GGST/Jack-O/Strategy

 Jack-O'

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Strategy

Matchups

Counterstrategy

Okizeme

Frame Data

Resources

Combo Notation Guide

Character Name Abbreviations

7 8 9 4 5 6 1 2 3 Numbers represent direction on a keyboard numpad. For example, + becomes 236P. > = Proceed from the previous move to the following move. ▷/land = Indicate that the player must land at that point in the sequence. , = Link To perform a second action after the first action completely finishes its animation. the previous move into the following move. ->/~ = Cancel To bypass the remaining time or frames in an action by proceeding directly into another action. the previous special into a follow-up special. dl./delay = Delay the following move. whiff/(whiff) = The move must whiff (not hit). c. = Close f. = Far j. = Jumping/Aerial hj./sj. = High Jump/Super Jump jc = Jump Cancel hjc/sjc = High Jump Cancel/Super Jump Cancel dc/adc = Dash Cancel/Air Dash Cancel CH = Counter Hit AA = Anti-Air IAS = Instant Air Special [X] = Hold input. ]X[ = Release input. (move) = Move is optional. [X] or [Y] = Perform sequence X or Y. [sequence] xN = Repeat sequence N amount of times. (N) = Hit N of a move or move must deal N amount of hits. IAD = Instant Air Dash BRC = Blue Roman Cancel RRC = Red Roman Cancel PRC = Purple Roman Cancel YRC = Yellow Roman Cancel YYXRC = Dash Input X Roman Cancel in Y direction i.e: 22PRC XRC~Q = Cancel the X Roman Cancel into Q i.e: RRC~5K WS = Wall Stick/Wall Splat

AB =  A.B.A AN =  Anji Mito AS =  Asuka R♯ AX =  Axl Low BA =  Baiken BE =  Bedman? BR =  Bridget CH =  Chipp Zanuff EL =  Elphelt FA =  Faust GI =  Giovanna GO =  Goldlewis HA =  Happy Chaos IN =  I-No JC =  Jack-O' JO =  Johnny KY =  Ky Kiske LE =  Leo Whitefang MA =  May MI =  Millia Rage NA =  Nagoriyuki PO =  Potemkin RA =  Ramlethal SI =  Sin Kiske SO =  Sol Badguy TE =  Testament ZA =  Zato-1

Glossary

Move Notation

Jack-O' has a complex moveset, with Held Servant stance, and the option to hit and cancel off servants. For this reason some unique notation is utilised. The below chart provides all notation that is used on the Dustloop site, alongside commonly used alternatives. For the rest of this page, move strings will rely on this notation, and it can often be invaluable for concisely describing Jack-O's complex combos and blockstrings, so it is worth familiarising.

Notation	Full name	Alternatives	Meaning
ns.2P	Near Servant	2-P	Pick Up ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage-
hs.	Held Servant	sh., ws.	Moves performed during the Held Servant stance, e.g. hs.K for Attack CommandGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15.
j.hs.	jumping Held Servant	j.sh., j.ws.	Moves performed while holding a servant in the air.
hs.6X	hs.6P/K/S/H/D	6X	Throw ServantGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5. Can be performed using any attack button.
Servant notation
*		Added to a move when it hits a servant, but not the opponent, e.g 5K*.
&		Added to a move when it hits both a servant and the opponent, e.g 5K&.
~&		Added to a move when it hits a servant after having already hit the opponent, not at the same time, e.g. 5[D]~&
(hit) and (whiff)		Indicates if a struck servant collides with or whiffs the opponent, e.g. c.S&(Whiff), using c.S& but the servant whiffs.
(Servant hit)		When a servant launched by an attack earlier in the string hits, e.g. 2S& > 236K > (Servant Hit)
(Detonation)		When a servant exploding from CountdownGuardAllStartup3+180+25RecoveryTotal 24Advantage- explodes and hits the opponent e.g. 214H > delay > (Detonation)

Common Phrases

Aside from notation, some verbiage is often used and associated with the character. Below is a simple list of commonly found terminology, and what it means.

Phrase	Meaning
Cheer H	Short for Cheer Servant On HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes.
Cheer S	Short for Cheer Servant On SGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes.
Command Gauge	AKA "White bar", the portion of the Servant Gauge used by Servant Commands, and works as a limiter to the Summon Gauge.
Detonate	Either an alternative name for CountdownGuardAllStartup3+180+25RecoveryTotal 24Advantage- or referring to the explosion created by Countdown.
FED	Short for Forever Elysion DriverGuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41.
Kazunoko Safejump	A safejump performed off combos using 2H. See Okizeme for more details.
Kick Loop	A loopable combo string in the corner using 236K > 236[P] > 236K > hs.D. See Combos for more details.
Parry	A technically incorrect name for when an opponent receives Guard Crush after striking Defend CommandGuardStartup4RecoveryTotal 30Advantage+25.
Recall	An alternative name for Recover ServantGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 19Advantage-.
Shield	Either an alternative name for Defend CommandGuardStartup4RecoveryTotal 30Advantage+25 or referring to the servant's protective shield during Defend Command.
Summon Cancelling	To special cancel a move on hit or block into 236[P]GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage-, sometimes 236PGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-.
Summon Gauge	AKA "Green bar", the portion of the Servant Gauge used when using Summon ServantGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-.

General Overview

Jack-O' is a technical setplay and okizeme character, well-known for her bombastic animations and complexity to play. Her central gimmick are servants, without these she is the weakest character in the game, but by creating opportunities to prepare servants she is able to directly improve her attacks with better cancels, advantageous projectiles, and even altering her own frame-data, while giving her dominant screen control to lead into oppressive okizeme and setplay.

Momentum is the core of Jack-O's gameplay. Her primary objective is to knock down opponents and apply okizeme and setplay with her servants. With this momentum she has some of the longest and safest pressure in the game, and she loses very little for enforcing it. Without that established, she is spending a lot of her time setting up. On her own her attacks are mediocre at best, made only passable by her access to Summon Servant in a blockstring, without it she would be punishable on virtually any string. With servants, she can establish screen control, zoning, and safe neutral, to try and lead into that powerful pressure. However, on defense she lacks any momentum, and as a result is one of the least equipped to defend herself. Though she does have an invincible Overdrive it is competing for one of the worst in the entire game, and her other options are generally weaker.

Servants

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The core of Jack-O's entire gameplay, but also perhaps the most complex single mechanic in the whole game.

Servants are retrieved by using Summon Servant, placing them into Jack-O's hand (Hold ) or directly in front of her (Tap and release ).

Servant Duration

Servants last a total of 8 seconds:

• Every time they are hit by Jack-O' they lose 3 seconds.
  • Being thrown with Throw ServantGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5 at an opponent does not count as being hit by Jack-O'.
• The duration is paused when held by Jack-O'
• The duration is paused during Cheer Servant On
• The duration is overriden by Countdown.

The duration is independent to every servant, and though not shown at all, this is a trait that is tracked by them individually.

Since it is not common to hit servants more than twice in 2 seconds, this will usually feel like servants can only be hit twice. However, this duration is abusable.

File:GGST Jack-O Strategy ServantBye.png

"Bye bye!"
Child labour just isn't what it used to be.

Servants Leaving

Servants will voluntarily disappear under certain circumstances:

• If Jack-O' is hit by or blocks any move.
• If their duration reaches 0 and they go into an idle state.

A servant is "idle" once it touches the ground or ends its animation for Attack Command or Defend Command. You cannot perform another command during their final command, but you can hit them again before they land. Additionally, even at 0 duration, a servant can be picked up, it will simply disappear Frame 1 once released.

The important quirk is a servant at 0 duration can only be issued 1 final command, but it can be hit an infinite number of times. There are many setups that exploit this property. However, the servant will only be prolonged so long as it is being hit, meaning any gap at all in these sequences will lose the servant.

Servant Gauge

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The Servant Gauge is, deceptively, two seperate resource bars at the same time. These are referred to as Summon Gauge and Command Gauge. Practically speaking, you only restore your Servant Gauge without using 50% Tension by waiting, putting a natural limit to how rapidly you can summon and command servants, making them a finite resource.

Summon Gauge

This is represented by the green area of the Servant Gauge. This is used purely for summoning servants. As a result, it is a lot easier to maintain. However, due to the nessecarily to summon, it is much more essential to maintain at least 1 bar.

Command Gauge

This is represented by the white area of the Servant Gauge, and the current level is indicated by a servant's face. This gauge doubles as a limiter to the Summon Gauge: the Summon Gauge can never exceed the current Command Gauge, and if it goes down then the Summon Gauge will also be lowered to match.

This gauge is used for commands, including Attack CommandGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15, Defend CommandGuardStartup4RecoveryTotal 30Advantage+25, CountdownGuardAllStartup3+180+25RecoveryTotal 24Advantage-, and Recover ServantGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 19Advantage-. Because it limits the Summon Gauge, this also makes commands functionally cost the Summon Gauge too, unless the Summon Gauge is already much lower. Therefore overuse of commands can result in losing access to summoning.

How does the recharge work?

The total gauge is 3000 units, made up of 3 bars of 1000 each. For every frame that progresses, you restore some gauge. This amount actually depends on both the current Servant Gauge level and if you have any servants active. This is seperate between Command and Summon gauges.

In short, the first bar restores quickly, but the final bar is quite slow, making it very easy to sustain 1 bar of Servant Gauge, but reaching 3 bars requires a great deal of patience. If you have no servants at all (i.e. currently on defense) you will restore it a little faster, but you want servants available regardless.

Servant Gauge Recharge Rate

State	Units Per Frame	Time to fill 1 bar (seconds)
0 bars filled	10	1.67
1 bar filled	8	2.08
2 bars filled	6	2.78
0 bars filled + servant	8	2.08
1 bar filled + servant	6	2.78
2 bars filled + servant	4	4.17
Cheer Servant On HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes	20	0.83

Pausing the Servant Gauge

Most commands actually freeze the Servant Gauge regeneration momentarily:

• Attack Command and Defend Command pause Servant Gauge for 1 second (60 frames).
• Using Attack Command or Defend Command with only a held servant will pause Servant Gauge for 0.5 seconds (30 frames).
• Countdown pauses Servant Gauge for the entire duration of the countdown.
• Servant Gauge does not restore during Hitstop.

Therefore, using commands in rapid succession will burn Servant Gauge quickly, and you must stagger the use of commands to begin restoring it. This also makes commands more expensive than they appear, as the command costs both 1 Bar and an entire second of recharge, which is worth 0.24 to 0.48 bars of Servant Gauge.

There is a major exception to this rule, during Cheer Servant On HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes all new sources of pausing the Servant Gauge will be disabled. However, you still need to wait out any pause prior to using Cheer Servant On H.

Lanching Servants

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Any time Jack-O's attacks connect with a servant they are launched as a projectile towards the enemy. This can even happen if a previously launched servant hits another servant, transfering the effect.

On Dustloop, if this is done using any normal or with another servant it is said to "bounce" a servant, while Servant Shoot will "launch" a servant.

Every move has a different launch angle

Angle	Moves	Common use
A	2P, 5P, j.P, 5K, j.K, j.D, Servants	Good for defensive coverage, with fast recovery and good for catching pesky dashes or low profiles.
B	6P, f.S, c.S, j.H, 5H	Far-reaching, good for zoning at a shallow angle, or simply hitting opponents faster than with Throw Servant.
C	j.S, 2H	Pre-emptive anti-air, setting up a servant slowly enough to allow you to either set up or approach from the ground while the air is covered.
D	2S, 5D, 6H(1)	Reactive anti-air, better for threatening airborne opponents. Also sees some niche usage in pressure for setting up servants mid-blockstring.
Notes: 2H goes slightly higher than j.S. 236K goes in a straight horizontal line until it collides with the edge of the screen.

Aside from simply the angles they hit at, some moves are especially useful specifically for their interaction with servants, such as 5K which allows the use of a jump cancel off the servant, while 6P can be used to threaten in neutral but cover yourself safely if you whiff. Learning to manipulate servants with your moveset is a major part of Jack-O'.

Clash Levels

All projectiles have a Clash Level, not to be confused with Attack Level. This determines which projectiles beat which other projectiles, or if they both disappear when they collide.

By default bounced servants have Clash Level 1, similar to the vast majority of projectiles in the game. If they collide, the projectile will be destroyed (multi-hit projectiles lose only 1 hit) and the servant will disappear wih it.

If a servant is Thrown with Throw Servant, or Launched with Servant Shoot, it will instead have Clash Level 2, automatically defeating the vast majority of projectiles outright, even if they have multiple hits. This allows Jack-O' to work against zoning much more effectively with these specials.

Opponents Hitting Servants

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Similar to hitting Zato=1's Eddie, an opponent hitting a Servant will receive the full hitstop of their attack. This means the active frames will be massively extended. This has some unusual effects:

• Moves are made extremely active, able to hit Jack-O' extremely late.
• Moves have functionally enormous recovery on whiff.
• The available time to Counter Hit the move is hugely extended.

It is very easy for novice Jack-O's to forget this active time increases and still run into the attack. However, used correctly, this makes it extremely risky for an opponent to hit a servant with anything more than a 5P/2P or 5K/2K.

The other caveat is Jack-O' and opponents can perform on-hit cancels including jump cancels, dash cancels, gatlings, special cancels, and even Red Roman Cancel. So while an opponent is often locked into their attack for longer, they can quickly follow it up with a unique move to prevent whatever Jack-O' may be doing.

Hitstop Cancels

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I promise you this is easier to use than it is to explain what is happening.

"Why does hitting servants make her frame-data so good?"

A completely unique mechanic where Jack-O's frame-data largely improves if she hits a servant. It is strange conceptually, but simple in practise. Put plainly, if you hit a servant and the opponent at the same time you recover faster. Your on-block and on-hit is massively improved by this. If the servant also whiffs, for most moves this is even better and is very plus.

This has a few very specific applications:

• If someone blocks a move in the corner which also launched a servant, you can very quickly cancel or gatling into other moves to enable tighter pressure, for example a c.S in the corner is +3 and can cancel into a gapless 5D.
• If someone blocks c.S during a sandwich setup, where the servant was behind the opponent and therefore whiffs, you are +7 on block, allowing many new pressure options.

