Slashless is a fan-made game format in which all players disable their Slash and Heavy Slash buttons.
Ruleset
Ruleset
Disable your and buttons (you cannot unbind them but you can bind them to alternative buttons you are unlikely to press).
Pressing either or buttons counts as an automatic loss for that game.
Roman Cancels, Psych Burst, and Faultless Defense are all legal, as long as you use a legal input.
You cannot bind the Burst macro (internally functions as +). Burst must be input using + or +.
Roman Cancel must be input using the Roman Cancel macro .
Faultless Defense may be input using either + or the Faultless Defense macro .
All characters are legal.
General Strategy
With the loss of the Slash and Heavy Slash buttons, a lot of general gameplay is dramatically altered, creating a new baseline for offense, neutral, and combos.
Offense
Slashless Offense
Universally every character has 5P, 2P, 5K, and 2K as potential pressure tools. Unfortunately, these are virtually never plus and give almost no gatlings to work with, meaning most pressure breaks down to 2P > 2P > 6P or 5K > 2D.
On the whole P normals offer far stronger strike-throw versatility. Unlike K normals they can delay Gatling, for much stronger variability in timings and stagger pressure. However, the majority of 6P follow-ups are either severely lacking in reward or are basically unusable on account of being punishable on hit. Only extremely privileged characters like can even pick up a combo using Wild Assault.
By contrast, K normals offer access to a high/low mixup potential with 5D and 2D, but with a lack of delayable gatlings they can often be rendered weak or ineffective with a simple fuzzy. While many 2D suffer a similar fate to 6P for being horrendously unsafe on block, they all universally give a useful hard knockdown on hit and many on Counter Hit give a full combo, even to the most absolutely pathetic of characters in the format.
As a general rule, P normals are stronger for general purpose. K normals are best used if a character has either a unique 6K gatling, a special cancel that in some way challenges fuzzy blocking or fuzzy abare, or spacing traps off 5K that create a much stronger offense than gatlings can offer.
The character is very functional and retains a lot of their original strengths. Moves they lost are either inconsequential or overall not as valuable in the format.
Characters of this tier have good combo conversions, access to viable pressure strings and mixups, solid neutral tools, and usually a useful Overdrive.
B Tier
The character is significantly weakened but has a few stand-out tools and general utility to keep them viable.
Characters of this tier usually lack something, such as poor or no combo potential, no access to Overdrives, and generally a worse risk-reward overall.
C Tier
The character is barely even functional, to play them correctly you must accept a borderline absurd level of disregard for your safety and assume you will get the hits you want, repeatedly.
Characters of this tier have almost no pressure worth using, often relying on a completely honest single RPS for strike-throw, with no follow-up threat, and with no ability to combo even if they get the hit. They lack access to all but a fraction of their nessecary toolkit, and don't have any means to hold an offense, but their decent neutral may give them the edge to win.
D Tier
The character is non-functional, they are missing core tools and simply cease to have any relevant threat to speak of. If they win it is entirely by luck, nothing will help them win.
Characters of this tier have usually no access to any useful specials or overdrives of any kind, they can't do anything but extremely rudimentary and weak blockstrings, and cannot combo for anything.
Sol Badguy
Sol BadguyA Tier
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Gun Flame .
Gun Flame (Feint) .
Bandit Revolver .
Bandit Bringer .
Wild Throw .
Ky Kiske
Ky KiskeB Tier
Read-based, with unsafe attacks, but consistent value when scoring the hits.
6K Simple pressure reset for Tick Throws.
Stun Dipper Extremely fast advancing low-profile, and a good combo ender.
Foudre Arc Advancing anti-air and low crush. Resets pressure on crouch block and Shock State.
Sacred Edge Wallbreak Overdrive, and a pressure reset setting up Shock State.
