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This page covers advanced topics which require competitive expertise to confirm.Content here can be considered incomplete until expertise is given.
Preface
As you may probably infer, this page consists of explanations and breakdowns of common strategies and solutions to situations that occur very often in Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. This is intended to provide general insight on the metagame of GBVSR, to players at novice and intermediate levels.
Defense
Fuzzy options
Escaping the corner
When to Evade?
When to Cross Over?
Cross Over (commonly referred to as roll) is a universal option for avoiding projectiles. By making an opponent's projectiles whiff, their cooldown does not begin until the projectile has left the screen, giving you more time to approach.
It is not recommended to roll as a general means of escaping the corner without the intention to beat a specific move, as many characters use 2L and 2M in their pressure and will beat rolls naturally.
Offense
Safejump
Offensive Option Selects
5L, 4M (4L/4H) in rapid succession
This is the most basic Option Select that can block DPs and get an okizeme on the opponent on wakeup.
When c.L is inputted, if they blocked, they've entered blockstun and experiences extra hitstop, allows 4M (which becomes c.XX) to connect. However if c.L whiffs, 4M is inputted in the recovery frames of c.L, which results in nothing but 4 (blocking).
The limitation is that Hitstop OS can only punish DPs that has startup longer than the recovery frames of c.L (which usually are their non-U versions of DP), should you time it well.
5L, 4 delay L+Block
This is a special Option Select that can bait certain wakeup Armor moves, notably, Nier's 623H
GuardAllStartup12Recovery49Advantage-23.
When 5L is inputted, if they blocked/hit, they've entered blockstun and experiences extra hitstop, allows 4L (which becomes c.XX) to connect. However if c.L triggers the Guard Point, 4 + Block is inputted in the recovery frames of c.L, which will cancel into evade and dodge the Guard Point.
The delay is important, because if not delayed, you will cancel 5L into evade regardless, making your blockstring break if they did not GP. Any gap, as small as 1f, will work.
An alternative, if you have 100 SBG, is 2L > 236 delay L+Sk. It is the same logic as above: If hit, it will become 2L > 5L, and if GP is triggered, SBA will come out.
This option select can bait certain DPs, but it is more situational.
Combos
Hit-confirming
Movement
Resource Management
Skybound Gauge
Meter gain in GBVSR is very fast, so liberal use of it is recommended. In particular, Ultimate Skills used raw in neutral or as a link in combos refund a partial amount of the 50% meter used on them as long as they make contact with the opponent, meaning they are more frequently usable than their 50% meter cost would imply.
Conversely, it is unlikely to gain enough meter to perform multiple Skybound Arts in a single round while also accounting for Ultimate Skills. Carefully consider the health, meter, and Bravery Point count of both yourself and your opponent when deciding to use supers.
Bravery Points
Most Skybound Arts restore 1 Bravery Point (BP) during superflash regardless of whether or not they hit. As a result, this means that ending a combo in one means that using a single Raging Strike in that combo is effectively "free", especially if you had 3 BP to start with. This is most relevant during corner combos in which Raging Strike can be followed up afterwards without using Raging Chain.
Brave Counter is an extremely potent defensive option and well worth the use of BP. As with Raging Strikes, using a super soon after using a BC effectively means the BC was "free".
Frame Advantage
Frame advantage is the concept of who is free to act first after an interaction.
This is most commonly brought up after blocking an attack; who can act first - the attacker or defender? A negative value on block means the defender can act first, and a positive value means the attacker can act first. The value shows exactly how many frames one character can move before the other. For example:
- If a move is -5 on block, it means the defender is free to move 5 frames before the attacker.
- If a move is +2 on block. it means the attacker can move 2 frames before the defender.
Each character's full Frame Data page shows both the frame advantage when an attack is blocked as well as on hit. Air attacks don't have frame advantage listed since that value is heavily influenced by when the attacker lands after an attack.
Frame advantage assumes that the attack connects as soon as possible against a standing/crouching opponent, and that the attacker does not cancel the attack into anything else. Hitting an attack later into its active frames is called making the move "meaty".
For more information on using frame data see here.
Punish
Sometimes you'll see the word "Punish" on the HUD. This means that you punished the opponent's attack.