Many other uses exist, but these are the primary two you will encounter. Though, technically, hitstop cancelling happens far more often than you might think, and is an essential part of how Jack-O' works.

Notation

If a move hits both the opponent and a servant at the same time it is notated with an &. For example 236K& is a 236K that hit a servant and the opponent at the same time. If this is ever listed it is a hitstop cancel, as hitstop cancels always happen in this circumstance.

Because there is actually an important distinction between if the servant also connects or not, we have two more specific variants: &(Whiff) and &(Blocked). If the servant hits at some later timing, this might be given as just & and later the string will list (Servant hit) so you know when it should happen.

How does it work?

Every move in the game has a mechanic called Hitstop, in most causes this is like a cinematic pause when you hit an opponent: it makes animations feel heavier, and makes reacting to your own hits a lot easier. The amount of pause varies by move. This also applies for projectiles, but only applying hitstop to the person being hit (functionally acting as blockstun and hitstun), and even happens when opponents hit your servants (more on that later).

Jack-O' uniquely has a fixed hitstop when hitting servants of only 4 Frames regardless of the move used. The weirdness comes that the game actually allows this to overide her current hitstop, meaning if Jack-O' hits both an opponent and a servant at the same time, she gets a total of 5 hitstop, no more, no less. This only applies to Jack-O', meaning she enters her recovery almost instantly, while her opponent remains stuck in hitstop. The end result is Jack-O' has magically recovered (or cancelled) faster than possible and leaving herself extremely advantaged.

On the note of whiff and blocked servants, that's because the servant itself overrides the attack's blockstun, at minimum 6 frames later. For most moves, the servant's blockstun is much worse than the original move's blockstun, so it's better if this doesn't happen, but that's harder to set up.

Neutral

Footsies

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Footsies are a state of game where both characters remain grounded and manuever to attack the opponent while making their attack miss to retaliate. It is the very core of fighting games, so it is important to also read up on footsies outside of this page.

Jack-O' is generally outclassed in footsie play, due to overall low reward and high commitment with her atacks. However, she still brings in unique quirks, and this must not be neglected simply in favour of her unique tools.

The very threat of footsies is what drives Jack-O's ability to summon. An opponent that predicts Jack-O's aggressive may be too hesitant to stop her summoning a servant. Once a servant is summoned, it offers huge value and many more options.

Close Range

Surprisingly adept, at close ranges Jack-O's 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3 is too fast, too low, and too safe for an opponent to really be challenging without some uniquely good low options. This is the largest 2K in the game making it particularly strong. Furthermore, Jack-O' also comes with a 5F 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage-3 which allows her to outclass opponents whose only 5F option is 5P.

Jack-O' is also tied for fastest recovering of 5F-invuln backdashes at 18F, making it safer for her to escape this range if she wishes to. Unfortunately her on-block is not particularly special, with both 2P and 2K being -3 on block, and both 6P and 2D are somewhat unsafe gatlings on block. She also cannot realistically summon at this range, it will almost certainly get her countered.

Primarily, the difficulty of Jack-O' is not fighting at this range, but getting into it in the first place, as Jack-O' lacks reliable and large pokes, with a weak f.S poke and her 5K only covering a little more range, and while scary her 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6's advancing movement is easily caught by low pokes. Combined with her poor movement speed means she can struggle to reach this range if opponents are forcefully covering with their own pokes. This can, however, work to your advantage.

Mid Range

This is where Jack-O' struggles mosts, from poor movement, to poor coverage, low reward on hits, and higher recovery on many options, she does not win from an honest mid-range neutral.

The core goal for Jack-O' is to summon a servante. This opens new neutral tools, enables zoning, turn pokes into combos, and even begin pressure. However, summoning is not safe, an approaching opponent can easily catch her off-guard. To make this possible, you must either create a threat to stop the opponent attacking, or land an attack yourself. Jack-O' can also try to approach to hold onto her the favourable 2K range, depending on matchup.

If an opponent is simply dashing in to attack, you can poke their approach. f.SGuardAllStartup11Recovery17Advantage-9 is her largest poke that is mostly safe to whiff. However opponents may stagger their approach. Varying pokes with with 5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage-4 for its speed and low recovery, dashing in with 2K for its low profile, or using her long-reaching 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6 can be cover opponents' movement and attacks. The strongest counterpokes an opponent has will often be their 2S as Jack-O's pokes either hit too high or get out-ranged. When this happens, you can stay back and summon safely, winning the interaction indirectly, or you can wait for the whiff and punish it, especially with 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6. This creates a basic neutral gameplan.

If an opponent is being very aggressive in their approach, or shimmying with backwalk to outspace any pokes, 5H and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-19 are very powerful. 2D can catch opponents for not crouch-blocking and 5H is one of Jack-O's safest moves on block, while both get huge reward on Counter Hit. These are dangerous on whiff, and can be easily defeated by low pokes (Usually a 2S), but the huge range and fast startup make them a major threat for the opponent. This can slow an opponent down for fear of the attack, therefore giving Jack-O' more time to summon, build the space, or approach.

Far Range

Varies by matchup.

Against non-zoners, Jack-O' can use the range to summon servants completely unchallenged, this makes it extremely easy to set up and threaten opponents. Since even long-range characters struggle to hit full-screen (e.g.  Testament's Arbiter Sign SGuardLowStartup24Recovery26Advantage-12), the only reason Jack-O' need approach at all is to avoid cornering herself or to intimidate an opponent out of approaching. With dash momentum her 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6 travels immensely far, making it a great counter-poke to commital approaching. Her ranged options become incredibly safe. Bizarely, at long-range Servant ShootGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12 can anti-air low airdashes, and Throw ServantGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5 will hit a low height, making it slightly more difficult to jab out servants.

Against dedicated zoners like  Axl,  Chaos, and sometimes  Faust with the right items, Jack-O' has no easy opportunity to summon, and needs to either approach or otherwise utilise specific gaps in their pressure to get that opportunity. It can often be safer to just focus on approaching into a range her normals can threaten, as without it she can't force the opponent to give her safe openings.

Generally speaking long range is not actually something Jack-O' wants to maintain more than nessecary. As soon as she has a Servant, and has gotten it on the opponent, it is vastly more valuable to approach to establish pressure. Choosing to remain at this range gives her only extremely low reward options, while the risk of correct callouts from the opponent is extremely painful.

Jump-Ins

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Jack-O' has 2 main ways to threaten jump-ins, either by doing so normally with j.SGuardHighStartup11Recovery21Advantage+3 (IAD) or j.HGuardHighStartup11Recovery32Advantage+5 (IAD), or after launching a servant in the air (see Zoning for more information).

IAD j.HGuardHighStartup11Recovery32Advantage+5 (IAD) is the preferred jump-in for its superior range, and on block leads perfectly into 2K. Additionally, by cancelling the first hit into Air Servant ShootGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12 you land earlier, creating additional pressure options. This is one of the best on-block pressures of a conventional jump-in simply for variability.

IAD j.H PressureA short, useful, setplay achieved off a simple jump-in

IAD > j.H > Land > 2K or IAD > j.H(1) > j.236K (Whiff) > Land > 2K
By cancelling the first hit into Air Servant ShootGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12, you cancel the attack and momentum, to land earlier and slightly further, creating a pseudo-High-Low-ThrowIt can be fuzzied, making it not a true mixup, but this fuzzy is also exploitable to allow safer pressure. as the opponent still needs to stand-block the second hit of j.H normally.

j.H(2) is +5, making a 2K a true frametrap. While c.S is throwable, it provides better pressure on block.

j.H(1) > j.236K (Whiff) is +3, but will be further spaced out. Depending on how close it hit, 2K will be throwable, backwalking slightly can make Throws whiff while maintaining c.S range; unless you land too close and/or the opponent has a large Throw range.

A similar effect can be accomplished with j.S > j.236K to get a safer spacing despite its weaker on-block, but this will naturally be easier to challange.

Where this falls short is the slowness. IAD j.HGuardHighStartup11Recovery32Advantage+5 (IAD) takes 32 frames to hit, 35 if the opponent was crouching, making it very easy to 6P as it will immediately whiff through the upper-body invulnerability. In contrast, IAD j.SGuardHighStartup11Recovery21Advantage+3 (IAD) hits deeper, making it harder to 6P and hits crouchers 3 frames faster (Frame 32). However, it has less range, worse pressure on block, and worse combos on hit, making it a substantial trade-off.

Anti-air

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Jack-O' has a vast array of viable anti-airs, many of which are quite strong. Below is an overview of her most versatile anti-airs.

6P - As is standard, the universal 6P anti-air is your bread and butter, it is the safest and most consistent anti-air. In Jack-O's case its hurtbox is tied for the fastest lowering in the game, making it easier to respond with on reaction without being caught on startup. The largest problem is a general lack of reward, only comboing in select cases, and giving minimal value on block.

2S - Powerful anti-air for opponents directly above Jack-O'. This is for covering angles that 6P normally cannot, including vertically moving attacks like  May's j.2HGuardHighStartup13Recovery6Advantage+2 (IAD) and  Potemkin's j.DGuardAllStartup13Recovery9 After landingAdvantage+1 (IAS), and cross-over maneuvers such as  Millia's KapelGuardAllStartup13Recovery12Advantage-1 (IAS) or
 Chaos' IAD j.DGuardHighStartup11Recovery21Advantage+3 (IAD). It will be apparent this move is specialist to a fault, as it challenges one highly specific option the opponent has (or may not have at all), and almost nothing else. But for that utility, it is very good at its job.

214S - With a servant active, Defend CommandGuardStartup4RecoveryTotal 30Advantage+25 becomes an extremely potent pre-emptive anti-air. Not only can the massive shield catch even 100% Screen IAD jump-ins, but on successful parry it gives a rewarding left-right mixup. Due to the Defend Command's huge active time, it extremely hard to stagger air movements to bait and avoid it, and even if they do so, they can't punish Jack-O' more than wasting her resources.

Anti-Air Defend Command MixupAnti-air parry leading into a high reward 50:50 mixup

214S > Dash > c.S
By running under an opponent as they are Guard Crushed, Jack-O' can set up an ambiguous left-right mixup based on which side she will remain. Dash more to end crossup and slightly less to remain sameside. Done correctly this can be so ambiguous even the user won't know which side they're hitting, and the opponent will be Guard Crushed for the entire duration making it impossible for them to avoid the mixup. Even if they block correctly, Jack-O' remains extremely plus due to the air block, and builds extra RISC.

While the Defend Command heavily scales the combo, anti-air c.S leads into strong combos. Combined with the 33 Defend Command damage it nets a potentially sizable reward for an anti-air.

hs.6X - Throw Servant is less an intentional anti-air tool, and more designed for pre-emptively covering the airspace while setting up for pressure. It doesn't often give much value on hit, but it's so readily available that require use can easily shut down jump-ins, especially on slower opponents.

Zoning

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Zoning is never the gameplan for Jack-O', it is merely the prelude to set up for your pressure. This is important to emphasise, as Jack-O' cannot win with zoning alone, her reward is too low and the risk far too high. However, zoning is still an essential part of her, the use of zoning creates new threats to force opponents to approach, and it can often allow setting up servants from as safe a position as possible. When combined with the threat of more aggressive neutral, this can force opponents into difficult positions where any wrong call gives Jack-O' access to pressure.

Setting up a Servant

The general goal of zoning is to place a servant into a threatening position near the opponent. There's two general types: a sameside servant, and a crossup servant.

• Sameside Servants are much easier to accomplish, simply make the opponent block any servant. Their position prevents the opponent approaching safely, and gives Jack-O' access to her sameside pressure strings.
• Crossup servants are only achieved with commital options by getting a servant to fall completely over the opponent. This usually leaves the opponent able to approach more easily as the servant may whiff Attack Command, but if this is used to start pressure it provides the extremely rewarding Sandwich Pressure.

Most options provide the easy and safe sameside servant. Despite the greater risks, a crossup servant is generally more rewarding. Even with less Servant Gauge at your disposal as it enables more mixups and stronger Hitstop Cancels.

Servant Zoning

Grounded Servant LaunchesEasy neutral coverage, your bread and butter use of servants.

5P* or 6P* or 5H* or 6H(1)* or 236K* or hs.6X
While Throw ServantGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5 and Servant ShootGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12 are obvious ways to launch servants, you can actually cover many more angles using Jack-O's normals.

• Throw Servant is very advantageous when blocked, can easily anti-air, and reaches near max-screen distance, but easily whiffs dash-ins. Also crushes projectiles.
• Servant Shoot easily crushes opponent projectiles for anti-zoning and hits from max-screen distance, but can be low profiled. Can slightly anti-air at far range.
• 5H gives fast long-range launches for placed down servants, while hitting low enough to be difficult to low-profile.
• 6P is similar to 5H but is safer against long pokes, and hits faster and further from Release Servant.
• 5P hits very short range, good for shutting out extremely-low-profiles quickly and safely.
• 6H(1) can be used to shoot up a servant for pre-emptive anti-air and can be ran under for total coverage in neutral.

There is many more ways to use servants with normals. Please see the Overview for more lengthy explanations of the neutral utility for every normal.

In addition to simply launching servants, using any normal allows cancels. Cancelling into Summon Servant (Hold)GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage- allows quickly snowballing with more summons for more zoning. If the spacing is good you can also Whiff Pick Up cancel to recover very quickly.

Air Release ServantThreaten a jump-in or stall for time.

236[P] > Jump > hs.D > ...
Releasing a servant while rising with a jump creates an extrmely safe position. Hitting the servant with j.PGuardHighStartup6Recovery6Advantage+1 (IAD), j.KGuardHighStartup7Recovery12Advantage- and j.DGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 44Advantage- covers against anti-airs, j.SGuardHighStartup11Recovery21Advantage+3 (IAD) creates a lingering barrier against running under Jack-O', and j.HGuardHighStartup11Recovery32Advantage+5 (IAD) has long-range as a conventional air projectile.

All of these maintain cancels, making it easier to escape with a jump or airdash if an opponent approaches from below. You can also threaten a faster jump-in with an airdash. Especially with j.H, a slightly delayed airdash can punish an opponent for using 5P on the servant, and while hitting the servant with 6P will almost always catch the jump-in (due to hitstop extending the active frames), this commitment to a 6P can allow grounded punishes/pressure, give Jack-O' time to summon, or reach a better position.

