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Zato Megathread - new to Zato? READ THIS FIRST

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This is still a WiP!
 
Table of Contents
                                                 1 Notation/Terminology
                                                 2 Introduction
                                                    2.1 Beginner's FAQ
                                                    2.2 Common Problems
                                                 3 Strategy
                                                    3.1 Solo Zato
                                                    3 2 Controlling Zato & Eddie
                                                    3 3 What Eddie does for You
                                                    3 4 RIP Eddie
                                                    3 5 Okizeme
                                                    3 6 Eddie in neutral
                                                 4 Combos
                                                    4 1 Basic Zato
                                                    4 2 Basic Eddie
                                                    4 3 Advanced
                                                 5 Miscellaneous
                                                    5 1 Interactions
 
 
 
1.) Notation/Terminology
 
HOW DO I READ STUFF?
[ ]: hold button from this point onwards
- -: release button
 
7 8 9
4 5 6 - directionals
1 2 3
 
j.p: jumping punch
c.5S: close standing slash
f.5S: far standing slash
j7H: jump backwards hardslash
 
Abare: random, unexpected hits and the conversion off them
Okizeme: attacks as a downed opponent wakes up into them
Neutral: both characters in a mid- to long-range scenario, usually fighting for space to get an opening on the other
Stagger: attacks that cause a reeling animation which has to be mashed out of
 
DS: Drunkard Shade, 214S
DF: Damned Fang, 623S
SG: Shadow Gallery, j.41236S
tk.SG: tiger-knee Shadow Gallery, 412369(j.)S
BTL: Break the Law, 214K
Drill: 22S/H, Invite Hell
Remote Summon: 214H after Invite Hell pool set
 
Shou: -P-, small attack
Mawaru: -K-, Idou/moving attack, Eddie yells "mawaru" coining the term
Nobiru: -S-, Taikuu/anti-air attack, Eddie yells "nobiru" coining the term
eddie BTL: -H-, Shadow Hole. Puddle in tribute to his old -H- in AC, used to refer to the button
eddie drill: -D-, Drill Special. Hanelu in tribute to his old -D- in AC, used to refer to the button
 
IB: Instant Block
FD: Faultless Defense
DA: Dead Angle Attack
BS: Blitz Shield
Y/R/P RC: Yellow/Red/Purple Roman Cancel
IK: Instant Kill
D6: Dust Dash
D9: Dust Jump
 
==============================================================
2.) Introduction
 
This wall of text is meant to be a guideline for aspiring Zato players. The character can be easily overwhelming to people new to him, the Guilty Gear franchise and especially fighting games in general. I will try and keep stuff like combo notations to a minimum and instead explain the idea behind the character and why Zato actually does the stuff he's doing. Hopefully this will inspire ideas as to how he can be learned efficiently and how to approach matchups. Should this beginner's guide not cover any questions please feel free to request them to be added, ask for direct answers in this thread or PM me directly!
 
2.1) Beginner's FAQ
 
-*) Should I play Zato?
Play Zato if:
- You want to play an extremely unique character design
- You enjoy a high learning curve and execution requirements
- Enjoy alternating your playstyle, switching from all-out rushdown to zoning and back according to situations
- You are looking for a strong character worth the effort of learning properly
 
Don't play Zato if:
- You have a problem with learning by losing
- You don't want to receive round-ending punishes for simple mistakes
- Hate putting time into practice mode
- Hate the idea of running away from the opponent
- Get frustrated blocking for extended periods of time
- Get sick of hearing people complain about your character
- Dislike playing strong characters
 
-*) Can I play Zato on pad?
 
If you have to ask this question you probably never tried for yourself. However, there have been successful Pad Eddie players in past versions of Guilty Gear where the character was arguably even more execution-heavy.
 
-*) Zato is so difficult to learn! Where do I start?
 
Zato is a lab character, even more so than other characters in Guilty Gear. The most common mistake for beginners is to lock themselves up in practice mode and grind out unblockables which they then can't apply in matches.
Keep it simple at the start, learn very basic confirms and leave out advanced setups and unblockables until you are actually familiar with Eddie and how other characters behave.
Play matches and aim to have as much active Eddie time as possible.
 
-*) Zato sucks! Why does everyone else have so much better buttons?
 
Zato by himself is arguably the worst character in Guilty Gear. That is a very conscious design choice by the developers and meant to counteract his ridiculous offensive capabilities.
Guilty Gear has been, and most likely always will be, a very momentum based series. Zato, being the main offender himself, has to feel the resonance more than other characters.
If you don't want to get rekt either play a character more fitting to your defensive needs or learn to deal with it. Even the best Zato players get put in the corner and slaughtered.
 
-*) How do I press these combos? Why can't I hold all these buttons?
 
There is no specific way to negative edge Eddie.
While it is possible to copy other players, every decent Zato player will eventually have to become extremely fluent with negative edging and button switching in order to run fluent and freestyled pressure.
If given notation is proving difficult, it is highly recommended you figure out your own way to control Eddie during these parts to increase overall fluency.
 
-*) I can't do anything, why is this matchup so bad?
 
The general idea is that Zato struggles against characters with easy ways to kill or prevent Eddie (Faust), have overwhelming movement options to maneuver around Eddie (Chipp), or a combination of both (Millia).
In Xrd, due to Zato's inherent ability to completely steamroll others in combination with his ludicrous damage output, it becomes quite difficult to label any matchup as truly bad.
Zato's complete helplessness when on the receiving end also opens him up to easily drop matches against characters that don't sport the tools to deal with Eddie properly (Potemkin).
 
