Soulcalibur III Chronicles of the Sword Unlocking Guide This document is intended to help players looking to get started at playing my ‘normal’ categories of Soulcalibur III – Chronicles of the Sword speedruns to unlock all the necessary weapons, characters and items to speedrun them. First, a lecture on the CotS runs as I built them—most video game speedruns delineate between ‘New Game (NG)’ runs and ‘New Game Plus (NG+)’ runs rather simply: an NG run is a natural run with no outside or supplementary save data affecting it, while a NG+ run uses previously cleared or present save data to add new options to the run. However, when I began speedrunning CotS, no other player had laid claim to Soulcalibur III, let alone the CotS sub-game, and it was the very first speedrun I ever really attempted—I had no previous experience and no other players to influence the rules that I set up for my run. There is no way to begin a ‘natural’ run of CotS without deleting my previous game data (or was no way I knew of at the time), and for numerous reasons, this did not appeal to me. In addition, there is a huge difference between a fresh file, a ‘natural’ run of CotS and one with all the options unlocked, in classes and weapon styles available, in weapons available for equipping, and even in the number of characters I can personally customize and add to the party. In addition, one of the joys of CotS for me is creating custom characters, either ones I fashioned myself or attempts to replicate existing characters from other games, both of which I thoroughly enjoy. All the equipment pieces needed to make these characters as rich as possible are also items that would be unavailable in a ‘natural’ run of the game. And, finally, CotS does within itself offer a ‘NG+’ feature, allowing you to start your CotS game all over after you’ve completed it, retaining all the characters and levels from your previous run and allowing you to continue leveling them up even more. It’s not a significant NG+, as besides these carried-over levels the only other difference is that the NG+ game skips the Tutorial Chronicle with no other changes in the gameplay, but it can still make a unique run all its own. With all of these factors, I decided that simply running with my fully unlocked game would be the ‘default’ way to run the game. Of course, the other side of my decision is that it is so much more difficult for new runners to become involved in the game. Unlocking everything in the game does take many hours of gameplay, usually, and so any other player who wishes to run alongside me and contest my times would have to dedicate a similar amount of time before even beginning the run. There are two simple options to address this—I have now completed a pair of ‘Fresh File (FF)’ runs, which term I am using to denote natural runs in this category, and am on the verge of making them official on speedrun.com. Those who wish to run CotS without having to casually grind out the necessary unlocks can run ‘FF’ and take the higher difficulty and limited options that come with it. And, as noted, this guide is intended for those who wish to unlock the necessary items as soon as possible. CHARACTERS AND WEAPON STYLES INTRODUCTION As a Fighting Game RPG Mode, a runner’s route could widely vary based on that runner’s preferred fighting style and skill with certain characters. I have personally found that two weapon styles in particular have certain moves that are particularly difficult for the AI to deal with and lean on these styles. I cannot possibly in a reasonable amount of time provide a guide detailing the best ways to use 40 different styles available to CaS characters, so in this guide I am assuming that the runner wishes to follow my lead in using Soul of Xianghua and Katana in their own runs. If the runner wishes to use other characters and styles, this guide unlocks enough and provides enough information that they should be unlocked over the course of the game or in a similar fashion. SOUL OF XIANGHUA As explained below, Xianghua’s weapon style is available to Dancers once you have reached a certain level. To obtain Xianghua’s ultimate weapon, Soulcalibur, which is also the most useful weapon for this style in the speedrun, you must complete Xianghua’s Tale of Souls route twice; completing the route unlocks her other two weapons and makes them available to purchase in the shop (Northern Star and Kopis). After completing her run the first time, you must then purchase those two weapons and her first available one, Kard. Then you must complete her Tale one more time. Each playthrough, including endings, beginnings and purchasing, can be done in under 10 minutes easily. This is the fastest route through Xianghua’s Tales of mode:

1. Your first battle is against Yun-Seong, and after winning you have a choice to make on your route. Choose the second choice.
2. You will enter Zasalamel’s clock tower and get the interactive cutscene, where you must press right on the D-Pad to avoid the rolling gear. Failing leaves you with less health for the fight with Zasalamel.
3. After beating Zasalamel, choose the first option both times it comes.
4. After your fight with the Revenant, choose the second option, avoiding the bonus battle (you can fight it, but it largely just wastes time; completing it will award a large amount of gold).
5. When you enter the interactive cutscene with Raphael, you must use Left + Guard to block his special attack, or you will enter the battle with the Poison mission in effect on you.
6. After battling Seong Mi-na, you must choose the second option (Note: you must not ringout Seong Mi-na in this battle or the option will not become available).