If very far away, an airdash cancel off j.H can be Faultess Defense Cancelled to set up a high/low mixup that is made safer by the servant.

Rising j.DBack off and stall for servant gauge.

Jump > j.D
The least threatening and least rewarding option of them all. j.D is virtually incapable of comboingIt is theoretically possible, but it requires 50% and cannot be hitconfirmed.

This is done with ADC > (66.BRC~j.S or 66.BRC~j.H), does low damage, and can even be minus on hit. It is fully Counter Hit recovery meaning any punish at all nets huge reward for the opponent. So why do it?

The long air time and slow projectile shot gives a lot of time to regain Servant Gauge before resetting to neutral off the large distance it creates, this makes it great for avoiding a close neutral with no summons available. It is also, despite how vulnerable it is, really difficult to challenge without specifically trying to counter it. This can make it great as a substitute for backdashes as a way to build space without risk from powerful grounded approaches. However, due to its slowness, j.D is extremely matchup dependent, some may be unable to challenge it without bigger commitments, while other matchups make it virtually useless.

If the opponent is very low health, the low reward ceases to be a problem, and becomes an extremely annoying poke that furthers Jack-O's gameplan and wins off any hit.

Zoning Counter Strategy

Like any zoning it takes commitments, there's some gap Jack-O' fails to cover, either for being slow to start or leaving some area safe (i.e. jumping or low profiling). Servants do not prevent attacks, meaning so long as an attack can still hit Jack-O' it will cancel out the servant. If Jack-O' blocks an attack she loses her servants instantly, this makes many projectiles able to counter-zone, and advancing attacks (especially paired with a Roman Cancel) can be especially difficult to handle.

The biggest weakness of Jack-O's options is low profiles. Moves like Night Raid VortexGuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32Advantage-17 completely invalidate almost any option except staggering the zoning (giving more gaps to approach) or using her much weaker low-range options like 5P*. If you have one of these, it is essential to exploit it to bypass her zoning. Additionally, powerful projectiles like ZarameyukiGuardAllStartup18~29RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+5 can blast through zoning attempts.

Another important strategy is to jab servants mid-air. Servants have genorous hurtboxes, every 5P/2P can be used to remove them fairly easily before they even reach you, often before Jack-O' even has a chance to issue a command, making it low risk when done well. Not only does this make you more advantaged than blocking a servant, but it prevents her Attack Command pressure, and it wastes her Servant Gauge (which is nessecary to summon servants and zone in the first place). While 6P is easier, the hitstop will lock you for extremely long, making it easy to get Counter Hit punished by her 5H or 2D. Lastly, you can cancel off the servant, this is important to challenge Jack-O' approaching after you jab a servant, many characters have ways to play into an RPS against her approach.

Offense

Okizeme

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2D, Jack-O's strongest Okizeme tool.

Throw, Jack-O's most common Okizeme tool.

Useful Links:

• Practical combo & set play collection for Jack-O' by Kazunoko

Okizeme is the art of attacking an opponent during their wakeup. Jack-O' is a specialist in okizeme, giving her an incredible variety of ways to completely safely pressure an opponent after her offense is complete.

In contrast to Millia, who is also specialist in okizeme, Jack-O' is more capable of safejumps and leading into her own sandwich Pressure, with less loopable damage output on mixups and generally simpler mixups to defend against. Jack-O' also has a lot more variety of okizeme with a variety of different strengths, weaknesses, and counterplay.

Jack-O's okizeme also comes in a huge variety for any situation, specific to the matchup, presense of supers, need for mixups, and more. While she has many options, you likely only need a few versatile options to be particularly ready. For more in-depth information on the theory and routes of Jack-O's okizeme, please visit her Okizeme page below.

Okizeme

Generally speaking you do not need to use or know all of Jack-O's okizeme, however she can score decent okizeme off almost any situation, making it worthwhile to recognise at least one available route for each attack. You also do not require optimal okizeme to establish a strong threat, therefore you can be selective for okizeme you can perform consistently. For example it is perfectly functional to use a safejump with imperfect timing to hit meaty, you do not need to have it safejump to be useful.

Pressure Tech

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While Jack-O's pressure is largely contextual on her servants and positioning, a variety of techniques are usable in many situations. Their value shifts based on situation, still, but it is better to understand the tech as broad additions to her tools.

Pressure Reset Roman Cancels

The primary tool of Roman Cancels are to reset Jack-O's pressure while summoning a servant. This converts her basic blockstrings into strong pressure. With surplus Tension, you can even take a basic blockstring all the way to Cheer H pressure, using these to force the servant into position. Fast Roman Cancels are difficult, demanding tight precision, but the reward is less Tension cost and hugely reduced Tension Penalty, which allows Jack-O' to regain the resources of her pressure

Summon RRCSpend Tension to reset and improve mid-screen pressure

Easy

... > 88.RRC, 236P~c.S&
Cancelling any move into a forward-drift RRC (outside of the corner) will leave her advantaged enough to summon a servant and reset pressure with c.S&, or tick throw immediately, while spaced just enough to be safe from most Throws.

Against  Potemkin and  Nagoriyuki, you will remain in their Throw range. Off most moves (including 2D) there's little option besides backdash/jump. With further spacing from far range of f.S or 5H, a micro-backwalk will outspace it while still being fast enough to frametrap other abare.

If you instead fast cancel the RRC, you will spend less Tension, but will require the starting move to have higher blockstun to avoid reversal jabs, and to be close enough to reset pressure, often requiring 2K to hit at all. This can give much weaker pressure, but its sudden speed and lower cost are distinct advantages, especially from c.S > 5H. This is Very Hard to perform.

Summon PRCSpend as little as 36% Tension to convert a blockstring into full corner pressure

Very Hard

... > 236P~88.PRC~c.S
By using fast-cancelled, forward-drift PRC after Frame 10 of Summon Servant (either)GuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-, you can safely convert into new pressure with a servant. This is exceptionally useful to set up an optimal corner pressure starter. Off 5H and 2H this frametraps any attack, and outspaces all Throw ranges, making it completely true pressure.

While other attacks may open a gap prior to the PRC, it cannot be reacted to, making it unlikely to happen. Additionally, if pushed further out, you may need to instead use 2K as a frametrap, or do not fast cancel the PRC to get further distance.

There is no buffer, the timing is extremely tight and any delay will open room for reversals to interupt the pressure. Being too early will result in no servant being summoned. Good timing on the PRC cancel also rewards with less Tension cost. These make optimal use very execution-demanding.

Pressure Mixups

While Jack-O' lacks conventional mixups, she does in fact have access to a unique one. This is not the same as other true high-low mixups, but it still enables very powerful pressure.

F-Shiki j.P MixupA pseudo-High-Low mixup usable when a servant is nearby.

Hard (Variable)

... > j.S or j.H) > Jump Cancel > j.P > j.214K
By hitting an opponent very low to the ground with j.K, j.S, or j.H, you F-Shiki Sometimes known as "Fuzzy Overhead". When you are in blockstun, you can switch high/low blocking, but your blocking animation and hurtbox does not change until you leave blockstun or block another attack. F-Shikis take advantage of this and use overheads that would miss on crouching characters, but not on standing characters. the opponent into allowing j.P to connect off a jump cancel, creating an unreactable mixup when combined with landing into 2K.

This is usually set up for either through an okizeme safejump, or by using (c.S or 5K) > Jump Cancel > TK 214K > dl j.S to set up the mixup from sandwich pressure.

Unusually, if the opponent crouches and is hit by the initial attack, the jump cancel j.P will whiff, leaving Jack-O' at best +2 but stuck above the opponent. Meaning the decision-making happens before the jump cancel begins. It costs Servant Gauge to combo, and when the opponent reads the mixup, you will lose pressure. The attack is virtually impossible to hitconfirm, nor is it viable to make the attack a safejump while buffering a forward jump cancel. If you assume the opponent will try to defeat the overhead mixup by getting hit, you can land into c.S better combo conversion. This won't even weaken any pressure you get, but it will whiff if they used Faultless Defense.

The difficulty varies by opponent.  Giovanna is impossible to hit with the mixup, and  Baiken is possible but requires an extremely good timing of the initial jump attack to be able to hit the j.P. By contrast,  Potemkin is trivially forgiving on the timing.

Sandwich Pressure

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Useful links:

• Jack-o Pressure Guide | Tactics and Application by baccpack

A simple sandwich position

Sandwich Pressure is a position of advantage when the opponent has a servant behind them and Jack-O' is in range to use her grounded normals. The "Sandwich" creates a position such that Jack-O' can safely loop pressure for an extended period of time, often building an incredible amount of RISC, while enforcing an oppressively strong Strike-Throw threat, and some moves allow potential Overhead and Crossup options. Faultless Defense is also less effective, as the pushback of the Attack Command will repeatedly move the opponent closer to Jack-O'.

This is the largest application of Hitstop Cancels, as a hit servant whiffing allows for even better frame data.

This can be quite modular and adaptive. Later we discuss a few strings to help introduce the basics and how these can be applied.

Beginning Pressure

To establish sandwich pressure you first need a servant behind the opponent, this is most easily achieved through Okizeme or Zoning to get a servant over the opponent. However on its own this doesn't force sandwich pressure, even after a blocked Attack CommandGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15 you may need to get closer. Primarily the goal is to be in c.S range. A fairly simple way to reach this is 214K > Dash > 5K > 2D > 214K, using the 2D and 214K to close the gap. However, do be mindful not to push the opponent too far back or else they might go past the servant.

You benefit from not spending Servant Gauge if possible. You can also utilise the threat of Attack Command frametrapping them to give you more time to approach. Pacing your Servant Gauge is important, as this will determine what kind of approaches you can use and the kind of pressure you will get at the end.

Sandwich Pressure Routing

Once in range, the biggest tool at your disposal is a Hitstop Cancelled c.S hitting the servant behind the opponent, or c.S&(Whiff). This launches the opponent back, letting you keep the sandwich pressure, and leaves you +10 on block, while able to do many new pressure routes.

Hitstop Cancelled c.SSuper advantageous core of Sandwich Pressure

Easy

c.S&(Whiff), (2K or c.S) > 2D > 214K
By Hitstop Cancelling the c.S you are +10, and able to sustain extremely lengthy pressure. If the servant has duration remaining, this can be looped using 2D. Naturally, you can practically Tick Throw off any move in the sequence except 2D. You can even replace 2K with c.S, so long as you weren't pushed out by Faultless Defense for even more R.I.S.C. and Tension build, and a better Tick Throw.

In addition, the c.S&(Whiff) completely jails into 5D for an unfuzziable mixup with 2D, and 5[D] becomes a 4F Frametrap. You can also Jump Cancel for mixups (discussed further below).

Because Dust Attacks actually have priority over most strikes, 5D will defeats all but 3F reversals ( Sol's 5KGuardAllStartup3Recovery25Advantage-16 and  Chipp's 5PGuardAllStartup3Recovery10Advantage-2), however can be backdashed if too far, and Thrown if too close. It's also still reactable and unsafe.

Once the servant leaves after 1 or 2 times being hit, routing into 2K > 2D is not particularly safe due to the weaknesses of 2D (See: Ending Blockstrings). It is usually best to end the pressure using a more conventional c.S > f.S > 5H. It is therefore important to be mindful of how many hits you have available on the servant, to determine when the blockstring will end.

Using a jump cancel off c.S with a servant still available, you can IAS Instant Air Special
Conceptually includes Tiger KneePerforming a special as soon as possible after becoming airborne. Usually, but not always, involves an input trick.
For Example: 2369S for a j.236S input. Attack CommandGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15 to jail into either a cross-up mixup, or set up an F-Shiki j.P mixup, giving even more ways to open the opponent.

Sandwich MixupsConvert sandwich pressure into mixups.

Medium

c.S&(Whiff) > Jump Cancel > j.214K > j.S
There are two types of mixup here. If you forward jump, you will jump over the opponent for a cross-up. Using j.S immediately will hit the servant, pausing it momentarily, opening a gap before hitting the opponent as their blockstun ends, enabling the mixup. This is technically very slow, but the telgraph is only the angle of Jack-O's jump, making it quite ambiguous.

If you neutral jump (or the opponent used Faultless Defense), you will remain sameside, enabling a j.P F-Shiki mixup. In line with this, you will want to delay the j.S such that you will be as low to the ground as possible to hit the j.P, either jump cancelling into j.P > j.214K for an overhead, or land into 2K for the low. This will open a gap, similarly making the left-right mixup occur. This also acts as a sort of safejump, if the j.S whiffs to an invincible reversal, you simply land and block before you would have input the 2K.

The cross-up j.S only confirms into 2K, additionally it is at best a 5F frametrap, making it relatively low value and quite reactable. There is a much harder alternative using a manually delayed j.H for a tighter frametrap, faster hit (less reactable) and allowing a confirm into c.S. But, for lack of a real combo available this only nets notably better reward with Forever Elysion Driver. If done too too early, it true blockstrings and the opponent auto-blocks.

If you have 50% Tension, you can convert the pressure with Cheer HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes to create corner pressure quite efficienctly, with similar R.I.S.C. building to corner Cheer H.

Sandwich Cheer HFrom mid-screen to corner with huge R.I.S.C. Gain

Hard

214K > 5H&(Whiff) > 236236H > 214K > ...
If you do a fast servant cancel with 5H (Note this doesn't require input buffering), you can set up Cheer Servant On H to prolong the pressure indefinitely, usually hitting the corner and beginning a brief corner Cheer H setup, even from midscreen.

If the cancel is done fast enough (+13 on block), this is a true blockstring. You can even microdash the 5H to defeat Faultless Defense, without opening a gap.

On top of the standard pressure routing, for additional corner carry you can also use 5H&(2) > 214K from close spacings, while remaining gapless against Faultless Defense.

Similar to corner Cheer H pressure, be mindful of heavy use of Faultless Defense and the use of Yellow Roman Cancel disrupting the pressure after Jack-O' has already spent her Tension. Additionally, the use of f.S and 5H can easily lose to 6P if a gap is opened.

