Blocking
- Hold any backward direction to block, including , , and .
Blocking defends against an attack, preventing you being hit and potentially allowing retaliation.
There are several different types of blocking. Correctly picking the right one for each situation is critical for survivability.
After blocking an attack, characters enters a state called blockstun where they are unable to do anything except block, Blue Psyche Burst, or Yellow Roman Cancel. Both characters get pushed back varying amounts depending on the attack and type of blocking used.
Standing and Crouching Block
- Hold or to block standing. This blocks High attacks and "All" attacks, but cannot block Low attacks.
- Hold to block crouching. This blocks Low attacks and "All" attacks, but cannot block High attacks.
In addition, standing block slightly increases the pushback of an attack.
Air Block
- Block any direction while airborne to Air Block.
When airborne, High and Low blocking does not apply, making you able to defend more easily.
However, Air Blocking has drawbacks. You gain more R.I.S.C., and you will be left in a massively increased blockstun from most strikes.
Instant Block
- Begin blocking right as the opponent's attack connects to perform an Instant Block (IB). The timing is a 2 Frame window.
Upon performing an Instant Block, a white flash appears and the word "JUST" will display. This gives a variety of benefits:
- Prevents chip damage
- The defender is not pushed back at all.
- The attacker is pushed back very slightly.
- Gain more Tension on block.
- Increases the Tension Balance for more Tension Gain overall.
- Instant blocking a strike in the air reduces the landing recovery substantially.
While blocking, players can attempt an Instant Block at any point, but cannot mash to block repeatedly, as there is a very brief cooldown between Instant Block attempts.
Since faster attacks generally have shorter range, Instant blocking an opponent's attack often creates new punish opportunities. Instant blocking might even be required to punish certain attacks that are at frame disadvantage but cause too much pushback to punish under normal circumstances.
Faultless Defense
- Hold any two attack buttons except Dust , or hold the Faultless Defense button, while blocking to perform Faultless Defense (FD). This requires Tension to.
An opposite to Instant Block, Faultless Defense costs Tension but requires no timing. It costs Tension continually to hold, and some Tension when blocking an attack.
Instead of keeping opponents close it will push them back much further. This also gives various benefits, including:
- Prevents chip damage.
- Prevents R.I.S.C. Level from increasing.
- The attacker is pushed back substantially.
- Using Faultless Defense to block in the air will cause you to land faster.
Heavier strikes cost more to block with Faultless Defense, while projectiles costs much less.
Instant Faultless Defense
- Perform an Instant Block while holding Faultless Defense to perform an Instant Faultless Defense (IBFD). You may already be holding Faultless Defense, before timing the Instant Block.
Combining the effects of Faultless Defense and Instant Block at the same time, but costs Tension and requires precise timing. In addition, it pushes the opponent back even further than regular Faultless Defense, creating substantial amounts of space. In total the benefits are:
- Prevents chip damage
- Prevents R.I.S.C. Level from increasing
- The defender is not pushed back at all.
- The attacker is pushed back extremely far, even more than from Faultless Defense.
- Using Instant Faultless Defense to block in the air will cause you to land faster.
- Using Instant Faultless Defense to block a strike in the air reduces the landing recovery substantially.
- Returns a small amount of the Tension cost on block.
- Increases the Tension Balance for more Tension Gain overall.
Throw Clash
If you input a ground throw or air throw within 10 frames of the opponent's throw connecting, neither character will receive damage. Instead, both characters will back off and recover in 31 frames. After an air throw clash, both players recover in-air and regain their air actions.
- Only normal throws can be broken; command throws cannot be broken.
- Throw clashes CANNOT be performed while recovering from a move, so unsafe attacks are still unsafe.
- The throw clash animation is fully invincible.
Psych Burst
- Press + any other attack button to perform a Psych Burst. Requires a full Burst Gauge.
A powerful defensive option that can be used at almost any time to reverse the situation. Upon activation, your character releases a massive invincible explosion that knocks the opponent away. Bursts can be used even during blockstun and combos, to escape dangerous situations. However, the Burst Gauge refills very slowly, and does not refill between rounds, making it extremely scarce as a resource.
