Hello. This is the Dustloop Wiki page for Slayer. Slayer is a character from Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R, which is a fighting game which I have spent nearly 1000 hours in. This character, Slayer, and this game, Guilty Gear, is one of my biggest passions. I have met tons of really cool people and done a lot of cool things through this game, but most importantly, this game has taught me many lessons about life, how I learn, and the struggles of ego. Just because something is a video game doesn't mean it doesn't have much value in teaching you things. This game is so important to me and I hope to show you that through this essay.
A bit of context regarding the format. This is the Dustloop wiki. A community-made Wikipedia website made for hosting pages regarding mostly Arc System Works (creators of guilty gear) fighting games. This wiki has been completely constructed by and for the community. It hosts all kinds of information created by the community about the different games and characters. As you will see, it has specific frame data for every attack, which is essentially how fast an attack is, how long it takes the attack to recover and allow another action, and many other kinds of data that isn't super important for me to explain here. It also holds strategy guides, community resources, combo lists, game mechanic explanations, and much more. This wiki is the guide that you follow if you want to learn one of it's games or characters.
As I have put nearly 1000 hours of game time (and more time thinking about the game, watching the game, and talking about it) I have contributied to this website. I have written some sections of Slayer's page and plan to continue doing so in the future. This essay will essentially explain lessons I learned about myself outside of the game through the format of Slayer's wiki page. Some things may not make sense to you, and thats ok. I am going to try to keep things reasonably understandable to a common audience. Just know that below this will list every one of Slayer's attacks and special moves, and I will be talking about my experiences somewhat related to each one in the box. Some sections will be left unchanged so if there is a bunch of words you don't understand or something doesn't make much sense, it's probably something from the original page.
Guilty Gear uses numpad notation which I will breifly explain. First off, guilty gear has 5 buttons, P (Punch), K (Kick), S (Slash), H (Heavy Slash), and D (Dust). These are your attack buttons, but there is another part that is important to fighting games which is directional input. Fighting games use 8-way directional input (up, up right, right, down right, down, etc.) to control your character. Up is jump, down is crouch, holding away from the opponent is block. To make things easy to communicate through text, we transfer these directions to a numpad. If you look at a numpad and overlay directions on it, it comes out to 6 is forward, 2 is down, 3 is down forward, 8 is up, etc. So, the notation for these attacks uses Direction + button format. Therefore, 2P, for example, is a crouching punch where you hold down and press "P". There is also a 9th direction in the center notated with "5". This means neutral, where no direction is pressed. 5K, for example, just means to press "K" without any directions.File:DracoDragon42 sandbox6 Icon.png sandbox6 is my favorite character. Here are my pros and cons as a player and a person.
- Dilligence: I am a very dilligent person. Whether in fighting games or in real life, I take my time to do things and do them right and I try my best to leave nothing behind.
- Creativity": As an artist, I am of course a creative person. I pride myself a lot on my creativity along with my intelligence to create a very strong combo.
- Strong Leadership: I work hard to try to make the world around me a better place. I like to take up leadership and teaching opportunities to help guide others in any way I can.
- Analyst: I try to analyze and optimize nearly everything I do with any sort of seriousness. I look for the science in things and the reasons as to why things work the way the do. I break things down and build them back up so that I can fully understand something.
- Flexibility: I am actually quite inflexible in terms of my body, but in terms of my mind I am incredibly flexible. I am very adaptable and open to new ideas to try to find more efficient or better ways of doing something.
- Goody Two Shoes: I have a tendency to follow rules way too closely and strictly to the point of inhibiting my own growth. This can be rules made by others or rules I made for myself in my head. Even though it isn't particularly a bad thing, I think I do it too much.
- Anxiety and Depression: I don't think I've met many people who haven't struggled with one or both of these, but they effect me quite significantly. My anxiety makes it difficult to reach out to others and my depression still comes in waves sometimes where I have trouble doing anything for a few days.
- Passive: This is again one that isn't particularly bad, but I tend to be quite passive especially when it comes to situations that may matter. I struggle immensely with confrontations which can lead to me bottling up emotions which I should have dealt with ages ago.