7. After battling Cervantes, choose the first option to avoid going deeper into the labyrinth.
8. After defeating Zasalamel 2, in the cutscene with Abyss, press G to block Abyss’ attack or, once again, you will enter the battle with lowered health. This guide is for optimal speed, but is not strictly necessary; losing any of the (non-bonus) battles before the labyrinth also prevents you from being able to search for it after the Seong Mi-na battle, but this is simply a minor annoyance. Entering Olcadan’s labyrinth skips a pair of penultimate fights before the final battle that include semi-long cutscenes, thus their time save, but for the purposes of unlocking the required items you need, they make little difference. Descending into the labyrinth and defeating Olcadan will change the Abyss fight to Night Terror, and you do not receive the Soulcalibur to use against Night Terror, but it should not prevent you from acquiring Soulcalibur for yourself. When using Xianghua (and Dancer Strats in the speedrun), this is the setup I found to be useful: Xianghua’s dominating move is her Hou Lee Spin into Lower Great Wall, A+K and then holding B+K. This spin moves Xianghua forward in a crouched position while charging the Lower Great Wall, avoiding High attacks but being vulnerable to Mid or Low attacks. Once Lower Great Wall knocks an opponent down, an immediate follow up of Hou Lee ~ Lower Great Wall will usually connect as soon as the opponent rises, knocking them down again and setting up an infinite stunlock. The lock can be broken if the AI delays rising, in which case they will be hit while on the ground and then rise immediately thereafter, or if they are knocked out of the ring but survive (CotS only). Certain Mission conditions, such as Whirlwind or Separate, may push you out of range of them on the follow-up, depending on how they rise. In these cases, you will have to employ other moves, defensive or offensive, to put yourself in a position to use your stunlock combo again. To open the fights, I have usually found that either backing up and then executing the Hou Lee spin or moving forward and using Great Wall (while running forward A+B) is the best way to start setting up. In the latter case, Great Wall shifts Xianghua to the side, avoiding numerous moves that the AI employs to preempt you as you are moving towards them, and knocks them down, not long enough to guarantee a Hou Lee ~ Lower Great Wall hit, but usually long enough to allow it. If you are unsure if you wish to employ ‘Dancer Strats’ for your CotS main character, running Xianghua through ToS and attempting this strat while working to earn Soulcalibur is a great way to practice it and decide if it is the right strat for you. A+K and B+K are used in many moves that I favor on many weapon sets, and so I have programmed them to my shoulder buttons; A+K is L1 for my custom setup and B+K is R1. This allows me to maintain this combo easily. Trying to use on the default setup is difficult, so keep that in mind if you wish to employ them. If you favor a different button setup on your controller and do not wish to alter it for this, it may be best to find alternate styles and moves to carry you through CotS. An alternate strategy may be to employ Nightmare as your primary character’s moveset; Nightmare has a strong move, Rook Splitter (8-way run 2 or 8 B, or 2[2]/8[8] B), which the AI has difficulty blocking (it will almost never successfully block). It does not have the stunlock potential that Hou Lee ~ Lower Great Wall has, but the advantage is that the Barbarian has a powerful anti-AI move on Iron Sword that it can employ all the way up to level 30, where you can use Nightmare. It also has better stats than the Dancer. Finally, Nightmare’s ultimate Weapon, Soul Edge, is potential stronger than Xianghua’s for our purposes because it carries a very powerful Lifesteal effect that will restore health much more quickly that Soulcalibur’s gradual health gain. Unlocking Nightmare’s Soul Edge has identical requirements to Xianghua’s, essentially: win Tales of Souls once to unlock (and then purchase) his first 3 extra weapons, and then play through and win it a second time to unlock Soul Edge. The optimal path to quickly winning Nightmare’s Tales of mode:
9. Your first battle is against a Berserker, after the battle select choice 2
10. Your third battle will be against Zasalamel, identical to the Xianghua fight (all characters must fight Zasamel, and not Tira, 3rd, in order to find Olcadan’s labyrinth, which is optimal for speed or (if that’s your preference) fighting Olcadan and Night Terror). You must press Right to avoid the gear, as usual.
11. After defeating Zasalamel 1, choose option 1, and then option 2.
12. After your battle against Voldo, for speed choose option 2 to skip the bonus fight (although you can fight it for a chance at some extra bonus gold).
13. Soon you will confront Cervantes, use R+G when prompted to block his attack.
14. Next battle, after Setsuka, select choice 2 to go the labyrinth. As before, you must not ring her out or you cannot go to the labyrinth.
15. After fighting Raphael in the labyrinth, select choice 1 to leave.
16. And against Abyss, G to block attack.
17. (Bonus: Spam G for Good Ending; ‘Good Ending’ is actually slower than ‘Bad Ending’ if you want to optimize all speed)

Now, on to the brief Class and Moveset overviews. (Note on these descriptions: while I have stated I do not intend to offer a full guide for every style, I will be highlighting Abuseable Moves for certain styles. These are moves I have found that have a very high success rate against the AI, usually multi-hit attacks that, for whatever reason, the AI simply cannot fully block. Spamming these attacks for guaranteed damage will often get you through most fights quickly, although they are not 100% reliable for easy victories, but they can be leaned upon as crutches to grind out the necessary unlocks faster. The moves are presented in the standard Soulcalibur language for movesets, with the numbers representing direction inputs as indicated by the number pad; i.e. 8 means pressing up on the D-Pad, 3 means pressing Down+Right on the D-Pad, etc.) CLASSES BASIC CLASSES You begin the game with the ability to create characters from one of Six Basic Classes: Barbarian, Monk, Thief, Dancer, Saint, and Ninja. These classes are the weakest in the game; in particular, Saint, Dancer and Thief are very underpowered. However, leveling these classes is necessary; as you level up a character in a class, you unlock additional weapon styles, and eventually, the ability to purchase higher-tier classes. All classes begin with the ability to use 1 weapon