-*) What is this "flight mixup" I keep hearing?
 
Flight mixup refers to a specific sequence utilizing Zato's ability to flightcancel his aerials and hovering directly above his opponent. This is usually initiated by Zato scoring a knockdown and consists of mixing up 0-3 overheads with lows and commandgrab while the opponent gets locked down by Eddie.
 
-*) "Stalling"? This ain't Melee!
 
Stalling with Zato refers to wasting time / avoiding engagements while Eddie is dead. Without Eddie, Zato's neutral game and offensive capabilities become extremely high risk so the goal of many Zato players in these situations is to survive until Eddie is back, often reserving tension to use in this case.

 

2.1.) Common Problems
 
-*) Why do I get counterhit all this time? Did that jab just hit me from fullscreen!?
 
Zato combines slow moves with bad hurtboxes. The character isn't meant to be threatening by himself, and getting your 6H stuffed by a j.P on the other side of the screen isn't all that unusual.
Here's a comparison from AC:
Zato and Jam have virtually the same 5K standing low, except Zato's has almost twice the startup, 4F less advantage on block and 20% worse proration combined with a hurtbox on the kicking leg that Jam doesn't have. Showcasing how a majority of his normals are made worse on purpose, you will have to rely on Eddie to deal with situations or lose by default.
 
-*) I keep getting thrown out of my pressure!
 
See the above! Your stuff is slow, if you are getting thrown a lot you're either too close for Zato to be comfortable or mistiming Eddie to not cover you correctly.
 
-*) I especially keep getting thrown trying to use Damned Fang!
 
Using Damned Fang properly is actually difficult. Commandthrows in Guilty Gear have only one active frame; it's a combination of dash momentum, spacing and timing required to make Damned Fang the broken tool it is.
With 6 frames of startup, the proper use would be to use DF while the opponent is still in an unthrowable state (block/hitstun, airborne, out of range) and have the active frame hit exactly when these conditions end, preventing the opponent to use these startup frames to poke Zato out of it.
At the same time using it's superior range to normal throws to prevent the otherwise guaranteed reversal throw that would happen if Zato was too close; contrary to Potbuster, Damned Fang does not have throw invincible startup.
 
-*) Why can my opponent kill Eddie for free all the time?
 
Killing Eddie is the prime objective for pretty much the entire cast against Zato. Various matchups have ways to force Eddie's death in some situations; learning how to deal with it is the key to succesful Zato gameplay.
In order to improve your game, it's important to realize why Eddie gets killed in a particular situations and what Zato can do about it:
 
.) the summon was straight up unsafe
.) by not protecting Eddie you threw him away for free
.) Eddie dying was correct, but you failed to capitalize on the opponents commitment to it
.) the opponent got a correct read on your otherwise good summon
 
Many summoning points during blockstrings are theoretically unsafe. By mixing them up with frametraps (commonly involving drills) the implied threat of eating a counterhit is what allows the summon.
The most basic variation of that would be 2S 23[6]H~-S- or 2S 22S at mid-range.
 
Refer to the strategy section for more advice on summoning and Eddie's death in general.

 

==============================================================

 

3.) Strategy

 

Zato's general strategy can be simplified: Without Eddie he's the worst character, with Eddie he's the best. Spend as much time with active Eddie as possible and be as defensive and safe as possible whenever he's not around. Getting beaten in a situation without Eddie, taking a knockdown and then getting run over is the situation the entire cast is looking for when fighting Zato. If someone with a strong jumpin was to jump at solo Zato he might not even take the risk and just try to avoid the situation completely by running away, with Eddie out the same situation would be reliably anti-aired without a second thought.

 

3.1.) Solo Zato

 

The main goal is very obvious: get Eddie out. Use Eddie to get in on the opponent. Wreck stuff.

 

Some ways to go at it:

-.) Use blockstrings for summoning

-.) Summon off safe frameadvantage/range

-.) Spend tension to force a summon

-.) Punish unsafe stuff to get a summon

 

For starters, work down the gatling chains and aim to be unpredictable if you're going to continue or get Eddie out. E.g. using the different hits of 5H to either go into drill or summon into -P- or -S-.

 

Some characters don't have any reason to take Eddie from a blockstring. Millia will always be able to backdash out of midscreen blockstrings safely; even if it gets caught by a drill, she can airtech and get away. This is where just getting a safe summon and playing the neutral game to catch the opponent comes into play, and is arguably the hardest thing to learn when starting out Zato.

 

Spending tension to force a summon with momentum is dangerous, as Zato is incredibly reliant on tension to get his scarce defensive options going. However, if Zato RRCs a drill and puddle summons Eddie into a Nobiru that's pretty much it, and the opponent is forced to deal with it.

 

Zato's punishing game is very limited, and often very specific. Taking Millia as an example again, a point-blank blocked 214P can be punished by an IB 2D. The moment there's distance involved, or midscreen, IB Amorphous is the only thing that will actually punish a 214P. It's rather important to know what to do against specific moves in specific situations, as to not get made a fool out of Zato's common inability to beat things outright.

