-DISCLAIMER-
I have been playing the Guilty Gear series for over a decade competitively and feel very confident on speaking on the cast as a whole. Feel free to challenge the views expressed here. These are merely to get your gears going and come up with your own theories and concepts.
Axl - Medium Difficulty
His defensive options are decent as he gained an actual DP in this iteration and a plethora of anti air options at the ready it makes it so if Axl reacts to the situation he'll get good damage. His okizeme isn't all there out side of wall splat > sit down stun setups with the unblockable. While this is good. you can escape them. Axl's Sparrowhawk Stance is one of his new zoning tools that again, makes it hard to approach him freely. If he gets full screen space the attacks from Sparrowhawk do considerable chip damage on top of RISK gauge build up.
Although Axl isn't commonly picked due to the nature of the game, his core gameplan is still an effective one in Guilty Gear.
-Notable Axl Players
Shuuto - JP
Yosuke - JP
Yaxel - JP
Digital Watches - USA
With his unique movement ONLY to him, Bedman is one of the harder characters to play in Xrd. Bedman has no actual run by inputting fwd fwd instead that input works as a parry/sideswap that allows him to change positioning and net him punish combos as well. Couple that with his 8-way dash and his replay mechanics you get a really hard to play character. His potential can be realized through his heavy mixup game. If that wasn't enough, his zoning game in accordance to the replay features of his mixup create opportunities to go in for pressure and mixup. Making him a threat almost anywhere on the screen. His ground normals are average or below average but his air normals and mobility make up for that shortcoming in tremendous ways.
During pressure, if Bedman can get the Task B (Twister) replay on the opponent, on block the move is +28f. This leaves Bedman in prime position to mixup on block in many many ways. Task A' is a projectile that allows Bedman to end up behind the opponent allowing for even more mixup potential. Both of these moves in conjunction to the replay mechanic and his 8-way dash make him very hard to block consistently. Do keep in mind that he has Potemkin HP with the down side of not having a 0 Guts Rating.
Since the 1.1 update Bedman's potential has skyrocketed with his unblockable super Hemi Jack has some setups that make it near impossible to escape. As if this guy wasn't already a problem in 1.0!! 1.1 Bedman can put opponents in some very unfavorable positions. Long story short, he's a mixup tank.
-Notable Bedman Players
Shiu - JP
Sabamiso - JP
Maruken - JP
KBNova - USAGCYoshi - USA
Sylint - USA
Majin Obama - USA
Potent Shell - USA
The fastest character in the game and best neutral disruptor of course would be Chipp. He has the lowest HP in the game next to Millia but unlike Millia he has twice the mobility with teleports, triple jumps, and stronger normals to contest and disrupt the flow of the opponents neutral game. Chipp has some of the best whiff punishment in the game due to his ability to catch up to the opponent and punish accordingly through running in or teleporting into YRC punishes. His 6p in Xrd is a strong anti ground poke which lets him contest some of the best mid/high normals in the game as well for great counter hit damage. Not to mention his ability to bait the opponents into doing things he wants to get into said position is also a strong suit but takes time to get there for that.
Knockdowns are important to Chipp in both midscreen and in corner. Midscreen he relies on FDC (Faultless Defense Cancel) mixups. FDC j.2k halts his forward momentum to make for some ambiguous crossups on okizeme. In the corner, his new wall cling mechanics take his mixups to a whole new level. He can climb on the wall at the end of combos and release the wall to meaty j.hs which can hit on either left or right. Alternatively he can dash do the ground and hit them low for another combo that resets this situation again. All the wall climb options were built for of course mixup but also to counteract the usage of Blitz Shielding the ambiguous attacks. The counteraction of Blitz also increases Chipp's overall damage output based on of course the whiffed Blitz is counter hit state.
-Chipp is also one of the better characters in Danger Time that can score consistent damage!-
Chipp has a medium barrier of entry as he's made of paper and can't afford to get hit. But he can take relatively safe risks early in a match and end up with minimal punishment when experienced. Movement is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF CHIPP! Learning how to be evasive is critical! It's literally his life line in Guilty Gear.