Ky pressure is very read-based. 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery17Advantage-8 and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery18Advantage-10 are unsafe on block but threaten decent counter hit combos, using 6KGuardAllStartup25Recovery11Advantage+4 will stay plus, and he may call out some punishes with Foudre ArcGuardAllStartup24Recovery6Advantage-2~+6 [+5~+12]. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to get a good spacing for a Stun DipperGuardLow, AllStartup7Recovery30Advantage-19 [-14] frametrap from his blockstrings, and Foudre Arc is very often Throw punishable if Stand blocked due to a lack of Shock State, limiting Ky's offense. With meter, a delayed Sacred EdgeGuardAll [All (Guard Crush)]Startup4+3RecoveryTotal 38Advantage+10 [+26] can act as a surprise frametrap with enormous value in the corner, and remains very plus on block while setting up Shock State either way.
In neutral his 5KGuardLowStartup7Recovery6Advantage-2 is a good counterpoke, but his 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery10Advantage-2 is his main space-control move, supported by his excellent movement. Depending on the character, he can call out mid-height attacks like 5K attacks with Stun Dipper, or catch jumps with Foudre Arc. However these moves are much better on hit than block, as Ky has no safe confirms on block.
With Tension, Ky stands out uniquely well, with Stun Dipper being both a powerful offensive and defensive threat, on top of Sacred Edge frametraps and good midscreen combo conversions
May
MayC Tier
Reliant on a good knockdown for mixups, without much opportunity for damage.
6K Overhead mixup, and a low crush, but low value on hit.
3K Hitconfirm for 5K from a distance and a low-profile strike.
Overhead Kiss A fast Command Grab mixup with good reward in the corner.
Arisugawa Sparkle (All versions) Good advantage for okizeme, and a minor zoning tool.
May's offense is somewhat weak. All available gatlings 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery18Advantage-7, 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery17Advantage-7, and 3KGuardLowStartup11Recovery15Advantage-10 are relatively unsafe on block unless spaced, but her overhead 6KGuardHighStartup28Recovery6Advantage+2 is fast and safe on block, while her 2P easily tick throws into her Command Grab. Unfortunately, this gives her no ways to reset the pressure, and despite her advantageous Arisugawa SparkleGuardAllStartup48RecoveryTotal 45Advantage+29 okizeme, she can only get this off Throw and 2D, leaving 3K a fairly basic reset on hit, and 6K is only +1 with no Counter Effect effect, leaving her with almost no conversion whatsoever, with her best combo being 2D CH > 2K > 6K > 5K. Though, her Overhead Kiss grab combos considerably better in the corner.
While most of May's normals are very short, her 5K is enormous, covering a huge amount of distance, and can confirm to a knockdown with 3K from far away. Even better, it's safe to a large number of 6P attacks, making it hard to counterpoke in general. However being -5 on block means it can quickly force May into a defense if the opponent closes in.
Though Arisugawa Sparkle seems like it might be useful for zoning, it's extremely hard to get an advantage from hits if it's not used as a meaty, at best giving a 3K knockdown if close enough, and the startup is extremely long, making it very unsafe to simply throw out unless extremely far away.
Axl Low
Axl LowD Tier
Zoning would be good if you weren't always minus on hit.
6K A weak combo-ender on Roman Cancel.
One Vision You'll still get better combos with a Roman Cancel.
Axl comes equipped with a glorious zero specials, and a very bad Overdrive that serves the same purpose a Roman Cancel does, but worse, as you must prepare it in advance. He has absolutely nothing else at his disposal. His only blockstring gatlings 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery22Advantage-13 and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery17Advantage-9 are punishable on block and even on counter hit you receive pitiful reward.
While his 5PGuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-11 [-3] and 2PGuardLowStartup10Recovery14Advantage-6 are enormous and good pokes, there's no followup of any kind, and the opponent must be extremely far to not make it punishable on hit. On the upside his 5KGuardAllStartup6Recovery11Advantage-2 is a pretty good for stagger pressure. You're going to need it.
Chipp Zanuff
Chipp ZanuffB Tier
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j.2K .
Alpha Blade Horizontal .
Alpha Blade Diagonal .
Shuriken .
w.P .
w.K .
Banki Messai .
Potemkin
PotemkinB Tier
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6K .
Potemkin Buster .
Mega Fist (Forward) .
Mega Fist (Backward) .
Faust
FaustA Tier
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Crawl .
j.2K .
Thrust & Pull Back .