There are a few situations you cannot Burst, including during a Throw, Overdrive, Guard Crush, and Wall Stick. In addition, an opponent can potentially evade Burst, using Burst Baits and Burst-Safe Combos. You also cannot cancel into Burst or combo into it.
Depending on a character's current state, the Burst will be either Blue or Gold.
- Blue Bursts
Used while blocking or while being hit to deny the opponent damage and reset to neutral.
- If the Burst is blocked or whiffs, the Burst Gauge is drained by 50% more than usual.
- Fully vulnerable while recovering mid-air.
- Gold Bursts
Can be used while in a neutral state, meaning this requires you to already be in a safer position, in exchange Gold Burst is much more rewarding to gain momentum.
- Drains the standard amount of Burst Gauge even if blocked or on whiff.
- Refills 100% Tension on hit.
- Has significantly less recovery, safer on block.
- Substantially more advantaged on hit.
- Fully invincible until landing, meaning a punish can only hit grounded.
- Slower startup, making it easier to avoid safely.
Punish
Sometimes "PUNISH" will appear on the HUD. This means that you hit the opponent during the recovery of their 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 start-up 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. Instant blocking an attack earlier in the blockstring will keep the defender closer to the attacker and make attacks easier to punish.
While the concept of punishing exists in all fighting games, the HUD indicator is helpful for learning while mid-match. Did you actually punish the opponent's attack or were they just not blocking? Now you can know for sure.
One caveat to this is certain attacks are in Counter Hit state during their recovery, such as Ky's Stun Edge. In these cases, the HUD will show COUNTER instead of PUNISH.
Reversal
Reversal is a term used to refer to either performing an action on the first possible frame after recovery or actions that would be used in such a context, such as moves with invincibility during start-up. The HUD displays the word "REVERSAL" when performing a special or Overdrive immediately after recovering from blockstun, hitstun or knockdown. This message is useful to tell when an attack is performed as fast as possible. Please note that there are two different reversal messages depending on whether the reversal is performed out of stun or after waking up.
Normal Moves
Press //// to perform normal moves. Depending on the current state of your character (standing, crouching, jumping, close to opponent), your character will perform different attacks. As a general rule, / attacks are weak and fast, / attacks are strong and slow, and attacks are overhead and low attacks.
Gatling Combination
Most normals can cancel into other normals, this is known as a Gatling Combination, or Gatling for short.
See here for general rules, and check each character's frame data page for any specific gatlings available for them.
Command Normals
Command normals are performed by pressing a specific direction with a specific button. Every character has at least two command normals. is a universal one, and most also have . Many have a command normal with or as well.
/ 6P - Thanks to its frame 1 upper body invulnerability, 6P is useful as a counter poke. It can challenge an opponent's attack in mid or close range. Many forward-lunging, plus on block special moves, such as Giovanna's TrovãoGuardAll [All (Guard Crush)]Startup27Recovery13Advantage+4 [+15] and May's Mr. Dolphin HorizontalGuardAllStartup25Recovery20 (18 OH)Advantage+7, are vulnerable to 6P. In addition, many attacks extends the character's hurtbox further out than the animation implies, due to the weapon itself having a hurtbox. This is especially prevalent on moves like Nagoriyuki's f.SGuardAllStartup16Recovery28Advantage-17 and Leo's f.SGuardAllStartup12Recovery21Advantage-13. If you experiment with 6P, you might be surprised at how many attacks can be beaten with it.
In addition, 6Ps are also good anti-airs. Their upper body invulnerability combined with decent speed and hitbox size make them great tools to punish an opponent who commits to an air approach. Every 6P can be canceled into special moves, so make sure to practice your character’s best combos from it. Keep in mind that not all 6Ps are made equal. Their speed, range and combo opportunities will vary from character to character. For example, Goldlewis' 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery27Advantage-19 has an unusually high hitbox. This makes it a decent anti-air, but weak as a counter poke as it often whiffs above the opponent’s poke.
