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Tyler is a psych graduate turned freelance writer and one of the newest additions to the HGG team. They currently write guides for a variety of gam... Read more
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
If you’re looking for a new Fighter to play in Multiversus, you can’t go wrong with Arya Stark. She’s just as cool as she is in the show and her combos will make you feel just like a Faceless Man. Even high tier players consider Arya to be one of the best Fighters in Multiversus right now. There’s a catch, however. Not only is she one of the best, but she also has the highest skill requirement out of all the Fighters. So, if you want to learn how to play Arya and climb the ranks, continue reading for HGG’s Multiversus Arya Stark Guide!
Arya Stark Moveset
Knowing your character’s moveset is half the battle when learning. Fully understanding the moveset brings attention to a Fighter’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, you can work to take advantage of or avoid certain situations you might find yourself in. In addition, you might find that certain attacks are better than others. The most important part of a moveset is their passive.
Passives
Similar to other assassins in Multiversus, Arya Stark has two passives. Her first passive is Backstab, which does a few things. First, Arya and her ally deal increased damage with melee attacks if they hit the enemy in the back. Second, Arya and her ally gain Turn Attack whenever she neutral dodges an attack. Turn Attack grants the next melee attack armor break properties. Lastly, when Arya knocks out an enemy, she spawns a pie that will heal allies or slow enemies. Don’t worry about consciously trying to get behind people as many of her attacks naturally take advantage of Backstab.
Her second passive is Glass Cannon. All assassin type Fighters have this passive for “balance” reasons. Fighters with Glass Cannon take 14% more damage from all sources. As a result, Arya reaches higher percents faster and can get K.O.ed sooner than other Fighters. This is partly why she requires some skill to play well.
While it’s not a passive, Arya has the lightest weight in Multiversus. Weight is what determines how far a Fighter gets knocked back after a hit, in addition to, their current damage percent. So, this means Arya gets knocked back farther than other Fighters. Another reason why she is hard to play.
Attacks
| Move | Description | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Needle Strike | Arya charges a forward rapier stab. Uses her opponents Grounded Neutral Attack if she has their Face, consuming 1 Face Stack | Neutral Ground |
| Knife Flourish | Arya twirls her knife downward. Uses her opponents Aerial Neutral Attack if she has their Face, consuming 1 Face Stack | Neutral Air |
| Sharp Edges | Arya quickly swipes with her rapier then another swipe with her knife | Side Ground |
| Aerial Slash | Arya charges a forward sword slash | Side Air |
| Upward Slash | Aray charges and swings her sword upward | Up Ground |
| Whirling Stab | Arya does an upward spin attack with her knife | Up Air |
| Rolling Slash | Arya rolls forward, dodging attacks, then swipes her sword downward behind her | Down Ground |
| Stinger | Arya charges a precision stab straight downward. Can Spike | Down Air |
Some attacks to pay attention to are side air, up air, and down air. Side air is a great kill move at high percents. If your opponent is 100%+, try using side air to confirm a kill. A fully charged side air can kill most Fighters when they have enough damage and are off stage.
As for up air and down air, you will be using these attacks often. Both are used as combo starters or combo extenders. Up air escpecially is great for getting a kill off the top. Likewise, down air has a powerful downward knockback allowing you to spike enemies and earn a kill.
Specials
| Move | Description | Input |
|---|---|---|
| Face-Stealer | Arya grabs a fighter to steal their Face. If successful, press again to stun the enemy. Goes on cooldown when successfully hit. | Neutral ground/air |
| Knife-Thrower | Arya throws a knife that can attach to fighters. Counts as a projectile. Press again to dash towards the knife, hitting enemies along the way. Goes on cooldown when thrown. Hitting an enemy with the knife reduces cooldown. On cooldown, Arya does a spinning stab forward that breaks armor. | Side ground/air |
| Dagger Slash | Arya does a knife swipe overhead. If the hit connects, she will dash in the direction the enemy was knocked in. | Up ground/air |
| Blade-Sharpener | Arya dashes to a nearby ally and gives both her and her ally “Turn Attack”. Turn Attack causes the next melee attack to break armor and flip the enemy to face away from Arya or her ally. | Down ground/air |
Arya’s whole playstyle revolves around using these specials to create combos and secure K.O.s. Knife-Thrower is the bread and butter for most of her combos. The reliance on this special is another reason why Arya has a high skill ceiling. Knowing when and how to use Knife-thrower is key to becoming a great Arya player.