Corner Pressure

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Jack-O's corner pressure is one of the most powerful and diverse positions of any character, and is the core goal of her gameplan, due to its huge value compared with her riskier neutral. She has access to extremely lengthy tick throw pressure, with huge Tension gain. Its greatest strength is safety, Jack-O' can repeatedly true frametrap many many times before needing to open a single gap, making it hard to get out of. By contrast, it's low damage, with comparatively softer combos and a heavy use Throws, demanding the opponent be locked down continuously.

These are some useful tools in the corner:

• Hitting a servant with c.S or 5K leaves you +6, able to stagger into another c.S, and jails into an Uncharged DustGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 for 5D/2D mixups.
• c.S is +1 on block, making it safe to Tick Throw with. 2P and 2K are -3 on block, but can service as Tick Throws due to their short recovery being hard to react to.
• If 2H slides back into hitting a servant after hitting the opponent, it will be +0.
• With precise spacing, Uncharged DustGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 can combo meterlessly if it hits a servant spaced away from the opponent.

Standard Pressure

With no extra frills, Jack-O's basic pressure with a servant is quite good for how long it can be.

Generally your goal is to avoid losing the servant from hitting it unnessecarily, a full duration servant be hit only once while still giving 3 (useful) Attack Commands. Your goal is to build R.I.S.C. and present tick throws. Due to its very limited duration, stagger pressure is less valuable (albeit stagger c.S maintains tick throw threats), conversely building R.I.S.C. is quite easy.

Optimal routing will usually use some part of the c.S > 2H > 236K > 214K blockstring, ommitting parts to avoid hitting the servant more than nessecary (e.g. cancelling c.S into 236K), or using 2K > 2D > 214K to avoid hitting the servant at all. This is very nuanced and situational, requiring some understanding of pushback on block. You can build even more R.I.S.C. with c.S > f.S > 2H, but this creates a throwable gap. While 236K& > 214K can frametrap, to ensure the servant is spaced out to do another loop, you will need to delay and open a gap where the opponent can abare.

Example Blockstrings:

All examples assume a full duration servant blocked in the corner by Throw Servant

• Dash c.S > 2H > 236K& > dl 214K > Dash c.S > 2H > 236K& > dl 214K > Dash c.S > f.S > 5H (Gaps on delayed Attack Commands) High R.I.S.C. gain, simple pressure.

• Dash c.S > 2H > 236K& > 214K > 2K > 2D > 214K > c.S& > 5H(1) > 214K > Dash c.S > f.S > 5H (Gapless; unsafe on block at the end).

• Dash c.S > 2D > 236K > 214K > Dash c.S&, c.S > 2D > 236K > 214K > Dash c.S&, c.S > f.S > 5H (Backdashable 236K attacks; gauge remaining to cancel the 5H) c.S stagger string, with high Tension gain. Very strict timings.

Held Servant Pressure

Colloquially known as the "Pichu Pressure" loop, by cancelling off the servant into Summon Servant (Hold)GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage- (usually from 236K&), Jack-O' is able to prolong her pressure for more R.I.S.C. and Tension, replacing the servant, and potentially being net-positive for Command Servant Gauge. When combined with her standard pressure, this can balance her finite resources more efficiently. It should be noted this pressure is not by itself a mixup and won't further your offense directly, it is a supporting utility to reset pressure and generate resources.

There's two main components, the summon servant, and the releasing the servant.

Corner Pressure LoopResource-generating pressure loop and reset, but opens gaps

Medium

236K& > 236[P] > 236K* > hs.6X > Dash > c.S
Generates Tension, R.I.S.C., and even Command Servant Gauge, while resetting pressure with a new servant. This is, however, risky, but its counterplay is very specific. Done correctly, even if a servant is at zero duration after the first 236K, it can be hit again before it can idle, only requiring the servant be hittable at the start.

The first gap at 236KGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12 usually whiffs, but its leaves an active hitbox on F8 and is covered by the servant. From spacing, Jack-O' can either use Attack CommandGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15 instead, catching (almost) any abare, or Release ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 11Advantage- to force a whiff. If Jack-O' is unfortunatelly at point-blank range, her only option to escape a jab is to move out of range. These can all be called out too, if Jack-O's checks are predictable. The servant can also be jumped, but only certain characters can escape pressure, and Jack-O' may react with her own counterplay.

The second gap at hs.6XGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5 attempts to fully reset the pressure. Stand blocking will leave Jack-O' less plus, opening a gap in her reset. Some crouching attacks can hit Jack-O' before the servant lands, assuming she is in range and universally anyone can use 6P to catch her dash in. Jack-O' can instead cancel into Release ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 11Advantage- to be +10~12, allowing a true frametrap 2H or 2D but requiring servant gauge to reset the pressure. She can also use 2D after Throw Servant to catch 6P attempts, or reset with f.S to reduce the gap but weakening the follow-up pressure.

The full loop, including a starting 2H, provides 4500 R.I.S.C.Approximately 35% R.I.S.C. Gauge., approx. 23% Tension, and 109 frames of Command GaugeTotal 0.44 ~ 0.88 bars
Varies based on current Command Servant Gauge level., giving it a very good reward if the opponent fully blocks the string.

As explained, there's many counterplays to the abarable gaps, meaning despite the weaknesses the opponent is often pressured into respecting the blockstring.

Centrally, the most important aspect is distance. At too close range, challenging 5P/2P abares is very difficult. While this does allow jailing jump-outs it's not very important. By contrast, being pushed too far out makes resetting the pressure difficult without opening a gap. Furthermore, you will wish to cancel off a servant, if you are pushed out of position to hit the servant, you will whiff and be unable to fast cancel (or cancel at all if you whiff the opponent). This can be complicated, so it is best to normalise spacings. Throw Servant blocked always has the same position for the servant in the corner. Additionally, c.S > 2H > 236K will always hit a servant at this spacing, ignoring IBInstant Blocks and IBFDInstant Faultless Defense, however higher/lower pushback can be useful based on matchup.

Whiff Pick Up

Expanding on the previous section, if the spacing is just right, using Pick Up ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage- will whiff after launching a servant with 236K&. This allows you to be +7 without holding a servant, allowing a fast Tick Throw or true frametrap with 2D, dramatically enhancing the potential threat and preventing opponents abaring on the pressure reset. However, the spacing is so sensitive, it can be broken by the opponent stand or crouch blocking.

Whiff Pick Up cancel pressureAdd a new tick throw and frametrap, but with extreme spacing requirements

Very Hard

... > c.S > f.S > 2H > 236K& > ns.2P (Whiff) > (Dash Throw or 2D)
The goal is to whiff Pick Up ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage-. If too far, no cancel happens, if too close, you will pick the servant and be left horribly disadvantageous.

The correct spacing is precise. Minor differences in spacing, even from the opponent standing or crouching for different pushbacks can break this. The given string of c.S > f.S > 2H is one of the only consistent strings after a blocked Throw ServantGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 27Advantage+5, and only if not FD blocked. This can be made Throw-safe even from a dash c.S while keeping the whiff, such as after a Throw Servant, but it requires precise timing, making it especially risky.

A variety of other strings exist, but almost all have one or more vulnerabilities. This will therefore largely rely on situational awareness and an understanding for pushback to make reliable.

Cheer H Setplay

One of the best uses of Tension is to begin Cheer Servant On HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes. With the endless Servant Gauge, Jack-O' can gaplessly prolong an extremely long blockstring for enormous R.I.S.C. gain, chip damage, many Tick Throw opportunities, and a potential mixup. Since any corner pressure can lead into Cheer H, this is a central goal for Jack-O'.

To begin the string you will usually want to cancel off a Servant for maximum blockstun, leaving you +6 (so long as the servant connected), and forming a true blockstring into 2K. To cancel this fast you will need to Input Buffer, which is most easily done from 236K, giving a standard blockstring of ... > 236K& > 236236H > 2K > 2D > 214K. Do note Servant Gauge pause from Attack Command is not removed immediately, meaning you may require a spare bar to begin the pressure.

Cheer H LoopsSpending tension for easy value.

Medium ~ Very Hard

... > 236236H > 2K > 2D > 214K > [Dash 5K > 2D > 214K]×6
Using Cheer Servant On HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes you can create lengthy, looping pressure. There are two common looping strings used.

• 5K > 2D > 214K > Dash is gapless even against Faultless Defense.
• c.S > 236K& > dl 214K > Dash will eventually be pushed out by Faultless Defense, but racks up more R.I.S.C., chip damage, and allows a better 5D confirm.

Even if you are pushed out, you can change the blockstring between loops safely based on how much they use Faultless Defense. This allows you to responsively optimise the blockstring. For advanced optimisation you can Dash Cancel kara 236K off 5K or c.S to enhance pressure while largely resisting pushback, but this is very challenging.

While you can Tick Throw, this is often poor as it massively penalises accrued R.I.S.C., making it wasteful use of Cheer H. At 100% R.I.S.C., an Uncharged Dust AttackGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 can fully combo meterlessly. Combined with 2D continuing the pressure, this allows c.S& (which jails into 5D) to create an extremely powerful mixup.

This is one of the few scenarios additional servants help. It can it severe pushback trivial by using 5K from far away, while further increasing R.I.S.C. and chip damage, and fresh servants will maintain their full 8 second duration after Cheer H ends. This means there is value in using Summon Servant (Place)GuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage- mid-pressure, or beginning a Held Servant loop to get more servants.

Unfortunately baiting a YRC is extremely difficult in this setplay, and for having already spent 50% Tension it is in their interests to do so. Making this setplay usually limited to when an opponent has under 50% Tension. Any residual Tension will likely be used for Faultless Defense, which can prevent 5D mixups, making this pressure's strength scale to the opponent's current available Tension.

During Positve Bonus, the 7 2⁄3 seconds of Tension reduction from Cheer H is lowered to 46 Frames. This means if you can begin this string during Positive Bonus, you almost instantly gain back 100% Tension. Given this string can loop back into another Cheer H, this can easily result in 3~4 Cheer H loops in a row, which is borderline a checkmate scenario.

BRC Mixup

An alternative use of Tension is to set up a jail into a high-low mixup using Blue Roman Cancel. Not only can this be hard to react to, but it even resets pressure on block.

BRC MixupSpend 50% Tension for a very strong mixup.

Hard

c.S > (jc~BRC or dc~BRC), (2D or 5D)
By cancelling a Jump Cancel or Dash Cancel with BRC extremely fast, Jack-O' can be advantaged enough to jail completely into 5D, and combo from it. On-block, Jack-O' is +1, but the lingering slowdown ensures 2K defeats any abare (except Sol's 5K which can be defeated by 2P).

The low mixup 2D is also very strong. On block it will true blockstring with 2D > 236P > 2K, giving a total pressure reset on a blocked low.

The timing is very precise and any delay is throwable, creating the difficulty. While Jump Cancel can allow some spacings to be out of range of Throw to make it easier, missing the prejump timing will cause an unwanted jump.

This can also be done from 5K, but you will not jail into the 5D. The only way to then stop a reversal Throw or jab would be to frametrap, such as using 2D or c.S (note frametrapping Throw is easier during the slowdown). But this won't guarantee a safe mixup, making it much less valuable.

Corner Pressure Counter Strategy

The largest difficulty facing Jack-O' is the long and safe nature of it. For this reason, it is nessecary to shift perspective on goals.

• Ending her pressure is more important than directly punishing it. If you can simply wait out the pressure, it is better than needlessly getting hit and starting from square one.
• Jack-O' lacks natural overheads or a command grab. Her Tick Throws can be fuzzy Throw ClashedInputting Throw when being thrown results in Throw Clash. From the end of blockstun the latest frame you can input to clash the earliest possible tick throw is Frame 10, making it hard to bait without opening large gaps.. Jack-O' even loses her servants on Throw Clash. Try to lean on simple fuzzy defense more than calling out gaps with jabs and backdashes.
• It is very long pressure even without meter or a single gap. Gambling on one possible gap is risky, when Jack-O' has no need to nessecarily open any gaps for a while.
• Faultless Defense presents a mostly minor annoyance, but YRC is extremely valuable, try to avoid wasting Tension even before getting placed in the corner.

Cheer H Counter Strategy

During Cheer H setplay it can appear like there is no options without a gap, but there are many.

• YRC is extremely hard to bait without weakening the entire purpose of the setplay. If you have 50% Tension, consider using it.
• Even if you have below 50% Tension, you can use Faultless Defense to avoid 100% R.I.S.C. As long as you are below that, there is very little mixup potential.
• If you do hit 100% R.I.S.C., anticipate the Uncharged Dust. It can be reacted to, albeit with difficulty, or you can fuzzy block between 2D and 5D, or even just predict it.
• You have many attempts to use IBFD, which can easily open a gap on an unprepared Jack-O'.

Additionally, if there's 3 servants, there is an unusual strategy of using Faultless Defense then intentionally taking the 2D hit. With any wall damage, the Attack Command will instantly Wall Stick, resulting in less damage than the chip damage could have done, and forces a wall break. However, be careful taking needless hits, as Jack-O' can reset her pressure off any hit that doesn't immediately Wall Stick.

Servant Hold Pressure Counter Strategy

When pushed into the looping pressure, every character has a unique situation, some matchups are much stronger than others; where  Ky can break out with ease,  Goldlewis requires advanced awareness to not be looped infinitely.

Abare is somewhat complicated. The servant deals tiny blockstun, so you must input quickly after the block to not be slow. Your abare options are completely specific to your character. Not every character has an abare to every part of the string. The below table documents abares require no Instant Block to be used, depending on the gap opened. Any 7F or faster move if too far away will trade, but almost everyone has a preferable alternative.