Other command normals do not have the homogeneity of 6P. Take 6H, for example. Sol's 6HGuardAllStartup9Recovery43Advantage-27 is a risky punishment tool with good speed and range. Faust's 6HGuardHighStartup25Recovery44Advantage-34 is a tricky overhead with huge range. Giovanna's 6HGuardAllStartup17Recovery5 + 10 After LandingAdvantage-10 is a unique, rekka-style normal used for juggle combos and Roman Cancel mix-ups. You will have to study each of your character’s command normals to figure out how to use them.
Dust Attack
- Each character's standing is an overhead attack that is chargeable.
- Dust Attack starts up in 20~28 frames, depending on how long the button is held. On ground hit, it puts the opponent in a floating crumple state that generally cannot be combo'd from without a Roman Cancel, but is even on hit. On block, the attacker is -15.
- Dust Attack (Hold) (a fully charged Dust Attack) starts up in 28 frames, but is more rewarding. On hit, it launches the opponent into the air. On a raw hit, it causes spinning blowback and can be canceled into a Homing Jump. On block, the attacker is -10.
Note that Dust Attack cannot trade with enemy strikes. If a character's Dust Attack and their opponent's strike are both active on the same frame, the opponent's strike will win and Counter Hit.
Homing Jump
- Hold any upwards direction after hitting an opponent with a raw, fully charged Dust Attack to leap into the air and chase them.
During a Homing Jump:
- All air normals can gatling into any air normal
- Canceling an air normal into itself while the opponent is in hitstop performs a unique Finish Blow attack that spikes the opponent down for a hard knockdown
- The attacker gets an extra air jump or air dash
- Nagoriyuki gains an air jump, but Potemkin and Nagoriyuki do not gain an air dash
- All air normals become jump cancelable and air dash cancelable if they weren't already (except command normals)
After the Homing Jump, the characters Area Shift and land in the middle of the stage like after a Wall Break
- If Finish Blow is used, the opponent will crash down and the attacker will land on the opposite side with a frame advantage of +23, giving them time to continue their offense
- If the opponent leaves the screen without being hit by a Finish Blow, both characters float to the ground, the opponent rolls and both characters recover at the same time
Typically a Homing Jump combo uses the extra jump and ends with a knockdown. ex: j. > j. > jc, j. > j. > jc, j. > j. > Finish Blow
Sweep
- Press to perform a sweep that must be blocked low.
On ground hit, sweeps cause a hard knockdown, giving the attacker lots of time to set up okizeme. Comboing into a sweep is usually trading damage for since there are very few ways to combo from it without spending Tension on a Roman Cancel.
Throws
Throws are short ranged, nearly instant attacks that cannot be blocked nor combo'd into (with the exception of opponents in stagger).
Universal throws start up in 2 frames. Throws are in Counter Hit state on whiff, making them high risk should the opponent anticipate it.
Ground Throw
- Press or on the ground to ground throw. You must be close to a grounded opponent to successfully throw them.
Throws are almost universally a character's fastest move to challenge pressure with. They also cause a hard knockdown, allowing for okizeme afterwards. Throws cannot be performed with diagonal inputs (, , etc.).
Air Throw
- Press or in the air to air throw. You must be close to an airborne opponent to successfully throw them. With that said, air throws are much lengthier in range than the ground ones.
Air throws cannot be performed with diagonal inputs (, , etc.). Air throws often give people trouble because they are not as easy to correctly position as ground throws. Typically air throw ranges extend above the character more than they extend below, so the ideal way to air throw is to be slightly below the opponent and rising up to meet them. Thus air throws are often used as an anti-air tool as well as an air-to-air tool when slightly below the opponent. On top of the usual whiff recovery, air throws also have 10 frames of punishable landing recovery on whiff, although the user is not in Counter Hit state.
Command Throw
- Command throws are throws that cannot be escaped. Several characters have special moves or Overdrives that function as command throws.
On the whole, command throws inflict more damage than basic throws and often have better follow-up possibilities. Command throws also have more range than normal throws. Command throws generally have more start-up frames, so they usually can't be used on Reversal as reliably as normal throws can be, but almost all of them are throw invincible throughout start-up and active frames, and will therefore beat a normal throw attempt.