 

3.2.) Controlling Zato & Eddie

 

Playing Zato while Eddie is up is where things start to get complicated. Beginning Zato players will notice Zato and Eddie interfering with each other rather than working together. Zato gets highly limied in his gameplay as he's not allowed to release unwanted buttons while Eddie can't perform any moves without Zato performing a specific action beforehand. This is where a lot of engine tricks and timings have to be worked into muscle memory.

 

Some things every Zato player has to work into his gameplay:

-.) Pressing seemingly unnecessary buttons, like 2D -S- to combo 2D into Nobiru without performing an S attack with Zato first.

-.) Using the active times of moves where Zato becomes "immobile" to adjust Eddie's spacing. E.g. walking Eddie back during 5S 2S before releasing Mawaru to get more advantage out of it, essentially turning it into a 4S 1S input instead.

-.) Learning the recovery of Eddie's moves to clear buttons. e.g. chaining 5K 5S 2S during Mawaru and releasing them while Eddie is still in his animation and can't accept any new releases anyway.

-.) Maximizing all the variable frame advantage that comes with Eddie being independent. The 2hit combo of 2K -P- can range from +0 to something like +20 depending on the time of release.

-.) Developing a feeling for pushback, and reacting to increased pushback from FD. Drills are static but needed to protect himself, Eddie and cover escape options. Drills in blockstrings are utilized by placing them behind the opponent pushing him into them. While they're amazing on block it becomes extremely punishable to whiff them and it's important to know when people will be pushed into proper ranges, when an FD block can push them too far and how the width of the opponent character might interfere.

-.) Abusing general mechanics such as crouch, jump startup and FD block to move Eddie and press buttons without actually doing anything with Zato. E.g. pressing S during jump startup to not get 5S or j.S but have a Nobiru ready.

 

3.3.) What Eddie does for You

 

People often refer to this aspect as "protecting Eddie". A better description would be to call it alternating space control; think about summoning Eddie, have him run up to the enemy and performing an attack. He's simply going to get killed by a long-range low poke. Instead, you summon Eddie, place a drill at the other end of the screen and have Eddie walk up while that Drill is between him and the opponent. Due to it's long active frames Zato occupied the space and allowed Eddie to move forward, now it's Eddie's turn to attack and Zato will use that time to close the distance to the opponent unhindered.

 

Another common scenario would be to have the opponent jump out of a Damned Fang. This puts Zato at a massive disadvantage and most likely will get punished directly due to DF's recovery animation. The situation changes when Eddie is active: right after the Damned Fang whiffs, you release Nobiru and place a hitbox to prevent any retaliation against Zato; you get to continue pressure despite whiffing a commandgrab. At best, you get a counterhit combo starter off that Nobiru.

 

3.4.) RIP Eddie

 

Eddie's death is inevitable. He will get hit, he will have to sacrifice himself to shield Zato, he will "run out" in the process of combos. Zato lost quite the tools that allowed him to stall the game by keeping the opponent in blockstun for insane amounts of time, namely 22H FRC and 22D; Eddie did get a shorter regeneration time to compensate for the lack of solo blockstring potential, so it's all good.

 

The most common solution to Eddie's death is to run away and play the keep-away game, which is easier on some characters than others. Eddie's downtime can also be bridged by stalling; resetting into Damned Fang or ending a combo with Executor would be examples of animations that take a long time and allow Eddie to recover.

 

Due to the safe nature of Zato's 22x Drills it is also common to play the lock down game if Eddie dies while Zato is still on momentum. A typical drill blockstring would look something like [meaty 22S, dash up 5S 5H(2) 22S, 2K 2S 22H], which involves no actual mixup but prevents the opponent from moving for a long time, after which the 22H might also be RRC'd to force a fresh summon upon the opponent.

 

3.5.) Okizeme

 

Zato doesn't quite run the traditional okizeme of knockdown into mixup; he rather runs knockdown into lockdown. Knockdowns will mostly serve one of two purposes:

 

-.) Get them to block Eddie.

 

 - A fresh Eddie summon after knockdown is where the singleplayer experience starts. A very common scenario is for mawaru to hit the opponent meaty while Zato is mid-air, preferably on his way down already. Things Zato wants to run off this:

 

* A variety of high/low mixup in succession, repeated if blocked correctly for the first mawaru run

This is most commonly done by running the flight mixup; jumping in during mawaru blockstun and mixing up with either jumping in empty and going low, going high with a j.K then land and going low, or jumpcancelling the j.K and going high again with normals of various timings like straight up j.K dj.H or gatling j.K dj.S j.H for example. To give a general idea of what it's supposed to look like, here and here are two examples to showcase the timing and spacing.

 

* Ticking into commandgrab at any time

Blocking the flight mixup is difficult, on a similar level to blocking Millia. The fact that the opponent has to watch out to escape a Damned Fang at any point during the entire thing doesn't make it any better.

 

* Frametrapping, i.e. leaving gaps on purpose to punish throws and attempts to mash out and trade with Eddie.

While the flight mixup can be made completely airtight, gaps can still be left on will and trying to optionselect out a defensive throw during all high blocks to cover against DF can be punished just as hard by delaying the air gatlings or doing a straight up empty jump into Drunkard Shade.

 

* A safejump at the same time, blowing up strong defensive options

The way Zato jumps in on okizeme isn't the only thing covering him; Eddie will also absorb hits and the resulting hitstop will allow Zato to gain safejumps on moves (Volcanic Viper, Beta Blade, ...) that aren't actually safejumps unless the opponent does something invulnerable that kills Eddie. Eddie is also well known to really love facetanking Deadangles.