style of the 17 ‘custom character’ styles unique to SCIII. At level 10, you unlock the ability for that class (both in the main game CaS and CotS characters, present and future) to use 1 additonal style of the 17; at level 20, you get a 3rd. At level 30 the ‘Souls of’ styles for that class become available for use, allowing you to use two styles of the 23 ‘standard’ Soulcalibur characters on that class. Raising a non-custom controllable character of the appropriate class to the appropriate levels does unlock these weapon styles as well, although these Set Characters cannot change their styles. Inheriting a high-level character, however, does not automatically unlock the movesets for your other characters of that class. BARBARIAN The Barbarian is actually one of the stronger of the basic classes, with decent attack and hit points, although their low vitality makes them still fairly fragile. They begin with Iron Sword style, which is a good starting point for use in CotS—it plays similar to Siegfried and Nightmare, two popular styles, and in addition has an Abuseable Move; A+B invokes two overhead swings, the first knocking to crouch on block. The AI will usually block the first hit but is not able to block the second, essentially making it a quick and spammable unblockable attack. The AI can sidestep it rather easily and the higher-level AIs will do so with some regularity, but it is still one of the better Abuseable Moves in the game. At level 10 the Barbarian unlocks the Grieve Edge moveset, which is useful, as the Grieve Edge’s AA and BB attack strings are very fast and can take out most enemies simply by spamming them, alternating between the attacks. At level 20 the Barbarian unlocks the Wave Sword moveset, which does not have any particularly noteworthy moves I have found for abusing the AI. At level 30 the Barbarian acquires Soul of Nightmare and Soul of Astaroth. Soul of Nightmare is especially noteworthy, as noted above, is a great abuseable move. Leveling a Barbarian to level 30 will also allow you purchase the Gladiator Advanced Class from Valeria’s Item Shop, allowing you to begin building Gladiator custom characters. MONK The Monk’s stats compare with the Barbarian’s; however, his skill sets are generally not as useful. In addition, raising a monk does not unlock any advanced classes, so they should only be created once, to unlock the Swordmaster (as explained below), if your objective is to unlock all requirements for a normal-category speedrun as quickly as possible. The Monk begins being able to use only the Nunchaku style, which is moderately strong but lacks any real Abuseable Moves. At level 10 the Monk unlocks the Staff moveset, which is a strong style; in particular, 8-Way run 9 or 3 [hold] B [or 33/99 B] does an attack that deals 2 hits, the second of which is impossible for the AI to block. Spamming this move, since it is 8-way run, avoids many attacks and stacks up damage quickly. At level 20 the Monk unlocks the Grieve Edge moveset; see the Barbarian for more info. At level 30 the Monk acquires the Soul of Kilik and Soul of Maxi. Soul of Kilik is especially noteworthy, as Kilik’s Biting Phoenix (6 A+B) is an Abuseable Move, dealing five hits that the AI will almost never block entirely. THIEF The Thief is a very weak class with few good move sets; I would overall rate the Thief as the worst class in the game. Raising a Thief does unlock a better class, however, so it is worth using one early in your game for that purpose alone. The Thief begins with Dagger, which is a moderately useful weapon; its bomb attacks (B+K and 2 B+K; both variants can be held to increase the damage and knockback potency) are Abuseable Moves that are projectile attacks and spamming them is useful for taking down many enemies. They are rather slow moves, however, so they are not optimal for speed strats. At level 10 the Thief unlocks the Wave Sword moveset, as already described under the Barbarian. At level 20 the Thief unlocks the Sickle moveset. Sickle is a mid-level style with no Abuseable Moves but a few useful long-range poking abilities that are good for keeping the enemy at bay. A+B is noteworthy because this attack leads to an attack throw for moderate damage, and is one of the few ways to reliably (albeit slowly) do damage to a Guardian Force boss in CotS without exposing oneself to all their attacks. At level 30 the Thief acquires the Soul of Tira and the Soul of Yun-seong, neither of which are particularly useful for speedrun purposes. In particular, the Soul of Tira is available for the Assassin class as well, so raising a Thief simply to wield Soul of Tira is not recommended. In addition, raising a Thief to level 30 unlocks the Pirate Advanced Class to be purchased in Valeria’s Item Shop. DANCER The Dancer class is a very weak class, perhaps even weaker, stat-wise, than the Thief. However, its one saving grace, as mentioned continuously by the author, is that it is the only class capable of using Soul of Xianghua which, when used correctly, is the ultimate moveset in SCIII. However, it also unlocks no other classes, so unless you are fully intending to abuse Dancer Strats, you do not need to raise more than 1 for the Swordmaster Class unlock. The Dancer begins with the Tambourine set, which is a fast but moderately weak weapon set. Spamming AAA is the only semi-reliable way of dealing consistent, safe damage with this weapon, and it often puts the user in danger of hopping off the stage. At level 10 the Dancer unlocks the Steel Fan moveset, a weak set with only one semi-Abuseable Move—A+K is a long-range projectile that has two parts, including an unblockable portion (however, they are high and can be ducked). The AI has some difficultly dealing with this attack at range and approaching, but it does tend to simply crouch under it often, even if it can’t punish the attack, and so it is a slow way of grinding out fights. At level 20 the Dancer unlocks the Grieve Edge moveset, also used by the Barbarian and Monk. At level 30 the Dancer acquires the Soul of Xianghua and Soul of Voldo styles. The Soul of Xianghua is detailed heavily above. SAINT The Saint has technically higher stats than the Dancer and Thief, but that is mostly in HP and VIT and its attack is the lowest of all classes, making it theoretically the worst. In addition, while it starts with the useful Staff style, it doesn’t unlock anything better. However, it also unlocks the Sage style, so it is useful for that if nothing else. The Staff is described in the Monk Class above. At level 10 the Saint unlocks the Dagger moveset; see the Thief class. At level 20 the Saint unlocks the Steel Fan moveset; see the Dancer class. At