Guard
Guarding, commonly known as Blocking, is the fundamental form of defense in fighting games.
Most special and supers moves also inflict a small percentage of their damage through guard. This is known as chip damage.
When a player guards, they are put into a state known as blockstun during which their ability to act is mostly taken away. Dead Angle Attack, Blue Burst, and can still be used during blockstun.
Guarding an attack also pushes the defender back. This phenomenon is called pushback. The amount of pushback varies by attack, though generally the higher the Attack Level, the more pushback. Some attacks even pull in the defender instead of pushing them back (known as vaccum)! When the defender guard a strike in the corner, pushback is applied to the attacker instead, making sure that the net pushback both characters experience is the same regardless of corner. This corner effect does not apply to projectiles nor partner characters like Zato-1's shadow Eddie.
- Unblockable Attack
Some attacks cannot be guarded against. These generally fall into two categories: throws and unblockables. Throws are proximity based attacks which cannot be guarded against. Unblockables are special strikes which hit opponents even if they guard. Unblockables, such as Slayer's Undertow
GuardUnblockableStartup39Recovery22Advantage-, must be avoided in some way other than guarding.
- High+Low Unblockables
There is also another class of unblockable attacks that exist by hitting a grounded opponent with high+low attacks at the same time. Because they can not block both high+low at once, they are guaranteed to get hit. There is no icon to show when this unblockable happens, though there is an exclamation mark showing that they blocked "incorrectly". Zato-1 has setups into these types of unblockables.
Grounded Guard
Hold 4 or 1 While Grounded
- Basic ground guarding is the most common defensive option. Also known as blocking.
There are 2 types of ground guard: standing guard and crouching guard. Standing guard will block high and mid attacks, crouching guard will block mid and low attacks.
If you guard incorrectly you will get hit. "!" will appear over your character if you incorrectly guard an attack. Remember, you cannot block against throws, and some attacks are unblockable.
Airborne Guard
Hold Any Backwards Direction While Airborne
There is no high-low blocking in the air, making it a common place for defenders to go to avoid blocking ground-based high/low/throw mixup. That's not to say that being airborne is a fail-safe defensive posture; getting airborne is a risk since jumps have a bit of vulnerable startup and you need to deal with air throws, crossups, and air unblockable attacks.
Landing while in air blockstun will replace any remaining air blockstun with ground blockstun!
- Ex: After air blocking an attack that causes 20F air blockstun, you land after 15F. That means after landing, you will be in ground blockstun for 5F.
Air Unblockable Attacks
Many ground based attacks are air unblockable. Typically all of a character's grounded normal moves are air unblockable. Air unblockable attacks can still be air blocked using Faultless Defense. As a general rule of thumb, use Air Faultless Defense if the opponent is attacking you from the ground.
By default, Special Moves, Overdrives and Instant Kills can be blocked in the air normally, but exceptions apply.
In the frame data, an attack that is NOT air unblockable will have their Guard values listed as Air. Note that this is not the same as Mid, as these attacks are air unblockable.
Cross-up Protection
Blocking can be difficult since the opponent can do tricks to swap sides. However, there is slight leniency to give players time to switch blocking direction: the first 3 frames after the opponent swap sides (not necessarily in blockstun), they will still block attacks from the opposite direction even if they are holding forward direction (with respect to opponent)! All other rules for blocking still apply, such as needing to correctly block high/low.
Instant Block
Begin Guard Right Before An Attack Connects (8 Frame Window)
Instant Blocking is a more powerful, advanced form of blocking. On successful Instant Block, your character will flash white. Mistiming an Instant Block locks out IBing for [unknown number of] frames, this prevents mashing IB.
- Instant Blocking has the benefit of
- Recover faster from blockstun (for exact amounts check the Attack Level table).
- Reduced pushback (which might be a good or bad thing depending on your character).
- Builds a small amount of extra Tension.
- Increased Tension Pulse (which means more Tension later).
- Increased Tension Balance threshold, which allows your Tension Balance to increase to a higher rate than normally possible.
- 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.
A successful IB will give you more room to either escape the pressure, or to abare out the situation.
Faultless Defense
While Guarding, hold any 2 attack buttons (except D)
Faultless Defense is an interesting and highly useful technique. It's often used to negate chip damage, but it has other important uses.
Faultless Defense is often used to end 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 him away with Faultless Defense, then counter attack while the opponent is still recovering from his whiffed attack! Note that Faultless Defense does not get any increased pushback against projectiles - you will receive the same pushback as though you had blocked them normally.
- Notable aspects of Faultless Defense
- Consumes Tension Gauge while buttons are held
- Can air Faultless Defense to guard almost all air unblockable strikes
- Prevents chip damage
- Increases pushback
- Increases blockstun (see Attack Level)
Just like with Instant Blocking, you still must block high/low attacks correctly when using Faultless Defense.
Blitz Shield
H+ any other attack (except D) with 25% Tension Gauge (air OK)
Blitz Shield will deflect the opponent's attack and stun the opponent giving you the opportunity to gain momentum.
After successfully shielding an attack, you become invincible to attacks for a brief period of time. If you shielded an opponent's strike, the opponent enters reject state and is open to attack. If you shield a projectile near the opponent they will be rejected, but further away opponents will be unaffected.
Beware that a rejected opponent can still attempt a Blitz Shield while rejected.
- Reject state lasts for 61F if not canceled into a Blitz Shield.
| Reject Window | Total | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standing | 1-12F | 38F | Rejects high, mid and unblockable strikes/projectiles |
| Crouching | 1-12F | 38F | Rejects low and unblockable strikes |
| Air | 1-12F | Until Landing + 12F | Rejects all strikes/projectiles Landing during first 12F will immediately enter recovery Successful Blitz Shield allows movement while airborne |
- Blitz Shield will not work against throws, max charge Blitz Attacks, and Overdrives.
- Successfully Blitz Shielding a strike attack will refund 10% Tension and a little bit of Burst Gauge.
- Throws will whiff on a rejected opponent, and throw protection applies immediately after exiting reject state.