Special Moves
- Special moves require a more elaborate input and have unique effects and properties. There are two main categories of special move inputs:
- Command-type inputs: Requires the player to input directions in a specific order, then input a specific attack button.
- Charge-type inputs: Requires the player to hold or for 30 frames, then input the opposite direction ( and respectively) plus a specific attack button.
A few examples of special moves:
- Projectiles: Ky's Stun EdgeGuardAllStartup13RecoveryTotal 46Advantage-14, Leo's Graviert WürdeGuardAllStartup10RecoveryTotal 50FAdvantage-12, and Faust's What Could This Be?GuardStartup26RecoveryTotal 40Advantage-
- Invincible reversals: Sol's Volcanic ViperGuardAllStartup9Recovery18+10 LandingAdvantage-28 and Leo's EisensturmGuardAllStartup9Recovery33Advantage-28
- Forward-advancing attacks: May's Mr. Dolphin HorizontalGuardAllStartup7Recovery20 (24 OH)Advantage-3 and Chipp's Alpha Blade HorizontalGuardAllStartup29Recovery19Advantage-4
- Command throws: Potemkin's Potemkin BusterGuardGround ThrowStartup5Recovery37Advantage- and Nagoriyuki's Bloodsucking UniverseGuardGround ThrowStartup7Recovery48AdvantageNA
Most special moves can be canceled into from normals, but there are exceptions, such as Sol's Night Raid VortexGuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32 [26]Advantage-17 and FafnirGuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup24Recovery16Advantage+11. Some normal moves also cannot cancel into special moves, such as Dust Attack or Sol's 6HGuardAllStartup9Recovery43Advantage-27. Conversely, special moves can be kara canceled into Overdrives during their first 3 frames of start-up.
Unlike normal attacks, special moves always build some Tension, even if they miss completely. Special moves that deal damage also deal chip damage on block.
Overdrives
- Overdrives (commonly referred to as supers) are moves that cost 50% Tension, and often have even more elaborate inputs compared to special moves.
Some Overdrives are useful as reversals or for unburstable damage like Sol's Tyrant RaveGuardAllStartup7+2Recovery41Advantage-44, while others power up the character like Ky's Dragon InstallGuardAllStartup11+1Recovery25Advantage+4. On start-up, Overdrives freeze the game temporarily to show the character doing a fancy pose or an animated cut-in before attacking. This is commonly referred to as "super flash" or "super freeze". Most Overdrives have start-up both before and after super freeze, allowing the defender to easily react to the attack. Super freezes also have a special input buffer that enables the defender to input an action early to start immediately once super freeze ends. However, some Overdrives do not have start-up after the super freeze, meaning if you didn't already have a counter out pre-super freeze, you are guaranteed to get hit afterwards.
Overdrives that hit the opponent will Wall Break on the last hit if the opponent collides with the wall regardless of Wall Stick (with the opponent in a hard knockdown state after the Area Shift), although it's worth noting that not all hitstun states collide with the wall for their entire duration, even if the character in question physically touches the wall. Distinct from the last hit, any other hit is fixed to not Wall Break, even if they hit an opponent in Wall Stick state.
Taunts and Respects
- Press the Taunt button to perform a Taunt. Press and Taunt to perform a Respect.
Both Taunts and Respects can be canceled into any action besides movement and proximity blocking (Faultless Defense and Instant Faultless Defense are still possible), starting from 1 second into the animation for Respects and 2 seconds into the animation for Taunts. They can be used to give a false sense of vulnerability as your opponent may be lured into attacking.
Performing a Taunt will raise your opponent's Tension Gauge by 10%.
Ground Movement
Walking
- Hold or while standing
Walking is the most basic movement option in your arsenal. Walking is a slow low commital way to move and presents the least risk. Walking can freely and immediately cancel into any action - including blocking, making it useful when baiting and whiff punishing moves or in spacing attacks during combos and pressure while minimizing risk.
Walking towards the opponent also slowly builds Tension.
Running
- or + Dash while grounded
- Running moves your character forward faster and more effectively compared to walking. Keep holding forward to keep running indefinitely.
