GGST/Attack Attributes

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Attack Types

Attacks come in three broad categories in Guilty Gear that define how they can interact with other attacks.

Strike

Strikes are the most common form of attack in the game like punches, kicks, and sword slashes. Basically any standard attack is probably a strike. Strikes can clash with other strikes, but not with projectiles and throws. There are rare attacks that are exceptions to these rules, such as Potemkin's Heat Knuckle can not clash with strikes.

Projectile

Projectiles are attacks that are entities independent of the attacker, like Ky's Stun Edge. Each projectile has a durability level. When two projectiles of equal durability clash, each projectile will lose one hit (so a 3 hit projectile will become a 2 hit projectile, and a 1 hit projectile disappears). Higher level projectiles will nullify lower level projectiles without losing any hits. Projectiles can not clash with strikes or throws.

Throw

Throws are short ranged unblockable attacks that temporarily turn both characters invincible before dealing damage to the opponent. Throw interactions are described in more detail here.

Eddie (Zato's Shadow)

Eddie's attacks are in their own unique category as strike attacks that can not clash. Eddie is also surrounded by a hurtbox, so he can be hit by strikes and projectiles (but not throws).

Invincibility

Attribute Invincibility

Some attacks are invulnerable only to certain types.

For example: Sol's Volcanic Viper is only invulnerable to strikes and projectiles, but not throws. Leo's 6K 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.

Hitbox Invincibility

Some attacks shrink the hurtbox of characters, even when it looks like they occupy that space.

Most anti-air 6Ps fall into this category. Because of this, 6Ps 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.

Hitboxes shown are purely for explanation purposes and are not meant to be exact in-game hitboxes
Example - Successful Anti Air
Example - Unsuccessful Anti Air
Example - Low Profile

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.

Counter Hit

COUNTER!
Hitting an opponent before the recovery of their attack will net you a Counter Hit (CH).
Some attacks also have counter hit state during their recovery, like Ky's Stun Edge, any whiffed throw animation, and the animations of throwing out projectiles.
Some attacks also don't give counter hit state in Strive at all, namely Overdrives. Even if you are to hit them out of their startup, the game still doesn't count it as a counter-hit.

Counter Hits increase the damage of the attack by 10% and inflicts more hitstun or other special effects such as wall bounce or ground slide, allowing for stronger combos. In general, the higher attack's Attack Level, the more additional hitstun is inflicted. Throws can not Counter Hit.

Small, Mid and Large Counter Hits

Using different attacks to counter hit the opponent gives different effects. In general:

  • P and K normals cause small Counter Hits
  • Grounded S normals and 6P cause mid Counter Hits
  • Grounded H normals and 2D cause large Counter Hits
  • Air normals can vary, but typically j.H and j.D are mid Counter Hits

Visually, the stronger the Counter Hit effect, the longer the hitstop and slowdown, and in the case of large Counter Hits, the deeper the camera zooms in.

R.I.S.C. Counter Hits

Hitting an opponent when their R.I.S.C. Level is at 100% is a guaranteed Counter Hit even if they were not attacking. If the attack in question is a strike, it becomes a large Counter Hit even if the attack does not normally cause a large Counter Hit (unless the strike locks the opponent's position or leads into a special cinematic state on hit, like a raw 5[D] or a hitgrab). Damage for that attack is also increased by 20% instead of the usual 10% on Counter Hit.

Additional Hitstun

All forms of Counter Hit except for small Counter Hits cause a slowdown on hit that persists even if the opponent is hit again during its duration, doubling all hitstun during that period. Mid Counter Hits cause 24 frames of slowdown (granting an extra 12 frames of hitstun on the initial Counter Hit), while large Counter Hits cause 34 frames of slowdown (granting an extra 17 frames of hitstun on the initial Counter Hit). Mid and large Counter Hits also alter the hitstop of the attack, allowing the attacker to leave hitstop one frame earlier than the opponent, a period in which the opponent cannot Burst.

Counter Hits can also alter the properties of moves on hit, enabling follow-ups that are not normally possible.

Hit Effects

There are various effects that can happen to opponents when hitting them. We will briefly discuss them here.