-Notable Chipp Players
Samitto - JP
Susumu - JP
Chappu - JP
Endou - JP
Goga - Russia
Kensou - USA
BZB - USA
LilMajin - USA
YAT - USA
ShinSyn - USA
Although new to the series, Elphelt brings the heat (quite literally) in her game play. She's got a medium barrier of entry due to learning how to use her Pine Berry (grenade). On one front it's easy to say just toss it out and go ham but it's not as easy as it was in 1.0. In the 1.1 update Pine Berry was tweaked to make it a bit weaker. However they buffed other aspects of her game making the grenade the LEAST of your worries. El has unique movement when you activate and toss a grenade during air dashes you get different results. Meaning, your air dash trajectories can increase or decrease making your approaches dynamic and fresh each time you decide to air dash and activate a grenade OR throw the grenade mid air dash. The float property you get on pulling a grenade out halts your momentum momentarily so again, your movement becomes dynamic.
Her offensive game is one of the scariest in the game due to her 2s causing stagger on counter hit. Same with her far S, it doesn't stagger but it has a ton of hit stun and is extremely active. When she get the opponent in the corner and goes into shotgun stance it gets pretty ugly with the options she has. There are answers to this pressure but its really tough to deal with considering her options. She lacks a meterless reversal but she has access to the universal Dead Angle counter and her close S is an amazing anti air that leads to great damage and pending where you are an unblockable setup with the grenade and sniper rifle. This is where she gets even more technical, the unblockable setups are different on every character due to everyone waking up at different times per knock down state (face down and back down are different timings for waking up).
El is quite the monster in the right hands. Generally speaking she has a medium level of entry that gets a bit harder when you get to the unblockables aspect. However even without learning those the player still has to be conscious of how and when to use the grenade for movement and pressure.
-Notable Elphelt Players
Sharon - JP
Isa - JP
Makki - JP
KidViper - USA
NerdJosh - USA
HotashI - USA
Doren2k - USA
Oso - USA
LostSoul - USA
Faust - Easy
So Faust has a bit of a debate around him and his ease of use. I believe he's very easy to pick up with a low entry level and it goes about mid way in most matchups (hence why I put him in the middle of easy to use). Faust is and always will be the absolute most stable pick in GG history. He hardly ever changes but tends to gain tools to keep him on the edge above most of the cast. Like Ky his long range can be converted into good damage and off of an overhead he can squeak out 35-40%+ damage pending on if your RISK gauge is up just a bit. His anti air game is one of the strongest making an aerial approach on him not an easy task save for a few characters. (namely Millia, Chipp, Venom etc)His execution is very simplistic till you get to FDC (Faultless Defense Cancel) j.2k pressure and mixups. This is the single hardest aspect of his game execution-wise and its extremely vital to making him a threat from all angles being pressure, neutral, and okizeme. After FDC you get to the items each have a situational use namely bomb and black hole. The other items you can improv off of and it makes for some really great on the fly pressure.
All in all, great normals that are hard to contest, great zoning, great pressure, great okizeme, great anti airs, and AWESOME neutral control just makes Faust an all around well rounded char with good - great damage.
-Notable Faust Players
Gazou - JP
Nage - JP
OsakaB - JP
ElvenShadow - USA
Zinac - USA
SolidPlay - USA
Senkei - USA
The guitar queen has seen quite the change in her gameplay in Xrd and that change namely is her execution. I-No went from being one of the hardest in the series to a more simplfied and effectively dangerous version. With the change of her Horizontal Chemical Love input change from half circle back + forward + K to the simplified quarter circle back + K. This change alone made it easier for I-No players to focus more on neutral universally and less on execution of her main approach tool, Horizontal Chemical Love.Now that we understand we can play more neutral with less execution it brought her matchups to more of an even playing field. This doesn't mean that her matchups that were bad are favorable. Quite the contrary, this just means the matches are more bearable due to less execution.
Her approach is more unique than the rest of the cast as she has a hover dash ala Morrigan (Darkstalkers/UMvC3) and is more susceptible to getting attacked out of her approaches. Despite that she has tools like Stroke the Big Tree that allow her to low profile a great deal of low mid aiming pokes to get in and start her pressure game. On the inside she shines the hardest as her hover dash makes it hard to block her barrage of attacks consistently. Any wrong block and she will take off a hefty chunk of damage into some fairly solid okizeme. On knockdown not only does she do the standard I-No high/low/throw, she has an FDC technique with her j.d. This allows her to feint a j.d and float again for another attack. The technique is quite hard to pull off with a burst available hence why most I-No players opt to do with without one. Why? Simply to not sacrifice a her burst for a mixup. But when it's gone? Have a blast with this technique!