- Standing Blitz Shield must be performed with
. Crouching Blitz Shield must be performed with 
or 
. Air Blitz Shield must be performed with . Holding back or forwards will not work. - It's very important to note that Blitz Shield comes out in one frame, so it can be used to get out of situations that other reversals can't be used for.
Blitz Attack
Hold H during Ground Blitz Shield
During a ground Blitz Shield, hold H to charge a Blitz Shield Charge Attack (Blitz Attack for short), and release the button to attack.
- While charging, you will continue to reject attacks.
- Upon glowing red, the charge will reject all rejectable moves until release, regardless if they're high, mid or low.
- At max charge, the attack itself gains a greatly increased Attack Level and can no longer be rejected by a Blitz Shield.
- On ground hit, causes horizontal blowback with wall stick in the corner at partial charge, crumples at max charge (or on Counter Hit at partial charge).
- On air hit, causes horizontal blowback with wall stick in the corner at partial charge, floats with wall stick in the corner at max charge (or on Counter Hit at partial charge).
- Partial charge version has 55% initial proration, max charge version does not prorate.
- All levels of charge steal a small amount of the opponent's Burst Gauge on hit.
Grounded Movement
Walking
[4] or [6] while on the ground
Walking is the most basic form of movement by holding 
or 
.
Characters will continue to walk so long as their player holds down the directional input. 1 and 3 are not valid walk inputs. Each character has a unique walk speed for both forwards and backwards.
One of the main advantages to walking is that it provides fine grain control over one's positioning. By contrast, jumps lock the player into a fixed arc, and runs maintain momentum for a time after the player releases their input.
Because walks can be canceled immediately, they allow the user to block freely after forwards movement, which running on its own does not allow. Another advantage is that walks are usually silent. Without an associated audio cue, walks can be hard to react to.
Running
6[6] while on the ground
Running is conceptually similar to walking, but faster and with some negative trade-offs.
Akin to walking, each character has their own running speed and acceleration. Some characters—such as 
Potemkin—cannot run at all. Other characters have special alternatives to running. A list of these special cases can be found below.
Although running requires two consecutive 6 inputs, the player can shift their forwards input into a 3 input so long as they maintain a constant forwards input. The player character will continue to run so long as a valid run input is held. If the player releases the run input and does not cancel the run into another action, they will perform a run skid animation.
Runs will sometimes maintain momentum when canceled into another action, and other times can have their momentum negated. This varies on a case-by-base basis.
| Character | Run Type |
|---|---|
 Johnny,  Leo (during Brynhildr Stance) |
Step Dash |
 I-No |
Hover Dash |
 Slayer |
Teleport Step Dash |
 Bedman |
Guard Point Step Dash |
 Raven |
Invincible Run |
| Potemkin |
Cannot Run |
Run Skid
The run skid animation is a 5F state characters enter when their run is ended without canceling into another action.
This state is cancelable into most actions, but has a major restriction. During the run skid animation, the player cannot guard. This limitation can be avoided by using a technique known as "Brake" or "FD Braking". Brake cancels the run skid animation by using Faultless Defense for a short period of time.
Backdash
44 while on the ground
Backdashes are movement options which provide a quick burst of backwards movement with some invulnerability.
Each character's backdash has its own frame data and physics. The invulnerability for backdashes begins on the first frame of their animation. This means that backdashes can be used to avoid attacks with good timing.
Backdashes travel a fixed distance at a set speed, are not cancelable, and are completely vulnerable for some period in the latter portion of their animation. For these reasons, they are not always preferable to backwards walking.
Aerial Movement
Jumping
Any Upward Direction while on the ground
Jumping is the most basic way to put one's player character into the air.
Players can jump while on the ground, or while in the air. When a character jumps, they are locked into a fixed arc which is determined by the direction of the jump input combined with any momentum they have at the time of the jump. Each character has their own jump physics. These determine the speed, height, and duration of their jumps. Before the character becomes airborne, there is a short Prejump Animation with some limitations, explained in its respective section. After a player jumps, they take on the airborne property, which affects what moves they can use, as well as how they receive incoming hit effects. During the first airborne frame, characters can only guard and not attack. This is only a factor when calculating the fastest input for Instant Air Specials.
Most characters can jump two times before returning to the ground under normal circumstances.
High Jump
Any Downward Direction > Any Upward Direction while on the ground
High Jumping (aka super jump) travels higher vertically than standard jumping, but in exchange characters cannot double jump (air dash is still available).
High Jump an be done by going from neutral , then tapping any downward direction (
), then tapping any upward direction (
). Pressing will change which direction you high jump, just like normal jumping. During a High Jump, characters will automatically turn to face the opponent if you jump over them.
It is always best to mix up the two types of jumps to keep your opponent on their toes depending on the situation.
Prejump
Jumps and High Jumps are not instantaneous - before going airborne, characters will enter a standing state called prejump, where they can not block, but are invincible to throws.
Characters have different amount of prejump frames, but the rule of thumb is that the heavier/slower the character is, the longer the prejump. Most characters have 3 frames of prejump, but exact values can be found in each character's frame data.
It is actually possible to cancel prejump into Blitz Shield, Burst, Specials and Supers. The reason for this is that attacks that involve an Up input, such as Leo's Eisen Sturm ([2]8H) can be used without going through hoops to hide the jump input (such as whiffing moves beforehand). It also allows players to be slightly sloppy with their inputs and still get specials (ex 2369S instead of 236S).
The most common use of this prejump special cancel is to do corner Dust combos into Blitz Attack. Since you can not cancel normals into a Blitz Attack, you can instead jump cancel a normal, then cancel the prejump frames into a Blitz Attack.
Air Dash
j.44 or j.66
Air Dashes are the near universal burst movement option while airborne. Most characters can air dash one time before returning to the ground. Other characters cannot air dash at all. For a breakdown of these rules, see the air options explanation. When a character air dashes, they travel at a speed specific to them for a time period specific to them. Each character's air dash has their own startup time. The player character is not actionable for a period of time after the air dash begins.
To air dash as soon as possible from a grounded state, players use a technique known as Instant Air Dash.