What Could This Be? .
Love .
Scarecrow (P/K) .
W-W-What Could This Be? .
W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-What Could This Be? .
Millia Rage
Millia RageB Tier
Fast neutral and versatile offense, but struggling to get high damage.
6K Slow overhead, and a plus-on-block low-crush.
Bad Moon Anti-fuzzy instant overhead. Unsafe on block.
Iron Savior Combo ender.
Turbo Fall Aerial crossup and mobility tool.
Mirazh Ground crossup tool.
Millia's offense is versatile, with one of the only fully-delayable self-gatling 5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery12Advantage-3, giving one of the best stagger pressures off one button. While 2DGuardLowStartup12Recovery19Advantage-8 is unsafe on block, at close-range a delayed MirazhGuard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 26Advantage- can crossup to evade punish, and it nets a full combo on Counter Hit. Mirazh and Bad MoonGuardHighStartup11Recovery20 + 12LAdvantage-21 provide useful mixups. 6KGuardHighStartup28Recovery10Advantage+2 is a low-crush and reset but unfortunately almost no value on hit. By hitting OTGs into Mirazh, Millia is able to inch a little more damage out of knockdowns and maintain okizeme. Unfortunately, Millia generally has low damage from all but her 2D, making her quite dependent on Tension.
Millia's neutral is very strong, her 5K and 2K are decent, 2D is very large, and her movement is extremely good, on top of excellent air mobility to avoid the corner. Millia is able to out-maneuver opponents to punish into knockdowns or begin 5K pressure safely.
On defense, 2P is strong for its 4 frame startup and good range, going into a 2K knockdown on Counter Hit.
Zato-1
Zato-1B Tier
RPS-heavy offense, with incredible corner carry. Stall to regain Eddie, as he cannot be unsummoned.
Flight Unique mobility tool to escape the corner and stall for Eddie Gauge.
6K An extremely slow but plus on block overhead, and a good okizeme.
Pierce Quickly set up an RPS, or as a huge neutral poke.
That's a lot! Great combo tool, and RPS after Piece.
Break The Law Good for Burst baits and even mixups
Zato comes with the most nuanced offense of his tier. While he is unsafe on 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery12Advantage-6 and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery17Advantage-9, he can reset with a plus-on-block 6KGuardHighStartup28Recovery7Advantage+2 instead, and use Break The LawGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 28~95Advantage- like a glorified parry by making punishes whiff, or simply escape back to neutral. Depending on spacing he can use Eddie to reset pressure or frametrap slower punishes. If Eddie is already out before beginning offense, he can trivially frametrap and reset using PierceGuardAllStartup21 [25]Recovery24Advantage- and That's a lot!GuardAllStartup27→42→57→72 [31→46→61→76]RecoveryTotal 74Advantage+55, with Pierce on block creating an RPS around Eddie cancels, since most characters cannot hit far enough to stop Eddie's That's A Lot! without it being a move too slow to avoid punishment from the second hit of Piece, but not attacking at all might just allow Zato to reset pressure with enormous corner carry.
Eddie also grants incredible corner carry in combos, able to achieve mid-screen wallbreaks off Counter Hit 2D or That's a lot!, and launch opponents very far even from OTG The act of hitting the opponent when they are knocked down. Short for "off the ground" or "on the ground."s. This is very beneficial, as virtually everything fully combos in the corner if Eddie is out, giving him fairly consistent value.
One downside is Eddie can never be unsummoned. This means once you are committed to summoning Eddie, you cannot reset for resources and must simply use him for the time you have. Thankfully, Zato is good at stalling, with Flight and Break The Law to avoid the corners, and good neutral pokes with 5PGuardAllStartup5Recovery8Advantage-2 [0] and 2PGuardAllStartup6Recovery9Advantage-3 [-1] covering huge range for their speed. With Eddie available, Piece can also function as a projectile tool, creating an offense from an enormous distance, controlling much more space than other characters are able to.
Ramlethal Valentine
Ramlethal ValentineB Tier
Now a dedicated rekka character, for potent pressure and reliable combos.
Dauro General-purpose combo confirm.
