How to play
How to play Knockrift
The goal, the controls on keyboard, controller and touch, and every technique the game teaches.
The goal: knock them out of the Rift
Knockrift is a platform fighter: there is no health bar. Every hit raises the rival's damage percentage, and the higher it is, the farther the next hit sends them flying. Knock a rival off the stage and past the edge of the screen to take one of their stocks (lives); the last one standing wins. A charged Strong at high percent is the classic finisher. Recover with your double jump, an air dash and your up special, and grab ledges to get back.
The rules are yours to set: stocks, time, weapons, hazards, burst, teams. Up to 4 fighters share the screen, alone, in teams or with CPUs.
The basics, step by step
What the in-game tutorial teaches, with player 1's keyboard keys:
Moving
Walk with A D. A quick tap of a direction from standing does a dash.
Jumping
Space jumps (a short tap, a short hop). In the air, again for a double jump. Do two.
Light attack
Get close to the dummy and hit it with J. With a direction you get a different attack, in the air too.
Strong attack
K hits hard; hold it to charge. With a direction it goes that way.
Specials
L alone, or with ↑ ↓ ← →: every fighter has four. Try two different ones.
Blocking
Now the dummy attacks. Stay close and hold I to block its hits. Blocking wears down your guard (the bar over your head).
Grab and throw
Right next to the dummy, U grabs it (it goes through block). Then a direction throws it.
Guard break
Now the dummy blocks. Every hit wears its guard down: keep attacking with J and K until you break its guard. It's left dizzy and wide open.
Air dash
In the air, I + direction does an air dash: use it to get back to the stage when you're knocked off.
Rift Burst
The bar under your % fills as you fight (here it's already full). When it's full, J + L unleashes your fighter's super.
Controls
The defaults. Every action can be remapped in the game's controls menu (two keys or buttons each), and “Jump with up” can be turned on. Two players can share one keyboard; more join with controllers.
| Action | Keyboard P1 | Keyboard P2 | Xbox | PlayStation | Nintendo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move (up, down, left, right) | W / A / S / D | ↑ / ← / ↓ / → | Left stick or D-pad | ||
| Jump | Space | Num 0 / / | A | ✕ Cross | B |
| Light | J | Num 1 / . | X | □ Square | Y |
| Strong (also the right stick on a controller) | K | Num 2 / , | Y | △ Triangle | X |
| Special | L | Num 3 / ; | B | ○ Circle | A |
| Grab | U | Num 4 / M | RB | R1 | R |
| Block / air dash | I | Num 5 / ' | LB / RT | L1 / R2 | L / ZR |
| Strafe | Left Shift | Num + / Right Shift | LT | L2 | ZL |
| Taunt | Y | Num 6 / ] | View | Create / Share | − Minus |
| Rift Burst (full bar) | J + L | Num 1 + Num 3 | X + B | □ Square + ○ Circle | Y + A |
| Pause | Esc | Esc | Menu | Options | + Plus |
Touch controls (phone and tablet)
The stick appears wherever you put your left thumb. With gestures, tap ✸ for Light and swipe it for a Strong that way; swipe ✦ up to get back to the stage.
Gestures: tap ✸ for Light and swipe it for a Strong that way (hold to charge). Swipe ✦ for the special of that direction (↑ to recover). Hold ⬡ to block and swipe it to dodge. A tap off the buttons on that side attacks too.
Button size, dead zone and a left-handed mode (the stick on the right, the buttons on the left) are in Options → Touch.
Advanced techniques
Dash
Tap a direction from standing. Light while running: dash attack; if it connects, a jump or a special cancels it from its 4th to its 10th active frame.
Air dash
Block + direction in the air. Diagonally into the ground: wavedash.
Short hop
Jump and attack together: a short hop with the aerial right off the ground, even with jump held. For a full jump, attack once in the air.
Roll and spot dodge
While blocking, tap sideways to roll (intangible, and it won't take you off the edge); tap down to dodge in place.
Ledges
You grab them automatically. Up to climb, jump to jump, attack to climb with a hit, Block to roll up and inward (less invincible with every regrab).
Tech
Block right before you land tumbling (or slam into a wall or a ceiling) cancels the fall or the bounce. Hold a side to roll that way, intangible.
Knocked down
If you land without a tech: a button gets you up, a side rolls (intangible), Light or Strong gets up hitting both sides, and holding down keeps you on the floor a while longer.
Stale moves
Repeating the same hit wears it out: each time it is among your last 8 hits it does 8% less (damage and knockback, down to 60%). Losing a stock freshens everything.
Grabs
Grab goes through block and catches projectiles. A direction throws.
Rift Burst
The bar under your percentage fills as you land hits (and a little when you take them). When it's full: Light + Special together for your fighter's super.
Weapons
They drop from rifts. Grab next to one picks it up, Light/Strong uses it, Grab throws it.
Controllers
With a single controller, it plays as P1 (in Options you can move it to P2 and leave the keyboard to P1). P3 and P4 join with controllers.
Modes
Learn the basics
TUTORIAL
A couple of guided minutes against the dummy: move, hit, block, grab and knock your rival off the screen.
Story · 1 player
ARCADE
Six fights against the CPU through each champion's story, all the way to the Prism's Core.
Local · 2-4 players
VERSUS
Up to 4 players on the same screen, with keyboard, controllers or touch.
Quick · Ranked · Rooms
ONLINE
Up to 4 players over the internet with rollback: 1v1 and 2v2 quick matches, Elo-rated ranked and rooms with friends.
Free practice
TRAINING
Practice combos on a dummy, with frame data on screen.
Combos and goals
CHALLENGES
Five combos per champion against the dummy, with a demo to watch, and three goals per character to meet in real fights.
Each champion plays differently: see their moves on the champions pages. 13 weapons drop from rifts during a match.
Ready? Jump in
The tutorial takes a couple of minutes, and it starts the first time you play.
PLAY