Smash Player new to Guilty Gear

[WayTooFoxy]

What's good guys? I'm not sure if this is the right part of the forum for these kinds of questions and I know how mad people get when stuff is in the wrong place. Just point me in the right direction if I'm in the wrong spot instead of getting all kinds of butthurt. Thanks.

Skip this next part if you're looking for the tl;dr version of my questions. It's just a little back story.

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I have played Smash religiously for the past few years and I'm just now picking up the stick for Guilty Gear. I have been picking up other fighting games in addition to this one, such as Marvel and AE, but this game is a far cry from either of those.

A couple of things first: I play on PS3 so I don't THINK I have access to GGXXACR. Is that correct?

Now on to my questions.

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1. I play Millia and I've literally been playing for ONE day. What kind of damage should I be looking at with a basic day 1 combo? I've been doing the standard 2H combo with the j. H ADF j. H. I think my max damage has been something like 195.

1.5. How should I approach my mid-screen combos? Can I use the same one I use in the corner with a different kind of spacing/timing or should I use something completely different?

2. On a similar note, I have a hard time doing the double tap to air dash between j. H'es. Any advice on the timing/spacing for this? Note that I do play stick. I haven't tightened it at all but maybe it's about time I do that.

3. I know most of the technical skills in this game such as FD, Slash Back, RC/FRC, and etc. But are there any intricacies not mentioned in the "READ BEFORE YOU POST" thread that I should be aware of? I know on our forums, we miss a lot of details.

4. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen much frame data on this forum. Is there any chance someone has Millia's frame data handy?

5. When are good times to RC/FRC? Particularly, which moves are good to end a string with and RC to optimize my pressure?

6. Millia seems like one of the harder characters in this game to play and doesn't immediately seem newb-friendly. Is this pretty accurate? If so, can you suggest any characters with distinctly similar rush-down honest playstyle that might be a little easier on me for now? Just until I pick up the execution to play this character.

7. I've been watching 2 particular Millia players and they have very different combo preferences. AKA somehow manages to hit with j. D after a launch. How does he do that? And is this better than the j. S to j. H I've been trying to learn? The other player was recommended to me and his name is Woshige. Are these good players to take notes from?

8. Bad Moon. What, exactly, dictates when I should/shouldn't use this move in my combos?

9. Secret Garden seems really useful for mix-ups but I have a really hard time getting all 4 inputs in for it before the stand-up animation is done. I can usually only get 3. Any advice on how I should decide which direction to go with this? I've been just going down, then left/right and then back.

10. I see a lot of combos start with moves that maybe counterhit or don't hit from the ground that aren't 2H. How will I know when I can initiate my BnB if I don't hit with 2H?

11. Is 214P FRC good at all?

12. Should I be using the Slash Back at all? If so, how do I capitalize off a successful confirm?

again, thanks for being patient with me guys. I appreciate ANY advice for a new player and will take everything away that I possibly can.

Edit: Sorry for my bad notations. Today is my first day learning this way of conveying notations. My bad, guys.

[president]

This thread caught my attention because I'm a guilty gear player that picked up melee a couple weeks ago, haha.

Welcome to GG! Enjoy your stay, this is gonna take a while.

A couple of things first: I play on PS3 so I don't THINK I have access to GGXXACR. Is that correct?

The japanese version of PS3 GGAC has the +R update. US/EU versions did not yet receive the update. Welcome to the Arcsys experience, we're kinda getting shit on.

I assume that you're still practicing on vanilla GGAC then, and be aware that any matchvideos you watch of the +R version has a drastically changed Millia. Any aerial combo routes from AC do not carry over to AC+R.

Answering your questions:

1. That's pretty good, actually. You can probably expect a little less damage on average from more practical starters during matches. Millia is overall a low damage character to counteract her other strong aspects, so don't be shocked if you compare her values to some basic combos of other characters. Keep in mind that in GG every character has the same health, but takes different amounts of damage. Practicing combos on extremes such as Chipp or Potemkin can give you the wrong idea of combo strengths.

