In this guide I am going to be showing you the basics you need to know in order to play Naruto Arena. Please be aware this is a guide for absolute beginner’s that have no idea how to play the game. I will be keeping this guide as short and as to-the-point as possible for that very reason.

After you have created your account,logged on and clicked ‘Start Playing’, you will be faced with this screen:

This is the main menu of the game.

To simplify this page I will separate it into 3 parts. Top, middle and bottom.

Top:

The scroll you see is at the top shows you the skills of a character. You select a character by clicking on the images in the bottom scroll. You can view the individual skills by clicking on them at the top. As you can see Uzimaki Naruto is currently selected and his Shadow Clones skill is visible. Each character has 3 Unique skills as well as a 4th invulnerability skill.

Middle:

The there are 4 buttons in the middle. From left to right:

The ‘Logout’ button: This should be fairly self explanatory.

The ‘Start Ladder Game’ button: Ladder games are basically ranked games. Winning ladder games gives you experience and allows you to level up you account. In addition to that, only ladder games will affect the progress of your ninja missions. Ninja missions are missions that you can complete to unlock new characters. Clicking on the button will search for an opponent.

The ‘Start Quick Game’ button: Quick games are unranked games. The outcome of your quick games don’t affect your ninja missions or your win ratio. Quick games are good for learning the game and for testing specific teams out. Clicking on the button will search for an opponent.

The ‘Start Private Game’ button: Private games are also unranked. Private games are for used when you want to play against a specific person. You need to enter your opponent’s username and search. Your opponent needs to do the same and then it should connect.

Bottom:

At the bottom you will see the icons of all the characters. A character can be selected by clicking on the image. It should then appear at the top of the screen. There are 3 pages of characters, but as you will see, many are unavailable. To unlock these characters you need to complete ninja missions. On the right hand side of the screen you will see the slots for your current team. To change team members, simply click and drag the icons in and out of the slots. You will also see your account statistics such as Clan, Level and Win Ratio.

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Right, Lets assume you have got put together your ninja team and have started a quick game. Upon entering the game, you will see this screen:

It may look a little bit complicated at first, but its really quite simple, don’t worry. I’m going to separate the page into sections again. Left, Top, Right and Bottom [clockwise].

Left:

On the left you will find your team. There will be the 3 character portraits as well as their skills. If you cannot use a particular skill [either because you don't have the chakra or that character is stunned] then it will appear to be grey. If you use a skill with a cooldown, it will show a large number over the skill. This number dictates how many of your turns are left before you can use that skill again. If you can use a skill it will appear in full colour. You will also notice the small icons next to the character portraits, such as the sharingan icon next to Sasuke. These icons show you what effects are currently on that particular character.

Top:

At the top you will see your as well as your opponent’s name and avatar. More importantly you will see the red bar in the middle. This bar is very important because it shows you how long you have left in your turn. That red bar will slowly get smaller and when it is completely gone it means it is the end of your turn. Above the red bar you will see the words “PRESS WHEN READY”. This is where you need to click when you are ready to end your turn. It’s very important that you remember this step because if you don’t click there to end your turn, the game assumes you did not do anythign that turn and your abilities do not get used. *More on that further down*

Below the red bar you will see 4 blocks and a little T shape. Those blocks show you what types chakra you have available and the T shape shows you how much chakra you have if you add all the different types together. Chakra is the resource you use to pay for your attacks. You get one random chakra per turn for each character that is alive. You will also notice the “Exchange Chakra” writing underneath the blocks. This is quite important as it allows you to trade 5 of your chakra for 1 chakra of a certain type. This may not sound like a good deal, but remember that button, because as I said before, the types of chakra you receive are random, so that button can save an otherwise lost battle!

Right:

On the right you should see your opponent’s characters. Everything is the same as the left hand side except that you don’t see their skills. This can be tricky because you might not be sure what skills your opponent’s characters have. Don’t worry, you will learn and remember all the moves over time.

Bottom:

This is where it shows your skills. In order to see a skill, you need to click the icon next to your character portraits. You will then be able to read the full effect. Aside from the text that tells you exactly what the skill does, you will see more information. On the bottom left it tells you what type of skill it is, for example, ‘Melee, Physical, Instant’. Don’t worry too much about that for now. More importantly, on the right you will see the ‘Energy’ Cost and the Cooldown. The energy cost tells you how many chakra you need to pay in order to use a particular attack. You may notice that an attack has a black coloured energy in its cost and that you have no block at the top for black coloured chakra. This is because you can use any colour chakra to pay for it. I’ll explain it in a bit more detail when I run you through a battle. The cooldown tells you if the skill has a cooldown and if so, how long a cooldown it has. If the skill has a cooldown, you can’t use that skill for however many turns cooldown it has.

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When you’re in a battle and you want to end your turn, then you click the “PRESS WHEN READY” button and you will see a screen like this:

This screen is where you finalise your attacks for the turn and where you pay your “random” chakra costs. As you can see in the above image, I have only used Sharingan this turn. Sharingan costs one Bloodline chakra so I have already paid its cost. Specific types of chakra cost are automatically paid when you use attack. This screen only deals with random chakra costs and there is no random chakra to be paid in this case. If however I had used Shadow Clones instead, I would have had to spend one of my other types of chakra to pay for the random [Black] cost. You will also notice the Sharingan icon at the bottom. These icons are used to change the order of your attacks. This can be quite important, for example, say you use an ability that stops someone from reducing damage and a damage ability. You would want the attack that stops someone from reducing damage to happen before your damaging attack, so you make sure it is “first in the queue” by moving it to the left.

Right, You should now have a rough idea exactly what each part of the interface does. If you aren’t go back and read it again because it is important that you know where to find everything before your first battle. I would also advise that you read your skills carefully before you enter the battle so that you do not have to spend too long reading what they do.

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On to the Battle!

I will now be taking you through a turn or two of a battle with Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura.

When you first enter a battle, it is randomly determined who will start. Be aware that the person that goes first only recieves on chakra to spend on attacks for the first turn and the person that goes second will receive their full 3 chakra. In this case, I went first and started off with 1 Bloodline chakra

If you have read the skills of the characters I used then you are likely aware that one wants to use Naruto’s Shadow Clones and Sasuke’s Sharingan as soon as possible. The reason for this is that those abilities give them damage reduction, give them increased damage on certain attacks and enable those characters to use certain attacks. As I received a Bloodline chakra this turn, I am going to use Sasuke’s Sharingan, because it costs 1 Bloodline Chakra. I can use Naruto’s Shadow Clones next turn because it costs 1 Random [Black] chakra so regardless of what combination of chakra I get in my next turn, I will still be able to use it. I decide to target my opponents Asume with the Sharingan so I select the skill by clicking on it and then select the target [Asuma] by clicking on him. You’ve used your ability and have no chakra left, so it’s time to end your turn. To end your turn click on the “PRESS WHEN READY” writing at the top. You will then be faced with this screen:

As you have only used one attack for this turn and it doesn’t contain a random chakra cost, you have nothing else to do, so you end your turn by clicking “OK” at the bottom. It will then  proceed to your opponents turn. Much like your turn, your opponent has a certain amount of time to use his attacks. You can see how much time he has left by checking the red bar at the top of the screen. When he or she is done with his turn, his attacks will take place and it will be your turn again. Note that the game does not tell you which attacks your opponent has used. Therefore it is important that you know which attacks the characters have.

Lets move on to turn 2:

As you can see, my opponent’s Sasuke used his Sharingan on my Sasuke. As far as I can tell, that is all he did for that turn, so he still has 2 chakra left from his turn, that is important to remember because the chakra is stored until it is used. Therefore you shouldn’t open yourself up if your opponent has lot’s of chakra available.

I received 2 Taijutsu and 1 Bloodline Chakra for the turn. I decided to use Shadow Clones on Naruto and also to use Sakura’s KO Punch on my opponent’s Sasuke to stop him using Chidori on my Sasuke. That is all I decided to do that turn so I clicked the “PRESS WHEN READY” button and saw the screen above. I had 1 Taijutsu and 1 Bloodline chakra available and I had to choose 1 chakra to pay for Naruto’s Shadow Clones. You choose which chakra you want to use to pay the “random” cost and then you click the plus symbol. As you can see I used the Bloodline chakra to pay for Naruto’s Shadow Clones. You can also see at the bottom that there are now 2 attacks in the queue, however it does not matter which of these attacks is used first, so I ignore the queue and end my turn by clicking “OK”.

And so it continues to until there is a winner. I decided not to show you more turns because those two turns should be enough to give you an idea how the game works.

As I said before this should give you the basics of how the game works, but be warned that there is alot more to the game than the basics. Be sure to check the other guides! And don’t forget to read the skills! When you are starting out will likely find many times when you have no idea why your character took huge amounts of damage, or why you got damaged when you were invulnerable. This can easily be bypassed by reading up on the skills that the characters have. Check out the list of characters here, to see their skills and effects.

Little tip: When doing missions that require you to fight certain ninjas, and you run into a fight with a team that has nobody you need to complete a mission, then just surrender.
Put your unlocking characters in front of you to do list, theres always a reset button to use when you want to start over on a streak.

“I fought 3 sound ninjas but it only gives me 1 point” okay, so for example;
Kakashi’s mission, it says kill Sound, sand and/or Mist
You fight 3 Sound ninjas, it would count as 1 BUT if you fought a mix of both Mist and Sound for (Haku & Tayuya) that give you 2 points because its Mist and Sound.

This here list will show you which ninjas is in the category’s

Sound ninja list:

Dosu, Kin, Zaku, Orochimaru, Kimmaro, Jiroubou, Kidomarou, Tayuya, Akadou Yoroi, Sakon, Kabuto and Cursed Seal Sasuke.

Konoha Taijitsu:

Note: Because this is only for Gai’s mission i will not put Team 9 since they do not count for the mission.

Neji (S), Haruno Sakura (S), Uzumaki Naruto (S),Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, Kakashi, Couji, Iruka and Tsunade.

Sand:

Chiyo (S), Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Gaara rehab and Baki

Mist:

Demon Brothers, Zabuza and Haku

Rain:

Oboro and Shigure

Konoha:

Sai, Kakashi (S), Neji (S), Naruto (S), Sakura (S), Kakashi (S)Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Shino, Hinata, Kiba, Kurenai, Gai, Rock Lee, Neji, TenTen, Couji, Ino, Shikamarou, Asuma, Jiraiya, Anko, Kyuubi Naruto, Shizune, Tsunade, Sandaime, Shodaime and Nidaime .

Konoha Jounin:

Kakashi (S), Maito Gai (S), Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai

Akatsuki:

Sasori, Kisame Body Double(S), Deidara (S), Itachi Body Double (S), Hoshigaki Kisame, Uchiha Itachi

Puppet Users :

Chiyo (S), Kankuro

Hokage/KazeKage :

Kazekaga Gaara, Sandaime, Tsunade, Nidaime, Shodai

Missing-Nin :

Diedara, Kisame Body Double, Kisame, Itachi, Itachi Body Double, Haku, Demon Brothers, Zabuza

Team Gai :

TenTen, Lee, Neji

(In shipuuden, all the teams were dismissed and they’ve all gone seperate ways. I don’t know if thats applicable here but if it is then i will update)

Team 7 (S) :

Yamato, Kakashi(s), Naruto(s), Sakura(s), Sai, Chiyo

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Thanks to DarkAeon for letting us use his guide

Classifications:

I classify characters by the multitude of skills that they have, not their most known skill, characters such as Kurenai are classified as a stunner as two of her four moves have stunning potential, I instead classify her as both a stunner, and a DoT AoE user meaning a Damage Over Time Area Of Effect user, other examples of DoT AoE are found in Shigure, as well as Nidaime.

