It’s important to fall in love with a character you want to main in fighting games like Guilty Gear. The competitive side of the series shows that many players live and die by a single character in order to optimize their gameplay. In fact, you won’t often find high-level players using more than two characters in serious tournaments.
Picking a main isn’t easy, so we put together a guide breaking down every fighter in Strive. Find a character and discover what playing them says about you.
Sol Badguy: Balanced
Sol Badguy is the quintessential “shoto” character of the game and can be compared to fighting game staples like Ryu and Ken. Sol is infamous for moves that can tackle almost every situation: A DP, amazing corner carry combos, good buttons for both pressure and neutral, and a very scary command grab. The Strive version of Sol might be his scariest iteration yet.
What playing Sol says about you
You’re either a newcomer to the series that wants to figure out the fundamentals with the designated “learning character” or you’re a longtime fan of the series. Longtime fans know Sol is a gorilla and probably want to bully opponents via normals, specials, and an evil command grab.
Ky Kiske: Balanced
Ky Kiske is the second of the two Guilty Gear shoto characters. Many call him simpler than Sol thanks to easier combo structure and designated mix tools like his low slide and overhead hitting kick. Ky isn’t always able to get the best out of these tools unless he has meter or already threw out his projectile, charged stun edge.
Like Sol, he has tools for nearly everything including ground and air projectiles, a very durable projectile for okizeme (The mind games and mix-up situations when someone is rising from a knockdown), great normals, a DP, and good mix-up tools.
What playing Ky says about you
If you’re a Ky player you’re either new or you know how evil the character can be once he lands a sweep into charged stun edge. You’d probably also trade his new Dragon Install for Split Ciel RC mixups from Xrd.
May: Balanced
May is a high-pressure character that uses dolphin attacks, a beach ball projectile, and a giant anchor to strike fear into the hearts of opponents. Once she’s in it’s hard to escape because of her tools like a great command grab. The anchor makes this balanced fighter especially difficult to keep out in the first place.
What playing May says about you
If you’re playing May there’s no way around it. You are a bully that just wants to make sure the other player isn’t having a good time. Even if all you have to do to win is call dolphins all match, you’ll do it. That or you’re simply a fan of cute girls.
Axl: Long range
Axl is the designated zoner of the Guilty Gear series. He uses giant chains to poke his way to victory and that’s really all there is to the guy. He also has a great time stop super that some are already calling broken, plus a knack for keeping anyone out of the air via effective anti-airs. And don’t get me started on his amazing frame traps that can counter-hit anyone not paying attention. Oh, did I mention his classic Axl Bomber loops for juicy corner damage?
What playing Axl says about you
If you play Axl you’re probably cool outside of the game but in it, you’re either a guy that picks a game plan and sticks with it or someone that likes to jump and flail around all day. You’ve probably had enough of having to deal with I-No getting in. How’s that lack of meterless reversal treating you by the way?
Chipp: Speed
Chipp is a glass cannon character built for speed in two ways. The first is that he can mix you up into oblivion with great setups, making you think more than twice about which way you blocked. The second is his incredibly low health. He’s one of the riskiest characters and can end matches early with a single bad call.
What playing Chipp says about you
Chipp players are true daredevils. You’re willing to sacrifice your own security in order to have access to some of the most annoying to deal with movement and mix-ups in the game. It’d be commendable if people like Sol weren’t in the roster.
Potemkin: Power throw
There is a long-running gag in the competitive Arc System Works community that all grapplers are bad. While there is some truth to that joke, you should still consider playing Potemkin. Potemkin may suffer from a huge hurtbox, slow movement, and tough zoner matchups, but he makes up for it in raw power. Three command grabs are sometimes all you need to kill characters. This grappler also has the greatest defense in the game and two super armored specials to boot.
What playing Potemkin says about you
If you’re playing Potemkin you constantly look at the glass half full. You’re willing to take a bit of bad to use the good to the best of your ability. You live by the saying, “Without struggle, there is no progress.” Seeing that command grab melt your opponent’s life bar honestly makes it all worth it in the end.
Faust: Unique
Faust is known in Guilty Gear games for three things. One is of course his random item mechanic. This is the basis of most Faust players and can mean either victory or defeat. The second is his other great tools. Faust’s random item special may overshadow the rest for many, but the real stars of his kit are the other specials, long-reaching and mix enabling normals like j.2k (jump>down+K), and great aerial mobility that can easily start instant pressure. Three is tier placement. Faust is typically high up on the tier list in almost every GG game.
What playing Faust says about you
Faust players are probably the coolest out of any other character specialist out there. They know their character can struggle or succeed at the drop of a hat. They also know you can’t block that new afro command grab overhead mix-up every time. Don’t let them downplay his new scarecrow teleport.