When ending a run, there is a skidding animation that gives any action done out of it forward momentum. While you can still block in this state, players can choose to stop immediately by spending some meter to immediately cancel a run into Faultless Defense, halting all forward momentum. This technique is known as FD Brake.
Running towards the opponent also builds Tension much faster than walking towards them.
Forward Dash
Not all characters can run - Leo and Giovanna can only dash a fixed distance forward, I-No becomes airborne and continues to gain height the longer the dash is held until eventually stopping, and Nagoriyuki and Potemkin have no forward dash at all.
Backdash
- or + Dash while grounded
- Backdash to quickly move away from the opponent.
Backdashes have invincibility on start-up, which can help you evade opponent's attacks. Be careful when using it, as the invincibility does not last long for most characters and is best used when there is a specific attack you intend to avoid. The exact duration of backdashes and invincibility varies between character and will be listed in the each character's frame data.
Air Movement
Most characters only have 1 air option: you can either double jump or air dash, but cannot do both. There are exceptions, however:
- Nagoriyuki has no air option whatsoever.
- Potemkin can only double jump; he cannot air dash.
- Goldlewis can only air dash; he cannot double jump.
- Millia and Chipp have two air options: Millia can air dash twice or air dash after a double jump; Chipp can triple jump or jump after an air dash.
Jumping
- // while grounded to jump in that direction
- Jumping is the primary air movement of all characters and has lots of potential options afterwards.
All characters except for Nagoriyuki and Goldlewis can double jump by inputting another jump while airborne. By canceling a run into a jump, horizontal momentum will carry over into the jump giving players additional jump trajectories to move around the opponent's attacks. Some normals can be jump canceled on hit or block.
High Jump (Super Jump)
- Quickly // before jumping from the ground
- High jumps are used to travel a much greater vertical distance than regular jumps.
High jumping is like a regular jump, but travels higher and faster. After a high jump, characters can air dash, but not double jump.
Air Dashing
- Quickly / or / + Dash while airborne
- Air dashes are a fast way to move horizontally while airborne.
- Forward air dash will propel the character forward after a short delay.
- Backward air dash is instaneous, but with a shorter travel distance.
All characters except for Potemkin and Nagoriyuki can air dash by inputting a dash while airborne. After air dashing, characters can not cancel into other actions immediately - they must wait a brief moment before being able to attack or block. The amount of time varies by character and exact values can be found in each character's frame data.
Instant Air Dash
Instant Air Dash ( ) is a technique to quickly air dash after jumping and is useful for quickly air dashing over projectiles and covering ground quickly from the air.
See Instant Air Dash for more info.
Prejump
Jumps and high jumps are not instantaneous - before going airborne, characters enter a state called prejump, where they can not block, but are invincible to throws. If hit during prejump, characters enter standing hitstun.
Most characters have a prejump duration of 4 frames, while Potemkin, Nagoriyuki and Goldlewis have a prejump of 5 frames. Nagoriyuki's high jump has a significantly longer prejump duration than his regular jump, at 10 frames.
It is actually possible to cancel prejump into specials and Overdrives, though most characters do not often use this. This property exists so that attacks that involve an Up input, such as Leo's EisensturmGuardAllStartup9Recovery33Advantage-28) can be used without doing tricks to hide the jump input (such as whiffing moves beforehand).
Ground and Air Recovery
Knockdown Recovery
Getting knocked down by most attacks causes a soft knockdown, where the character will instantly roll backwards and quickly recover. A soft knockdown lasts for 30 frames and is fully invincible.
Certain attacks cause a hard knockdown, where the character will lie on the ground briefly before getting up in a fully invincible state. As the character lies on the ground, they are considered in an Off The Ground state and if hit will be knocked backwards into a soft knockdown. Thus most players tend to use this time to set up okizeme rather than continuing the combo. A hard knockdown lasts for 55 frames.
Stagger Recovery
When hit by attacks that cause stagger, players can press any attack button to recover more quickly. There are three different timings for a successful stagger recovery, the faster the timing, the shorter the stagger duration before you're able to block. The button icon will glow blue for slow timings, red to orange for normal timings, and gold for fast timings. There is no penalty to attempting multiple times, and the timing is not very strict, so players usually press a few buttons around when the bar empties and can escape ASAP.
