Vella - Mistress of Blades (English)

Vella – Mistress of Blades

 

Who is Vella?

Vella is one of the newest additions to the Vindictus mercenary pantheon, together with Karok, the Giant warrior.

Vella wields twin swords just like Lann but differs greatly in her gameplay from him and other melee combatants like Fiona or Karok.

She usually wears heavy armor and no shield. This makes Vella a bit of a glass cannon because despite the OK defense from heavy armor she is very vulnerable in certain situations. However, mastering Vella’s powerful defensive ‘Cross Cut’ move allows the player to dodge most, even very powerful, attacks and deal damage at the same time. Since twin sword Vella's direct defense is focused on this single skill you should try and master it as soon as possible.

In terms of ‘skill’ requirements and ‘skill’ cap/ceiling Vella with twin swords is situated in the middle of the scale. Lann (sword/spear), Fiona (sword/hammer) and Staff-Evie are definitely harder to master than Vella if you take into account all aspects of combat. Mercenaries like Cestus-Karok, Bow-Kai or Hurk are roughly her equivalent ‘skill’-wise and the others, i.e. Chain-Vella, Crossbow-Kai, Scythe-Evie and Pillar-Karok are easier.
Please note this is a subjective order but pretty much matches the majority of player’s point of views on mercenary difficulty.

Personally I would not suggest Vella for a new player. If you like melee you should try Scythe-Evie or Pillar-Karok first, if you’re more the ranged lover then Chain-Vella or the notoriously overpowered Crossbow-Kai are likely to match your goals.

 

What’s so Special about Vella?

Apart from the rather subjective advantage of playing as a real hot chick with ninja swords, Vella differs from the other classes in several points that turn her gameplay into a lot of unique fun. Oh, and cutting ugly trollz into bloody slices real fast is a definite contestant for the Jeez-I-Love-That-So-Award.

Firstly, Vella brings a lot of movement and speed into fights. Her smashes, with the exception of the most basic (LR), all propel her forward over medium to long distances.

Secondly, two of her four smashes deal significant 360° area damage while the other two excel in taking down single targets and add a knock-up to dispatch those pesky mini-bosses safely. This makes Vella quite flexible in dispatching both groups of enemies and lone wolves. It should be noted that her LLLR(RR) move is suited to both purposes, owing to its great damage output.

By propelling Vella forward the fights require precise re-orientation and re-positioning if you want to dispatch your enemies as quickly as possible.

Her normal attacks are very fast so turning your combo into exactly the desired smash attack requires good timing and a sound knowledge of how to differentiate between L to LLLL.

As a consequence of lighting-fast attacks and lots of movement you not only need a quick finger on normal attacks and smashes but also the ability to quickly turn the camera! Unlike all other mercenaries Vella is very dependant on quick camera turns to fulfill her damage potential best. Let me give you an example: LLLLR(RR) makes you dash up to 3 times. After each dash you can, in a short time frame, re-orient Vella’s direction of attack – and should do so! Only a very long line of enemies right behind each other does not need an adjustment in this case.
LLR(R) makes Vella swirl through enemies (360° damage) and optionally finishes the chain with an area damage jump. After the 2 normal attacks (LL) you have to pick the direction of the swirl and after the swirl the location for your jump attack should already be set!
Even the single target smash LLLR moves Vella forward since the enemies (except bosses) are pushed backwards by the smash.

Vella’s deadly defensive move ‘Cross Cut’ also makes her dash a long way, even through bosses. So once again, quick and precise camera-work is needed.

Using Vella’s defensive moves also requires good timing, although it is not quite as hard to ‘perfect’ as Fiona’s Guard/Heavy Stander.

 

In a summary, Vella is unique and fun because of:

• Lightning-fast normal attacks
• Flexible smash attacks for area damage and/or dispatching single foes
• Fast and precise movement/orientation adjustments needed
• Avoiding boss attacks deals significant damage to them!
• Good timing essential to survive and deal the most damage possible
• Other mercenaries (except OP Crossbow-Kai, obviously) will jaw-drop when you use your anti-boss-omfg-it’s-so-uber move.
• She’s a hot chick using ninja sword style…

 

Vella Smash!

