Kirito (Kirigaya Kazuto)

Kirigaya Kazuto is the 1st character in the Sword Art Online roster, and the main protagonist of the Sword Art Online series. He was one of the thousand beta testers chosen for the game. After 2 years of being trapped in the game, he acquired freedom by beating the game developer.

After several years, Kazuto got in an incident which led to him suffering severe brain damage. To treat his damaged Neural Pathways, he was introduced into Project Alicization to heal his brain. Since then, he played the game as the name, "Kirito", and got into several battles.

Moves

Nova Ascension: Kirito's blade glows purple with a lost memory as he dashes towards his elevated opponent, bringing them up even higher before performing a recalled technique that sends them plummeting down to the ground.

Nova Ascension's initial attack can only be used on opponents that are of higher vertical height than you, and the Plummet cannot be used while touching the ground.

Properties: [Rush] - Blockable [1/20 DMG, 360°] / [Plummet] - Guardbreak [ ¼ DMG, 360°] | Damage: 45 (20 + 25) | Cooldown: 15 Seconds [Second Use Time Duration: 10 Seconds] | Aggressive, Multi-Hit, Aim Assist, Uptilt, Slam Down, Combo Starter, Combo Extender (2x) | Range(s): [Rush] - 6 Studs, Red Range / [Plummet] - 5 Studs ( ↓ ) & 4 Studs (→), Red Range | Melee

Enhance Armament: Kirito invokes upon his memory of the great Gigas Cedar tree and weaves the recollected experience around the edges of the blade, which manifests as an array of circular loading screens and interfaces. He then swings it down, releasing the memory in the form of a blast of dark and purple energy.

Rage Spike — Gif of Kirito using "Thermal Element [Part 2]"

Thermal Element: Kirito summons a flame to hover over your right shoulder that does a small amount of damage while it warps around you. Using Thermal Element again will shoot out the Element as a projectile.

Properties: Blockable [1/20 DMG], [Summoning; 180°] / [Projectile; 360°] | Damage: 25.25 (2 x 4/ 15) | Cooldown: 20 Seconds [Second Use Time Duration: ∞] | Aggressive, Multi-Hit, Combo Finisher | Range(s): [Summoning] - ½ Stud, Red Range / [Projectile] - ∞ | Melee, Projectile

Rage Spike: Kirito leans into a stance whilst recollecting his memory of the skill. He draws his sword back before dashing forward, performing a slashing upwards stab that damages any opponents in his path. A long dash will be performed in place of the initial move upon using the move again.

Dashing Sword Strikes (Passive)

Kirito's M1s will resist knockback and forcibly shift Kirito towards the direction of your camera if you hold the forward movement key (W) whilst M1ing. The first attack of Kirito's M1 chain under the effect of Dashing Strikes is slightly delayed, with the effect of advancing Kirito forwards significantly. Additionally, every consecutive M1 except for his variants and finishers will also move him slightly. If performed mid-air, the dashes are noticeably magnified and have the property of holding you up above the ground in a manner similar to laddering.

The Black Swordsman (Transformation)

Beater - Kirito calls upon his game file from his time during Sword Art Online, giving him his old stats and equipment back. He now duel wields his blades Elucidator and Dark Repulser while wearing a Blackwyrm Coat. ~~During the duration of the awakening, Kirito's Theme, "Swordland", also plays.~~ Like many other old awakening themes, this one does not currently play anymore.

Burst Combo: Kirito dashes forward and performs a consecutive barrage of slashes that consist of a X slice and two diagonal carves that come from the left and right each respectively. After the slices, he executes a flawless backflip before shooting out several blasts of Thermal Elements that propel him into the air.

Kirito will not dash forward if he is in an M1 chain or in the process of Downtilting, and instead will begin his attack immediately. While Uptilting, he will still dash, but the dash will not move him forwards.

Properties: [Slashes] - Guardbreak (first hit) [ ¼ DMG, 180°] / [Thermal Element] - Blockable [1/20 DMG, 180°] ) | Damage: 45 (15 [2.5 x 6] + 30 [5 x 6] ) | Cooldown: 12 Seconds | Aggressive, Multi-Hit, Combo Finisher, A.O.E. (Slight) | Range: 4 Studs, Red Range | Melee, Projectile

Blue Rose: Kirito invokes the spirit of Eugeo to assist him, which is contained within the blade of Dark Repulser, and stabs the sword in ground. If the opponent is on the ground when Kirito stabs the sword, the opponent will be frozen. Shortly after, the ice will shatter, dealing damage to the entrapped opponent.