Wall Recovery
A character in Wall Stick state will automatically recover after 59 frames if not hit by an attack that causes Wall Break. This recovery is fully invincible for a brief moment, while allowing the player to perform an attack during this invincibility.
- When stuck to the wall, hold a direction to choose what direction to recover:
- // recovers straight upwards a significant distance
- // recovers in place
- // recovers straight forwards a significant distance
If a character gets stuck to the wall while grounded, without being hit by any launching attacks, they will be unable to recover from the Wall Stick and will instead slump to the ground before standing back up with invincibility similar to a standard hard knockdown. Being hit during this slump will cause a Wall Break. Unlike Wall Recovery, any action you do after will not have any invincibility.
During Wall Recovery, the recovering character is invincible during frames 1~24.
- The recovering character has no collision (able to pass through the other player) during frames 1~9.
- The recovering character may perform any attack starting from frame 10, giving a maximum 15 frames of invincibility for the duration of the move.
During Wall Slump, the slumping character is vulnerable during frames 1~27. Hitting them during this window will Wall Break if the attack can Wall Stick.
- If the attack cannot Wall Stick, it applies its usual properties instead. For standard hitstun, the slumping character is considered crouching.
- The slumping character is invincible during frames 28~42. This behaves standard to other knockdowns.
Cancels
Canceling is skipping some or all of the recovery of one move by starting another move. This usually requires that the first move makes contact with the opponent, and that the first move can be canceled into the second. Cancels are commonly used to make combos and blockstrings.
There are many types of cancels, we wil go over them here.
Gatling Combination
Normal moves can be canceled into other normal moves, including command normals. This is known as a gatling.
There can be character-specific variations, but the general rule is:
- On the ground
- and gatling into themselves, each other, and command normals
- and gatling into normals, and command normals
- Close gatlings into normals, normals, normals, and command normals
- Far and gatling into normals
- In the air
- Jumping gatlings into itself
- Jumping gatlings into jumping
- Jumping gatlings into jumping and jumping
- Jumping gatlings into jumping
It takes some getting used to, but it should feel natural after some practice. Gatlings do not need to be done immediately, players often delay their gatlings to act as a frame trap - baiting overeager opponents to retaliate then hitting them out of the start-up of their attacks. Note that while most normals can gatling even during recovery frames, , and jumping can only gatling during active frames.
Special Cancel
Most normal moves can be canceled into special moves or Overdrives. Nagoriyuki can also cancel his specials in the same way, although it will raise his Blood Gauge.
- Note that while most normals can be special canceled even during recovery frames, , and jumping can only be special canceled during active frames.
Normals can also be kara canceled into special moves, Overdrives, Faultless Defense or Psych Burst during their first 3 frames of start-up. Taunts are considered a special move.
Jump Cancel
Some normal moves can be canceled into a jump or high jump on hit or block.
- On the ground, all characters' and close can be jump canceled. Nagoriyuki's close GuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+3 is an exception to this rule.
- In the air, if you have an air jump remaining, all air normals except for jumping can be jump canceled.
- Jack-O' can jump cancel her jumping GuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 44Advantage- when the projectile connects.
Dash Cancel
Some normal moves can be canceled into a dash or air dash on hit or block.
- On the ground, all characters' and close can be dash canceled. This dash has a fixed duration, varying by character (see character's frame data for more info). All grounded dash cancels can be kara canceled into special moves or Overdrives during their first 3 frames.
- In the air, if you have an air dash remaining, all air normals except for jumping can be air dash canceled.
- Potemkin and Nagoriyuki cannot dash cancel, as they do not have a traditional forward dash or air dash.
- Ramlethal can dash cancel the first two hits of ErarlumoGuardAllStartup16Recovery12Advantage-5.
- Jack-O' can air dash cancel her jumping GuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 44Advantage- when the projectile connects.