Sildo Detruo Fast-advancing neutral tool with huge range and low-crush to begin pressure on hit.
Erarlumo (All follow-ups) Excellent pressure starter and versatile combo tool.
Ondo Excessively long-range tool. Hard to actually hit at all.
Erarlumo is character-defining, making up almost all of Ramlethal's strengths. Without it, her normals are somewhat stubby, sporting one of the worst 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8. However, her fast movement and reliable damage from Erarlumo keeps her functional.
Ramlethal may route pressure into Erarlumo, which can safely frametrap from 6P and 2D. From there, she can use Dash Cancel kara Erarlumo to repeatedly reset pressure, creating a strong looping threat. Unfortunately, it has relatively low reward, gaining nothing for Counter Hits, and merely finishing the rekka for combos. In addition, it suffers a major weakness as a well-timed Instant Block (IB) will cause Erarlumo to be throwable with her only escape being Sildo Detruo. If she wishes to make a strong callout, a kara Dauro gives a proper hitconfirm.
Her real damage comes everything comboing into Erarlumo for the 3-hit knockdown, giving some of the easiest damage of the roster. On high launches, dash kara Erarlumo loops allow impressively large meterless combos. Dauro has a niche to end a combo with better oki, or gain a huge combo off 2D with 5K > 2D > 623P > 5K.
Leo Whitefang
Leo WhitefangC Tier
Extremely well-rounded and stable, but lacks any reward from his hits to actually convert to a win.
6K A versatile frametrap extension and a very far-reaching attack.
bt.P Frametrap and combo confirm from bt.K, and a good counterpoke.
bt.K Backturn stagger pressure is much stronger than usual stagger pressure.
Kahn-Schild Defensive callout to abare, good damage and launch.
Glänzendes Dunkel A really slow grab, not particularly special.
Leo's offense is generally fairly stable. Their 5KGuardAllStartup9Recovery13Advantage-3 makes a safe stagger-pressure tool with good corner carry and total resiliance to Faultless Defense, and their 6KGuardAllStartup14Recovery18Advantage-4 frametrap is both safe on block and combos on counter hit into 2K > 2D. While 6K is -1 on hit, you can confirm 5K into 2D. The biggest problem is a total lack of rewarding combos, with your absolute best being 2D CH > 2K > 2K > 2D. Even with Red Roman Cancel, wallbreaks are extremely hard to achieve.
In neutral Leo is actually quite solid, his 2KGuardLowStartup7Recovery11Advantage-5 has excellent range, and his step dash momentum allows moves like 6KGuardAllStartup14Recovery18Advantage-4 to go extremely far. Unfortunately without Counter Hits, 6K is entirely unrewarding, and confirming 5K and 2K with 2D is risky, making it hard to build a significant threat.
Brynhildr Stance can only be achieved from a Throw, however it is still strong pressure. His bt.KGuardLowStartup5Recovery6Advantage+3 [+0] is very safe and advantageous, with the caveat of being easier to push out. Ironically, it is actually good in neutral too, with a very solid K poke, and an excellent bt.PGuardAllStartup7Recovery12Advantage-2 [+2] counterpoke, and his readily available Kahn-SchildGuardAllStartup3Recovery18Advantage- parry. Sadly, his conversions are still pretty weak.
Nagoriyuki
NagoriyukiD Tier
A couple good tools, but you can't move. Pray they never escape the one mixup you have.
6K Good low-crush and follow-up frametrap for ending pressure.
Fukyo Your only means of movement is tied to a resource gauge you cannot restore.
Bloodsucking Universe An untechable command grab, good for strike-throw on okizeme.
Nagoriyuki suffers an extremely one-note gameplan. His neutral is non-existent, Fukyo is practically useless for neutral due to how long its recovery is and his lack of long-range pokes, giving him almost no mobility whatsoever, betraying his otherwise incredible 5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery14Advantage-2. He relies extremely heavily on calling out his opponent's approach, and has basically no means of ever getting in if the opponent can outrange him at all.
To actually win, he gets a knockdown, then he can Fukyo in and run a strong strike-throw mixup off okizeme and 2K, using his command grab and 6K. This is actually very good, but there's absolutely zero extension after this point, putting you back to neutral where you must start all over again.
