Form IV: Ataru

[ZequarX]

Hey guys,

Since the progression of the 7 lightsaber Forms is kind of on hold right now, I thought we could discuss my favorite form, Ataru. Another name for Ataru is "The way of the Hawk-Bat" or "Aggression" form. Ataru has always stuck out to me for its flashy moves and skilled acrobatics. It really is a beautiful sight to watch. Such masters are Yoda and Qui-Gon Jin, each with their own interpertation and style for Form IV, Ataru. There are other forms out of the 7 that probably work better for me, but something about practicing Ataru is exciting! Its a unique style of offense that creates openings while dodging and being evasive to attacks. There are countless of excerpts and info on Wookieepiedia but I found another website; http://www.jediholo.net/archives/documents/5341-2/

Here it gives a really good description of Ataru and I wanted to share it with everyone:

Form IV – Ataru
Alternative Names: Way of the Hawk-Bat, Aggression Form

Ataru is the fourth form of lightsaber combat, one that focuses primarily on the application of motion and kinetic energies to deal with an opponent, but also places considerable emphasis on the user possessing and using a tactical mind: each move is not random or unco-ordinated, but rather part of a greater sequence designed to open an adversary’s defenses and to find a vulnerable spot or to create an opening through which the Ataru practitioner will then break through to successfully strike. Many Jedi believe that Ataru is purely focused on the employment of acrobatics to achieve dominance over an opponent, but this is only an occasional byproduct of the tactics that are used.

The basis of the Form’s philosophy focuses on the notion that very few lightsaberists are capable of providing themselves with full defensive coverage, and thus will always have a side to them that is vulnerable to attack when pressed – the key is to find and exploit this as quickly and efficiently as possible. A Makashi user will be vulnerable on their flanks, since most of their defensive ability is directed forward, while a Soresu practitioners weakness lies in the lack of mobility that often characterises their form (since a person is considered more vulnerable in motion), and so on – Ataru is designed to exploit these weaknesses. Movement in the form of complex acrobatics, fast co-ordinated movements and a change in orientation are all common tactics with an Ataru user as they seek to find their way through their opponent’s defenses by probing at their responses and constantly forcing them to adapt to new positions and new environment.

In this respect, Ataru is just as aggressive in design and function as Djem-So, but the emphasis is less on domination of an opponent and more on outwitting them through the use of a lightsaber. Ataru focuses on the notion that a Jedi should always remain in motion, controlling the flow of the fight because you’re always on the move and therefore requiring your opponent to adapt to you, rather than waiting for them to make the first move – a highly pro-active approach. The form itself possesses a fairly unusual approach to the perceptual flow of combat: an experienced practitioner will use their sensory skills and precognitive abilities to plan ahead and create an attack strategy to get through their opponent’s defenses based on what they see and sense of that adversary, but conversely, they will also be highly adaptable, and flow with the motions of the battle, adapting their every movement based on the way their attacker responds.

To observe an Ataru practitioner is an interesting experience – they are simultaneously appearing to be chaotic in their motions, which are often sequenced and unpredictable, designed that way in order to confuse an opponent, but at the same time, their attacks are well co-ordinated, fluid and beautiful to the eye. They make considerable use of feints, flurries and other distracting motions to fool an opponent and expose patterns in their technique that can then be used against them, and spend considerable amounts of time testing an adversary to find weaknesses or apparent flaws in their defense. As a result, Ataru is often best suited to those who prefer an offensive form, using it with a tactically-sound mind. However, due to the pure focus used by an Ataru practitioner, they will rely more on evasion and dodging to defend against attacks made against them, using those to create an opening of their own through which to respond with a tailored counter-attack – they will avoid blade work as much as possible, to prevent themselves becoming entangled in a melee that thus limits their options.

Ideally, an Ataru user will have plenty of room with which to bring forth their repetoire of techniques, movements and strategies, but can easily be put at a disadvantage by being duelled in a restricted space. This does not however mean that you should underestimate someone using Ataru: while true that they prefer space and opportunity to use their mobility against their opponent, they are nonetheless master strategists, and will make excellent use of whatever space they are permitted. In terms of their Force abilities, they will mostly focus on abilities that augment their physical strength, speed and mobility, so Jump and Acceleration are popular choices, but some also practice carefully-controlled telekinesis that enables them to force an opening with a gentle push, or to bring their opponents into line with a sturdy telekinetic pull. With a lightsaber, Ataru focuses on controlled and precise footwork, combined with fast, agile strikes of a lightsaber.

However, Ataru is not designed to be a directly confrontational form – it provides cover for the weaknesses of physical ability, increases the range of attack for the practitioner, and also enables the practitioner to exploit the weaknesses of an opponent by attacking from more than one direction – hence, it is primarily strong in this regard against Makashi. That said, though, against Djem-So, and certainly against the forms of Juyo and Vaapad, Ataru is particularly weak since it is not designed to counter head-on attacks of greater intensity, since the skill of the Ataru user lies in using the energy of the opponent against them, or maneuvering around an opponent to breach their defenses. In this, it also possesses a similar weakness to Makashi, since it is not adequate to counter the strong techniques of Djem-So or Juyo/Vaapad.

