Butterfly (BF): the first move in K-Style

The Butterfly (BF) is the move that opens the door to K-Style. Slash and block almost at the same instant, in the air, repeated in a cycle — it is what makes a player look like they are flying while attacking.

It is also the first move you should learn. There is an old guide going around that tells you to master dash, slash shot and half step first; ignore it. Every recent source — including the community guide published on the game’s own Steam page — puts the Butterfly in the entry tier, and everything else is built on top of it.

First: your sword has to block

Only katanas and dual swords can block. Daggers, dual daggers and greatswords cannot — and without a block there is no butterfly.

If you have been trying for twenty minutes and nothing happens, check your weapon before blaming your timing. It is the silliest and most common way to get stuck at the start.

The sequence

The loop is: Space → dash → slash → block → Space → dash → slash → block…

Slash and block are nearly simultaneous, not “one then the other”. The community guide on Steam puts it literally: “The slash can come out frame 1 after the dash, and the block can come out frame one after the slash. Nearly simultaneously.”

To learn it, though, separate them: slash first, then block, even if it looks sloppy. Once the motion is comfortable, start gluing them together. If you can see the sword returning to its resting position, you blocked late.

Why it works

GunZ was never built to allow this. In the game’s code, attacks are flagged as non-cancellable — K-Style exists because the block function, as a side effect, wipes the attack states. It is literally a bug that became the sport.

In practice the cycle closes like this:

1. The dash gives you instant top speed and locks you: while it runs, WASD is ignored, you cannot jump, block or switch weapons.
2. The slash unlocks you — the last thing the attack function does is turn the dash off. The strike cancels the movement.
3. The block cancels the strike, erasing the sword’s return animation (that recovery swing you never see in a clean butterfly).
4. The jump pressed mid-air sits in a 0.3s queue and only fires once the dash and slash states are clear. In other words: the block is what unlocks your next jump, and the cycle closes itself.

The mistake that makes your damage vanish

This is the point almost no guide explains, and it separates a pretty butterfly from a useful one:

Slash on the way UP.

On the ground, the first strike’s damage packet is held back for a fraction of a second — and the block, inside that same window, erases your own damage. In the air, damage is sent on the very frame you click.

The practical result: slashing on the way down, scraping the floor, produces a visually perfect butterfly that hurts nobody. You are throwing ghost strikes.

The fix is simple: train facing a wall. You can see the impact land. No impact means your damage is being eaten.

Common mistakes

Mistake	What happens	Fix
Blocking too early	The block eats your damage	Train on a wall until you see hits land
Jumping too low	The aerial slash simply doesn’t come out (there is a height requirement)	Close to the ground, but not scraping it
Slashing on the way down	Counts as a ground strike, damage disappears	Slash on the way up
Holding the click	Charges a Massive Strike and locks you for ~1.5s on the ground	Dry tap
Holding the block	Turns into turtling: dashing and slashing are forbidden while the guard is up	Tap and release
Mashing keys	Inputs stack up and jam	Controlled rhythm, no mashing
Butterflying head-on into a blocker	You freeze in place and charge a Massive for them	Attack the legs (blocks don’t cover them), the back or the sides

On that last one: a block covers everything except leg hits, and only from the front. A successful block also charges a Massive for the defender — double damage and stun on their next strike. Repeatedly butterflying into someone standing still with their guard up is a recipe for dying.

How to train

1. Training room or a private room. Do not try to learn this in a real match.
2. One layer at a time: jump only → jump + slash → + block → + dash. Add the next layer only when the previous one runs without thinking.
3. Facing a wall, until you hit 100 reps in a row without breaking the animation. This is where you confirm damage is landing.
4. Static Butterfly (jump → slash → block, no dash) to isolate the timing.
5. Dash in all four directions, not just forward.
6. One real fight using only butterfly. Don’t expect to win — the trade is that you learn exactly where the move fails.

A hygiene tip straight from the community guide: take breaks. GunZ is nicknamed the “carpal tunnel simulator” for good reason, and muscle memory consolidates while you sleep. Stuck on a move? Sleep and try tomorrow.

How long does it take? The shape comes in days. Consistency under pressure takes weeks. Be suspicious of any guide promising an exact timeline.

If it feels broken, it’s probably not you

Since the relaunch there have been frequent reports of inputs not registering. On the Steam forum, August 15: “Over 50% of the butterfly action sequences aren’t registered.” At the same time, veterans execute normally.

The sequence has not changed — what is inconsistent for some players is input registration, most likely connection-related. Check the status page and tune what you can in the settings guide before concluding the problem is your hands.

What comes next

With the Butterfly automatic, the path opens in two directions:

• Double Butterfly — two slashes in one jump, to trap a cornered opponent.
• Slash Shot — fitting a shotgun inside the slash, the base of nearly all gunplay.

To see it in motion, the community video guide demonstrates the Butterfly in slow motion (the link opens at the right timestamp).

For the full map of techniques and where each one fits, start with K-Style from zero.