Strong style



"Come get me, Jedi!"

- - The signature taunt of the Disciples of Ragnos, who were known to use the Strong Style

The strong style of lightsaber combat was a style used by both Jedi and Dark Jedi during the New Republic era, including Kyle Katarn, Desann, and possibly Jaden Korr.

Style and stance


"Uses powerful strikes to batter through defenses. this style incorporates great range and power, but often leaves the jedi open to attack"

- - Description of the strong style in game

The strong style was based primarily on powerful strikes to batter through an opponent's defense, sacrificing speed for unrivaled power.

Users of the strong style would typically utilize an aggressive and powerful stance, the lightsaber being held high and back, ready to deliver powerful swings with the blade. A few more physically powerful beings such as Desann used a one-handed variant of this style to great effect.

The style incorporated great power, sharing some features with other aggressive styles associated with the Old Jedi Order&mdash;especially Form V. Whether the similarities between the strong style and Form V were because of derivative relations or overlaps in functionality is unknown. It also bears similarities to the Juyo subset of Form VII, which likewise sacrificed defense for the sake of a more powerful offense, and Form I with it's raw, cumbersome but simplistic, powerful moves. Interestingly enough, however, the stance employed by strong style users closely resembles that of Form IV, with the blade and hilt being perpendicular to the ground and off to the side of the duelist.

The strong style was a very offensively focused style, as the stance and windup time for each swing left the user very open to attack. The basic idea behind the strong style was to batter one's opponent into submission through raw power. Defense was limited to either the user swinging their blade directly at their opponent's strike, or blocking and then disarming the opponent, usually with a sharp spin of the blade.

Advantages and disadvantages


As with all other styles, the strong style had both its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages
The strong style covered great distance, and was virtually unstoppable unless the opponent also used a strong style. Due to its utilization of strength and power, the strong style would cause more damage than many other forms of lightsaber combat, while its range and power made it especially efficient against single opponents who were armed with melee weapons. In lightsaber combat, this style could break through lightsaber blocks with relative ease with its powerful strikes. On rare occasions when a lightsaber lock occurred, a user could usually win the lock by ripping the opponent's blade away, leaving him defenseless. This style was quite destructive, and if used on an opponent that presented an opening, it would almost always cause a devastating blow.

Disadvantages
Being based on slow, powerful swinging attacks, users of the strong style would often leave themselves open to counterattacks and open to blaster fire. The style could thus be disadvantageous in one-on-one melee combat in terms of speed comparisons against faster opponents, although its range and penetration power could just as easily negate these disadvantages. It was weak against blaster shots, as the stance required that the user shift the blade quite a bit to cover the body. Thus, it was almost solely utilized in lightsaber combat.

The strong style, being powerful but slow, benefited considerably from the use of Force speed. However, since Force speed can usually only be maintained for brief periods of time, a user of this tactic might find himself in trouble if he failed to quickly overcome his opponent.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (Indirectly Used)