Dissidia 012 [duodecim]: Final Fantasy Yuna Character Guide by Pokefan362/Jirachi Table of Contents I. Introduction II. About Yuna III. Yuna's Attacks IV. Yuna in a Nutshell V. Recommended Abilities and Builds VI. Recommended Assists and Combos VII. VS Yuna Quotes VIII. Character Matchups IX. Contacting Me X. History XI. Credits I. Introduction Hello, some information about me. My username on GameFAQs is Pokefan362, though I am also known as Jirachi. My normal PSN is Jirachi362. I live in California of the United States and am a proud mainer of the summoner Yuna. Some of you may remember that I used to main Terra. However, given her nerfs in this game, I have sadly decided to move on and dedicate my time to practicing and using Yuna instead. I also made a Terra guide back in the days of Dissidia: Final Fantasy after winning the Dissidia Forums tournament KAoS, but it never got accepted because there was already a bigger one back when I decided. Final Fantasy X is my first and also my favorite Final Fantasy game, and given that Yuna was my favorite of the heroes in that game, it's natural I would try and use her in this game. Fortunately, she clicked with me and has become a very enjoyable main. Although she may be considered a boring character by some, her varied attacks and impressive melee range are very appealing to my playstyle and I hope that more people can enjoy her as well. Unlike other characters in this game, she uses summons in this game to fight for her rather than directly attacking the opponent herself, resulting in some pretty flashy attacks. I have a good amount of PvP experience using Yuna so I am fairly confident that my information will be useful to aspiring Yuna players, although practicing her on your own would be the best method for improving. Although I find Yuna's rarity among the new (or rather, old) fighters to be second only to Laguna, she is rest assured a decent, competent character in all levels of play. II. About Yuna *Major Spoiler Warning for the Dissidia 012 Story Mode and Final Fantasy X* In Dissidia 012, Yuna is one of the six playable characters featured in Scenario 012. She is a veteran of the war and is a chosen warrior of Cosmos. In her scenario, she travels with Jecht and attempts to unlock the crystals given to them by Cosmos, in an effort to defeat the God of Discord Chaos. However, they get harassed by manikins and separated. In an attempt to call Jecht, she whistles for him but instead is found by one of Chaos's warriors, Tidus. Although Tidus has no recollection of Yuna, he nevertheless warns Yuna about the manikins and does not attempt to assault her. Yuna follows Tidus, for she remembers the pilgrimage they took together. She finally catches up to him and also finds Jecht at Dream's End, stopping them from fighting each other. Emperor Mateus Palamecia suddenly appears and attempts to assault Yuna, causing Tidus to instinctively defend her and taking a fatal blow for himself. While Yuna combats the Emperor in battle, Jecht gives away his power to treat the unconscious Tidus and gets taken away by the Emperor to be used as a pawn for Chaos in future wars. Later on, Yuna is one of the six warriors to travel to the Land of Discord and gives her life to seal the door to the Rift, cutting off Chaos's forces from any more Manikin reinforcements. Her fate after the battle is unknown, but neither she, nor the other warriors who perished in the fighting, has returned for the 13th cycle. In Final Fantasy X, Yuna is a summoner and daughter of the late High Summoner Braska. She has a blue eye and a green eye, as the daughter of an Al Bhed mother and a Yevonite father. Her mother was killed by Sin, and her father gave his life to temporarily put an end to Sin. Although she was born in Bevelle, she was taken to Besaid by the Ronso Kimahri at the behest of her father, in hopes that she will grow up to have a peaceful lifestyle. Although Kimahri attempts to leave after his mission is complete, she pleads for the Ronso to stay with her and also befriends Lulu and Wakka in the village. Eventually she also resolves to be a Summoner just like her father, against the wishes of her friends. After completing her training, she obtains the Aeon Valefor from Besaid Temple and sets off on her pilgrimage to pray at the temples of Yevon with Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri as her guardians. On the ship to Kilika, she witnesses Sin destroy much of the village and performs a Sending dance to put the souls of the deceased at rest. She prays at Kilika Temple and obtains the Aeon Ifrit and takes another boat ride to Luca, Spira's largest city and home of the annual Blitzball tournament. However, she becomes kidnapped by the Al Bhed, but is swiftly rescued by Tidus, Lulu, and Kimahri. After the Blitzball tournament at Luca, she reunites with her father's guardian, Auron, who also becomes one of her guardians. She also meets Seymour, the leader of the Guado and a Maester of Yevon from whom she would later receive a marriage proposal at Guadosalam. She makes her way through the Mi'ihen Highroad and gets caught up in Operation Mi'ihen, an attempt to lure and kill Sin using forbidden Machina (machines). Although the plan failed, she and her party survive and continue on to pray at Djose, receiving the Aeon Ixion. At the Moonflow, while taking a shoopuff ride, she is once again kidnapped by Al Bhed and is held in an underwater machine, subsequently destroyed by Tidus and Wakka. On the other side of the Moonflow, she meets the Al Bhed Rikku, which is (unknowingly to Yuna) the pilot of the underwater machine and also her cousin. They move on to Guadosalam, home of the Guado, where she is invited by Seymour into his mansion and receives a marriage proposal from him. At first she is uncertain, but after receiving information that Seymour has murdered his father, she decides to go through with the marriage and have him confess to his deeds. However, she finds her guardians confronting Seymour at Macalania Temple and works with them to kill him with the support of her new Aeon, Shiva. Before she may send him, however, she and her guardians are discovered by Tromell and the other Guados and are forced to flee Macalania Temple. After obtaining the Aeons Ifrit, Ixion, and Shiva, she gets kidnapped by the Al Bhed who do not wish to have summoners sacrifice themselves for a temporary peace and later gets taken by Seymour and the Guado in an invasion of the Al Bhed Home. She is forced to wed Seymour but manages to escape from him, even with her guardians at gunpoint, and obtains the Aeon Bahamut. However, she gets recaptured along with the rest of the party and is thrown into Via Purifico to die. She finds Auron, Lulu, and Kimahri and finds her way out of the dungeon, defeating another summoner called Isaaru. They reunited with Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku and defeat the unsent Seymour in his new form, Seymour Natus, and escapes from Bevelle. While spending the night at Macalania Woods, she shares a special moment with Tidus in the lake. The party moves on to the Calm Lands the next morning and advances towards Mt. Gagazet. Once there, she is stopped by the leader of the Ronso and Maester of Yevon, Kelk Ronso. However, her resolute will convinces the Ronso to let her pass their mountain. At the summit, the party once again meets Seymour, who has killed much of the Ronso on the mountain and attacks them in his new Seymour Flux form. After a hard battle, they defeat Seymour and make their way to the ruins of Zanarkand. Once there, she discovers that she has to sacrifice not only herself, but one of her guardians to serve as the Fayth for the Final Aeon. With some persuasion from Tidus, she refuses and sends Yunalesca even after Yunalesca's warning that she will have doomed Spira. In her parting words, Yunalesca also mentions the name of Yu Yevon. Yuna seeks out the last Maester of Yevon, Mika, for information about it. However, Mika berates her for sending Yunalesca and sends himself, having lost all hope of Sin being defeated, but not before telling her the truth of Sin's rebirth. The party makes a plan go inside Sin and defeat the Final Aeon Jecht, as well as its summoner Yu Yevon, once and for all. Inside, they also meet Seymour, who they defeat for a final time as Seymour Omnis and send to the Farplane. However, the death of Sin means the disappearance of the Fayth and of Tidus, who is only a dream of the Fayth. Though saddened by the loss of Tidus, they have succeeded in ending a thousand years of terror under the threat of Sin and brought about an Eternal Calm. III. Yuna's Attacks Ground BRV: Meteor Strike "Ifrit! Fists of Hellfire!