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AoE Characters (only AoE, DoT AoE will be covered later)

These characters have skills that affect all opponents on the field not under the influence of invulnerability or a counter. An example of AoE is Temari/Diedara.

Shino, Hinata, Neji, Tenten, Temari, Zaku, Haku, Zabuza, Oboro, Jiroubou, Kimimaro, Jiraiya, Gaara Rehabilitated, Tenten S, Diedara S, Shodaime Hokage

AoE DoT (area of effect, damage over time)

These characters have skills that target all available opponents and deal their damage over time preventing a single invulnerability from delaying the entire match.

Kiba, Kurenai, Kankuro, Shigure, Kidomaru, Tayuya, Asuma, Nidaime, Itachi Body Double (S), Sasori Of The Red Sands

DoT (damage over time, it’ll hit you hard later)

Shizune’s poison, Chouji’s meat tank, or even Hinata’s gentle fist are all Damage over Time skills that deal their full damage spread over a time span of two or more turns.

Hinata, Neji, Chouji, Yoroi, Shikamaru, Sakon, Shizune, Anko, Cursed Seal Sasuke, Gaara Rehabilitated, Sandaime, Itachi, Gai S, Chiyo S, Kisame Body Double

Chakra Destruction (eliminates the opponents chakra, but does not drain it)

These characters are able to remove chakra from your opponents pool, yet do not truly drain as they do not add the said chakra to your own pool.

Hinata, Neji, Asuma, Kin, Kabuto, Orochimaru, Tayuya, Itachi Body Double, Neji S, Dosu

Chakra Leeching (they actually drain the chakra from you)

These characters will also remove chakra from the opposing pool, but instead of destroying it they put it to better use adding it instead to your own pool. Notice there aren’t many of them.

Shino, Jiroubou, Yoroi, Kisame

Single Target Stunners (they may stun one opponent for one or more turns at a time)

These characters, as their title suggests, can stun one said opposing character for one or more turns at a time generally for a low to moderate chakra cost.

Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Ino, Gaara, Kidomaru, Kimimaro, Kyuubi Naruto, Tsunade, Shodaime, Sandaime, Oboro, Demon Brothers, Kisame, Itachi, Naruto S, Haku, Kurenai, Chiyo

AoE Stunners (they stun all unprotected enemies)

Yeah, they can stun all your forces for one to two turns…. don’t we all hate the perma stuns?

Tenten, Shikamaru, Tayuya, Oboro, Zabuza, Haku, Gaara Rehabilitated

Piercing Damagers (they ignore your reduction)

They are either a big help or a nuisance depending whose team they’re on and what you’re using. Just don’t count on fighting well against them with reduction-based teams.

Sasuke, Shino, Gai, Shikamaru, Baki, Iruka, Demon Brothers, Naruto S, Gai S, Diedara S, Sakura S, Kakashi S, Tenten S, Rehabilitated Gaara, Chiyo, Ino, Zabuza, Orochimaru, Nidaime

Spikes (when they hit their peak, you take the fall with 40 or more instant damage)

Yeah, for one two specific chakra maximum they can deal a minimum of 40 instant damage to you, generally with a side effect such as a stun.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Lee, Chouji, Kankuro, Kidomaru, Kimimaro, Baki, Asuma, Dosu, Kiba, Sakon, Cursed Seal Sasuke, Kyuubi Naruto, Naruto S, Lee S, Gai S, Sasori of the Red Sands, Kakashi S

Destructables/Reducers (you must eliminate this invisible heath first WTH???)

What the hell, we have to waste our chakra on this fake health?!?!?!?!? Course I can just use this affliction to surpass it.

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, Hinata, Asuma, Gaara, Baki, Kidomaru, Jiroubou, Tayuya, Sakon, Kyuubi Naruto, Gaara rehabilitated, Jiraiya, Shodaime, Nidaime, Kimimaro, Oboro, Lee S

Walling Characters (you’ve fought them, a team of invulnerability for some specific chakra)

How troublesome, you’ve got them cornered and down to minimum health, they’re dead next turn and WHAT THE HELL??? They pull a wall and kick your *ss.

Temari, Shino, Jiroubou, (debatable Sandaime due to Summoning Enma, and cheap walls may be performed with character such as Asuma and Zaku)

Afflictions (it’s a fricking affliction, you can’t get rid of it)

Yeah….it’s a royal pain for them when they’ve got damage reduction but can’t seem to prevent that affliction damage from seeping through it.

Shikamaru, Kankuro, Sakon, Shizune, Anko, Kyuubi Naruto, Itachi, Sasori, Sandaime, CSS

Counters (it’s invisible or visible and knocks away certain offensive moves either negating them, or using them against the opponent)

The infamous counter, Gai’s Counter Punch used to be hell on Earth till it was nerfed.

Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Zaku, Kidomaru, Gai S, Tenten S, Itachi Body Double, Kakashi S, Kisame

Instant Kills (Yikes, it’ll kill you instantly no matter your defense)

I’m sure you’ve experienced it, in the middle of a fight you’ve stunned the opponent with Desert Coffin and you pull those two ninjutsu and get to feel the satisfaction of Desert Funeral taking affect and eliminating one enemy instantly.

Kakashi, Gaara Some people consider Lee to be an instant kill, he is not as it is not guaranteed as Gaara with sand would survive it, Sasuke would survive it, hell even Sakura would survive it, it’s just a spike.

Teams and Strategies:

Countering Chakra Leeching and Chakra Destruction

DoT
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Itachi, Gai S, Shizune
The low chakra cost of this team allows the opponent to drain away as much chakra as they can, but once they slip in their rhythm you can kill one quite easily. With 45 total damage from Gai S and his nunchuks added to Shizune’s 30 from poison and Itachi’s continuous Ameratsu will kill in the three turns that both Gai S and Shizune’s DoT will last.

AoE Stun
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Gaara Rehabilitated, Tenten, Oboro
The fairly moderate chakra cost of this team is a vulnerability, but if you can manage to begin a chain of stuns before hand they’ll have trouble stopping you. With Rehabilitated you have the chance for some single damage along with some piercing AoE damage. Using his stun gives you the prep for his next move, using Tenten’s stun at the same time as his second phase will give you another turn for chakra allowing you to hopefully set Oboro for his Haze Clones allowing Underground Ambush to affect all enemies while he stays safe in the masses. This team may take practice to master, and one may find that replacing Gaara Rehabilitated with Haku will serve better as it’ll give you a choice to use single stuns or AoE stuns on the opposing team.

Countering AoE Teams

Hybrid
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Sasuke, Chouji, Shikamaru (Spike, DoT, Defense)
A team I originally developed when I first joined (before Shikamaru’s nerf) it is good for countering AoE teams as Sasuke has his reduction and while he’s reduced damage income he is able to deal out a piercing 60 damage to an opponent once every two turns. With Chouji to back this up with his one pilled Multi-Size technique you can easily bring about a death once every two turns. While it is inadvisable to AoE stun an AoE team as it gives them the chance to store chakra for a mass attack generally bringing about your end at the finish of your stun, Shikamaru’s stun allows you to have some time to think about who to attack first, and if need be you can also use this to prevent them from renewing their preparation techniques on their characters. In my opinion this is a fairly solid team who’s only real dangers are copy-cats and characters like Naruto S who are able to ignore reduction and invulnerability.

AoE/ Counter
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Tenten S, Kidomaru, Kurenai
Sometimes you must fight fire with fire, just make sure you’ve got the advantage. By adding Kidomaru to Kurenai and Tenten S you make sure there are 3 cheap counters that you can use once every 3 turns or so. With Tenten S’ offensive abilities there’s little to worry about as she can easily wait for a turn and then unleash her 35 AoE along with either Kidomaru’s DoT AoE or Kurenai’s, it’s troubling to fight, but even more to have to worry about where the counters will come in.
PS> BIG THING, NEVER USE ALL THREE COUNTERS ON THE SAME TURN, SPACE THEM OUT SO YOU DON’T WASTE IT, IN THE WORDS OF SHINO “AN ACE IN THE HOLE IS A GOOD THING, BUT TWO ACES ARE BETTER.”

Countering DoT Teams

Spike
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Cursed Seal Sasuke, Kiba, Baki
When fighting a team that does steady damage you need to deal some major damage at once to stop it, that’s where a spike comes in. Using CSS you can utilize his minor DoT to fight fire with fire. Then using his spike you can deal 55 damage setting the opponent up for some major damage from Baki or Kiba for the kill. If you have CSS down low on health and he’s going to die the next turn then using his Seal will kill him, but give you the two ninjutsu chakra to use with Baki’s piercing attack so as to deal 40 unreducable twice. Using Kiba’s DoT AoE you can attack all opponents and then using his Gatusga you can deal 45 damage to an opponent swiftly reducing their health so as to allow either Baki or CSS to finish the job with wind blade or corrupt chidori respectively.

Damage over Time Area of Effect
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Itachi Body Double, Asuma, Kurenai
This team encompasses attacks that damage all opponent over a few turns. Probably the best-known AoE DoT user is Shigure. Using Itachi Body Double you’re able to use his Grand Fireball Technique to deal some damage to the opponents, then using Kurenai’s Cherry Blossom Suffocation you’re able to that you can also add stuns to the list. Asuma’s Flying Swallow you can add some damage reduction to the list, as well as you get the set up for Finishing Blow being able to deal some Spike damage to quickly end the opponents life. This team has several other advantages such as the extremely minor clash between Itachi and Kurenai’s genjutsu techniques.

Countering AoE Stun Teams

Single Stunning
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Haku, Oboro, Tenten
With this team you can alternate between both Single Stunning and AoE stunning with the activation of a move. Haku can target either all opponents when Demonic Ice Mirrors is active, or he can target one opponent without it. Oboro can target either one or all opponents if his Haze Clones are active or inactive. Tenten cannot alternate between stunning forms but has a cheap stun as well as a strong AoE base for her offensive abilities.

AoE/ Counter
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Tenten S, Kidomaru, Kurenai
By adding Kidomaru to Kurenai and Tenten S you make sure there are 3 cheap counters that you can use once every 3 turns or so. With Tenten S’ offensive abilities there’s little to worry about as she can easily wait for a turn and then unleash her 35 AoE along with either Kidomaru’s DoT AoE or Kurenai’s, it’s troubling to fight, but even more to have to worry about where the counters will come in. If they manage to stun you, don’t sweat it because once they make a mistake and release you you’re able to unleash some major damage on them, you can also utilize their counters if you know there’s going to be a follow up and you’re free.
PS> BIG THING, NEVER USE ALL THREE COUNTERS ON THE SAME TURN, SPACE THEM OUT SO YOU DON’T WASTE IT, IN THE WORDS OF SHINO “AN ACE IN THE HOLE IS A GOOD THING, BUT TWO ACES ARE BETTER.”
PPS> ANOTHER BIG THING, WHEN USING COUNTERS, FOR THE MOST EFFECTIVENESS MAKE SURE TO USE ANOTHER MOVE OF A MODERATE COST ON THE SAME TURN TO HELP DISSUADE THE OPPONENT FROM THINKING YOU’RE STOCKING AND SET A COUNTER IN CASE THEY’RE OVEREAGER. THIS WILL WORK BETTER ON MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS, NOOBS WILL STILL ATTACK EVEN IF YOU’VE MADE YOUR COUNTER OBVIOUS BY INVULLING THE OTHERS BUT LEAVING SAY KURENAI OPEN.