Clash
A clash happens when you and your opponent's attacks hit each other in a way that both attacks are nullified. During a clash, both characters gain 10% Tension and are frozen in their current animation for 17 frames, after which their animations resume, however they additionally can cancel into forward dash, any attack, or Faultless Defense, but not backdash, jumps, or normal block. Thus when clashes happen either the players may struggle to react to it because it is unexpected, or they understand how the attacks interact well enough to intentionally cause a clash to cancel out the opponent's attack, then retaliate with their own. When two projectiles clash, players are not frozen, and when two attacks clash, any active projectiles are not frozen.
There are two ways clashes happen:
- Disjointed hitboxes hit each other (see here for a more detailed visual example).
- Two , , jumping , , , and jumping hit each other, for these normals specifically clashes will be forced even if the hitboxes are not disjointed.
Roman Cancels
- Press any three attack buttons (except ) simultaneously to perform a Roman Cancel (RC). Costs 50% Tension.
Roman Cancel is a mechanic that allows you to cancel actions that are not normally cancelable at the cost of Tension. The Roman Cancel system in Guilty Gear -Strive- is designed to be multifaceted and comes in various colors. Each color of Roman Cancel releases a shockwave in a circle around your character with different properties and uses.
Yellow Roman Cancel
- Press any three attack buttons (except ) simultaneously while in blockstun to perform a Yellow Roman Cancel (YRC). Costs 50% Tension.
- On hit, Yellow Roman Cancel slows down the opponent for 10 frames and puts them in Guard Crush state for 43 frames including slowdown, granting the user a frame advantage of +10 on ground hit.
- In the extremely rare case that a Yellow Roman Cancel is combo'd into, it will launch the opponent instead.
- Yellow Roman Cancel applies 50% forced proration on hit, so even if the opponent doesn't block in Guard Crush state, the damage is greatly reduced.
- On block, Yellow Roman Cancel is punishable at -16 and leaves the user in Counter Hit state during their recovery.
Yellow Roman Cancels can be used when blocking at the cost of 50% Tension, for the purpose of stopping an attacking opponent and resetting the momentum of the match. Yellow Roman Cancels can not be performed when your character is in a Guard Crush state. Upon activation, your character creates a shockwave that forces the opponent into a Guard Crush state, granting your character massive frame advantage. Yellow Roman Cancel is a useful tool for challenging an opponent’s pressure, especially for characters that are lacking in character-specific tools.
However, Yellow Roman Cancel is -16 on block and leaves your character in Counter Hit state during its recovery frames. Sharp opponents can block it on prediction and punish it heavily. Make sure to vary when you go for a Yellow Roman Cancel to avoid becoming predictable. In addition, the hefty 50% Tension cost must always be taken into consideration. Said Tension could be used for Overdrives or extending combos or blockstrings with other types of Roman Cancels. Practice utilizing all of your defensive options so as to not end up over relying on Yellow Roman Cancel and burning Tension too quickly.
Dash Roman Cancel
- Input a Dash in either forward , downward , backward , or upward direction and immediately Roman Cancel to perform a Dash Roman Cancel in that direction.
Often referred to as "Drift Roman Cancel", allowing you to move in a direction while Roman Cancelling, allowing improved positioning and movement. This can be done on Purple, Blue, and Red Roman Cancels, but not Yellow Roman Cancel.
Your motion occurs fully during the Roman Cancel animation, creating a functionally 'instant' change of position against your opponent.
In addition, a Red Roman Cancel also changes its launch trajectory following your drift direction, getting more height for going up or back, while getting less for moving down or forward.
Cancel the Roman Cancel
- Input an attack shortly after the Roman Cancel begins to cancel into a new attack immediately.
Often referred to as "Fast Roman Cancel", and officially "Roman Cancel Cancel". By cancelling out of a Roman Cancel quickly, you gain a few additional properties.
- The Tension drain is cancelled, reducing to a minimum of 36% Tension cost.
- Momentum is conserved, rather than halting it completely.
- If you performed a Dash Roman Cancel, the drift also adds momentum in its respective direction.
- The slowdown effect duration is reduced.
- For Red and Purple Roman Cancel, the slowdown is removed on the next hit.
- For Red Roman Cancel, the explosive shockwave will not occur, and not launch the opponent.