Giovanna
GiovannaA Tier
Extreme speed and excellent neutral, with easy knockdown conversions.
Sepultra Instant Hard Knockdown off any hit.
Trovão Slow advancing attack, not particularly useful.
Don't be fooled by the small moveset, Giovanna's normals are top-class across the board, and 2DGuardLowStartup17Recovery12Advantage-8 is so strong it defines entire matchups.
Giovanna has easily the best neutral of the roster. Her speed is incredible, with a solid low-crushing 5KGuardAllStartup6Recovery12Advantage-2 and unreasonably large, disjointed, low-profile, Low guard, and safe-on-block 2D. With SepultraGuardAllStartup13Recovery20Advantage-4 every hit can easily confirm into a damaging knockdown or threaten with RPS where it can be dangerous to take back advantage from her, leading to consistent reward for winning neutral. In addition her jump-in IAD j.K > j.D is +6 on block, and IAD j.D even hits crouchers, giving her some of the best jump-ins of the roster.
In addition to these perks, Giovanna has a uniquely fast 5P for defense. And, because meter is not particularly valuable, she can hoard it for the numerous passive effects like increased defense, damage, and even chip damage.
Anji Mito
Anji MitoD Tier
Somehow a bit of a zoner, but lacks the damage to keep up the pressure.
Shitsu An projectile capable of slow but advantageous zoning, and a good setup from knockdowns.
Suigetsu No Hakobi A parry to cover unsafe pressure or catch pokes in neutral.
Anji's offense is risky, his only blockstring gatlings 6PGuardAllStartup10Recovery25Advantage-17 and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery22Advantage-11 are extremely punishable on block, with his only means of being safe by cancelling into his SuigetsuGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34~50Advantage-, usually with a Throw Punish if successful. Tragically if too close his 2D is already Throw punishable. Unfortunately, Anji gets virtually no combo conversions whatsoever, with your absolute best being 2D CH > 2K > 2K > 6P. Even with Red Roman Cancel, wallbreaks are extremely hard to achieve. To compensate, Anji can use ShitsuGuardAllStartup29RecoveryTotal 52Advantage-6 to set up an advantage to safely create a High/Low/Throw mixup, albeit also with very low reward.
Unfortunately Anji's neutral is nothing impressive either. His 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2 is remarkably large and a great poke, but it lacks reward on hit, particularly as 6P launches the opponent very far away, with no chance for okizeme. However, Anji also can use Shitsu as a zoning tool, as one of the only projectiles remaining, and grants a huge advantage on block, complementing his impressive 6P range to prevent jumping over it.
I-No
I-NoB Tier
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Antidepressant Scale .
Sultry Performance K .
Chemical Love .
Mad Love Agitato .
Goldlewis
GoldlewisD Tier
Slow as a snail, everything's unsafe, and your only good tools require you to already have Tension.
Down With The System A heavy-hitting invincible Overdrive!
Burn It Down Force pressure and create a combo off a Dust Attack mixup!
Goldlewis has no unique moves that don't strictly require Tension. His only blockstring gatlings 6PGuardAllStartup12Recovery27Advantage-19 and 2DGuardLowStartup14Recovery24Advantage-10 are very punishable on block and literally nothing combos, even on Counter Hit. Amusingly, his 6P is -3 on Counter Hit, making it basically useless on the ground. To its credit, 5K is a unique move with an incredible low crush and a staggering 9 active frames, easily defeating other low pokes. Unfotunately his 2K is among the worst for how slow it is, giving him almost no presense in neutral and no utility to RPS and stagger pressure.
The only real luxuries to Goldlewis are his Overdrives, giving him one of the few invincible Overdrives remaining, and a way to set up a real mixup with 5D for a short combo. However, getting the Tension to even begin to use these is going to be a struggle.
Jack-O'
Jack-O'A Tier
"SHE LOST NOTHING"
Servant Shoot Cancellable frametrap that's difficult to punish, and an anti-zoning tool.
Summon Servant The character's core mechanic opening up everything you could ever want.