Basically I-No is a bit less execution heavy and more focused on her core gameplay to get into close quarters from neutral to do her thing.
-Notable I-No Players
Koichi - JP
Hasegawa - JP
OSKA - JP
U-Zen - JP
Mynus - USA
Honnou - USA
Ky has always had one of the lowest barriers of entry in the entire series due to him and Sol being the poster boys of the series. Normally poster boys mean they're fundamentally sound and easy to pick up characters yet can be hard to master (see SF Ryu). This is of course no exception to that rule. Ky teaches you fundamental spacing/neutral values with long range pokes and fireballs along side long range punishes with those very normals and his Stun Dipper (slide). On top of basic 6p usage as most 6p's in the game are anti airs that lead to damage. His is still one of the top in the game along side 2hs which yields the same rewards and teaches you how to use trade hits to convert into damage.While his damage is on the lower end on, his okizeme (mixup game) is extremely consistent and rewards you with another chance at that same mixup when you have meter available and the proper screen conditions specifically speaking with Grinder (when his big fireball passes through a Split Ciel). He has access to the basic fundamental mixup of high/low/throw which all go back into the above.
With all the fundamental aspects of fighting games given to Ky he's a great pick for those that wish to excel at the fundamentals and grow in that fashion for the game.
-Notable Ky Players
Ain - JP
Rion - JP
Machaboo - JP
Marvisto - USA
Shinobi! - USA
Steve H - USA
Leo - Medium
Leo I feel isn't "easy" per say because he has lot's of faults. However he's one of the most explosive characters up close in the game hands down. Brynhildr Stance (back turn) has great attacks and it keeps all his special moves at the ready despite being in stance. So yes, despite him not crouching he can charge for his dp while holding down forward or down back making walk up dp a thing with him. He also has the only regular dash in the game that can side swap while in Brynhildr making it really annoying to block Leo. Now of course most would say just mash him out or mash throw or even blitz his overhead during Brynhildr. These all could potentially lead to Leo YRC'ing his overhead in stance and counter hit the opponent for a huge chunk of HP. Or his K attack in stance is anti throw which opens up more damage opportunities. The mash can be shielded by stance D into knockdown and left/right/high/low in stance. While all this sounds good, he still has to condition you to deal with any one of these options. This is where it gets difficult and you as the player have to make good reads on your opponent.
Zweit (his equivalent to UMvC Vergil's Rapid Slash) is another essential move that is apart of his game. It crosses up normally by itself and in a rekka series from Erst if the opponent just defends Erst, Zweit will cross up otherwise no just defend it is true block stun. Now on block you can throw him out of Zweit no problem. However if it gets read he can YRC and go into 6k which is anti throw. This will counter hit the opponent and its damage city once again.
Finally, Leo has to really think about his approach before he can get in and do the Leo dance. You can spend a ton of time trying to get in and die in the process. So in other words, you're taking damage to return it once you get into position. On the plus side, when you get in optimal spacing, Leo can crank the RISK gauge pretty steadily during pressure which again opens up the damage potential because the opponent doesn't want to get hit. Keep in mind he can actually combo off his counter hit throw (yes counter hit throw) if your RISK gauge is high enough and he's in the corner. This in turn makes his throw game that much more scary when he gets going and the Leo player KNOWS the proper RISK amount to aim for the throw. So again, this scenario opens up 6k for anti throw if they attempt to throw you first and so on. You get the picture.
Low level Leo can perhaps get away just recklessly attacking but at the high level its just not that simple.
-Notable Leo Players
Jonio - JP
Tomo - JP
Zidane - USA
TastySteve - USA
Axis - USA
May - Technical
May was totally reworked for Xrd to be a bit more streamlined/simplified to play. But she still retains a good portion of her old playstyle with some great additions. For starters she gained a hard knockdown, Ensenga, which makes her okizeme really good. The beach ball helps to trap opponents and also allows for her to gain an extra jump of sorts as well. The new dolphin ride mechanic where she can hop off one and ride another immediately is also a fantastic addition to her tool set for pressure and combos.May is one of 2 charge characters and most of her really damaging combos require a bit of charge partitioning so this is where things gets technical. Partitioning consistently per match is definitely not an easy feat by any means of the stretch. Expect to be practicing this technique a lot.
