Shadow Fight Arena - Beginner’s Guide to Ironclad
In our efforts to explore the variety of characters that Shadow Fight Arena has in its roster, we created a top 5 guide in which you can find our top picks of champions in this mobile fighting game. However, considering how varied and excellent the characters are in this game, for the most part, we feel that simply mentioning them in a top 5 list isn’t enough to do them justice. For this reason, we’ve started creating more in-depth guides about the ones we consider to be the best.
This time around, we wanted to talk about Ironclad, a champion known for his expertise in hand-to-hand combat, and whose superior defenses make him a very tough nut to crack. Though his playstyle is quite straightforward, consisting of punching everything that stands in his way until they stop moving, the difference between a good and a bad Ironclad is the knowledge you have about your skills and talents. Specifically, some of these passives trigger in specific circumstances, and if used correctly, they can turn the tide of any battle.
Learning what your character can do is the basis for any winning strategy in Shadow Fight Arena, which is why we wanted to create this guide, so that you can get a basic understanding of what Ironclad is all about.
Introduction to Ironclad
As his name suggests, Ironclad is a very resilient fighter, having access to talents that boost his defense as well as his damage potential. His superior defenses make him an ideal choice for beginners, despite the fact that he has very little ranged capabilities. However, to balance this out, Ironclad can essentially ignore the enemy’s ranged attacks, since projectiles tend to bounce off of him doing only minor damage and no stagger.
In contrast to other characters in the game, Ironclad has no weapons, and instead relies on his fists to do most of the talking. In this sense, players can choose to boost his defenses via his talents to increase his resilience, or in the case of the more aggressive users, you can also boost his attack and play him as aggressively as possible. Luckily, in the case of the latter, Ironclad has a very straightforward moveset:
- Neutral Attack: Ironclad does a basic one-two punch combo which hits enemies at very close range. He gains Unbreakable when launching the second punch.
- Forward Attack: Unleashes a backhanded punch, followed by a powerful straight punch. He gains Unbreakable when launching the second punch.
- Back Attack: Starts with a downward punch, followed by a spinning backhand punch. He gains Unbreakable when launching the second punch.
- Down Attack: Ironclad unleashes a straight punch that covers a greater distance than other attacks.
- Up Attack: A fast uppercut that grants the Unbreakable status during its animation.
- Special Attack: Unleashed by holding down the Punch button, Ironclad performs a Superman punch that travels a very long distance. Ideal for closing the distance and catching enemies off guard, as Ironclad gains Unbreakable in the latter parts of this attack’s animation.
As you can tell, while Ironclad dishes out most of his damage from up close, his attacks often trigger the Unbreakable status during their animations, which prevents him from getting staggered and reduces the damage he takes. As such, while he’s very easy to pick up and play with, the difference between beginner and expert Ironclad players is that the latter will always use his defensive properties to prevent incoming damage, while keeping the pressure on the enemy at all times.
Ironclad’s Specialty: Unrelenting Pressure
This character is perfect for overwhelming newbies, particularly since most of his attacks are quick and can easily interrupt others, while powering through the damage thanks to the Unbreakable and Stubbornness passive effects. In the case of the latter, this passive trait inherent to this character increases his defenses every time he takes damage, and stacks multiple times to increase the effect as the fight goes on.
This fact is further supported by Ironclad’s shadow form attacks, which further increase his ability to pressure foes by closing the gap and punishing them if they can’t defend themselves.
Ironclad only has two shadow form skills:
- Shadow Charge: Tackles the enemy from a long distance, knocking them on the ground if successful. Deals minor damage.
- Legionary Jump: Jumps into the air and lands with a mighty stomp, dealing damage to everything caught beneath his heel.
The interesting part about these skills is that they can be used in tandem. If you’re quick enough, you can knock the enemy to the ground with a well-placed shadow charge, and immediately launch a legionary jump to stomp them before they can get back up. If you’re pressured and can’t do the charge, though, you can also use a quick throw instead of the shadow charge (by attacking the enemy when you’re as close to them as possible), and then following up with the legionary jump before the enemy can roll away.
Ironclad’s Talents
As we mentioned above, the talents available to Ironclad can help to either bolster his defenses even further, or to turn them into damage potential. Your choice here will vary depending on your playstyle:
Level 2
- Innate Stubbornness: Ironclad begins the battle with 5 Stubbornness charges.
- Persistence: Ironclad becomes temporarily invincible whenever hit by a ranged attack.
Level 4
- Berserk: At 20 stacks of Stubbornness, Ironclad’s deals additional damage with every attack.
- Shadow Respite: Consumes all stacks of Stubbornness when entering shadow form to heal HP in relation to the number of stacks consumed.
Level 6
- Adrenalin: Ironclad will gain a critical attack that can break through the enemy’s block whenever he gains 5 stacks of Stubbornness.
- Wound Bandaging: Restores more HP at the beginning of every round.
Level 8
- Knockout: If Ironclad gets hit during one of his Unbreakable phases, his hit automatically becomes critical.
- Phenomenal Stubbornness: Ironclad automatically develops up to 10 Stubbornness charges whenever his HP drops below 30%.
Level 10
- Eternal Stubbornness: Ironclad no longer has a limit to the number of Stubbornness stacks he can gain.
- High Pain Threshold: Stubbornness stacks now increase resistance to all types of damage.
Between attack or defense, we always prefer the former when it comes to Ironclad, considering that his innate kit already has lots of defensive abilities. The key here is to focus on boosting his damage, and then making use of his Stubbornness and Unbreakable buffs to mitigate incoming damage, while keeping up the pressure on the enemy.
