughly the same time windows. can cancel recovery animations of attacks, dodges & parries. quick parry inputs crouch when a composite parry isn't possible.

weapon swap & sheathe

can cancel attack animations' aesthetic animation; not during recovery. can cancel crouch and dodge at any point in their animation. dodge/crouch into weapon swap/sheath is still extremely fast. weapon swap & sheathe can be done during jumps, but doesn't cancel the jump.

equipment

can cancel attack animations' aesthetic animation; not during recovery. repair can cancel dodges at any point in their animation. armor powder and vitalia can be consumed at any point during a dodge, but won't animation cancel.

abilities

generally, abilities can cancel animations during recovery. this may vary since abilities have unique properties.

movement (directional)

very useful in cancelling aesthetic animations without performing an extra action. used in many combos; those few frames are the difference between true and fake!

framerate

seems like lower framerates cause animations to cancel later, which adds up over time. noticeably slower at 30 & 60 fps. it's also harder to time cancels since the earliest frame to cancel varies. some cancels can be buffered, this helps tremendously at lower framerates; cancels that can't be buffered are unreliable.