Air Options
Air Options conceptually represent the amount of times a character can jump or dash while in the air without returning to the ground. Most characters have 1 air option; exceptions are listed below.
| Character | Air Options |
|---|---|
 Dizzy,  Millia |
Can air dash 2 times |
 Chipp |
Can jump 3 times |
| Bedman |
8-Way Air Dash instead of Double Jump and Air Dash |
 Zato-1 |
Flight instead of Double Jump |
| Potemkin |
Cannot air dash |
- Regaining Air Options
- Characters regain all their air options after:
- Touching the ground
- Air recovery
- Air blocking an attack
- This is even more useful after air Instant Blocking as that recovers faster
- Air Blitz Shielding attack
- Air Throw Break
Landing Recovery
Landing from the air has recovery. This recovery comes in 2 kinds: Standard Landing Recovery and Special Landing Recovery.
It is worth noting that the frame before actually landing is considered grounded. Meaning during this frame, getting hit will result in ground hitstun and ground throws can hit.
- Standard Landing Recovery
Whenever the player lands from being in the air, they experience landing recovery.
- During the first 3 frames of landing the following actions are disabled: forward/backward walk, all jumps, and backdash
- All other actions are available immediately on landing - notably attacking, guarding, run, and forward dash
Performing an allowed action will enable all actions, so it is possible to land, run for 1F, then jump (easier said than done, of course)!
- Special Landing Recovery
Some airborne moves, such as Ky's air Stun Edge
GuardAllStartup21Recovery41+14 LandingAdvantage-, will apply unactionable landing recovery which overrides the standard landing recovery. This recovery does not have a unique animation, and the length of time the character is unactionable depends on the move used. This is noted in the +(X)L part of the frame data, where X is the length of such type of recovery.
Some moves that apply this special landing recovery may have their animation end and be able to recover while still airborne, or simply cancelled into another action. The special landing recovery will still apply when the character lands, unless they are hit or they override it with another move that also applies special landing recovery or has its own unique landing animation.
A landing animation is different from special landing recovery since it is still considered part of the same move. This means the landing animation could still retain things like cancel options or counter-hit recovery from an earlier part of the move.
Ground Recovery
Wakeup
After a character is knocked to the floor, and a brief vulnerable OTG period passes, they enter a wakeup animation that is fully invincible. The length of the wakeup animation is character specific and depends on whether they are knocked to the ground face down or face up - each move does a specific type of knockdown.
Consult each character's Frame Data for exact values. All character's wakeup timings are listed in a table for comparison in the Character Comparison section. Players will need to make a note of this and adjust their okizeme for different wakeup timings, though in practice one option generally works for most characters and adjustments will need to be made for outliers.
Stagger Recovery
Rapidly Press Buttons (Except D) During Stagger State
Stagger is caused by certain attacks and renders the defender helpless to both strikes and throws. A button icon will appear over the character's head to indicate stagger.
Mash buttons as fast as you can to escape the stagger sooner. Do note there is a limit of how much mashing can help, meaning it can only reduce the duration by half.
Below the stagger icon is a timer bar to help player gauge how much longer stagger will last.
Air Recovery
Direction + Any Button (Except D) After Leaving Untechable State
Air Recovery (also known as Air Ukemi or Air Tech) is useful for getting out of the opponent's combo and regain control of your character as soon as possible. Hold Left/Right/Neutral to recover in that direction.
Defenders usually want to recover as soon as possible, but attackers can take advantage of this behavior by setting up a mixup that defenders will be forced to block when they recover. A common counter to this tactic is to delay recovering in order to throw off the opponent's mixup timing, but this carries some risk; the attacker can simply hit the defender before they recover and continue the combo!
| Direction | Invulnerability |
|---|---|
| Forward | 1~6 Full / 7~17 Strike |
| Neutral | 1~6 Full / 7~17 Strike |
| Backward | 1~6 Full / 7~15 Strike |
- Air actions available on 10th frame after air tech.
It is important to note that the invulnerability from air recovery carries over to any followup action.
- Ex: Forward air recovery has 17F of invul - first 9F of it are inactionable, but any action performed on the 10th frame will have 8F of strike invul for free!
This has lead to the infamous epithet "tech buttons"; players immediately attacking after air teching to swat away any incoming opponent.
Normal Attacks
Press 
/
/
/
/
to perform normal attacks. Depending on the current state of your character (standing, crouching, jumping, close to opponent), your character will do different attacks. As a general rule, / attacks are weak and fast, / attacks are strong and slow, and attacks are overhead and low attacks.
Normal Attacks can usually cancel into one another, generally following the order > > > > . However this is not a steadfast rule. Consult the Gatling section of each character's frame data for exact details.
- Command Normals
Command normal are performed by pressing a specific direction with a specific button. Every character has both a 6P and 6H command normal, and some have command normals with 6K, 3S, etc. as well. Learn the different command normals and the properties of each character. Most 6P have upper body invincibility, making them great anti-air attacks.
Dust Attack
5D on the ground
Each character's 5D is an overhead attack that launches opponents for a combo. Hitting a grounded opponent will launch them into the air but hitting an airborne opponent does not let you follow up with a combo. After launching the opponent, either press Up or Forward to chase after them and hit them with a combo.
- Homing Jump
8 after standing Dust ground hit
During the first few seconds of the jump, all air normals can cancel into any air normal allowing players to perform combos which would normally be impossible.
- Homing Dash
6 after standing Dust ground hit
For a short period of time, all normals can cancel into each other freely and force the opponent into a tumble state on hit. The opponent will wall stick if they reach the corner of the stage after which the next few attacks will wall stick the opponent allowing for corner combos. If you let the opponent fall all the way to the ground after a wallstick they will be in a crouching state allowing for re-stand combos.
Throws
Throws are proximity based attacks which the opponent cannot guard against. In order to throw an opponent, a few conditions must be met:
- The players must be in a similar grounded or airborne state.
- To throw a grounded opponent, the attacker must also be grounded.
- To throw an airborne opponent, the attacker must also be airborne.
- The defender must not have throw invulnerability.
- The defender can be ground thrown while in Stagger.
- The defender must be within the throw's range (see below).
If all of the conditions are met, then the attacker can hit the opponent with a throw.
