DNFD/Inquisitor/Strategy

Neutral

There is really no getting around the unfortunate truth that Inquisitor has the slowest normals in the game. To put this into perspective, they are as slow as Crusader's normals, or in some cases, one frame slower. Predictably, Inquisitor's neutral game suffers because of this, as she is very susceptible to being counter hit. The only real advantage that Inquisitor's normals have, is that most of her moves are safe on block, with her 5AGuardMidStartup10Recovery17Advantage0 and 5AAGuardMidStartup13Recovery14Advantage+1 being 0 and +1 on block, making them the safest normals in the game. Her 2BGuardLowStartup18Recovery24Advantage-4 and 2SGuardMidStartup20Recovery20Advantage-8 are her notable exceptions being -9, and -14, respectively. All of this means, that Inquisitor needs to play a more careful and deliberate neutral, choosing her moments to swing carefully. However, if she isn't recklessly throwing out moves, she is hard to punish on block.

All is not lost however, as if Inquisitor is willing to spend MP, she can trivially lock her opponents down with Flege's Firebomb (5M)GuardMidStartup45Recovery10*Advantage+37. While spamming 5M is discouraged, the MP cost is cheap enough that she can use it to pressure opponents with some regularity, without damaging her overall damage potential too much. Over reliance on this move will lead to your opponent simply rolling or jumping out of it, as well as greatly limiting your follow up damage potential should you get a hit, as you will likely be starved for MP.

Inquisitor's j.MGuardMidStartup12Recovery26Advantage-1 is also a fantastic MP attack to use in neutral, as it is extremely active, catches jump ins, is safe on block, and leads to a (nearly) full combo on hit, via 5BGuardMidStartup16Recovery17Advantage+1 OTG.

In many cases, her 4SGuardMidStartup34Recovery17Advantage-7 and 5M can be used to make pressure strings safer due to her jump back, with 4S giving up her turn, and 5M allowing her to keep up the pressure.

Inquisitor's 5B is her go-to anti-air for catching jump ins, and while it can lead into a full combo, its reach isn't amazing. However, her 2S has huge range, and leads to her highest damaging combos, but due to 2S's whopping 20 frame startup and being -14 on block, its better suited to a hard call out anti-air.

Cut-in Dash (6S)Guard-Startup0Recovery25Advantage- is a good way to close space, but it is reactable if used too predictably, especially to throw. Cut-in Bash (6S~S)GuardMidStartup12Recovery35Advantage-16 is almost never a good choice to throw out in neutral except to whiff punish and catch jumps at long range, as it is very unsafe on block, and cannot be cancelled into anything to make it safe. If you're going to use 6S~S in neutral, you must be sure it will hit.

During Inquisitor's Awakening, all her MP skills start recharging as soon as the move is used, meaning two things. First, she no longer has any reason to use technical inputs, and second, she can be much more liberal with her MP attacks in neutral.