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 19F Type: Physical [Physical/Magical in EX] Priority: Melee Low [Melee Low/Ranged Low in EX] Damage Multiplier: 10 20 (30) [10 [5, 10] 20 (45)] EX Force: 30 Property: Wall Rush Comments: Meteor Strike is Yuna's quickest and most basic ground BRV move, and it's a very useful one. Yuna should be played on the ground at times, as well as the air, as her ground and air game both have their advantages. Meteor Strike consists of one swift Ifrit claw swipe, and then a second swipe that wall rushes once your first one hits. However, Ifrit actually tracks the opponent and has deceptive vertical and horizontal range, able to hit even enemies a good distance above you. Although 19 Frames isn't incredibly quick, Ifrit is still very hard to avoid on reaction and it has very low cooldown, making it a safe "get out" move for the ground. Like many of Yuna's moves, Ifrit can be easily chained to a fast assist if you don't complete the move. After the first claw swipe, summon a quick assist like Gilgamesh or Kuja, and your opponent should get hit by the assist allowing you to follow up for even more damage. In EX Mode, Meteor Strike is accompanied by Shiva's Heavenly Strike attack. This adds even more vertical range to the attack and naturally, more damage as well. Heavenly Strike and Meteor Strike have different hitboxes, so you may initially hit with only one attack and not both. The attacks also have different priorities and properties, so you need to be able to recognize them separately. The startup for the two happens at roughly the same time, although as the attacks progress, the last hit will be Ifrit's second attack as shown in the damage multiplier box. That means that this attack will attempt to wall rush your opponent forward, and not ground rush. After the first hit of this attack, it is similarly possible to chain an assist to the attack regardless of which (or both) attacks actually connect against the opponent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aerospark "Ixion! Lightning...strike." CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: 27 Startup Frame: 27F Type: Physical/Magical Priority: Melee Mid/Ranged Low Damage Multiplier: 3x4 5x6 (42) [3x4 [10x2] 5x6 (62)] EX Force: 90 Property: Chase Comments: Aerospark is Yuna's main reason to go on the ground for combat, and it also serves as Yuna's strongest BRV move when used correctly. Aerospark is basically a mid-ranged charge with Ixion's horn in front of Yuna, and you can follow it up with 1-6 disc-like bolts if the initial attack connects. The longer you wait, the more bolts Ixion fires, and it only fires 6 bolts a moment before it's too late to follow up. A good way to determine when to press the button again is to watch Ixion's light at the end of its horn. Once the light thins out and becomes horizontal, Ixion should fire 6 bolts. 27F isn't incredibly fast, but it's still kind of tricky to react to and, given its range and safety, makes it an incredibly good move to punish dodges or even to throw out randomly. Aerospark's vertical range increases the further it goes, reaching an astonishing vertical level at the end of its charge. Aerospark's Risk-Reward ratio is very good for several reasons. The first is that it's priority is Melee Mid, meaning that it staggers opponents even if they block it. Unlike most Melee Mid moves, opponents are safe from this attack if they block it. However, if Yuna is close enough, she can dodge cancel the attack and call out a Meteor Strike to hit the opponent in their blockstun, or she can summon an assist to take advantage of the staggered opponent. The second reason is that Yuna herself is way behind Ixion. Even if the opponents do successfully avoid the charge, they should not be in a position to punish her at all because she's too far away for any swift moves to connect. The third reason is Aerospark's low cooldown. Combined with Yuna's ending position, this makes punishing Aerospark almost impossible to accomplish as she can dodge cancel this quickly. If you are on the ground with Yuna, this move can be spammed and you'd do well to take advantage of it. In EX-Mode, Yuna floats up vertically (and slightly forward) rather than being directly behind Ixion and Bahamut also jumps out above Ixion at the peak of its attack, granting this move even greater vertical range and damage. One disadvantage of Yuna's EX movement is that her new aerial position does not allow her to dodge and punish the opponent in blockstun directly. If the opponent gets staggered by this move, you will need to rely on assist to deal damage. Another disadvantage is that moving you into the air does not allow you to spam this or Yuna's other ground moves as easily, which can throw you off. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Energy Blast "Valefor! Release!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 39F [45 F (15F)] Type: Magical [Magical/Physical] Priority: Ranged Low [Ranged Low/Melee Low] Damage Multiplier: "7 each"[20 "7 each"] EX Force: 0 (yeah seriously) Property: None Comments: Energy Blast is Yuna's ground projectile move. It consists of Valefor releasing a spread of 5 projectiles in front of you that home in on any target in range. It generally deals weak damage, can be easily dashed, doesn't have all that much range, and has no combo potential whatsoever. However, it can be used as a slight pressure tool. Generally only one of the orbs will manage to hit the target, as they spread out the further they go from Yuna, but when used point blank ALL of them can hit the target, resulting in sizable damage. However, such occasions are rare and a pleasant surprise. In EX, Energy Blast features quick Ifrit claw swipe at point-blank range. Although it's mostly useless, it can serve to repel foes who manage to get in really close (still, if they are close enough to get hit, why the heck are you even using this move?). Personally, I think that this is not worth equipping. Energy Blast isn't totally useless, but it's a pretty bad projectile and has an aerial counterpart that is much more versatile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air BRV: Heavenly Strike "Shiva! Strike down!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 11F [11F (19F)] Type: Magical [Magical/Physical] Priority: Ranged Low [Ranged Low/Melee Low] Damage Multiplier: 4 6 12 (22) [4 [4] 6 [4 4] 12 (34)] EX Force: 30 Property: Wall Rush Comments: Heavenly Strike is Yuna's insanely fast aerial move. It has a very unusual priority, being a Ranged Low move. It consists of a small burst of ice at the opponent's position, followed by a second burst and an icicle drop that slams the opponent downwards. Given its great speed and safety, this is one of Yuna's most useful moves. Despite its subpar horizontal range and downwards range, Heavenly Strike has incredible upwards range, which allows it to hit on opponents far above you that can't do anything. Because of Heavenly Strike's speed, it makes a great close-ranged punisher and can intercept or punish any reckless actions your opponent might make. It's Yuna's primary aerial tool for assist building, and you should whiff this if you feel safe doing so and need the assist. Despite is relatively low amount of damage, Heavenly Strike has great combo potential, much like many of Yuna's other moves. After the first two hits of Heavenly Strike, you may summon a quick assist to hold the opponent and open up greater damage opportunities, even if you can't/don't want to floor rush by completing the attack. However, by virtue of its Ranged Low priority, Heavenly Strike cannot be used as offensively or defensively as other swift moves like Hop Step or Double Cut. Dashes, blocks, and any Melee-priority attacks (or those with Magic Block properties) will easily break Heavenly Strike which puts Yuna in great danger. Due to this, it's best to keep Heavenly Strike as a punisher and a shock tactic to throw out when the opponent can't do anything (or much) to you. Another neat trick with Heavenly Strike is to use it over a thin ceiling, because it can actually go above things to try and attack your opponent. It spawns where they are. In EX Mode, Heavenly Strike gains a number of advantages and disadvantages. Ixion will begin to complement Shiva's attacks with his horn. On a successful hit, this will lead to more damage, although it still ends with a floor rush and can be comboed into an assist. If opponents manage to block or otherwise avoid Heavenly Strike's initial hitbox, Ixion also has a chance to attack them, but typically it only hits the places that Heavenly Strike goes. A disadvantage of the accompaniment is that if opponents tap block both Shiva and Ixion, you will get staggered, which reduces the move's safety. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic Wings "Valefor! Ascend!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: 12 Startup Frame: 27F Type: Physical Priority: Melee Low Damage Multiplier: 5x4 15 (35) [5x4 [2x4 10] 10 (48)] EX Force: 90 [30] Property: Chase [Wall Rush] Comments: Sonic Wings is Yuna's basic, long-ranged aerial move. Although it's not an incredibly fast move, only having the same startup frames as Aerospark, it is still a very useful move and not always easy to react to. In this move, Valefor twirls around and then blows the enemy away with a powerful gust of wind. It has very, very good horizontal range and a little bit of vertical range as well. Due to its amazing horizontal range, Sonic Wings is a very good punisher for slower moves that the opponent whiffs and can also dodge punish foes to a decent extent. Due to the fact that Yuna does not move with her Aeon, this move can be used to get around many trap-like attacks such as Knight's Lance and Thunder Crest, being able to attack without putting her physical body near the opponent. Another useful application of this move is to take a dashing opponent by surprise, or simply to pressure an opponent. Although you should be using this move often, it's best to be cautious with it as it can be sometimes guarded on reaction if you just throw it out of nowhere. Like many of Yuna's moves, this move can also be chained into an assist. After the initial twirl, you may summon a fast assist to take advantage of the opponent's stun time and use it to rack up even more damage. In EX Mode, Bahamut spawns on top of Valefor and attacks with her. This gives the attack move upwards range and increases the damage of the move, although Bahamut's presence will remove the chase function of this move and replace it with a powerful wall rush. This also generates less EX-Force, as you can tell. Similarly to the normal version of the move, this can be chained into an assist if you don't complete the attack. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Impulse "Bahamut! Cascading strength!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 39F uncharged, 58F Charge Time, 11F Release Type: Magical Priority: Ranged Low Damage Multiplier: 10 uncharged, 5 each charged [10 uncharged, 5 each charged [10]] EX Force: 0 Property: None Comments: Impulse is Yuna's projectile move in the air. To be honest, it's quite weak, slow, and terribly easy to avoid with no combo potential when uncharged. It consists of Bahamut firing off a slow-moving energy ball directly at the opponent (uncharged) or four scattered energy balls that converge on the enemy (charged). The uncharged version is faster and can be used to put on the pressure on opponents if you don't feel like getting in close, but the charged version has greater damage potential in exchange for being more situational and hard-to-use. The charged version leaves a blind spot in front of Bahamut, so if opponents are dashing in front of him when he releases the orbs, they'll just go around the enemy. Neither version has a terribly large amount of range, but they are the best Yuna has in terms of projectile and, being an air move, far more versatile than Energy Blast. In EX, only the charged version of the move is affected. The blind spot in the center left by the charged Impulse is covered with a quick, powerful Energy Blast orb from Valefor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ground HP: Energy Ray "Guide us with your light!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 59F Type: N/A Priority: Ranged High Damage Multiplier: N/A EX Force: 60 Property: None Comments: Energy Ray is Yuna's first ground HP move and it's a pretty good one. Energy Ray is basically a move that punishes careless actions with a long- ranged and vertically tall trail of explosions. Due to the range of Energy Ray, it is generally a safe move for Yuna to throw out, so do it when you predict a dodge or other move that can be punished by Energy Ray. Despite how the beam looks, it only dips down slightly if you let it go an edge, so this can be used to hit an opponent off the ground as well. Once the explosion hits the opponent, they get knocked vertically, and the hitstun is just enough for a fast assist to hit the opponent at the peak of their ascent. It may take a bit of practice to get the timing down, as it also depends on the assist, but it's not very strict so you should be able to do it very consistently once you know how. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hellfire "Show your flames!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: 8 Startup Frame: 37F Type: Physical Priority: Melee High (Claw)/Ranged High (Pillars) Damage Multiplier: 10 (10) EX Force: 60 - 150 (depends on number of pillars that hit) Property: None Comments: Hellfire is Yuna's other ground HP move and it serves a different function than Energy Ray. In addition to being faster, Hellfire is a more close-ranged move and covers a wide area in front of Yuna rather than a long, straight line. If you hit with Ifrit's claw while it goes down, minor damage is also inflicted upon the enemy. Hellfire's pillars seem to go even higher than that of Energy Ray, and the fact that it, like Energy Ray, tracks opponents before attacking, means that this makes makes Hellfire a close- ranged punisher of careless actions and an anti-air move, being both more effective and safer than Energy Ray when used at close-range. It's also fast enough to be able to catch unsuspecting opponents off-guard on occasion. Once the opponents get launched by the pillars, do activate an assist to deal even more damage with similar timing as Energy Ray. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Air HP: Thor's Hammer "Pierce the darkness. End this." CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: Initial Startup Frame: 49F Type: Magical Priority: Ranged High Damage Multiplier: 2x5 (10) EX Force: 90 Property: Absorb Comments: Thor's Hammer is...well, really, it's a pretty bad move for PvP. It's a slow close-ranged punisher with a large amount of cooldown. However, I have to admit it is a lot better than certain other dodge punishers. The Absorb effect and the inherent tracking on Ixion forces opponent dodges to be accurate. However, once your opponent has successfully gotten the timing of the dodge down, it's very hard to hit with it outside of a corner and most every character in the game can punish this if they do it correctly. Although it has a lot more range and tracking than the next move I'm going over, the lack of speed, safety, and wall rush on this move makes this quite outclassed, so I would not recommend equipping it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diamond Dust "Freeze them now! Please!