 

* Mawaru shutting down the option to backdash, even midscreen

Trying to backdash out of a meaty mawaru will get blown up without much discussion, even for someone with ridiculous backwards movement like Millia as long as Eddie is spaced correctly.

 

-.) Get them to block drills.

 

When Eddie's not around to make the first move (He died during the combo, he got unsummoned to not die, etc) Zato is putting himself at quite the risk trying to mount any offense with his normals alone. He doesn't sport any great-to-meaty normals like Ky 6H, except for 2K all of his stuff is negative on block and even if it wasn't his normals are generally too slow to make actual use of frame advantage. Time for meaty projectiles!

 

Drills have 48 frames of active time. If they hit on the first active frame they're +2, if they hit half a second into their active time they're already at +32. It's a ridiculous amount of frame advantage, Zato can take his time to see if the opponent actually blocked the drill before attacking, avoiding any risk of eating a reversal.

 

A simple combo sequence like 2K 2S -K-, dash up 2P 2D 236H for unsummon can lead into a meaty drill during which Eddie will regenerate a majority, if not all, of his bar, after which the massive blockstun of the drill can be followed up by a re-summon into a new barrage of mixup. This essentially causes never-ending Eddie uptime.

 

Note that there are some sequences that don't utilize the use of a meaty drill, such as a 5D6 unsummon combo, that just regenerates Eddie during the wallstick crumple animation instead. The idea behind it is still the same.

 

3.6.) Eddie in neutral

 

[placeholder]

 

==============================================================

 4.) Combos

 

Many beginners fixate on Zato's combos and view them as the hardest aspect to learn. Turns out they're actually quite straightforward once the player has grasped the general idea of how Zato and Eddie interact. Your own muscle memory will be the hardest to master.  :psyduck:

 

4.1.) Basic Zato

 

Solo Zato combos are very limited by their starters due to his extremely weak mixup options and boils down to very short gatlings into knockdown, a throw reset, a frame advantageous reset or a summoning reset.

 

Short gatlings into knockdowns consist of stuff into 5H 22x or 2D. These combos are rare as they have no real starter; no-one is going to get hit by a point blank solo Zato 5K, and 2K does not lead into anything involving 5H or 2D. More commonly you will apply these as a punishment to unsafe attacks as, opposite to Damned Fang, they end in a very close knockdown and allow sandwich okizeme.

 

Often times you will have to convert off counterhits as a solo Zato; be it either scoring counterhits during stalling blockstrings, anti-airing or trading for Eddie's death.

 

Anti-Air starters, or generally starters that lead into an airborne opponent include 2H(CH), 6H(CH), 6P, drills, air-to-air j.K

 

Solo Zato is limited even more by being midscreen. Spending meter is almost never worth it to extend these and often results in nothing but a single aerial gatling that blows the opponent away and grants Zato center stage control.

 

While some of them (2H, 6H) allow to summon Eddie mid-combo, I don't count them as solo Zato combos so I will not explain them here.

 

6H is the most rewarding counterhit solo Zato has available. It's abysmal startup and hurtbox are limiting it's uses to catch people pressing buttons after bad airtechs and or sacrificing Eddie as a shield for it. It will float until the opponent hits the ground and allows Zato to close the distance, pick it up with 6P or 5S and go into an aerial gatling.

 

Aerial gatlings consist of stuff into j.D. j.K j.H j.D is the most basic variation. Some characters allow extension with j.S. Due to j.K being the only aerial Zato can jumpcancel he doesn't profit from jumpinstalling to get more out of these short gatlings.

 

5S 6P(1), sj.K j.S j.H j.D.

 

If the opponent is too far away after a 6H counterhit, or in the case of a 2H counterhit that doesn't launch straight up but diagonally away, you would leave out the ground normals and go directly into dash up j.K.

 

It's always beneficial to delay the j.D as much as possible. This gives time for Zato to float lower to the ground and results in more frame advantage off the j.D. In the corner this is important to utilize the untech time of j.D to go into another repetition.

 

Depending on the remaining untechable time and the height of the opponent, Zato can tag on another j.K j.H j.D gatling. If conditions are bad, only a second j.D can be linked.

 

2H(CH), j.K j.H, long delay, j.D, land, sj.K j.H j.D would result in 172 damage on Sol, which is very respectable for solo Zato.

 

An advanced solo combo for Zato in the corner would include a Shadow Gallery RC and start from something like a very close 2H or 22S counterhit.

 

22S(CH), tk.SG, RC, land, delay SG, land, 5D6, j.S j.H 2P 2D. 142 Damage on Sol and takes long enough to have Eddie available even if he died for the starter.

 

Other starters for solo aerial combos include Damned Fang in the corner and 2D on some characters.

 

2D j.P links on: Faust, Millia, May, Chipp, Potemkin.

 

Damned Fang links into 5P, which links into j.P.

 

623S, 5P j.P j.H j.D, land, j.D does 129 damage on Sol.

 

However, going from DF into an aerial combo wastes the knockdown possibilities; unless it kills or you are playing against someone who you can reliably punish for bad airteching habits this is never recommended.

 

The same can be said for any of the other starters leading into aerial combos; if Eddie is ready, or about the be ready, leaving something like a 2H counterhit for the knockdown and just summon or doing a meaty drill into summon might yield a better result.

