GGST/Happy Chaos/Strategy

General Strategies

Happy Chaos is a unique "all-range" character who can fight effectively at whatever range he pleases so long as he has resources. His general gameplan is highly dependent on both the matchup and what the individual player wants to accomplish at the given moment, which gives him a lot of flexibility. Generally speaking, Chaos can play at three general ranges: close up, midscreen and fullscreen. In order to get an idea of how to play each one however, we must first talk about how his gun stances work.

The Gun: Understanding Happy Chaos's Stances

Chaos's most famous tools are his two gun stances. Both are extremely important to his gameplan, and must be understood if you wish to play Chaos effectively. The first is simply titled "At the Ready", and is a one-handed stance that Chaos adopts upon pressing HS. The second is called "Steady Aim", and is a two-handed stance he enters by inputting 214S. At the Ready can be exited by pressing 2H, while Steady Aim can be cancelled out of by inputting another special that is not 236S, or by also pressing 2H. Both can also be exited by performing 22P/ReloadGuard-Startup23RecoveryTotal 23~77Advantage-.

At the Ready (236S). Use this stance when up close!
Steady Aim (214S). Use this stance when far away!

There are major differences between the two stances. Here's a quick summary of how they work:

At the Ready

One handed stance
Drains Concentration slowly while active
Chaos can move and use any other normal while in this stance
Entering this stance causes a cursor to center on the opponent with slow tracking
By pressing and releasing HS, Chaos will fire a bullet at his cursor
Firing a bullet will make any poke safe or plus depending on spacing
Exit by pressing 2HS
Pressure, approach covering and small conversion tool

Steady Aim

Two handed stance
Drains Concentration quickly while active
Chaos cannot move while in this stance
Entering this stance causes a cursor to center on the opponent with fast tracking after a delay
Chaos can fire a bullet by pressing and releasing HS
Capable of "clean hitting" if you delay the cursor aim for a second. Clean Hit shots Guard Crush and launch higher in combos.
Exit by pressing 2HS or cancelling out of it with another special
Combo filler, fullscreen pressure, and zoning tool

Using both stances effectively is key to playing Chaos well. As a general rule, try to use Steady Aim against opponents at long distances, while At the Ready should be used against opponents that are close by. Note that the tracking on the reticle means that enemies who move can outpace Happy's gunfire unless they are Cursed, so don't become too attached to staying in one stance. As well, Happy Chaos has a major limiting factor that controls how often he can fire his gun: his two resource bars in Ammo and Concentration.

Resources

The two main limiting factors to the gun are Concentration and Ammo. Each one is tracked independently above your Tension.

Concentration is the small orange bar above your Tension meter, and will turn blue and slowly drain if Chaos is in one of his gun stances. If Chaos fires a bullet, the gauge will drain much faster for a short period, ultimately limiting the amount of bullets that Chaos can fire at any use of his gun. An important note about the Concentration gauge is that At the Ready and Steady Aim have differing drains on your Concentration. If we assume that the Concentration gauge is full, then Chaos can fire four-to-five times in At the Ready before it fully empties, while Steady Aim can only fire three times before the gauge runs out. Concentration replenishes on it's own over time, but can be filled faster by either performing 214P/FocusGuard-Startup41RecoveryTotal 46Advantage- (which fills the gauge up by a portion and gives him a buff that makes Concentration build faster for a while) or performing 214214P/Super FocusGuard-Startup5RecoveryTotal 11Advantage-, which fills it completely at the cost of 50% of Chaos's Tension.

Ammo are the small yellow bullets that sit above your Concentration meter. Each time Chaos fires a bullet, it expends one pip from the ammo meter. By performing a Reload, Chaos can initiate a reloading stance that freezes him in place while he fills his gun back up. He can also refill his bullets completely by performing his 632146S super "Deus Ex Machina". In total, Reload takes 66 frames to fully Reload Chaos's gun, and 77 frames if it is not cancelled.

Resource Management

Both of these resources must be above zero for Chaos to fire even a single shot. At the same time, keeping these resources filled is a huge part of Chaos's gameplan and is an essential element to mastering him. Chaos is massively punished if one of his gauges are empty. If his Ammo is empty, then the gun will not fire and Chaos will open himself up to being punished. While that's bad, being out of Concentration is even worse- if the Concentration gauge hits zero, then it will turn red and Chaos will be unable to enter At the Ready or Steady Aim at all until it fully refills. As an additional punishment, if the player still performs the inputs to enter either of his stances, then Chaos will briefly fumble with his gun before putting it away. This leaves him open for a huge punish, meaning that keeping up both of his gauges is absolutely essential.