level 30 the Saint acquires the Soul of Zasalamel and Soul of Talim styles. While I very much enjoy using both styles, I have found neither to possess moves that can be abused in a speedrun. In addition, raising a Saint to level 30 or higher allows you to purchase the Sage Advanced Class from Valeria’s Item shop. NINJA The Ninja is possibly the best of the six Basic Classes, with the best overall stats and a very useful moveset, and it also unlocks a very strong Advanced Class. It begins with the Kunai style, which is difficult to use but has a very powerful Abuseable Move and also is a fast, aggressive style that can be used to simply overwhelm most foes with basic spammed attacks. In particular, 8-Way Run 6 KKK (or 6[6] KKK) turns into a triple kick that is essentially unblockable for the AI, knocking them down and then launching you in the air for a final dropping attack that can be difficult to aim but does extreme damage if you can hit with it, whether the AI stands (they will always fail to block this attack, too) or not. It is somewhat tricky to pull off, but if you master it, it is nearly at the level of Xianghua’s Hou Lee spin and the Katana shoulder charge for Abuseable Moves. In addition, while B+K, B+K’s somersault kick is not quite an Abuseable Move, it is very useful especially early on for piling lots of damage on lower-level AI. At level 10 the Ninja unlocks the Katana & Shuriken moveset, a moderately strong moveset but one that lacks any Abuseable Moves. At level 20 the Ninja unlocks the Sickle moveset, as described with the Thief. At Level 30 the Ninja acquires the Soul of Taki and the Soul of Setsuka. Both movesets are similar to the Katana & Shuriken in that they are moderately strong but lack any moves that can be used reliably to cheese the AI. In addition, leveling a Ninja to level 30 or higher allows you to purchase the Assassin Advanced Class from Valeria’s Item Shop. ADVANCED CLASSES There are four Advanced Classes that have to be purchased from Valeria’s Item Shop before you can create characters of that class. These classes are all much stronger than the basic classes and usually have access to more potent weapon styles. GLADIATOR The Gladiator Class is a strong attacking class with a few moderate movesets. It also leads to one of the Expert Classes. The Gladiator is unlocked by leveling a Barbarian to level 30. The Gladiator begins with the Sword & Shield style, a mid-level style with no Abuseable Moves. At Level 10 the Gladiator unlocks the Wave Sword moveset; see the Barbarian Class. At Level 20 the Gladiator unlocks the Grieve Edge moveset; see the Barbarian Class. At level 30 the Gladiator acquires the Soul of Seong Mi-na and the Soul of Rock. Soul of Rock is generally just a lesser Astaroth; the Soul of Seong Mi-na is generally just a weaker Kilik, but you can abuse the (almost) identical 6 A+B move and the Gladiator makes up for it with better stats. In addition, leveling a Gladiator to 50 or higher allows you to purchase the Knight Master Class from Valeria’s Item Shop. PIRATE The Pirate Class has good attack and defense, making it an all-around strong class, but is another class without many dominating movesets and does not unlock any other classes (besides Swordmaster), so 1 Pirate in 1 playthrough is usually sufficient. The Pirate begins with Chinese Sword, a good style that is not top-tier because it lacks any Abuseable Moves. However, the Pirate Stats combined with its overall speed and length make it a useful style nonetheless. At level 10 the Pirate unlocks the Rapier style, which similar to the Chinese Sword is simply a decent overall style. At level 20 the Pirate unlocks the Iron Sword style; please refer to the Barbarian class for details. At level 30 the Pirate acquires the Soul of Cervantes and the Soul of Ivy. Both are strong movesets, especially combined with the Pirate’s stats, although not overpowering. However, Soul of Cervantes does have an intriguing weapon in Tornado Slice (8-Way Run 8 A, or 88 A), which rolls Cervantes to the side in a semi-dodge and then simultaneously unleashes High and Mid slashes. The AI will almost always duck the High attack and then take the Mid attack; this attack also knocks back and down slightly and can be used to get ringouts if used correctly. SAGE The Sage Class is a defense-focused class that has good agility and several less than impressive movesets, but some uses. They begin with Chinese Blade, a moveset I never found a good use for and could never use effectively. At level 10 they unlock Sword & Shield, as the Gladiator. At level 20 they unlock Staff, as the Monk. At level 30 they acquire the Soul of Sophitia and the Soul of Cassandra. Of the two sisters, I found Sophitia to be the more useful style; in particular, her Silent Stream attack (8-Way Run 7 or 1 AA, or 77 or 11 AA) can punish the AI because you can hold the second A to charge it into an unblockable attack; the AI will almost always try to block if you hold it. ASSASSIN Probably the strongest Advanced Class, the Assassin is a glass cannon with the fewest HP of any Advanced Class (by far) but the 3rd-highest attack stat in the game. Its movesets are somewhat underwhelming, apart from the Kunai when unlocked, but any moves they use will do a lot of damage. The Assassin begins with Wave Swords, as described by the Barbarian Class. At level 10 they unlock Kunai, which the Ninja begins with. At level 20 they unlock Chinese Sword, which the Pirate begins with. At level 30 they acquire Soul of Tira and Soul of Lizardman. Soul of Tira, which can also be used by the Thief, is the only Soul of style useable by two classes; if you favor Tira’s style, make an Assassin and level it. Lizardman is an odd style that I neither favor nor disfavor, but it has no Abuseable Moves I have found. In addition, leveling an Assassin to level 50 unlocks the Samurai Master Class. MASTER CLASSES The Master Classes are the two strongest classes in the game, apart from the Ultimate Class (Swordmaster). They each require both an Advanced Class and a Basic Class (in order to unlock that Advanced Class) to be mastered before they can be purchased from Valeria’s Item Shop. KNIGHT The Knight is the hardiest of all classes, with the most VIT and HP (apart from the Ultimate Class). In addition, it has several very strong and useful styles. It begins with the Lance style, which is a strong style that despite not having any truly Abuseable Moves still tends to be useful due to its long range and high damage, especially in conjunction with the Knight’s superior stats. At level 10 the Knight unlocks the Iron Sword style, as used by the Barbarian. At level 20 the Knight unlocks