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: 19 Startup Frame: 21F Type: Magical Priority: Ranged High Damage Multiplier: 2x5 (10) EX Force: 90 Property: None Comments: Diamond Dust is a great standalone HP attack for Yuna. Its speed makes it one of the faster HP attacks in the game and it also has decent range, duration, cooldown, and tracking. All this combined makes Diamond Dust a great move to catch people like Squall or Jecht right in the middle of their attacks, as they'll be stopped the moment their physical bodies come into contact with the ice field. Furthermore this (and Thor's Hammer) are the only HP options that Yuna has out of assist chase that don't depend on the terrain. Use this move to trap dashing or attacking opponents off-guard and follow it up with an assist once Shiva sends them at the peak of their ascent, much like with Hellfire and Energy Ray. The use of this move depends on the character you are facing, however. You will not be using this on a character like Lightning or Ultimecia the same ways you'll be using it against Jecht or Prishe. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mega Flare "Burn everything in sight!" CP: 30 (15) Level Obtained: 36 Startup Frame: 63F Type: Magical Priority: Melee High Damage Multiplier: 2x8 (16) EX Force: 24 Property: Wall Rush Comments: Megaflare is a move known for killing the AI through spamming. In PvP, Megaflare cannot be used that way, but it's still a very useful move when used right, especially for comboing. Megaflare causes Bahamut to spawn below Yuna and release a long beam directed at the opponent. Because Yuna is placed on top of the beam, and because the beam is relatively long-ranged, this move is safer than most other types of "dodge punishing" moves like Grand Lethal and Thor's Hammer. The long range of the beam as well as the initial vertical tracking of the move also allows you to punish opponents from much farther away, and this can be quite useful for catching opponents who display a pattern with their dodging or whom are placed on the ground. In combos, this is Yuna's only HP that wall rushes (outside of Chase HP, naturally) so it's useful in combos to deal a bit of extra damage to the opponent. Certain assists allow Yuna to easily Megaflare the opponent, but note that the only way that Megaflare works out of an assist chase is if the opponent is already on the ceiling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EX-Burst: To the Farplane "Sins of time eternal. I will cast them away." Damage Multiplier: Initial = 3 4 5 6 7 (25) 5 10 7 9 4 12 6 11 3 8 (75) = Total (100) when Perfect IV. Yuna in a Nutshell Due to her lack of decent ranged options, Yuna needs to get in relatively close in order for her to deal damage, making her a melee fighter. However, compared to many of the other melee fighters in this game, Yuna has some impressive advantages. Sonic Wings and Aerospark are far more long-ranged than anything most other melee fighters can come up with, making her effective at punishing and zoning out her opponents with melee. Heavenly Strike's vertical range is also a large part of her zoning game, allowing her to strike at most enemies in positions where they cannot reasonably do anything about it and thus making her a great punisher-type character. She also has more varied ways to strike at opponents than most other fighters, and you will need to use many of her options in a single match in order to win. She has no spam move, basically, but she does have great options you will need to learn to utilize in order to beat difficult opponents. Other than that, Yuna is a relatively safe character in most of her actions and has great combo and damage potential, being able to chain an assist to nearly all her attacks. Her standalone HP game also stands far above what most other characters have, allowing her to be a decent chipper when she needs to be and affording her even more options in battle. Yuna's weakness, however, stems from a lack of a decent ranged game. Against opponents with a decent long-ranged move, Yuna will need to go up to them in order to stop them, and that generally puts her at a disadvantage. All in all, Yuna is a relatively well-rounded character that doesn't seem to have really good or bad matchups against most of the cast. V. Recommended abilities and builds This section lists all essential abilities that any Yuna player should probably have as well as a generic build example. Before anyone assumes, I do not necessarily use only the abilities I recommend nor is my usual build even going to be listed here. Recommended Action Abilities: Ground Evasion - Staple for almost all characters Midair Evasion - See above Ground Block - See above Midair Block - See above Aerial Recovery/Auto-Recovery - See above Controlled Recovery - See above Wall Jump - 0 CP, no negative effects Free Air Dash - Yuna is a character that likes using close to mid-ranged attacks and acts as somewhat of a rushdown character, making Free Air Dash, with its vertical tracking, recommended for Yuna over Omni Air Dash+. Multi Air Slide(+) - Allows Yuna to run away and move more freely in the air than if you were just to equip Free Air Dash. While it doesn't offer the control of Omni Air Dash+, it suffices. Assist Gauge Up Dash - Incredibly important skill that lets you gain Assist while pressuring opponents with Free Air Dash. Evasion Boost - Only 10 CP and increases dodge frames, helping you greatly in dodging attacks. Recommended Support Abilities: Always Target Indicator - 0 CP, doesn't hurt EX Core Lock On - See above Assist Lock On (or Auto Assist Lock On) - See above, Auto is if you can't manually lock on to assists very fast. Recommended Extra Abilities: Counterattack - Commonly activated Sneak Attack - Commonly activated Riposte - Commonly activated Assist Critical Boost - Commonly activated Disable ___ - Disables one of your opponent's powerful crit abilities. Matchup-based, you should generally use Sneak Attack however, as that's how opponents usually hit you by punishing one of your dodges or using assist chase. EXP to ___- Based on preference and build. There are many other abilities Yuna can make use of, but the ones I've listed are pretty much the ones you should almost always have equipped. Now, time for an example build. Example Build A: Spira's Hope Lufenian Shield Lufenian Cap Lufenian Robes --------------------------- Hyper Ring Dismay Shock Battle Hammer HP < 50% Large Gap in HP Pre-EX Mode Pre-EX Revenge (Opp) HP < 50% Tenacious Attacker Glutton -------------------------- This build makes use of some common multipliers and basic accessories, allowing you to do a bit of extra damage and chip at the opponent's bar with every HP hit. The final two accessories allow you to hog much of the EX-Force and get to EX more quickly than your opponent. VI. Recommended Assists and Combos Kuja: Kuja is generally accepted as the best all-around assist in the game and Yuna can indeed take very good advantage of Kuja. Using Kuja's Strike Energy (air BRV assist) off of a wall rush or one of Yuna's mid-attack assists while you are nearby will allow you to sneak in one button press of Sonic Wings before the opponent gets launched into assist chase, at which point you are free to take your pick of Sonic Wings (for BRV damage and chase) or Diamond Dust (for HP damage). Furthermore, Kuja's Strike Energy is fast and can allow you to punish many moves and even dodges in addition to being used as a purely offensive combo tool. While on the ceiling, you can even follow up the assist chase with a swift Megaflare for Wall Rush HP damage. On the ground, Kuja's Snatch Blow (ground BRV assist) can also be very useful. Although it's slower, any floor rushed opponent will remain there for long enough to get hit by Kuja's attack, after which Kuja shall hold them in place with his orbs before launching them for an assist chase. After Kuja's second hit, you may use a button press of a Sonic Wings or Diamond Dust to deal extra damage before the assist chase, much like with Kuja's air assist. However, Yuna has an even more powerful combo utilizing Kuja's ground assist. Yuna may use Megaflare while Kuja traps the opponent with Snatch Blow. If the Megaflare launches the opponent into a nearby wall, Kuja will still be able to launch them for the assist chase and grant you another clean attack, granting you both a wall rush HP hit AND a critical-filled Sonic Wings or Diamond Dust. Even if there isn't a wall nearby, it's still possible to successfully utilize both Megaflare and while still going into the assist chase, but since Snatch Blow has to connect before Megaflare launches the enemy out of Kuja's range, the timing can be insanely strict. Thus, it should not be relied upon. It will take some