Servant Shoot pressure loop abare overview

Character	236K& > 236[P] > ...				236K* > ...				Notes
	236K* extension	hs.D check	214K frametrap	Jumpable?Assuming no Faultless Defense, can this character jump out of the pressure string? Some characters are larger when airborne, making this impossible.	hs.6X punishesOn prediction of the hs.6X this move will always score a Counter Hit, being much safer as an option.	hs.6X reset interruptsThe move won't outright punish hs.6X but will win if the Jack-O' immediately approaches. This will, however, be punished if the Jack-O' intentionally moves backwards to cause a whiff and/or blocks the abare.	Air reset?If jumped on the previous gap, can this character get out of the way and return to some form of RPS from the air?	Dash underCan the character dash under the servant to perform a safe strike-throw punish? This is usually done by waiting until the apex of the servant's trajectory. Will safely catch Jack-O' fuzzying vs. other punishes, but is much more precise.	Dash c.S Reset gap
Sol	6P, 623S/H		6P (hits servant), 214S	Yes	214S	6P (Loses to 2D)	Yes	Yes
Ky	2P (Close only), 623S/H, 236K, Jump		2P / 6P (hits servant), 236K	Yes	236K		Yes	Yes
May	5H		5P / 6P (hits servant)	Yes	None	2S, 3K	Yes	Yes
Axl	5K, 214S, 214H		2K (servant whiffs, Axl left -1), 6P (hits servant)	Yes	None	Dash > 2K	Yes	Yes
Chipp	5K (Close only), 623S		5P / 6P (hits servant)	Yes	Dash > 5P		Yes	Yes
Potemkin	5P, 6P, 236P, 214P		6P (hits servant)	No	None	6P (Loses to 2D)	Yes	No
Faust	5P, 5K, 2P		5P (hits servant), 6P	No	2P	6P (Loses to 2D)	Yes	Yes
Millia	6P		6P (hits servant)	Yes	None		Yes	Yes
Zato-1	5P / 2P (Close only), j.D, 214[K]		6P (hits servant)'	Yes	2P		Yes	No
Ramlethal	5K, TK 214S (Far only),		5P / 6P (hits servant)	Far only	j.214K (Air only)		Yes	Yes
Leo	2K (Close only), 2S, [2]8S/H		6P (hits servant), [2]8S/H (Close only)	Far only	None		Yes	Yes
Nagoriyuki	5K, 6H (Trades for HKD), 623H		6P	Yes	None	2K, 623H (Trades, launches)	No	No
Giovanna	5K (Close only), 623S (Trades into reset)		5P / 6P / 623S (hits servant)	Yes	None		Yes	No
Anji	5P, 236K/[S][H] (Doesn't directly punish)		6P (hits servant), 2D	Yes	2P		Yes	Yes
I-No	5K (Close only), 5H, 214K		6P (Close only OR indirect), 236S	Yes	236S / 236H (Air only)		Yes	No
Goldlewis	2P (Very close only)		2P / 6P (hits servant)	Far only	None	2D (Trades for HKD)	No	No
Jack-O'	5P / 2K (Close only), 5K		6P (hits servant)	Yes	None		Yes	Yes
Chaos	2S (Far only)		6P (hits servant), 2K (servant whiffs, Chaos left +3)	Yes	2S, 2D		Yes	Yes
Baiken	236P, TK 236S, 236K (Far only), 6P (Far only)		6P (hits servant)	Yes	None		Yes	Yes
Note: The chart documents the available options depending on distance of Very CloseAssumes an extremely low pushback opener like f.S or if the opener is Instant Blocked, CloseAssumes the distance created by Dash > c.S > 2H when crouch blocked, FarAssumes the distance created by Dash > c.S > 2H when stand blocked, and Very FarAssumes the use of Faultless Defense. An "indirect" punish means that the attack continues and punishes follow-ups but theoretically Jack-O' can avoid the attack if she does not continue.

Some abare options become open only if Jack-O' is close or far enough, sometimes this can be caused by just crouch or stand blocking for different pushback, but can be largely increased by Faultless Defense and Instant Block.

You may also choose to jump the 236K*. If Jack-O' continues her pressure as normal you will usually be able to use some air movement (particularly off superjumps) to reset to neutral. However, you are still vulnerable, Jack-O' can pressure your descent, especially if you can't get very far away, however, you will be out of the corner and back to a midscreen where Jack-O' will not have servants. If Jack-O' is expecting this, she may alter her route to lock you into the corner (i.e. with an air grab).

Training Recipes

Below is a list of recipies for learning to apply and counter a variety of these routes.

Training Recipes

Name	Recipe Number		Difficulty	Notes
	PC	PS4/5
Summon PRC: frametrap post-PRC	16286	12723	Medium	Sol will 5K very shortly after block. You will need to time your PRC precisely to the exact moment the servant appears, and not fast cancel the PRC (to allow the slow down).
Summon PRC: react to reversals	16783	11728	Very Easy	Use the freeze from PRC to react to an unsafe reversal.
Cheer H: c.S loop	20008	12759	Very Hard	You will need to apply a dashes after every Attack Command to stay in range.
Cheer H: 5K loop with 1 servant	---	---	Hard	This will leave very small gaps, try to avoid leaving bigger openings. The timing changes if you hit the servant, but this won't happen every time.
Cheer H: 5K loop with 2 Servants	16508	---	Medium	Has a consistent rhythmn, see how the additional servant improves the string.
Servant Shoot: pressure loop	16592	11711	Easy	236K* does not need to be very fast for this challenge. Hold the P input while you buffer 236K, to make this much easier.
Servant Shoot: 214K frametrap	16623	11692	Easy	Quickly link into 214K to frametrap Ramlethal's 5K, which otherwise defeats a 236K*.
Servant Shoot: 2H frametrap	16773	11702	Easy	Instead of throwing the servant, release it and frametrap with a 2H, to punish the abare.
Servant Shoot: catch the jump	16751	11683	Medium	Some opponents are hard to catch in the air, but can still be challenged.

Counter Strategy Recipes

Character	Name	Recipe Number		Difficulty	Notes
		PC	PS4/5
Universal	Summon PRC: punish drift PRC	16801	---	Very Easy	This will also work against 5P even if you do not crouch.
Universal	Servant Shoot: IB and punish the 236K&	17650	---	Hard	You will need to use an Instant Block to accomplish this. Most important for  Goldlewis and  Chaos
Universal	basic Cancels: fuzzy block the overhead	17713	---	Easy	You can do this challenge predictively, but use it as a good opportunity to practise your fuzzy blocks.
Axl	Servant Shoot: evade the 214K frametraps	16825	---	Medium	You cannot reversal 2K, add a very small delay.
Chipp	Servant Shoot: punish the hs.6X	17552	---	Very Hard	You need an incredibly precise microdash to have 5P reach while being fast enough to punish without leaving a gap.
Ramlethal	Servant Shoot: jump and punish hs.6X	17570	---	Easy	You need to stand block to get enough distance to be able to jump out.
I-No	Servant Shoot: jump and punish hs.6X	17583	---	Easy	You will need to be relatively quick to punish in time.
Chaos	Servant Shoot: evade the 214K frametraps	25450	---	Medium	You cannot reversal 2K, add a very small delay.

Sameside Pressure

In contrast to Sandwich Pressure, if a servant is on the same side as Jack-O' it is called Sameside Pressure. This is much weaker than sandwich pressure, but is a lot more accessible as it can often be achieved directly off an opponent blocking a servant.

Generally speaking Jack-O's pressure structure doesn't change much with the inclusion of the servant, and due to the servant and Jack-O' both being pushed out over time, the pressure cannot loop safely. But with the improved framedata from hitstop cancelling a few options are opened up or enhanced.

Sameside Pressure Routing

Work in progress

c.S& > jc > TK 214K > j.S& > (ADC > j.P or Land > dl 2K)

Close-range High-Low Mixup. Difficult to set up, reliant on both a fresh servant with just the right spacing. It creates a true blockstring into a difficult to react to high-low mixup that can be made unfuzziable. Unfortunately, both routes will likely end in the 2D RPS, for lack of a servant to support Jack-O'.

This can also be done from further away using 5K*. Unfortunately, this will make j.S* leave a gap based on how close the servant was. Additionally, based on Jack-O's spacing you may need to add a small delay before the 214K, to ensure the servant bounces back into j.S range.

Creating a c.S& is difficult, this is because most servants if blocked will be too far from the opponent. For example, Throw Servant > Attack Command does not place it close enough. This makes it very situational. A good way to force this is by using Attack Command before or immediately during a servant being blocked, reducing the pushback to keep it in position.

Super Wall-Break

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When Jack-O' breaks the wall using Forever Elysion DriverGuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41 the opponent will be knocked down for +36 advantage. Unfortunately, Jack-O' has one of the worst Super Wall-Breaks in the game, and is a large reason why Jack-O' dislikes needless wall-breaks. While she is advantageous, Jack-O' has no particularly potent options, all of which outclassed by her competitors and usually still demanding reliance on RPS to begin any worthwhile pressure.

There's several approaches to okizeme from his position.

Instant Airdash

A lesser-known fact about Jack-O' is her Airdash Cancels are floaty, she takes longer to land than most. This rather upsettingly means Jack-O' cannot safejump here, getting hit by any reversal 9F or faster (All except  Goldlewis' Down With The SystemGuardAllStartup6+(135 Flash)+4Recovery46Advantage-33 and  Jack-O's Forever Elysion DriverGuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41). If the opponent expects you to do nothing, they can wakeup 6P, do a fast Air Throw to punish you, or even use an H DP to hit your landing recovery as is it will time perfectly to hit this.

Assuming the opponent will not or cannot reversal, the best pressure you have is an IAD j.H (see: Jump-Ins), which is not bad, but not especially high reward. Additionally, if the opponent expects you will use j.H, they can use wakeup 6P. This is blockable, unless
the 6P is 9FList of 9F 6P attacks
 Sol
 Ky
 Chipp
 Faust
 Millia
 Ramlethal
 I-No
 Chaos
 Baiken. This is defeated by IAD j.S, at the cost of some on-block pressure.

Run-up

Another lesser-known fact about Jack-O' is she is among one of the slowest dashers in the game. She's only barely able to hit c.S meaty with tight timing from her dash, always being Throwable if even sligtly earlyDone early you get f.S, with dash momentum this easily gets thrown. or late on the input.

This compounds to some other issues. Jack-O' is unable to easily threaten a tight Uncharged Dust AttackGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15, and has almost no counterplay to Backdashes without commiting to much weaker options (e.g. f.S). Generally, Jack-O's advantage doesn't translate to any new tools here, due to her particularly slow movement.

The biggest advantage is if you score this knockdown with 100% Tension. By using BRC after c.S, it is possible to true blockstring an opponent into the corner and set up a Cheer H with Postive Bonus (almost entirely removing the Tension Penalty), setting up for a devastating amount of chip damage

BRC Jail into Positive Bonus Cheer HCash in a 100% Tension Wall-Break for enormous pressure.

Hard

Wall Stick > 632146P, Dash c.S (Blocked) > dc~BRC, 5H > 236P > 2K > 2D > 214K, Dash 2K > 2D > 214K, 236K& > 236236H > 2K > 2D > 214K > ...
From the Wall Break position, a c.S into BRC will reliably allow a full corner blockstring, and with Positive Bonus generates enough Tension to enable Cheer H with no additional Tension prior to the string. This is even safe against Faultless Defense, forcing the opponent to rely on either Instant Faultless Defense (IBFD), a YRC, or to have prevented the c.S okizeme in the first place.

Assuming the opponent does nothing to mitigate the Cheer H pressure, the Positive Bonus will allow it to loop so many times you can generate enough Tension Pulse to get another Positive Bonus before it ends, giving an infinite blockstring.

As strong as this is, it still relies on the opponent to respect the okizeme, and if you had a spare 50% Tension, you probably could have spent it in the corner without the wall break for similar results.

Summon Servant

The only reliable option, and not a very impressive one. Immediately after Wall-Break, Jack-O' can Summon Servant (Place)GuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-, leaving her with a servant and +11 frame advantage. This is not enough time to hit someone, usually allowing them the option to jump, attack, or backdash out of the position.

It has no mixups and mostly just a way to establish a safer neutral, while benefiting from Positive Bonus. As a result it's not particularly special. Generally, 236P > 6P* > ns.2P (Whiff) is the safest option for coverage while recovering fast enough to be safe from the opponent jumping in.

Defense and blockstrings

Ending Blockstrings

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When Jack-O' is blocked from any unsafe move—which make up the majority of her kit—she is given a variety of options to escape punishes and reset to neutral.

Every option depends heavily upon her having Servant Gauge available, so it is important to understand that this safety comes at a cost.

How Safe Is a Normal

Jack-O' may wish to cancel from any normal to avoid punish, but some are much safer than others.

Some moves like 2H maintain good frame advantage, making it safer, while moves like 2D move Jack-O' into the opponent with minimal blockstun, making it extremely dangerous. f.S is quite safe due to the 5H gatling, while Servant Shoot has no cancels to make the opponent hesitate.

5H is the safest, it has huge pushback on cancel, high blockstun (attack lv. 4), and has a practical cancel into Servant Shoot. Conversely, 2D has bad blockstun (Attack Lv. 2), leaves Jack-O' extremely close, and while it has a frametrap, you have less time to hitconfirm to avoid wasting okizeme. Servant Shoot, despite middling pushback and blockstun, is also not particularly safe as the opponent has no further frametraps to avoid

Blockstring End Routes

Jack-O' needs to end the blockstring safely. There's many many ways to go about this, you are only limited to Jack-O's movement, and the timing of releasing her servant. However, counterplay is usually shared between routes based on their general patterns. Below are these patterns, but do remember that variations within them may slightly alter interactions of matchups.

BlockAvoid being punished, but allows the opponent to begin pressure.

... > 214P
Only normally punishable off a close-range 2D. However, you immediately surrender to the opponent's pressure, not only does this remove Jack-O's momentum, but she may need to handle dangerous pressure imminently. This is one of the least-dangerous options, but with no particular potential for reward.

This is also the simplest way to be safe from problematic reversals, like Leo's EisensturmGuardAllStartup9Recovery33Advantage-28 or Ramlethal's MortobatoGuardAllStartup7+2Recovery51Advantage-38 [-38] {-43}.

Run AwayAvoid short-range punishes, better with distance

... > 236[P] > Backward Dash
Excellent, as most character's best counterplay is to commit to running forward, giving Jack-O' time to react by jumping over a punish or attacking the opponent before they can react. However, if the opponent is very fast, like  Ky, Jack-O' may have less time to react or make a decision.

This method is most susceptible to spacing. 2D is always punishable by a reversal attack if Jack-O' was too close. Additionally, spacing affects how long it takes for an opponent to catch up.