Unique Mechanics
Starter Guide
Normal Moves
5P
This attack (or as we call it, normal for "normal attack" rather than "special attack") has been both a saving grace and a big pitfall. I got into the habit of using this too much when I should be using other normals (attacks). Sometimes, even when something is really good, like this normal, when used too much or in the wrong places it can turn bad. You know what they say, "too much of a good thing is a bad thing".
No results
No results5K
This is Slayer's most reliable normal. Although using it too much can make you predictable. With this normal I have had to learn to restructure my thought processes so that I don't become too predictable because being predictable in a fighting game will mean you lose. As I mentioned above with the "Goody Two Shoes" con, I tend to follow the rules I make for myself to strictly. This leads to me being predictable and overusing this normal.
No results
No resultsc.S
You know the saying, "kill two birds with one stone"? That's what this normal gives me the ability to do yet I still don't use it very much. It can be really hard to change long ingrained habits that haven't really hurt you much, and using this normal means changing a long ingrained habit. I still use it occasionally however, but if there is a better way of doing something you might as well use it.
No results
No resultsf.S
Sometimes, things may seem really good on paper but once you put it into practice, it sucks. This normal is an example of that. Sometimes the paper lies to you about strategies or techniques so its always important to test things out in the environment you plan to use it. Whether that be socialization techniques, leadership styles, or an attack in a fighting game.
No results
No results5H
You know how I just talked about how the paper can lie to you? This normal is the other way around from the last one. On paper it doesn't look like much but once you put it into practice you find it's quite effective. This is to say, don't count things out just because at first it might not seem good. Sometiems, you never will know until you try.
No results
No results5D
Ok for this one the paper doesn't lie. This normal really isn't very good at all. It is, however, an example of something being bad, yet because its bad no one uses it, so then using it is unpredictable, thus making it actually ok. Its got a fun animation though so thats something.
No results
No results6P
Trying to predict someone's next move is really difficult, but luckily, this normal makes it easy. It covers a lot of different options that the opponent might do so it simplifies your decision making quite a bit. This is one of Slayer's normals that has had many memes created about it because it is so good. Easily a staple of Slayer's normals.
No results
No results6K
I have a friend who wants me to try to train myself to do this attack in real life. I am really not flexible enough nor fit enough to pull something like this off but who knows, maybe sometime in the future I will.
Anyways, this normal is great. I rely on this normal a lot so luckily, it is very reliable. Relying on something that isn't really reliable will get you into bad situations. That's why its so important for me to be reliable to my friends and also to only truly rely on the people I feel I can trust. It hard to get to a stage in any kind of relationship where I feel like I can truly rely on someone though. It takes a lot of time to build that deep trust.
No results
No results6H
Again, appearances can be deceiving. When I first started using this normal, I primarily used it to hit above me as an "anti-air" attack. Eventually, I learned it works much better when I use it to try to hit the opponent in front of me on the ground. It goes to show that sometimes the true value of something lies deeper than you may think, and the surface level value might be misleading.
No results
No results2P
You know how we all have little quirks in our speech? Words or phrases that we say all the time without even realizing we are doing it? This normal is like that for me. I've mentioned habits a few times, but out of everything else in this game, this normal is so deeply ingrained in so many of my habits for good and for bad. I think I tend to generally think habits are bad, but in some ways they can be very good, even in the context of fighting games. Habits allow you to not have to think nearly as hard about what you are doing. Your brain instinctually does the habit without spending any energy. In fighting games, this can lead to predictability, but it can also make your reflexes much faster. It works similarly in real life too. Good habits that you build will make your life better, and once you get used to the habit, you no longer have to think about it very much or spend much energy to continue with the habit. It becomes instinctual.
You run into the problem, however, that if you repeat a bad action too many times then it will become a bad habit. I find it's important to stay vigilant to prevent bad habits and build good ones. It's hard though, but its worth it.
No results
No results2K
Executing fighting game combos can be quite difficult at times. This normal was the start of my combo journey with Slayer. A very common combo utilizes this normal into 2H (the big bat stomp normal that sits a couple boxes below). This common combo, or as we call it BnB (Bread 'n Butter), requires me to hit a window of 2 frames. So, that means hitting a specific window of 33.3 ms. Learning to do this took a while, and learning to do it consistently took even longer. Now I aim for 1 frame links (16.6 ms window) to try to push my execution even further. It's fun to push my limits as far as I can, and this normal was the start of that journey to get more and more precise and consistent.