Offensively she's fairly decent, she can crank RISK gauge pretty well which is a big part of why her damage is really good. May has a command grab to open up with which takes advantage of that RISK build up. She gained a standing overhead 6k which goes into combos of course so blocking May can get tricky at times with how much RISK she builds up. She can play off the fear of the RISK gauge damage which makes opponents want to be more evasive, Dead Angle or Faultless Defense her out.
May was reworked into a mini setplay character to compensate for some of her general shortcomings. She gained some great hard to burst okizeme and extra movement options making her a threat on knockdowns. Lacks a good reversal so has to rely on the system and evasive options on defense.
-Notable May Players
Kedako - JP
Ruu - JP
Efute - JP
Kazuki - JP
Syo - JP
Kyle Watula - USA
Mahouko - USA
Millia - Intermediate Technical
The mixup queen of Guilty Gear is deadly as ever in Xrd. Her mixup potential is among the highest in the game. On top that, Millia gains access to 2 air dashes upping her mobility to move in and out freely. She can definitely disrupt neutral just like Chipp with even higher rewards on okizeme to keep the opponent guessing.Of course she comes with a price. The price is weaker grounded normals and 2nd lowest HP in the game. Unlike Chipp, Millia cannot really contest in grounded footsie wars. So in matchups like Sol and Ky for example, who have superior normals to Millia, she tends to struggle on this aspect. This makes scoring knockdowns a challenge on the ground, but Millia has access to Silent Force (pin). This projectile staggers on counter hit and allows her to approach from the air fairly safely. It also kills the opponents anti airs that have no invul frames.
Now as good as good as pin is you have to retrieve it when you toss it. This can work for you or against you. Most seasoned players will screen hug and try to keep Millia players away from the pin. This creates a miniature meta in itself with this move. Generally most opponents will do the above and treat it like an upper handed move to sit on it. In turn you can make them dance around the pin and open up they defense to it. You may get rewarded with damage, positional advantage, or getting the pin back. Alternatively, it can work against you if you get to anxious to try and go for it. You can potentially risk taking a loss of positional advantage and even damage. Instead, veteran Millia players learned to play without it and it in turn makes the opponent focus back to the matchup vs guarding the pin. Which of course opens up the door to pick it back up and get ready for another shot at approaching from the skies with Silent Force. This aspect alone surrounding pin can make Millia difficult to play.
As you can see aerial approach is a bit more of a priority as opposed to the ground. Silent Force (pin) contains a miniature meta game in itself for both Millia players and the opponents. But lets get to what makes Millia shine, consistent mixups. Scoring knockdowns into Tandem Top H is what makes Millia scary as you have to guess the high/low every time. What makes this scary is that Tandem Top is a meaty projectile that hits twice. When its set Millia can attack independently high or low and reset the situation after a successful combo. Meaning on defense opponents have to believe in their blocking abilities to escape her oppressive mixups. Of course if they have a reversal it makes it that much easier to try and escape but it only adds another layer of mixup to Millia as to either press the mixup or bait the reversal and mixup anyway should they have decided to be patient and wait.
Secret Garden is another tool used for mixups and also pressure/approach in neutral. For mixup, generally your combo must end in 6hs to ensure the knockdown is long enough to manually set the space it will go to. This allows you to cover your bases on their wake up with a meaty projectile that you the player gave it inputs and told it where to go for 4-5 inputs. This move just adds yet another layer on her oppressive mixup game.
There's a ton more I could go into but this is just the start of depth Millia has going for her at a general level. She also lacks a good meterless reversal (makes sense with all that mixup potential) so she has to rely on the system and evasive options on the defense.
-Notable Millia Players
Nakamura - JP
Woshige - JP
LordKnight - USA
Sym - USA
CrazyKorean - USA
Potemkin - Highly Technical
The burly heart grappler Potemkin has definitely seen some better days back in Accent Core but that doesn't make him absolutely bad in Xrd. You just have to work the system to your advantage in order to make him shine. He has the highest HP in the game along side a high Guts Rating making him hard to kill. (I mean he's a tank after all!)So in Xrd they took away his overhead and replaced it with the shoulder tackle which is a blessing and a curse. Tackle works great for his pressure but he also loses high/low on mixups. However, if you take into consideration his Hammerfall YRC techniques, you can take advantage of the YRC stop frames to fish for the desired reaction. This can be chalked up to the typical grappler playstyle of making good reads and reacting accordingly to the conditioning foundation laid throughout the round(s). Hammerfall is one of his main life lines as the move has 1 hit of armor and it really helps him stay on the inside making him really deadly up close. This move in accordance to Slide Head make his pressure and approach anything short of scary.