Pick Up Servant Fast cancel tool and a way to conserve Servant Gauge.
Throw Servant Launch servants and reset pressure without affecting their duration, but is slow to hit.
Release Servant Fast cancel tool and a way to leave Held Servant stance safely.
Recover Servant Safe blockstring ender and RPS set-up.
Attack Command Pressure reset, frametrap, and combo conversion tool, at the cost of Servant Gauge.
Forever Elysion Driver A fully invincible reversal, and a wallbreak combo ender.
It's easier to say what Jack-O' lost than what she kept. She is probably the single most 'complete' of the entire roster, but due to other character's weaknesses she has gained considerably.
Among things she has lost: Defend Command, forcing her to instead rely on counterpokes like 6P rather than parrying; both Cheer Servant On, removing her access to R.I.S.C. increasing setplay; f.S and 5H, losing her a big part of neutral pokes supplemented instead by 5K and 2D; and c.S and 6H, weakening a lot of midscreen combo confirms. And that's about it. Jack-O' is by design very good at substituting every tool with other tools, so she has retained some of the best midscreen combos and all around the single best offense of the format.
Jack-O's neutral is very strong. Her 5K and 2K are some of the largest of the entire cast, while sporting good speed, and 2D goes extremely far and low-profiles most 5K attacks. This is also quite safe, as she can RPS off any move into Servant Shoot, Recover Servant, and Summon Servant, the same as usual, except now most characters lack punishes for calling out Summon Servant or Servant Shoot. Jack-O' also has some of the best midscreen combos available thanks to her Dash Cancel routes, giving her among the easiest access to Wall Breaks of the roster, functionally making her very high reward.
She has also become the best zoner of the roster, with servants creating an incredible threat from anywhere on the screen, and very few can actually challenge her from that distance, usually forcing opponents to approach very aggressively to contest her.
In addition, Jack-O's offense and defense remains intact, with a good defensive 2P and 2K, and one of the only remaining invincible Overdrives. This can still be played around due to it being a grab, but deals huge damage on hit. Jack-O's offense remains very oppressive. In fact, due to the limitations of movesets, some pressure setplay like Pichu Pressure can be nigh unescapable, while Jack-O's absurd meter gain and use of servants allows a repeated threat of 5D mixups, pressure resets, throw okizeme, and more.
Baiken
BaikenA Tier
Stubby hitboxes, slow movement, but an extremely safe offense with incredible combo conversions.
6K Extremely advancing attack, and a very safe pressure tool.
Hiiragi Frame 1 Parry, dealing an astronomical amount of damage.
Tatami Gaeshi Safe blockstring ender and a very active defensive counterpoke
Kenjyu Anti-zoning tool and wallbreak combo ender.
Throw Tether Apply a Tether on Throw to keep the opponent close.
Playing almost akin to a grappler, Baiken is challenged with some of the shortest P and K normals around and among the worst movement of the cast, with only her 6KGuardAllStartup12Recovery10Advantage-5 covering a lot of distance but weak to counterpoke, and her Tatami GaeshiGuardAllStartup15Recovery5Advantage-3 acting as a mild defensive poke. Baiken struggles immensely with distance and must close the gap where possible.
To compensate, Baiken has some of the most reliable pressure available, with the entire 5K > 6K > 236K being fully safe on block, advancing to resist Faultless Defense, while each step allows RPS for stagger pressure and tick throws, and being able to fully combo of any hit into a launch giving the most reliable damage output of the entire roster, with good corner-carry, safe okizeme, and a wallbreak Overdrive to cement her as one of the best combo characters available. Furthermore, her Throw sets up a Tether. Not only does this allow several kinds of comboable mixups such as Tatami side-switching and backdash j.P overheads, but the tether makes it much riskier to backdash out of her blockstrings, and her combos improve even further, gaining better damage, corner-carry, and new okizeme.
Assisting her further, Baiken has some of the best defense of the roster, with a 4 Frame 5PGuardAllStartup4Recovery10Advantage-2—again fully comboing on hit—and her signiature HiiragiGuard-Startup1Recovery32Advantage-, a parry that cannot be safe-jumped or safe-meatied without using projectiles, and deals more damage than some characters do on optimal combos, and can be Purple Roman Cancelled immediately on whiff. This isn't as strong as standard Strive, on account of a more heavy use of stagger pressure, punishing its short 6F parry window, but this doesn't change how incredibly rewarding it is.
