Rivals of Aether has great controller options that lets keyboard and pad players (of all sorts) compete against one another. These options also provide us the opportunity to get the most out of Hit Box. 

The first thing to know, is that the default mode for Hit Box on PC is Xinput - which means it has button functions akin to the Xbox 360 controllers. If you need help setting up your Hit Box for Steam, check out our post here: Hit Box on Steam.

Controller Setup

Once you have the game booted up and running, you will want to create an in-game profile and edit your controls to ensure you have access to all of the actions.

Select the wrench to open up the setting, then choose controls.

These are the pages of custom controls options (we can ignore "Sensitivity").

The first thing you want to do is edit your action buttons to your desire. It is pretty much to personal preference, but we recommend putting Jump and Dodge on buttons next to each other since you can Wavedash by pressing them at the same time.

Select which action you want to edit, and then press which button you want.
(Press "Back" on the top of the controller to cancel)

The next options are the most important regarding how you want to play the game. You can customize whether the directional buttons are Walk or Run.

Walk Mode

In Walk Mode, you will walk, crouch, and have access to tilt attacks. You can dash and run by double-tapping Left or Right - you can even Tap Jump if you double-tap up. If you are used to playing traditional fighting games, this may be the mode you want to try first. However, if you do not want to double-tap, you can set a Run-Button: when held, it will allow you run and Tap Jump.

Select the run action, and set it to a button.

Run Mode

Run Mode works the opposite as Walk Mode: you dash, run, and Tap Jump as default. Then, with Walk-Button set, you can walk, use tilt attacks, and disable Tap Jump. If you are used to playing on Smash Box, you may like Run Mode better.

Tap Jump

We have brought up Tap Jump quite a bit here, and that is for a good reason.

The Hit Box was designed with jump in traditional fighters (the Up button) in the same location as the keyboard's space bar (a fairly popular spot for jump for keyboard players of various games). Being able to access Tap Jump helps us maintain the intentions of the Hit Box's design.

Wavedashing with Tap Jump

When attempting to wavedash with Up, there are two things to keep in mind:

• Holding Up after jump-squat will give you an air-dodge
• Full-length wavedash requires a full horizontal/x-axis input

The goal is to release Up as soon as possible to prevent these issues.

[video showcasing this stuff]

Since this makes the technique more difficult, when the Rivals team was intentionally trying to make it easier in this game, we recommend using the typical Jump+Dodge button combination for wavedashes.

If you have any questions about Rivals of Aether on Hit Box, please join our community on Discord and visit the #rivals-of-aether channel. In addition, be sure explore the "Hit Box" and RoA" tags at the bottom of the post for more How-To content.