This move can be avoided by not touching the ground at the moment of Dark Repulser's floor stab.
- The ice will shatter early if the victim is damaged prior to it naturally breaking.

FlightAwakening — Gif of Kirito transitioning to his Star King state.

Flight: Kirito will gain his wings and gain a speed boost for a decent amount of time. When pressed again, Kirito flies forward and does a quick X slash.

If Kirito is grievously injured while in Flight, he absorbs the sacred treasures of the Underworld and the very stars themselves, with him and his swords glowing with a godly aura.

If Flight is activated or is already active when Kirito falls below 50 HP, Kirito will transition into his Star King state. Flight, along with its speed boost, becomes permanent until mode ends, regardless of whether the move is triggered again. All damage dealt to Kirito in his Star King state is cut in half (50%), and his Flight attack cooldown is halved aswell.
- Flight's X slash attack will knock back your opponent regardless of if it guardbreaking or not.

Gif of Kirito using "Starburst Stream (Awakened)"

Starburst Stream: Kirito activates this skill and performs a long, but intricate flurry of light-blue colored swings, slashes, thrusts, and lunges against his targeted opponent, shredding their health.

This move takes about 2 bars of awakening.

Dual Wielding (Passive)

SlashIntoTheGround — 3 M1s + Space (Aerial)

Upon recovering his save slot, Kirito regains his Dual Wield ability, and now flourishes two swords named Eludicator and Dark Repulser. He uses the basic Double Sword M1 animation. However, in contrast to every other dual wielding character in the game, Kirito's off-hand sword deals additional chip damage for every swing he takes. His first swing affected by Dashing Strikes will deal double damage, and every consecutive attack will be supplemented with 50% extra damage. This passive, however, does not apply to Downslam and Upfling M1 Finishers.

Combos

Combo 1:

3 M1s + Lift into the air (Space + M1) + Thermal Element + 5 M1s (hold space) + Rage Spike

Combo 2:

4 M1s + Space (Non-Aerial) + Nova Ascension + 4 M1s + M1 (no space) + Nova Ascension

Awakening

Combo 3:

4 M1s + Blue Rose + 4 M1s + Burst Combo

Combo 4:

4 M1s + Starburst Stream + Blue Rose

Tips and Tricks

Nova Ascension's, Thermal Element's, and Rage Spike's second uses can be saved after their initial uses for seperate combos or punishes, as the moves do not go immediately into cooldown after they're used for the first time. Nova Ascension's and Rage Spike's should be used again quickly, however, as they will go back to cooldown after 10 seconds.
When performing an Upfling M1 Finisher into Nova Ascension, wait until the apex of the Upfling's launching effect before using Nova Ascension.
Thermal Element's lingering hitbox can be used to reliably combo into moves that usually protect the user for their effect duration, like beams such as Kamehameha. It can also be used to confirm into another M1 chain after landing Nova Ascension's secondary usage.
Kirito's awakening effectively has 215 health at its disposal, due to Kirito's Star King state caused by Flight halving all damage when Kirito reaches 50 HP. Make sure to have Flight active before you pass the health threshold.
Blue Rose is best used after an opponent double jumps, due to the fact that double jumping has endlag upon touching the ground.
It is very hard to get a guardbreak off using Flight's secondary usage, as it often goes behind block. Even if they are guardbroken, they will be knocked back regardless. Blue Rose will have to be used after if you want to combo off the guardbreak.

Trivia

Kirito, Might Guy, Asta and Erza are the only current characters to go from skins to fully developed and playable characters.
- However, the original Kirito skin still exists with Shunsui.
Kirito is one of the only characters that has a special feature that happens upon reaching 50 heath or lower, with the other one being Sukuna.
If Thermal Element is used when you awaken the effect will remain (Using another one after mode ends will not end the effect). Must be on max graphics.
Curiously, in-game Starburst Stream has a total of 20 attacks in it, yet it is a 16-hit combo in the novel, or a 21-hit combo in the anime.
There are 6 known skins that modify Kirito's weapon, those being types 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Kirito's M1 animations significantly deviate from his style of fighting in displayed in the show.
Kirito is the 3rd character to be moved out of the Misc Roster, and be given a roster of their own. The 1st one was Yusuke Urameshi, where he was then moved to the Yu Yu Hakusho roster, and the 2nd was Satoru Gojo, where he was then moved to the JuJutsu Kaisen roster.