Happy Chaos
Happy ChaosD Tier
Makes you realise how much the gun does for him.
6K You can't combo into this without a Counter Hit, and it's -7 on block.
j.2K A pretty safe jump-in that can force advantage, but usually very telegraphed.
Reload You can't even use the gun to have bullets to reload.
Focus Restore that Concentration you cannot spend.
Curse Improve your aim with the gun you cannot use.
Scapegoat Actually a decent setplay tool for okizeme. Supports what little strike-throw you have.
Roll Tragically, at 35F this is too lengthy to get anything done at all.
Super Focus This is strictly worse than just a Roman Cancel.
Chaos is cursed with a moveset built entirely around a gimmick he can no longer use. Everything about him is pitiful for lack of having his gun. Literally all gatlings available, 6PGuardAllStartup9Recovery25Advantage-16, 6KGuardLowStartup16Recovery16Advantage-7, and 2DGuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8 are punishable on block, and even his basic K and P do not cover much ground. Worse still, he is brutally incapable of combos, needing a counter hit 6K or 2D to get any damage at all.
The only real asset to his arsenal is ScapegoatGuard-Startup10Recovery43 totalAdvantage-, which can improve okizeme on 2D to make his unsafe moves... less unsafe (he can still be Thrown). His j.2K with dash momentum can also potentially create a good RPS, with a second j.2K defeating slower 6P attacks, or crossing-up over the opponent.
Testament
TestamentC Tier
Able to set up from knockdowns for Stain, but entirely dependent on it for offense.
Unholy Diver Can set up Stain but it's going to be very difficult. Whiff it first to get a low crow.
Possesion The slowest spot-dodge ever. It cannot be used to teleport.
Nostrovia Convert strong combos, or set up Stain on knockdowns.
Calamity One An invincible reversal with solid damage.
Testament's kit is very bad. Their only blockstring gatlings 6PGuardAllStartup11Recovery15Advantage-7 and 2DGuardLowStartup14Recovery22Advantage-8 are punishable on block, and all cancels are very unsafe, giving them extremely weak offense. However, Testament comes with an extremely solid neutral with a large, fast, low-profile 2KGuardLowStartup6Recovery13Advantage-3, and a correct read for Counter Hit 2D nets a full combo, and for what little it's worth their anti-air utilities with 6P and Unholy DiverGuardAllStartup21RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+1 are some of the best.
Setting up Unholy Diver usually demands intentionally whiffing it high, to allow the crow to return low and hit grounded opponents. For example cancelling 2D knockdowns into Unholy Diver, or from Throw in the corner, allows a 2K > 2D > 214P pressure string, to set up stain and stay advantaged. Unfortunately, the meaty 2K is tight with only 2 active frames, and in some characters can still evade the crow entirely (e.g. low profile it), since there is no frametrap being threatened. It is far riskier to whiff Unholy Diver in neutral, as the opponent has no low projectiles to avoid, leaving you vulnerable. From midscreen Throws, you can also use a meaty Nostrovia to set up stain state from afar.
With Stain State, you can easily combo if the next attack hits, which can convert into Nostrovia for additional damage and sometimes wallbreaks, while keeping the Stain State.
Bridget
BridgetB Tier
A strange selection of moves for sturdy pressure, neutral, defense, and combo confirms, but lacking in damage to seal the deal.
6K Advancing, safe-on block pressure extension.
Starship Meterless strike-invuln reversal for defense.
Kick Start My Heart Pressure extender and central combo tool.
Brake General-purpose pressure ender.
Shoot Reliable combo ender.
Roger Dive Bait and punish anti-air on jump-ins.
Rock The Baby Slow but rewarding Command Grab with enormous range.
Bridget has an assortment of decent neutral tools, 2PGuardAllStartup7Recovery9Advantage-3 is large and can confirm to a knockdown or pressure, Rock The Baby is bizarrely a good low-crush tool against strong 2K attacks, IAD j.PPP is plus enough to safely begin pressure while hitting crouchers, and BrakeGuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-6 can function as a safe and disjointed poke.