the Rapier style, as used by the Pirate. At level 30 the Knight acquires the Soul of Siegfried and the Soul of Raphael, two strong styles. Soul of Siegfried, in particular, is probably the third-best Soul of style in the CotS speedrun, with many strong moves, and in particular his Double Grounder (A 2 AA) is a very strong Abuseable Move with heavy ringout potential that is much easier to use on a default controller setup than Xianghua’s Hou Lee stance. Those who prefer to avoid Dancer strats could consider Soul of Siegfried as a particularly viable alternative for a main character, especially with the superior stats the Knight offers. Siegfried’s Soulcalibur ultimate weapon can be obtained in a similar manner to Xianghua’s—simply beat his ToS mode, purchase the weapons, and then beat it again—however, it may be better for the speedrun to use Gram, which can be purchased from the shop once you have reached Siegfried’s 4th stage in ToS, as this weapon is the only one he wields that increases his damage. SAMURAI The Samurai is the best class in the game apart from the Swordmaster, as it begins with the second best moveset in the game and has the highest attack in the game—the only class to be superior to the Ultimate Class in any stat (parenthetically, the Swordmaster does leapfrog the Samurai in attack power at level 99, but that does not matter at all in any speedrun except a true NG+). They are kept down only by their middling VIT, HP and AGI and even so are still second-best. The Katana style is the best non-Soul of style in the game, with good range and speed and many strong moves; in particular, his Shoulder Charge of B+K B leads to an easy juggle for follow-up damage or easy ringouts. After knocking them in the air, any vertical attacks can be used to add Aerial Combo damage, especially 3 B or 4 B plus BB. If trying to ring out, follow-up the lift with 8 K to use a spinning jump kick, but take note that this move will also push them to your character’s right, so it will not be useful for ringouts if the edge of the ring is closer on your character’s left. To make best use of the Shoulder Charge, move and weave around the enemy, trying in particular to put the edge of the ring towards your right before beginning. If they do block the Shoulder Charge, the best follow-up is to actually back off and begin weaving around them again, which often baits them into pursuing you and lowering their guard or attempting attacks that rarely hit. After dodging any attacks they unleash, always follow up with an immediate Shoulder Charge. The weapon you want to purchase for them as soon as possible is their ultimate weapon, Murasame, which has very high attack power and restores a large amount of life to you whenever you hit. As of now, I do not know for certain when it becomes available in the shop, but it will by the end of your first playthrough. There is one Samurai who uses the Katana style who is a Set Character in CotS; Meiga, who joins first in Chronicle 3 at 4th level and is useable in Chronicles 3-12 and, if you defeat him in Chronicle 17, 18-20. At level 10 the Samurai unlocks the Katana & Shuriken style, as first used by the Ninja. At level 20 the Samurai unlocks the Sickle style, as first used by the Thief. At level 30 the Samurai acquires the Soul of Mitsurugi and the Soul of Yoshimitsu. Both styles are good but greatly inferior to the Katana style. THE ULTIMATE CLASS When you have leveled all other classes to level 50 or higher (across all CotS games; you do not have to have a character of each class at 50 or higher at the same time) you may purchase the Ultimate Class, the Swordmaster, from Valeria’s Item Shop. The Swordmaster can use any of the 17 ‘custom character’ (i.e. non-Soul of) styles in the game, so of course for the speedrun the preferred style is the Katana style, as detailed heavily in the Samurai class above. The Swordmaster has far superior stats to every class as well, with its attack only eclipsed (somewhat) by the Samurai (and its HP, VIT and AGI are all far superior to the Samurai). A party of all Swordmasters can reliably be used to clear CotS in a good speedrun, and is recommended if you find Dancer strats to be unreliable or too risky. The only disadvantage the Swordmaster really has is no access to strong Soul of styles like Xianghua and Siegfried. The main goal of using this guide and playing through CotS should be to unlock this class, in particular, as soon as possible; at that rate, your Soulcalibur III – Chronicles of the Sword speedruns can really begin. UNLOCKING ITEMS THROUGH BATTLE GRINDING All items in the game will eventually unlock, either unlocking naturally or becoming available for purchase in the shop, simply by playing the game; every item has a specific number of battles you need to fight in order to unlock it in this way. Each playthrough of Chronicles of the Sword involves 150 to 200 or so battles, so anywhere from about 5 to 7 full playthroughs will unlock nearly every item in the game, and most necessary ones will unlock long before that. You can also grind battles in easy Missions or Quick Plays to minimize non-battle time. Attempting it this way renders pretty much this entire guide moot, but it is probably the very quickest way of maximizing your game for the speedrun. The main advantage to following this guide to unlocking the necessities is becoming more used to the styles and enemies in CotS as well as to the ins and outs of the maps in preparation for the speedrun, but if you don’t care about growing organically and prefer to learn the actual speedrun tech and strats while speedrunning, it is an acceptable alternative for building up your save data. FAST UNLOCKING ROUTE A few basic alternative style suggestions and foci were suggested above; now we begin the fast-track unlock guide in earnest, focusing on the steps required to unlock the items needed to run the speedrun in the manner that I do. Begin by running Tales of Souls: Xianghua (or alternatively Tales of Souls: Nightmare) to unlock her (his) ultimate weapon, as detailed above. Begin a Chronicles of the Sword game. Make your first main character a Dancer (or Barbarian). FIRST CHRONICLES OF THE SWORD GAME You begin with the ability to make 3 custom characters for your army, including your main character. Your main character is set from the moment you create him/her, but your other two characters may be deleted and recreated at the beginning of any Chronicle if you wish. It is recommended to fight every enemy to maximize your experience, unless you find you cannot reliably defeat them. Learning to defeat them, however, will aid you in gaining the skills necessary to defeat them for