Countering Single Stun Teams

Spike
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Cursed Seal Sasuke, Kiba, Baki
When fighting a team that does can stun a single key member of your team you need to deal some major damage at once to stop it, that’s where a spike comes in. Using CSS you can utilize his minor DoT to fight the stuns. Then using his spike you can deal 55 damage setting the opponent up for some major damage from Baki or Kiba for the kill. If you have CSS down low on health and he’s going to die the next turn then using his Seal will kill him, but give you the two ninjutsu chakra to use with Baki’s piercing attack so as to deal 40 unreducable twice. Using Kiba’s DoT AoE you can attack all opponents and then using his Gatusga you can deal 45 damage to an opponent swiftly reducing their health so as to allow either Baki or CSS to finish the job with wind blade or corrupt chidori respectively.

AoE/ Counter
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Tenten S, Kidomaru, Kurenai
By adding Kidomaru to Kurenai and Tenten S you make sure there are 3 cheap counters that you can use once every 3 turns or so. With Tenten S’ offensive abilities there’s little to worry about as she can easily wait for a turn and then unleash her 35 AoE along with either Kidomaru’s DoT AoE or Kurenai’s, it’s troubling to fight, but even more to have to worry about where the counters will come in. If they manage to stun you, don’t sweat it because once they make a mistake and release you you’re able to unleash some major damage on them, you can also utilize their counters if you know there’s going to be a follow up and you’re free.
PS> BIG THING, NEVER USE ALL THREE COUNTERS ON THE SAME TURN, SPACE THEM OUT SO YOU DON’T WASTE IT, IN THE WORDS OF SHINO “AN ACE IN THE HOLE IS A GOOD THING, BUT TWO ACES ARE BETTER.”
PPS> ANOTHER BIG THING, WHEN USING COUNTERS, FOR THE MOST EFFECTIVENESS MAKE SURE TO USE ANOTHER MOVE OF A MODERATE COST ON THE SAME TURN TO HELP DISSUADE THE OPPONENT FROM THINKING YOU’RE STOCKING AND SET A COUNTER IN CASE THEY’RE OVEREAGER. THIS WILL WORK BETTER ON MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS, NOOBS WILL STILL ATTACK EVEN IF YOU’VE MADE YOUR COUNTER OBVIOUS BY INVULLING THE OTHERS BUT LEAVING SAY KURENAI OPEN.

COUNTERING CHEAP TEAMS:

To start I will give my definition of a cheap team.

Cheap Team: A Team That Has Been Used So Much That It No Longer Retains Any Originality And Though It Is Effective In Matches People Choose To Use It Rather Then Develop Their Own Skills By Making Their Own

Countering: Gaara, Ino, Lee

This team is a major threat in every way, it has no clashing, medium to moderate chakra use, but small cooldowns, reduction, and stuns. While they wait for chakra they can easily use Ino to whittle away your health while keeping one member stunned. Then once Lee has two taijutsu he will go gates and kill the stunned victim, to avoid this try using some of the following teams.

Gai S, Itachi, Shizune
The usage of this team in countering cheap team #1 is obvious in the fact that one character has a counter to the physical lotus or drunken fist of Lee, Itachi is able to inflict his amaterasu upon the opponent and since it’s affliction, no matter Lee’s reduction or status or invulnerability he will be taking damage, and since he halves his health with each use of gates, he’ll be less prone to use it as he will be dieing sooner and sooner. Using Gai S’ 6th gate opening you can pierce Gaara’s defense and ignore whatever skill they may use including stuns. The only danger in this team is if Gaara or Lee manages to get at you before you set up this rhythm…then you’re SOL.

Naruto S, Chiyo, Baki
This team focuses upon stunning them, as well as ignoring their invulnerability. Notice how Naruto S’ odama rasengan can ignore their invulnerability, well think about it, if lee goes gates that puts him at 50 health maximum, now using Odama on him would reduce him to 10 health which can easily be taken care of in the next turn, though you may lose someone in the process as he’ll still be able to attack unless Naruto S has kyuubi boost active. Chiyo may also ignore your invulnerability for her stun, she could also in the case of Naruto S increase the damage done with his odama through use of her allied puppetry increasing his damage to the 50 he’d need to kill Lee. Baki has his piercing damage and can therefore deal with Gaara just as well as anyone else. Fighting against Ino isn’t much of a threat since Lee isn’t there as she can stall you, but once she gets a ninjutsu chakra she’s unlike to use it that turn as she’ll have to save it for Gaara.

Countering: Team Seven [Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura]

The infamous team seven, made popular by the noobs of n-a in an attempt to rank up and unlock multiple characters at once (Kakashi, CSS, Kyuubi Naruto, Shizune, Kabuto) The basis of this team is well….teamwork surprisingly enough, not one character stands out overly so on their own. Sakura reduces enemy stuns to her by a single turn, and heals and can also stun. Sasuke can deal piercing damage, Naruto has damage reduction and can stun.

Naruto S, Chiyo, Baki
Well I’m repeating a team from countering the cheap teams. This team can use Naruto S and Baki to ignore the opponents’ defense or their reductions, and Chiyo can and will boost their damage and on occasion possibly even contribute to the damage depending on the situation. No matter the situation Naruto S can always hit with his odama, and Baki can pierce Sasuke and Sakura’s reduction with ease. The clash on this team is minimal and limited to ninjutsu chakra, but that’s not a big deal as Baki can use it at a maximum of every other turn.

Kakashi S, Tenten S, Oboro
This team is a vague take off of a permastun team with an incorporated Kakashi S to reduce the single turn stuns used by the opposition. Kakashi’s leadership skill reduces stuns by one turn, as such Sakura and Naruto’s stuns have now become useless as they will deal their damage, but nothing else. Oboro can deal cheap AoE and may also single or AoE stun. Tenten S can deal Piercing AoE damage while Kakashi attempts to copy one of the opponents skills to use for his own, suggestion: copy Chidori or Rasengan for best results.

Countering: The Specs Team (Yoroi, Shino, Kabuto)

With this team, if they get you in a rhythm of draining, you’re screwed. Basically, you want to get to this team and kill one of their members before they start doing some steady drains. No matter what turn they take be if first or second they’ll only be able to drain one chakra maximum, but once they get to their second turns they might be able to drain three chakra, or drain two and continue prepping, point being, those first few turns will decide the match.

Kurenai, Gai, Shizune
Think about this team, one for one genjutsu you can set up a hidden counter that will stun the person who attacks for three turns effectively screwing them over if it happens to be Shino. Gai can counter Yoroi’s assaults and Shizune can deal some effective DoT as well as remove Shino’s bugs from you with her healing if you happen to save the chakra. It’s a strong team, but you’ll have to have a strong grasp on how to use it.

Countering: Neji, Kin, Kabuto

This team has an obvious base of draining, but it cannot drain you forever like the specs team can. When fighting this team you have to assume that you’ll automatically be getting one less chakra per turn, which isn’t hard, unless you’re on your lonesome, I say this because Kabuto is quite likely to drain you each and every turn, therefore if you use a team of moderate but not high costs it won’t affect you much at all.

Oboro, Haku, Kakashi
While this team may seem as though Kakashi doesn’t belong, if you think about the opposing team he very well can as he can counter Kabuto’s drain and Kin’s attacks, Neji’s the only threat to Kakashi. If you’re getting that 2 chakra per turn then there are 10 possible chakra combinations you can get, and the only two of the combinations you wouldn’t be able to deal at least 20 damage with, therefore using this team you can easily kill them in 4 or so turns therefore eliminating a portion of their team, I suggest killing Neji first cause once he’s gone you have a clear road cause he’s the firepower.

Countering: Tenten, Haku, Shika

Haku, Oboro, Tenten
With this team you can alternate between both Single Stunning and AoE stunning with the activation of a move. Haku can target either all opponents when Demonic Ice Mirrors is active, or he can target one opponent without it. Oboro can target either one or all opponents if his Haze Clones are active or inactive. Tenten cannot alternate between stunning forms but has a cheap stun as well as a strong AoE base for her offensive abilities.

Tenten S, Kidomaru, Kurenai
By adding Kidomaru to Kurenai and Tenten S you make sure there are 3 cheap counters that you can use once every 3 turns or so. With Tenten S’ offensive abilities there’s little to worry about as she can easily wait for a turn and then unleash her 35 AoE along with either Kidomaru’s DoT AoE or Kurenai’s, it’s troubling to fight, but even more to have to worry about where the counters will come in. If they manage to stun you, don’t sweat it because once they make a mistake you’re able to unleash some major damage on them, you can also utilize their counters if you know there’s going to be a follow up and you’re free.
PS> BIG THING, NEVER USE ALL THREE COUNTERS ON THE SAME TURN, SPACE THEM OUT SO YOU DON’T WASTE IT, IN THE WORDS OF SHINO “AN ACE IN THE HOLE IS A GOOD THING, BUT TWO ACES ARE BETTER.”
PPS> ANOTHER BIG THING, WHEN USING COUNTERS, FOR THE MOST EFFECTIVENESS MAKE SURE TO USE ANOTHER MOVE OF A MODERATE COST ON THE SAME TURN TO HELP DISSUADE THE OPPONENT FROM THINKING YOU’RE STOCKING AND SET A COUNTER IN CASE THEY’RE OVEREAGER. THIS WILL WORK BETTER ON MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS, NOOBS WILL STILL ATTACK EVEN IF YOU’VE MADE YOUR COUNTER OBVIOUS BY INVULLING THE OTHERS BUT LEAVING SAY KURENAI OPEN.

Countering: Tenten, Temari, Zaku

While after the changes to the characters this isn’t as powerful as before, as Zaku’s 45 takes an obvious 1 turn prep now, it still retains the major threat to opposing teams. The best way to beat an AoE team is either to stun one of the members therefore forcing them to rely on certain chakra types or by draining the hell out of them.

Kakashi, Oboro, Haku
While this team may seem as though Kakashi doesn’t belong, if you think about it he very well works here. If you’re receiving your 3 chakra per turn you can deal 20 or so damage, and be saving for Kakashi’s instakill. Really in fighting AoE there’s not so much of a strategy you just have to keep at it till you kill one which tips it in your favor once you out number them.

Countering: Sakura, Ino, Lee

This team is devastating if they get good chakra, but if you think about it, Sakura uses a tai to stun you, a tai that Lee could have saved for a gated lotus… well there’s something to think about. While Ino may be troublesome, ignore her she’s just bait that gets used. Fighting both Lee and Sakura at the same time makes the opponent think, which most aren’t too good at.

Chouji, Shikamaru, Sasuke
This is a team I recommend time and time again no matter your experience level or rank. It relies on teamwork and if fighting Sakura, Ino, Lee you’ll need as much of that as possible. Shika can first off negate Lee’s threat of a gate as he won’t be invulnerable anymore, then Chouji can easily finish him with some multi sized fun. Sasuke can pierce Sakura’s defense and leave her hanging at low health with just Ino to stall.

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This Team Guide Will Be Updated As Time Permits, If You Find Any Flaws In The Accuracy In This Guide Please Feel Free To Submit Them To Me By Way Of Private Message And If I Find Them To Be Valid I Will Gladly Change The Guide.

Until Next We Talk,
Fight Hard, Fight Fair
And Give Your Opponents A Run For Their Money

Now to learn to counter or read specific characters, this can be difficult especially in situations such as if the opponent is using Kakashi, Kurenai and Gai or something to that effect. To begin to read these unfortunately you must first set one off.
Characters that most people see as difficult to read are those with invisible skills or even visible counters. Characters that fall under this section are Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai (officially a hidden stun but still considered a counter in my book,) Kidomaru, Naruto S, Sakura S, KabutoOriginally a drain, now an AoE conditional stun, Tsunade, Shino and Zaku. Rather then teach to read these specific characters I have instead, on the advice of Cross777, decided to write on reading EVERY SINGLE FRICKIN’ CHARACTER so you can thank him if your testing character was not listed above.