Best Arya Stark Perks
So, we’ve learned a couple of things from Arya’s moveset. One, she is very mobile and can deal a lot of damage quickly. Two, she takes more damage than other Fighters. Three, she has no innate ability to deal with projectiles. Now we want to choose perks that cover these weaknesses or improve her strengths.
Best Signature
Arya has two signature perks, Betrayal and Trophy. Betrayal is only useful in 2v2s. This perk gives Arya and her ally an enraged buff whenever she attaches her knife to an ally. If attached, she can also dash towards her ally. Unfortunately, it gives Knife-Thrower a longer cooldown. Use this perk if you want, but giving your best combo starter a longer cooldown is not worth it.
On the other hand, Trophy is amazing for both 1v1s and 2v2s. When equipped, anytime Arya knocks out an opponent, she will gain full Face stacks. This is great for snowballing opponents and help you get extra damage off before they can retaliate. Imagine you knock out an opponent then stun them once revived and get a full combo off. As a result, they are at 40% and you still have two lives.
In terms of consistency, Trophy will be your best signature perk to choose from. It gives Arya too much of an advantage to not use. Now let’s choose some general perks.
Best General Perks
Offensive Loadout
Oddly enough, Arya doesn’t need any offensive perks to still do well. Many of her combos don’t need the extra damage to get a K.O.. However, if you’re an aggressive Multiversus player, you might want to equip Arya with some offensive perks to squeeze out some extra damage. We recommend using Snowball Effect, Lumpy Space Punch (LSP), and Triple Jump.
LSP will give her already strong aerials some more power and damage. Likewise, Snowball Effect can help you get ahead in damage or catch back up if you get knocked out early. Lastly, Triple Jump is a must for some of Arya’s combos and is just a great overall perk. You should always try to have Triple Jump equipped.
Once you’ve got some experience under your belt, try replacing these perks with the next loadout.
The Go-To Loadout
Since Arya doesn’t need the extra damage, she can get away with running utility perks. The Go-To Loadout consists of I Dodge You Dodge We Dodge, Triple Jump, and Leg Day or Aerial Acrobat. This should be the loadout you take 90% of the time. These perks will supplement Arya’s playstyle of air combos and using Knife-Thrower as much as possible.
I Dodge You Dodge We Dodge (IDYDWD) reduces cooldowns by 10% every time you successfully dodge an attack. With IDYDWD, Knife-Thrower will come off cooldown faster, leading to more combos. Feel free to replace IDYDWD with Coffeezilla or other cooldown abilities.
No matter your skill level, Triple Jump is a must-have perk, as it gives you an extra jump. The extra jump allows Arya to extend her combo in the air, which more often than not scores her a kill. In the same way, Leg Day and Aerial Acrobat give you more control when in the air. Personally, I found Leg Day gave me an edge when learning her combos. Choose whichever feels better, a higher jump or a faster jump.
Defensive
As we’ve previously found out, Arya has no way of dealing with projectiles. If you come across a Tom and Jerry or a Morty, try replacing the utility perks (not Triple Jump) from the Go-To Loadout with defensive perks. Absorb N’ Go and School Me Once will provide infinitely more benefit when going against a projectile user.
Best Arya Stark Combos
Unlike other assassins in Multiversus, Arya Stark relies heavily on one move, Knife-Thrower, for her best combos. When done correctly, these combos hit hard and are even harder to dodge. Some are fairly easy to pull off and others may require some time in the Lab. Lets cover the basics, then lead into the more advanced combos.
Beginner
Before we start, here’s a quick tip. If you are having trouble landing the first part of Knife-Thrower, try using an attack, then use side special. When an enemy is hit, they are staggered for a split second, allowing you to hit the knife with ease.
The Bread and Butter
The first combo will be your bread and butter. I’ve found it easiest to start this combo with side ground but neutral air and down air work as well.
Here’s how:
Side Ground > Up Special > Up Air
Most players would call this a true combo. A true combo is a combo that will almost always hit because the enemy can’t dodge out of it. Other combos will use this as a base since it will always hit. Likewise, Knife-Thrower can be thrown into the mix.