practice to get the direction and timing of Megaflare correctly, even WITH walls nearby, but it's worth learning this powerful and cool combo, Jecht: Jecht is yet another big name in the assist world and he functions somewhat differently from Kuja. Like Kuja, Jecht can be used as a combo continuer and a punisher for careless actions. Jecht is less versatile and harder to use, yet he does have some advantages apart from Kuja. First of all, his assist attacks have a small hitbox compared to Kuja's, so it takes stricter timing to land him in a mid-attack combo. His Jecht Stream (air assist) holds the opponent in place for a while and then slams them downward. Provided he slams them into the floor, your options are very much open as you can Megaflare opponents into a wall or chain an Aerospark for even more damage, However, if there isn't a floor below the opponent, Jecht can STILL be powerful but he becomes harder to combo off of. One good option is to predict the trajectory in which Jecht will slam them, and move there and perform a Sonic Wings. If you time it and space it just right, opponents will fall into Valefor and receive the full brunt of both attacks. With far stricter timing and spacing, I have also found it possible for enemies to fall into Diamond Dust. You can also steal the opponent from Jecht using several methods. Depending on the time you have, Megaflare can also be used because it will push enemies to the front of the beam and away from Jecht's finishing slam. This is mainly used if you want a Wall Rush HP attack. If you don't want to risk the difficult trajectory prediction, you may also use Diamond Dust and try to grab opponents with the edge of its hitbox, pulling them away from Jecht's finishing move and giving you HP damage. However, if you don't move them enough, Jecht should slam them down before HP damage is dealt. Also, Sonic Wings can be used to steal from Jecht before his finishing move is dealt if you want to chase and don't have the time or confidence to use the other method. Jecht's ground assist, Jecht Rush, can also be stolen from or comboed off of in a similar manner though it's easy to use Energy Ray if you simply want to inflict HP damage. Gilgamesh: Now here's an assist that isn't as famous as the ones above. Gilgamesh's Cross Slash (ground assist) is pretty situational as far as comboing off of it goes, but that's something you should only rarely ever use anyways. The draw of Gilgamesh's air assist, Tsubamegaeshi, within a combo is to guarantee a Megaflare. Even if there is no ground below you, Gilgamesh holds the opponent just about long enough for you to prepare a Megaflare attack. Much like the above assists, Gilgamesh is fast enough to punish certain enemy actions (despite being slower than the other two), but his damage is unreliable and aside from his ability to consistently chain into Megaflare, he loses out to the above assists. Yuna's Link Glitch: Yuna has a link glitch that consists of (Charged) Impulse into Heavenly Strike. If you fire off an Impulse at near max range and then initiate Heavenly Strike as the blasts attack the opponent, you can continue the Heavenly Strike combo and hit the opponent regardless of their range from Yuna. This is obviously quite hard to do in an actual match, and its primary use is within EX Revenge as it's just too hard to do under normal circumstances. VII. VS Yuna Quotes Yuna vs Warrior of Light: Forgive me. There is no turning back. Yuna vs Firion: Dreams must be fulfilled. Yuna vs Onion Knight: Do you know of a summoner too? Yuna vs Cecil: I want to see you surmount your challenges. Yuna vs Kain: I will fight to end everyone's sorrow. Yuna vs Bartz: Your bright spirits are rubbing off on me. Yuna vs Terra: Please, trust yourself. Yuna vs Cloud: You fight to protect her, don't you? Yuna vs Tifa: I have a promise to keep as well. Yuna vs Squall: Don't you want to be with the others? Yuna vs Laguna: I'll show you. I'll prove my will. Yuna vs Zidane: Will you put on a show if I win? Yuna vs Tidus: To have to fight against you... Yuna vs Yuna: Is that me? Or are you an imposter? Yuna vs Vaan: It'd be great if I could fly freely like you. Yuna vs Lightning: Do you shoulder great responsibilities as well? Yuna vs Garland: I will put an end to your fight. Yuna vs The Emperor: The world is not yours to rule. Yuna vs Cloud of Darkness: Return to your realm. Yuna vs Golbez: I promise not to flee. Yuna vs Exdeath: I want to put an end to everyone's sorrows. Yuna vs Kefka: I will stop this senseless cycle of destruction! Yuna vs Sephiroth: Powers of ruin won't sway me. Yuna vs Ultimecia: I will give it all I've got. Yuna vs Kuja: I can't let him deceive me. Yuna vs Jecht: Here I come, Sir Jecht. Yuna vs Shantotto: Time to show off what I've learned. Yuna vs Prishe: You're so upbeat. I should emulate you. Yuna vs Gabranth: Hatred brings about nothing. Yuna vs Gilgamesh: Is it possible you're more fun than I thought? Yuna vs Chaos: I'll defeat you at any cost. Yuna vs Feral Chaos: I'll risk my life to protect everyone. VIII. Character Matchups NOTE: I do not plan to go very in-depth with these matchups, just giving you an idea of what you should generally try to do. I am also basing any presumed behavior of opponents based on how I see them and how they tend to be used in competitive play. "Rushdown" means to take advantage of your dashes and stay close to the opponent, putting great pressure on them with your multitude of moves and proximity. "Halo camping" is floating above a grounded opponent and fighting from there. Vs Warrior of Light: The Warrior of Light is a powerful opponent. Although his speed isn't quite to your level, his range surely is and his projectiles are greater than yours. WoL decides where to fight. If he's on the ground, it's best to combat him there. If he takes to the air, follow. Although Dayflash and Ascension are fast, try to stay out of their range and be ready to react to and punish Warrior's slower moves at every opportunity. Depending on his moveset, try to figure out which angles he is weakest at for both air and ground. Vs Firion: Firion is an intimidating opponent for most everyone, and his scary punishers can make you second-guess every move you make. You should combat him on the ground, relying largely on Aerospark and Energy Ray in an attempt to attack Firion for fear of his anti-air options. If Firion ever goes into the air, pursue him relentlessly and attempt to attack him where he's weakest. If he ever charges up Straightarrow, assist punish it. Megaflare may also be useful, as it's hardest to avoid and punish when the opponent is grounded. Be on the lookout for Rope Knife and Lord of Arms. Note that Shield Bash can be assist punished when you're not staggered, timing depends on your assist. Vs Onion Knight: Onion Knight is a punisher with relatively dangerous moves. Play safely and try and out-turtle him, as he leaves himself very vulnerable when he whiffs an attack. He also lacks assist gain although he can generally make up for it with EXP to Assist and Side by Side, still allowing him to utilize assist combos. He's also a murderer as far as your EX and Assist goes, so when you DO get caught by Onion Knight, it is often recommended you use any you have to break free. Vs Cecil: Despite having some quick, strong options, Cecil lacks anything that's truly safe or has low cooldown. In his Dark Knight form, stay out of Shadowbringer range and always be ready to dodge a Dark Cannon. Valiant Blow has pretty impressive range and speed, but any whiff that Cecil makes is dangerous to him. You should often be reacting to Cecil's actions rather than going on the offensive, as much of his arsenal is slow and dangerous to use (though quite damaging). In his Paladin form, much of the advice suggested against the Dark Knight remains true, as he still lacks any really fast move and relies on semi-quick attacks and punishers to damage you. However, mistakes can lead to heavy damage. Vs Kain: If he plays typically, you should be able to react to his moves and block or dodge/punish him easily on many occasions. If he attempts the infamous assist spamming strategy, your strategy is to rush him down. Vs Bartz: If he attempts to Holy Spam you, rushdown him and attempt