Normal Throws
6H or 4H (Air OK) Within close proximity of an opponent
Throws have absolutely no startup at all, so the instant you input the throw is the instant it happens. If the opponent is out of range or throw invinciblemiss, you will get a or instead, which is often bad but can be mitigated with a throw Option Select.
Because ground normal throws have no startup, it is possible to perform a wake up throw, even if the opponent already has an attack out! To counter this, attackers need to be far away enough so that they will be out of the range of an opponent's throw on wakeup.
Normal Throws cannot be performed when:
- While running/dashing
- Players can run > Dash Brake > throw to get around the no-throwing-while-running limitation
- During/after an air dash until landing
- Holding diagonals (1H, 3H, etc.)
Air throws often give people trouble because they are not quite as easy to position as ground throws. The ideal way to air throw someone is to be slightly below them and rising up to meet them. Typically if you are above the opponent, you will not be able to throw before they can. Thus air throws are often used as an anti-air as well as an air-to-air tool when slightly below the opponent.
Another typical use for air throws is throwing people out of techs or bursts, neither of which are throw invincible. Doing so usually requires you to bait out the escape attempt and punish it.
Special Move Throws
Some special moves have the throw property. Potemkin's Potemkin Buster
GuardGround Throw: 308000Startup3RecoveryTotal 40Advantage+62 and Zato-1's Damned Fang
GuardGround Throw: 122500Startup6RecoveryWhiff Total: 43FAdvantage+62 are two examples of such throws.
Special moves like this fall into two categories:
- Command Throws
These throws cannot be thow broken and they typically have other unique properties, such as higher damage, more start-up, and additional hit effects.
- Combo Throws
Combo Throws are attacks that generally behave like throws, but can be comboed into without Stagger. Sol's P.B.B
GuardAir Throw: 122500Startup9RecoveryWhiff: Until Landing+12Advantage- and Jack-O's Forever Elysion Driver
GuardGround ThrowStartup5+2Recovery42Advantage+70 are examples of such moves.
- Hit Grabs
Technically not throws but are often mistaken for them, these are strikes that go into a throw animation on hit, such as Potemkin's Heat Knuckle
GuardUnblockable Hit GrabStartup12Recovery21Advantage+14 and Jack-O's Hunger of Dopros
GuardAllStartup11 [13]Recovery26 [31]Advantage-11 [-16]. Blitz Shield will work against these attacks since they are technically strikes.
Throw Invulnerability
Characters cannot always be thrown. Below is a list of situations when a character cannot be thrown:
- During prejump
- During blockstun plus 5F after
- During hitstun plus 6F after
- During Knockdown plus 9F after
- When they have Throw invulnerability
- Some attacks also discretely count as being in the air, such as Slayer's 6K
GuardHigh / AirStartup20Recovery4+4 After Landing[Total 32]Advantage+1. These moves can't be ground thrown, but CAN be air thrown.
- Some attacks also discretely count as being in the air, such as
Priority of Strike vs Throw vs Command Throw
When two strikes hit each other on the same frame, either a clash happens or both characters get hit, but what happens when throws are added to the mix?
- Throw vs Strike: The throw will always win. This is the reason why wakeup throw works in XRD. Since throws are instant, a throw can beat an opponent performing a meaty on you.
- Normal Throw vs. Normal Throw: A Throw Break occurs.
- Normal Throw vs. Command Throw: The command throw will always win.
- Command Throw vs. Command Throw: Both throws whiff for that frame. Meaning a command throw with more active frames will win in the end (though most command throws only have 1 active frame).
Throw Break
Input Throw While Being Thrown
Inputting a normal throw at the same time as an opponent (within a 2 frame window) will make both characters back off and recover at the same time.
- Only normal throws can be broken; command throws cannot be broken.
- Throw breaks CANNOT be performed while in Counter Hit state or while recovering from a move, so unsafe attacks are still unsafe.
- The throw break animation is ??F and fully invincible.
- Breaking air throws will reset air options for both characters.
Cancels
There are many types of cancels. A cancel is the act of interrupting the current action and starting a different one.
While most cancels are available on hit/block, some are available on whiff, and a rare few are even only available on block!
- Gatling
- Normal attacks can cancel into other normal attacks. Each character has different rules as to which normals can cancel into what other actions (some attacks can't be canceled at all!). The general flow is that attacks cancel from P > K > S > H > D.
- Each character's Gatling Table shows cancel options available to them and can be found in the character's Frame Data subpage.
- Special Cancel
- Most normal attacks can cancel into specials and Overdrive. This is generally used to create combos and blockstrings, but can have other applications as well.
- Jump Cancel
- Some normal attacks can cancel into jump and super jump. This is used in combos as well as pressure.
- Prejump Cancel
- Prejump can be canceled into specials and supers. Normal attacks can not cancel into Blitz Attacks directly so prejump cancel is often used as a workaround - Most normals are Jump Cancellable, so go from normal attack into a jump into a Blitz Attack!
- Roman Cancel
- See Roman Cancel for more details
- Clash
- See Clash for more details
Roman Cancel
Any 3 attack buttons (except D) with Tension
Roman Cancels will cancel almost any attack at almost any time, allowing players to easily create new blockstrings, combos, and mixups on the fly. Roman Cancels come in multiple colors and are performed by pressing any 3 attack buttons (except D). They cost 25% or 50% Tension depending on the situation, and also puts the character in Tension Cooldown.
| Color | Tension | Startup | Slowdown | Situation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yellow |
| |||
 Red |
| |||
 Purple |
|
- All startup times occur pre-superflash. There is no recovery after super flash.
- All Roman Cancels are fully invincible 1 frame before and 1 frame after super flash.
- All Roman Cancels are in Counter Hit State during startup.
- All Roman Cancels consume Tension on super flash.
- All Roman Cancels also decrease Tension Gain by 80% for 6 seconds.
- Enemy state is determined on frame 1, so it's possible for situations such as starting a YRC/PRC, the opponent getting hit, then the YRC/PRC executing.
- Slowdown lasts for the listed amount of time or until the either player blocks/gets hit by an attack during slowdown.
