GGST/Zato-1/Counterstrategy

Fighting Zato

Zato is a puppet character whose goal is to summon his shadow, Eddie, and use him to either zone you out, force you into the corner where he can apply immense pressure, or position Eddie behind you so that he can assault you with multilayered high and low mix-ups. Without Eddie, Zato has few tools to initiate a strong offense or even defend himself well, and it’s when Eddie is gone that you should run your offense. A lot of players focus on counterplay after Zato’s been able to position Eddie behind them. This is his win condition, there’s not much that can be done when this happens. You need to focus on forcing Zato to play without Eddie to secure your victory.

Unique Attributes/Mechanics

Eddie/Eddie Gauge

As mentioned before, Zato’s gameplay revolves around the use of his shadow Eddie. Zato can summon him using the special move Summon EddieGuardStartup20Recovery8Advantage-. This is what’s referred to as an empty summon. The same command unsummons Eddie as well. This isn’t the only way Zato can summon Eddie, he can also summon him by inputting most of his other special moves.

Zato has a gauge above his tension gauge for Eddie. The gauge signifies Eddie's health (3000 HP). When Eddie is summoned, it will gradually decrease by 5 HP every frame when idle, and each of Eddie's attacks use up a certain amount of the gauge. If Eddie is unsummoned before the gauge runs out, the gauge will turn white, and quickly recover (55 HP recovered each frame until full). Eddie can be summoned again at any time during this. Unsummoning Eddie allows Zato to preserve Eddie’s longevity and summon him again much faster. If Eddie or Zato is hit by an attack, or the Eddie gauge is depleted fully, the gauge will turn red and will recover at a slower rate (15 HP recovered every frame until full, 200f duration). During this time, Zato cannot summon Eddie until the gauge is full again. Zato needs to avoid this as much as possible in order to preserve Eddie, and keeping Zato from being able to summon Eddie should be your number one priority every single match. There isn’t much that Zato can do without Eddie. Most of his special moves involve Eddie, and Zato can’t do any of them if the Eddie gauge is depleted.

Round Start

When rounds start, Zato doesn’t have Eddie summoned, so he begins in his weakest state. In order to safely summon Eddie, he needs to at least land a normal on block. His fastest option is f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-12, which has 10 frames of start up but this is easily beaten by 5P or 6P. This is also whiff punishable with a microwalk backwards, as this normal has 20 frames of recovery. His next option is 2SGuardAllStartup11Recovery20Advantage-10, which is slower than f.S (it has 11 frames of startup), but has more reach. If you’re a character with a 2S faster than 11 frames, you have a faster round start option and can stuff this from a safe distance. This normal has a pretty big hurtbox on it. It can be stuffed by just about any button that’s active during the same interval of time. After shutting down his slash options, he’ll try to rely on his punches and kicks to hold his ground. Both his 5PGuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 [0] and 2PGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-3 [-1] can be 6P’d. Some characters can even low-profile his 5P. His 5KGuardLowStartup8Recovery10Advantage-2 has no range. His 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery13Advantage-3 is decent in terms of speed and range, but it doesn’t convert into 2D or anything else at max range. It also won’t hit you round start unless you move forward. Flight is Zato’s unique airdash. This allows him to slowly fly anywhere on screen. This could be his last resort for round starts, as it can be a tricky neutral option to deal with. You’ll need to rely on either your 6P or a well-timed air throw. If Zato is constantly using it and stalling to bait anti-airs, the best universal option is an air throw.

Neutral

In order to win neutral, Zato must complete a three step process:

1. Close the distance, so that you’re within Eddie’s effective range.

2. Create enough blockstun to safely summon Eddie

3. Set up his high/low or strike/throw mix

He has two ways to accomplish this process. He either has to create the blockstun using one of his own normals, or empty summon Eddie from a safe distance and use Eddie’s attacks to set up his mix. It’s safer for him to use Eddie’s attacks to do so, so you’ll need to learn how they work and the proper counterplay for Eddie’s attacks.