For beginners, focus on keeping your Ammo up over Concentration. Both are vital to performing well as Chaos, but Ammo is far harder to replenish. Concentration comes back over time and can be immediately replenished with Super Focus in an emergency, which is incredibly safe. By contrast, Ammo can only be fully replenished with Deus Ex Machina, which is slow, punishable, and has no invulnerability. Excellent places to Reload would be after a hard knockdown, after a wallsplat, and at fullscreen. As a tip, Chaos can reload approximately two, potentially three, bullets if he manages to land a wallsplat. If a combo will wallsplat, preemptively cancel into Reload after landing the final blow before the splat, then cancel out of it with 6S to force a wallbreak.

Once you've mastered reloading, it's time to move onto Concentration. Learn when to stay back and refill your Concentration in order to make your offense safe. Utilize Chaos's pokes, his evasive specials like Roll and Scapegoat, and Focus to keep your Concentration topped up well. The places you can Reload are often the same places you can Focus, but be warned about managing space between yourself and your opponent. Doing Concentration too close to an opponent during hard knockdown can result in you getting DP'd. Thankfully, Chaos has a tool to mitigate this in his Scapegoat special, which will be covered below.

Reload (22P). Use this to regain bullets in the middle of combos or in neutral.
Focus (214P). Use this to replenish Concentration quickly.

As a final tip, rarely try to Reload and Concentrate in the same opportunity. In order to get away with refilling both of Chaos's resources, your opponent needs to be afraid of your offense enough to fear reprisal as well as being far away from him. Refilling resources against an opponent that is fullscreen distance away and has been conditioned to sit still is one of the best examples of this. Use Steady Aim to keep the opponent blocking for long periods of time, and then condition them to allow you some of your resources back.

Hopefully you should now have a good idea of how to keep Happy Chaos's resources filled for much of the game. Lets move on to how to play him in neutral, starting with his close range game.

Neutral

Close range

While Chaos can fight at close range, he often prefers to be further out. As a result, a lot of his close range game will be centered around setting up pressure so he can win an exchange and then back out to fullscreen. Chaos prefers to use buttons like 5K, 2K and f.S to demand space from his opponent, as these buttons all have long range and great hitboxes. They are, unfortunately, very slow, meaning Chaos will often have to cancel into a gunshot in order to make himself safe. At the same time, they all have great reward on hit thanks to Fire making all of these safe at the very worst, and each move can combo into something on hit. This makes them rather threatening buttons to throw out in neutral despite their initial weaknesses.

5K
2K
f.S

Once Chaos has used these normals to stuff approaches, he can begin his own approach with gun drawn. Entering At the Ready and approaching opponents at close range begins Chaos's pressure, which is detailed further below. Outside of poking with normals, Chaos can also use Gun Draw to frametrap at close range or Roll to scoot under his opponents pokes and throw them. Lastly, moves like 2D and a Steady Aim shot can help push your opponents back out to midrange.

An important thing to know about Happy is that due to his poking playstyle, he is very vulnerable to invincible moves up close. DPs in particular give him a hard time and push him more towards the corner, which is not where he wants to be at all. As well, Happy Chaos has no invincible reversals, meaning being put in the corner can seriously screw him over. Learn when to keep establishing pressure and learn when to back off and let your opponent have an inch so you can replenish resources or punish them.

Midrange

Now we're cooking. Happy Chaos loves to be in the midrange where his slow pokes have better chance of catching his opponent. This is also where Happy can begin running his oppressive zoning game, which relies on punishing bad approaches with Steady Aim or suffocating opponents with Guard Crushes. The latter strategy is detailed in the Fullscreen section below, so lets cover the former strategy here.

If you're facing a mobile opponent at midscreen or further, such as Giovanna or Sol, you can punish their approaches by entering Steady Aim and firing at them. If they were airdashing, then you can confirm into two or three more shots, which can take off anywhere from 15 to 20% depending on their total health. It's important to note that Steady Aim is a very slow stance to enter without Curse, meaning you must predict if an opponent is going to try a committal approach instead of trying to react to it. Look for airdashing opponents, or players who love using committal approaching tools like Trovão for Giovanna or Foudre Arc for Ky.