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Reading Naruto
Naruto is easily read, but can still be overlooked as a threat when placed on a team of spiking or on a team such as team 7. He is often overlooked for those who can either stun cheaply or spike without a prep or spike for more damage. Once he’s had his shadow clones active however you need to be weary of him for the first few turns as his stun will set the pace of who’s targeted the rest of the game, stun him when his clones are active to get rid of the 20 destructible defense that will get annoying if you don’t. Other then that he’s fairly easily read, he won’t generally use his Uzumaki barrage if there’s Sakura on the team like she normally will be. Naruto is, I repeat, is almost always used for his Rasengan, almost never for his taijutsu.

Reading Sakura
Sakura is also easily read, she is troublesome and an obvious threat in any team. She can pass any prep and stun you every turn for just a taijutsu chakra and damage you over, and over, and over as with a team of 3 alive you receive on average one taijutsu 50 percent of your draws, you also can draw multiple taijutsu per turn so if she gets going it’ll be troublesome to stop. Her preparation is only a big danger as it negates one turn of a stun so trying to stop the stuns, not going to work, either bypass this with piercing damage, or just deal steady damage and let it be reduced by the 25%. She can heal, and generally plays a double role on the team, as such to let her lower her defense, target her team mates so she’ll feel compelled to heal him, then hit her hard.

Reading Sasuke
Sasuke is only a threat is he’s managed to reduce one of your characters down to 40 health with a chidori, once he’s activated Sharingan do not allow he to target the character he set it on, you can do this by stunning him, invul-ing said character, and setting a counter on the character, do not let them take the damage because it can easily ruin the game as his team mates will generally destroy you in the next turn, or the following one. With him being unable to safely target the character he set up he’ll be forced to use his chidori on the others that will reduce it to a mere 40 piercing that is just like an attack from Baki, not a big deal. I still emphasize that you should not, let him target the one with chidori, it can screw you over.

Reading Kakashi
Kakashi can be difficult to read, but there are a few ways to easily read him to avoid his Sharingan. One, you can wait until he attack, obviously on the turn he has attack he will not be able to have Sharingan activated, you can do this, or…you can only use unique skills, I would not recommend having an all unique team but characters such as Chiyo can attack Kakashi without fear of reflection. Another strategy is to attack him with minor skills so that if they are reflected little damage will be done, and the turn that it is reflected, you can then attack with a large skill as you will have no fear of being reflected.
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Reading Shino
First thing I must say about Shino, if he gets three bugs on you and there’s more then one person on his team, you are almost 100% screwed, no questions. As such you can either eliminate him once he has 2 bugs up, or before he even manages that. When I use Shino I will place 2 bugs and at that time the opponent will take action against him, as such I will set 2 bugs and then begin to drain with him to prevent the damages from being too severe. During the turn that you are unable to drain you can therefore set your third bug to complete the circle, when fighting Shino, never allow that third bug to rise into existence, if you do you’ll have a much more difficult match when in 2 turns you get 3 chakra max and they get 9 minimum. Simply put, don’t let Shino get to work with his drains.

Reading Kiba
Kiba is a straightforward character, as such he is one of the characters if you’re attempting to get better that you can begin with, his moves have a set rhythm and follow the pattern of using his marking on a character of yours with reduction or added invul, then using his wolf as soon as possible, to prevent this simply do not allow his wolf to become active. If he manages to do so you can expect on average to lose at least one of your characters if he manages to connect with a Gatusga as well as another of his allies skills, do not allow this to happen by stunning him so as to prevent it’s arrival to the game.

Reading Hinata
If Hinata can manage the chakra to be using her trigrams more then two times in three turns it means she’s doing real well, as such you need to watch it, most people won’t target Hinata until she’s prepped, this is a mistake seeing as once she preps she’ll either give 50 reduction the next turn, or drain your *ss. She is one of the characters that should be a target from the start, others being Kimimaro and Chouji. If she does manage to hit you with a turn of the drain, you can do what everyone else does and invul drained character so you get your 3 next turn. Hinata is easily read, when they have the Nin she’ll be using it, and once she’s prepped she’s become public enemy #1.

Reading Kurenai
Kurenai can be a real pain in the *ss if she manages to stun one of your characters with her tree bind illusion, if she does you can just forget about that character being there the rest of the game as with a gen and random she can activate her cherry blossom now dealing 20 damage per turn to stunned target and allowing her to stun you every turn now reducing you to one useable character, not good. Things you can do to prevent getting screwed by her stun is to either stun her, if you stun her you don’t have to worry about her illusions. Also she has a killer 3 turn cooldown so if her “counter” fails you’ve got a clear shot at her for the next few turns, but be aware, her stun can be set upon her teammates as well and as such you cannot take it for granted that attacking her teammates will allow you to avoid her stun.
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Reading Rock Lee
Rock Lee used to be one of the more troublesome characters in the game, with his 2 turn gates and 75 reduction with drunken fist, able to be used at the same time he was absolutely troubling as we had no skills that ignored invulnerability and could only hope to have laid something like Neji’s trigram on them to allow our attacks to get through. Now he’s considerably less powerful with characters like Chiyo and Naruto S able to ignore his defense and deal the damage to kill. Yet, for those who don’t know him he’s still difficult, Lee follows a pattern depending on the user he will either wait for 2 tai in his pool then gate and kill, or will use drunken fist until 2 more tai pop up at which time he will either use lotus and lotus on them or will gate, end drunken fist, and kill. Do not allow him to activate Drunken Fist as he’ll ignore your stuns, damage will be reduced…it’ll just be a pain to fight, if he gates you can either all invul keeping in mind that he can just gate again a turn later, or you can take the sacrifice of one member to kill him next turn and if they’re an idiot they might even get a chakra screw on the tai so they won’t kill you.

Reading Tenten
Tenten is a character more easily read by looking at her teammates rather then her, if her team mates include characters such as Haku or Shikamaru you can be fairly certain that they’re running a “perma-stun team” which is popular among many, myself included. While is there team includes others such as Temari instead they are likely to be running an AoE team, while if they are running character such as Shodaime they can be running them both with single stuns and AoE. Instead of targeting Tenten as part of your reading, target instead the center of the team, if they’re running a perma stun it will be the one with the 2 turn stun, generally being either Haku or Shikamaru. By doing this you reduce their gathered chakra by one preventing the ease of a stun chain, as well as you prevent a perfect stun chain as each stun tends to have a cooldown of at least 3-5 turns. In an AoE team take out the one who uses AoE the most easily, say we were still on the old ladder that would be someone like Kin who could have dealt 25 AoE for one specific, take out the one who can damage with the most ease to make their win more difficult, the rest is up to you.

Reading Neji
Neji, along with the rest of the Genin Team Gai is fairly easy to read, but has several possible purposes, just like Lee can be used for bait and spike and Tenten for stun or AoE, Neji can be used for DoT, Drain or AoE. Often he will be using more then one of these in the team, and he is often used in hybrid teams rather then just a specific type. To deal with him first identify his role within the team as whether he’s the center of it or not, and then simply act accordingly, by this time I’d hope you could do so without being told how.

Reading Gai
Gai’s counter used to be the most feared skill in the game with a one turn cooldown he was unable to be safely attacked as he’d use it, then invul, then counter, then 6th gate, then counter. It was difficult to beat, but now with his change it’s much easier. While it is hidden there are a few things to remember, one he only reflects 30 damage onto you so you don’t have to be sneaking along trying to avoid it because, odds are throughout the game you will be countered at least once, do not get frustrated, I repeat, do not get frustrated. After he counters you, you have two turns to damage the hell out of him, if you do not do so you are simply asking for a strong whirlwind added to that counter.
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Reading Shikamaru
Being a Shikamaru fan myself I cannot downsize how much potential he had before being changed….hell I loved him before, but to stop and move to the present, currently Shikamaru is almost solely used within perma stun teams, as such he’ll either be the center of it, or the bait within it. Figure out which one it is and either take him out, or ignore him, but whatever you do…do not allow him to activate his prep and stun you, that will give them 6 chakra to work with for follow up stuns, so if need be eliminate him while he’s prepping or while the opponent is using neck bind as by stunning him you cancel it unless his prep is already up.

Reading Ino
Once again it seems that Asuma’s Team 10 is full of characters best utilized as bait, Ino has a cheap (cost wise) stun that allows 25 damage dealt to a random character, as the damage is piercing and ignores your invulnerability you can hardly defend against that except to not allow Ino the chance to use her stun, do so by either threatening her allies so they waste chakra on invulnerability or by stunning her directly, either works. Just watch out when she’s paired with characters who will not be so easily threatened by your attacks such as say Kakashi, or Gai (S or otherwise) and often even Gaara.

Reading Chouji
Chouji is often considered the “best of the beginning characters” he gets this from his ability to be set into almost any team with good results. His low cost and moderate to extreme damage outputs are great, until you’re fighting it. Know this before attempting to fight Chouji, if he has one pill and is using meat tank and has at least 2 chakra coming in a turn…you’re going to have a rough match. Chouji can deal damage with 50% of the chakra he receives, as such he’s dangerous in a 1 vs. 1 especially with his extra invul and if they manage to pull 2 blood they can pull 5 turns of straight invul during which one of your team members is almost guaranteed to die. Counter this by either prevent his invulnerability by stunning him before he starts, or by using characters like Naruto S who have an added invulnerability as well as an attack that pierces invulnerability.

Reading Asuma
Asuma is no where near the lethal killing machine he used to be, before he has an AoE dealing 30 over 2 turns with 25% reduction and the ability to use a 30 AoE drain the following turn for 1 tai and 2 random, he was an absolute tank being able to give extra invul to another character and himself for 15 health and a taijutsu every other turn. Now he has 15 damage reduction which is still formidable and as such you shouldn’t ignore him, his AoE also stays in effect for 3 turns allowing him to use his finishing blow twice dealing 80 total damage and draining for 2 chakra, he also can give invul to melee skills for no cost except taijutsu, do not take him lightly, when mastered he is more dangerous then Kimimaro.
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Reading Gaara
Gaara is not a character that I can see many people having trouble reading, but for the sake of being complete in the entirety of this guide I will have a reading. Gaara, the first instant kill character in the game, he has amazing survivability and can win most matches that are 1 vs. 1 due to his reduction. He will generally be a prime target in any team yet I will make this suggestion, determine whether he is bait, or really the center of his team. When paired with Lee and Ino (as is popular) he is not who you should worry about, instead eliminate Lee as his “instant kill” (really a spike) costs less and is more likely to land as the only way to cancel it is to stun him while his gates active, the only way to do this is to negate his defense or use characters such as Chiyo and Naruto S. Back to Gaara though, there really isn’t anything I need tell you about him except this, remember, he relies on ninjutsu chakra, if he can’t get any he’s useless.

Reading Temari
Temari is perhaps the most basic AoE user, she can use her ninjutsu to deal either a single target 20 giving herself invulnerability to melee skills, or she can add 2 random to the price and deal 35 to the entire opposing team. If she happens to pull 2 nin and another chakra she can give a wall to her team for a turn, and for each opponent it strikes the reduction of their damage by 50% for a turn. She is extremely easy to predict and as such anticipate, most people won’t take advantage of her wall and as such you can easily count when her AoE will occur, other then that, she will rarely if ever be a prime target within your team.

Reading Kankuro
The first puppet user introduced to the game as well as the very first full random user. He may have a prep, but with his prep he is able to use his piercing spike for 3 random, with no cooldown, or use a 90 total damage affliction spread out to 3 team members for 2 random chakra with a cooldown of 3 turns. His puppetry adds defense to him in the form of 20 destructible defense and allots the use of his other damaging skills, in general he should and will be the first target in any opposing team though if you kill his teammates he now has no way to gain the necessary chakra for his high cost moves, as such either strategy can work, just know this, the target he marks with puppetry, odds are will be the one targeted first.