Now, lets touch on using the system and Potemkin. By this I mean utilizing EVERY system mechanic. But I'll go into detail on the major 2 that make Potemkin threatening:
Just Defend (Instant Block)
- Recover faster from blockstun
- Reduced pushback during strings
- Builds extra meter (think damage opportunities now)
- Increased meter building over the duration of the current round. (Meaning your meter gain is increased even more each time you JD/IB)
- Air JD/IB resets your jump. Meaning if you've double jumped already you get the extra jump back.
Blitz Shield
- Deflect/Parry said attack
So now that we've touched base on these 2 lets put it together. Potemkin meter gain is already high naturally, coupled with great JD/IB's doubles or even triples the meter gain. This opens up his anti air super which does loads of damage on reaction to bad jumps. Also he can Potemkin Buster extremely negative attacks on block pending the situation, which in turn, leads to more damage off PB.
Blitz opens up the standard punishes providing the opponent can't Blitz back. However, if you read the situation on a Blitz/Blitz, normally on average most players will Blitz back immediately. In turn Potemkin's slow normals have a higher chance of counter hitting the missed Blitz attempt. What makes matters even worse, he still has meter. This means you can sike out the returned Blitz with a YRC normal when you've noticed they've caught on and still net the counter hit damage.
Now I'm aware this is theory fighting, however this is part of the mind games that you can get to with Potemkin. The key to winning with Potemkin is to do more than usual with the grappler formula. Strong knowledge of the system and matchups go the distance with Potemkin.
-Notable Potemkin Players
FAB - JP
Konsonme - JP
Jan - USA
Raekwon - USA
dot_Nova - USA
Shine - USA
Brice - USA
Ramlethal - Highly Technical
Ram is one of the stronger neutral and setplay characters in the game. Her mixups are hard to see generally and take a lot of practice to learn the intricacies of how they work in each matchup. Far from the beginner character, most new players end up dropping Ram with the quickness because her neutral game takes a ton of experience to get down to at least a basic level. However, if one sticks with it, she's as deadly as can be.Ram has 2 modes of play, Equipped Swords or Unequipped Swords. What happens here is with swords she has access to bigger normal attacks with the Slash and Heavy Slash buttons on air and ground. These buttons are really beefy and can do some heavy damage on normal hit and counter hit. For example, her far Slash with sword is an amazing poke and counter poke that can lead to all kinds of damage, pressure, jump cancels, you name it? That button can lead to it. Without swords the Slash and Heavy Slash normals animations are the same just with no swords attached to it. She also loses access to her crouching Slash and Heavy Slash attacks with no swords. But make no mistake this doesn't make her any weaker and this is part of the core play of Ram, sword management.
So we understand she has 2 modes but if that wasn't enough, she doesn't follow the traditional gatlings most characters follow. Meaning her block strings don't follow the P > K > S > XX routes. She has specific strings with the Punch and Kick buttons that all have their own routes and uses. This may seem awkward but lets look at how this works in conjunction to her pressure game. During pressure she can Sword Set and Sword Recall making these strings extremely hard to read and know where to poke out from. In turn if they get to blocking too much you can open them up with her command grab Flama Cargo. Setting and Recalling also changes Ram's initial inertia on air dashes and jumps much like her sister Elphelt. This basically makes reading/baiting anti airs from the opponent easier and opens up her approaches.
On mixup, Ram is one of the only characters that can wall splat > sitdown stun and mixup off of it naturally. Most characters require a wall splat Dust attack or a counter hit, or a specific setup to get to this point. Ram does it on the regular and this part is where Ram gets even scarier. She can get her wall splat combos and choose to delay the middle portions or ender portions. This leaves the opponent in sitdown state for another mixup. Even if they manage to block the oncoming mixup, its still Ram's pressure and corner which are definitely great positions to be in as Ram.
All in all Ram has a ton of utility behind her and takes a good amount of dedication to understand how to use it all. Get a good understanding and she's a true menace on the screen.