During any Roman Cancel, the opponent briefly enters a slowed down state where their movement speed is approximately halved. Thus players might occasionally perform YRCs at neutral as a "pause button" to assess the situation and react accordingly. This slowdown state even affects hitstun, allowing for otherwise impossible combos. Note that using any Roman Cancel in a combo will inflict 80% additional forced proration if you hit the opponent while they're in slowdown, but that is a small price to pay for the increased comboability of the Roman Cancel system.
- Red Roman Cancel
- Unlike previous games, projectiles can be RC'd.
- Yellow Roman Cancel
- YRC'ing projectiles can allow the projectile to come out and cancel the recovery for only 25% Tension.
- Attacks can still be YRC'd even after hitting secondary characters (like Zato's Eddie) or an opponent with super armor (like Potemkin's Hammer Fall
GuardMidStartup18[31]Recovery33Advantage-16). - Momentum carries over during all RCs. This means YRCing certain attacks gives a unique movement option for 25% Tension. For example, Potemkin can YRC I.C.P.M
GuardMidStartup13Recovery29Advantage- in order to gain a faux air dash! - Most attacks with invincibility like
Sol's Volcanic Viper
GuardMidStartup5Recovery29+8 after landingAdvantage-41 can not be YRC'd.
- Purple Roman Cancel
- Attacks can still be PRC'd even after hitting secondary characters (like Zato-1's Eddie) or an opponent with super armor (like Potemkin's Hammer FallGuardMidStartup18[31]Recovery33Advantage-16).
- Most attacks with invincibility like Sol's Volcanic ViperGuardMidStartup5Recovery29+8 after landingAdvantage-41 can not be PRC'd.
Dead Angle Attack
6+Any 2 Buttons (Except D) during ground blockstun with 50% Tension
Dead Angle Attacks are invincible attacks that can be done during ground blockstun, making them useful to interrrupt an attacking opponent and reset the momentum of the match.
Every character's Dead Angle Attack is unique, but they share many similarities:
- Invincible startup
- Does zero damage when the opponent is at low health
- Tension Cooldown for 240 frames
Special Attack
Motion Input + Button
Special attacks are fancier attacks that have special properties such as invincibility or unique movement. Special attacks typically do 5% of their base damage as chip damage on block unless the opponent uses Faultless Defense.
Each character's special attacks are unique and are explained in more detail in each character's page.
Burst
Any Attack + D with full Burst Gauge
While at first glance, Bursts merely look like a "combo breaker", there is actually much more to them. There are two different types of Bursts: Blue and Gold. Both have different effects, and understanding how each can be used is crucial to high-level play.
The Burst will be blue or gold depending on what the character's current state. The differences between each are described below.
| Type | Startup | Active | Recovery | Blockstun | Invincibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Burst | 18F | 6F | Total: 54F + 3F after landing | 11F | 1~23F |
| Gold Burst | 18F | 6F | Total: 50F | 13F | 1~End |
- Bursts become airborne on frame 1.
- Invincibility ONLY applies to strikes and projectiles; Bursts can be air thrown at any point, even during startup.
- Landing recovery can be canceled into non-movement options.
The Burst Gauge starts the match 100% filled and it is carried over between rounds; using your Burst at the end of one round will make it unavailable at the start of the next.
Gold Burst
Burst during Neutral State (Air OK)
Hitting the opponent with a Gold Burst will instantly max out your Tension Gauge, ignoring any Tension Penalty. It is not possible to combo into a Gold Burst, however. Regardless of whether the Gold Burst hits or misses the opponent, the Burst Gauge will be refunded 33%.
Gold Bursts are invulnerable to strikes the entire duration. However, they can be air thrown at any point (Note: Potemkin's Heavenly Potemkin Buster and Heat Knuckle technically aren't throws). With perfect timing, Gold Bursts can be air thrown out of start-up. This is the only drawback.
Proper use of the Gold Burst can quickly give a player the advantage by knocking the opponent down while simultaneously gaining full Tension. Discover what attacks and patterns opponents commonly perform so that they can be interrupted by a Gold Burst (for example, against Potemkin's j.D).
Blue Burst
Burst during Blockstun or Hitstun (Air OK)
Bursting while at in a defensive state (being hit, while blocking, while knocked down, etc.) will make it blue. If the Blue Burst hits the opponent, the Burst Gauge will be refunded 33%.
The major drawback to Blue Burst is that unlike Gold Bursts, the recovery is completely vulnerable, which makes them much more punishable than Gold Bursts. Blue Bursts can also be air thrown at any point - even on startup.
Using a Blue Burst can often save a player from taking massive damage, or ultimately receiving the round-ending blow. However, an astute opponent can anticipate when you are basically "forced" to use a Blue Burst, bait it, then punish you for FREE afterward (since you won't have another Burst to use).
Disabling Blue Burst
Blue Bursts can be temporarily disabled even with a full Burst Gauge. A red X will cover the Burst Gauge during this time.
Blue Bursts will be disabled while:
- Being thrown.
- Being hit by an Overdrive Attack or an Instant Kill Attack.
- Getting hit by attacks that force throw-like states such as as Axl's Spindle Spinner and Leo's Siegesparade.
- Being stunned (the X will not be shown however).
Overdrives
Motion Input + Button with 50% Tension Gauge
Overdrives (commonly referred to as supers) are attacks that are even more powerful than special attacks.
Some Overdrives are useful as reversals like 
Ky's Ride the Lightning
GuardMidStartup10+1Recovery18Advantage-22, while others power up the character like Millia's Chroming Rose
GuardStartup23+0RecoveryAdvantage-. On startup, 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 startup both before and after super flash, allowing the defender to easily react to the attack. However, some Overdrives do not have startup after the super flash, meaning that if you didn't already have a defensive measure in place prior to the super flash, you are guaranteed to get hit afterwards.
- Overdrive Properties
- Can not be Bursted on hit.
- Can not be Blitz Shielded.
- Deal 20% minimum damage.
- Deal 20% more damage during Hellfire.
- Most Overdrives, unlike other forms of spending Tension, don't inflict a Tension Penalty (this has exceptions).
Burst Overdrives
Burst Overdrives are a powered up Overdrive that cost both 50% Tension and the entire Burst Gauge.
- Only one Overdrive per character can be used as a Burst Overdrive, specifically their cinematic Overdrive.