 

4.2.) Basic Eddie

 

Once Eddie gets involved things end up interesting. Things start to link, juggle and before you know you did a double unblockable for the win.  :eng101:

 

However, let's not look into unblockables quite yet and learn some basic Eddie links.

 

* -P- is great because it's fast and quick to recover

* -K- is great because it has massive hitstun

* -S- is great because it does the highest damage per proration

 

Let's work all of these into a single midscreen combo:

 

2S -K-, dash up, f.5S 2S -P- 22H -S-, iad j.H j.D

 

Let's not question the actual use of this combo but instead look at it for practicing reasons; Zato initially scores a 2S, which by itself leads into absolutely nothing, and releases a mawaru to hit-confirm off of it. Following up the mawaru, Zato does f.5S 2S to push the opponent into proper range for a 22H; 2S 22H doesn't combo though, so he releases a -P- to link the two moves together. The 22H drill launches and Eddie keeps juggling with a nobiru to launch the opponent higher. Now Zato air-dashes in during nobiru's big untechable time and scores a short aerial chain for a finisher. Thanks to our newfound synergy we scored 151 damage on Sol, quite the upgrade from the 41 damage solo Zato does with 5K 5S 2D!  :toot:

 

For air juggles, nobiru is commonly used to extend juggles or make them output more raw damage, e.g. midscreen chaining j.H j.D and then hitting a nobiru right after the j.D to prevent the opponent from flying away, then re-jump and linking more aerials.

2D -S- j,H j.D -S- j.D. This already does 163 damage compared to solo Zato doing 22S j.K j.H j.D for 90 damage.
 
Now let's have a look at the reason why you picked up Zato: the SG loop. The idea behind it is to use nobiru to "freeze" the opponent between two hits of SG to prevent him to gain height. Since the second hit of SG causes wallstick this will also lead to a crumple if the opponent is low enough. Various things lead into and out of it; for practice purposes it is easily done off a regular throw in the corner.
Throw RC 236H, [sG(2) -S-]x4 2D 66 22S. This isn't something you would actually run in a match, but a decent muscle memory grind to get the SG loop timing down which also involves doing the SG high to utilize the movement from a forward jump to stay in range. To become a proper combo this would much rather end after 2-3 reps and turn into an unblockable or unsummon.
 

4.3.) Advanced

 

Now let's have a look at some of the more advanced stuff including unblockables, resets, tech-traps and unsummoning.

 

Eddie's unblockables have always been a rather controversial topic. It is important to know that unblockables are not guaranteed and are extremely match-up specific up to a point where some characters are straight up immune to it. The general idea is that it's a "reset point" during a combo that returns a higher total damage than a single combo (Really? :JA: ) in trade for giving the opponent the opportunity to act. It is entirely possible to have a playstyle that doesn't involve the usage of unblockables without downgrading Zato's strength as a character, as mentioned you don't even get to choose in some matchups.

 

Unblockables are generated by Eddie's -D- Drill Special. The first hit of the 3-hit drill is a low, and why this can create unblockable situations should be self-explanatory. Now all we need are some setups that allow us to prepare the drill special beforehand, it takes over two seconds after placement to actually go off.

 

These setups include:

* 22x drill knockdowns

* Damned Fang

* Executor

 

The most common unblockable will be off 22x drills; either off a midscreen 5H(3) 22H or a corner 5D6 follow-up combo.

 

The corner variation can technically also be done off a 2D knockdown but 2D causes a face-down knockdown which leads to different knock-down durations than drills, so it is highly recommended to stick to one route per character.

-K- 5[D]6 6P(2) -D- 2H 22S. Considering this takes place in the corner it can be followed up by pretty much anything, including crazy 1-hit SG setups and all that.

There's a way to loop this into more unblockables with the use of tension;

-K- 5[D]6 6P(2) -D- 2H 22S j.H(UB) SG(2) RC, SG(1), 5D6 6P(2) 2H 236H[4] -K- j8, j66, jS j.H -P- SG(2) -S-, 5H(1) -D- 22H. However, this builds so much burst for the opponent that it's highly unrealistic to run it in an actual match; unless you just baited a burst and went straight into a punish combo leading into an unblockable while having full tension. Good luck.

 

The midscreen variation is heavily depenant on Eddie's spacing, and requires a sandwich scenario with Eddie being behind the opponent.

2K -P- 2K -P- 6P(1) 5H(3) -D- 22H. The opponent will get knocked down behind the drill but Zato has enough time to run up, jump over the opponent and airdash backwards to push him into the drill and hit high with a crossup j.S.

 

This combo utilizes Zato's limited gatling routes; 6P is only there so you have a window to input Dust without chaining into it. The timing of -D- is at about the third hit of 5H.

 

Damned Fang leads into an unblockable anywhere on the screen as long as you haven't forgotten Eddie somewhere in Africa. Similar to old FRCs getting increasingly difficult due to lack of muscle memory, unblockable off the DF animation are hard to time but there's a visual cue to help you out. The time to release dust is at the moment where Eddie stabs his arms into the bubble, right before the red cross shows up. In the corner, this goes into everything including fancy meterless 1-hit SG setups, in the corner you mostly wanna jump in with a j.S, crossup if possible to mess the opponent up some more while at it. Follow up with anything that works midscreen or take them to the corner with something like j.K j.H Executor.