-Notable Ramlethal Players
Karinchu - JP
Daiji - JP
Kuni - JP
Pain - USA
Drunken Chicken - USA
Sin - Easy
This guy just coughs on you and does crazy damage off like ANYTHING and if your Hunger Gauge is up. Go look up any combo video with Sin and you'll see it doesn't take much to do big damage with him, Sin's execution is relatively simple and can kind in some ways be seen as a mini Ky of sorts with bigger damage reward and decent to no real okizeme. Although Voltech Dein (fireball super) has some great utility behind it. Sin's only flaw to not being 100% easy like my top 3 are is his Hunger Gauge. That single mechanic in his game makes you have to manage that properly while trying to do do damage and maintain pressure. If you break Sin down to his core and take away that flaw he'd be absolutely silly on so many levels.Now like his dad Ky he's very very fundamental in the same aspects as Ky just no fireball and higher reward. He's about as solid as can be with 3 -5 amazing pokes that make him threatening which I'll list below:
- Far Slash - the main poke to get you damage from max distance and forces crouch on hit
- Crouch Slash - same as the above just no crouch on hit
- Crouching Kick - forces crouch and leads to his better combos just scaled due to the damage scaling with this as a starter
- 6p (fwd + Punch) - easily top of the top anti airs in the game that WILL lead to any where from 30% - 50% damage pending on counter hit and RISK gauge build up
Playing a solid ground game and forcing people to play footsies with you is Sin's strong suit. Very hard to outright contest him from his optimal spacings and any fumble or whiff of any kind will lead to 40% or more plus corner carry.
-Notable Sin Players
Bleed - JP
Gaku - JP
Gaku - JP
Dogura - JP
The Dandy Stepper Slayer is easily one of the more technical characters in the game by far. Slayer has no real way to play "safely" if you will. He is purely high risk high reward but some times the risk isn't warranted. Slayer is one of those characters that can be kept out easily because his movement is fairly limited but once inside he's very explosive. He is also one of the only characters besides Leo to have a ground dash over a ground run and the dash is a form of a teleport of sorts. When you backdash you can cancel it into any of his specials or a super jump increasing or giving that move in particular invul frames. This allows Slayer to be disrespectful during pressure or when he's able to escape pressure to turn it into either a damage situation or an escape.Slayer execution-wise isn't easy either as his combo game is centered around links. Now these links can do tremendous damage but creating those opportunities are difficult. Slayer players have to be extremely creative and be willing to play off of their HP in order to make things happen. It's always been a factor for Slayer to be able to play in such a manner which can open you up to taking damage to give damage aka super risky play.
Normals are decent at best but most devastating when something counter hits to convert into damage and corner carry. Every matchup for the most part is the same, get in and explode or die trying. Slayer has always been designed around burst damage and solid mixups.
-Notable Slayer Players
Hase - JP
Taka - JP
MacBlunts - USA
MusclesMike - USA
Sol - Easy
The Badguy has always been yet another easy to use character and Xrd they made him into a monster. I like to think of Xrd as a redemption game for Sol as in Accent Core and +R Sol wasn't really a threat and didn't gain as much in the tools department like the rest at that time sadly. Xrd Sol has gained a great deal of tools and he's always been considered the basic rush down character. His best range is up close but does just as well from a mid range with his far Slash > whiff cancel crouch Slash as pressure. His raw damage output has always been high but I feel his damage potential is limitless in Xrd. He has plenty of ways to do damage off stray hits and gets great okizeme as a reward. Let's also remind ourselves he also teaches you the basics of command grab usage with Wild Throw that also converts into damage and positional advantage AND OKIZEME. See where I'm going with this? Where I put him at on the chart is easy to use with high damage in general. Also he has one of the best non 6p anti airs in the game being 5k at 3f start up with 2 hits that also goes into dmg > knockdown> okizeme. This is Sol's general pattern which of course is the same for everyone which again, leads back to fundamental and easy to use. Strong understanding of mid/close range rush makes him a threat at all times in those spaces.
Good pressure, great damage off stray hits, solid okizeme makes Sol a strong beginner rush down char and even for specialist of fundamental rush games. He's your guy.