- Performed by doing the motion for the Overdrive and pressing D (ex:
becomes ). - Burst Overdrives have fully invulnerable startup and deal 25% more damage than their regular counterparts.
- Minimum damage is also increased, but the percentage varies on a case-by-case basis.
- Some Burst Overdrives have additional benefits specific to the Overdrive in question.
- Successfully landing a Burst Overdrive restores a third of your Burst Gauge.
Hellfire
When a character has about 20% of their Life Gauge remaining and returns to netural state, the announcer will proclaim "It's not over yet!", meaning the character has entered Hellfire state. In this state, the character can use Overdrives with 20% more damage. Overdrives that power up the character like Sol's Dragon Install
GuardStartupRecoveryActivation: Total 19
(Super Freeze on 19F)
Deactivation: Total 62FAdvantage- instead last longer during Hellfire.
Instant Kill
236236H when in Instant Kill Mode
Instant Kills are attacks that instantly win the round! While this sounds game-breakingly powerful in theory, the restrictions in place usually relegate it to a rarely-seen spectacle.
To perform an Instant Kill:
- Activate Instant Kill Mode (P+K+S+H while in grounded neutral state)
- While in Instant Kill Mode, input 236236H
- Instant Kill Mode
Instant Kill Mode changes the Tension Gauge into a timer and disables all Tension-related actions like Roman Cancels and Faultless Defense. The timer's length is based upon how much Tension you had. It will gradually decrease over time and once emptied, the character's health will slowly drain instead! The health drain cannot kill a character directly, but it will leave them with next to no health, and very susceptible to chip damage since they can not Faultless Defense. The drain effect will continue until players perform an Instant Kill or exit Instant Kill mode.
The Tension Gauge will disappear entirely after performing an Instant Kill, disabling all Tension-related actions for the rest of the round. They also cannot perform another Instant Kill.
To exit Instant Kill Mode, input P+K+S+H while in grounded neutral state. This will transform the timer into an empty Tension Gauge.
Comboing into Instant Kills
Under normal circumstances, comboing into Instant Kills is disabled by the game, but that changes when the following conditions are met:
- You are 1 round away from winning.
- The opponent's remaining life starts flashing, either by returning to neutral with <20% life, or by being combo'd below 10% of their life.
- You have 50% Tension or more.
During these conditions, Instant Kill Mode activation becomes significantly faster and the Instant Kill attack itself is also sped up. This is often referred to as "IK Mode (Gold)" or just "Gold IK," because the Tension Bar will begin flashing a golden color when these conditions have been met, as well as changing the activation VFX.
Comboing into Instant Kills still requires specific combos and is still rarely seen since more practical combos that can kill the opponent are more easily available. Most characters can combo into Instant Kill with 50% Tension with the same combo route: 5D6 > P+K+S+H (Gold), 236236H. Some characters (like Millia) need to be closer to the corner due to the size of their Instant Kill hitboxes. 
Ramlethal, 
Baiken, Zato, Johnny and Leo can't do this combo due to the length of their Instant Kill animations, but Johnny doesn't need it
GuardAllStartup4+4Recovery29Advantage-7.
Tension Gauge
Tension is a highly important resource in Guilty Gear. Knowing each of the features and subtleties of the Tension Gauge system is a definite requirement for high-level play since it directly affects many of your attack options. The Tension Gauge starts every round empty, so don't be afraid to use it all each round.
- Gaining Tension
Perform some type of offensive action to gain Tension. This includes attacking the opponent, or simply advancing towards them. As a general rule: the more aggressive the action against the opponent, the faster the Tension Gauge will fill up. Performing these kinds of actions increase Tension Balance, which in turn dictates the amount of Tension gained.
Normal Attacks have a base Tension Gain on hit or block. Special Attacks have a base Tension both on input, and upon the attack touching the opponent (hit or block).
Ground backdashing, backward airdashing, walking backward, standing still etc. will contribute towards Negative Penalty and the Tension Balance will slow down. Experiment and notice that if you sit still or backdash a few times your Tension Gain off of movement, random hits, and blocked normals go down drastically.
- Spending Tension
- Faultless Defense: 0.25% per frame (green), on block (blue) it costs ((damage of the attack × 0.25)+2.5)%
- Dead Angle Attack: 50%
- Red Roman Cancel: 50%
- Yellow Roman Cancel: 25%
- Purple Roman Cancel: 50%
- Blitz Shield: 25%
- Overdrives: 50%
- Burst Overdrives: 50% + 100% of Burst Gauge
- Negative Penalty: 100%
- Tension Pulse
Tension Pulse is a modifier used to determine the final tension gain modifier - the more offensive actions you take, the more Tension you will gain. You can vaguely tell your current Tension Pulse by the white pulse that goes through your Tension Gauge. The faster the pulse, the higher your Tension Pulse. See the frame data page for more details.
- Tension Pulse Penalty
Tension Pulse Penalty is a way of affecting Tension Pulse, thus indirectly affecting Tension gain. This value is separate from Negative Penalty. Confusingly, Tension Pulse itself also affects Tension Pulse Penalty. The lower the Tension Pulse, the higher the Penalty. See the frame data page for more details.
Tension Cooldown
The amount of Tension gained is severely reduced after most actions that cost Tension.
| Action | Penalty | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Faultless Defense | 20% of normal | 60F |
| Dead Angle Attack | 20% of normal | 240F |
| Roman Cancel | 20% of normal | 360F |
| Negative Penalty | 20% of normal | 600F |
- Overdrives and Blitz Shield have no effect on Tension Gain.
- Penalties do no stack, but if a new penalty is incurred, then the penalty timer is reset to the larger value.
Negative Penalty
Negative Penalty is basically a feature designed to discourage a purely non-interactive playstyle.
While the common misconception is that it actually stops people from turtling, it really just deters players from avoiding any type of contact for a prolonged period of time. If a character consistently attempts to backdash, jump back, and air backdash (or sits in one place and does nothing... which most opponents won't allow) a warning will appear over the Tension Gauge. If the player still keeps avoiding all types of contact "Negative Penalty" will appear, and that player will lose all stored Tension.