Reading Baki
Baki has the single best defense in the game in terms of reduction and cost, for 2 random he can give himself 75% reduction for 5 turns. Not only that he’s the only character with all piercing skills when it comes to his damages. Yet most players receive him on accident and rarely if ever use him and as such few have mastered the uses of this character. As this is there’s no real need to learn how to read him, all you must know is that he can deal 40 piercing damage for a nin and gen, and worrying about chakra screw, well he can deal 20 for a pure gen so he has a lot of flexibility within teams, just determine his role and either use piercing or affliction damage on him to ignore his flak jacket.

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Reading Zaku
Yes, I am with you in Zaku’s counter being quite annoying, being able to counter any skill (minus Kimimaro’s) and it has a cooldown of only one turn, while it has a specific chakra cost it is still quite effective when protecting characters such as your AoE users while they’re setting up a combination attack, such as protecting Jiraiya when he’s setting up his Summon. Zaku is strong with his counter, but you can simply avoid his counter by targeting him instead, once you’ve been countered you can target the other characters the next turn but be sure on the turn he can counter be sure to target him and for best results, eliminate him.

Reading Dosu
Dosu stands alone in most any team, he’s able to deal 40 piercing damage for 1 tai, and can follow in the following 2 turns with a 10 damage affliction that will drain them of a chakra as well as prevent their invulnerability. He preparation requires only a random and is active for 4 turns boosting his 20 piercing to 40. He is dangerous when alone, do not allow him to be alone. There is no set formula to understanding Dosu as he can be used to either start and assault on a character, or end it, but just…take the time to think it through and do whatever is reasonable in the situation.

Reading Kin
Kin used to be one of the most dangerous starting characters, with a prep she was then able to deal 25 AoE damage for a gen, with no cooldown, she was also able to drain all 3 of your chakra with a gen and random once every 3 turns, she was quite formidable. Now she has been changed so she is no longer an AoE character and instead may focus on a single character. Odds are in any team her use will be her 15 specific for a random, then followed by either of her other 2 moves which have unique effects when activated a specific time after another, she can boost that 15 damage to deal an extra 20 when used after a move, she is a very versatile character, do not underestimate her, but don’t condemn her at first glance as often she is not the focus of a team and is rather a support character.

Reading Yoroi
Yoroi is the only character currently in the game that can both heal himself, and drain you (though at separate times) Kabuto used to be able to do it, but no longer can he. Yoroi is a threat, but is not a major target as each of his damaging moves has a cooldown, his simple 10 damage drain/heal has a cooldown of a single turn and his taijutsu assault has a cooldown of 5 turns if I remember correctly, but each cost a moderate amount of chakra and the chakra required is the same as you’ll be draining, for his single drain it costs a single tai meaning quite plainly that he deals damage almost for free as he’ll gain the same chakra… on his own Yoroi is not much of a threat unless he has 2 or more taijutsu chakra with which he can heal himself or drain you, just make sure to pay attention to what he is currently prepped for as if he heals you can easily not target him, while if he drains you can assault him like no tomorrow, it’s basically a personal preference.
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Reading Kidomaru
The first counter anyone will receive in this game when unlocking characters, as such you can expect to run into him at any rank within the ladder. While his stun/counter can be killer as it targets anyone without remorse it takes a specific chakra, and has a 2 turn cooldown. As such if he manages to stun one of your characters, keep your cool and do a little damage to him in the following turns, during the turn your stun is let up, don’t attack him as it’s likely he’ll re-establish his counter, by knowing who he’s paired with and how they work you can also determine how important he is to the team, if he’s the center of the team it’s likely that he’s going to be protected on the turn, if he’s a support character then there’s no reason to even focus on him until you’ve eliminated the center of the team. Just determine how important to the team he is, then take it from there.

Reading Jiroubou
Jiroubou is a strong character who can switch between single target and AoE, for the same cost as such he’s a flexible character, also for 2 nin he can drain you for 3 turns and give some destructible health for those 3 turns, so unless you have affliction you’re in trouble. The way to defeat him is to easily damage him high until his wall, during that time you can either wait charging some chakra, or you can cancel it with some affliction like Kisame BD’s stun or Shizune’s poison. He’s a fairly simple character though and easily read.

Reading Sakon
Sakon is a tank when left on his own, for 1 tai and a random he can deal 40 damage and when given 2 blood can absolutely end the game using his parasite as it deals 15 damage every turn no matter his condition, this continues till one of them dies or Sakon heals himself, if he doesn’t use his gatling or parasite he can heal 35 health every turn for 2 random with no cool, as such you don’t want to fight him if you’re on your lonesome unless you have something like Gaara who can stall until you get the chakra to kill him, but once he gets those blood Gaara will still go down unless you have the instant kill to follow. Take him out before he becomes a problem.

Reading Tayuya
One of the least used characters in the game it’s not necessary to memorize her skills just remember that they are indeed unique and as such Kakashi cannot counter them (it sucks). Her most useful skill is her AoE stun, for a random and gen she can AoE stun the opponents, this is most useful when using AoE teams that require a preparation such as Kimimaro, if you were to use Kimimaro’s AoE there’s the cool he’s likely to be killed during, as such use them at the same time is generally the way to save him, that is the way she will generally be used in an AoE or AoE stun team, she is generally a minor target and as such don’t worry too much about her.
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Reading Shigure
Shigure is a character that can deal massive AoE damage for pure random chakra, and now that he has no prep and his damages are boosted by his old prep he is increased in power near tenfold. If he has his raining needles active you can be sure that he’ll be using the specific direction each turn odds are meaning that each character will either have taken 45+25 damage by the end of it and as such he will be a prime target to eliminate before he become troublesome, as if he doesn’t spread the damage around it will kill a character and highly damage the others.

Reading Oboro
Oboro is quite possibly the best match with Haku when it comes to fighting, able to single stun as well as AoE stun, and deal moderate damage the biggest difference between them is the specific type of chakra used, if you see Oboro odds are he will be in Haku’s company, meaning that Haku isn’t much of a threat until he’s used his mirror, as such eliminate Oboro before he becomes a hassle with his haze clones and stunning you for 2 turns with 40 damage dealt…I doubt you will appreciate that.
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Reading Haku
One of the most useful perma stunners in the game, able to be paired with almost anyone for a successful teaming. He has single stun and single damage, as well as ability to use AoE damage and AoE stun. He has so much versatility that there isn’t enough room for me to describe all his uses, all I can say is target him before he becomes a problem, and once he’s become a problem keep at least one of your characters invul so that all of you aren’t stunned.

Reading Zabuza
Zabuza is one of the three mist nin and is the only one who uses three types of chakra, he is also one of the few characters who gives immunity to ranged physical skills and is the only one who can protect his team. He also can ignore your invulnerability to deal piercing damage as well as AoE stun your team, his uses are limited only by your ingenuity. He is not a character easily read and as such the best I can tell you to do is one, never allow him to get on a role with damage, if he gets his mist up he’s near unstoppable unless you deal single damages quickly and efficiently, but whatever you do don’t let his combination attacks get to work.

Reading The Demon Brothers
The demon brothers, more commonly referred to as DB on n-a, are some of the more difficult characters to master, they utilize only taijutsu chakra, and as such if they are placed within a team it is unlikely you will encounter other characters such as Gai or Kakashi who might prove difficult to deal with, but you must beware that with a simple tai and random they can set themselves invulnerable to your stuns and ranged skills effectively making them pseudo-invulnerable. When dealing with them in this state you must do your best to neutralize the threat they possess, but before this time there is not much of a cause for worry as since they are dependant on one chakra type you can deal with others of multiple types before hand to allow more odds for a chakra screw.
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Reading Kabuto
Kabuto is no longer the danger he once was, but is still a threat when paired with certain characters, his scalpel will increase melee 50% for a turn so when paired with people like Gai if they’re using a boosted attack such as his strong whirlwind in gates the opponent will be near dead as 60 from Gai + 20 from Kabuto + 20% of Gai’s 60… they’ll be at no health almost no matter what.. Determine how he’s going to be used in the team as either a stun or booster, then eliminate him if the role calls for it. Do not, I repeat, do not focus solely on Kabuto as for a Nin he’ll heal all the damage basically and can be storing chakra for his teammates.

Reading Kimimaro
Kimimaro used to be one of the best characters in the game and was usable in any team, and I mean any team to form an effective team. Now he’s not quite as powerful as he once was but he is still just as strong, to deal his major damage though he’ll require a specific chakra as well as a random on most occasions, he’ll also deal a minimum of 10 damage to himself, as such he’ll often be paired with people such as Sakura, Tsunade or Shizune who can heal him, and most recently Lee S as he’ll heal him and give him damage reduction for a little while, neutralize him by simply seeing how dangerous the healing will be and taking him out as quickly as possible or stunning him for multiple turns while eliminating his healer, Ino is good for doing that.

Reading Shizune
Shizune is possibly the best one on one character in the game, running purely on random chakra she can deal out deadly affliction for one random as well as add another 15 damage every turn to it, in 2 on 1 she is slaughtering you as she can heal her team mate for 50 health and still add affliction to your list of damages. She’s a beast in one on one, but is often paired with others who require more immediate attention, you can spike her hard as she cannot heal herself, but I would take the approach to slowly kill her instead of making it so urgent, but I know many who disagree and will attack her first thing so honestly, it’s a matter of preference when it comes to Shizune, just fight how you feel most comfortable.
PS> only Chiyo surpasses her in 1 vs. 1 combat, thought you ought to know

Reading Anko
Anko used to be comparable to the demon brothers in terms of power, able to deal 75 damage to an opponent for one nin and 25 of her health, now she has waned to become a more balanced, nin using, form of Kimimaro….kind of. She has the ability to negate your defenses entirely on one character while dealing 5 damage to them per turn for a single random, this is comparable to Shikamaru’s neck bind but I will state that I find Anko’s to surpass Shikamaru’s as Anko’s can only be canceled by her death while Shikamaru’s can be canceled once he takes damage or is stunned if his prep is not up, so while Shikamaru’s may deal more damage it is surpassed by Anko. She can also up the afflictions on a certain target, as such she could easily be paired with others such as Shizune or Kankuro who can deal affliction poison that would be boosted to astonishing rates, but often Anko is not used to full potential, yet you should still judge her to her full potential, analyze how she’d work with her teammates (as she isn’t a stand alone character) and then handle the situation from there.
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Reading Cursed Seal Sasuke
Cursed Seal Sasuke, often referred to as CSS, is a tricky character to read, there are several ways to use him and as such you need to think several ways to counter him, he makes good bait on a team as he has that spike of his for just 2 nin, he also has affliction DoT that deals extra damage if the opponent makes a move. You deal with him as you might a venomous snake, with caution and disdain, if properly utilized he is one of the most dangerous characters in the game as he can easily switch to fight any type of opponent save major drain, he can use his cursed seal to gain ninjutsu chakra at the cost of 15 of his health, but say you already have a nin, you deal 15 to yourself in exchange for dealing 55 to them, which far surpasses Kimimaro’s own 40 damage to a single opponent in exchange for 20 of his health. Do not underestimate CSS and handle him with caution, that’s all I can say on this matter.

Reading Kyuubi Naruto
Kyuubi Naruto, often known as just Kyuubi or KN, is not as strong as he once was, yet remains a strong character. He is able to deal 40 damage and stun you without prep, but at the cost of 10 health, he can deal and affliction to you that lasts a single turn, but each time he uses it, it does more damage and as such can get quite troublesome when damage goes from total 15, 35, 60, dead… Do not take him lightly, especially since he has been endowed with the ability to heal himself, often Kyuubi was a prime target in any match, rivaled only by Gai and Kimimaro as prime targets, now he follows much the same role as he did before and much of the same steps should be taken…eliminate him before he becomes a problem, or you will have a problem on your hand.

