What Fighting Style Does Kylo Ren Use? Combat Form Explained

Kylo Ren is one of the most popular characters in the storyline of Star Wars because he was filling in the villain shoes of Darth Vader when he was introduced as one of the main antagonists of the sequel trilogy. Of course, one of the things that we know about Kylo Ren is that he was a great combatant and duelist who could stand up to other Jedi and could make things hard for Luke Skywalker in their duel. So, what fighting style and combat form did Kylo Ren use?

Although he was trained in the basic lightsaber combat forms, Kylo Ren didn’t have a true fighting style. Instead, he used a mixture of many different combat forms that allowed him to develop a crude and reckless yet very effective fighting style that fits his unhinged and angry personality.

The thing about Kylo Ren was that everything about him seemed to fit his overall personality and nature as a character in the middle of an identity crisis. This included his own fighting style, which wasn’t as fluid as the other lightsaber combat forms we’ve seen in the past. So, with that said, let’s talk more about Kylo Ren’s combat form.

Kylo Ren Used a Crude Form

When we were first introduced to Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy of the Star Wars universe, one of the things that we saw regarding his character was that he was trying to move on from his past and was obsessed with filling in the shoes that Darth Vader filled. He was a fallen Jedi who eventually became a dark side user when his master, Luke Skywalker, failed him. And because he was the son of Leia and Han and was also the grandson of Darth Vader, he tried to follow the legacy of the Empire’s Sith enforcer.

As such, Kylo Ren was a powerful Force user with Skywalker genes running through his veins. He could stop a blaster bolt using the Force and was able to get into the heads of people. Of course, he was also a great lightsaber duelist that used a crossguard lightsaber with an unstable blade due to its cracked Kyber crystal.

But while Kylo Ren was indeed a great duelist in his own right, the thing about his style of combat was that it was quite unique. That means it was something we haven’t seen before in Star Wars and is quite the mixture of different lightsaber combat forms.

At first glance, we could see that Kylo uses a combat style similar to the Form V: Djem So that most Skywalkers favored. Of course, we know that both Anakin and Luke used Djem So. But the aggressive style that Kylo Ren uses seems to indicate that he is using a different form of lightsaber combat that is akin to Form VII: Juyo.

The most aggressive lightsaber combat form ever developed was Juyo, which was the form that the Sith favored because it focused on extreme emotions, such as anger and hatred. Because the Jedi tried to fight with a clear head that wasn’t filled with emotions, Juyo was forbidden. Nevertheless, because Kylo was a user of the dark side of the Force and was an angry man, he might have favored this aggressive combat style.

Still, how he holds his lightsaber differs from how Juyo practitioners should hold their sabers. This is probably because he is also trying to blend his style with Djem So. And that is why the way that Kylo Ren fights seems to be crude and unrefined.

Kylo’s unrefined style of combat can be seen in how aggressive he is with his strikes and how he uses different stances and ways of holding his lightsaber. As such, most of the things he does in a fight aren’t consistent with any of the formal lightsaber forms we’ve seen. And while his style may be crude, it is quite effective as it gave Luke Skywalker problems in their own fight.

Why Didn’t Kylo Ren Have a Formal Combat Style?

As mentioned, Kylo Ren seems to have a crude and unrefined combat style. Of course, we know he was a trained lightsaber combatant because he spent years training under Luke Skywalker while still a Jedi named Ben Solo. But when he started carrying the mantle of Kylo Ren, that was when his entire style changed.

Ben was trained in all of the basic forms of lightsaber combat when he was learning under Luke. Of course, when he was lured over to the dark side by Snoke, he might have learned Form VII: Juyo, as most users of the dark side are taught to fight aggressively. And that is one of the reasons why he doesn’t have a true lightsaber combat form that’s consistent with all of the other seven forms.

It is possible that Ben used Djem So before he fell to the dark side. After all, this was the same combat form that Luke used. But training and learning under Snoke, after he fell to the dark side, allowed him to mix things up with his Juyo form. And because he idolized Darth Vader, a master of Djem So, Kylo Ren most likely couldn’t stick to Juyo alone as he wanted to emulate the Sith Lord that stood as the symbol of fear during the time of the Empire.

Of course, Kylo Ren’s crude style symbolized his overall nature as a character. We know he was a confused man who may have turned over to the dark side but was still bothered by his nature as a Skywalker and a former Jedi. As a result, he was a conflicted man who tried to unshackle himself from the past, which was why he killed Han Solo. But the fact that he knew that he still had some good left in him made him emotionally conflicted.

As such, Kylo Ren’s conflicted personality can be seen in the way that he fights. He doesn’t stick to one style but tries to combine different lightsaber combat forms to create a crude and unrefined style that also perfectly fits his conflicted nature. And while he was always a polarizing character to many fans, his overall nature could consistently be seen in his personality, combat style, and even his unstable lightsaber.