If Jack-O' has 50% Tension, this also challenges particularly dangerous Overdrives like Giovanna's VentaniaGuardAllStartup5+4Recovery49Advantage-37, as Jack-O' can react with her own Forever Elysion Driver.

JumpAvoid low-hitting punishes, better with higher attack level

... > 236[P] > Jump > ... > hs.D > ...
The most varied route, Jack-O' can position herself many ways into the air: back jump, instant Air Backdash, forward jump, even double jumping. However, because Jack-O' must first release the servant, she is exposed to strong air-to-air and anti-air punishes. Some characters can even call out the direction of a jump for even better reward.

Being Counter Hit in the air leads into many powerful combos. It is the most potentially rewarding, as Jack-O' can launch the servant or reset pressure with an airdash, but this comes with significant risk.

AttackReset pressure against slower punishes, better with higher attack level

... > 214P > 2K   or   ... > 236[P] > 236K
Less a blockstring ender and more a form of stagger pressure. Attacking the opponent quickly can often able to outspeed their usual punishes to other routes.

This can often be disrupted by Faultless Defense or prior spacing, as it will push Jack-O' out of range, but this benefits her other defensive options.

This is much better at close ranges off higher Attack Levels, narrowing the gap in pressure.

Strategy

This tactic is most important for 2D and 236K, as these are the most unsafe of Jack-O's moveset, however some risk exists with any move, even 5H.

Most characters have hard punishes to any particular route, but these can easily falter to other routes. Varying these will force opponents to generalise their options, which are much lower risk overall. Additionally, most punishes rely on the opponent to act fast, cancelling off early into a blockstring will allow Jack-O' to escape safely, as the opponent is forced to respect potential frametraps.

Matchups often lean heavily into specific punishes, for example Ramlethal's 5HGuardAllStartup12Recovery28Advantage-12 [-13] is extremely good for catching run away attempts but she lacks particularly rewarding pressure if blocked, while Potemkin's f.SGuardAllStartup16Recovery25Advantage-11 easily covers jump attempts but his Hammer FallGuardAllStartup18~62Recovery26Advantage-9 is very poor for catching running away.

Counterplay

The primary rule is Jack-O' is disadvantageous, she risks being largely punished and has next to no ways to score any big damage. It is essential these interactions be played into, to ensure Jack-O' is threatened. Failure to do so essentially removes the risks from some of her strongest moves like 2D.

Every character has a 'punish' (even if that comes in the form of pressure) for every route. It is nessecary to understand your character's options, especially if they have very powerful callouts or can easily cover several options at once.

Additional Info

6H Range

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The second hit of 6H ("6H(2)") applies a chain of hitboxes in sequence, each one is higher up and further away. The below table demonstrates at what ranges this move will work on specific characters and the timings of these hits.

Hitbox number	1	2	3	4	5	6
Total range (Pixels, 1080p)	307	487	637	787	937	1087
Active Frames	19~20	19~22	21~24	23~26	25~29	27~29
Highest hit on characters Standing	Giovanna	Jack-O'  May  Chipp	Sol  Ky  Axl  Milla  Zato-1  Ramlethal  Leo  Nagoriyuki  Anji  I-No  Chaos	Potemkin  Faust  Goldlewis	None
Dashing	Giovanna  Jack-O'  May  Chipp  Ky  Milla  Ramlethal  Leo  Anji  Chaos	Zato-1  Goldlewis	None	I-No	None
Crouching	None
Additional notes	Nagoriyuki's FukyoGuardN/AStartup-RecoveryTotal 25AdvantageN/A low profiles the entirety of 6H(2).  Millia's MirazhGuard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 26Advantage- low profiles the entirety of 6H(2).  Potemkin has no dash equivalent.  Faust can be hit by the 6th hitbox when he is standing while wearing an AfroGuardNoneStartup110 To LandRecoveryAdvantage-.

Notable Interactions

• Short characters like  Jack-O',  May,  Chipp, and especially  Giovanna are incredibly difficult to hit, even if they do not move. Combined with their relatively fast movement, using it in neutral is therefore extremely risky.
•  Goldlewis is exceptionally easy to hit, as even when dashing he can be hit from significantly further away, and any attack he has is likely to stand up and be hit, especially given his otherwise poor crouching moves.
•  Faust with an Afro is particularly exposed. His only benefit is the use of LoveGuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup27RecoveryTotal 48Advantage- which will be hit from 6H easily, and any standing move can be hit from extraordinarily far away.
•  I-No has an extremely unsafe range against 6H, where it can catch her hoverdash and all aerial attacks, but it cannot be hit by anything grounded, not even Stroke The Big Tree HGuardLowStartup28Recovery16Advantage-2.
• Despite appearances,  Nagoriyuki is surprisingly safe from 6H, only hitting at the standard height when standing, and cannot be hit at all during his best movement option, FukyoGuardN/AStartup-RecoveryTotal 25AdvantageN/A.

Knowledge Checks

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Okizeme

Throw > 236[P] > 66.9 jump > j.ws.D > j.S& > Land > 2K  Medium 

Option	Meaty	Inputs	Notes
Sameside Mid → Crossup Low	Safejump	Throw > 236[P] > 66.9 jump > j.ws.D > j.S& > Land > 2K
Sameside Mid → Crossup Overhead	Safejump	Throw > 236[P] > 66.9 jump > j.ws.D > j.S& > j.H
Note: The servant must be hit such that it will cause a sameside okizeme before Jack-O' falls behind the opponent. By performing a timing incorrectly the game's throw protection will nullify this sequence entirely, as the first hit will be blockable from either direction.

Throw Midscreen: Sameside-Crossup sequence safejump. A bizarre variant of safejump, by enforcing the enemy to wakeup facing sameside their only reversal options will whiff Jack-O'. It leads into a sandwich pressure with a half-duration servant, giving less reward on block. Its primary strength is in the visual ambiguity, being extremely deceiving about the sequence which must be blocked sameside then crossup, it can easily confuse opponents. Even after solving this, the safejump comes with a natural high-low mixup which cannot be option selected, but can be fuzzied.

Input Buffering

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Input Buffering is a common technique where you input some of a complex motion early, and then complete it later. This is because some motions are too lengthy to do quickly. In Jack-O's case this is most valuable with her Cheer Servant OnGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes Overdrive when cancelling off a servant, because a servant removes so much hitstop as to make it extremely difficult to input fast enough to cancel immediately. Below are some practical examples of this.

Move string	Input sequence
c.S& > 236236H	236S236H
2H& > 236236H	2362H36H
5H& > 236236H	236H236H
236K& > 236236H	236K236H
236[P], 236236H	236[P]236H
236[P], 236K	236[P]236K

This technique is utilized in the following sections:

• Sandwich Pressure
• Corner Pressure

Universal Tech

This is all tech that is accessible by some or all other characters, Jack-O' included.

BRC Instant Overhead

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Useful Links:

• Creating Instant Overheads and Mixups with Blue Roman Cancels! - Guilty Gear Strive by rooflemonger

By cancelling a backdash into a forward drift BRC and fast cancel into j.P, Jack-O' can perform a fast overhead attack. On hit this combos into 2K. This is difficult to react to compared compared to jumps and Charged DustGuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-10, and is still safe, however has generally lower reward.

On block it cannot lead into a true blockstring due to the immediate landing recovery and lack of blockstun. While it is advantaged, it doesn't avoid invincible reversals.

Executionally this is quite difficult as the window to input j.P is very tight. When done incorrectly, Jack-O' will land before it becomes active.

c.S BRC Cancel

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It is possible to perform a Blue Roman Cancel during the prejump frames of a jump cancel. This means c.S > jc~BRC will result in a grounded BRC cancel, leaving you extremely plus while the enemy is locked in a slowdown. During this time you can hit a Sweep (2D) or Uncharged Dust (5D) as a true blockstring, creating a reversal-safe unfuzziable high-low mixup. Even better, both options can still combo without further use of Tension, due to the BRC slowdown.

Jack-O' is unable to perform a meterless wallbreak (assuming no prior wall damage) off the Dust without a servant already summoned, however she can still do considerable damage into okizeme with a servant. Even on block, due to BRC slowdown you remain +5, and can frametrap with c.S.

Additonally, Jack-O' can true blockstring summon off any Lv. 1 or higherAny normal except 5P or 2P normal, with the string c.S > jc 66.BRC > (c.S or 2D or 5H) > 236P > 2K, as a potent alternative to Summon PRC.

Tiger Knees

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A "Tiger Knee" (abbreviated to TK) is a special kind of input where you perform an aerial special on the first frame of a jump, being the fastest way to perform a move, but also usually occuring extremely low to the ground, giving it new usability and functionality. Jack-O' can TK a lot of her specials, for sometimes unusual benefits:

• 214P / 214K / 214S / 214H Servant Commands can be performed as a TK to be made airborne, such as for dodging low-hitting moves like Slide HeadGuardLowStartup29Recovery24Advantage0 and ZarameyukiGuardAllStartup18~29RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+5 in neutral.
• 214K Off Sandwich Pressure you can TK Attack Command to set up crossups while still frametrapping opponents.
• 214S When Defend Command is TK'd you can parry oncoming strikes while evading run-up grabs, defensively covering against both in neutral.
• 236K Servant Shoot can still launch servants when TK'd, and can be used in pressure from a jump cancel to maintain blockstrings while staying airborne against Forever Elysion Driver in the mirror match. For launching servants, you will need to not High Jump this.
• hs.6X Throw Servant can be TK'd to throw it at the earliest time to get more time to attack, due to its long recovery time. The motion isn't a "TK" motion but it behaves the same.
• hs.D Performing Release Servant earlier allows you to block potential punishes or use air specials slightly faster. The motion isn't a "TK" motion but it behaves the same.

Inputting a Tiger Knee

For most quarter circles you can simply extend the motion of the input into the jump, and slightly delay the attack button to just as you leave the ground, such as a 2369K. Some cases may behave differently, as explained further below.

• TK Throw Servant: Throw Servant is unique as it has no motion, so simply inputting hs.9X will result in a TK. This is still important, but extremely to perform.

• Manual direction TK: If you need to control the direction of the TK, you will need to do this while avoiding the unwanted jump directions, for example to neutral jump 236K we need to input 2368K, which can be done as 23658K but not 23698K, as the 9 would simply make you jump forward.

• Low TK: Normally a 2369 motion results in a High Jump, as you do a down input before an up, this can indirectly cause your moves to go higher than you expect. In the case of TK 236K this height will make you whiff servants. To avoid this there is two solutions. You can perform 2369K with a extremely small delay before the 9 to stop it being a High Jump but still in time for the move buffer, or input the motion 9236, where you perform the entire 236K input during prejump. This is not too difficult from a jump cancel, as you can buffer the jump giving you time to perform the TK, but in neutral this is the hardest motion possible.

• TK hs.D and TK hs.6X: Throw Servant and Release Servant have no motion, so simply inputting a jump hs.9X will result in a TK. This is trivially simple for backwards Release Servant (hs.7X), neutral Release Servant (hs.8X), and forward Throw Servant (hs.6x). However, due to the overlap, if you wish to do a forward jump with TK Release Servant or neutral/backward jump Throw Servant you must change the direction during prejump.

Unlike the other TKs, a TK Release Servant is about how quickly you release the forward direction, not how quickly you can press an input. Interestingly, you can still input hs.9X and it will Release Servant so long as you are no longer holding forward by the time prejump ends.

Delay Gatlings

Many gatlings and cancels are commonly used to assert pressure. There is many reasons why you might delay your cancels:

• Open a frametrap from a true blockstring.
• Widen the gap to catch fuzzy options.
• Make mixups more ambiguous (e.g. the recovery animation stops being a telegraph of Throw).
• To evade an opponent's Instant Block timing.
• Generate more Servant Gauge

For the last point, Jack-O's Servant Gauge refills automatically even during her own pressure strings, therefore by slowing down the cancels you can allow yourself to regain more Servant Gauge.

Take for example 214K, c.S > f.S > 5H. The initial Attack Command freezes the Servant Gauge for 60 frames. If we wish to use this as a loop into another Attack Command and leave zero gaps it will be difficult to not lose Servant Gauge rapidly. With the fastest possible inputs it will regain Servant Gauge for only 3 framesEquivalent to 0.018~0.024 bars of Servant Gauge.. If you delay every attack perfecctly you can gain up to 19 framesEquivalent to 0.114~0.152 bars of Servant Gauge, while still leaving it truly gapless. It isn't much but this can make the difference in a pinch.

This can, of course, be taken further. Intentionally opening larger gaps in pressure is not only useful as covered above, but also stalls for even more Servant Gauge.

Advanced Tech

This section discusses a wide range of tech and mechanics Jack-O' has access to. The application of each is largely different.

Unblockable Damage

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Useful Links:

• midscreen oki by BadoorSNK

Jack-O' can set up an unblockable attack. In these setups, Jack-O' prepares a servant to hit the opponent at the exact same moment after she would land Forever Elysion Driver, thereby creating both a Grab and a Strike at the exact same moment, which forces inescapable damage. However, this can be defeated by certain options.

A correctly executed unblockable cannot be blocked, or jumped, but can be defeated by (throw immune) invincible reversals and Burst. However, because of backdash immunity, an opponent can always backdash on reaction to avoid being comboed by Forever Elysion Driver and only be hit by the Countdown.

Countdown UnblockableExpensive, difficult, self-harming, and niche. But very unique.

By performing Forever Elysion DriverGuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41 during the detonation of CountdownGuardAllStartup3+180+25RecoveryTotal 24Advantage-, the opponent is put into an unblockable attack. Jumping or backdashing will be hit by the explosion. Because the opponent can always backdash, this means the best outcome is 80 damage, and a reset to neutral. Depending on positioning, this will also harm Jack-O'.

For all intents and purposes, this functions like a long-range unreactable command grab, as the opponent can jump prior to the grab, and deals 80 damage 'on hit'.

If Jack-O' has 100% Tension to PRC, and was not hit by it, she can immediately combo off the Countdown hit for significantly higher reward. However, this is very difficult to actually set up due to the space required.

The timing of the Forever Elysion Driver is important. The strike component must land during or slightly after the Forever Elysion Driver becomes active. While strictly speaking the attack only combos into Countdown if it lands on Frames 1~2, because the opponent can backdash regardless it is only nessecary to hit early enough to prevent a jump block. Because the servant will act for 10 frames during the cinematic, it can hit early before the opponent can jump or backdash, causing them to block and be safe.