At this range, try and use 2S to help maintain space in neutral. 2S is usually too slow to use at close range, but with your opponent further out you can use it to stuff approaches. Even better, the heavy hitstun of landing a 2s lets you combo into a hit of Fire, which can then link into a Steady Aim shot. While many of Happy Chaos's normals can do this, 2s is by far the easiest to do it with. This technique is known as Clean Hit Steady Aim, and learning it is foundational to making Chaos strong. More information on this technique can be found further down the page.

Otherwise, 2D into Gun Draw launches into a combo, which can then be linked into Steady Aim for big damage and corner carry. Gun Draw also frametraps here, meaning this is a great place to set up extremely damaging strike/throw mix. 6K is also a great option off either of your other Kick buttons, since they can cancel into it. Using 6K to help cover your approaches also lets you mount pressure, which you can then cash out with a throw or mixup attempt. Just make sure you have resources stocked to keep these pressure attempts real.

2S. A great button to contest with. Hits low, too.
2D. Standard sweep. Great for ending a pressure chain into resource replenishment and frame traps into Gun Draw.
6K. A three frame gap if cancelled from 5K or 2K.

Fullscreen, aka "Guard Crush Zoning"

This is where Happy Chaos wants to be a lot of the time. When he's fullscreen from his opponent, Happy can easily replenish his resources and begin pestering his opponents with irritating Steady Aim shots. Happy's Chaos is extremely annoying to deal with when he's fully set up, so lets go over how to do so. The first thing you need to learn about is Curse.

Curse, which is the little blue ball. If this hits, get ready to bring the pain.

CurseGuard-Startup-Recovery29 totalAdvantage- is a bouncing projectile that deals no damage when it comes in contact with the opponent. What it instead does is apply a debuff that makes it much easier for Chaos's gun to lock on to opponents. It applies this buff on hit and on block, and the orb itself cannot be interrupted with projectiles. Curse lockon is extremely fast compared to normal lockon, which makes the reward of landing this move extremely high due to Steady Aim shots causing Guard Crush. If Curse has landed, Happy Chaos can almost immediately go into a Steady Aim shot and force his opponent back out to range with a Guard Crush. He can then pepper in a Reload to cancel Steady Aim, which can then cancel back into Steady Aim again. This is called Steady Aim Reload Cancel. Successfully utilizing this technique lets us build some strong zoning strings. The result is an absolutely brutal zoning setup that will not only force your opponent to fullscreen but also deal a good amount of chip damage for good measure. Phew! Here's what it should look like in-game:

214S > H > 236P > ]H[ > 214S > H > 22P (one bullet) > 214S > H > 22P (one bullet) > (repeat until out of Concentration or bullets)...

This zoning string has a two frame gap, meaning certain characters may find it extremely difficult to approach. Characters without a dash like Nagoryuki or Potemkin may find it extremely difficult to properly approach, and even normal dash characters like Ky or Ramlethal may struggle to make meaningful headway. This Guard Crush Zoning as it is known is a real menace to deal with depending on the matchup. However, there is a catch: successfully cancelling Steady Aim shots into Reload into more Steady Aim shots is a three frame link, meaning this string can be very difficult to consistently perform. There is an easier method, however. Since Happy Chaos's gun fires with Negative Edge inputs, you can hold the button during Reload and release it to fire immediately upon loading a single bullet. Here is the notation:

214S-[H] > 22]H[P > 214S-[H]...

If you can successfully pull this off, then Happy Chaos gains access to incredibly powerful zoning. From here, you need to be conscious of your resources including Curse. Make sure to take pauses to either Focus or re-Curse your opponent and keep the chain going. The tracking on Curse will also stuff air approaches, so bullying people back with this string is incredibly easy.

The threat of Curse can also force people into an unfavorable situation. As an example, try throwing Curse at an opponent sitting fullscreen and then immediately enter Steady Aim. If your opponent sits still and takes the Curse, you can immediately fire a shot and begin suffocating them with the above pressure strings. Alternatively, you can cancel out of Steady Aim and begin your own approach if your opponent has a good answer to this zoning string. Doing either will prompt them to jump over, but this too can be reacted to. If they jump over it, you can catch them with a shot from Steady Aim and either force them back down or deal a solid amount of damage. Curse also remains after wallbreak, meaning one can continue their offense after landing a wallbreak combo. How efficient!

If you can master Happy Chaos and his zoning gameplan, you can access to an incredibly powerful and rewarding toolset that can be performed very reliably. For more information on maintaining Guard Crush Zoning, scroll down to the Zoning section.

