GGST/Testament/Starter

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Frame Data

Matchups

Strategy

Resources

Counterstrategy

Key Moves

Grounded Buttons

• 5PGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2 and 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-3 are your fastest buttons, used for Abare An attack during the opponent's pressure, intended to interrupt it. as well as pressure To attack the opponent continuously and leave little room for counter attacks. with Stain StateGuardAllStartupRecoveryAdvantage-.
• 6PGuardAllStartup11Recovery15Advantage-7 has an enormous disjointed hitbox A particular type of hitbox that has no nearby associated hurtbox, enabling attacks to have certain areas that cannot be hit by an opponent's attacks in return. and low profile When a character's hurtbox is entirely beneath an opponent's attack. This can be caused by crouching, certain moves, and being short. hurtbox The hitbox specifically relating to where a character is vulnerable to an opponent's attack. Shown as blue or cyan in visualizations. that gives it exceptional utility as a counter-poke An attack that's thrown out to occupy the space in front of you and remind your opponent not to try and come closer. Usually, this is a far-reaching and safe normal move with little risk..
• 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery13Advantage-3 is an extremely fast low poke An attack that's thrown out to occupy the space in front of you and remind your opponent not to try and come closer. Usually, this is a far-reaching and safe normal move with little risk. useful for abare An attack during the opponent's pressure, intended to interrupt it. and mix-up To perform a maneuver that forces a defending opponent to choose between two or more options. If the opponent chooses incorrectly, then they are hit by an attack. There are many different types of mix-ups such as crossup(left/right), high/low, and strike/throw.s, as well as ducking under projectiles and even enemy jump ins.
• f.SGuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-7 is an enormous poke An attack that's thrown out to occupy the space in front of you and remind your opponent not to try and come closer. Usually, this is a far-reaching and safe normal move with little risk. that form the basis of Testament's midrange.
• 6HGuardAllStartup23Recovery32Advantage-19 dwarfs f.S, but sacrifices speed and a disjointed hitbox A particular type of hitbox that has no nearby associated hurtbox, enabling attacks to have certain areas that cannot be hit by an opponent's attacks in return. for raw size and damage. Fantastic combo starter and the range makes it difficult to punish.
• 2HGuardAllStartup23Recovery12Advantage-2 is the sibling to 6H, but with a twist. 2H pulls the opponent in on hit or block, allowing you to reliably extend pressure To attack the opponent continuously and leave little room for counter attacks., or convert into a damaging combo, by cancel To bypass the remaining time or frames in an action by proceeding directly into another action.ling in to 236H. This pull can also be used to throw blocking opponents, or set up a frame trap An offensive technique where the attacker leaves a small opening in their offense, goading the defender into performing an attack. This opening is designed such that the attacker can easily counter the defender's attack with their own..
• 214SGuardLowStartup24Recovery26Advantage-12 and 214HGuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-12 are nearly fullscreen attacks that hit overhead An attack that the opponent must block high. (214H) or Low (214S), used for both zoning The act of denying the opponent the ability to approach, jump, or other movement options. and mix-up To perform a maneuver that forces a defending opponent to choose between two or more options. If the opponent chooses incorrectly, then they are hit by an attack. There are many different types of mix-ups such as crossup(left/right), high/low, and strike/throw.s.

Anti-Airs

• 6PGuardAllStartup11Recovery15Advantage-7 works even better against aerial attacks than it does against grounded ones.
• 5PGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-2, 5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery11Advantage-3, and c.SGuardAllStartup8Recovery10Advantage+1 are all tall enough to catch many jump in options before they become active.
• 236HGuardAllStartup13~19Recovery21Advantage+2 and 6HGuardAllStartup23Recovery32Advantage-19 are too slow to work as reactive anti-air A grounded attack that hits the opponent out of the airs most of the time, but are highly punishing preemptive options if you make a (hard) read To predict the opponent's action and punish or avoid it..

Aerials

• j.SGuardHighStartup9Recovery19Advantage0 (IAD) is your go-to Air-to-Air option.
• j.HGuardHighStartup13Recovery16Advantage+5 (IAD) allows you to do a potent mix-up To perform a maneuver that forces a defending opponent to choose between two or more options. If the opponent chooses incorrectly, then they are hit by an attack. There are many different types of mix-ups such as crossup(left/right), high/low, and strike/throw. straight out of neutral, or after a knockdown, by using either Throw, 2K, or j.D after IAD An air dash performed from a standing position as quickly and as low to the ground as possible from a jump. Done by inputting 956 754, and depending on the game, using a dash macro right after a jump. j.H. It's also your primary tool for safejump A very well-timed jump attack on a character who is rising from a knockdown. Your goal is to attack extremely close to when you land so that, if the character performs an invincible reversal attack, you will land and be able to block. The opponent is then forced to block your jumping attack, since reversaling doesn't work, which will give you some nice pressure and hopefully an opening.s after a knockdown.
• j.DGuardHighStartup12Recovery22Advantage- is best used as a defensive pre-emptive Air-to-Air button due to slow startup but large disjointed hitbox A particular type of hitbox that has no nearby associated hurtbox, enabling attacks to have certain areas that cannot be hit by an opponent's attacks in return..

Stain State & The Succubi

Testament's unique character trait is Stain StateGuardAllStartupRecoveryAdvantage-, which is a condition that Testament inflicts on hit or block with 214PGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1 that causes the next move that the inflicted character is hit with to cause an explosion, resulting in additional blockstun When a character successfully blocks an attack while standing or crouching, the defender is forced into a stun animation for a set period of time where they are incapable of acting. This period of time is called blockstun. or a launch. Stain StateGuardAllStartupRecoveryAdvantage- is also the focal point for most of Testament's specials.

