Ittou Tsukikage

Ittou Tsukikage (Stray Blade: Moon Shadow) is one of Moriya Minakata's Special Moves in the Last Blade series, first appearing in first game.

Description
Moriya does 3 or 4 consecutive color-trailing slashes, ending with an overhead one.

In Power/EX Mode for : an outwards one-handed slash, an upwards lifting slash, then a leaping overhead slash into a tumble on the ground.

In Power/EX Mode for : an outwards one-handed slash, a two-handed downwards cut, an upwards lifting slash, then a forward-stepping overhead slash.

In Speed Mode for : an outwards one-handed slash, an upwards lifting slash, then a forward-stepping overhead slash.

In Speed Mode for : an outwards one-handed slash, a two-handed downwards cut, an upwards lifting slash, then a leaping overhead slash into a tumble on the ground.

In Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, the Power Mode version is used for both and, respectively, with the  version's second input animation changed.

Strategy
In the original The Last Blade, the move has fixed properties and is notably quite powerful even in Speed. In The Last Blade 2, varieties were introduced to give Moriya more options in his offense. He can mix other special moves or even super cancel in the middle of this move, which can be used to break defenses, attack from overhead, or extend combos that end in a hard knockdown.

The most optimal way to use the move is to super cancel into Kassatsu Izayoi Gekka after the ultimate hit of the move, where Moriya will be very close to the enemy, inflicting the most amount of hits and damage.

In The Last Blade 2, the A version can be stopped at the second hit, juggle with a standing hard slash, and do the B version of the move and either do other special moves or super cancel into Kassatsu Izayoi Gekka.

In NGBC, it's possible to combo into the A version from Moriya's crouching as a short-yet-solid confirm into a hard knockdown to start a vortex.

Similar Attacks

 * Ittou Renjinzan - A similar combo used by Kaede.