Zato’s most frequent and safest method of summoning Eddie is OpposeGuardAllStartup66Recovery(Summon Vanishes)Advantage-. Unless you have Tension, you CAN NOT attack this move if it is active, no matter what. It has infinite hits of armor, it will absorb any attack even if Zato is in front of Eddie, and it will automatically attack after a set period of time. (More info on how to deal with Oppose in the “Dealing with Oppose” section down below). Oppose is often used to safely set up Eddie, as Zato can cancel Oppose into any other Eddie-related special move. In addition to Oppose, you’ll have to worry about:

Drunkard ShadeGuardAllStartup9Recovery12Advantage-8, a move not only reflects projectiles, but also causes Eddie to dash forward in order to cover the distance. A common mistake newer (or nervous) Zato players make is to use Drunkard Shade to send Eddie fullscreen at the opponent. Zato can’t protect Eddie if he does this. Eddie has recovery from this dash and can be hit out of any of his attacks with low hitting moves like 2P or 2K. Killing Eddie in this situation can turn neutral in your favor.

PierceGuardAllStartup13Recovery24Advantage-- a two-hitting attack that’s disjointed at the tips. After the first hit, Zato can cancel into almost any of his other special moves.

LeapGuardAllStartup13Recovery34Advantage-- a large move that causes Eddie to transform into a frog and leap into the air. It’s used in Zato’s anti-air conversions, of which, Zato has some of the best of in the game. Don’t carelessly jump in against Zato if he has Eddie out.

That's A LotGuardAllStartup19→34→49→64RecoveryTotal 66Advantage-- has Eddie create 4 lingering drills that, one after the other, go across the screen horizontally. It has 19 frames of start up if he’s already summoned and 27 frames if he’s unsummoned. The most important thing about this move is that it’s +55 on block. It’s a move that’s often used in Zato’s pressure to keep you locked down. Because of the attack's long duration, it's an effective tool to lock you in blockstun, allowing Zato to close distance or create a variety of ambiguous mixups. In neutral it can be used to cover a lot of ground, denying you space and allowing Zato to take it. This move also makes it very tricky for certain characters like Nagoriyuki or I-no to approach Zato.

The best way to play against Zato is to play patiently, bait him into overextending with Eddie, take Eddie out as fast as possible, and then move in on Zato when he doesn’t have much of a way to stop you. You also need to visually confirm what he’s doing and be able to tell the difference between the different Eddie moves. Once you’re able to do that, you can consistently counter him.

Dealing With Oppose Situations

As mentioned before, Oppose has two phases. The first is a moving guardpoint. All strikes and projectiles will be absorbed, even if Zato is in front of Eddie. Oppose can’t stop you from just running up and grabbing Zato, however Zato does have a command grab, Damned FangGuardGround ThrowStartup6Recovery38Advantage-, and since all command grabs take priority over regular grabs, Zato can stop you from grabbing him during Oppose by doing this. If Zato uses Oppose in the corner, he’s likely trying to set this up. To avoid this, you can jump to avoid the command grab or dash up and try to grab him yourself. If you jump, do not land with an aerial attack, or else the snakes from Oppose will hit you. If Zato ever uses Damned Fang midscreen, the okizeme he gets from it should not be respected. Zato is only +7 and spaced at a little more than roundstart distance. He’d have to go for unorthodox meaty buttons like 2S. This is vulnerable to invincible reversals.

As far as neutral is concerned, it’s better to play around the second phase of Oppose. In its second phase, Oppose becomes a falling disjointed hitbox. To escape this, super jump, backdash, or move behind Eddie. It’s even better if you can make Zato block after he sends it out because that’ll unsummon Eddie. Experiment with your aerial movement and attacks to create opportunities. If Oppose fully completes, this will completely drain the Eddie gauge. Zato does have ways to work around this.

If you’re not in position to threaten Zato immediately after Oppose comes out, you’re in the “Oppose Stance”. Think of it as a mini game where the underlying premise is that Zato must get some value before Oppose completes and he loses Eddie. Once this stance is in play, there are three primary ways Zato can get value out of Oppose:

Run up and grab you as fast as possible if you’re close by
Use Oppose as a meat shield to safely land a normal and then put Eddie behind you with Drunkard Shade
Go directly into Drunkard Shade and mix you from there

Which option he’ll choose will depend on the range he’s at when Oppose Stance begins. In essence, the further away you are the more guesswork Zato has to do to get a reward.

For run up grab, it’s easy to spot. Jump, back dash, or use a special move to get out of the Oppose zone entirely. This is Zato’s low commitment option. Remember, even if the grab whiffs, Zato is protected by Oppose. If you think the grab is coming while in close quarters, focus on repositioning. Then look for an unsummon or Drunkard Shade. That’s when he’s vulnerable.