236SGuardAllStartup16~22Recovery27Advantage-4 and 236HGuardAllStartup13~19Recovery21Advantage+2 both place a Succubus where the projectile vanishes. This Succubi will be where 214PGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1 aims by default. This means that while 214PGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1 may go over some characters heads by default, by using 236SGuardAllStartup16~22Recovery27Advantage-4, Testament can aim lower to the ground and hit an opponent when they're getting up from a knockdown, or blocking low. Additionally, 214KGuardStartup16RecoveryTotal 35Advantage- will teleport to a currently active Succubus, allowing Testament to crossup Attacking your opponent after changing which horizontal side you are on, typically by jumping over them. their opponent.

While these moves each interact in a way that can make Testament a monster in neutral, Testament is also privileged with the ability to change some of these properties at will. By throwing a second 236SGuardAllStartup16~22Recovery27Advantage-4 or 236HGuardAllStartup13~19Recovery21Advantage+2, Testament can quickly replace one Succubus with another. By holding the P button after inputting 214PGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1, Testament can force the crow to fly straight, and by using 214PGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1 as soon as the crow returns, it can be sent horizontally from a lower position than usual. Similarly, 214KGuardStartup16RecoveryTotal 35Advantage- can also be held in order to fake a teleport, potentially baiting an opponent in to whiffing a button. All these options add additional layers of complexity to Testament's gameplan that can be rotated in order to adapt to your opponent's style.

Combos

Combos

Basic Combo Structure

Testament's combo game is both easy to understand and relatively easy to execute, with basic Bread and Butter A staple combo that is relatively simple and effective. combos following a consistent pattern of Starter > Gatling > 214P or 236H to launch your opponent > extend with a Gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials. > Wallbreak, 236S to set up Stain, or 236H to set up a Safejump A very well-timed jump attack on a character who is rising from a knockdown. Your goal is to attack extremely close to when you land so that, if the character performs an invincible reversal attack, you will land and be able to block. The opponent is then forced to block your jumping attack, since reversaling doesn't work, which will give you some nice pressure and hopefully an opening..

Starting Combos

Testament's unique Stain mechanic allows for any normal A type of attack that is performed by pressing a single button, and possibly a single held stick direction. to work as a Launcher, allowing for fantastic damage off of otherwise small hits. On the flip side, they rely on Anti-Air A grounded attack that hits the opponent out of the airs, Counterhit Hitting someone while they are in the startup of an attack. In some games counter hits get enhanced by dealing more damage and giving more frame advantage, which can open up new combo possibilities.s, Punish Attacking someone when they are unable to block, making the damage guaranteed.es, and their huge (and slow) Heavy Slash normals to get good damage without Stain. When starting, it's a good idea to cancel your grounded, non-counter stray hits directly, or after a gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials., in to 236S to set up Stain StateGuardAllStartupRecoveryAdvantage-, but the notable damaging starters are:

• Testament's Stain turns any normal A type of attack that is performed by pressing a single button, and possibly a single held stick direction. into a Launcher, which can be picked up with c.S or 5K.
• c.S gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials.s into 2D on normal hit, and 6H or 2H on Anti-Air or Counter.
• 6H and 2H are some of the most damaging starters, offering multiple options to extend depending on the situation.

Extending Combos

Testament tries to route in to 236H, which can then be picked up by dashing forward and using a button like 5K or c.S to catch the opponent as they fall. Testament can then gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials. into 6H, which sets up an ender of your choice.

Buttons that launch on counterhit Hitting someone while they are in the startup of an attack. In some games counter hits get enhanced by dealing more damage and giving more frame advantage, which can open up new combo possibilities. like 6H also route in to 214P, which can make for long-range combos that can't be bursted.

Ending Combos

Testament's typically uses four different enders:

• If you're hoping to continue pressuring your opponent in the corner, or are too far away to follow up, 236S is the ender of choice, allowing you to set up Stain StateGuardAllStartupRecoveryAdvantage- by immediately using 214P afterwards.
• In situations where you only need a small amount more damage to close out a round, it may be best to use 214SGuardLowStartup24Recovery26Advantage-12 or 214HGuardHighStartup28Recovery26Advantage-12 for additional damage.
• Alternatively, use an Overdrive The name for Super Moves in the Guilty Gear Series. Overdrives cost 50% tension and perform a variety of functions depending on the character to prevent your opponent from using burst and deal significant damage with a wallbreak near the corner. 236236P is usually the preferred choice, giving a large amount of damage, corner carry, and the ability to land another button before the wall breaks in corner scenarios. 236236K is a more niche option where 236236P would drop.
• Finally, for meterless wallbreak scenarios, you can choose between 214P to inflict stain that remains after the wallbreak animation so that the post-wallbreak situation is more advantageous, or 214S for raw damage.

Examples

• c.S > 2D > 236H > Dash 5K > 6H > 236236P > Wall Stick > 6H

This is a very typical route that begins with a c.S > 2D gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials. to set up for a launch with 236H that allows for a 5K > 6H gatling The special category of cancels that describe how each character can cancel normals into other normals and specials. that can be cancel To bypass the remaining time or frames in an action by proceeding directly into another action.led in to overdrive The name for Super Moves in the Guilty Gear Series. Overdrives cost 50% tension and perform a variety of functions depending on the character for a wallbreak.

What to do after a knockdown

What to do After a Knockdown (Okizeme From Japanese "起き攻め". Attacking an opponent about to wake up after they were knocked down, usually with meaty attacks or mix-ups.)

Using Your Meter