Reading Gaara Rehabilitated
Gaara Rehabilitated, often know as just Rehab, is a double edged sword, if you use him for his AoE you must deal with high cooldowns and specific costs, if you use him for his DoT you have to deal with inability to use his other skills…at all until his DoT is done entirely. On the bonus side though, he has an AoE stun as well as a considerably high reduction surpassed in duration only by Baki as well as cost. His use is limited generally to perma stun teams or single target DoT teams, as such he is very rarely a prime target on a team as when on a perma stun other targets such as Shikamaru or Haku should hold more of your attention then one who can stun once…then 6 turns later do it again, but by no means am I saying to ignore Rehab, just… hold a respectable distance until you’re safe from his partners before you turn your focus on him.

Reading Iruka
Yeah, Iruka doesn’t have any cool nicknames like the counterparts listed above, yet he plays a very important role as a support character, able to invul a partner and give himself reduction at the same time he is strong in the support category, but this isn’t his only aspect. Iruka also holds the title of being the only non official but considered stunner by Lazy. Lols, while that is a little bit wordy I simply mean that Iruka can basically “stun” an opposing member with his bomb seal as most people will not take the 35 piercing damage if they were to move. He can perform this to boost melee damage onto said opponent which means his partners will be able to mercilessly attack you. Iruka will generally not appear in most of your matches on N-A as…well most people do not know how to use him well and this being the case there’s no real need to know how he works, all you must know though is… never underestimate him, but never make him an overstatement within your analyzation.
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Reading Kisame
Kisame, possibly one of the most annoying characters in the game if he manages to pull good chakra, basically he has 2 “stuns” but officially has one stun and one counter. He his able to deal 20 damage to you and stun you for a single nin, and for a single tai can deal 15 damage to you, and counter any damaging skill you might use in the following turn efficiently stopping most progress you might make towards winning the battle, both of these moves possess only a one turn cooldown and as such are highly abused amongst experienced players fighting “noobs.” Normally I tell anyone with any character to consider their teammates before taking direct action, I would say the same here but I’d be giving you a half truth… whenever I myself find Kisame, he always dies first before he can become a hassle for me, so I cannot in clear conscience tell you to consider his team before taking him on, but I can make the suggestion that you do and not be like me going kamikaze on him.

Reading Itachi
Itachi, while on his own is no real threat except for his affliction, while he can become invulnerable to melee skills for 2 turns through use of his Mangekyou Sharingan he can also stun you for 3 turns through his genjutsu that you cannot cancel said stun unless you can use a skill on the stunned opponent which will counteract it. Itachi however is not anywhere near as dangerous as his counterpart Kisame, this being said, like in above readings, do not discount Itachi’s usefulness…just don’t center a team around taking him out, it helps in any team though to have a character who can use skills on his teammates so as to counter Itachi’s stun though they could easily stun that person, so I’d make said person not the focus of your team should you run into an experienced Itachi user.
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Reading Tsunade
Tsunade can be a difficult character to deal with if she manages to pull good chakra, she can stun you each turn without mercy dealing a stunning 30 damage and then if she pulls even better chakra she can manage to do that, then once you evade the stun she can use her summon to heal any damage you do and then give her some reduction to help prevent a bit more. In all she’s a difficult character to deal with, her regeneration while it may seem threatening only delays what’s coming as by using it she now has an added turn to her cooldowns, now she can only stun one every other turn. By reducing her health steadily you neither waste chakra nor put yourself out if she heals, by dealing say a steady 20 damage a turn, if she heals back to 60 you only have another turn or two added to what you have to do, and they’re put out when it comes to healing by another turn. While I say to deal steady damage, I do not mean affliction as her healing skills all remove these and as such you’re screwed if she manages to heal them until your cooldown is up.

Reading Orochimaru
Orochimaru is as I say the king of all drainers, utilizing three types of specific chakra he is good in 1 vs 1 situations as he can gather those 3 types, but is dependant on 2 types. Still this being the case it means he’s more likely to get useful chakra in 1 vs. 1 situations and as he has a moderately high damage output he could easily win against a decent amount of other characters. Orochimaru can be a threat in any team he is placed in, as are all the Sannins, as this is they are prime targets within any team they may be placed in, but as they are so powerful they also act as very good bait and therefore you must determine their role before dealing with them, either way they should be the 1st or 2nd target in your assault, rarely the last.

Reading Jiraiya
Jiraiya, the only AoE user amongst the Sannin and as such he is generally the 1st target for most players, I remember acquiring him first and the only reason I wanted him with for a 100% reduction team I had seen and wanted to prefect. Now his uses are much more versatile, his summon can be used multiple times in a game, but no longer lasts 3 turn allowing fireball to deal 45 damage each turn. He still gains an extra chakra and turn of invulnerability and as such is dangerous when the summon is turned against you. He is, I would say, possibly the most dangerous Sannin to have to face in a 1 vs. 1. With gen he gives reduction and increases damage to you, with nin he damages you, with tai and blood he saves for a summon, he uses all 4 chakra types, Orochimaru does not, Tsunade costs much more for her damaging move and while it may stun…it won’t get the job done.
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Reading Sandaime (AKA: The Third Hokage)
Sandaime… so much to say about Sandaime. Known as the professor within the anime the title suits him within this game, he is able to kill off ANY opponent whatever the price might be. His summon Enma is perhaps the most useful in the game preventing your team from dieing for a few turns lending you “invincibility.” His ninjutsu… I won’t even get into this but in my mind there is only one word to describe Sandaime, troublesome. I have said in above readings that certain characters are prime targets, if Sandaime appears with any of them, forget what I said take the third out first, never should Shodaime be the final character for you to take down, if he gets the chakra for Enma he can then be “immortal” no matter what you do for the following few turns, you will also be taking damage. To wrap up this reading all I can say is Do Not Leave The Professor Alive On The Field

Reading Shodai Hokage
Possibly the most fun Hokage to use in the game as he alters from AoE to stunning to single target, he also uses both blood and nin chakra allowing a measure of versatility, he also has a rather high defense when his skills come into play, as such he will be a major target within any team as will any of the Kages really. Other then that I can’t tell you a whole lot as I don’t even see him much, never have, I don’t know why.

Reading Nidaime Hokage
Possibly the weakest (damage wise) of the kages this also means that while his damage is low his effects are not which means you must team him with others who will support his moves, take out those supports and he will crumble, catch my drift? Nidaime is not a prime target in a match, he is rather a distraction from more important members of the team, don’t fall for it ok?
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Reading Naruto S
Naruto S is the only character to currently have a 2nd invulnerability move, he not only has this but it’s invisible with a 3 turn cooldown, as such it is difficult to guess when he’ll use it, but know this. If your opponent goes first, odds are they will use his hidden invul on the first turn, as such unless you have moves that will pierce such skills don’t bother working on him until later in the match when you’ve at least eliminated one of the opponents. Also if need be you can attack him during the turn after he’s used his hidden invul, you’ll know he’s used it by the 20 random damage dealt as he’ll normally be paired with others who cannot deal the pure 20 damage.

Reading Sakura S
Sakura S gets to be a nuisance in any 2 vs. 2 or 2 vs. 1 situation when it’s tipped in their favor, her healing is horrible when you’re busy trying to get the chakra to damage them seeing as, as soon as you attack she can heal them for a maximum of 49 health, and a minimum of 1 health, anything you do she can heal, as such you need to take her out, before she gets to saving her teammates. Hit her fast, and hit her hard, getting stuns on her is essential so she neither uses self heal nor uses her improved healing for others. By watching her movements you can anticipate what she’s doing, on a turn when she does nothing, but her teammates are damaged and you know they had enough chakra numerically you can bet on the use of self heal, as such you need to hit her with a small amount of damage to cancel it cause she’ll heal for 30 health, no matter how much you do.

Reading Sai S
In most teams Sai will be acting as a support character as he will deal with most skills through his adaptive painting, targeting him with most drains is an idiotic move as while you may gain a chakra from him, he’ll get a switch in chakra so you could easily help him accomplish something he wouldn’t have before. Targeting him with most skills will lead to trouble as if you stun him he becomes invulnerable, don’t target him unless you can kill him, it won’t be wise.

Reading Kakashi S
Kakashi S can be dangerous to a decent amount of characters, but the following things you should keep in mind, he cannot copy moves that require preparation, so Kankuro is safe cause that would be killer using Black Machine Two-Shot for 1 random with no cool, that would be just….overpowered, so any character that preps for moves is safe from his wills. Also unique skills cannot be copied so you don’t have much to worry about when using characters that utilize unique skills. His only real threatening is when he reduces your stuns as well as his Mangekyou implosion that will deal 45 piercing and uncounterable damage. Don’t worry too much about Kakashi S in a team until he copies a skill of yours, other then that he’s almost harmless…almost.

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Reading Lee S
Lee S can be a danger in any team, for one his attacks stack to deal more damage, another he can counter opposing melee skills to one of his teammates and reflect 30 damage onto them. To add to that if it wasn’t enough he can heal his team for 15 health as well as he can give them 15 damage reduction to add to it if the 15 wasn’t enough. He will often be the center of a team but can also work as support. Do not take him lightly, but also don’t make him the focus of your attention as he can still heal even if you’re focusing on him so don’t deal to harshly with him or you’ll regret it.

Reading Tenten S
Tenten S is strong, but limited in what she can do, while if timed correctly she is immune to most AoE stuns except Shika and Oboro she can also deal 35 piercing AoE damage as well as she is the only AoE user who can deal extra damage to one person while dealing consistent AoE to the others through the use of her smaller AoE skill dealing 15 to one member and 10 to the others. In general she is not a major threat like her 3 shippuden team mates but she is not to be taken lightly, do not let her be alive if matched with AoE users like Diedara and Kimimaro who are basically used as a one use AoE.

Reading Neji S
Neji S is one of the first specific drainers who will drain a specific type of chakra, the only other one in the game is Orochimaru who will often be chosen before Neji S due to the fact that Neji S has a low damage output, he deals 20-30 damage and drains and has a counter to chakra skills, but he is still entirely vulnerable to genjutsu, and taijutsu skills even if he’s able to counter a decent amount of bloodline and ninjutsu skills. Target him with taijutsu skills and don’t let up the pressure on him else you will lose your chakra and quite possibly the game if the opponent is a proficient user of Neji S.

Reading Gai S
Utilizing the highest single damage move in the game out of the shippuden characters, Gai S is a tank on the field as it is unique, and piercing, not only that while he’s able to use this he can only really be harmed by piercing and affliction skills. Not only this if you target him while he’s using his nunchuks he’ll damage you for 20 of your health and as such he’s not likely to be a prime target until that’s gone by which time he’ll often have used his 6th gate release to bring the game to an adrenaline high as you attempt to save your characters from near certain death.
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Reading Chiyo
Chiyo is one of the most dangerous characters in 1 vs. 1 combat surpassing even Shizune in that position. She can kill you (if you do not invul) in a matter of 4 turns all on her own. When placed within a team you must first devise how dangerous she is, in comparison to her team, as if you didn’t consider her team she’d be first target on any list. Do not under any circumstance leave her in a 1 on 1 situation unless you can kill her in a manner of 2 turns, any more and she can and odds are will kill you for the win.

Reading Kazekage Gaara
Kazekage Gaara is a character that is very easily read, the opponents will, first thing, attempt to use his sand summoning allowing the boost of his moves as well as the reduction of damage to him and giving his team mates destructible defense. He is not a real threat until he’s had one or two activations of his sand, but once he becomes a threat he also become difficult to kills, as such do not allow him to live, target him before he becomes too much of a threat for you to deal with, this is the only advice I can give towards Kazekage Gaara and his reading.