Keep-away or run-away tactics will not incur Negative Penalty if the player is actively using some form of offense. For example, if an Axl player remains full screen and tries to keep the opponent away from him using long-range attacks, he will not get penalized.
As mentioned in the above section, when Negative Penalty is incurred, Tension Gain is severely reduced for a full 10 seconds. Try to avoid this situation if at all possible.
Burst Gauge
The Burst Gauge is needed for two options: Overdrive and Burst. Both cost a full Burst Gauge.
Characters start the match with a full Burst Gauge and its status carries over between rounds, so Bursting at the end of a round means starting the next round with an empty Burst Gauge.
The Burst Gauge grows over time, and when taking damage. The exact formula for this is unknown, however, it is likely very close to how the Burst Gauge works in the XX series.
The Burst Gauge is 15000 units. There are two ways for the Burst gauge to increase: over time, and when taking damage. Expanded explanations for each are below:
- Building Burst Over Time
The Burst Gauge will gradually fill at a rate that depends on how much health a character has. There are three different rates at which a character will gain Burst back:
- 100%-51% health = 600 Burst per 10 seconds
- 50%-26% health = 1200 Burst per 10 seconds
- 25%-0% health = 1800 Burst per 10 seconds
As you can see, the less health you have, the faster the Burst Gauge will increase. Keep this in mind when you are low on health and your Burst Gauge is nearly filled. It may be beneficial to play defensively for a few extra seconds so your Burst will be ready for the next round (if there is a next round)!
- Building Burst While Taking Damage
Whenever a player takes damage, the player will also gain some Burst. The formula that determines exactly how much Burst gained is:
(100 + Move Damage × 3) × (1.0 + Combo Count × 0.03)
- Move Damage - amount of damage the move does in the combo
- Combo Count - number of hits in the current combo (1 being the first hit, 3 being third hit of combo etc)
- Example
Potemkin 6H (80 damage, solo hit)
The Move Damage section is 100 + 80 × 3 (240) = 340. The second part becomes 1 × 1 × 0.03 = 1.03. Now multiply them together: 340 × 1.03 = 350.2. Potemkin's 6H gives the opponent back 350 Burst if it is a solo hit or the first hit of a combo. Not bad.
If Potemkin's 6H was the third hit of the combo, the second part of the formula would be 1.0 + 3 × 0.03 = 1.09. Then the total would be (100 + 80 × 3) × (1.09) = 370.6. However, one thing you can't overlook is the fact that there is still damage scaling to take into account. Depending on the damage scaling effects, Potemkin's 6H may do less damage than 80. This would change the overall Burst added, but the formula is still identical. Check the Damage Scaling section for more info.
R.I.S.C Level
R.I.S.C. Level affects damage scaling and is located directly underneath each character's Life Gauge.
It rises each time an attack is blocked using basic block or Instant Block. Using Faultless Defense or Blitz Shield will prevent the R.I.S.C. Level from increasing.
R.I.S.C damage scaling does not take effect until R.I.S.C Level is emptied. The amount of scaling differs from move to move and the effect is cumulative through the entire combo. Once the combo ends and the opponent returns to a neutral state, damage scaling is reset. To make high R.I.S.C even scarier, when the gauge is flashing (aka over half full), then ANY attack will be considered Counter Hits - even throws and mid-combo attacks!
Each attack raises and lowers R.I.S.C Level on block and hit. For example an attack with R.I.S.C. -10/+5 would lower R.I.S.C. by 10 on hit and raise it by 5 on block. These are known as R.I.S.C- and R.I.S.C+ respectively.
- During blockstun, R.I.S.C+ incurred is reduced by half. This explains why players may notice that IBing all attacks in a blockstring raises their R.I.S.C higher than normal blocking - they are exiting blockstun thanks to IB, and taking the full R.I.S.C+ of multiple attacks!
- Getting hit not only drops R.I.S.C by the attack's R.I.S.C- value, but also drops R.I.S.C by about 10% of the any remaining positive R.I.S.C afterwards. This also happens for attacks with R.I.S.C- value of zero.
Attack Level
Each attack has an Attack Level. Most attacks in the game deal standardized amounts of hitstun, blockstun, etc. based on their Attack Level. Some moves override these standard values, which will be noted in the frame data. In addition to these exceptions, some attacks knock the enemy into the air, wallbounce, crumple, etc.
| Attack Level | Hitstop ※1 | Counter Hitstop ※1 | Standing Hitstun | Crouching Hitstun | Air Untechable Time ※2 | Ground Regular Block | Ground Instant Block | Ground FD ※3 | Air Regular Block | Air Instant Block | Air FD ※3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lv0 | 11 | +0 | 10 | +0 | 10 | 9 | -2 | +2 | 9 | -6 | +2 |
| Lv1 | 12 | +2 | 12 | +1 | 12 | 11 | -3 | +2 | 11 | -6 | +3 |
| Lv2 | 13 | +4 | 14 | +1 | 14 | 13 | -3 | +2 | 13 | -6 | +4 |
| Lv3 | 14 | +8 | 17 | +1 | 16 | 16 | -4 | +2 | 16 | -7 | +4 |
| Lv4 | 15 | +12 | 19 | +1 | 18 | 18 | -4 | +2 | 19 | -8 | +4 |
※1: The additional hitstop is only applied to the receiver.
※2: During an airborne Counter Hit, untechable time is doubled (with some exceptions).
※3: Abbreviation of Faultless Defense.
Counter Hit
A counter hit (CH) occurs when hitting the opponent when they are in Counter Hit state. The opponent will flash red, the HUD will show "Counter" and the announcer will say "Counter". On Counter Hit, the opponent suffers more hitstun, air untechable time, and hitstop giving more time to hit confirm, as well as allowing CH specific combos. Additionally some attacks gain new properties on a counter hit like Wallbounce or Hard Knockdown.
All attacks are in CH state during an attack's startup and active time. Most attacks are not in counter hit state during recovery, but there are exceptions:
- Dead Angle Attacks
- Blitz Shield and Blitz Attack
- Some other moves, noted in frame data.
When the R.I.S.C Level is flashing, ANY hit will be a Counter Hit, even mid-combo strikes and throws!