Millia: High speed
Millia players are in the same boat as Chipp mains. They’re willing to take the lowest defense in the game in order to unleash some of the scariest possible mix-ups on opponents. Millia is the queen of mix-ups and okizeme. Once you’re knocked down against her you’ll be guessing between high-low and left-right, so the best strategy against her is to not get hit in the first place. Her great aerial movement makes dodging attacks harder than it sounds.
What playing Millia says about you
Millia players typically want to play a one-player game to make things as easy as possible. They also call themselves lab monsters and show off how much they have to do with her to win when all they really do is follow Alioune and Lord Knight.
Zato: Technical
Technical is right. Zato is most likely the hardest character to learn in Strive. Playing him requires a lot of management: His shadow Eddie, Eddie’s health, Eddie’s form, your tension meter, and your health. If you can master that you’ll constantly force opponents into block for a chance to execute a variety of mix-ups.
What playing Zato says about you
Zato mains usually have stanned him since his first appearance in the series. They never dropped him in Xrd despite constant nerfs and called themselves Zato mains even when they had to pick up a second character to keep up with the competition. If he ends up being top tier in Strive they’ll call it highly deserved.
Ramlethal: Shooting
Speaking of characters that were nerfed prior to Strive, but are crazy strong now, there’s Ramlethal. Ramlethal is very simple yet amazingly effective. While most of her specials are nothing special, her sword normals and launching specials make this fighter one of the best in the game.
She’s able to flail her Slash and Heavy Slash attacks without fear of getting punished courtesy of no hurtbox and startup. Her projectile specials also give her instant corner carry, big easy corner damage, and easy setups thanks to their explosion after hitting the wall. Ramlethal has one of the best supers in the game because of its swift speed.
What playing Ramlethal says about you
Ramlethal players usually jump to her because she’s cute, but once they realize what kind of power she possesses they realize the true potential of this top tier. Just hope she doesn’t get nerfed like in Xrd again.
Leo: Balance
Leo is a balanced character with a Ph.D. in mix-ups. Meterless reversal, great range, above-average damage, good projectiles, and a crazy backstance for mix-ups makes him especially dangerous with enough practice. He even has a command grab and counter.
What playing Leo says about you
Leo players jumped on him solely because they know exactly what he can do. The rest of us are wondering what demon at Arcsys decided to bring him back.
Nagoriyuki: One shot
Nagoriyuki is the new resident vampire of the Gear series, taking Slayer’s place. He’s also one of the more controversial picks due to noticeable weaknesses. Many wonder if Nagoriyuki is even worth playing. He has great damage, long-reaching normals, and the ability to special cancel his special moves into other options. However, these positives are often outshined by slow movement, normals, and the drawback of his Blood Rage mechanic.
What playing Nagoriyuki says about you
Like Leo players, Nagoriyuki players jumped on him for one reason, but it has nothing to do with gameplay. This fighter is just cool.
Giovanna: Rush
Giovanna is another newcomer to the Guilty Gear series. Unlike Nagoriyuki however, Gio’s strengths immediately shined, proving that she was truly made for this new installment. She works perfectly with the new strike/throw pressure style of the game. She’s probably one of the best pressure characters in the game thanks to her mid normals and great speed. Once she opens you up with her crazy mix-ups on top of that pressure, you’re eating some fat damage.
What playing Giovanna says about you
Giovanna players are actually playing Street Fighter V in another game. If you get hit by a big combo from them the next thing you’ll probably hear is “Just take the throw.”
Anji: Balance
Anji is a long-awaited returning character. He’s known for his butterfly projectile that makes his okizeme one of the most annoying in Guilty Gear Accent Core +R. It’s back in Strive but a bit less annoying. He also has a well-rounded kit alongside a strong offense to fit Strive’s new strike/throw pressure focus. His downfall is his reliance on reads to compensate for slow normals. A miss often means losing neutral.
What playing Anji says about you
If you’re playing Anji you really need to just forget about +R. You’re stuck in the past and you miss your gorilla main. I understand, but there’s always Sol and Ramlethal in this game to fill that void. Just forget about the butterfly and pick up a sword.
I-No: Rush
I-No is back in Strive and continues to do what she does best. Her general game plan is to knock you down, fire her okizeme projectile, and then use her angled airdash to suffocate you with high/low/throw mix-ups. To the glee of I-No players she still does this very well. To their dismay, Axl is back but at least this time he doesn’t have a meterless reversal.
What playing I-No says about you
I-No players are like Nago and Ramlethal players, only picking a character because of their design. Lucky for them I-No can be one of the most oppressive characters in the game if they’re willing to put in the time to learn the okizeme routes. Spoiler alert. Many players won’t.