So let’s talk about L and R attacks first. You can figure out the pros and cons of each combo quite fast so I will just outline the moves in general:

• LR: Very quick combo that knocks up everything except bosses and some few mobs, especially if they have the ‘Stone Skin’ mod. Moves Vella forward a short range. Useful to dispatch mobs that cannot be interrupted with normal attacks/smashes. Deals moderate damage on its own and prevents the mobs from attacking you. Since you can quickly chain these smashes the actual DPS can be quite nice.
  Quite useful against fast bosses on which longer chains like LLLR would be too dangerous due to the animation time (even considering Cross Stance use).
• LLR(R): A quick combo that whirlwinds Vella through enemies in front of her, dealing more damage per use than LR and to more enemies, too, since its 360°. Moves Vella forward for a medium range. Optionally ends in a 360° area damage jump that deals quite astonishing damage itself. I use this move mostly to dispatch standard mob groups that are too weak or scattered to justify the longer-charging LLLLR(RR)-combo. The optional jump means you can reach enemies that were out of whirlwind range or give still-alive mobs the killing blow.
  You can change direction both before the first and the second R. The first will define where you swirl, the second will define where you jump.
  The only downside to LLRR is the jump minimum range so you cannot reliably use the jump to deal further damage to very near enemies.
• LLLR: A moderately quick combo that sends Vella into a berserker mode-like frenzy and turns her blades into something every mob hit will agree is most accurately described as a vertical chainsaw. The finishing hit of this combo’s smash will knock up everything except bosses and some few mobs, especially those with ‘Stone Skin’.
  The attack angle is roughly the same as for LR, i.e. it’s very limited to enemies that are directly in front. However LLLR has a slight deviation to both sides so you will normally hit mobs slightly to the left and right, too.
  LLLR features a lot of directed damage against single targets or enemies standing close together in a line but it makes Vella prone to attacks from the sides/back and needs quite a long time to finish in a knock-up, so don’t rely on it to cancel the attacks of enemies hit.
  The downside to LLLR is that its animation time is really long. You are basically stuck in the smash part for several seconds, which can turn to be lethal in bossfights and may make you take hits from standard mobs (bad for your combat rating at the end). You can chose the chainsaw direction before R.
  This is easily the smash I most seldom use. Its damage output in most situations does not justify the downsides.
• LLLLR(RR): You could call this Vella’s signature combo because it is used very often and can reliably deal a lot of damage both to single targets and groups.
  LLLLR(RR) is a combo that needs the maximum of 4 normal attacks, meaning it is often useful to at least begin the combo before actually meeting the enemy.
  These normal attacks discharge into 1 to 3 dash attacks that each propel Vella forward over a large distance along the camera angle. It is even possible to fully reverse after a dash and the next one will take you back to where you started. Very quick camera movement and precise decisions on where to dash next are needed for LLLLRR and LLLLRRR to deal the most damage possible.
  This combo is also quite unique because each of the R is very fast, allowing you to quickly dash into another direction, potentially avoiding boss attacks! You can just skim around a boss and evade any hits that don’t have a generous area-effect hit box. Even then, directed area effect attacks will often miss you. Undirected area attacks however still pose a great danger, so be careful.
  Owing to this combo’s insane damage output you can easily be tempted to use all 3 smashes. Cancelling after the first R is usually a worse move than having spent the time using more efficient combos like LR or LLLR. Cancelling after the second R is a good choice and using all 3 R takes the damage output beyond all other combos – provided you hit every time.
  So in summary, what makes LLLLR(RR) such a great combo is that a) its damage output can be insane, b) it’s a great move against both single targets and groups and c) you gain unmatched mobility while doing serious DPS, allowing you to chase, evade and flee enemies during your attack.

 

Cross Stance – The World’s most Lethal Dodge

Now, how does that fit together? Dodging is lethal to my enemies?!

For Vella it is. ‘Cross Stance’ is her signature defensive move and indeed the only one except the usual ‘sidestep’ that every class is capable of.

Cross Stance is a bit like Fiona’s Guard in that you just press SHIFT without holding movement keys to activate it. Unlike Guard, however, you can activate it even while in the animation for normal attacks or smashes. This allows Vella to quickly exchange offense for defense so she can deal damage much more recklessly than other mercenaries.
Other melee fighters have to be careful about the timing of their smashes because they cannot defend or evade while the animation is running. Vella can cancel the animation quickly with Cross Stance and then follow up with defensive skills like Cross Cut or Slip Away / Backlash.

Using these skills is only possible while in Cross Stance.
Slip Away catapults Vella backwards (or any other direction you press with the second SHIFT) while Cross Cut deals serious damage to the enemy while at the same time dodging its attack! So… Lethal Dodge, alright J

 

To make up for the immense advantages of Cross Stance it has a very limited duration so you still have to know your enemy because if you don’t, chances are you will CS at the wrong time or not at all, taking hits. And you do not want to get hit as a Vella glass cannon!

In case you timed Cross Stance badly and it runs out without you following up with Cross Cut / Slip Away / Backlash you will not be able to Cross Stance again for a second or two. This is the situation you should try to avoid at all costs because it makes you very vulnerable and, of course, lowers your damage output.

Also keep in mind at all times that, although Cross Stance really cancels the animation phase, it does not interrupt it immediately. There is still a time frame in the region of maybe 0.3 seconds before CS cuts in. SHIFT-ing too shortly before the enemy attack hits is dangerous.