Mortal Counter
Mortal Counters occur when a player gets hit by a strike (excluding Dead Angle Attacks) during Danger Time.
The attack will automatically trigger Counter Hit effects as well as more hitstop, slowdown, and the ability to cancel the attack into anything that a clash could cancel into.
Because both hitstop and hitstun are doubled by the slowdown, you can often recover from your attack, run all the way up to the opponent and then continue your combo easily.
If that wasn't enough, Mortal Counters can also be canceled into anything, including dashes and Faultless Defense. This allows even the slowest recovery moves to become powerful combo starters.
Stun
If you are struck repeatedly over short amount of time, your character will become stunned (also known as "dizzied"). You will be unable to perform any actions such as blocking, attacking, or even teching combos while stunned.
Stuns are indicated by angels flying around your character's head. The angels act as a timer and when all the angels are gone, you will regain control of your character. You can speed up the recovery by shaking the joystick in all directions and rapidly pressing the buttons.
Stunning an opponent mid-combo will allows players to land and begin another combo (or an Instant Kill) on a stunned character if their opponent doesn't shake out fast enough.
Character's stun resistance values can be found in the System Data section.
The formula is as following.
((Move Damage × Combo Hit Modifier × Character State Modifier) - 5) × IK Modifier) × 15 × 1,15
Note that how much stun someone can withstand is their stun resistance × 100, so for example someone with 60 stun resistance will get stunned when they hit 6000 stun.
The random value added at the end of the formula works in increments in 0.01
- Move Damage: is raw damage value of the move unaffected by scaling, including proration.
- Combo Hit Modifier: is the way the stun damage is scaled in combos, going purely by the number of hits it will scale the stun according to the stun table below.
- Character State Modifier: state the opponent is in while struck. All of these stacks multiplicative together
- Normal Hit = 100%, Counterhit = 200%, OTG = 25%, Hit absorbed by armor = 0%
- IK Modifier is a penalty modifier to how much stun someone in IK mode builds. 50% if the attacker is in IK mode otherwise 100%
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% | 75% | 69% | 63% | 56% | 50% | 44% | 38% | 31% | 25% | 19% | 13% |
Invincibility
Attribute Invincibility
Some attacks are invulnerable only to certain types.
For example: Bursts are only invulnerable to strikes and projectiles, but not throws. Leo's Byrnhildr Stance K
GuardLowStartup5Recovery7Advantage+2 is throw invincible, but not strike or projectiles. These situations are very simple to describe. The attack is invulnerable to the specified types during the specified times. To beat these attacks hit them with a type they are vulnerable to, or hit them before/after the invincible period.
Hurtbox Invincibility
Some attacks shrink the hurtbox of characters, even when it looks like they occupy that space.
Most anti-air 6P attacks fall into this category. Because of this, they can lose to air attacks when the opponent is able to get close enough to touch the character's hurtbox. Thus the same 2 attacks can win or lose depending on their spacing and timing. Players need to learn how their attack will behave in different scenarios, decide if the outcome is favorable, then correctly execute.
- Example - Successful Anti Air
Sol jumps toward Ky.
Both players attack. Ky's 6P is upper body invincible during startup, Sol's attack misses.
Ky's 6P becomes active and above knees invincible. Sol's attack continues to miss as he falls into Ky's attack and gets hit.
- Example - Unsuccessful Anti Air
Sol jumps toward Ky.
Both delay attacking, Sol is closer to Ky and the ground compared to the above example.
Sol's j.S is now low enough to the ground to hit Ky out of the startup of his 6P.
- Example - Low Profile
Sol sweep can low profile under Ky's 2P.
Sol using upper body invincible of his 6P to go through Ky's f.S.
The frame data will state that attacks have "above knees invincibility", "above chest invincibility", "low profile", etc. to describe how the hurtboxes of attacks grow and shrink.
Clash
- Strike Clash
- A clash happens when attacks hit each other in a way that hits each charater's attackbox, but not their hurtbox. See here for a more detailed visual example.
- During a clash, that hit is nullified and each character can cancel into:
- Any attack
- If the attack is jump cancelable, then jump.
- Ground clashes can cancel into forward run and air clashes can cancel into forward air dash.
- Canceling air clashes into double jumps and air dashes requires that air option be available.
- For example, you can not cancel an air clash into a double jump if you have already double jumped prior to the clash.
- Faultless Defense
- Blitz Shield
- Almost all strikes can clash, with very few exceptions.
- When clashes happen either the players are unable to react to the clash because it is unexpected, or they understand how the attacks interact well enough to intentionally cause the clash to cancel out the opponent's attack, then retaliate with their own!
- Projectile Clash
- Each projectile has a clash level. When two projectiles of equal level clash, each projectile will lose one hit (i.e. a 3 hit projectile will become a 2 hit projectile, and a 1 hit projectile disappears). Higher level projectiles will reduce one hit of lower level projectiles without losing any hits.
- Strikes with the Projectile attribute are generally able to clash with projectiles and are Clash Level 1.
Danger Time
When a clash occurs, there is a 30% chance that the game will enter Danger Time: a temporary period where the potential for damage is much higher than usual.
A three second countdown gives players a brief moment to consider their next move, they are given a free 25% Tension, and then Danger Time begins.
During Danger Time, all hits will inflict 20% more damage and will inflict a special type of Counter Hit called a Mortal Counter (barring those with a canned animation on hit).
Taunts and Respects
All characters have both a Taunt and a Respect. To perform a Taunt, press Start (Arcade) or R (Respect on Console). Taunts can be canceled into into any attack after about half of the animation has played. Respects, on the other hand, can be canceled at any time. Respects are performed by pressing 6R (or 6Start). Both the Taunt and Respect can be used to give a false sense of vulnerability as your opponent may be lured into attacking. Since the Respect can be canceled at any time, it's usually the best choice for a lure attempt.
- Performing a Taunt will raise your opponent's Tension Gauge by 10% (affected by their Tension Pulse and Tension Gain penalty). Note that you can cancel normals into Taunts (but not Respect).
- Performing a Taunt at the end of the match after the opponent is defeated will give the opponent 50% Tension at the start of the next round.