Launch

Launches the opponent into the air, even when they are standing or crouching. Potemkin's 2H is an example of this, also many sweeps will actually slightly lift the enemy into the air and thus can be used to start air combos. There are multiple different types of launches. Launches that pop the opponent up are sometimes referred to as a "float" state and are often used to extend combos. Launches that knock the opponent away are sometimes referred to as "blowback" and are often used to bring the opponent closer to the corner.

Spinning Blowback

A special type of blowback that occurs after a raw, fully charged Dust Attack. If said Dust Attack is cancelled into a Homing Jump, the opponent transitions to a regular launched state. If not, the opponent flies backward.

Guard Crush

When an attack that causes Guard Crush is blocked (or in the case of Yellow Roman Cancel, when it hits) it causes a reeling animation for the opponent where they can only block or Burst, putting the attacker at a significant advantage. If the opponent gets hit by a move during this animation, the combo is treated as invalid because they could have blocked. For more information on Guard Crush, see here.

Floating Crumple

On ground hit, briefly launches the opponent airborne before putting them back on the ground. The later portion of the crumple is a blockable state. Hitting the opponent while they are airborne will count as an air hit. Many c.S style normals have this property. Sol doing c.S > 5H > 236K won't work if done immediately, but will work if 5H is delayed. The later portion of the crumple is also blockable. In situations such as Sol or Giovanna's c.S, even though they recover 13 frames earlier than the opponent, c.S into micro-dash c.S is not a true combo because the opponent can block before the crumple ends. This also means that if the opponent would like to perform any action besides blocking, they cannot until the recovery ends.

Stagger

On ground hit, a meter appears above the opponent. If they time a button press correctly, they will escape stagger sooner. Characters can be thrown while staggered, making it a way to actually combo into throws. For escaping staggers, see here.

Vacuum

Most attacks push the opponent away on hit and block, but certain attacks will actually pull the opponent closer. These attacks can be used to forcibly pull the opponent into a more threatening range. Axl's Soaring Chain Strike and Spinning Chain Strike are examples of this.

Wall Bounce / Ground Bounce

Some attacks bounce the opponent off the wall/ground when they hit. This is useful for extending combos. The opponent's velocity after the bounce varies from move to move.

Tumble / Ground Slide

Some attacks cause the opponent to roll on the ground. Opponents are considered airborne during a tumble, so any hit will launch them. Some tumbles end in a soft knockdown, others end in a hard knockdown.

Wall Stick / Wall Splat

You can tech off the wall after a certain amount of time.

Wall Stick will cause your opponent to stick in place on the edge of the screen. When this happens, hitting them again will cause a Wall Break and both players will end up in the middle of the stage. The opponent cannot Psych Burst while stuck to the wall, but if left alone for long enough, they can recover.

Soft Knockdown

When opponents touch the ground after getting hit in the air (and there are no ground bounce or tumble effects), they will immediately roll backwards and recover. Most attacks have this property on air hit. See this section for more details.

Hard Knockdown

Hard knockdowns force the opponent into a longer knockdown animation. Hard knockdowns are useful for setting up okizeme. All sweeps and throws have this property.

Off The Ground

To Off The Ground (OTG) an opponent means to strike them after they are knocked down. Attacks that OTG have their hit effects replaced with a slight blowback effect and a soft knockdown, making it very difficult to continue a combo afterwards.

Attack Level

Each attack has an Attack Level. Depending on the level, the attack will inflict a different amount of hitstun/blockstun, though some attacks override these default values with their own.

Use the chart below to determine how much hitstun/blockstun an attack will inflict. The level for each attack can be found in the individual character frame data sections.

Hitstun and Blockstun Values
Level Hitstop Standing Hitstun Crouching Hitstun Ground Block Air Regular Block/FD ※ Air Instant Block/IFD ※
Lv.0 11 12 13 9 Until Landing+19 Until Landing+5
Lv.1 12 14 15 11 Until Landing+19 Until Landing+5
Lv.2 13 16 17 13 Until Landing+19 Until Landing+5
Lv.3 14 19 20 16 Until Landing+19 Until Landing+5
Lv.4 15 21 22 18 Until Landing+19 Until Landing+5

※: Only applies to strikes. Projectiles follow ground blockstun values unless the defender lands while still in blockstun, resulting in 5 frames of landing recovery.
Note: Blocking a move in the air restores an air action. (i.e. air jump or air dash)


Frame Advantage

Frame advantage is the concept of who is free to act first after an interaction.