The mindset of an Ataru user is fairly complex: they are astonishingly competent strategists who place all their energy into generating multi-layered strategies that serve to confuse, mislead and ultimately destroy an opponent, working constantly to outmaneuver an opponent at every turn, and in this respect also playing upon emotional weaknesses, using tactics that will frustrate and irritate an adversary, thus poking holes in their psychological defenses as well as those they possess with a lightsaber. Ataru and Makashi practitioners are fairly similar with respects to their tactical focus, and both believe in the use of subtlety, but Ataru practitioners are quicker to dismiss courses of action and alter their plans, simply because they’re used to dancing on a knife edge, so to speak, and thus often appear impulsive to the point of reckless, despite being both intelligent and methodical. They believe that a Jedi must pay close attention to the flow of the Force as to the flow of the fight, and thus are often practitioners advocating the Living Force over the Unifying Force. They tend to be highly sensitive to their environment and the flow of energy around them, and will often act recklessly if they feel it provides them an advantage or creates a solution that would serve better than a more conservative approach, even if it places them in danger to achieve this.

This topic is completely open for discussion about Ataru, it's moves and applications and anything else related to my favorite Form of lightsaber combat. Hope you guys enjoy the read 

Z

[Master Lucien Kane]

Holy crap that sounds just like me... 

I've had people compare my style to Ataru before, but I never saw just how similar until now... Very interesting.

Good read Z good read.

[Master Uilos]

Ataru is the one form I've always been on the fence about. Mostly because those I know who try it are trying the "LOOK MA I'M CGI!!" kinda guys. A lot of people tend to think that you add a flip to something that it automatically becomes Ataru. It doesn't. I've found Ataru to be about continuous movement, which this article seems a bit off on (Juyo was the stacatto, chaotic sequences). There is a natural flow and progession in Ataru that makes it appear dance-like.

Anyways, here's a video:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4SpqKPm7U" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4SpqKPm7U</a>

[Vex]

I've never claimed a Lightsaber form with my style. If you have seen any of my vids on here , the descriptions above match it. My style has always been nice continuous flow of movement from one attack / flurrish to the next. I use strait out offence and very little defense. As a dual weilder and staff user I'm guessing this is my form. Thanks for the info! Very interesting.

[ZequarX]

@ Uilos
Yea, that video is pretty good. I took a look at it the other day and thought he did a good job at expressing Ataru. Thats the beauty of a canon-type martial arts; It is how you make it fit your own goals, your style, your speed, and your strength. I have noticed after doing much research on all the Forms, that Ataru, in turn fits me the best. I thought reverse grip shien was more like me but I lost speed and power and overall flow of the duel/kata. My brother made a comment the other day saying, "Dang, dude, you are always on the offense coming straight at me. I feel like you're reckless and calm at the same time, lol." I enjoy power moves from time to time, but I love the speed of my offense the best and creating openings. I can't help it, but some of us are just more offensively oriented

@LK and Vex
I'm glad you guys enjoyed the read and y'all are most welcome! Maybe we can get some more input and video's of others "expressing" form IV

Hopefully Mr. Strange will post on here since he started From I...

[ZequarX]

Ok..

SO because Ataru is such a demanding style, you must train the body to such. Ataru would be compared to sprinting. You're not trekking along for miles, your goal is to go a short distance in the fastest amount of time. As such, Ataru is meant to end the match quickly, efficiently and almost always gracefully. With a blend of speed and power, the sprinter crosses the finish line. Mix those two in with swordplay and you have Form IV: Ataru.. well that and crazy acrobatics. But we as normal men and women do not have a reality grasp on the Force and because of that, we are not able to augment our strength, speed, jumping ability, so on and so forth. But, the human body is capable of amazing things, if you haven't seen already. Take parkour for instance; there are guys like David Belle who can jump from a 10 story building onto an 8 story building no problem. And that's just one example lol.

Despite the fact that we are not able to use the Force, Form IV is achievable! Which is the good news

Here, soon, I'll have a breakdown of some basic moves used in Ataru. But remember, stretching and keeping flexible will only better increase your skill in Form IV!

[Master Lucien Kane]

Agreed. The Third Pillar of the Jedi is paramount to Ataru... I do Plyometrics, and I feel that gives me an edge in this form. Not because it is jump training, but because of how much it develops my endurance, and my ability to move.

