Killer Is Dead AAA-Rank Guide

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AAA Rank Guide for Story Missions
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AAA-Rank Very Hard Video Guides:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_u1CZEnCr1n_7fREEw6qOQvuXqwWL64A

This guide will go through basic things when going for AAA-ranks on Very Hard difficulty. Story episodes only. Minor notes for other difficulties may be added. The aim is to beat the levels as fast as possible whilst fulfilling the bonus conditions and taking as little damage as possible. These are my own strategies and might not be the best, but should be useful for leaderboard climbing.

**DO NOT BOTHER CLIMBING THE PC LEADERBOARD AS IT IS HACKED**
The whole of top 100 have impossibly high scores so don't waste your time and effort like me.

Legend
-AB = Adrenaline Burst
-DB = Dodge Burst
-CC = Charge Cannon
-HS = Head Shot

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Killer Is Dead AAA-Rank Guide
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1. How to go fast in Killer Is Dead?
-Dash outside of battle
-Headshot, Dodge Burst, Adrenaline Burst
-Blood management
-Use up blood before getting some from Scarlett
-Build up combo with Guard Break/Just Guard/Dodge Burst + sword, AB everything
*Do not attempt the AAA's until you have max lvl health & blood (99) and all upgrades (Freeze Shooter/Heal/Auto-Cure/Upper Slash/Guard Crush not necessary)
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2. How to get AAA's?
-Don't take damage
-Fulfill all bonus conditions
-Go as fast as possible
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3. What are the tools?
-You cancel anything except healing into Musselback aim
---The best use of this is cancelling the fourth dash into the aim
-Guard Break can stun and build meter
-Parry and DB give 5 hits to the combo meter, DB being probably the fastest way to increase combo lvl
-Counter Smash is good for combo building and defending yourself
-Charge Cannon stuns all enemies with a level 2 charge and does a lot of damage
-Use Counter Shot on gunners (try dodging left to avoid bullets)

Other
-Cancel combo with gun: useful on Hamada-Yama & Dolly
-Quick aiming with gun: tap aim whenever a target moves (works wonders for Alice)
-Guard Break/CC stun gilded enemies/farm blood for ~12 hits
-Avoid Charge Cannon recoil by releasing the aim after releasing the shot
-Purple attacks are unblockable
-Cancel healing via adrenaline burst (not that you'd need healing)
-Tanuki Warp: Shoot a tanuki in E7 from far away to teleport into the scroll fight. Works on the first, third, fifth and sixth ones. The fifth one can create a softlock though.
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Difficulty differences
-The higher the difficulty, the higher the enemies' HP (or the lower your damage) and the dmg they inflict on you
-Enemies are much more aggressive on Hard/Very Hard and will ignore you comboing them
-They are more resistant to being stunned
-More blood can be gained faster on Easy/Normal than on Hard/Very Hard through enemies/drops
-Very Hard enemies will dodge HS's a lot
-To get AAA's, the Total Damage Bonus is vital on Hard/Very Hard, but less so below them
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**Do not use Ulti-Mondo or Darkbooster, as they decrease your overall score!**

Mission Bonuses
The most important ones are:
-Total Damage Bonus
---The more damage you take, the less this will be. On Very Hard, many missions allow you to take about 2 diamonds worth of dmg and still give you the AAA. If you want the full 800k, you should not get hit. On some levels the game seems to prefer time over TDB for no good reason. Episodes 5 & 11 are particularly picky about it. But generally you can take your time to avoid getting hit.

-Total Cool Kills Bonus
---Goes up when finishing enemies with Adrenaline Burst, Dodge Burst and Headshots. On Very Hard, DB's do very little damage and is not very useful. Headshots can often be dodged by enemies, so that leaves AB. It kills anything that isn't an armored/gilded enemy in one. I suggest using HS for regular wires, AB for everything else. The amount of enemies needed to kill to fulfill this bonus varies between missions. I'm unsure if Final Judgment counts (finishing enemy with max level combo) as a cool kill.

-Completion Score
---Decreases the longer your overall completion time is

-Execution Time
---Decreases the longer you took to beat the boss

Episode specifics

E1 - Rescue payment
----Avoid all of Tokio's bullets. Watch my video in the playlist up top.

E2 - Guard Break Payment
---Execute at least 30 Guard Breaks. They only need to hit, not break the enemies' guard.

E3 - Alice Bug Payment
---Don't take any damage from Alice's bugs (easy to avoid by shooting her down quick enough)

E4 - Just Guard Payment
---Execute at least 15 Just Guards. Do it on the two shield dudes in the curved hallway in the beginning.

E5 - Shadow Demolition Payment
---Kill at least 15 Women's Shadows. This should be easy on Hard/Very Hard as they take more damage to be downed and you have to avoid getting hit.

E6 - Head Shot Payment
---Execute at least 15 Head Shots. Four from Counter Shotting the gunners on the bridge, six from the rotating bridge and five from the elevator waiting sequence.

E7 - Scarlett Payment
---Meet Scarlett 3 times

E8 - Revenge Payment
---Attack only David

E9 - Stun Allowance Payment
---Don't get stunned by the Skyplane's stun beam

E10 - Bend and Stretch Payment
---Squat at least 20 times. You can do this when the Blankas spawn before Bryan. Run up to the end of the carriage to squat in safety from the turrets. Then before the phone call and when on top of the train.

E11 - Beam Payment
---Avoid all of Dolly's laser attacks. You cannot make contact with the lasers, which means no blocking. I got AAA with a 356k beam payment and 1.2m (max) total damage bonus and I'm pretty sure I took hits from the small lasers.

E12 - Just Guard Payment
---Do it on the shield predators before the second last mirror. Kill two of them and use two to alternate them to keep up combo.

Enemy specifics
-Yellow wires (maces, guns, fists) always change their mode when you hit them enough. The ones without weapons can use a grab with i-frames.
-E6 wires at the start have helmets preventing OHKO with the first headshot
-Big Macs are the large armored club wielders
---They cannot be AB'd unless they're stunned, and they can be standing or crouching while stunned. You can tell they're stunned if they have the spinning dizziness animation on top of them. Use a lvl 2 CC for instant stun.
-Ninja have i-frames during their back flips, and they always do it after jumping from a hiding spot.
-Gilded samurai seem to have an unblockable dash attack. They also have an unblockable grab. They have i-frames when recovering from attacking.
-Blankas (red spiky dudes) are the most annoying enemies imo. Thankfully they only appear in E9 & 10. Their running smash is unblockable and they always block if you hit them. Should be finished with an AB immediately. Their backdashes have i-frames.
-Gilded Big Macs have a cannon on their left shoulder, which can hit you even if they're stunned. They recover the quickest from stun. Their swing can be DB'd, but has a very tight window. Their attacks are also unblockable.
-E10 Big Macs can only be stunned using a fully charged CC.
-Predators are the gray dudes with snipers or spiky clubs. On Hard/Very Hard they can shoot you even if you're in their face. They have an unblockable jump attack. The gun they use shoots one bullet at a time, making it hard to use Counter Shot. They also change modes like the yellow wires.