 

Cross Cut – Rest in Pieces

Cross Cut is Vella’s main instrument to evade enemy attacks and skills.

The most important thing about CC is that you can only use it in Cross Stance. You don’t have to wait for the CS animation, either. As soon as you’re confident that the short time frame before SHIFT turns into Cross Stance has passed you can left- or rightclick to launch Cross Cut.

The second most important thing about CC is that it scales very strongly with your level of ‘Blade Heart’. It is absolutely crucial to have a BH level of at least 1 when you Cross Cut. Without any Blade Heart effect you will not dodge through a boss so it is very likely he will hit you even if you CC with perfect timing.

Blade Heart 1 means you dodge through a boss and deal damage to them. BH 2 and 3 significantly increase the damage and lower the stamina consumption by a large amount.

Since Blade Heart is built up with attacks and smashes you cannot just wait for the enemy attack and Cross Cut out of it every time – you have to press the attack as often as possible. Vella is a very offensive mercenary, not unlike Hurk, who also relies on his attacks to boost his defense.

While Cross Cut can neutralize most attacks, even very powerful ones, it is not a potion of invulnerability. Bosses that can attack backwards, for example, will be able to hit you after you dodged through them. For these enemies I suggest cross-cutting, then quickly side-stepping out of attack range.

The third most important thing about CC is that it can actually counter ranged and spell attacks - but only if you are very near the enemy! Vella can totally own many spell casters and ranged attackers if she is nearby. If she is far away, you can still try to Backlash the projectiles but this also means you won’t get any Blade Heart effect. Since BH boosts your smash and Cross Cut damage to oblivion, CC is often a better choice. Be careful of near-instant or instant ranged/spell attacks though, since these are very hard to predict. In these cases maybe Backlash would be a better choice.

 

Double Cross – Why Stop the Carnage?

To complement the damage potential of Cross Cut, Vella soon after learns the ability ‘Double Cross’. DC allows you to dash back to your target after you successfully cross-cut it. This means even greater damage output and less time running back to your target.

DC is relatively easy to understand, so I’ll just once again point out that some bosses can actually hit backwards or all around them. Usually the time frame between their attacks is long enough to both Cross Cut and Double Cross, then prepare for the next attack. However, there are several encounters that follow up their main attack with area damage or they attack so fast that you should really think twice about DC.

 

Slip Away / Backlash – In Your Mouth!

Vella’s secondary defense can be activated either from Cross Stance or directly after a Side Step by clicking SHIFT again. Slip Away turns into Backlash fairly early in the game. Before that, it really just makes you take a long jump somewhere (hopefully) safe. After you obtained Backlash it also deflects projectiles! This means the enemy will actually hit itself with ranged attacks and many spells. Let those pesky cowards eat their own fireballs and throwing axes!!

Timing Backlash can be tricky against unusually fast projectiles. You will see a bubble-like ‘force shield’ around Vella when she backlashes. The Backlash animation has to be timed so that the shield is up as soon as the projectile would hit you. Against most bosses it is advisable to Backlash as soon as the projectile leaves its source. With very fast ones you might want to consider backlashing as soon as the attack animation starts.

Other than deflecting ranged attacks, Slip Away obviously also removes you from the immediate area of danger quickly. It gets you beyond most area of effect radii.

The downside to Slip Away and Backlash is its stamina cost (pretty high), so using Backlash in rapid succession together with smashes and Cross Cut will reduce your stamina to zero very soon.

 

Love and Hate

Vella loves these enemies:

• long pauses between attacks
• generally slow animations and movement
• no attacks that hit directly behind the boss

 

She hates these enemies:

• very fast animations (harder to Cross Cut)
• short pauses between attacks (less time to build up Blade Heart)
• attacks that hit directly behind the boss (limited use of Double Cross)
• quick movement (skimming around the enemy with LLLLRRR is harder)

 

 

What a Vella Pro can Do

Well, almost everything, really. The amount of bosses that are nigh impossible for a really skilled Vella player can be counted on one hand. She is definitely among those mercenaries who can beat the most encounters when controlled by a pro player.

She beats Fiona and Karok in terms of defense because neither gets her (non-existing) shield broken nor can powerful attacks cut through 'Absorp Shock'. She beats everyone in that her most powerful defense move is also the one with the highest burst damage.

Her smashes are very flexible, offering high mobility, area damage and single target potential.

Plus, let's be honest, the only thing we care about in Vindictus is boss fights. And Vella has the ultimative anti-boss-skill, combining team support by stunning it with an insanely high damage output by herself.

 

So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish

If you have suggestions or questions (or even praise) concerning this guide, feel free to leave it in the comments.

Hope you enjoyed reading, now have fun playing - as Vella!

 

Eronaile