GGST/Elphelt Valentine/Matchups

Matchups

Table of Contents

Detailed

Replay Theater is a great resource to find high-level matchup footage.
High-level replays may also be found in-game (Main Menu > Collection > Replay > Search).
The Counterstrategy page will generally have some basic counterstrategy against each character in the game.
Please keep in mind that matchup charts are subjective and not all players may agree on them.

Asuka R

Asuka R

Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top

Round Start

Neutral

Hitting Cubes

Use that range to your advantage to swat cubes from afar!

Elphelt is remarkably good at striking Asuka's cube spells from distance. Many of her normals cover these spells from far away, with really strong gatlings and special cancels to follow-up from. It can be very hard for Asuka to actually set up at distance without a potent combination of spells. This also makes it difficult for him to simply outspace Elphelt as she closes distance quickly.

Breaking Cubes

Each of the following spells can be broken with many different tools. This provides a list of common reliable tools to do so.

Howling Metron

Very fast, loses to all attacks. It is extremely hard to check on reaction due to its speed, but easily dealt with on prediction.

Delayed Howling Metron

Similar to

Howling Metron, but with a noticable delay. Loses to all attacks, but its delayed timing can punish whiffed attacks trying to preempt the spell.

Howling Metron MS Processing

Large sweep of cubes, able to break a lot of anti-cube attacks thanks to the lower angled cube. All three cubes can be reliably removed with 6P or f.S. 5K can be used at close-range for a fast reaction. If needed, it is possible to use a well-timed 2P > 2P at long-range.

Bit Shift Metron

A rapid-fire spread. A more threatening version of

Howling Metron MS Processing when given more than 1 cube. Extremely hard to break through by force, only reliably breaking to f.S > 5H > (~H or 214K) at range. A preemptive can work but is very slow to start up and must not run out of active frames, requring good preemptive timing and usually only at 4 or less cubes.

Metron Arpeggio

A slow sweep of cubes. If allowed to set up, it's almost unbreakable. Options are limited to either carefully using 2S to cut out a gap for Elphelt (note that standing cancels will get hit), or from distance use 5H~H > (214K or 236D) to cut through the waves.

Miss Charlotte Trading

With Asuka's single-cube spells including Howling Metron, Delayed Howling Metron, Delayed Tardus Metron, and Bit Shift Metron (1), Elphelt is able to neutralise it with her own Miss CharlotteGuardAllStartup16RecoveryTotal 50Advantage-15. This is usable very preemptively to mitigate his next spell. When trading this way, Asuka will not gain any Tension, spends the full Mana cost, and loses his cube spell, making it able to potentially drain his resources this way.

If Asuka performs 236X~4X to replace the spell, he is in recovery for 8F less than Elphelt. However, if Elphelt performed this 8F earlier than he cast the spell, this puts her in a functional frame advantage, in addition to the Mana cost exerted.

The risk in this strategy is Asuka is still capable of evading the shot while casting spells and replacing resources, or closing distance to punish with a jump-in. In addition, this is almost completely useless against multi-cube spells, making it significantly weaker in Test Case 3.

Offense

Giovanna

Giovanna

Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top

Round Start

Neutral

Defense

Sol Poente

Unlike other characters, Elphelt's hits higher up, allowing it to Counter Hit Giovanna's early into the animation instead of clashing. This allows Elphelt to act preemptively and still win the exchange without risking Giovanna Clash Cancelling.

Giovanna's Low Height

Giovanna's low stance can stop cetain attacks working. Thankfully, nothing too vital.

Giovanna's crouch is one of the shortest in the game. She is so low it can low-profile certain attacks, rendering certain options non-functional.

Rising j.K

Elphelt's j.K sees utility in neutral to disrupting certain movements and actions. Giovanna's standing height is very short and will evade this at any range.

However, Giovanna's , , , and all increase her height and can be hit by this.

IAD j.K

Elphelt's IAD j.K is a useful attack for a quick airdash attack, with a weaker on-block. While unchanged on standing, Giovanna's crouching will cause the j.K to hit 3 frames later (2F more than most characters). This makes it easier to react, but also largely affects potential frame data on crouching hit.

Now, on crouching hit, it is +4 on hit, but also it becomes impossible to combo into j.D as Elphelt lands before it becomes active. This means there is no crouching combo available for IAD j.K

Bomb-Bomb Chocolat j.P

A niche option out of Bomb-Bomb Chocolat is to use j.P, sometrings to string 214H > j.P > j.P. While standing-only this setup autotimes certain moves. Giovanna's standing block state is so short that it avoids the initial j.P, and while it can be delayed, it won't allow both to connect.

j.S Jump Cancel j.S

Elphelt has a niche mixup from Bomb-Bomb Chocolat, by delaying the j.S by 1 frame she can jump cancel into a second j.S for an overhead into a meterless combo. Unfortunately, this will whiff on Giovanna.

Leo Whitefang

Leo Whitefang

Overview | Frame Data | Matchups | Counterstrategy | Reverse Matchup Return to Top

Round Start

Neutral

Guard Stance

Giovanna's low stance can stop cetain

Leo's distinctive Guard Stance after f.S and 5H presents a unique problem for Elphelt. She only has 2 moves able to break it, 2K and 2D, requiring some creative solutions to open him up.

2D

Elphelt's 2D is the single best meterless option available to her. It has a solid range, able to barely out-range the . This is especially important because Leo walks very slowly in this state, making it hard for him to force you to enter his range, and whiffing the follow-up leaves him briefly open to a whiff punish.

Wild Assault

Using Wild Assault, it is possible to trap Leo's Guard Stance into a 2K or Throw. This is especially useful as Elphelt can threaten Leo to stay in the Guard Stance using f.S and 5H at substantial range. Notably, the entire sequence f.S > 5H~H can be used outside of the follow-up range, whle punishing Leo exiting the stance at any point. This allows potentially forcing him to guard a Wild Assault, which leads comfortably into a Counter Hit 2K for okizeme.

Chain Lollipop

Elphelt has one other Low she can use, Down Low!GuardLowStartup14Recovery24Advantage-10 during Chain Lollipop. This can be achieved by whiffing Here I Go!GuardAllStartup20Recovery16Advantage-2 from a distance and approaching with it.

If it can be set up, this Low has remarkably good range and can even hit past the range of the Guard Stance Follow-up. In addition, this can be used to bait Leo attacking preemptively. By whiff cancelling instead into Nailed It!GuardAllStartup13Recovery21Advantage-5, it will safely punish his whiff.

The biggest difficulty and why this will rarely be used is the need to be so far away you can safely whiff Here I Go! without entering Leo's range, making this rather impractical in most situations.