Non-Wallbreak FED

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An unusual quirk of its range buffs in Battle Version 1.05 is Forever Elysion Driver can now reach an opponent stuck to the wall from a distance where it will not cause a wallbreak, allowing any wall stick combo to immediately lead into a corner okizeme, at the cost of 50% Tension.

While many setups exist for this, the only requirement is the ability to reach a specific position in time to use Forever Elysion Driver. The positioning is incredibly tight. If too close, Forever Elysion Driver will cause a wallbreak. If too far, Forever Elysion Driver will whiff and the opponent will escape the wall.

A good visual guide is the timer. The black arrow at the base of the timer should line up with the back of Jack-O's head.

Corner Okizeme

One weakness of this okizeme is a lack of time to set up servants while also performing strong okizeme. Therefore, this setup is most valuable with either already placed servants, or by setting up servants before using Forever Elysion Driver. Note that because you can Forever Elysion Driver, you need only 14 frames to get an additional servant.

While the pressure can be very potent, unfortunately the wall damage will likely be extremely high, meaning any hit will almost immediately break the wall. With Jack-O's unfortunate lack of "wall slump" combos, this usually makes her reward very low. This is still superior damage to the original Forever Elysion Driver wallbreak, but it largely reduces the potential value that can be earned, unless the opponent remains in the corner for some time. Alternatively, it allows her to spend an additional 50% Tension on a second Forever Elysion Driver, functionally resetting the combo for an extremely high damage reward.

632146P, 236[P] > 9 > j.hs.D > dl j.S.

Servant summon and safejump. The benefit of this string is that it immediately leads into safe corner pressure and blockstrings with a full-duration servant while auto-timing for a safejump, allowing more potential mixups, while being reversal-safe. Despite the seeming lack of mixups at face-value, it directly provides more overall value than a basic strike-throw.

If you lack Servant Gauge to perform this, you can either pick up a servant instead of summoning (same frame-data), or use 632146P, 5P (whiff) > 9 > > dl j.S. The 5P acts as a frame-kill, however it mustn't hit a servant to work, and offers much worse corner pressure options.

Hitbox Nullifying

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Useful Links:

• Guilty Snacks: Jack-O Tips and Tricks by Ari Manne

Known by many names, when using Defend CommandGuardStartup4RecoveryTotal 30Advantage+25, if the servant is released or picked up 1 Frame after (with 5F input buffer) the enemy strikes the defend hitbox, the servant will not perform a Guard Crush, instead the hitbox will be nullified without ending their animation. This can enable a lot of unique punishes.

Hitbox NullifyingInterrupt the Guard Crush for a full punish

Hard

214S > ns.2P or hs.S > hs.D
By releasing or picking up a servant instantly as it parries the attack, the hitbox is nufflified without stopping the attack (and therefore recovery). This allows fully punishing the opponent with a high damage combo meterlessly, especially against DP Dragon Punch A move that has invulnerability during its startup, long recovery, and a rising motion. attacks and slow H normals.

By interrupting the Guard Crush you lose the 33 damage, and do not regain 1 bar of Servant Gauge. Additionally, this only nullifies the first hit: multi-hit attacks such as EisensturmGuardAllStartup9Recovery33Advantage-28 will simply hit immediately after. Additionally, moves with short recoveries are likely to be be safe.

You cannot drop a servant during the Defend Command animation unless it parries, so you can buffer the hs.D input on prediction. This is not possible when picking up a servant, but its shield lingers as picked up, making it not frame-perfect.

Interestingly, even if you intend to only punish with Forever Elysion DriverGuardAllStartup10+1Recovery58Advantage-41, it is still more optimal to use this, as the Guard Crush normally causes combo scaling and proration for significantly less total damage.

This technique is utilized in the following sections:

• Ending Blockstrings

Unscaled Countdown

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The Unscaled Countdown behaviour is generally assumed to be a bug and may be removed in the future.

When using CountdownGuardAllStartup3+180+25RecoveryTotal 24Advantage-, if the explosion hits Jack-O' before hitting the opponent, the explosion will deal damage with no combo scaling besides proration, resulting in an enormous damage boost to a combo, at the loss of some of Jack-O's health.

Unscaled CountdownEnd a combo with a staggering 80 extra unscaled damage, but beware the self-harm.

Variable

By routing a combo to set up a servant to hit Jack-O' before the opponent, you can deal an enormous amount more damage. This is key to some of Jack-O's highest damage combos, however on top of removing all Servant Gauge, this also resets to neutral, and deals 80 damage to Jack-O' (and able to lethal herself).

This is usually set up by having the opponent launched high while the servant explodes near the ground, to give as much time as possible for the opponent to avoid the explosion until after it has hit Jack-O'. The servant can be hit into the ground using 2S, 2H, 6H, j.S, or bouncing it off a wall. You can also use Attack Command to hold it at a low position for longer.

Due to the precision of spacing and timing involved, this is reserved for very pre-planned combos routes, and is not realistic to improvise into a combo.

While this is in theory even more expensive than usual Countdown combos, for its self-harm and neutral reset; given most Countdown combos are not worth using unless it kills, this is often just a more optimal use of Countdown—assuming the explosion doesn't take out Jack-O' in the process. If this happens it does result in her losing the round, it will not be a draw.

This technique is utilized in the following sections:

• Combos

Whiff Pick Up Cancelling

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Jack-O's Pick Up ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage- is possible to activate when near a servant, but it will not pick up the servant immediately, and if the servant disappears or goes out of range, the move will whiff. This gives Jack-O' a 14F special cancel which does not place her into Held Servant stance, allowing her to recover extraordinarily fast from many moves, for pressure and zoning.

Whiff Pick Up cancelFail to pick up a servant to fast cancel off move.

Easy

236P > 236K* > ns.2P (Whiff)
By inputting Pick Up ServantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage- as you hit a servant, Jack-O' is able to cancel any move into a 14F recovery. This can be done with any special-cancellable, not just 236K. This is most easily set up with 236P to get the perfect spacing, but adding a slight delay can allow it to be done from 236[P] > hs.D too.

When zoning, using this allows Jack-O' to launch servants while giving herself more time to catch jump-ins, run-unders, defend against potential punishes, or approach behind the servant.

In corner pressure, this can open new frametrap and Tick Throw opportunities, but is difficult to set up due to unreliable pushback spacing.

Because the window between picking up and whiffing the servant is quite narrow, spacing is important. Off some hits it may be required to do a delayed cancel. Additionally the detection range is not limitless, far reaching hits may not allow Pick Up Servant at all. In the corner, it is possible for a servant to never leave its range due to the wall.

Pick Up Servant shares identical frame data to Summon Servant (Hold)GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage-. When the servant hits an opponent immediately this is +7 minimum, making it very advantageous given Jack-O' has full use of Normals, Throw, and can block.

This technique is utilized in the following sections:

• Zoning
• Corner Pressure

Fighting Jack-O

Key strategies

Servants

Servant gauge demonstration

Servants are a crucial part of Jack-O's gameplan and without them she is one of the weakest characters in the game. Because of this, preventing Jack-o from setting up servants is one of the best way to stop her from establishing momentum. Tied to her servants is the Servant Gauge.

When summoning a servant it takes 1 yellow bar while leaving behind a gray bar which can be used for commands. When Jack-o performs a command (Attack, Defend, Countdown) it consumes 1 gray bar. If jack-o has no gray bar it will consume 1 yellow without leaving behind a gray bar. If Jack-o has no gauge she cannot summon servants or perform attack commands.

Avoiding or destroying servants

Demonstration of destroying servants

Servants disappear after a set amount of time, being hit twice by Jack-o, Jack-o blocks, or you destroy them. There is more nuisance about servants that be found here. Generally for neutral it's best to destroy servants with 5P, 5K, 2P, and 6P depending on the character. Servants can be hit while idle or while in flight. So if Jack-o tosses a servant or even kicks a servant it is possible to hit the servant before it reaches you. As well servants are special cancelable which can be useful for jump/dash/special cancels. The other options is to run past servants which is best when Jack-O tosses the servant in the air.

Jack-o's blockstring without servants are weak

Jack-o has fairly weak blockstrings without servants and has to rely heavily on delays or lack of knowledge from the opponent. More often than not, Jack-o will end her blockstring with 236P, 236[P]GuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-, or 214PGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 19Advantage-. Most options can be punished by 5P,2P, or 6P but after 5H it can be very difficult or impossible to punish. To put it in perspective, here is a small table from the moves Jack-o is most likely to cancel

On-Block Cancels

Cancelled Move	236[P]GuardStartupRecoveryTotal 14Advantage-	214PGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 19Advantage-	214KGuardAllStartup12RecoveryTotal 23Advantage+15	236PGuardStartup10RecoveryTotal 25Advantage-
f.S, 6P, 2D	-1	-6	-10	-12
c.S or 236KGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12	+2	-3	-7	-9
5H or 2H	+4	-1	-5	-7

Blocking jack-o

Jack-o when servants are out can be scary but after initial mixup from okizeme the main thing to worry about is throw. If you block the initial high low mixup from Jack-o she has to rely on 5D

Jack-o's mixup relies on the initial hits for mixup which can be high, low, or left/right. After this has been done her mixup becomes significantly weaker and relies on frame traps and throws to open the opponent up.

Cheer H Super

c.S > 2H > Cheer HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes ~ regular block vs FD

Cheer HGuardStartup3RecoveryTotal 15AdvantageSee Notes is notorious due to its high chip damage and making the opponent feel trapped. The best counterplay to this is to burst or YRC after blocking a 236KGuardAllStartup15Recovery25Advantage-12 because it's not possible to bait without spending additional meter. If you have enough health to take the hit, it can be good to intentionally get hit to force the wallbreak situation to reset neutral and avoid R.I.S.C being maxed out. The reason for this it can be difficult for jack-o to not break the wall and the damage she gets with the servants out is not that high.

Cheer H super at best will be +6 from 236K + servant or +3 after 5H/2H. However even with that there are ways out of it by FD blocking early on. Most Jack-o players would try and setup cheer H super by using c.S > 2H > 236K + servant but if the first two hits were FD blocked Jack-o is out of range for her 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3 and her 5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage-4 can be hit by 6P

Defend command

Defend command is a powerful tool and can be useful to make the opponent second guess hitting servants. It can be difficult to punish jack-o using defend command but it is easy to run through the defend command and throw her. Certain characters, such as Baiken's 2HGuardLowStartup17Recovery26Advantage-13 and Ky's Stun DipperGuardLow, AllStartup7Recovery30Advantage-19 [-14], have the ability to low profile defend command entirely.

misc notes

• c.S > f.S > 5HGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-6. if you FD block the first two hits you often can punish her 5H with 6P or a low profile moves

• Jack-O's corner pressure is incredibly powerful, and getting out of it might prove very challenging. For that reason it might be a good idea to be conservative with your burst, and using it to escape corner pressure, rather than breaking a random midscreen mix or combo. Especially if your character is lacking strong defensive tools.

Moveset Overview

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5P

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
23	All	5	4	8	-2	none

• On-block 1F frametraps into 6P.
• Whiffs against crouching opponents, except  Nagoriyuki,  Potemkin and  Goldlewis.

Due to whiffing crouching, you can easily pressure with crouching moves to avoid a 5F reversal.

5K

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
27	All	7	6	10	-4	none

• Crushed by 6P.
• Blockstrings into 2D; may leave a gap if spaced.

On-block only real follow-up is 2D, leading into an unsafe RPS. Just watch out for her doing an early summon cancel.

 Sol,  Chipp,  Leo: due to leaving a gap with spacing, you can also situationally use a 7F DP as a both a punish and to defeat frametrapping.

Can be trivially low-profiled by most characters (See also: Low Profiling).

c.S

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• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
39	All	7	6	10	+1	none

• Throw punishable on recovery.

Despite being her best on-block normal this is pretty weak without servants. Her best pressure string is c.S > f.S > 5H. Just mind the usual frametraps and resets.

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c.S&(Blocked)

• +3 on block.
• Links into c.S as a 4F Frametrap.
• Cancels into Uncharged Dust as a true blockstring

Common upgrade when she has servants. Only slightly improves mixups.

 Sol and  Chipp: Using a 3F reversal prevents going for a reset and stops a Throw, but this is risky.

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c.S&(Whiff)

• +7 on block.
• Links into 2K and c.S as a true blockstring.
• Cancels into Uncharged Dust as a true blockstring
• Cancels into Charged Dust as a 4F Frametrap.
• Cancel into TK Attack Command sets up an overhead crossup.

Exclusive to sandwich pressure, this is an oppressive move. There is no simple option, but generally blocking low then reacting to highs is the safest approach. She can't loop forever, so be patient.

f.S

• 

• 

  First active frame

• 

  Max range

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
32	All	11	6	17	-9	none

• Crushed by 6P.
• Cancels into 5H as a true blockstring, may frametrap at spacing.

Has minimal reward on hit, so just be mindful of its range and speed.

5H

• 

• 
• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
24×2	All	10	3(3)2	23	-6	none

• Crushed by 6P.

Her farthest reaching move, a disjoint, and her safest move on block, you should absolutely respect this in neutral. It is a little stubby and somewhat slow, however. Many crouching moves (even if they don't truly low profile) will defeat it. If you can make it whiff, she will be extremely punishable.

Can be low-profiled by some characters (See also: Low Profiling).

5D

• 

• 

Version	Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
45	High	20	3	26	-15	-
56	High	28	3	26	-10	-

Same as any other character's Dust, watch for the orange glow and block high, but she has more situations to use this practically.

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Uncharged Dust

• Is a true blockstring after c.S&(Blocked) or c.S&(Whiff).
• Can be 2-hit comboed in the corner with 5D&.

If you're in the corner, after a 2K or 5K, make sure to fuzzy block the 2D and 5D, as she can easily score meterless wallbreaks with this.

During her Cheer H pressure, if your R.I.S.C. hits 100%, expect this move, and try your best to fuzzy block and/or react.

---

Charged Dust

• Is a 4F frametrap after c.S&(Whiff).

