Combos remain the lifeblood of fast-paced fighting games, especially Guilty Gear Strive. As with other Arc System Works titles, the Guilty Gear game boasts flashy theatrics, faster-paced combat, and brutal attention to technique. Both fighting game newcomers and savants can get into the game quickly. However, those with a more technical grasp on Strive’s combo system will outlast the competition.
At a first glance, Strive seems to encourage more button-mashing to players than anything else. However, those who pay closer attention to the flexible controls of this Guilty Gear title will dish out fierce combos in no time at all.
15 Playstyle Determines Combo Allowance
Similar to other fighting games, Strive does offer characters with unique movesets. However, whereas most fighting games create characters with movesets that work with the game’s physics, Strive follows the traditional Guilty Gear and ArkSys formula of fast-paced gameplay with a penchant to break the rules. As such, each Strive character boasts unique gameplay options that can ruin an enemy’s day if they don’t know how to adjust their playstyles properly.
For newcomers to the game, they need to remember that their character of choice will adjust not just their overall playstyle but how often they can whip out combos. Examples of these include:
14 Counter Playstyles To Disrupt Combo Chains
Just as how characters have special shticks that determine their “best” combos and playstyle, they also come with considerable drawbacks. Players who know how to destabilize an opponent’s playstyle can make sure their characters don’t get to pull off their bread and butter combos. This means knowing exactly how to counter even the toughest of foes. For instance:
13 Roman Cancels Give Breathing Room
Unlike other fighting games, Strive offers a lot of versatile mechanics players could use to “tinker” with the game’s physics and give them an edge. For instance, Roman Cancels give players three ways of canceling their moves in order to seamlessly progress into an ordinarily-inaccessible attack. When used correctly, Roman Cancels can give players access to combo strings even they won’t expect their character to pull off. Here are versions of Roman Cancels players can do:
12 Stop Escapes With Counters
While players can count on blocking to ensure they don’t get as much damage as possible from enemy combos and specials, using a Counter Hit is actually a neat way to secure combos. And what’s more fun is that players can do this while an enemy is attacking.
Pressing the right attack button right before an enemy attack will give them the opportunity to Counter Hit. This basically interrupts the attack with a special animated attack that deals a bit more damage than a regular normal attack. Not only that but the opponent gets stunned for a slightly longer time compared to regular blocks. This allows players to counter with a combo almost immediately.
11 End With Overdrives Whenever Possible
A staple feature in Guilty Gear games, Overdrive Attacks are extremely special moves that help characters dish out awesome-looking attacks with unique animations. All characters have unique Overdrive combos that cost Tension, meaning they’re ordinarily reserved for extremely special situations. However, players may want to end their combos with Overdrive Attacks.
At its core, it’s advisable to use Overdrives whenever possible, especially for their effects on mobility. Since they can cause Wall Breaks, using an Overdrive against a cornered opponent will not only send both players to a new stage but extends the hitstun duration of the opponent character. This gives players more room to pull off deadlier combos.
10 Get The Move List Going
When it comes to pulling off combos, players need to have a solid grasp not just of a character’s moveset, but also of their combo potential. As with other Guilty Gear titles, Strive has Command Normals (Direction + Attack), exclusive Special Attacks, and even Overdrives that act as super attacks. All of these are unique for every character.
Beyond these are tiny movesets, which involve a mixture of basic Attack patterns that work with the “style” of a certain character. Before players venture into mastering combos, they need to get familiar enough with the go-to playstyle and moveset of their characters.
9 Take Note Of Defensive Modifiers
Players who want to take their combo game seriously may want to consider a crucial aspect of Guilty Gear characters: defensive modifiers. Thanks to the Dustloop Wiki, players can get a basic glimpse of how “spongy” a character is when it comes to tanking damage thanks to these mods.
In terms of base Defense, Sol Badguy tops a whopping 0.98-percent modifier to damage. This makes him ideally harder to hit in the base game. This changes throughout combat, as the inherent Guts stat can lessen damage taken the lower a combatant’s health gets. In this case, Anji Mito tops everyone with a whopping 5 Guts. However, based on these two stats overall, Nagoriyuki (0.96-percent Defense and 4 Guts) should be the hardest to kill, especially at low health.