[ZequarX]

Agreed. The Third Pillar of the Jedi is paramount to Ataru... I do Plyometrics, and I feel that gives me an edge in this form. Not because it is jump training, but because of how much it develops my endurance, and my ability to move

Absolutely! Plyometrics are great, body weight exercises are great as well. The push-up and sit-up can go a loooooong way. With any kind of martial arts as stated in Form I: Shii-Cho, the core is very important. For Form IV, balance and endurance are probably the 2 most important factors going into learning Ataru. My brother finally showed up yesterday and it gave me a chance to work on Ataru, which was really exciting! On the move and maintaining speed, I was able to keep my brother on his toes with quick spins, crafty dodges, and sweet evasive maneuvers 

My favorite move to execute is a quick low feint to my brothers legs, which he fell for about 90% of the time, and then quickly recover for a cross slash at his arm/chest/or neck. My recovery time from feints is what makes me deadly, and feints are encouraged in Form IV    

[Master Lucien Kane]

The trick to really good feints is this... Be ready to make them count.... If you throw a feint towards someone's arm, and they don't block... why waste the extra movement to say your feint worked... Why not just score a hit on the arm and call it a day?

Feints are most believable when they are real attacks... I can read most feints a mile away because I can just tell when someone is committed to their strike.

[ZequarX]

@Lucien

Yea that's true. Most of the time, the simplest move is the best...store that extra energy for later!

I didn't always feint back up; luckily I never whacked him in the shins, cuz that mess would hurt!

[ZequarX]

One thing I think needs to be implemented in Ataru is kicks. A spinning roundhouse would work, just make sure your ready to move afterwards. Side kicks, front snap kicks, foot stomps, and other kicks can be be added into your routine. Since we don't have the Force, we have to make do with what we got and express Ataru as we see fit.

I need to start working on my hand springs and such. There's a move Ven Zallow does when he is dodging attacks where he backhand springs on one hand and follows up with another evasive move...very cool. That is a move I would love to learn

I am in the midst of writing a novel and the main character has a fighting style similar to Ataru as far as the acrobatics go, but there is a strong defensive mind to it, but more like an agressive defense if that makes sense, lol. So watching people like Qui-Gon, Ven, and Yoda, I get lots of inspiration for scenes I wanna write into my book 

Anyway, back on track. I was thinking about a basic sequence to begin with if one was wanting to learn Form IV: Ataru. Here's how it would go:

Flip the blade foward and get in Ataru stance, ignite the blade, left foot step-uppercut slash, right foot step- cross slash, swing up above head and come down on the right shoulder, then the left, bring the saber back, stab forward, step into the thrust and make a spinning back slash, then block up to finish the sequence!

I dunno if anyone can visualize that and hopefully it doesn't sound dumb lol, but enjoy.

Z

[Master Nero Attoru]

Holy crap, this is a whole lotta awesome discussion that I missed out on!  I think I managed to absorb it all, but I'll probably have some more thoughts on it later.

My own take on Ataru is that however you want to do it (acrobatics or simple footwork), the point is to overwhelm the opponent.  Speed and unpredictability are your two greatest assets, and like Zequar said this makes it necessary to win the battle quickly.  Constant movement and continual attacks are the way to truly express Ataru.  We're talking a style that's basically built around the phrase "the best defense is a good offense."

Of course there are defensive aspects as well, they're just not as utilized.  One important aspect to learn is the use of footwork in defense rather than bladework.  Nimble and swift footwork can position you to avoid a blow, which allows you to strike with one of your own (ideally from a favorable angle) while the opponent's attack is finishing.  In that way, you're using your defense to set up your offense, which allows you to keep the blazing series of attacks going.

It's a fun (albeit energy intensive) form, and one that I incorporate a bit into my own style of combat.

[Master Lucien Kane]

The one handed back handspring Zallow does is what I really want to learn. Also Master Attoru, I agree... evasion is the goal with Ataru.

[ZequarX]

I totall forgot that duel wielding is encouraged in Ataru. According to SWTOR, if you want to use Ataru in the game, you end up duel wielding! I think duel wielding is awesome and would love to try it and get good at it I might order me a staff just to be able to have 2 sabers at once!!

[Master Lucien Kane]

Which brings me to a point that I have been thinking of for a while but never voiced.

Game Mechanics... Be careful of how you view lightsaber combat with respect to game mechanics... Starkiller is referred to as using Shien, so everyone just assumes that Shien is exclusively reverse grip.... While Shien is of predisposition for reverse grip, it is not doctrine. Simply game mechanics... the reason Starkiller uses reverse grip is because the developers wanted to focus on Starkiller being a wrecking ball of the Force, so not your usual Jedi hack and slash lightsaber game... They wanted to focus on making the Force an offensive tank of a weapon.

Same with SWTOR.... The forms they depict are rather one dimensional, and usually just a "placeholder name" for the buffs and bonuses they want to implement.

Not saying at all that you are wrong, or not to pull from games, because we learn a great deal of knowledge from the EU side of Star Wars. I'm merely cautioning everyone that pigeonholing a particular form because of game mechanics can make you lose sight of the rest of the form.

Same as basing an entire form off of one Sequence... the form is made up of many sequences and velocities... (at least that's the way I'm developing them) So there is room for many interpretations and multiple techniques that build off of each other, and yes, even techniques that overlap between forms.