No results
No results2S
I have these weird deja vu moments sometimes where I get very odd specific imagry of video games and unusual feelings that are really hard to describe. One of the feelings I get a lot is what I call the feeling of two options, where one is just ok, and the other is much better, easier to use, but comes with negligible downsides. This normal is a very good example of this. It is mainly used as an anti-air attack, aimed to hit opponents in the air above you. A normal that is similar is the above 5P which I have very strong habits with. This normal is almost always better than 5P, other than being a bit slower. The point is, I need to use this more but my muscle memory and habits make it really difficult.
No results
No results2H
This normal is insane, easily a contender for one of the bests in the whole game. I have frustrated many of my friends while using this move. It's hard sometimes for me to play in a way that makes the people I care about upset but that is simply the nature of fighting games. When I was younger I remember playing Mortal Kombat with one of my friends. I found some "cheap" option that he didn't know how to deal with and he got very upset with me, so I stopped. I felt bad because I wanted him to have fun too but I wasn't cheating. It was in the game and I was just using it. Its always difficult for me to tackle. Luckily, most of the people I play against say the enjoy playing with me which is cool.
No results
No results2D
Have you ever ran across ice or a slippery floor in socks and stopped abruptly so that you slide without moving your legs? Thats what Slayer does with this normal and its great. I love reconnecting with my childhood sometimes and doing silly things like sliding across the floor. It's really underrated to just let yourself be uninhibited by societies standards for what an adult is. I always value my inner child and I always try to make sure that as I grow up, I don't lose that part of myself. The part of me that likes to be silly and do childish or immature things. The part of me that likes to quote anime, or do silly poses, or act like I'm fighting someone even though I'm just flailing around alone in my room.
No results
No resultsj.P
This normal is sort of like the glue that holds things together. Its fast and versitile.
No results
No resultsj.K
Man, Slayer really kicks so far with this normal. Its fast and long range, sometimes I call it the "air to air missile" because its so fast.
No results
No resultsj.2K
This normal is like sugar. It's good, and it feels good to use, but use it too much and you'll wish you hadn't. The problem with it is that it reduces combo damage a lot when you use it so generally its good to avoid. I try to avoid sugar a lot as well but it can be hard sometimes, especially when I'm at home. My parents love buying sweets despite how many times I tell them to stop. They also leave them out so when I'm hungry and don't know what to eat, they are the easiest thing to access. It's very frustrating, especially since my dad has type 2 diabetes. But he has a really strong sweet tooth and is also a very bad stress eater. It doesn't help when his job stresses him out most of the time.
No results
No resultsj.S
I spoke of reliability before, and this one is tricky. It has some good benefits to hit but is surprisingly unreliable and inconsistent. Sometimes, it just won't hit properly and will leave you open.
Slayer laughs when he does this move and it's very funny. I'm trying to get to a point where I can do an impression of the laugh because I think it would be hilarious to win a match and then laugh like Slayer afterwards.
No results
No resultsj.H
Big ass fuck you move. It's really hard to deal with from the opponents perspective. It's very funny when I fight another Slayer and get a taste of my own medicine with trying to deal with this move.
No results
No resultsj.D
This normal is a pretty important part of Slayer's gameplan, but its use case is pretty specific. It isn't very flexible, but its very critical.
No results
No resultsUniversal Mechanics
Ground Throw
Slayer blows smoke in your face and trips you when he throws you. I can't stand the smell of smoke. I am generally sensitive to smells, good and bad, and smoke is a strong bad smell. I never understood smelling flowers for the same reason. Most flowers I remember smelling were way to strong and ended up being unpleasant for me. Strong perfume and deodorants are also a pain to have to breath.
No results
No resultsAir Throw
This air throw is so cool. Shame I can't use it very well...
No results
No resultsDead Angle Attack
This is the last resort on defense. I don't use it very much but sometimes I gotta. Sometimes you have to cut your losses early so that you don't run into problems later down the line. I think its a good idea to recognize when to cut your losses, especially when working on big projects or something. I always value efficiency in work so cutting your losses early can be important.
No results
No resultsSpecial Moves
Mappa Hunch
236P or 236K (Hold OK)
One of Slayers signature moves, Mappa hunch. "Mappa Hunch" is actually a mistranslation funnily enough. When you listen to Slayer's voicelines in game it definitely sounds like he says "Mappa Hunch", but the real translation is "Mach Punch". After playing this game for so long though, "Mappa Hunch" is just more fitting in my opinion.
