Instant Kills are attacks that instantly win the round! While this sounds game-breakingly powerful in theory, the restrictions in place relegate it to a rarely seen spectacle.
To perform an Instant Kill:
enter Instant Kill Mode by pressing P+K+S+H while standing
while in Instant Kill Mode perform your Instant Kill attack. For most characters the command is 236236H.
Entering Instant Kill Mode changes your Tension Gauge into a Timer. The timer's length is based upon how much Tension you had stored. It will gradually decrease over time and once emptied, your health will gradually decrease! This will continue until you either perform the Instant Kill or you exit Instant Kill Mode (P+K+S+H while standing). You cannot kill yourself in this manner, but it will leave you with zero health, and the next hit or guard damage will finish you off.
After performing an Instant Kill, you will lose your Tension Gauge for the rest of the round! This will prevent you from using all Tension related actions like: Overdrive Attacks, Force Break Attacks, Dead Angle Attacks, Roman Cancels, False Roman Cancels, and Faultless Defense. You will also be unable to perform another Instant Kill.
Exiting Instant Kill Mode by pressing P+K+S+H will revert the IK Timer back to an EMPTY Tension Gauge.
Each Instant Kill has different properties and can be used in different situations. It's important to know what your characters Instant Kill looks like, and in what situations it may be useful.