Anti-air

Happy Chaos has no real anti-air buttons outside of 6P. Thankfully, his 6P is excellent thanks to a generous hitbox and combo potential on counterhit. Gun Draw can also work as an anti-air, but the lack of a disjointed hitbox means that 6P is far safer, more reliable, and hits for bigger reward.

Tension

Chaos builds a ton of Tension with everything he does. His specials give him tons of meter, his combos absolutely shower him in meter, he can perform some powerful midscreen corner carries that reward him with wallbreak and Positive Bonus, Guard Crush zoning gives him buckets of meter, and his general aggressive playstyle is heavily favored by the game's systems. All of this means that his meter gain in total is off the charts. This is perfect for Chaos, since he can use meter as a panic button of sorts to save himself if he ever runs out of resources. His two supers are tailor made for this.

632146S/Deus Ex MachinaGuardAllStartup13+(193 Flash)+7RecoveryAdvantage-25is a tracking fullscreen super that instantly reloads Chaos's bullets and is a strong whiff-punishment tool. While it does have some weaknesses, like a long startup time and no invincibility, it can be used for anything from extending Chaos's combos to ensuring his ammo is fully reloaded in an emergency situation. 214214P/Super FocusGuard-Startup5RecoveryTotal 11Advantage- is a psuedo-burst that instantly refills the Concentration meter and gives Chaos an improved version of the buff that normal Focus gives. It can also be cancelled into from pretty much anything, meaning it can also work as a pressure reset in the event that Chaos is running low on Concentration. Super Focus can also be used to mercilessly extend a Guard Crush Zoning chain, so use to prevent your opponent from leaving your pressure.

Defense

Chaos doesn't have very good defensive tools. Yellow Roman Cancel is very valuable on Chaos, since it puts opponents just far away enough that a 2S or Microdash'd 5K can catch them before they react. Don't get too accustomed to using it though, since opponents can counter-YRC and nullify it's use. Thus, techniques like Instant Block and Faultless Defense are also important to use when pushing people back out. And when all else fails, pushing someone away and cancelling into a gun stance is a good way to prevent someone from charging back in. Overall, smart Happy Chaos players can use his meter bank to elevate his defense, but his lack of overall solid defensive options makes him somewhat bad at defense. Learn to use universal system mechanics to your advantage.

Pressure

Brawling

Chaos's main source of pressure at close range and midscreen is cancelling his pokes into At the Ready shots. Chaos can shoot his gun with 5H any time it is drawn. This includes any situation from crouching to running, and even while performing other normal attacks. As an initial blockstring, try poking with 5K, then confirming into 6K when they block it, and then firing your gun while microdashing another 5K. It should look something like this:

5K > 6K > ]H[ > 665K > ...

Alternatively, one can poke with his immensely far-reaching but slower 2S, and then perform this to initiate pressure:

2S > ]H[ > 66 5K > 6K > ]H[ > 66 5K > ...

From this blockstring, Chaos can establish some very difficult-to-contest pressure by repeatedly forcing his opponent to block. You can end this string by cancelling into 2D and then replenishing resources. Alternatively, you can risk a strike/throw mix by running up and grabbing, which allows you to then begin frametrapping with 236S.

Chaos's bullets do decent damage on their own, but the threat of grabs will eventually force your opponent to try and mash out. Either double tap fire to hit them twice if you want to continue to throw, or frametrap them with 236S for massive damage and wall carry. An important thing to note about 236S is that it cannot be performed while in At the Ready, meaning you must learn to reholster your gun with 2H mid-string in order to keep the threat of your frametrap available. In particular, the period where you are microdashing after firing or while performing 6K is a good time for this, especially since there is no animation for the process of exiting At the Ready outside of a green pulse. You can also reholster your gun with Reload and Focus, so prematurely ending your string might be a good way to keep resources up for yet another string immediately after.

Happy Chaos also has good mixups when at close range. His initial option is a strike/throw with 236S as a frame trap, but he can also use j.D to crossup his opponent or 214K to slide through them for a left/right. Best of all, Happy can actually combo off of his uncharged 5D for a full combo with his gun, giving him a high/low too. What you choose to do with Happy Chaos at close range is ultimately your call, but make sure to have Concentration and Ammo backing you up to help convert or make a mixup option safe.

5D. Use this to mix high.
j.D. Use this to crossup. Good for baiting reversals.
214K. Good for left/right mixups.