-Notable Sol Players
Roi - JP
Machaboo - JP
NOB - JP
Kazunoko - JP
R0b0t - USA
VR Raiden - USA
Eiji - USA
Titanium Beast - USA
Venom - Highly Technical
The pool hustler assassin Venom has always been known for having an extremely unique playstyle and high skill cap. His potential is always high in every iteration of the game and Xrd is no exception. Venom is a combination of character archetypes, namely trap/lockdown, mixup, zoning/neutral styles is what encompasses him. Each one of these aspects are vital to his core game and neither aspect should be overlooked. Let's start with neutral game shall we? In neutral Venom has great pokes but let's dig deeper into what makes those pokes strong? Ball Summons (Formation Summoning). Venom as you know is a pool player so its only natural that he plays pool in combat right? Pending which attack you use to hit a Summon determines that ball's speed and trajectory. Couple that with the ability to hit those same Summoned Balls with his other special moves you get some really really unique and dynamic approaches to how you want to play neutral. Depending on how you want to work it, you can cover any one of Venom's dead zones with this tactic. Of course it wouldn't be easy to do so as Summoning takes time, not to long not too short. You can even Summon as an attack with QV in which you can also charge the attack to absorb projectiles and have an even larger ball you can hit to approach, zone, pressure opponents.
Venom also has a teleport in which goes to the last ball summoned! They even made this easier by attaching this mechanic to a summoned ball as long as you hold the button used to summon you well teleport to the next location. This teleport is also super jump installed meaning you can only air dash out of it when he reappears. All this adds to his mixup game and you guessed it he can mixup from neutral based on his positioning. Now it isn't always about mixing them up on hit but location to make them want to chase. Venom has a great 6p anti air that goes into corner carry and a ball set.
Think that's enough yet? We just scratching the surface! Let's go to lockdown and trapping! This is his offensive game where you can take advantage of what you setup in neutral to gain pressure or damage. Blocking Venom is actually a good thing and a bad thing. He's known for RISK gauge build up. In fact, RISK build up is where Venom's low damage becomes high damage. So as you can see, he's built to take advantage of one of the important yet sometimes overlooked mechanic of GG.
You digest that? Well we got more! Mixups! Venom's lockdown forces opponents to block and keep it always Venom's turn. When you understand how to utilize ball summons you can get them blocking one way and go into a 50/50 situation and of course like everyone get the damage and reset the situation. The thing here is that again blocking works out to Venom's advantage in the long haul. This of course doesn't mean DON'T BLOCK but opponents of Venom must be conscious of how they manage their FD and Dead Angle attacks.
Venom is extremely versatile in a lot of situations, much like the speedy characters, he can be all over the place and smother opponents. His low damage is counteracted by RISK build up and the extra damage tacked on from this. Reversal game is weak but has on of the most oppressive playstyles in the game.
-Notable Venom Players
Fino - JP
Heven - JP
Isamu - JP
Sanma - JP
Keiichi - JP
AO1 - JP
BlackSnake - USA
DaiAndOh - USA
Sunfish - USA
Zato - Highly Technical
All the offensive capabilities meaning he as access to fuzzy guards, extended block strings, and if you're opponent's defense was already good he has a command grab to open opponents up. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, this man has one of the most devastating damaging options in the game, unblockables (yes UNBLOCKABLES) and boy do those things hurt. Despite having all the offensive capabilities available, he also has a really strong neutral game. He has a plethora of ways to keep the opponents at bay while looking for a good opportunity to mount his offensive play.
Learning how to manipulating Eddie is really a key factor in great Zato play. Being able to keep him safe involves Zato one of many options like using drills to protect Eddie, or using the underground movement to put Eddie in advantageous positions to attack. This also entails the Zato player to be in harmony when using both Eddie and Zato to create difficult to escape pressure situations. It is also important in the neutral game to do the same manipulation for defensive situations with space and offensive situations to close the space. One of the perks of manipulating Eddie is that he can take a single hit for Zato before disappearing. This leaves Zato free to attack the opponent at the expense of Eddie.
With great power of course comes a great weakness, no reversals and an overall weaker Zato solo. By himself, Zato has to run away or play passive aggressive to offset the time it takes for the Eddie gauge to refill. His specials are fairly limited on its own without Eddie to help create difficult situations for the opponent. More often than not, you will try to buy your time till Eddie can be summoned again to create another opportunity. Alternatively you can use the timer to your advantage during a block string to force them to block and summon when Eddie is available. I should also mention that summoning isn't free during block strings if the opponent reacts to it and attempts to disrupt a summon attempt. Zato can of course punish them accordingly pending on what summon used but its a hard read for that situation.
The absolute hardest character in GG still remains that way even in Xrd. He requires a ton of experience and patience to reach a competent level.
-Notable Zato Players
Ogawa -JP
Cross - JP
AKA - USA
David Cue - USA
Biscuits - USA
MarlinPie - USA
TheBeautifulDude - USA
Thanks everyone that took the time out to read this article and those that also helped get it to the finalized state now!
Kensou