In the mid-range, he’ll opt to land a normal, then special cancel into Drunkard Shade. Whether the normal lands on hit or on block, he can send Eddie behind you and run his mix. However, there aren’t a lot of Oppose Stance situations where you can’t avoid the normal. You can bait his normals out with a super jump or you can do a regular jump then air dash out of the way of his normals.

At further ranges where he can’t lock you down with normals, he wants to save Eddie. He’ll almost be forced to either unsummon or send out a raw Drunkard Shade. If he sends out Drunkard Shade, remember, this is extremely risky because Zato himself is completely unprotected. He’s simply betting on you respecting the space where Oppose just was. If you notice you’re at a distance, look for the Drunkard Shade to punish or jump out.

This might be a lot to remember. Just bear in mind, after Oppose, Zato must act by either giving Eddie a command before Oppose completes or attacking you directly. The worst thing that you can do is nothing. That’s when Zato starts unsummoning point blank in your face. Do NOT just let him get away with unsummoning. Him unsummoning in your face means that he is consciously choosing to become a bad character because he thinks you’ll respect him long enough so that he can become a good character again. Remember, the further away you are from him, the more guesswork he has to do.

These are the guidelines for Oppose if you don’t have Tension. If you DO have Tension, you can actually hit Oppose with an attack and then RRC it to kill Eddie and initiate a combo, though bear in mind Zato can block this. You can also get through it with an Overdrive or Burst. Additionally many characters have options to punish fullscreen summons on reaction such as Ky's Sacred Edge or Baiken's Kenjyu (Fireworks Gun).

Dealing With Pierce

If Eddie is already summoned, Pierce will be his go-to for setting up his mix. It has a 13 frame startup, is disjointed and can’t be 6P’d. Pierce will beat everything except for 3 frame normals, however, it has a 6 frame gap between the two hits that can be contested. If Zato is not at close range and/or Eddie is not already summoned when Zato does Pierce, this gap can and should be contested every single time. The best way to punish this is by mashing your 5 frame normal. This will beat uncanceled Pierce.

Countering this will force Zato to either plug the gap with a normal such as 2S, or special cancel into other moves which could leave him vulnerable. Pierce can be canceled into Oppose, Leap, That’s a Lot, or Drunkard Shade. He can do these options to protect Eddie, but they all come at a cost to the Eddie Gauge. If he closes the gap, he can’t use his high/low mix. All he can do is strike/throw. Jumping followed by an aerial will allow you to escape (and sometimes punish) uncancelled Pierce or if he cancels into That's a Lot or Drunkard Shade. If he cancels into Oppose, this leaves him vulnerable to a run up grab. If he tries to use Drunkard Shade at point blank to send Eddie behind you, this leaves him open to immediate punishes. Dash blocking will allow you to react and punish canceling into Leap or Drunkard Shade while being safe whether Zato cancels into anything or not.

Being proactive once Pierce comes out is key. Zato has answers to all these options but for the most part they have to be done as a read and not on reaction. This results in an RPS situation. As such, if you are good at mixing up your options you can make it much more difficult for Zato to get his offense started. Furthermore, Zato will have significantly less Eddie gauge to lock you down with.

Dealing With Leap

If Zato is using Leap in neutral, you’ve kind’ve already won because it takes half of the Eddie gauge no matter what, meaning if he locks you down properly, he won’t be able to both mix AND convert. Leap is vulnerable to 6P. It consists of two hits, with the first hit taking place as Eddie rises and the second hit taking place as Eddie falls. From farther distances, if the first hit whiffs, you can 6P the second hit. Even if you block it, depending on the distance, Zato’s gotta get the hit quick or he has to retreat and get some of the Eddie gauge back.

