Guilty Gear -Strive- is full of air dashes, crazy mix-ups, and other fighting game mechanics that beginners must learn to beat experienced players. While some skills carry over from popular franchises like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, there are a few unique fundamentals for how to optimize your play.
Learn “Fuzzy Defense”
“Fuzzy” can sound confusing at first because of how many anime fighting game techniques and situations apply to this one word. Fortunately, there are only two that beginners need to know to improve their options.
What is Fuzzy Guard or Block?
Fuzzy Guard (also called Fuzzy Block) protects players against certain mix-ups and pressure strings through automatic high and low blocks.
How to Fuzzy Guard or Block?
Input down-back, back, down-back to Fuzzy Guard or Block. If done right you’ll constantly switch from low to high blocks, stopping overheads while keeping your low guard up. Don’t get too reliant on Fuzzy Blocks. Blockstrings with multiple low hits or two starting lows can easily counter them.
What is Fuzzy Jump?
Fuzzy Jump is an option select that can help you avoid throws and overheads. The execution is similar to the Fuzzy Guard.
How to Fuzzy Jump?
Hold down back with Faultless Defense (or FD), then move up back, and finally quickly down back+FD to Fuzzy Jump. If successful after blocking an attack, you’ll jump away from throw attempts and block overheads. You’ll also block low and mid without letting your guard down depending on the timing. Fuzzy Jump isn’t an infallible defensive option. It is still vulnerable to all of the counters of Fuzzy Guards and risky to follow with an air block. Air blocking during the actual jump can put you into an even longer pressure sequence.
Find out what you can Instant Block punish
Instant Blocking (or IB) is one of the most important mechanics throughout the entire Guilty Gear series. New players often forget it due to high execution difficulty, especially when compared to FD. It actually is more useful than FD thanks to benefits like no chip damage, less pushback, and tension/meter gain.
How to instant Block
Block right before your opponent’s attack lands, which is a two-frame window, to instant block. The risk is often worth the reward. While mistiming can open you up to major damage, there are certain moves you’ll want to instant block for more powerful combos. Some moves are easier to IB than others depending on their speed and hitbox. Practice the timing against a variety of characters and attacks to more consistently get out of setups that most people cannot. With enough effort, you’ll punish moves even the other player thought were safe.
Use the defensive mechanics
Defensive mechanics like FD and IB are just as important as offensive tactics. Always consider every option and use them to the best of your ability. Instant Block, Faultless Defense, Yellow Roman Cancel, and your various bursts are all necessary to keep yourself safe from the grimy pressure and mix-ups that the roster will inevitably throw your way.
Know the different Roman Cancels
You’ll really want to know the differences between Roman Cancel in the game. Strive has four different types of RCs: Yellow, Blue, Purple, and Red.
Yellow Roman Cancel is your defensive tool to stop enemies pressuring you on block. It resets the situation and returns the game to neutral.
Red Roman Cancel is the main combo extender and a good setup tool. Use it to enter a slowdown state after attacking and continue a combo into big damage.
Purple Roman Cancel cancels whiffed attacks and releases a shockwave, slowing opponents down ONLY if the shockwave hits.
The Blue Roman Cancel is new to Strive. Its main use so far is mix-ups when you aren’t attacking like the RC drift after jumping to get a high/low or left/right situation going.
Start FD braking
Faultless Defense braking is another tool you’ll want in your pocket and one that should come quickly. It’s useful when running up and grabbing your opponent or running into an instant stop and guard.
How to FD brake
Quickly input FD during a run to FD Brake for an immediate FD block out of your dash. This saves time since you skip the slide animation that usually follows runs.
Pay attention to your opponent’s resources
This important habit for every fighting game tends to be even more crucial in Guilty Gear. Your opponent will use their many meters to perform a variety of offensive and defensive moves. Guilty Gear features traditional special move meters to watch in case of wakeup supers, but there’s also the exclusive Burst meter. If your opponent uses this at the right time they’ll break combos or pressure strings. Pay attention to this resource and block to eat that burst for an immediate punish and additional damage.
There are also character-exclusive resources like Zato’s Eddie meter that you’ll want to keep an eye on in order to counter them.
Don’t be afraid to mash
There are tons of jokes about mashing in every fighting game but yes, you shouldn’t be scared to mash in Guilty Gear Strive. You can mash to easily escape tons of fake pressure strings and gimmicks like Leo’s guard crush out of back stance. Be ready to rapid-fire that punch button.
Don’t always mash
We told you not to be afraid to mash but you don’t want to always mash either. Mash at the wrong time like on wakeup and you’ll likely lose a large chunk of your health to a meaty.
Use your 6P
6P is another gameplay-defining tool in the Guilty Gear series. Always keep this universal normal in your arsenal to remove your upper-body hitbox for timely anti-airs.
Certain characters have better 6Ps than others so mess around and see what else your character can do with theirs. It is a great counter against attacks like May’s dolphins when you guess right or react accordingly.
Find and stick with a main
In Guilty Gear and most anime fighting games, it’s very important to find your main character and fall in love with them. These characters have endless skill ceilings. It's always possible to further optimize your play. You’ll need to make the most of your toolkit if you want to compete against the strongest players. Find a favorite character, practice, and maybe consider a secondary to pull out for certain matchups if you’re not playing one of the stronger characters.