to stay out of range of his quicker moves while you poke and punish Bartz from below and afar. On the ground, basic Aerospark spam and punishing tactics should do it, although you do need to be aware of Reel Axe and Hellfire. Vs Terra: Rushdown her, do not give her many chances to spam you with projectiles. Blizzard Combo no longer has the scary range it used to, and that's her greatest option at close ranges. Meltdown is also a threat, but that alone won't get her very far. Vs Cloud: Use Yuna's basic Aerospark-oriented ground game on him when you have the opportunity. In aerial combat, attempt to stay out of his range and zone/pressure him out with Heavenly Strike and Sonic Wings from afar and below. Vs Tifa: Zone and mindgame her with a mix of Sonic Wings, Heavenly Strike, Aerospark, and others like you normally do. If she attempts to use her feints as mindgames, it can get tricky but you should dodge when you have the chance. Tifa is hard to punish, however, so be aware of that. Try and zone her like usual, but don't expect too easy a time. Vs Squall: Yuna's ground tools should come in handy for facing a Squall, since she can outrange him easily and mindgame him with her multitude of ground options. In the air, Fire Barret can get irritating if Squall often uses it as a cover for his pressure/mindgames, but he is otherwise subpar in his aerial game, having less options than you. If you think you can predict Beat Fang or Heel Crush, Diamond Dust is a very good tool for catching reckless Squalls. Vs Laguna: Rushdown him best you can and note that Sonic Wings can completely bypass the Electroshield. If you do not let him use Ricochet Shot often, you have the advantage. Pummel's limited range is seldom enough to hit a careful Yuna player and Split Laser and the Homing Bazooka, Laguna's other useful tools, can be assist punished. If that is not an option at the time, they can usually still be dodged without too much of a fuss. Vs Zidane: You'd expect a Zidane to mostly take to the air and he is nowhere near as safe as he was in the previous game. Try and stay within Sonic Wings distance for most of the match and react to his moves as they come, going below him and doing Heavenly Strike as appropriate. His only swift aerial attack is aptly named Swift Attack, and even that isn't too hard to punish on reaction. If you zone him correctly, Zidane probably cannot do much. If Zidane is on the ground he is probably looking for an opportunity to do a Booster 8, so jump it and punish it if he throws it out when you're prepared. Vs Tidus: Very hard to punish, you'll have to rely on mindgames and Heavenly Strike zoning to really hit him in the air. Like a good amount of characters, he still loses to Yuna in pure ground combat though because she just has so many good options in that zone. Vs Tidus: Tidus can launch swift attacks at close-range and cover his dodges when he sees an attack coming. However, aside from this, Tidus is generally not an overly difficult opponent. Although he cannot be easily punished directly, his range is far smaller than yours. If the Tidus user often uses Hop Step, attempt, as usual, to stay out of its range and hit him in positions where he cannot hit you. You also want to be careful of Full Slide and Sonic Buster, so watch Tidus's stances closely so you may punish it. Tidus's dodge moves can be used to cover his dodges, but even if he thwarts a dodge-punishing Sonic Wings with it, it is often possible to dodge next to him and execute a quick attack while he's whiffing his attack, so the dodge moves are not very troublesome either. Generally speaking, Tidus relies heavily on the use of Hop Step, so if you can effectively evade that, Tidus will fall. Vs Yuna: This is a mirror match! It pretty much depends on who can play the character better, as both you and your opponent have the same tools. Generally, the Yuna player who is below the other has an advantage at that moment, so attempt to position yourself whenever convenient just as usual. Vs Vaan: Learn to deal with his moves. Greatsword can be caught inside Diamond Dust, so take advantage of that. Look out for Spear, be alert not to be too obvious with attempted dodge punishers if he has Sword&Shield, and assist punish Crossbow when applicable (otherwise you should usually guard them). Vaan uses mindgames to get his hits in, so if you can deal with each individual move it should be a lot more difficult for the Vaan to win. Vs Lightning: Lightning is an opponent with a huge variety of options, since she can freely switch between her "modes". As a Commando, her attacks are stronger than ever, but she's a lot slower than you so this alone should not provide a threat to you if you're careful. However, when combined with her Ravager form, Lightning becomes more of a threat. When she has a Watera out, It's pretty difficult to safely attack, so hang back and attempt to divert it before you do any charges at Lightning. The same goes for Thundaga. Blizzara is something that can be easily dodged, but can catch you off-guard if you?fre not paying attention. However, the main threat of her Ravager form comes from Thunder and Army of One mindgames, as dodging one at close-range may lead you to getting hit by the other. Thunder is just super safe and fast anyways, chaining to an assist. However, Ravager deals low damage so you can expect a Lightning to mix it up alongside her Commando form. Don't get too telegraphed with your dodges or let Lightning's Watera pressure put you in a position for you have to dodge/block, or else Thunderfall will hit you. Despite her impressive mixups, this seems to be a pretty even matchup. Vs Garland: Garland is very powerful, and yet his moves aren't the easiest to hit with. If you stay on the same level as he does and at a range where he cannot safely initiate Thundaga, Garland will be hard-pressed to hit you. However, be warned that if he does hit you, it will be devastating. Vs Emperor: Attempting to directly attack him at ground level probably isn't the best idea, unlike usual. Halo camp him and do your best to force him into the air. Being a ground-oriented character with absolutely lame aerial punishers, Megaflare should also be a lot more useful than usual. Vs Cloud of Darkness: Wrath and Tentacle of Spite 2 makes things scary when facing Cloud of Darkness. It's best to stick to ground level and attempt to poke at her with your safe moves, though as usual, follow if the Cloud of Darkness decides to take it to the air. Vs Golbez: Golbez has a very impressive ground game due in large part to his Nightglow move. Although Glare Hand and Rise Wave are also quite scary, they are not incredible threats if you are alert to Golbez's movements. Nightglow's barrier can break even Aerospark and strongly discourages halo camping him, so you should be attempting to confront Golbez on his field and try to out-mindgame him. If you REALLY want to win, you could just equip a swift ground assist like Jecht and assist camp outside of his range up in the air. This can punish even his swiftest ground move Glare Hand and thus force Golbez to come up to you, where Yuna should by all rights come out on top. Vs Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh's attacks are simple, yet effective. He has Electrocute and Wind Slash for long-range sniping, as well as his other melee moves to fight you at close range, as well as the really fast point-blank HP attacks Hurricane. One of Gilgamesh's moves to watch out for is Electrocute. It's a long-range attack spawning on your position and can very easily lead into one of Gilgamesh's assist combos or Tsubamegaeshi. However, it can be assist punished quite easily on start-up if you see it coming as well. 
Hurricane stands as one of the fastest HP attacks in the whole game, so if 
Gilgamesh is at point-blank range from you it's generally not a good idea to 
try blocking.  Aside from that, many of his attacks are basic melee moves with 
varying startup times and random effects.  Note that Missile is reflectable by 
Megaflare and that you can also punish Gilgamesh with it if you two happen to 
be on the same horizontal plane and you're close enough (though why he'd do a 
Missile in that very vulnerable situation is very questionable).

