So today a new trailer released for BlazBlue Continuum Shift. Most of the trailer is stuff we have seen before, however there were a couple new bits that were worth taking notice of. Specifically, they were badass combat butler bits that occurred briefly toward the end of the trailer. Yep, we have finally gotten our first tease of a look at Valkenhayn, the second DLC character coming our way, and hot damn he looks like seven flavors of awesome.

Though it was only a brief glimpse there were details we were able to squeeze out of the new trailer. For one, it is not confirmed that his drive (previously named Lycanthropy by the BlazBlue wiki) does in fact do what we thought it did. It transforms him into a wolf for a limited period of time. There seems to be some sort of secondary meter over Valkenhayn’s heat meter that governs the use of this drive (we can only assume as there is a little white wolf head next to the meter). It seems to tick down when Valkenhayn is in wolf form, but slowly. We don’t really know how long Valkenhayn can stay in wolf form, nor do we know what happens when the meter runs out, however, the trailer showed Valkenhayn switching rapidly back and forth between the two forms in the middle of a combo.

As a wolf, Valkenhayn seems to focus on mobility. The trailer showed brief glimpses of using pounce maneuvers similar to Taokaka’s. Outside of wolf form, Valkenhayn seems to be a much slower and more powerful character. Likely, the key to mastering Valkenhayn will be knowing when to switch back and forth between the two forms. I have already seen quite a few moves by the wolf form Valkenhayn, so I theorize that his drive will not be a one button affair, but instead two separate movesets, one for human form, and one for wolf form. This is all just theory and speculation though.

Oh, by the way, the fuzzy picture we saw before lied to us. Valkenhayn does in fact fight in his butler outfit, stylishly at that. He is also much taller than he looks on TV. His sprite towers over Hazama by a little more than a head, and since Hazama’s sprite is a pretty standard character size for the game, it appears as if the only character he will be looking up to is Tager.

Two last things. One: he keeps the little purple bow he uses to tie his hair back when he goes into wolf form. This really had nothing to do with gameplay, I just like the idea of a werewolf with bows in its fur tearing someone to pieces. Two: he does NOT appear to play like Slayer from Guilty Gear. So now we can finally put to rest the notion that all men in tuxedos have to fight the same.

Related posts on 30ninjas.com:

• A BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Review — Valkenhayn: Hungry Like the Wolf
• BlazBlue Continuum Shift — Valkenhayn Move List and Gameplay Details
• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift — Valkenhayn DLC Release Details Revealed
• Quick BlazBlue Update: BlazBlue Continuum Shift II
• New BlazBlue Continuum Shift DLC Character Makoto Details Revealed
• Blazblue Location Test #3 Balance Patch Changes