Zoning

A lot of what can be said here is ultimately covered in the "fullscreen" section above. Instead, this section will be ruminating on how best to facilitate Guard Crush Zoning. For starters, let's look at the ease with which we can replenish our resources (Ammo, Concentration and Curse) during Guard Crush Zoning to keep it going as long as possible.

Reloading is covered quite well. Since optimal Guard Crush Zoning reloads a shot between each press, we only really need two shots to get started. One shot is used to fire at the opponent during Curse application to keep them pinned down, and the second is used to consistently Guard Crush our opponents. This bullet is constantly recycled as a result of the zoning string. All in all, this is a very efficient setup, so Guard Crush zoning can be used with very little ammo in stock. It can also end with a full reload of your clip if you need it via Deus Ex Machina or a committal Reload.

Concentration is the main limiting factor of Guard Crush zoning. The Guard Crush provides enough frame advantage to safely reload one bullet and refund the cost, but there is no way to safely regain Concentration after it is lost. Happy Chaos must end Guard Crush zoning entirely if he wants to Concentrate, which is the natural endpoint for the string. That is, without meter. Once Chaos breaks the wall, he can use Super Focus to extend his zoning game as long as he has the meter to do so, which synergizes well with his naturally high meter gain. This is part of what makes Happy Chaos so annoying to deal with.

Lastly, Curse is easy to replenish too. Thanks to the debuff being applied on block or on hit, Curse is very easy and safe to apply. As well, Curse moves Chaos backwards during application, meaning he not only applies Curse but also backdashes, which naturally synergizes with Guard Crush Zoning. It's worth noting that if your opponent does take the risk and jumps to avoid your Curse, thing get a little dicey. If you can successfully hit them with a Steady Aim shot, you can convert into a small combo and bring them back down as a reward. Unfortunately, this means Curse is no longer applied to your opponent, making it easier for them to approach.

All-in-all, Happy's zoning game is safe, reliable, strong, and very efficient with resources. Players who successfully rotate between his resource replenishment options will be heavily rewarded.

Okizeme

Clone Oki

Otherwise known as 236K, Chaos's clone is a anti-offense wall designed to make space for him while he replenishes resources. His clone can take one hit before dissipating, but that's any one hit- including the initial hit of a reversal or super. Chaos also leaps backwards as he makes his clone, which makes space for him and allows him to better perform an uninterrupted Focus or Reload. This move can be used as a devilish oki tool due to how long it lasts, letting Chaos Reload or Concentrate at short range, or just continue his offense after a knockdown. The particularly creative among Chaos's players will find that the leap backwards he does can be cancelled with a forward Fast Purple Roman Cancel, creating a true 50/50 that cannot even be reversal'd out of. A tool this powerful naturally comes with a big downside, and here, that's 10% of Chaos's total health every time he uses it. Thus, you need to be very considerate of how often you use Scapegoat, especially since Chaos isn't the tankiest character on the roster.

Scapegoat. Use this to set up devious Oki or take space.

Fighting Happy Chaos

General Tips

In neutral, you will spend more time looking at Chaos' Concentration Gauge than you will looking at the actual fight taking place on the screen. As long as Chaos has concentration, he can essentially guard crush you infinitely. Rather than getting impatient and giving him free burst safe combos, wait until he must replenish his resources and dash forward to take space. Depending on how mobile your character is, you may have to do this 2 or 3 times before you actually get a chance to touch him.

What is really scary for many characters is his midrange buttons. After you get out of the zoning, playing footsies with Chaos is an unfair game for most. Depending on your character, you may be able to contest him with some success, but never be afraid to keep blocking.

Curse

It is a common misconception that Curse (236P) is something you must dodge. This is unfeasible. It will hit you, and you will deal with his increased accuracy. Really, this move is Chaos sacrificing time and stage control for more powerful zoning or pressure. When Chaos uses curse, rather than do a cheeky IAD that will most likely get you shot, simply take space by dashing forward a modest distance.

Scapegoat

Colloquially referred to as 'clone', Scapegoat (236K) sacrifices 10% of Chaos' remaining health points to summon a statue of himself that will take one hit. Any move that hits the clone is incapable of hitting Chaos, no matter where he actually is, so don't be confused when you whiff on Chaos standing in front of his clone. This usually lets him regain some of his resources in relative peace. Obviously, Chaos regaining resources is disastrous, so this move must be answered in some way. The answer to this move, however, will depend greatly on what character you play and the situation that you are in. Try options out, keeping in mind that you can special or jump cancel normals off of the clone just as if you had hit an opponent.