Basic Knife-Thrower Combo
Side special > Knock enemy off stage, preferably with a side air > Side Special > Immediately Down Air
When done correctly, your opponent should be spiked downward and more than likely be K.O.ed. It should look like this:
Be sure to practice the basis of these two combos. Arya’s more common and advanced combo combines the full first combo and Knife-Thrower to absolutely decimate opponents.
Face-Stealer
Despite being a strong ability, the neutral special, Face-Stealer, isn’t used as much in Arya’s common combos. Personally, I use the stun to make my opponent an easy target to start combos on. You can substitute it for combos that use Knife-Thrower as well. This way you can save side special for the next combo and keep the damage up. Otherwise, don’t feel the need to include it, as she doesn’t exactly need it.
Advanced
Now we need to incorporate the basics into these next combos. Arya’s more advanced combos will more often than not be what you use to get kills. Without them, Arya will have a tough time getting kills, so be sure to practice.
The Bread, Butter, and Cheese
First, we will cover the combo you will see most Arya mains using.
Here are the inputs:
Side special > Side ground > Up Special > Up Air > Side Special > Up Special > Up Air
It should look like this:
Believe it or not, this is a true combo when done quickly enough. As you can see from the “Hitstun Combo,” I didn’t do side special fast enough, but I could still catch the bot before it dodged. What’s more, I killed him at only 50% damage. Even if you didn’t kill, this was 41% damage combo. Now you know why she doesn’t need any damage perks. However, can we take this further and K.O. Shaggy Bot from a lower damage percent? Yes, we can.
The Bread, Butter, Cheese, and Chips
To kill from lower percents, all we need is a few extra steps:
Side special > Side ground > Up Special > Up Air > Fast Fall Hit the Ground > Side Special > Up Special > Up Air > Jump > Up Special > Up Air
Here’s what it looks like:
The reason we fast fall is to refresh our recovery options. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to do the third up special or have extra jumps if they didn’t get K.O.ed.
This is a deadly combo for Fighters that wouldn’t normally be knocked out from the previous combo. Just be aware your opponent might have the chance to dodge before your side special dash and the final two hits of the combo. I recommend going into the lab and switching the bot to “dodge after hitstun.” That way you can get a feel for the dodge window and speed up your inputs.
As for other combos, keep practicing the ones mentioned, then experiment with your own. Once you’ve gotten the hang of Arya, combos start to come naturally.
Playstyle
It wouldn’t be a good Multiversus Arya Stark Guide if we didn’t tell you how to play her. The advanced combos we’ve shown you are the strongest weapon you have as Arya. You’ve seen with your own eyes that Shaggy could be K.O.ed from as little as 5%. Always be looking for an opportunity. Even if you don’t get a kill, you can still get off some decent damage.
Conversely, part of your mastery of this Fighter is knowing when to engage and when to back off. Remember, Arya Stark is the lightest character in Multiversus and takes 14% increased damage. This means it is incredibly easy to send her flying even at low percents. It would be a very bad idea to run into a Superman charging an up-ground attack without a plan.
Likewise, an opponent may not let you have an opportunity to pull off a full combo. Don’t panic — it’s just a bad matchup or someone who really doesn’t like getting comboed. Either way, if this happens, forget about doing a full combo. Now your goal is to use Knife-Thrower to close the gap and continue the combo from there. As a result, it’s going to be less damage, but you can still get an easy K.O. at high percents.
Tips and Tricks
Knife-Thrower on Cooldown? Don’t panic — you might be weaker, but you still have tricks to spare. Luckily, the first basic combo can still be used. It might do less damage compared to the advanced version, but it’s better than nothing. In addition, side air is great for sending people flying and getting kills off the side. Be sure to use these until side special is off cooldown.
Missed the combo starter? It’s fine if you do, not many people are going to let you walk up and attack like Shaggy Bot did. If you did miss, just use side special and do the rest of the combo. You still get some damage off and Knife-Thrower isn’t wasted.
Use Blade Sharpener to deal with armor. Someone like Superman can easily block combo starters with armor then counterattack. If your opponent uses their armor abilities to mess up your combo, then try using the down special, Blade Sharpener. Now your combo opener will have armor break properties and you’ll pierce right through their defenses.
Join the High Ground
That wraps up the Multiversus Arya Stark Guide. Keep practicing, and you’ll climb the ranks in no time. Leave a comment if you have a question and subscribe to our newsletter for more Multiversus content.
Happy gaming!
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