GGACR/Defense

From Dustloop Wiki

Blocking

Blocking is an integral action to keep yourself alive. Knowing how to use which block in which situation will improve your game immeasurably. Not only will you be able to defend better and survive longer, but in some cases you will be able to resume your offense faster.

Ground Block

GGAC Basic Guard.png

Basic ground blocking is the most common defensive option. To guard against high attacks, simply hold back. To guard against mid attacks, hold back or down+back. To guard against low attacks, hold down+back.

Due to the nature of overheads, it is always recommended to block low and stand block in reaction to overheads.

Remember, you cannot block against throws, and some attacks are just flat-out unblockable!

Air Block

Air normal block works against airborne attacks, but not most ground attacks.
Use air FD against ground attacks!

Basic air blocking is even easier; simply hold any backwards direction while airborne. Air blocking does not have high/low blocking, but instead comes with another restriction... basic air blocking will not work against ground based attacks!

Ground based attacks are all non-projectile attacks that are performed on the ground, such as all standing/crouching normals, ground specials, and ground supers!

Example #1: May jumps at Sol, Sol uses 2H, May gets hit because Sol is on the ground.

Example #2: Potemkin jumps at Johnny, Johnny uses his 632146H super, Potemkin gets hit because Johnny is on the ground.

Any time your opponent attempts to use a grounded anti-air attack, you will need to Faultless Defense instead of basic air block. Remember this... it's important!

Also remember that after you air block (any kind), your jump options are restored! This means that you can do something like double jump to block an aerial projectile, then double jump again, or airdash afterwards, if you're not too close to ground.

As with ground blocking, you also can't air block against air throws and unblockables.

Landing while in air blockstun does not cancel out the remaining blockstun - instead you will transition immediately into ground standing blockstun for the remainder of blockstun.

For example, after blocking an attack in the air that causes 20F blockstun, you land after 15F. That means after landing, you will be in blockstun for 5F before you are free to move.


Faultless Defense

Powerful defensive option, but drains your Tension as you use it!

Faultless Defense (FD) is a crucial defensive tool. It's often used to negate chip damage and increase pushback, but it also has many other useful benefits. To perform Faultless Defense, hold any backward direction and press any two buttons except D (example: 4P+K), and not S+H (see Slashback, below). As long as the direction and button are held down, your character will continue to perform Faultless Defense.

  • Increases pushback
  • Prevents chip damage
  • Increases blockstun
  • Can air FD to block most air unblockable attacks
  • Prevents Guard Gauge from increasing
  • Consumes Tension while held
  • FD is disabled when you have no tension
  • Wakeup cross protection is disabled on FD use
  • Drastically reduces Tension Gain temporarily (reduced by 80% for 1 second)
  • Air FDing an attack increases your gravity. Use this to quickly fall to the ground while air blocking if you want to perform ground only attacks (like Dead Angle Attacks)!
  • Holding FD out of a dash cuts your momentum, allowing you to stop and block instantly, or even fake out your opponent! Tapping FD instead of holding it, or performing crouching FD while dashing will cause you to slide, but you'll still be able to block immediately.

One point worth repeating is that using FD in the air allows you to air block attacks that are otherwise unblockable! Air FD is the primary way to air block things like an opponent's 6P or 2H.

Another point worth stressing is that FD increases pushback while blocking. This allows a player to escape an opponent's offense sooner by pushing them out of attack range! An advanced strategy is to make the opponent's attack miss by pushing them away with FD, then counterattack while the opponent is still recovering from them whiffed attack!

You still must block high/low attacks correctly when using Faultless Defense.

Complete knowledge and mastery of Faultless Defense is critical to high level play. It's a good idea to always try to keep some Tension on hand specifically for Faultless Defense.

Baiting Notice: FD normally increases your gravity and pushback when you block, but it also has the exaggerated effect of causing you to plummet straight down if you bait and block a Burst while in a Homing Jump. Since Dust Attacks have very blatant hit effects, you can use FD during your Dust combos and Impossible Dust setups to go for a reset if they burst out.

Meter Burn

Blocking an attack with FD burns meter at a rate of:

  • Normals: [(normal damage + 10) * 25 / 100] percent tension per hit
  • Specials: [(chip damage + 3) * 40 / 100] percent tension per hit
    • Where chip damage takes into account the move-specific scaling

Other Notes:

  • Order of operations is really important here, as well as where integer truncation applies. A normal of 10 damage would drain less tension when FD'd than a special of 10 damage; the normal would drain exactly 5% while the special would drain 5.2%.
  • Robo high-heat attacks do special-move formula damage (both damage to hitpoints and FD tension drain)
  • Justice's Imperial Ray has a unique modifier.

