In all fighting games, there is a combat system of counters. In street fighter, the basic system is (attack < block < throw < attack). For example, if you are attacked, you counter them by blocking. You counter a blocking opponent by throwing them. Finally, you counter a person trying to throw you by attacking.

Divekick's counter system is (attack < react < build < attack)

• Level 1: Attack
  The simplest form of attacking is jumping up and then kicking towards your opponent.
  
• Level 2: React
  The simplest form of reacting is waiting for a player to attack you and respond by doing a kickback (press kick while on the ground to jump backward) and then kick to punish the attack.
  
• Level 3: Build
  The simplest form of building meter is by pressing kickback, kick really fast. You gain meter every kick and meter unlocks specials and Kick Factor which will create an advantage. This counters people who are waiting for you to attack and doing nothing. In the meantime you are building an advantage.
  
• Level 4: Attack (again)
  This brings us back to attack. To punish people who are building meter, simply kick them.

Instructions:
Play a Dive vs Dive (both with kick gem) match doing only 3 things:

• 1. Attacking by jumping and kicking.(d, wait, k),
  
• 2. Waiting to react to attacks by doing a kickback and kick (wait, k, k)
  
• 3. Building meter by doing quick kickback kicks (k,k)

Do NOT use special moves.
It is okay to activate and use kickfactor.

Understanding:
Recognize what your opponent is doing. Is he attacking very often? Wait for him. Does he spend many moments waiting for you to attack him? Try building meter safely while he pauses. Is he building meter recklessly? Go in for the attack! This exercise should create a foundation for a proper mindset around the Divekick combat system.

Walking is not allowed. Jumping and then kicking is the only way to move in Divekick.
When you jump, you become more predictable. While in the air, you can either kick or land. When you are standing on the ground, you have more options to react to an opponent. With this in mind, you want to make small moves to spend less time in the air and more time in contact on the ground.

• Small movement helps you attack by giving you a better position in which to attack from.
  
• Small movement helps you react by keeping you on the ground instead of in the air with a predictable landing trajectory.
  
• Small movement helps you build meter by using more kicks to travel the same distance

Movement Options:

• k, k is usually the smallest, quickest forward movement you can make.
  
• d, k is usually the quickest forward movement you can make that goes farther than k, k.
  
• d delay k is used to make larger steps forward
  
• k delay k is used to inch forrward, stay still, or move backward

This image below shows the relative distance a kk, dk, and d delay k, will travel:
.

Instructions:
Play a Dive vs Dive (both with kick gem) match.

Part 1 - practice moving forward using small steps (kk, dk). A good goal to try is doing three small steps (kk,dk,dk) and see how little you can travel. In a Dive vs Dive mirror, you can take those three steps and still have enough room to fit another Dive char in the space between you and your opponent (refer to image 3).

Part 2 - practice staying in place by doing a kickback and kicking to where you were standing (k delay k). Try to do this 5 times in a row. Then have your partner move around so the camera movement makes it harder. Then, practice moving backward little by little. Change your target to be a little further back each time until you can control how far you go when you kickback.

Understanding:
Movement is required to create an advantageous position. Understanding spacing is useless if you cannot control where your own player is. This exercise should help you be familiar with small movement and being able to position your character precisely.

At any moment, you will constantly assess many factors (character speed, jump, kick angle, meter, height, distance, etc) to determine an advantageous position where your character will have equal or better options than your opponent.

Let us start off with a simple question: Where should you stand?
You want to stand in a position where you can react and threaten your opponent's options. Here are some general guidlines:

• Your opponent has an unreactable range. This means that if you are too close, they can kick you before you have time to react and get out of the way. You want to be far enough away from them to be outside this range.
  
• You want to be close enough that you can react and punish an opponent landing from a jump.
  
• You also want to be closer to the middle line since that is the alternate time-out victory condition.

Let's go over some options (without specials):

Standing
• 1 small move forward, jump and quick kick (d,k) or kickback and quick kick (k,k)
  
• 2 jump and delayed kick or no kick (d, delay, k*)
  
• 3 kickback and delayed kick or no kick (k, delay, k*)
  
• 4 wait

During a Jump
• 1 kick
  
• 2 land

Standing and Being Attacked
• 1 over (d) - this usually allows you to punish the attack with a follow up kick.
  
• 2 under (dk,kk) - using small movement to quickly jump and kick under the angle of attack
  
• 3 back (k) - this usually allows you to punish the attack with a follow up kick.
  
• 4 wait (nothing) - similar to under, except there is no need or room to make small movement.

Jumping and Being Attacked
• 1 kick (k) - hopefully you have time to get under the attack or delay timing so that you can trade kicks.
  
• 2 land (nothing) - hope they miss

Meter for Specials, Kick Factor, or being Concussed will change options and spacing.
For instance, Dive gets faster and jumps higher in Kick Factor so his unreactable range is larger and he can punish from a farther distance. If he has meter for Air Special, his air options increase. If he has meter for his ground special, his unreactable distance increases.

Distance and Time also change options and spacing.
If the timer is getting close to zero, the player further from center has a weaker wait option.

Understanding how the various factors change the options and spacing will allow you to understand where you want to be at any time in the matchup.

Instructions:
Play a Dive vs Dive (both with kick gem) match.

Near - Using a practice partner, use small movement you learned in Exercise 2, get close to them. When you are in position, signal that you are ready by jumping up. After you land, your opponent can attack you with a quick jump and kick (dk). You should watch and react. Do not try to read your opponent and jump too early. You are measuring your react ability and not your read ability. If you cannot kickback out of the way, you are too close. Repeat the scenario until you feel you know how close you can stand and still react. You've just figured out the unreactable distance.

Far - Using a practice partner, use small movement to position yourself far away from your opponent. When you feel you are in position, signal that you are ready by jumping up. After you land, your opponent should perform a jump up (nuetral jump). You should react to the jump, by jumping up yourself. This will put you above their kick angle which will make you safe. Then as your opponent starts to fall, you will reach the apex of your jump and try to aim your kick at their landing (refer to image 4). Repeat the scenario until you feel you know what is the farthest you can be from them and still punish their landing.

Understanding:
Remember, being able to react will depend on physical reflex ability and whether you are playing with latency or not. Exercise 3 will help you know where is a safe but threatening position.

There is so much more to learn and discover. The purpose of this guide is to train new players and get them interested in exploring Divekick more deeply. This is an awesome fighting game, and I hope this guide will grow the community of Divekick players.

Please join the Casual Divekick Tournament Group. Tournaments are setup weekly, and it boasts the largest number of active Divekick players. It is a great place to search for a practice partner.