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Reading Sasori of the Red Sand
Sasori is possibly one of the most annoying characters in the game as constantly as you weaken him he will get stronger, AND his skills will change and you need to be aware of it, he is a reduction character as well as affliction, AoE and spike… see how I mean annoying. He is going to, odds are, be the center of a team and as such, you take him out and the team is destabilized, I would suggest eliminating him at once in a large attack so that his other skills will not be utilized as by weakening him slowly he gains power during those turns you weaken him.

Reading Diedara
Diedara is one use character, odds are once you use his massive explosion you won’t do much more with him, as such he will generally be incorporated into mass AoE teams including others such as Jiraiya or Kimimaro, if you’d read my earlier readings you’ll now know this, take out the people that can deal damage more often, Diedara gets one real use, after that most people discard him, so ignore him and take out his other hard hitters before you worry about Mr. Suicide over there.

Reading Kisame BD
Kisame Body Double, or just KBD on n-a, is perhaps one of the more troubling characters, he is certainly as much a handful as his predecessor the normal Kisame. Both are strong in 1 vs. 1 situations and both have some of the more troubling skills. He can up your cools and as such you want to prevent this on one of your characters at least if you must suffer it at all. Remember also that if he uses his water chamber only the smart players will be able to add additional damage to you through it so don’t worry too much about that, and about his sharks, remember they have no cooldown and as such can eliminate an opponent with just 2 uses of it and during 1 turn they may very well take 50 damage…don’t let this happen to you.

Reading Itachi BD
Itachi BD is the most faceted character of the current Akatsuki lineup, he can counter, deal AoE DoT damage as well as he has 2 counters, one negates and the other reflects the skill…both at the cost of a gen but at the efficiency it has for stopping opponents, who cares? When Itachi BD uses his finger genjutsu you want to use at least 2 characters or none in the following turn to ensure that at least one does something as if you attack with one character, and it’s negated you wasted chakra, if you attack with 2 and one’s negated you wasted chakra, but still did something constructive. Do not take Itachi BD, nor his partner, lightly.

To begin this guide I will say a few quick words regarding my guides, and the topic of this guide. Regarding my guides, they are here because I get bored and write them, do not spam them because they could very well not be here. Now about this guide, reading your opponent is one of the most difficult things to do in the game and is only perfected by, well no one. You may think you’ve perfected reading your opponent, but you haven’t.

Introduction to Reading yout opponent:

As said above reading your opponent is quite difficult, but if you become proficient at it you’ll increase the likelihood of winning by at least 33%. The difficulty of reading a team lies within the complexity of the team as well as the proficiency of the user. Hybrid teams are the most difficult to counter as there doesn’t have to be a set rhythm to their moves, and a strong hybrid team can win with one two characters against a team of three if need be.

Things You’ll Need To Know:

Chakra Draws Possible With Three Characters~20 Possible Unique Draws
Tai, Tai, Tai
Tai, Tai, Blood
Tai, Tai, Gen
Tai, Tai, Nin
Blood, Blood, Blood
Blood, Blood, Tai
Blood, Blood, Gen
Blood, Blood, Nin
Gen, Gen, Gen
Gen, Gen, Tai
Gen, Gen, Blood
Gen, Gen, Nin
Nin, Nin, Nin
Nin, Nin, Tai
Nin, Nin, Blood
Nin, Nin, Gen
Tai, Blood, Gen
Tai, Blood, Nin
Blood, Gen, Nin
Gen, Nin, Tai

Chakra Draws Possible With Two Characters~10 Possible Unique Draws
Tai, Tai
Tai, Blood
Tai, Gen
Tai, Nin
Blood, Blood
Blood, Gen
Blood, Nin
Gen, Gen
Gen, Nin
Nin, Nin

Chakra Draws Possible With One Character~4 Possible Unique Draws
Tai
Blood
Gen
Nin

When reading your opponent there are a few things you’ll need to do:

One
Break down your opponents team into it’s individual characters and analyze what each character can do on it’s own, how’s it’s chakra usage, what can it do to hinder a win, etc. Characters like Kimimaro are either a prime target, or minor nuisance depending on his teammates.
Two
After analyzing each character individually pair them into the three different sets of two that they can make. Now re-analyze what they can do together. What skills can they use to form combinations or protect each other. How often can they attack with two chakra a turn, break the two down to nothing but skills and two chakra.
Three
After having done this for the pairs and individual members you can now take one pair, and add it’s skills as though it was a single character, add it to the other character giving yourself now a team with one “stand alone” character and two who work together to support themselves.
Four
Now take all the information you have and make it as a whole, you now have analyzed the opponents team which will move you one step closer to winning. Keep in mind that this should all only take about 40 seconds, just practice until you can manage it, or take a turn to gather chakra, and don’t end your turn once it pops up, let it run the minute so you have 2 minutes instead to analyze their team and anticipate their moves.

Example Of Breakdown In Steps

Neji, Chiyo, Gaara

One
Neji-
Minor DoT
Unique Skills
Drain
AoE
Extra Invulnerability

Chiyo-
DoT
Stun
Invul Ignorance
Unique Skills
Reduction/Boost

Gaara-
Major Reduction
Single Stun
Instant Kill
Interruption

Two
Neji, Chiyo
DoT
Stun To Continue AoE
No Clash
Works On A Schedule Of 3 Chakra For 2 Attacks

Neji, Gaara
Negation Of Defense
Drain Till Instant Kill
Extra Defense (extra invul and major reduction respectively)

Chiyo, Gaara
Single Stun
Extra Defense (reduction and major reduction respectively)

Three
Neji and Chiyo, Gaara
Supported DoT
Instant Kill and Bait
No Clash

Four
As a whole the team I’ve just analyzed took me about 20 seconds to analyze and a few minutes to type out. The team is one based on 2 man teamwork with another to “stand alone” and if need be to be bait. This team can counter most types, and when utilized correctly is highly effective against draining teams. When anticipating moves from this team you have to do the following:
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One
See how they’re playing, don’t anticipate or attempt to for at least a few moves to see how the opponent would handle the above team. If they start by using Chiyo’s random damage with Neji’s DoT in addition you can bet that they’re going to focus on using the DoT allowing them to charge Gaara to use either for kill or bait. Therefore ignore Gaara unless he stuns, if he stuns interrupt it but otherwise focus on taking out either Chiyo or Neji (depends on your team which you should take out first) because without their partner they won’t be able to continue at such a devastating rate.

Two
If they are instead using Gaara’s sand from the beginning you’ll have to decide whether to split your attentions or focus on Gaara. Personally I would wait for the turn where Gaara is unable to defend or have his sand up, but by the time that rolls around odds are at least one of your characters would be dead. As such I leave this team with the following words, do not take it lightly, if you are indecisive you will lose. This is true for any opposing team, indecision will cost you the match.

I still need to fix that terrible banner graphic, but oh well!

In game related news, the torch and pitchfork wielding mob seems to be hunting down laupman because he broke their imbalanced teams. I don’t understand how people cant realise that if a team was too good, that it needs to be nerfed. Yes, sure Jiro, Shino and Hinata team used to be your favourite team because you destroyed everyone with it. Oh wait, that was because it was OP.

Shino- Probably the best pure drainer in the game once he gets going. In drain teams he usually is the “glue” that keeps the team going with his bug wall to stall and overall stealing you chakra. So, it usually makes sense to target him once he gets one bug on you and especially if two bugs are on you. If you have Sakura (S) you’re in luck since you can simply remove the bugs once they are placed on you same with Shizune though 3 chakra is sort of a steep price. Also, Kabuto’s self heal will get the bug off himself. If you don’t have any of those 3 characters in your team you should aim for Shino so he doesn’t disrupt your chakra flow too much. If you have 2 characters that are bugged try to make one of them invulnerable since Shino will drain just 1 character, place another bug or invul himself or his team. Simply don’t leave you’re entire team open to drain. Another way to get around Shino is to use Zaku’s wall of air, which will counter the entire drain and damage if used properly. However, take this with a grain of salt since decent players will know to use another attack first for Zaku’s counter and then they will use Chakra Leech.

Hinata- Hinata really isn’t that great at draining if you defend properly. Of course, you could be hit by Ko punch+Gentle Fist then you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. Remember that Gentle Fist can be used 2 times during Byakugan if your opponent uses it early since its cooldown is 3. All counters apply to Hinata’s Gentle Fist since once it gets going you can just counter her for a 100% guaranteed counter. If you cannot counter you should make that character invulnerable since you would lose 3 chakra instead of the 4 chakra and the extra 20 damage. Do not use your invulnerable if your character is unable to defend… However, Hinata’s 25 aoe attack is rather annoying with 50% damage reduction and you should counter or defend accordingly. If you have Kidoumaru you can stun her for 2 turns easily since her attack targets everyone but that’s only for her non chakra draining attack.

Neji- 64 palms can be contained if you have stunners. When you stun Neji 64 palms stops working for that turn. For example, if you had Sakura with Rampage and 64 palms on her and used Ko Punch on Neji you would not lose a random chakra the following turn as well as gain 25% damage reduction. This also applies to moves that are 2 turn stuns such as Desert Coffin. Of course, many of your opponent’s will take advantage of one of your characters being unable to defend so killing Neji early in the drain usually is beneficial especially if it is on a character that needs invulnerability such as Lee or Haku.

Dosu- A lot of random people do not like Dosu and think he’s close to useless. Funny thing how they tend to aim for him during matches… Anyways Dosu’s drain requires the target to have been attacked by Vibratingsu ever Sound Drill. If you use a move the turn you’re attacked by VSD your character will not be able to defend so counters or stunners on Dosu make sense. Once, Dosu uses his prep he becomes far more dangerous with the ability to do 40 damage for 1 taijutsu every turn. Dosu is easily stunned to death but if you don’t have stunners getting rid of him becomes your goal. That being said his chakra drain move Sound Manipulation is close to useless since it has a cooldown of 1 and while it does drain 1 chakra for each VSD icon is hard to execute. Therefore, your main concern is the 40 damage a turn and getting rid of that.

Kin- Kin has been nerfed back a notch so that Unnerving Bells have a cooldown of 1. How long it’ll last this time I have no clue. Just defend your character when you see the Bell icon to avoid the extra damage combo from illusion Duplication attack. Not much else really.

Jiroubou- Dungeon Chamber of Boringness—Just my opinion… Anyways, if you have an affliction attacker (Shizune/Itachi/Etc) this move wont be a worry since you can cancel it quickly. However, if you’re like me and don’t really use affliction attackers you’ll have to either stun Jiroubou to prevent this move from ever being used or counter it on the turn its used. This is assuming you don’t have Kakashi or Gaara for instant ko. With Kakashi do not use Sharingan when you think this move will be used as Jiroubou will gain not 35 but 50 Destructible Damage and Kakashi will have 0 making him an easy target. Another option is to drain your opponent while DCON is ongoing so your opponent cannot spike you once the skill ends.

Tayuya- Not the greatest drainer out there but combined with her easily used stun she can be a versatile character. If you’re up against her try to interrupt Doki Demons so that you can avoid being drained that following turn. Her stun is hard to avoid so there isn’t much advice to be given there since it only requires a Gen and a random chakra.

Yoroi- Don’t worry about him until you see the prep activated. His regular attacks without the prep are pointless and are a waste of chakra but with his prep activated he becomes annoying. If you are using Kakashi you will reflect both his attacks for 1 turn but during the second turn of his heavy drain attack you will be damaged. So, if you see Draining Assault on your character make sure to stun or counter.