Utilizing this move properly is really difficult, but luckily I had my friend who goes by "Eel" to help me out. Eel has been playing this game for a long time but he doesn't compete at all. I forget how we met but I am really glad that I met him. We have had many good, long conversations about Slayer strategies and thought process and such. He's sort of like my mentor in a way. We have a lot of similar values and thought processes with this game which makes us a good fit for each other. He plays a lot more instincually than me though, and will sometimes come to me and ask for the "science" behind things. See the specific data of how certain things work and why they work.
He's a good connection in a lot of ways too. His wife actually works for Disney, which is pretty wild considering I'm trying to get a job in animation. He has mentioned before that he also knows people in some big game industries in California like Riot Games and Blizzard and such. I am excited to meet him eventually.
Eel has a very unique playstyle too, and I have spent a lot of time trying to emulate his style. His style doesn't particularly come naturally to me, but thats exactly why I find it important to practice. It forces me to learn things out of my comfort zone so that I can utilize more aspects of Slayer. It's very cool though, almost every Slayer player has a very unique way of playing the character. Even when given the same exact tools, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses that they utilize in this game.
No results
No resultsP/K Dandy Step
214P or 214K
This move is THE Slayer move. Slayer talks a lot about his concept of "dandyism" in the story. This is sorta complicated and stuff, but the traditional meaning of "dandy" is essentially being someone devoted to style and neatness. I would say I'm not really that strongly devoted to style and neatness, but lately I have been exploring it more. I used to always just wear the clothes my mom bought me, and I never understood anything about style or fashion.
My lack of fashion was really bad when I was younger. I used to wear button down plaid shirts and gym shorts for crying out loud. Honestly, awful combination, I would never wear it again, but I had my reasons. I was really self conscious about my body when I was young, and wearing two shirts helped make me feel more comfortable. I also get hot quite easily so I would wear shorts to keep cool and comfortable. I wasn't really thinking about aesthetic value much to be honest. This self consciousness about my body still persists today, but I've learned to deal with it better.
Relatively recently, however, I have been exploring the kinds of clothes that I want to wear. I like button down shirts with cool patterns on them and fun shapes. I tend to like earthy tones and blues in my clothes. I've started to wear braclets and necklaces sometimes. It makes me feel a lot better about myself to be wearing clothes I like. I also really like Kirby, and I have like 6 Kirby shirts for when I wanna be more casual.
No results
No resultsS/H Dandy Step
214S or 214H
This is another different version of Dandy step that just moves Slayer forward rather than back then forward. I have another friend online who uses Slayer named Yurrie. He uses these moves a lot, too much if you ask me. He and I are kind of like yin and yang in some ways. He doesn't think to deeply about his strategy and plays on intuition without much care for the risk he takes, whereas I think very intently about my strategy and I have trouble taking risks, even if I know it will work.
No results
No resultsPilebunker
Dandy Step > P
Another signature of Slayer, Pilebunker. This move is a signature of Slayer's iconic "Big Damage" that he does. Its frustrating though, because some people tend to simplify Slayer down to just pressing Pilebunker and doing a shit ton of damage. It gets very frustrating for me to hear people simplify my character down to one or two aspects.
No results
No resultsCrosswise Heel
Dandy Step > K
A good attack but it can be quite risky if not used properly. Timing is very important with this move otherwise you may leave yourself open for a counter attack.
No results
No resultsUnder Pressure
Dandy Step > S
This move is sort of named after a queen song, which some of Slayer's other moves are also named after. It's really interesting, how two of my most favorite pieces of media come from Japanese guys who really like English speaking music. Jojo's Bizzare Adventure and Guilty Gear are both made by people who love Western (US, europe, canada, etc.) music. Queen is a really good musician so I get it.
No results
No resultsIt's Late
Dandy Step > H or Under Pressure > H
I am so scared of being late. When I was in middle school, I had a vice principal who would call me into his office at random times during the day if I was late to school too many times. He would scold me and I think even yell at me sometimes, and almost every time I would leave his office in tears. He had no sympathy and just wanted to use his power. This guy is one of the few people in this world that I personally know who I can say I seriously hate. My brother and I both hate his guts, and because of him, I get really stressed out when I am going to be a few minutes late for class. It's not a particularly bad thing to be punctual I guess, but I don't think its worth the anxiety and stress I get.