Dealing With That's A Lot

That’s a Lot is not fast, but it’s very low commitment. Since the move is disjointed, it allows Zato to safely pressure you without risking himself or Eddie. Like Leap, this move takes half of the Eddie gauge to use, assuming Zato doesn’t cancel it and allows all four drills to come out. Unlike Leap, since Eddie stays on the ground, he can be sent behind you at any point during That’s a Lot with Drunkard Shade. Since this move travels slowly with a fixed distance, you can just get out of the way and be prepared to take out Eddie, or you can back up and then super jump and air dash forward to punish Zato after he sends out Eddie with Drunkard Shade. Since Zato loses half of his gauge if the move completes, he will most likely cancel the move on whiff or on block as soon as he feels comfortable to start locking you down. You can use this to your advantage. If you’re not locked down quite yet and you see the approach of Drunkard Shade, you can either approach from the ground or the sky. If Zato doesn’t get Eddie to cover him up in time, you’re officially in. Don’t just rely on one option though. The more Zato has to guess the approach, the less gauge he’ll have. Whenever Zato goes into this move from a blockstring, you’ll always have enough time to jump out of it. If you have a double jump, you can keep yourself in the air. You can jump and air block onto the spikes so that you can avoid any mix up and further pressure. You can’t give him the on-block frame advantage.

Exposing Solo Zato

If Zato doesn’t have time to summon Eddie, he’ll try to make due with his normals, then summon. His most valuable button in regards to this is his 5H. It has 13 frames of startup, is disjointed at the tip, and guarantees the first hit of Pierce on block. However, it’s very bad for Zato to whiff this button, as it has 19 frames of recovery and leaves him very vulnerable. Contesting this with your 6P can also work, but only if you’re close and fast enough. He can still summon Eddie in case it clashes, but following up clashes with your fastest move will typically beat this, since Zato’s buttons and specials are on the slower side.

Any other grounded normals cannot protect Eddie from 5F jabs during Pierce. You can mash after his slashes, however Zato can deter you from mashing with Invite HellGuardAllStartup18Recovery2Advantage-7. This special has Zato create a big drill that sprouts from the ground. It starts off tall but then sinks back to the ground, expanding its hitbox and making it wider. It doesn’t lead into anything other than a soft knockdown, however. It’s generally safe to jump, however, it can be canceled with Drift PRC which can also allow Zato to cover the ground while being able to react to what you’re doing, and he can anti-air you while doing this. It is -7 on block, so depending on your distance, you can also just block and punish it, and Zato will be forced to play neutral at a frame disadvantage.

Aside from Invite Hell, he could also cancel into Leap or That’s a Lot, but if you block these, he now has to start his offense with half of the Eddie gauge. Chances are he’ll mainly resort to Invite Hell as a result, so as long as you respond correctly to Invite Hell on block, his slash normals hold little to no value and just like 5H, his f.S and 2S are very whiff punishable. Since Zato can’t afford to whiff, use this to your advantage, and try to bait out his slash normals.

Offense

Zato has no reversals, a lackluster backdash, and low reward abare options. Do not be afraid to meaty Zato if you can time them well. He has the worst options in the game to contest this. One caveat is that in the corner wakeup throw can be very rewarding for Zato so keep your meaties tight.

Defense

If Zato’s managed to get Eddie behind you and has begun to run his offense, there is one thing that dictates your survival: The Eddie Gauge. If it’s near full at the beginning of his offensive sequence, in all honesty, you’re likely getting hit, so if you have the ability to YRC or Burst, use it here. If it’s around 30%, it’s okay to just block or recklessly contest because the punishment won’t be too hard. There’s not enough Eddie Gauge left for him to do much damage. When the gauge is around 50%, Zato only has one or two spots to open you up. You’re gonna have to be a lot more proactive and look for an opening. Remember these three rules for his offense:

1. Eddie can’t mix you. He can only do mids. You have to block either high or low in relation to Zato’s attacks.

2. You have 5 frames of grab invulnerability after leaving blockstun. If Zato chooses to grab, there will be a gap in his pressure. Backdash and punish if he tries to go for it.

3. Zato has two overheads that he can hit you with: 5DGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 or 6KGuardHighStartup28Recovery7Advantage+2. If he goes for either, there will always be a mashable gap, so just block low and watch out for these. Uncharged 5D has 20 frames of start up, while charged 5[D]GuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10 and 6K both have 28 frames of start up.

Zato’s safest way to open you up is with frametraps to catch mashing. Simply blocking low and waiting will protect you from the first layer of offense. If you don’t take the frametrap bait, he’ll have to start taking risk for overheads/grabs. It’s practical for Zato to go for a riskier overhead/low/grab mix after the second hit of Pierce. If you’re going to contest, do it here. Each time you contest correctly on defense, he needs more Gauge to engage with so he can alter his pressure, which requires even more use of the Eddie Gauge. Your goal by the time you get locked down is to force Zato to use at least half of his Eddie Gauge.