Vs Exdeath: Exdeath is a difficult foe for Yuna since she doesn't have
incredibly powerful mindgames up in the air.  Mix up your Heavenly Strike,
Sonic Wings, Megaflare, and Diamond Dust timings and attacks the best you can
and try not to defeat Reverse Polarity directly.  You'll seldom succeed, it's
not worth it.  Maelstrom can be assist punished if you activate on right when
the attack hits you, signaled by the formation of the attack around you.

Vs Kefka: Rushdown, rushdown, rushdown.  Get up in his face and it should be
easy to attack Kefka since he has no real close-ranged attacking option
(Scatter-Spray Blizzaga doesn't really count)  Build a lot of assist and
unload them to punish Kefka for any of his actions.  If you get caught by his
attacks it is hard to make a comeback on him, but then again that also goes
the other way around, and I believe it's easier to rush him down than it is
for him to snipe you safely.

Vs Sephiroth: This is honestly quite a difficult matchup.  Try to build assist
while dodging Shadow Flare spam, and it may also help if you equip BRV Boost
on Dodge accessories as well as Precision Dodge (makes it more challenging for
Sephiroth to dodge punish you after you dodge Shadow Flare).  If he spams
Shadow Flare it's not possible to zone him as effectively as you do other
characters, so you'll just have to do your best.  Also be aware of Scintilla
and don't get too predictable with trying to punish his dodges with Sonic
Wings.

