Samuel is a very varied fighter. Even as a blank slate, he has multiple weapons and options of attack, ranging from casting to his semblance to the variable functions of his tools, with his possibilities further enhanced by the variance between his combat styles when effected by both his mood, mindset and the music he is listening to. One thing that stays constant, however, is that Samuel is a 'musical' fighter - he tends to fix a beat of some kind into his head, or a song he knows, and fight to that rhythm, creating the basis for his attack strategies to revolve around. While he doesn't exactly have to stay beat-for-beat on time, he does tend to base the aggressiveness and style of his assault on the song he is listening to; a relaxed song might lend to a more conservative approach, testing the waters and finding weaknesses while a rock song may cause him to go in more forcefully, trying to overwhelm his opponent. An opponent who can hear or understand his method of attack can easily gain an advantage by being able to predict his next moves, as more chaotic songs are far harder to fight to so Samuel normally remains on basic pieces.
Normally, Samuel will use his twin swords as his main method of attack, coupled with Ashen Howl's limbs. While lacking an effective long-range weapon, he can still shield himself from projectiles using his chains, but has far more options at medium to close range. At medium, he can use his sonic waves, or throw his swords using the middle chain to try and hit, or drag himself into close combat using Ashen Howl. This style is especially strong at close range, as he can be attacking from many angles at once using all of his weapons at once. However, this strategy requires Samuel to be overwhelming the opponent; if there is a far more skilled fighter or one who has an effective counter to the multiple, weaker blows, then they can easily defend themselves and quickly break down Samuel's own, somewhat lacking defense, as none of the blows available are actually very damaging, instead quickly wearing the opponent down with multiple attacks. If worst comes to worse, Samuel may try using Ashen Howl's Roar mode, leaning downwards to dodge an attack and firing a quick sonic shell back at them, but the lack of charging time normally leads to simply pushing the opponent away with minor concussive force rather than any severe damage. He normally uses this style for general combat, or when dueling an opponent without wanting to reveal anything.
Samuel can also use the Crescendo form of Prismatic Performance. This style is a lot more wild than his first one, with very powerful blows that will keep grinding down against armor. The style relies heavily on momentum; with the attacks coming in fast only whilst Samuel can keep bouncing his attacks or whirling the blade around him in a somewhat haphazard fashion. Similar to his two-blades style, it requires him to overwhelm his opponent with strong blows; however, unlike his first one he is free to use his chains for both attack and defense, as the blade alone usually provides enough cover for him to guard himself. In addition, he has to keep Ashen Howl away from it, as the chainsword could easily saw through the limbs of it if they clashed, usually preventing him from launching direct attacks using them. In addition, if he looses momentum or finds an object that resists his blade, then he can quickly be pushed back and all his offensive advantage drained away, leaving him just to defense - which the clunky weapon is poor at providing apart from simply pushing the opponent away. It also has less medium-range options than his first style; using the, albeit slightly more powerful sonic wave, results in a great loss of offensive capabilities for the weapon for some time. Finally, at extremely close quarters the weapon is maybe even less effective than at long; it holds more danger for himself than his opponent through rebounds and being easily reflected from the hilt, as well as a lack of maneuverability. This is the strategy he normally uses when either showing off or filled with hot anger; when angry, this style is even more wild than usual, with many gaps in defense, but has very powerful blows.
Samuel is somewhat experienced in hand-to-hand combat, but he uses a more instinctive style than any refined method of attack. However, his blows are quite powerful and quick, it's just that there won't be many of them - while each carries a lot of momentum, he can't quickly follow through, instead relying on each blow to daze the opponent long enough for the next one to hit. While he can hit somewhat in succession with his arms, he sucks at kicking. Just straight up sucks.
On the other hand, he is reasonably practiced in Dust casting, finding it not only useful but, like a few other select things, interesting and actually entertaining to try. His spells are normally quite unrefined, but they get the job done. He is trying to advance in this area, and can produce Semblance Catalysts Foci, but prefers not to rely on his casting, instead mixing it into his combat style and still uses SCFs for ease of use while using Dust, as he finds it difficult to add that with all the multitasking he already has to do with Ashen Howl and his mind.
Samuel's strongest attack strategies are where he uses both forms of his weapon, along with his other skills - at heart, he is best when relying both on his instincts and his strategic mind. He probes at the opponent's defenses, occasionally mixing in a sudden, stronger attack to try and knock then off rhythm, while narrowing down his possibilities for attack until he finds ideal situations to wear them down, suddenly attacking in a rush of movement and attacks before backing off again, still weaving in the occasional form change for a stronger single attack or dust spell to try and confuse the opponent. He likes to stay in medium range while doing this, jumping into close range for his bursts of movement before moving back out, but is more capable at fighting with longer range using this strategy, as he will have enough information to know when he can charge his longer range attacks using the Roar mode of Ashen Howl or a stronger spell. When opponents attack, he usually tries to hang back, minimizing damage while maximizing information gained, before countering to move the opponent away and continue fighting on his terms, but if he finds an ideal chance he will try to make the most of a counter. However, while this strategy - unlike the other two - actually allows him to fight stronger opponents, it is incredibly tiring both physically and mentally; it constantly uses up his aura, the multitasking greatly taxes his mind, along with the strong sensory input quickly mounting to one hell of a headache, and he quickly tires himself out by pushing his speed to the limits to rush in for the quick assaults; it's not a good style for group combat, where he has to consider multiple opponents, unless he can quickly identify and take out each. Instead, it's strongest in single combat, where he can manage to draw it out for as long as possible without dropping and use his remaining energy for one final attack to try and win. If that fails, he's left incredibly drained and without much in terms of aura or concentration to defend himself or come up with further strategies.
Samuel acts in a mixture of excitement and focus when fighting casually; or rather, dueling friends or weaker opponents. He usually leaves his mask off, and likes to either draw out the fight for more fun or quickly finish it if he's bored. On the other hand, against much stronger opponents he acts far more serious, although a small bit of excitement; or rather, a lust for combat tends to leak through, and he usually wears his mask to properly focus him onto simply winning. While like this, he draws out combat as much as he needs to for his objectives to be completed, be it finding a weak point or stalling for time, before attempting to finish or disengage combat. He tends to be a bit twitchy when fighting like this, and allies making him jump may have to quickly dodge a misplaced attack.
Universally, Samuel's strengths are his strategic mind, his multiple angles of attack and his wide variety of ways to attack. On the other hand, his actual body isn't especially sturdy, and he isn't used to large wounds - taking serious hits can quickly start to make his blows much weaker, causing him to lose his advantage and narrow down his possible routes of assault. Furthermore, if he fights using his superior style he starts to weaken himself, giving him a time limit to finish a fight that can make him desperate and lose his cool coming to the deadline. He also doesn't have a particularly subtle way of fighting without practically blanketing an area in his semblance to quieten it; and with how much sound is created on purpose to enhance his style, this is simply inefficient. Finally, while his strong senses allow him to stay tracked onto an opponent and notice subtle ques of attack, he usually has to drug them, as his own combat style (using loud sounds and bright attacks) can cause pain in them.