 

Executor unblockables become relevant in abare situations; turning that random launcher or midscreen string into an unblockable.

In the corner this is used to down enemies that are too high to convert otherwise; for demonstration purposes, launch the opponent very high with something like 2H -S-, then superjump up and do j.H into Executor, placing the -D- drill during it's animation, then just jump in with j.S for an unblockable.

Midscreen this is used for situations where Eddie actually reaches the corner while Zato is still somewhere midscreen. It can be done by doing any grounded Eddie combo into 22H, then IAD and link -S- or -P- into j.H Executor; if Eddie's in the corner he can place a -D- drill in time.

 

==============================================================

 

5.) Miscellaneous

 

Random stuff.

 

5.1) Interactions

 

*Zato has an unique YRC mechanic exception to prevent him from ruining the game; 22x drills, due to their low-hitting nature, are the only projectiles that will immediately lose their hitbox when a YRC is performed.

*Eddie has no actual startup for his (un)summoning. The moment Zato went far enough through his animation to trigger the on/off "flag" Eddie will accept inputs (summon) or be invulnerable (unsummon).

*Eddie will not trigger trap-style attacks like Faust's spring platform.

*Eddie is frozen during cutscenes and superflashes, but can move freely during danger time to position himself and meaty an attack; the opponent is invulnerable so he can't hit them during it.

*Eddie is frozen during any RC freezes; YRC while the -D- drill is winding up will delay it accordingly.

*Blitzshielding Eddie will do him no harm; the opponent will enter the successful "rejected" animation and become invulnerable for it's duration, but will have to continue blocking afterwards if it's something like a -K- or -D- that got blitzshielded.

*Eddie has his own seperate hitstop; hitting him will not put Zato into a hitstop freeze. This allows otherwise impossible safejumps.

*Contrary to XX, Xrd treats hitting Eddie like whiffing; attacks can be YRC'd afterwards (due to Zato himself being in neutral state) but moves that can never use YRC (Shoryuken type attacks such as Volcanic Viper) will be unable to use RC after killing Eddie.

*Drunkard Shade will reflect certain projectiles but not change their properties. E.g. Venom's balls will fly at their original impact speed, Leo's S Würde will expire at it's original time etc.

*Drunkard Shade is very limited in what it can actually reflect. Sol Gunflames, I-No's notes and Chemical Love, Venom Balls, Leo's Würde and Ky's Stunedges are about the only things it will actually reflect. It will not reflect a Ciel Stunedge and If a reflected Stunedge hits a Ciel sign, the sign will disappear but the Stunedge will not be empowered. It will not reflect projectile overdrives such as Dark Angel or Bishop Runout.

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Placeholder post. Reminder that this is a WiP!

 

I welcome everyone with knowledge to participate and provide me with stuff they want added. be it combos, strategies, misc info or you simply disagree with what's already written in there! I'll be writing on this for a while, I could make a complete tutorial out of this eventually. I will post it while it's still a WIP, it's better than having nothing.

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I thought I'd pitch in and start with some basic corner mawaru mixups and combos. This is typed from memory and might contain mistakes, so please correct if you find anything wrong!
 
Basic mawaru corner mixups
 
Zato's basic BnB corner mixup is done using -K- a.k.a. mawaru. The idea is to get the opponent to block mawaru in the corner, and follow it up with a dash jump and mixup. When done properly, the opponent will be in blockstun for the entire duration of the mixup, so they will be forced to either block and guess, reversal or dead angle. When started with a full shadow gauge and a meaty mawaru, you can even continue a blocked mixup with a new mixup, although you will have to do different combos from the later mixups to properly capitalize into an unblockable without running out of shadow gauge.
 
In the corner, mawaru does 4 hits instead of 3, and the timing of the last hit varies based on the distance from the enemy. From the ideal distance, which I think is about the distance Damned Fang leaves you at or a bit further, all 4 hits should combo on block or hit, which is very helpful in making your empty jump low mixups throw proof. If mawaru is done from further away, it leaves a gap before the 4th hit, which can allow the enemy to throw, backdash or DP. In these situations, empty jump mixups are riskier.
 
To do a waterproof mawaru mixup, you should also be doing the mawaru with an actual -K- input, as opposed to a K summon. Otherwise, you have much less time to jump and gaps can result. It's possible (this should be tested) that an optimally spaced K summon still allows enough time to do a j.K based mixup, but empty jumps are probably too slow.
 
You should also make sure to jump early enough with respect to the mawaru. A good timing is to dash jump at about the same time as you release the K button. In combination with proper spacing, this should keep the opponent in blockstun long enough to do both j.K and empty jump variants safely.
 
The basic setups to go for the mawaru mixup are good corner knockdowns, obviously. Usually, this will be a 2D cancelled to an H summon, a drill or a Damned Fang. A regular throw will also work, but care must be taken to avoid getting reversal thrown if you get left within throw range (e.g. if you throw the opponent backwards while being cornered yourself).
 
You can also set up the mawaru mixup from a blockstring summon, although doing so will always leave some gaps that a skilled enemy could exploit. Still, it's frequently useful, for example if Eddie hasn't fully recharged when the enemy is knocked down but recharges shortly afterwards. As an example, something like meaty 22S (e.g. after a Damned Fang), dash c.S, 5H, H summon, -P-, 2S, -K- is a reasonable setup that is not easy to escape without IB and which still allows enough time to jump after 2S to do the j.K mixup variants at least. Additionally, the -P-, 2S, -K- part acts as a frame trap, and can be directly hit confirmed into a combo and unblockable using dash 5D if the opponent gets hit while trying to jump or press a button.
 