Instant Block (IB)

Begin blocking right before the attack touches you. You will flash white.

Instant Block is a slightly more advanced version of normal blocking; you must start blocking right before the opponent's attack touches you. Your character will flash white if you IB an attack. The window to successfully IB is 8 frames wide. If you block on the frame your opponent makes contact, or as much as 7 frames before then, you get instant block.

The benefits of IBing are:

  • Recover faster from blockstun (2-4F grounded, 4-11F airborne. For exact amounts check the Attack Level table)
  • Reduced pushback (which might be a good or bad thing depending on what you're trying to do)
  • Builds 0.50% (6% as Robo-Ky) more tension than on normal block
  • Builds 1000 Tension Pulse
  • Air IB keeps a player airborne longer compared to normal block and FD. Use this to throw off an opponent's timing if they are planning to mix you up as you land!

IB does not allow you to make "illegal" blocks: you still must block high/low correctly, and you still must use air FD versus air unblockable attacks.

You can IB "during" attack patterns. This means that while normal blocking, you can begin IBing at any point if you can time your blocking with the opponent's attacks! Think of it as a mini-game: time your blocking to the rhythm of the opponent's hits.

IB does have some weaknesses/limitations to it. If you mash IB, you are likely to instead perform a backdash, which while a good defensive option, will likely cause you to get hit in blockstrings with delayed attacks.

If you fail an instant block attempt, you will be locked out of doing it for 30 more frames. Don't mash IB, actually look for it!

Burst Baiting Notice: If you block a burst, you normally sustain a strong amount of pushback and blockstun. However, if you air IB a blue burst, you will quickly drop straight to the ground below the point where you blocked, setting up the perfect opportunity to punish. IB'ing a burst can actually be more advantageous than SB'ing one!

Slashback (SB)

Pictured: a successful Slashback. Think of it as a high-risk/high-reward version of IB

Slashback is an even better instant block, with higher rewards and higher risks. You cannot "hold" Slashback like you can with FD; it needs to be tapped with precise timing. To perform a Slashback, hold any backwards direction and tap S+H.
Attempting a Slashback will make a gold ring appear around the character for a brief moment, and a gold shield will briefly appear upon a successful Slashback.

The Rewards

  • Reduces blockstun significantly:
    • Ground blockstun is reduced to 3F
    • Air blockstun is reduced to 1F
  • Negates chip damage.
  • Prevents Guard Gauge from increasing.
  • Builds an additional 5.50% (11% as Robo-Ky) tension.
  • Builds 1000 Tension Pulse just like instant blocking.
  • Air SB works against air unblockable attacks. (like air Faultless Defense)
    • Some otherwise completely unblockable attacks, like Potemkin's Heat Knuckle, can also be SB'd.
  • Air SB, on success, cuts your aerial momentum. Compare this to IB which causes you to fall immediately.
  • On successful Slashback, the window for subsequent SB attempts increases to 6f in +R, or 4f in AC, and the increased window lasts for 45f (+R) or 30f (AC).
    • Hitstop frames and superfreeze still decrement the timer.
    • You cannot input a follow-up SB 6 frames early and then walk forward while blocking. You will get hit. [Tested and confirmed]
      • [The window wears off if you SB Sol's 5H, then try to SB a chained Bandit Bringer early, but it succeeds if you SB Sol's 2K and try to SB a chained Fafnir early. This means the window should be at least 30 frames if you account for hitstop, but it's fewer than 47.]

The Risks

  • Must perform the SB within a 2F window of getting hit (So either on the frame they make contact, or the frame right before the attack hits)
  • Successful SBs disable normal guard for 15f.
  • Unsuccessful SBs disable normal guard for 30f
  • Costs 2% Tension
  • Cannot SB for the first 10F (tested) after wakeup
  • Ground SB must be performed in the correct direction (4+S+H versus high attacks, 1+S+H versus low attacks)


You will recover fast enough that basically any poke in the game you will be at frame advantage if the opponent's attack was not canceled.

You can Slashback multi-hit moves as well as gatling chains. You must Slashback AS the active frame becomes active. AKA you do not want to do it "before" the hit hits, like with Instant Blocking. You want to do it just as it hits you, similar to parrying in Street Fighter III: Third Strike. You can activate Slashback any time you are in Guard Stun as well as at Neutral.