the speedrun. Making a Dancer as your first character has its pros and cons. Your main character will do most of the fighting, and getting a Dancer to 30 as soon as possible will let you advance to Soul of Xianghua as soon as possible to dominate the rest of your game or games. A Dancer without levels will be nearly useless, so making them the main character to focus exp into them is very useful. (If you are utterly determined to avoid Dancer strats, go ahead and make your main character of a different class). Your other two characters should be a Barbarian and a Ninja; they have strong, useful moves and decent stats, and also unlock Advanced classes. If you have chosen to make a Barbarian your main character, you might want to begin with a Saint as your second character. Change your characters’ Unit Type to Bandit before entering the Tutorial. You should have all your characters be Bandits for most of the game, in order to finish the Chronicles at the best possible speed. They are necessary for the speedrun and, unless you are having your units actually fight in the field, there’s no reason not to start getting used to swapping over to them now. TUTORIAL The easy first mission, simply spread out and crush every enemy and take every Stronghold. Taking every Stronghold is often a bonus objective in the post-Chronicle screen, and each bonus objective grants more bonus gold; therefore, the better you play, getting Perfects and faster battles and taking many Strongholds, the faster you will gain gold to unlock your necessities and other important items. CHRONICLE 1 You may send a unit or two left to make sure you take all Strongholds on the map, but you can fight all enemies simply by following the rightmost trail and attacking the Main Stronghold ASAP. You Will fight 2 at the start and 2 more in Abelia’s Stronghold. CHRONICLE 2 Before you begin the mission, visit the shop and purchase a Demon Knife for your Barbarian, which will increase his damage, and a Mazurka for the Dancer, which will add Lifesteal and make her a little more survivable. Spread your units out to intercept Jinkai and Xiaoxin before advancing on the enemy Strongholds; depending on how and when you engage and defeat Jinkai, Xiaoxin may retreat to the enemy Strongholds. CHRONICLE 3 You now have access to Meiga, a Samurai with the Katana style. You may wish to begin using Meiga in place of one of your characters, particularly in this Chronicle, in order to increase your chances of defeating the enemies safely and easily and/or becoming used to the Katana style and its dominating shoulder charge. In particular, clearing this Chronicle while completing all of the Objectives (essentially: as quickly as possible, taking out all but the eastmost minor Stronghold and defeating all enemies while taking minimal damage and losing no units) will allow you to purchase your fourth Create a Soul character slot for CotS. For maximum speed, send one unit (preferably changed to an Infantry Unit Type and starting at position 1) along the northern path and two along the southern path, defeating all enemies in the way and converging on the Main Stronghold afterwards. The enemies will retreat to allow you to fight all three remaining enemies at once in the Main Stronghold. If you fear for your tambourine-wielding Dancer and do not wish to risk losing her and failing the bonus objectives, have her retreat from attacking the Main Stronghold right before it falls. If you lose a character early and want to retry to get a chance to unlock that extra character slot, deliberately fail the mission by allowing all 3 characters to be killed at once in the main Stronghold (and if you lose 1 in the Main Stronghold, simply allow the rest to be defeated). While not strictly necessary, getting your 4th and 5th character unlocks will allow you to level up the widest variety of necessary classes at once, allowing you unlock more classes and getting you closer to unlocking the Swordmaster. It will be necessary for optimal speed in most true Speedrun setting, anyway; you always prefer a 4th and 5th Swordmaster over whatever standard characters you could use. CHRONICLE 4 If you used the Infantry strat in Chronicle 3, change your Infantry back into a Bandit. You will have to spread out your characters to take all the aggressive enemies, and eventually focus on Astaroth, sitting in the isolated southernmost Stronghold. Astaroth is a good first Soulcalibur original character superboss, being a simple Barbarian with a fairly easy AI. He should be beatable if you play well, but do take care because his attack is high enough to two-shot most of your characters at this point, but he is worth a lot of experience; a level 1 character that defeats him will instantly level to 4. Try to fight some enemies in the field if you can to avoid annoying Stronghold effects such as the Whirlwind Stronghold right before the final Stronghold. CHRONICLE 5 Build a 4th custom character if you’ve unlocked the slot, make them a Thief, make them a Bandit, and purchase the Assassin’s Dagger for them. As in Chronicle 3, you can unlock another character slot if you successfully accomplish all the bonus objectives. To do so, you must take over all enemy strongholds, attain at least 4 perfect victories, prevent your side of the Bridge from suffering 20% or more of its damage, minimize the damage your units take, and do it all under the specified time period. If you wish to increase your chances of accomplishing this, it may be best to avoid Ivy, standing alone at the far west of the map. Cervantes is unavoidable in this circumstance, however, since he is inside a stronghold. You may wish to again use Meiga instead of your new Thief character in order to accomplish all objectives. There are alternate ways to access these unlocks than simply mastering these difficult objectives (see above), so it is probably not worth your time to reset after finishing the Chronicle if you fail to meet the objectives. However, if you know you have failed and elect to lose and retry the Chronicle, that is useful, because the battles you’ve fought and levels you acquired carry over towards very important unlocks that are necessary in the game. Once you get your second bonus character slot, you will have five slots, and since 5 is the maximum number of characters you can sortie at once, it is not necessary for you to unlock or purchase any more; therefore, the more difficult later Chronicles mastery objectives that will unlock them will not be mentioned. Have two characters in the east, at the Bridge (starting position 3) to protect it; for best safety, wait inside the Stronghold and attack the enemies that come to assault