 
Basic mawaru mixup guard break patterns
 
On block, all mixups can be followed with more mixups as long as you have shadow gauge remaining. On hit, all of these mixups can lead into a corner unblockable as long as you do the proper combo variant and have enough shadow gauge left.
 
-K-, dash jump j.K JC, j.S (breaks guard), j.H
Unreactable, unprorated overhead. Try to hit with the j.K as low as possible to avoid telegraphing the fact that you're going high. If the enemy blocks j.K while you are high in the air, they can just block high by default and react or even punish you if you try land and go low.
 
-K-, dash jump j.K JC, j.K (breaks guard), j.H
A variation of the above. j.K hits farther ahead, but doesn't hit as low so it can whiff more easily on characters with tiny crouching hitboxes. This is most often used midscreen.
 
-K-, dash jump j.K, land, 2K (breaks guard), 2S
The basic safe low mixup option. As long as the j.K hits low enough, you cannot be thrown or hit out of this, even if your mawaru is imperfectly timed or spaced.
 
-K-, dash empty jump, land, 2K (breaks guard), 2S
Because people are usually conditioned to expect the j.K, this connects much more often than you'd think. However, it is only safe if the mawaru is timed and spaced correctly, otherwise you can be thrown, DPd or backdashed out of this. The flipside is that people attempting those options will get hit by this low if you do it correctly because they cannot block low while attempting those inputs.
 
-K-, dash empty jump, land, 5K (breaks guard), c.S
5K is slower, does less damage and has more proration than 2K, so I think it's a worse low to use on the first mixup. It's important because on hit it can be comboed into 5D using -P-, which conserves shadow gauge and allows for unblockables off the second mixup.
 
-K-, jump, low airdash j.S (breaks guard), j.H
An overhead option that hits later than the other overheads, which can catch people who attempt to switch block from high to low based on timing. This will also work without a dash jump (unlike the j.K variants), which is especially useful if you try to mixup off a raw blocked K summon, because it's much easier to get the fastest jump by just holding 9 instead of trying to time a dash jump after the summon recovery ends. 
 
 
Basic combos off successful guard breaks
 
These combos can be used to follow up any of the above mixup patterns.
 
guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 6P (2), -D-, 2H, 22S, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable), 6P (2) JC, j.K, j.H, j.D, land, j.D
 
Basic universal BnB combo into mawaru, dust and unblockable. The mine should be set somewhere between the first and second hits of 6P. I use something like 6[P], 3D (sets mine, Zato does nothing), 3H, 22S as the input.
 
This can only be done off the first mixup (i.e. you break their guard off the first mixup after the first mawaru), otherwise you will run out of shadow gauge during the dust combo and will be unable to do the unblockable. If that happens, you should go for a knockdown combo off the dust instead to spend time and allow the shadow gauge to recharge.
 
To do the unblockable, you can use either a flying j.S/j.H or a dash jump j.S, whichever you find easier. j.H does more damage and can be used to setup 1-hit SG combos, but is harder to time. I find dash jump j.S to be easiest and most consistent, and it allows for easier YRCing as well to mess up their reversal timing.
 
guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 2[H], 2D (sets mine), c.S, 2D, unblockable
 
"Easy mode" corner unblockable combo. Easier to do than the 6P variant, but does not work on all characters.
 
 
j.K JC, j.S (breaks guard), j.H, -P-, dash c.S, -P-, 5D, -D-, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S JC, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable)
 
Overhead into unblockable when the shadow gauge is low. This can be used to combo into the unblockable if the overhead connects after the second mawaru.
 
5K (breaks guard), c.S, -P-, 5D, -D-, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S JC, meaty j.S or j.H (unblockable)
 
Low into unblockable when the shadow gauge is low, e.g. from an empty jump after the second mawaru. Even if the 5K is blocked, an inexperienced opponent might still eat the dust and the unblockable if they fail to switch to high block, although following up with the 5D on block is very gimmicky.
 
guard break, -K-, 6K RC, Damned Fang, -D-, unblockable
 
Cannot be bursted after 6K hits, except for reversal gold burst during the unblockable. If you run out of shadow gauge when doing the mawaru, this combo also lasts for some time and recharges the shadow a bit. However, if the opponent doesn't have burst, it's probably better to use the next combo and save the meter.
 
guard break, -K-, 5D, homing dash, 6P (2), c.S, dash c.S, 5H (3), 22H
 
Basic shadowless combo off the dust into a good knockdown that allows for decent shadowless okizeme with a close drill to recharge the shadow. This can be used if the shadow gauge runs out when doing the -K-. On some characters with narrow hitboxes, the dash before the second c.S needs to be very short to avoid the drill whiffing. I've also seen Ogawa use deep dash c.S, 2S, 5H (2), 22H, which might connect more reliably on those characters.
 

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I would suggest trying to learn doing zatos moves with the eddie out and preventing eddie from attacking until you want it to. The negative edging aspect of zato is imo only a fraction of why zato is a hard character. Once you learn that, practice moving around the eddie to where you want it to go while wasting as little of your own movement as possible. Im new to zato myself but these have really helped me

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Just wanted to comment and say great guide guys. Very well done. The Mawaru mixups are incredibly helpful as well. This is very helpful for new players, and helps me create a better gameplan with Zato.