You can also use SB to stop a dash/run as you would use FD Braking.

Wake-Up Buffer

The game will buffer/repeat actions such as inputting a normal, special, super and even the IK after the preparation, for a extra frame if they are inputted 1 frame before you wake up.

There is a few caveats to this though, the game won't buffer inputs such as backdash and forward dashes. The game also doesn't buffer special inputs that are done using negative edge.

Throw Break

The throw break window is VERY small

Press 4+H or 6+H when being normal thrown to perform a throw break. There are 2 versions of throw break:

The first is when both players press throw at the EXACT same time. This causes a purple flash and both players back off and recover at the same time.

The second is when a player presses throw within 1 frame after the previous window. In this instance the throw animation will start, a purple flash appears, no damage is dealt, and they will back off in a less favorable way depending on the character's throw. For example, escaping Johnny's ground throw this way will leave you airborne and slightly away from Johnny.


  • It's not possible to hit the first window if the opponent is throw invul or you're in some kind of state like running where you normally can't perform a throw.
  • Only normal throws can be broken; command throws cannot be broken
  • Throw breaks CANNOT be performed while recovering from a move, so unsafe attacks are still unsafe


Throw Break Glitch

When one player perform a special move with the H button that ends in 6 or 4 and other players tries to throw on the same frame, the throw break happens, but the break animation will be canceled into the special attack!

Example
Ky performs 236H and Sol performs a ground normal throw at the same time
Ky and Sol will flash purple like a normal throw break, then Ky will perform 236H while Sol is still in the throw break animation. Ky's attack will miss because the throw break animation is invincible.

You can also cancel the throw break animation into Slashback. Since slashback can be cancelled immediately into other actions, this means you can effectively perform any action immediately while the opponent is still in throw break state. The opponent is still invincible while in throw break state, so you cannot do something like punish them using this method. However, you can use the extra time in order to effectively "meaty" them or gain otherwise impossible advantages while they are recovering.

The potential of this glitch is very unexplored primarily due to the fact that the situation is VERY rare.



Dead Angle Attack (DAA)

Your character will flash white, then attack the opponent

Dead Angle Attacks are invincible attacks that knock the opponent away and cost 50% Tension Gauge. To perform a Dead Angle Attack, press forward + any two buttons simultaneously (6P+K for example) while in blockstun.

DAAs are used to hit away an attacking opponent and reset the momentum of the match. It can also be used to do a small amount of damage and some characters (particularly Potemkin) can set up a combo afterwards. Each character's DAA is unique and as a result, some are stronger than others.

Like most other attacks, DAAs have startup, so it's possible to bait an opponent's DAA with attacks that recovers quickly or by Jump Cancel > air block. It's best to use DAAs when you are certain it will connect or else the opponent will be able to severely punish you.

As mentioned in the Tension Gain section, using a DAA will reduce the amount of Tension you gain by 80% for a full 4 seconds.

Bursts

Bursts are an extremely expensive but highly versatile tool in Guilty Gear. To Burst, press D + any other attack button. The character will rise into the air and an aura of energy will strike all around them. Bursts are strike invincible, but not throw invincible!

Blue Burst

Get off me!

Depending on a character's current state, the Burst will be either Blue or Gold; in terms of defense, both types of bursts have their uses:

  • Blue Bursts can be used while blocking or while being hit to deny the opponent damage and reset the pace of a match.
    • Blue Bursts are completely vulnerable until 3 frames after the character lands.
    • Blue Bursts are throw vulnerable during their entire duration.
    • Blue Bursts can be performed while OTG (on the ground). It gains the same benefits of a burst as well as being in OTG state. OTG Bursts are thus COMPLETELY INVINCIBLE during startup and active, and are throw invincible until landing.
      • Furthermore, any hits landed after an OTG burst count as OTG, meaning their damage, hitstun, and combo ability are reduced significantly.


Gold Burst

Full meter on hit! Cannot be comboed into.
  • Gold Bursts can be used to gain momentum, press an advantage, and can be used on wakeup as a reversal that also grants full Tension on hit!
    • Gold Bursts are strike invincible during the recovery, so you must use an air throw, or a ground throw within 3 frames of landing, to punish a (blocked) Gold Burst.
    • Gold Bursts have more hitstun than Blue Bursts, meaning they will usually knock the opponent down (particularly on Counter Hit), and can even be combo'd off of in some cases, though they prorate heavily.
    • Gold Bursts also have more blockstun than Blue Bursts, so they're harder to punish after being blocked than Blue Bursts.
  • Neither Blue Bursts nor Gold bursts can be thrown by command air throws/anti-air throws, meaning Potemkin's Heat Knuckle, Heavenly Pot Buster, and Aerial Pot Buster, and Anji's On won't work.