it in order to benefit from the Cure Mission it grants you. The other two can assault the western portion, perhaps splitting up to the take Strongholds or (if you want her experience) teaming up to take down Ivy further west. Take the Stronghold once you’ve defeated all the enemies and taken all the Strongholds you wish, depending on how many objectives you seek to fulfill. CHRONICLE 6 The basic strat for this Chronicle is extremely simple: send one character down each lane, take out each enemy, take a quick detour in the middle of the map to kill Lizardman, and converge on Luna in the main Stronghold. The alternate way to deal with Heal-Do and Aege, who are in annoying Strongholds (Ice and Quake) is to attack the main Stronghold by heading through Elua’s Stronghold, forcing those two to retreat into the main Stronghold. If you are still trying to take all Strongholds and defeat all enemies, have your two leftmost characters wait until those two retreat out of their Strongholds before attempting to seize theirs. CHRONICLE 7 Rock is sitting in the middle of a road in the middle of the map, making him another Soulcalibur Superboss (SCSB) you can defeat by grinding him down, even if you can’t beat him normally. The enemies are generally programmed to move towards your units, so the map is simple enough. The penultimate battle is on Ice, and against 2 enemies, so it’s a difficult encounter to forge through. Otherwise, nothing remarkable here. CHRONICLE 8 Saving all the Halteese soldiers is not difficult if you know the secret—the enemies are actually keyed to hunt you, not the Halteese soldiers, so you can focus your party into one group and they will move into a single path to intercept you, thus allowing you to keep any of them from dying. Setsuka is in the northernmost Stronghold. Saving Leraje and/or Kanon will cause them to be recruited to your party. CHRONICLE 9 This map requires you to defeat all enemies whether you want to or not. One character at position 5 heading into the closest Stronghold and the rest at 2 up top will focus them the best. One cavalry will come charging out to intercept your topmost characters, so intercept him real quick then turn your attention to the northern Stronghold just above the main Stronghold. If you’re taking all Strongholds as well, spreading your party members out as usual is ideal. No SCSBs, so the battle goes quickly enough. CHRONICLE 10 One of the most difficult Chronicles in the first half of the game, this one contains a lot of annoyances. Demuth and Hyle are secured in the central Stronghold, which has a powerful Offense Down effect that debilitates your damage. Hyle in particular is also extremely defensive, blocking easily and making this an annoyingly long fight. Soul of Xianghua is the only thing I’ve been able to conquer him quickly and reliably with. After taking this stronghold, eight troops will charge towards you; luckily you can recover and revive within this set-3rd level Stronghold. To the left/NW is Seong Mi-na, the worst SCSB fight because she is on Ice and is programmed to take advantage of it, striving to push your character out of the ring and usually succeeding. You should be able to take her down with all five characters, but make sure you’ve cleared out all the aggressive enemies first. Then all you should have left are Kierkess and Chester, who should be anticlimactic after that struggle. CHRONICLE 11 A super simple but difficult Chronicle with no SCSB, all you can do is charge straight down the lane and take out the Klessirpemdo one fight at a time. Lupi, Heal-Do, and even Elua should all be easy to take despite their double-power missions. Aege, however, is your first experience with Guardian Force, and throws quake in as well (making this mission Impregnable). With Impregnable, Aege will not suffer hit stun or block stun and can thus easily counter hit you by attack as soon as your attack lands, whether she blocks or not. If you are using a Dancer main, pull them back before this fight because it’s pointless to even try to use them. Luna 4, after that, is another joke, despite her Soulcalibur. CHRONICLE 12 A lot of aggressive enemies are heading for you right away, so keep a unit or two back to defeat them before advancing. If you want the SCSBs, Raphael is far to the left and Cassandra to the right. The opening placement of Strongholds is bizarre, but you can start a character close to each of their Strongholds. Then just forge into the middle, past Roin and the rest of his minions, and Aurelia, the Queen of Dalkia and final boss of this section of the game, is the biggest joke yet. CHRONICLE 13 If you were relying on Meiga, Eurydice, Girardot, Aeneas or any of your other chars, this is where you’re going to pay for it, because they are all gone. Of the three given to you (not including Abelia, the one you get to keep, Tina is the only one semi-useful, and you are once again restricted to 4 maximum. The lone dead-end southern path is unimportant, unless you want to beat the SCSBs. This one is tough, as Kilik and Xianghua are together in the final Stronghold on that path. Their mission isn’t Superbad, but Reserve Offense Up means they will two-shot you if you get them down low and don’t finish them off. The only scary thing is that beating both at once is tough (although if you beat one and then lose, provided you didn’t lose with all 4, the other will not respawn so you can finish him/her solo). Maxi is near the left-center, on the away curved bath between the main north and south roads to the enemy base; he has All Unblockable, but still isn’t particularly bad compared to his two friends. Fight your way around to the Main Stronghold and confront Brynhild, who has an annoying, powerful Separate mission pushing you away and making you vulnerable to her long range lance attacks as you desperately run forward to try to get in range to fight her. One of the most annoying final battles in the game. CHRONICLE 14 An easier mission than it appears, although since your Main Character cannot die, you should avoid fighting Mitsurugi (SE Stronghold) and Taki (Far W Stronghold) with your MC. The rest of the troops are trash and easy free exp for whichever characters you want to level. The final boss, Ignis, is also very weak. CHRONICLE 15 We get 5 again, and not a moment too soon, because this is a savage battle. Rudiger or Feofan will join next Chronicle, whichever you beat first. Keep some troops in reserve to clear up the aggressors before advancing on Girardot. Voldo and Yoshimitsu are hanging out in the middle of sections of this map, outside of Strongholds, so it’s worth throwing units at them until they die for the big exp.