Asuma- Asuma is underappreciated due to his specific chakra moves. I don’t like using him either but since the move is interruptible I’m guessing that you can stop the damage reduction if you stun him and attack his team the next turn. Of course this rule applies to Naruto’s Shadow Clones and other techniques but I haven’t used Asuma to be completely sure. You can see Self-Sacrific so act accordingly when your opponent uses it. Once Flying Swallow is in effect be prepared for the 40 damage spike that will also destroy 1 of your chakra. You should try to use a defense negating move with Anko or Kiba if possible to get around the damage reduction. And Flying Swallow can be avoided if you’re invulnerable thus making that character not a target for Finishing Blow.

Orochimaru- Kusanagi and Manda aren’t exactly easy to avoid unless you’re lucky enough to counter. In regard to Manda if you have a Tai heavy team you wont need to worry as much since it drains only the other 3 types of chakra. For chakra management if you are pretty sure you’re going to get Manda’ed try allocating an extra Tai to your chakra pool so you have some chakra the following turn.For Cursed Seal Technique people are usually going to have a healer be “bitten” so you can either try to spike them, which is probably unlikely or focus on Oro to prevent him from using bite.

Neji (S)- If you have a Tai/Nin team as many people have had in the past Neji (S) is one of your worst possible opponents. Zabuza can prevent the 1 Nin drain from being used “Hakke Kuushou”. However, Hakke Hasangeki can only be countered to prevent it from being used unless you stun Neji (S) constantly of course. Also, be wary of his Chakra Disruption counter that will counter all chakra attacks such as Rasengan or Chidori.

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Zaku- Wall of air is annoying but cannot counter mental skills and counters only the first move on that character. So, if your opponent’s Nidaime has 10 hp left and zaku has wall of air going you can still get rid of Nidaime by using 2 moves on him or a mental skill.
Remember only mental skills can be countered even affliction moves will be countered.
Note: You can just attack Zaku to avoid counter mania unless your opponent has other counter characters or just attack Zaku after you’ve been countered or guess, which isn’t really effective…

Zabuza- Hidden mist counters all ranged physical skills for 2 turns at least right now. This means skills ranging from Great Waterfall technique to desert graveyard will be countered and do no damage whatsoever. So do not use any ranged physical skills as long as you see the hidden mist icon on your characters unless you have Kimimaro. One way to avoid having your ranged physical character be useless for 2 turns is to make them invulnerable the turn before you think your opponent will use hidden mist. Hidden mist is affliction so it can be healed by s sakura, shizune, or kabuto on himself.

Kidoumaru- Ranged skills will never be countered by Kidoumaru’s counter. Spider web can be avoided by simply not attacking him if you have a melee attacking type. This counter can be devastating if your entire team is melee since every melee attack is countered and that character is stunned for 2 turns. So if you had chouji/naruto/sasuke all attack the turn this counter was up you would be totally stunned the next 2 turns. The safe thing to do is attack with one character to see whether the stun is up or not instead of getting 2 characters stunned. Also, you can time your attacks around golden arrow and summoning Kyodaigumo.

Kakashi- Sharingan will reflect all moves on Kakashi that are not unique for that turn. This means that any attack without the unique class will be reflected that is targeted on Kakashi. This includes characters that are invulnerable such as haku in demonic ice mirrors. If Haku used acupuncture on Kakashi while in mirrors Kakashi would reflect the move but since Haku is invulnerable the reflected acupuncture would have no affect. Characters such as Hinata and Kidoumaru will maul Kakashi with no threat of having their moves reflected.

Kurenai- Tree bind death is a counter that activates only after a skill is used on the single target and your character who attacked first will be stunned for 3 turns. To get around tree bind you can simply focus on attacking Kurenai since the skill will end when she is gone. Since tree bind causes double damage from mental skills it is important to attack Kurenai once tree bind has hit since once she is gone her cherry blossom move ends as well.

Gai- The original counter punch machine has been nerfed quite a bit. Still his counter can be a concern. Counter punch can be used while he is in sixth gate opening. With a cooldown of 3 turns counter punch is less likely to be a problem. Remember that counter punch only targets one character on your team and if that character is invulnerable they cannot be targeted by counter punch. It is safe to use skills on your own characters even when counter punch is activated since these skills cannot be countered by counter punch. For example Sakura’s cure on your Naruto will not be countered.

Kisame- Samehada slash is self-explanatory… when you see the icon on one of your characters do not attack with that character. However, there is an exception to this rule. Only moves that do damage will be countered so skills such as Shikamaru’s shadow bind will still work and not be countered. For Samehada Shread it is a rather powerful chakra stealing technique that will usually be paired with another stunning technique. If this happens use a counter to possibly cause Kisame to be countered twice. If your opponent uses the technique alone either stun or make your affected character invulnerable.

Kakashi (S)- Jutsu imitation is not a counter. However, its effects are similar enough to Kakashi’s sharingan to mention. Jutsu imitation will copy a non-unique and not requiring a prep technique that an opponent uses. Skills such as Naruto shadow clones can be copied even though it is a prep move. Jutsu imitation becomes deadly if it copies a move such as Tsunade’s painful sky leg since the turn after it is copied your opponent can use it for 1 random chakra for 4 turns. My advice would be to use unique moves when you can and try to use moves that would not be game changers if they were copied. If this is not possible try to stun Kakashi (S) or spike him if you feel that you would be in trouble. Remember that team tactics may be in effect causing stuns to last one fewer turn when considering this strategy.

Lee (S)- Konoha Shoufuu is similar to Zaku’s wall of air in that it lasts 1 turn and is invisible. However, this counter only counters melee skills on one opponent character that is not Lee (S). In other words to get around this counter you could either not use melee attacks or better yet attack Lee (S) himself to avoid any chance of being countered by him.

Tenten (S)- Chain spin is similar to Zabuza’s hidden mist but is invisible. Costing only 1 random chakra it counters the first ranged physical skill that is used on Tenten (S). The problem that comes with this counter is that an area of effect attack that is ranged physical will be countered not only on Tenten (S) but her teammates will receive no damage as well. Remember that this skill counters only the first ranged physical move so if you’re in a tough situation using 2 ranged physical skills would mean only 1 would be countered if she had this skill activated.

Itachi Body Double- Finger genjutsu can be spammed every other turn unfortunately. On one character any skill used on Itachi or his allies will be countered and if you have a gen it will be stolen. Thankfully, you can tell Finger genjutsu was used that turn but you cannot tell on which character. There are multiple ways to get around finger genjutsu. If your character was invulnerable the turn before it was used they cannot have been the target. Secondly, you can still use techniques on yourself such as Sakura’s cure on your allies without worry of that skill being countered. Third, you can do nothing that turn and store chakra, which is a decision that can be made based on how much chakra your opponent has and what the worst case scenario would be for you the following turn.

Genjutsu reversal reflects non-unique ninjutsu or genjutsu moves for 2 turns. The ninjutsu or genjutsu class is based on the description of the move. Just read the description under your move if it has nin or gen and not unique don’t use it. For example Kakashi’s Raikiri is Green/Blue but it will be reflected by Genjutsu reversal since the class of Raikiri is Melee/Chakra/Nin/Static. Make sure to look at your moves attack class before you attack Itachi Body Double since you could be in for a rude awakening if you do not.

Naruto (S)- Mass shadow clones is a unique skill in all of n-a that brushes off attacks for 1 turn on Naruto (S). There a couple ways to get around this skill. First of all, if your opponent invuled 2 characters and left Naruto (S) open that usually means they used this skill. However, advanced players may just be trying to bait you into not attacking that turn so they can use it next turn. If you have Kakashi (S) you can use Jutsu Imitation the turn before you think your opponent will use MSC and since Kakashi (S) will copy it you know 100% that they used MSC. Also, Kaubto’s Temple of Nirvana will tell you also if MSC was used since Naruto (S) will be stunned. If Naruto (S) was not stunned by Temple of Nirvana it means your opponent did not use MSC. Even with all this the best strategy is usually to leave Naruto (S) for last so you avoid even having to deal with MSC.
Strategy by red)king
Opponent’s turn: They use Mass Shadow Clones.
Your turn: You use Itachi finger poke in the eye on naruto s.
Next turn: He attacks but ignores the counter, due to Mass Shadow Clones ending at the end of the turn.
Strategy by VincentDirge and Daigae
Press F5 during your opponent’s turn to see the counter… such as MSC or Itachi Body Double Genjutsu Reversal… I personally don’t like it… at all

Iruka- The annoying teacher of Naruto dominated in old ladder thanks to his 3 glitches. Thankfully, new ladder makes him less annoying. Shield Ally costs 1 random and has 1 cooldown so its easily used. Once again to get around this you could just attack Iruka instead of other characters avoid this skill. There are a couple quirks with this skill. It is confirmed that Shield Ally will protect an ally from Nindog/Raikiri, which is rather odd but true. It hasn’t been confirmed with Gaara’s Desert Funeral but it would probably be the same. The 100% damage reduction from Shield Ally seems to include instant kills as well at least it is coded that way.
So, just aim for Iruka himself since his double damage move can be deadly.

Yamato (S)- Attack Yamato directly to avoid the Wood Clone, which is a rather powerful counter. Anyways, either punch through his allies with genjutsu or mental skills or as usual attack him just as you would with Zaku. Watch out for Itachi/Yamato combinations that will look to stun you right out of the game. Sakura (S) or Zaku are just a couple of the characters that can cancel out Itachi’s stun before it becomes too annoying.

Thanks to Nowhere for letting us use his guide

Cooldowns exist to prevent people from abusing them as well as for general balancing.
You can use cooldowns to your advantage by seeing how many turns you have to stall or making your own plan of attack and other possibilities. Using cooldown knowledge is vital in gaining the upper hand.

1)For example, when Temari uses Summoning quick beheading dance (35 aoe) you will not be attacked by that move for the next 2 turns no matter what.
2)Invisible skills count as well so if you have the misfortune of falling for gai’s counter punch you know he cannot counter you for at least the next 3 turns

Combine your knowledge of both how much chakra your opponent has and their cooldowns to determine their likely move for that turn.
Your opponent may have 1 nin and 2 other chakra for Temari’s 35 aoe attack however the 2 turn cooldown may have not passed yet assuring you that you will not be attacked by that move that turn. On the other hand, 2 turns may have passed by for the cooldown but you know that your opponent has less than 3 chakra making you safe for that turn from the 35 aoe attack.

Thanks to Nowhere for letting us use his guide

This will probably be a review for most players but its worth going over.

- Try not to burn all of your chakra on one turn unless your attack will turn the tide of the battle in your favor.

People tend to get irrational and burn all their chakra if they see they can do a random skill. For example, say you have 1 tai and 2 nin with Kakashi and Naruto against Sasuke. You should not use any skill unless either Kakashi or Naruto have a threat of being killed so you can use Nindogs/Raikiri the following 2 turns.If you had Deidara and Oboro left and had 1 blood and 1 gen it might be worth it to pass your turn and hope you will get a nin in the next 2 chakra assuming you don’t get drained or spiked.

These are basic examples but show why storing chakra is helpful. Also, storing chakra can allow you to have an easier time “spiking” opponents or having a certain type of chakra available to counter the following turn. It depends on the situation but burning through all your chakra is not a good idea especially against drainers.

- Learn to count your chakra as well as your opponent’s chakra. Why?

Since you will be able to better predict your opponent’s moves as well as what moves you may be able to use. If you know how much chakra your opponent has you can tell if they will be able to use high chakra cost moves such as Kimimaro’s Seedling Fern (35 aoe). If you did not know how much chakra your opponent had you would not be able to decide for certain if they have the 3 chakra necessary to use the skill and you could either waste an invulnerable skill or be set up for a spike on a damaged character. Counting your own chakra works in the same fashion where you can determine the probability of pulling off one of your own skills. This is more important against drainers where every chakra counts. You have a higher probability of winning against drainers if you can tell how much chakra you’ll have the following turn.

Thanks to Nowhere for letting us use his guide