Vs Ultimecia: Rushdown her like usual, be aware that Sonic Wings goes through
an already-placed Knight's Lance, and Precision Dodge may help you avoid more
of her uncharged arrows.  Not much you can do besides chase her and hope she
slips up before you do.

Vs Kuja: Kuja is another effective melee-like zoning character and should put
your skills to the test.  Against Kuja, try to position yourself below him and
zone him out with Heavenly Strike and prepare to engage in a battle of
mindgames.

Vs Jecht: Jecht, with his short-ranged attacks, appears to be an easy foe for
Yuna.  Any whiffs he throws out can be punished if you're careful and even his
charged Jecht Stream can often be trapped by Diamond Dust.  Given this, it is
quite difficult for Jecht to land one of his powerful hits against a keepaway
Yuna.  Don't try and dodge punish him though, again because he has Jecht Block.

Vs Shantotto: Shantotto relies on Stun to land her hits this time around.  Do
not give her that chance.  Stun is a low-priority magical move, so it usually
suffices to try and rushdown her with Free Air Dash/Omni Ground Dash+ and
Heavenly Strike.  The same rushdown tactic should allow you to turn
Shantotto's Bio against her as well, and there's really nothing that Shantotto
can do against Aerospark if she gives you a chance to use it.  Be aware not to
let yourself get punished while you rushdown Shantotto, as that's how she
lands her hits.

Vs Prishe: Prishe is an opponent with a handful of powerful mixups.  Diamond
Dust works well against her because she physically moves with her attacks.
Other than that, you should be careful with your dodges and Heavenly Strike
while Prishe is nearby.  The same zoning tactics used against other characters
work to an extent, but it's hard to tell what Prishe will do next and she
leaves few openings.

Vs Gabranth: Gabranth in Normal Mode is very easy to rushdown and inflict
massive damage on.  However, on large stages it usually won't be nearly enough
to stop him from going EX.  When he does go to EX-Mode it is recommended for
you to run away, as he's quite powerful and leaves few openings.  Even there 
though, it's quite possible to zone him if you're careful, especially using
well-placed Heavenly Strikes.

IX. Contacting Me

I am Pokefan362 on GameFAQs so you could very well send me a private message
on GameFAQs with comments and critique about my guide.  I go there all the
time so I'll receive it the soonest if you do that.  If you spot any errors or
would like to suggest new content or formatting, it would be nice if you were
to contact me about it.  If for some reason you don't want to PM me on the
message boards, my e-mail is seanliuting@hotmail.com, although be warned that
I usually don't check my e-mail much.  It may take a while for me to receive
your comments.

X.  History

Version 1.0: First draft of guide completed
Version 1.1: Typo fixes, added a few missing character matchups.
Version 1.2: Added yet another missing character matchup and fixed formatting.

XI. Credits

Thanks to Square-Enix for making this fun game.
Thanks to the Final Fantasy Wiki for refreshing my memory on some of the move 
information in this guide.
Thanks to ujhbn for providing in-depth frame data on Yuna's moves.
Thanks to Black_Liliana for pointing out some major errors.
Thanks to me for writing the guide.
And thanks to all my readers for making this guide worth writing.