This is most commonly brought up after blocking an attack; who can act first - the attacker or defender? Frame advantage has the answer! A negative value means the defender can act first, and a positive value means the attacker can act first. The value shows exactly how many frames one character can move before the other.

  • Ex: Frame Advantage -5 means the defender is free to move 5 frames before the attacker.
  • Ex: Frame Advantage +2 means the attacker can move 2 frames before the defender.

Each character's full frame data page shows both the frame advantage when an attack is blocked as well as on hit. Air attacks don't have frame advantage listed since that value is heavily influenced by when the attacker lands after an attack.

Frame advantage assumes that the attack connects as soon as possible against a standing/crouching opponent, and that the attacker does not cancel the attack into anything else.

For more information on using frame data see here.

Hitting Two Opponents With One Attack

Ouch, twice the sadness

One attack can hit multiple targets assuming they are within range.

Normally, when an attack touches the opponent, the remaining active frames can not hit the opponent again. However, if there is a second hittable character (such as hitting Eddie first, then Zato), then the remaining active frames can still hit him!

This leads to visually strange situations like Sol's 5H hitting Eddie, then a moment later, Zato runs into the active frames and gets hit. This is further compounded by the fact that hitstop only applies to the attacker and the target, thus allowing the attack to hit the unaffected character with the active frames plus the hitstop frames.

This even applies to projectiles like Ky's Stun Edge, but since the projectile will disappear after hitting an opponent, this effect is much harder to take advantage of.

Misc Notes
  • With regards to cancels on hit/block, hitting partner characters (like Chipp's clone or May's beach ball) counts as the attack hitting/ getting blocked, so attackers have all normal cancel options available afterwards.
  • If two opponents are in range of the attack, the partner characters is hit first, then one frame later, the primary character is hit.


Preventing One Attack Hitting Two Opponents

Zato's Eddie and Jack-O's Minions have unique moves that prevents attacks from hitting their masters (Eddie has "Oppose", and Minions have "Defend Command"), effectively acting as shields! Remember that both targets need to be within range for this effect to matter.

Do note that while both targets need to be within range, it doesn't matter if the "shield" is behind the master or not - all that matters is that they are both within range of the attack.

Hitstop

When an attack hits an object, both objects freeze in place briefly to give the attack the feeling of more impact. This effect is known as hitstop and can vary in duration, like Sol's 5P compared to his Fafnir (41236H). Hitstop helps with combo consistency because you can buffer commands like special cancels during hitstop and it will be executed immediately after hitstop ends. Characters with charge moves (like Leo's [4]6S) also have the added benefit of getting more time to charge those attacks.

Hitstop applies to anything that can attack or get hit - including projectiles and assists. We will refer to all of these as "objects" for the sake of brevity.

Objects experiencing hitstop are frozen in place, but other objects on the stage are unaffected. For example, when Ky's projectile hits the opponent, Ky does not experience hitstop, only the projectile and the opponent do. From Ky's perspective, the hitstop the opponent experiences can be thought of as additional blockstun/hitstun.

On mid and large Counter Hits, the attacker experiences one frame less hitstop than the opponent, with mid Counter Hits having 21 frames of hitstop for the attacker and 22 frames of hitstop for the opponent, and large Counter Hits having 31 frames of hitstop for the attacker and 32 frames of hitstop for the opponent. If both characters trade, they experience the regular amount of hitstop.

Projectiles

As mentioned above, projectiles are considered separate objects from the character that summoned them, so when they hit other objects, the character doesn't experience hitstop. The projectile itself does experience hitstop - which explains why multi-hit projectiles don't do their hits one frame after the other, they need to wait for hitstop to end before they can hit the opponent again.

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