Bridget has very stable pressure, her enormous 2PGuardAllStartup7Recovery9Advantage-3 can frametrap into 6KGuardAllStartup11Recovery13Advantage-4, and any normal may safely end pressure with a fast cancel into Brake. In addition Bridget has a rare command grab with Rock The Baby, though it is quite slow. Unfortunately Bridget maintains her low damage reputation, while everything can combo into 236K~K to knockdown and reset pressure, it's very hard to get any significant damage outside Counter Hit 2D at close spacing with 2D CH > 5K > dc > 5K > 6K > 236K~K.
On the upside Bridget has a very strong defense. Her fast and low-hitting 2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2 makes for excellent abare, combined with a very distinct reversal with StarshipGuardAllStartup9Recovery39Advantage-28 that can even be Roman Cancelled on hit/block.
Sin Kiske
Sin KiskeB Tier
Sin is hungry, but now for Tension. Bad pressure, but access to a high-powered super.
6K Slow advantaged attack, good for setting up a tick throws.
Gazelle Step Used exclusively off Elk Hunt follow-up for pressure.
Still Growing Don't worry this is still pretty bad. Now your optimal off 2D.
Tyrant Barrel Huge damage confirm for combos, and a risky frametrap.
Stamina is rarely a concern as you only use it for Elk Hunt Follow-up into Gazelle Step.
Sin's meterless pressure is very bad, relying extremely heavily on his 2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage-2 for pressure. While his 6KGuardLowStartup21Recovery10Advantage+3 is good, Sin has no threat to enforce it from his K normals due to the tight cancel windows on 2D. To make matters worse, his gatlings 6P and 2D are both unsafe on block (and 6P is -9 on hit), with his only escape being a well-timed Tyrant BarrelGuardAllStartup9+1Recovery38Advantage-22 frametrap or good spacing. On the upside, his K normals make good neutral tools, alongside Elk Hunt for easy Guard Crush into tick throws.
His confirms are workable on hit, as most allow either some extension into Elk Hunt, or OTGs with Elk Hunt, either way giving easy oki with Gazelle Step. However, his real damage comes from Tyrant Barrel, giving him to one of the highest damage applications of Tension. If you wish to conserve Stamina, 2D can also safely confirm into Still Growing while maintaining good okizeme.
Bedman?
Bedman?C Tier
Dedicated zoner, utilising their versatile fireball to retain error 6E state for combos.
call 4BA The best fireball around. Nessecary to get error 6E.
error 6E P Your entryway to combos and pressure. Always maintain it.
call 0x$0.20 Launch error 6E on-demand.
call 0x$1.00 Safer cancel out of normals or hold error 6E.
Bedman? is a pure zoner. Their movement is bad, their attacks are slow, but they come with a fast, zero-cost fireball on both ground and air, easily looping into their potent error 6E P. With their enormous 2DGuardLowStartup12Recovery21Advantage-10 and full-screen projectile okizeme it can be easy to keep opponents at distance, but scoring significant damage is a difficulty.
Further cementing this role, close-range offense from 6PGuardAllStartup11Recovery24Advantage-16 and 2D is extremely bad thanks to awful on-block, usually requiring spacing for any good outcome. call 0x$1.00Guard-Startup-RecoveryTotal 24Advantage- can make them safer on block but your only frametrap is call 4BAGuardAllStartup16RecoveryTotal 46Advantage-11 which is minus on hit and very bad on block with Counter Hit recovery.
Notably, error 6E P is Bedman?'s only method to maintain frame advantage or combo off most hits, even with Red Roman Cancel the error is likely nessecary to accomplish any meaningful damage. This threat is extremely valuable, making it often worthwhile to simply confirm hits with call 4BA to reset the error state and keep it available. Unfortunately this goes away on block, making it very hard to pull back momentum if you ever get put on defense.
GuardLowStartup10Recovery19Advantage-8. However, her fast movement and reliable damage from Erarlumo keeps her functional.
