GGST/Getting Started

Getting Started!

Welcome to the starter guide for Guilty Gear -Strive-! This page is intended for both people who have just bought -Strive- as their first fighting game, and veterans who need a quick introduction to the game. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of information and content in the internet, so take this guide piece by piece. Once you feel like you have understood the section, played around with it in actual games, feel free to continue reading on.

A Note on Mission Mode

The tutorials for Guilty Gear -Strive- in Mission Mode are thorough and detail many fighting game concepts from basic to high level techniques. They're at least worth a look, but feel free to skip past a mission if you already understand the information it details or are having trouble with the specific execution the mission demands of you. Most basic through intermediate level fighting game concepts are covered in Mission Mode. Since there are so many concepts covered by mission mode, you should feel free to take breaks and return to it throughout your play sessions as you progress as a player.

101 - Introductory

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) -- The Heads Up Display (HUD) -- The Controls

This section is meant to serve as a crash course, allowing you to start playing the game as soon as possible. Note that you do not have to remember everything written here, but as a "read something, try it in game, and come back here".

DO NOT force yourself to read through every article, complete every tutorial mission, or learn every move your character has before you hop in and play the game. Remember that Strive is a game the point of which is to have fun. Don't think that fully understanding every nuance of every game mechanic is required to play and enjoy the game. These are resources that are meant to help you enjoy the game and play it meaningfully beyond mashing buttons, they are not required reading lists on a course syllabus.

Helpful resources for Beginners:

Using Training Mode - Training mode is helpful at all levels. Familiarizing yourself with the basics of training mode early will help you improve at all levels of play.

Getting Started - A general guide to getting started in fighting games. As applicable to Strive as any other game.

102 - Intermediate

Once you've played some matches and gotten a feel for the game, you may find it helpful to review some of the other system pages, particularly:

Movement -- Offense -- Defense -- Gauges

These pages expand on many of the topics in Controls, as well as into a few more intermediate and advanced topics. Now is a good time to familiarize yourself with any character-specific movement options and unique mechanics your character may have. These are summarized at the top of each character's Overview Page.

Helpful resources for Intermediate players:

Your character's subpages: Each character has a number of subpages detailing things like combos, strategy, Okizeme From Japanese "起き攻め". Attacking an opponent about to wake up after they were knocked down, usually with meaty attacks or mix-ups., and off-wiki resources such as players to watch.
Glossary: as you get involved with more technical language, remember that this resource is available to help you with terms unique to fighting games. The Fighting Game Glossary by Infil is another useful resource for this.

Character selection

This game is fairly well-balanced, so things like tierlists should be entirely disregarded for the most part. Any character can succeed at practically most levels of gameplay, so play whoever you want.

Below is a table of the rough playstyle that each character employs. Each character has their own tools, so even if two characters share the same category, they can be wildly different in the methods they use to achieve that. Because this game is fairly aggressive, every character will eventually attempt to put the opponent into the corner to provide close-range pressure.

Consult the Fighting Game Glossary if you are confused about any specific terms.

Playstyle table
Character	Preferred Range	Archetype	Notable Traits
Sol Badguy	Close	Rushdown	High damage coupled with scary pressure.
Ky Kiske	Mid-Range	Strike-Throw	Archetypical shoto with solid Strike-Throw.
May	Close	Rushdown/Charge	Small, quick and terrifying.
Axl Low	Far	Zoner	Prefers to fight at full-screen until you get knocked down.
Chipp Zanuff	Close	Mixups/Rushdown	Flies like an eagle. Dies of one hit.
Potemkin	Close	Grappler/Strike-Throw	HEAVENLY POTEMKIN BUSTER!
Faust	Mid-Range to Far	Setplay/Zoner	Tall goofy doctor who throws random items into battle.
Millia Rage	Close	Mixups/Setplay	The queen of putting the opponent through the blender, with the force of a thousand cuts.
Zato-1	Mid-Range	Puppet/Mixups	Fights alongside Eddie, for a powerful offense where he covers Zato's blindspots.
Ramlethal Valentine	Mid-Range	Rushdown	Large attacks and high damage.
Leo Whitefang	Close	Stance/Mixups	Turns his back against his opponent and gains strong attacks.
Nagoriyuki	Mid-Range	Mid-range Footsies/Rushdown	Can cancel specials into other specials, and delivers terrifying corner pressure.
Giovanna	Close	Rushdown/Strike-Throw	Coupled with the fastest dash in the game, she is the definition of "footsies".
Anji Mito	Mid-Range	Mixups	Has multiple guard-points, and delivers solid mix with his dance-like moves.
I-No	Close	Mixups	Forces the opponent to deal with unreactable high-low mix.
Goldlewis Dickinson	Mid-Range	Mixups/Strike-Throw	Deals significant chip damage with his signature move Behemoth Typhoon, and can deliver high damage upon hitting the opponent.
Jack-O'	Close	Setplay/PuppetJack-O' isn't a traditional puppet character, whereas instead of controlling both characters at the same time, she controls minions on the field that can attack or defend.	Places minions into the field, which can be used to create infinite blockstrings.
Happy Chaos	Any	Zoner/Rushdown	Is the character with the most freedom to do what he wants.
Baiken	Mid-Range	Strike-Throw/Mixups	Solid stagger pressure and ability to tether herself to her opponent.
Testament	Far	Zoner/Setplay	Uses strong projectiles and high-low mix to play keep-away at the opponent.
Bridget	Mid-Range	Setplay/Mixups	Long normals coupled with Yo-Yo setplay lets her mix the opponent in the corner
Sin Kiske	Mid-Range	Strike-Throw/Mid-range footsies	Constant frametraps and has the ability to move through the field quickly.