If you blocked c.S&(Whiff), backdash if you're slightly spaced or use Throw if point-blank. Otherwise, just block it.

 Sol and  Chipp: Using a 3F reversal will always win, even after a c.S&(Whiff).

6P

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
28	All	10	6	20	-12	1-3 Upper Body 4-12 Above Knees

A particularly good 6P, as it has upper body immunity faster than most. It is still like most 6Ps: use low-hitting moves or bait her into whiffing, its range is stubby for neutral play, and the recovery can be punished from the air if you make your timing unpredictable.

 Millia: Jack-O's 6P can attack out of H Disc setups, more than most. Be mindful of this abare option and her potential to option select.

6H

• 
• 

• 

  First hit

• 

  Second hit, lowest height.

• 

  Second hit, maximum reach.

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
20, 40	All	8,19	2(9)11	14	-6	none

• See also: 6H Range.
• Despite the large Counter visual, there is no combos on Counter Hit without prior setup in the corner. Yes, really.

First hit can catch run-ins but otherwise nothing special. The second hit is functionally a giant long-range anti-air, however the angle makes it unable to hit most mid-range jumps, only functioning from further away. If you're being caught by this, it's almost certainly on prediction, so try to vary your approach. Its reward is low, so this is not a large threat overall, but you want to avoid being carried into the corner by it repeatedly.

The second hit always whiffs crouching, and has long recovery due to its huge active time. This move is very bad in neutral against any crouching approaches.

 Goldlewis: his huge size and tiny jumps makes him pretty much the only character that can be reliably reaction anti-aired with this move.

2P

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
21	All	5	4	9	-3	none

• On-block 1F frametraps into 6P.

Her fastest abare against crouching. 6 Frames, making it fairly simple to deal with, as it can even be thrown.

2K

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
24	Low	6	3	12	-3	F6-20 Low-profile

• Very low profile, taller at the back than the front.
• Blockstrings into 2D; may leave a gap if spaced.

Similar to 5K but shorter, and a little safer to recover.

This move is very good at low profiling, but contrary to popular belief it is not as low profile as other moves like  Sol's Night Raid VortexGuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32Advantage-17 due to the back edge being much taller making it lose to a lot more interactions.

2S

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
31	All	9	7	22	-15	none

• Vertical disjoint, but does not lower the hurtbox past crouching stance.

Absolutely worthless against grounded opponents. This is only relevant as an anti-air.

The horizontal range is stubby, this means it usually fails to air attacks that fall to the sides, even if they are going straight down. Careful use of your attacks to only hit the sides will avoid this move.

This move is particularly good against aerial ambiguous crossups, as both sides will usually extend the hurtbox into the 2S. You will likely need to adapt the mixups in these situations.

2H

• 

• 

  Frame 15~17

• 

  Frame 18~20

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
41	All	15	6	18	-5	none

Not particularly special, this move is very slow and stubby both as an anti-air and to catch neutral moves. It is mostly blockstring and combo filler for the Jack-O' to worry about.

f.S > 2H is a frametrap that almost always loses to a reversal Throw, unless spaced perfectly.

2D

• 

• 

Damage	GuardHow this attack can be blocked.	StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame.	ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup.	RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled.	On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent.	Invuln
29	Low	10	15	18	-19	F10~33 Low-profile

• Very low profile, taller at the back than the front.
• Leads into an unsafe RPS on block, unless supported by servants.

Similar to 2K, it is quite low-profile making it good for crushing moves in neutral. However, it loses to more moves than you would expect. Behaves similar to 5H, it is functionally slow at a distance, and is very whiff punishable. It is not a disjoint, and can lose to low-hitting moves easily.

This move is a very strong knowledge check early on. It is almost always a bad idea for Jack-O' to allow you to block this, and you are empowered to punish her. Review the RPS she has both before and after a Servant Shoot, as Jack-O' has no way to sustain pressure.

 Ramlethal,  Nagoriyuki: on block, can use their invincible Overdrive and always win. Can only lose if Jack-O' uses a pre-emptive PRC during 2D.

 Ky,  Giovanna,  Leo,  Baiken: if Jack-O' lacks 50% Tension, on block, can use their invincible Overdrive and always win. If Jack-O' has 50% Tension, she has on-reaction routes to punish it.

Low Profiling

Jack-O's 5K, f.S, and 5H all hit high enough to be consistently low-profiled, forming a major flaw in Jack-O's neutral game she has to largely compensate. Below is a chart of every move that can low-profile these three moves.

Low Profling Jack-O'

Character	Move	5K	f.S	5H	Notes
Sol	Night Raid VortexGuardAllStartup15~31 [32]Recovery32Advantage-17	✓	✓	✓
Ky	Stun DipperGuardAllStartup24Recovery6Advantage-2~+6 [+5~+12]	✓	✓	✓	Will fail to 5H at point-blank range.
May	3KGuardLowStartup11Recovery15Advantage-10	✓	✓	✓
	2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery10Advantage-2 and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery17Advantage-7	~	X	X	Only from mid-range of 5K.
Axl	2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-4	✓	✓	X
Chipp	None
Potemkin	None
Faust	Crawl	✓	✓	X
Millia	MirazhGuard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 26Advantage-	✓	✓	✓
	2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-3	✓	X	X
Zato-1	Break The LawGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 28~95Advantage-	✓	✓	✓
Ramlethal	2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2	✓	X	X	Techniocally avoids f.S at far range with perfect timing.
Leo	2SGuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5	~	X	X	Only from mid-range of 5K.
Nagoriyuki	2KGuardLowStartup7Recovery8Advantage-1	~	X	X	Only from max range of 5K.
Giovanna	Crouching, 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2, 2SGuardLowStartup9Recovery15Advantage-6	~	X	X	Only from mid-range of 5K.
	2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery11Advantage-2	✓	~	X	Only from mid-range of f.S.
	Sol NascenteGuardAllStartup7Recovery21Advantage-15	✓	✓	~	Only from mid-range of 5H.
Anji	2SGuardLowStartup10Recovery16Advantage-6	~	X	X	Only from mid-range of 5K.
	2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery22Advantage-11	✓	✓	X
I-No	Stroke The Big TreeGuardLowStartup16Recovery16Advantage-7	✓	✓	✓
	2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2	~	X	X	Only from mid-range of 5K.
	2SGuardAllStartup10Recovery23Advantage-11	✓	~	X	Only from mid-range of f.S.
Goldlewis	2DGuardLowStartup14Recovery24Advantage-10	~	X	X	Only from max range of 5K.
Jack-O'	2K and 2D	✓	✓	~	Only from mid-range of 5H.
Chaos	RollGuard-Startup-Recovery35 totalAdvantage-	✓	✓	✓
	2KGuardLowStartup7Recovery12Advantage-4	✓	✓	~	Only from mid-range of 5H.
Baiken	2HGuardLowStartup17Recovery26Advantage-13	✓	~	X	Only from mid-range of f.S.

Matchups

Every matchup is unique and detailed. To better cover this, there is a seperate section on specific matchups.

Matchups

Training Recipes

Below is a list of every training recipe included on this page.

Learning Jack-O'

Training Recipes

Name	Recipe Number		Difficulty	Notes
	PC	PS4/5
Corner Pressure
Summon PRC: frametrap post-PRC	16286	12723	Medium	Sol will 5K very shortly after block. You will need to time your PRC precisely to the exact moment the servant appears, and not fast cancel the PRC (to allow the slow down).
Summon PRC: react to reversals	16783	11728	Very Easy	Use the freeze from PRC to react to an unsafe reversal.
Cheer H: c.S loop	20008	12759	Very Hard	You will need to apply a dashes after every Attack Command to stay in range.
Cheer H: 5K loop with 1 servant	---	---	Hard	This will leave very small gaps, try to avoid leaving bigger openings. The timing changes if you hit the servant, but this won't happen every time.
Cheer H: 5K loop with 2 Servants	16508	---	Medium	Has a consistent rhythmn, see how the additional servant improves the string.
Servant Shoot: pressure loop	16592	11711	Easy	236K* does not need to be very fast for this challenge. Hold the P input while you buffer 236K, to make this much easier.
Servant Shoot: 214K frametrap	16623	11692	Easy	Quickly link into 214K to frametrap Ramlethal's 5K, which otherwise defeats a 236K*.
Servant Shoot: 2H frametrap	16773	11702	Easy	Instead of throwing the servant, release it and frametrap with a 2H, to punish the abare.
Servant Shoot: catch the jump	16751	11683	Medium	Some opponents are hard to catch in the air, but can still be challenged.
Advanced Tech
2S& Servant Unblockable: perform a perfect unblockable	---	---	Very Hard	If you are too early, their 7 will auto-block, if you are too late, you will not grab off the servant hitting.
2S& Servant Unblockable: combo off a backdash	---	---	Very Hard	More lenient timing for the unblockable.

Learning Counterplay

Counter Strategy Recipes

Character	Name	Recipe Number		Difficulty	Notes
		PC	PS4/5
Corner Pressure
Universal	Summon PRC: punish drift PRC	16801	13916	Very Easy	This will also work against 5P even if you do not crouch.
Universal	Servant Shoot: IB and punish the 236K&	17650	13895	Hard	You will need to use an Instant Block to accomplish this. Most important for  Goldlewis and  Chaos
Universal	basic Cancels: fuzzy block the overhead	17713	---	Easy	You can do this challenge predictively, but use it as a good opportunity to practise your fuzzy blocks.
Axl	Servant Shoot: evade the 214K frametraps	16825	13943	Medium	You cannot reversal 2K, add a very small delay.
Chipp	Servant Shoot: punish the hs.6X	17552	14015	Very Hard	You need an incredibly precise microdash to have 5P reach while being fast enough to punish without leaving a gap.
Ramlethal	Servant Shoot: jump and punish hs.6X	17570	13960	Easy	You need to stand block to get enough distance to be able to jump out.
I-No	Servant Shoot: jump and punish hs.6X	17583	13970	Easy	You will need to be relatively quick to punish in time.
Chaos	Servant Shoot: evade the 214K frametraps	25450	---	Medium	You cannot reversal 2K, add a very small delay.
Advanced Tech
Universal	Unblockables: backdash to minimise damage	---	---	Hard	Backdashing cannot be buffered as easily as supers and jump.
Universal	2S& Servant Unblockable: fuzzy stand block	---	---	Easy	Crouch block the 2S then stand block after.

Useful Links

Resources and References

• Jack-O' Doc
  A simple guide explaining the general gameplan and tools of Jack-O'.
• Strive Jack-O' Compendium
  Document of information on a variety of combos, setups, pressure strings, and matchup interactions.
• Jack-O' Hitbox Reference (Strive Ver.1.09)
  Video showcasing Jack-O's hitboxes in real-time.
• Jack-O' Defend Command Interactions
  A document listing the hitbox interactions of Defend Command in each matchup.
• Goober Essentials
  Overview document introducing Jack-O's movesets and matchups.
• @MeliTrayus and /u/Meli_Trayus
  Twitter and Reddit accounts hosting Everyday Halloween, a series of bitesize tech and setup videos.
• #GGST_JC
  Twitter tag for Jack-O' content, where many players share tech, combos, and clips.

Combo and Setup Videos

• JACK-O' Beginner Combos – Guilty Gear Strive by ahmz1404
• 【GGST(Ver1.09)】必要十分！ジャック・オー(Jack-O)実用コンボ【vol.1】 by 初心者のための対戦ゲーム最短上達チャンネル
• 【GGST(Ver1.09)】必要十分！ジャック・オー(Jack-O)実用コンボ【vol.2】 by 初心者のための対戦ゲーム最短上達チャンネル
• ギルティギア ストライヴ ジャックオー 基本 コンボ【GUILTY GEAR STRIVE JACK-O' BASIC COMBOS】 by メノ(Meno)
• 【Guilty Gear Strive】実戦向けコンボ＆セットプレイ集 ジャック・オーを使いたい人向け動画 by かずのこチャンネル (Kazunoko)
• 【GGST】JACK-O' Practical Combos & Mix-up 2 GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-【ジャック・オー】 by SmileLanze
• Jack-o Pressure Guide | Tactics and Application by baccpack

Notable Player Content

• Eddventure - YouTube Twitter
• Ladwaybac - YouTube
• NotPichu? - None available
• Purepure - Twitter

Navigation

 Jack-O'

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Strategy

Matchups

Counterstrategy

Okizeme

Frame Data

Resources

Guilty Gear -Strive- ^e

 Anji Mito ^[★]

 Asuka R♯ ^[★]

 Axl Low ^[★]

 Baiken ^[★]

 Bedman? ^[★]

 Bridget ^[★]

 Chipp Zanuff ^[★]

 Faust ^[★]

 Giovanna ^[★]

 Goldlewis ^[★]

 Happy Chaos ^[★]

 I-No ^[★]

 Jack-O' ^[★]

 Johnny ^[★]

 Ky Kiske ^[★]

 Leo Whitefang ^[★]

 May ^[★]

 Millia Rage ^[★]

 Nagoriyuki ^[★]

 Potemkin ^[★]

 Ramlethal ^[★]

 Sin Kiske ^[★]

 Sol Badguy ^[★]

 Testament ^[★]

 Zato-1 ^[★]

Click [★] for character's full frame data

Essentials
• HUD • Controls • FAQ •
The Basics
• Movement/Canceling • Offense • Defense • Gauges • Universal Strategy •
Detailed & Advanced Information
• Damage/Combo • Frame Data & System Data • Attack Attributes • Misc •
Archived Information
• Patch Notes • Tier Lists •

• Attack Level
• Blocking
• Burst Gauge
• Cancels
• Clash
• Dash Cancel
• Faultless Defense
• Frame Advantage
• Gatling
• Gravity
• Guard Crush
• Guts
• Hitstop
• Hitstun
• Instant Air Dash (IAD)
• Instant Block
• Instant Faultless Defense
• Invalid Combos
• Knockdown Recovery
• Low Profile
• Minimum Damage
• Negative Penalty
• Off the Ground (OTG)
• Positive Bonus
• Prejump
• Proration
• Psych Burst
• Punish
• Overdrive (Super Attack)
• R.I.S.C. Level
• Roman Cancel (RC)
• Stagger Recovery
• Tension Gauge
• Throw
• Throw Clash
• Wall