More information on bursts can be found here.

Advanced Techniques

FD Jump

No dust will appear during an FD Jump

FD JumpsPreviously known as "One Frame Jumps" are an advanced defensive tactic used to escape pressure by chicken blocking faster. To perform a FD Jump press 7~Faultless Defense. No dust will appear from the ground if this is performed correctly.

Contrary to popular belief (and the name itself), this does not reduce jump startup. However, FD Jumping shrinks the size of a character's hurtbox because a character's air blocking hurtbox is much smaller than a character's jumping hurtbox. This gives the illusion of a much faster jump startup than normal. Thus, the community previously used the more ambiguous name "One Frame Jump". Appropriate terminology is still being determined.

In addition, properly performing an FD Jump causes you to rise straight up, cutting your momentum if you dashed into your jump. This can open up some interesting bait, punish, and combo opportunities!

Throw/FD Option Select on Wakeup

On wakeup, press 4+H+S~K. This counts as a throw input and if no occurs, then a FD comes out instead.

This option select takes advantage of a few quirks of SB and FD:

  • 4+H+S would normally be a Slashback, but Slashback is disabled on wakeup so a 5S occurs instead.
  • Most normals can cancel the first few frames of startup into FD. Performing S~K will cancel the startup of 5S into FD.


This is a useful option select that forces opponents to respect a wakeup throw while still being safe from correctly spaced meaty attacks. Be sure not to perform this out of throw range, or you are vulnerable to any kind of meaty, particularly lows. This also works well against many counterhit / overhead fishing throw invincible normals, such as Jam's 6H, Order Sol's 2H, Slayer 6K, or low airdash overhead mixups. Note that if they are performed as true meaties, the OS will lose (see below for explanation), but as many of these are usually meant to hit slightly late as a CH, you will get a standing FD rather than get counterhit. The standing block you get on a failed throw is relatively good because there aren't very many throw invincible moves that hit low. Switching to blocking low immediately afterwards is generally recommended to defend against rapid lows in case you mistime, etc.


Some options to punish this OS / weaknesses to be aware of when using:

  • Throw invincible meaties - Moves such as May's 5K will cause the normal to come out rather than the throw, meaning a true meaty will win. Full invincible moves like DPs also work great for this purpose.
  • Low attacks out of throw range - The OS relies on throwing lows rather than blocking them. Since this OS is generally used when in throw range, making the range you're meatying out ambigious or walking out of throw range at the last second are both very strong options for punishing this OS, just like punishing wake-up throw in general.
  • Throws - since this OS gives you either a throw or OS
  • Crossups - meatying with moves that switch sides, such as Order Sol's Gunblaze, is an easy way to punish this OS. The crossup will either mess up the FD input, which means the OS just becomes wakeup throw, or the FD can come up (if the meaty is delayed). FD eliminates crossup protection, meaning the crossup will just hit them, unless they perfectly switch sides after FD'ing. Either way, provided you are meatying with something that avoids wakeup throw, this is a very strong option.
  • Setplay in general - meatying using projectiles such as Venom's ball oki or Dizzy's Fish completely avoid having to deal with this option select entirely. Though this does not necessarily PUNISH

Fuzzy Jump on Wakeup or after Blockstun

On wakeup or after blockstun, FD briefly then perform a One Frame Jump. This is useful versus opponents who rely on throws for offense.

This option select takes advantage of the fact that characters have 9 frames of throw invulnerability on wakeup and 5 frames of throw invulnerability after leaving blockstun.

Combining this throw invulnerability with One Frame Jump allows you to attempt a chicken block while blocking meaties and throws!

Blocking High-Low Unblockables

Multiple attacks can not hit at the same time in the GGXX series: if a strike and a projectile would hit the opponent at the same time, then the projectile is delayed for 1 frame.

This fact means that it's possible to block high-low unblockables if you can switch blocking with perfect timing on that one frame!

For example, if Eddie sets up meaty drill and times it with j.K, it's possible (but extremely difficult) to block it, by blocking high on wakeup for 1 frame, and then immediately switching to low. Example: https://twitter.com/Krakhan/status/1393361001328873479

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