No results
No resultsBloodsucking Universe
236H
This move bites the opponent and steals their blood (and life - it heals Slayer). Slayer is a vampire, if it isn't clear by the fact he bites people and takes their blood. Vampires can be really cool, and there are some really cool ones in video games and media I like. Dio, from Jojo's Bizzare adventure is a vampire. Alucard, from Castlevania, is a half vampire. And then there's Slayer. These are like the three coolest vampires I've seen in media.
No results
No resultsUndertow
632146P
Ah Undertow. This move is really niche outside of combos, but in combos, utilizing it properly can allow Slayer to deal a lot of damage. Undertow is a key point in my personal optimization with this game. Undertow > 6H is a 1 frame window combo that I mentioned earlier where I have to hit a 16.6ms window. I have been consistently practicing this combo for a while to the point where I am starting to get sorta consistent at it. Doing this practice has really taught me the value of small, but consistent practice. The few minutes I take to warm up practicing this has been so valuable over the long run. I have applied this mindset with art to the point where I can now comfortably make decent freehand circles. Consistent practice is really the key of skill building.
No results
No resultsFootloose Journey
j.214K
This move is the only one I've made a youtube video on. I have all these plans for youtube videos to make to teach people about Slayer but I never manage to find the time. The video I made about this move is pretty short, but it was cool. I want to make more stuff though, and give back to the community.
No results
No resultsForce Breaks
Big Bang Upper
236D
I used to use this move way way too much. I had a friend who did profiles on myself and a few others in our group about playstyles and such, and one of the key points he made about me is that I used this move too much. Luckily, I've found a balance with this move.
No results
No resultsFB Dandy Step
214D
I have actually contributed to new strategies using this move. I found some use cases for it that help some of Slayer's weaknesses in some specific scenarios. It's really cool to be able to discover new things about your character. It makes it feel like as you improve as a player, your character gets better as well. It makes me feel in sync with my character.
No results
No resultsFB Pilebunker
Dandy Step > D
This is just better Pilebunker, but it costs a resource so it isn't free. Managing your resources is really important, whether that be finance or resources in a fighting game. I try to not spend money if I can avoid it. I really hate spending money generally and I think that's a good thing. Hopefully its a skill that helps me once I graduate college.
No results
No resultsOverdrives
Dead on Time
632146S
Another Queen reference move, and another signature of Slayer. Slayer flies across the screen with a flying punch. It's really cool.
No results
No resultsEternal Wings
236236H
I almost never use this move. It's not because its bad, theres just many times better ways to do what this move does that uses less resources or is more reliable.
No results
No resultsUp and Close Dandy
j.214214S
In the Slayer community we call this move "Chokkagata Dandy" because the Japanese to English translation is really rough. I would like to learn Japanese at some point, and maybe even take an extended visit to Japan. So much of the things that I love come from Japan so I feel it makes sense to want to go there. Most importantly, however, I want to go to Japan and play this game in their arcades. I have spent so much time watching arcade footage from Japan to learn how to play Slayer that going to Japan and playing in this sort of mythical place would be really cool. Arcades don't exist much anymore in the US, and being able to go to a place which has the game I love with other people who love it as well would be really really cool.
No results
No resultsInstant Kill
All Dead
During IK Mode: 236236H
Slayer reads a Haiku when he does this move. The haiku is randomly generated. But, to end this essay off, I am going to make my own Haiku.
This essay was fun
I hope that you enjoyed it
Thank you for reading
No results
No resultsColors
Default P
Default K
Default S
Default H
Default D
EX P
EX K
EX S
EX H
EX D
Slash P
Slash K
Slash S
Slash H
Slash D1
Reload P
Reload K
Reload S
Reload H
Reload D1
Gold2
Shadow2
To select your color, press the corresponding button while in the designated "color set". Color sets can be toggled through by hitting the Respect button.
- Only selectable on the Arcade and PC-Rollback versions of the game.
- Available on home ports, and are selected by pressing the Rec. Enemy button on the Slash or Reload color sets, respectively. Gold characters are powered up versions, Shadow characters have infinite tension. Both are banned from tournament play.