Attacks are punishable on block if the defender has enough time to hit the attacker after blocking the attack. Each character's frame data lists the amount of time to punish an attack on block; this is known as frame advantage/disadvantage. An attack that is -11 on block means that the defender can use an attack that has startup 11 frames or faster to punish the opponent. Of course just because an attack is fast enough does not mean it can reach the opponent, so knowledge and practice are still necessary, even when a player knows the numbers!
The HUD message is helpful for learning mid-game - did you actually punish the opponent's attack or were they just not blocking? Now you can know for sure.
Reversals
A reversal is the term used to refer to any special move that has invulnerability frames on startup, allowing them to serve as strong anti-airs and "get off me" tools to escape pressure. They are also commonly referred to as DP's or "Dragon Punch" and the two terms can be used interchangeably. Most characters have this input on 623X or 6S.
While DPs are very useful tools, they are considered high-risk if not done on reaction. A blocked DP has enough recovery for opponents to land a full combo.
Input Failures
Although GBVS makes inputting the DP easy with use of the special button, there are edge cases that can cause both the Easy and Technical input to fail.
- Mashing DP on wakeup will often cause it to not come out on the first possible frame and will lose to meaties. If you want to DP it is best to do it timed with your character's wakeup animation and to perform the input cleanly.
- If you accidentally input 3S the game will prioritize your character's down special resulting in a 2S instead of a 6S.
- If you press 6S outside of the game’s buffer window no special move will occur. This timing will change based on how much blockstun you are in or if you are in recovery of another move while attempting to DP.
Running Momentum
Performing actions while running will carry some momentum from the run into followup action. This is a potent way to give attacks more range and make jumps move further, especially because this can used a frame immediately after starting a run. The run can even be buffered and immediately cancel into a followup action to gain running momentum without even running for a single frame!
- Attack
- Characters will slide forward during the first few frames, giving the attack more range for free.
- A few attacks do not allow running momentum to carry into the attack (eg normal ground throw), but most allow it.
- Jump
- Jump and High Jump are affected by running momentum. A running neutral jump will actually move forward slightly, and a running forward jump will go further than a normal forward jump.
- This is effectively a new set of jump trajectories that can be used to be less predictable when approaching the opponent.
Input Buffer
Reversal Timing
Players often want to input an action immediately after guarding or after getting knocked down. GBVSR has an input leniency window, also known as an input buffer, that makes these types of inputs easier. If you enter your input 5 frames before you return to neutral, then the attack will come out as soon as possible.
Normal Attacks, Evade, Guard, Skills, Skybound Arts and Super Skybound Arts can all benefit from this.
There are a few caveats to this:
- Directional inputs are generally not included in the buffer, this means pressing 2H and then returning to neutral within the 5 buffer and before returning to neutral will give you a 5H as reversal. The same applies to simple inputs but not technical inputs or supers in general.
- Forward dash is a 3F window and only if you keep holding 6. The dash button is exempt from all of this.
- Backdash is a 2F window and only if you keep holding 4.
- Evade/Cross-Over will only buffer if you're holding 4/6 respectively as you return to neutral.
Super Flash
During an opponent's Skybound Art, the screen freezes briefly. This is known as a super flash or super freeze. Most supers have startup even after the super freeze, which means that provided you're not in the middle of an action and your timing is good, you can react to these attacks with an Evade, or a super of your own!
Skybound Art attacks list their startup values as: startup pre-flash + startup post-flash.
Meaning an attack with startup 5+5 has 5 frames of startup, then the super flash, then hits the opponent after 5 more frames for a total of 10 frames of startup.
- Supers With No Startup After Super Flash
- Some supers are special: they have no additional startup after the super flash. This means that you can not time a counter attack after these supers - you can think of the superflash as just a formality, the super has already become active. These supers most often come in the form of powerful command grabs.
Ladiva's Super Skybound Art
GuardThrowStartup9+0Recovery39Advantage- is a prime example of this; you must already have some way to avoid The Shape of Love BEFORE the super flash or else it will be too late! You can identify such attacks in the frame data by looking at their startup post-flash, which should be 0.