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Ah yes exicted to see more of this ggxrd is my first game in the guity gear series and i was drawn to zato and axel, after playing with both i like zato more. my roomate plays ram and has been wreking our group of scubs. So now i can start working..once i get my ps4 stick :3

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I wanted to finish this last weekend but had stuff interfering. This weekend I'm attending a Xrd event and won't be home. Expect it to be done anytime soon after this.

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I had a question regarding the guide. You mention the 2K into ~P~ Gatling and state it can range from +0 to +20 depending on time of release.

When should I release ~P~ to get the maximum frame advantage off of it. Allowing continued combos and fluid pressure my opponent can't jump out of.

 

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I had a question regarding the guide. You mention the 2K into ~P~ Gatling and state it can range from +0 to +20 depending on time of release.

When should I release ~P~ to get the maximum frame advantage off of it. Allowing continued combos and fluid pressure my opponent can't jump out of.

 

 

The later you release it the less recovery Zato has, so the more frame advantage you have. 

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I had a question regarding the guide. You mention the 2K into ~P~ Gatling and state it can range from +0 to +20 depending on time of release.

When should I release ~P~ to get the maximum frame advantage off of it. Allowing continued combos and fluid pressure my opponent can't jump out of.

 

 

Program a dummy with a 3F jump (Millia, Zato, Sol, ...) to hold upback once put in blockstun and then run your -P- strings to see how much time you have.

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Program a dummy with a 3F jump (Millia, Zato, Sol, ...) to hold upback once put in blockstun and then run your -P- strings to see how much time you have.

Thanks a bunch, I will try this and practice religiously since people like to jump out of Zato's pressure. Do you recommend the 2K -P- Gatling or Mawaru on knockdown. I feel Mawaru is usually more useful, but people do try to jump out. And frame traps preserve Eddie meter.

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 I will try and keep stuff like combo notations to a minimum and instead explain the idea behind the character and why Zato actually does the stuff he's doing.

 

For the most part it's done. Let me know what everyone thinks of the way this guide is written, if it's actually informative for beginners and what sections could use improvements.

 

Still to do: Eddie in neutral (keeping the most important thing for last, great) and advanced combosection for unsummoning/resets. I should also add more stuff to the actual FAQ at the start.

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For the most part it's done. Let me know what everyone thinks of the way this guide is written, if it's actually informative for beginners and what sections could use improvements.

 

Still to do: Eddie in neutral (keeping the most important thing for last, great) and advanced combosection for unsummoning/resets. I should also add more stuff to the actual FAQ at the start.

Great guide thus far. Very helpful for a beginner like me. Would you recommend practicing those negative edge combos religiously? I find the one that uses all three Eddie attacks to be extremely difficult to be honest. Even the unblockables are easier than that. At least for me. But if you think practicing it a lot would help, I will.

Also, I'm looking forward to the Eddie in Neutral section because that is where I struggle most.

 

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Great guide thus far. Very helpful for a beginner like me. Would you recommend practicing those negative edge combos religiously? I find the one that uses all three Eddie attacks to be extremely difficult to be honest. Even the unblockables are easier than that. At least for me. But if you think practicing it a lot would help, I will.

Also, I'm looking forward to the Eddie in Neutral section because that is where I struggle most.

i think that combo is more used as a point of reference. But I have a question. How do you get the 2s -p- drill to combo. I have been trying for literally weeks and it still wont combo. I havent gotten it once.

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It's not really about that combo in particular, but if you have problems using a combo that involves three different Eddie attacks (I'm assuming it's a hand positioning problem?) you should definitely grind that out because your execution shouldn't be limited in that way if you wanna play Zato.

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i think that combo is more used as a point of reference. But I have a question. How do you get the 2s -p- drill to combo. I have been trying for literally weeks and it still wont combo. I havent gotten it once.

The easiest way is to input 2S, 22P+H, tapping both buttons quickly at the same time. Little Eddie will do shadow P because of button priority, but Zato will do 22H because there is no 22P and 2S doesn't gatling into 2P.

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It's not really about that combo in particular, but if you have problems using a combo that involves three different Eddie attacks (I'm assuming it's a hand positioning problem?) you should definitely grind that out because your execution shouldn't be limited in that way if you wanna play Zato.

 

Yes and no. I can combo three different Eddie attacks pretty easily, but it depends on the combo. I do have an extremely hard time with hand positioning. And I wanted to ask how other Zato players manage.

I have been using all of the fingers of my right hand except my thumb and pinky. I was wondering if it was common to use your thumb, since I just can't get used to it. It makes negative edging easier. But I'd rather deal with the awkward bent wrist from using the other three fingers.

Also, thanks for the advice on 2S > -P- > 22H. Doing 22H+P makes it much easier. I was able to get that after five minutes of practice. So hearing someone couldn't get it for two weeks straight makes me feel a little better as a Zato main, haha.

 

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The thing I love about this character is that if they dead angle or reversal. You can punish them hard with more Oki. Eddie will take the attack for you, and you can continue your pressure. This forces them to respect your options. I have friends who love to mash out, and this will condition them to play like a real person. Meaty drills and mawaru for life.

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