Girardot is our second boss fight against Guardian Force, making him one of the top 3 hardest fights in the game. His super high defense and hit points means all you can do is throw your best attacks at him and hope he doesn’t punish you too severely until he dies. CHRONICLE 16 Abelia is traded for Feofan/Rudiger, which is probably an upgrade, but now you’re down to 3(!) characters. As a note, that’s ALSO the number of SCSBs on this map. Advance to the bottom right corner and take on another potentially frustrating one, against Zasamel, whose Down Lose mission means whoever falls prone first loses, period. He’s programed to take advantage of this, but if you play slightly defensive or have a very fast knockdown ability he is easier than he seems (Katana style: Shoulder Charge is almost guaranteed to immediately win). North and then right at the fork takes you to a powerful Whirlwind Stronghold containing BOTH Yun-seong and Talim, and again they are programmed to take advantage of the Whirlwind by favoring knockback attacks. With only 3 chars, it is difficult and dangerous to attempt to beat them on your first playthrough, so you might wish to skip them. The penultimate fight is on another powerful Separate that will keep you at bay, although at least you aren’t facing a lance. You will, however, find yourself fighting through many powerful (high 40s/low 50s) Grandall elite at this point, with savage AIs. The final boss is another joke of relief after the tough fights to get to him. CHRONICLE 17 You can recover any of your favorite old units now by defeating them in battle. The southern path will run you through Meiga and SCSBs Sophitia and Tira, and is the fastest route. If you want to recover the rest of your troops, you’ll have to take almost all strongholds. Again, the final boss is not threatening at all, despite having All Unblockable. CHRONICLE 18 Your MC cannot die in this mission, so keep him/her away from the front lines. There are a number of middle paths on this map, but there are two main routes to Abelia—north goes through only a single Stronghold, while south holds SCSB Siegfried. He’s a strong penultimate SCSB, as with Reserve Offense Up if you leave him near-death his attack power will skyrocket and he’ll decimate you in few hits. Abelia is our third and final Guardian Force fight, and the easiest one yet, although any GF fight is frustrating. As a note, the victory objective is to kill Abelia, not conquer her Stronghold, so if you are using Speedrun strats and have taken only one path, enemies might from the other side to help Abelia defend. The first time you fight her, she’ll give you her cutscene and be in the first battle, so if you kill her, you can simply suicide against the rest of the fights and win anyway (just make sure the MC isn’t involved, because Lose Condition takes precedence over Win Condition). CHRONICLE 19 Luna, of all people, now joins you, and although she’s above level 50, she’s not that useful since she’s a Chinese Blade user (if you actually like this weapon, then use her, her level makes her worth it). The western Stronghold holds Ende, the ultimate level 99 Swordmaster Superboss. He’s powerful, great AI, very strong attacks and all, but it easier than he seems, especially if you use Spin to Win Dancer strats; he has no health restore and still can’t deal with most Abuseable Moves, so just use your Dancer with Hou Lee ~ Lower Great Wall to stomp him. In other words, if you persevered with a Dancer and brought her to this point, this is where it will really pay dividends for you. If you’re after all Strongholds, this will be a long Chronicle, as there are more here than any other, all spread out across this gigantic map. If you’re trying for speed or even just trying to fight all characters it’s not as daunting; after beating Ende, go into the main city by the North Stronghold, head east and then south to confront SCSB Nightmare (a bit disappointing for a final SCSB because he’s a Barbarian with a weak Poison mission) and then east and out the south gate to pull in the one remaining trooper to the south. Then head for the main garrison and the rest of the enemies will gather in. Chester is back for a third go-round and this time is a Swordmaster, but he’s as pathetic and unremarkable as ever. CHRONICLE 20 No Strongholds in this last Chronicle, so no recovering any wounded or defeated troops. The enemies don’t recover or move either, however, so you can use what strats you like to fight through them. I recommend changing all your units to Infantry and ganging up on one Soldier at a time in field combat, not initiating Soulcalibur Battles, and just taking them out this way. Make sure you main character doesn’t fall. Strife won’t let you use that strat, however. Good luck. Strife is a ridiculously hard final boss, with strong stats, a powerful Soul Edge weapon that steals life, and a savage AI that punishes you the minute you overstrain your attacks. Try to use whatever methods you can to ring him out. Do not engage him with your main character, for if you MC falls, all is lost and you have to redo the Chronicle. Luckily, any exp gained remains, so you can grind on this Chronicle easily if you so desire (overcome all enemies in the field, lose to Strife, rinse and repeat). Once you are victorious, you can restart with the same party, skipping the Tutorial, or you can start a new game and start leveling up more chars. Repeat this and all other strats until everything you desire is unlocked.