8 Consider Gatling Normals
Contrary to other fighting games where moves seamlessly “weave” into each other, Strive encourages players to invest in a bit of technical prowess. Combos often come in various types, depending on the string of basic Attacks used by players. Unlike other fighting games, Guilty Gear Strive uses a Gatling Normals system. Normal Attacks rely on timing and repetition instead of outright stringing.
In turn, Light Attacks (Punches and Kicks) don’t just go into Medium Attacks (Slashes) and Heavy Attacks (Slashes). Rather, there’s a certain “flow” that the game wants players to remember.
7 Land That RISC
Strive heavily incentivizes an aggressive playstyle. In fact, the RISC Meter is the franchise’s way of punishing extremely defensive opponents. When players block too much, enemy attacks raise the RISC Meter. Should it fill up completely, the next enemy attack will always become a hard Counter Hit, ending up with harsh damage points.
In turn, players may want to pressure opponents enough to keep them blocking and amp up their RISC Meter. Likewise, players who notice their opponents have an already-high RISC Meter might want to fill it up and land that harsh Counter Hit.
6 Watch Out For Combo Breakers
Possibly in light of fairness, Strive offers just as many defensive options as it does offensive maneuvers. Players who get themselves in a pinch can rely on various combo-breaking maneuvers to get some breathing room when pummeled by opponents. For the attacker, knowing how these maneuvers affect them can help them discover better playstyles that emphasize mobility and recovering lost space.
In any situation, forcing the enemy to spend Tension before pulling off a fierce combo can leave them with fewer defensive options.
5 Bait Out That Burst
As mentioned, Psych Burst is one of the best ways to counter an aggressive player. Thanks to Psych Burst, players on the defensive can shove aggressive enemies away to give them a second or two of recovery. For the combo-oriented player, Burst is something they need to get out of the equation to secure that hit.
Thankfully, aggressive players can easily integrate Dust into their strategies. Pulling off a close-range Dust within a combo can knock enemies into the air for that timely two-hit string. This Dust feint is also likely to force panicking opponents to unleash Burst too early, giving players that opening to punish with the combo they’ve been planning to pull off.
4 Reset Combos With Punishing Knockdowns
Chances are, some slippery enemies can still get out of the player’s grasp thanks to blocking, or even moving around with their Super Jumps and air dashes. Thankfully, aggressive players can ground their opponents back with more punishing knockdowns, courtesy of grabs.
Players fighting these types of opponents may want to time a grab in between their combos. That way, they can counter a block with a harsh Throw or even prevent an enemy from escaping in the air with a fierce air grab. This is a great way to counter mobile fighters and get them back for another beating.
3 Air Time Is Death Time
Anyone who’s played a fighting game will notice that airtime easily becomes a fatal point for any player. The longer they stay up in the air, the more chances an enemy can score with a well-timed hit that strings into combos. In turn, players should find as many means as possible to send opponents high in the air.
Aside from special moves, players can launch opponents in the air with air cancels, usually with Forward + Punch. A Blue Roman Cancel can also put enemies in a momentary stagger open for punishment. With the right character, even a well-timed Counter Hit can launch an opponent in the air – ripe time for a dash attack.
2 Mind The Wall
Fighting game savants know that pressuring enemies on the wall is a wonderful way to pummel through an opponent’s health. In Strive, the franchise now introduces a Wall-Break mechanic. The wall beside a pressured combatant can crack and eventually break, whenever said opponent receives a knock-off attack. If a player manages to pull off a Wall-Break, they transition towards a new stage.
On a successful Wall-Break, the attacking player gets a massive Tension Meter boost. However, the trade-off is that the Wall-Break essentially forces both parties to return to a neutral state. Interestingly, players can circumvent this by ending their Wall-Break with an Overdrive. Doing so will almost always force the enemies to suffer a hard knockdown in the new stage, leaving them open for other attacks.
1 Consider The Ending
Perhaps the biggest difference between a combo artist and a newcomer is the way they end their combos. In fact, players often forget that the reason their combos get interrupted is that they don’t even know how they want to end it. This lack of ending can leave players wide open for unnecessary Counter Hits and Blocks.
Players should remember that two choices always exist when it comes to ending their combos. They can always opt for a hard knockdown that’s a dash away – perfect for starting a bottom attack string. Likewise, they can end with a fierce attack that sends the opponent flying to the end of the stage, ending neutrally and away from any chance of retaliation.
Guilty Gear Strive is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