1.5: Combos in GG are extremely character specific. You will have to approach your combos not only depending on corner distances but also on what character you're against. Practice on different ones and you will quickly realize what I'm talking about - try to combo Anji and then apply it to Johnny, depression quickly follows. You will just have to gather a lot of experience for this.

2. This is mostly just you having to get used to stick execution, but Millia can also buffer her airdashes. That means you can input the dash before the j.H even connects and she will still cancel it by herself later.

3. Nothing you have to concern yourself with! The basics are covered, don't waste too much time on the complicated techniques you're probably not going to use for a while anyway. This goes into the territory of picking up Melee and the very first thing you do on day 1 is to practice the waveshine infinite.

4. This is the GGAC wiki, with framedata to all characters (ex: Millia(GGAC)). On the left dropdown you can access the wikis for other games like ACR.

5. There is no set situation to apply RC/FRC. This is where you have to learn meter management and judge situations individually. Millia does not have any real crucial FRCs to learn, the most common one would probably be the Bad Moon FRC. If you don't have a disk going along with it and you have the meter to spend you could use the FRC to combo off it, or to make it safe on block.

6. Millia is pretty straightforward. Some might disagree, but I would judge her to be on the easier side of the cast. Combos are relatively easy, there is no crucial FRC grind before you can even start playing, her normals do the work for her and she's also a really good character without any real disadvantageous matchups. Life is easy.

7. Again, please take the AC/AC+R differences into account. As for Woshige, he's a very big name and one of the overall best GG players of all time. If you see him doing stuff you can assume it's pretty good, but don't stress yourself if you can't do it yourself quite yet.

8. The main use of Bad Moon is as a high option in your basic disk okizeme. Some characters, on some heights and some starters might require Bad Moon as a combo ender to guarantee knockdown. This is the case in AC because it has higher untechable time than her j.D, so on very long combos with a lot of proration going on this will be the only thing working.

9. Secret Garden is used to force opponents with strong defensive tools (such as Sol with his Volcanic Viper) into several layers of ambiguous guessing, where they would otherwise be able to beat your standard disk okizeme more easily. On a majority of the cast (and even on Sol, for now) you want to get really good at using the disk before starting to experiment around with Secret Garden. Using the disk takes some getting used to, and you will probably get thrown a lot because of bad spacing and timing. Practice this first!

10. Experience. See question 1.5.

11. Yes, for several things. One example would be Millias legendary haircar FRC j.K. You're doing a low move, abort the startup, and go into a high instead. Anything regarding 214P FRC might as well be completely unblockable, but maybe that's just me.

12. Slashback is a strong tool, but it's very difficult to use. Go back to this when you've played for a while, seriously.

/Edit: If you want, I can add you Skype if you need help with anything else. Maybe you can help me out with my smash progress too! Haha.

[Ronove]

Ill try provide my 2 cents

1. I play Millia and I've literally been playing for ONE day. What kind of damage should I be looking at with a basic day 1 combo? I've been doing the standard 2H combo with the j. H ADF j. H. I think my max damage has been something like 195.

First important thing for anyone who'd like to learn Millia: don't get obsessed with damage, your main goal is to score a knockdown because Millia's strenght relies on her strong okizeme. While it's good practicing combos starting from 2H in order to muscle memorize her basic BnB's, always remember that in a real match the chances that you to land a "raw" 2H are almost slim to none. So once you learn her aerial BnBs (with all the varations depending on the character you're up against whether it's low/medium/heavy weight/johnny), start practicing hitconfirms from her most common pokes/neutral moves like 5K/2K, antiair jK, air-to-ground situations, hitconfirms from counterhit pin etc.

1.5. How should I approach my mid-screen combos? Can I use the same one I use in the corner with a different kind of spacing/timing or should I use something completely different?

Her midscreen combos usually work just as fine at the corner. Timing is almost about the same in general, for some characters it's harder to get a proper knockdown at the end just like you do midscreen but you have a variety of enders you can choose in order to get the knockdown right. You'll start noticing which ones you need to use as you practice her BnBs and also against human opponents, Millia is one of those characters which allows you to adjust your combos on the fly if you notice that the opponent is too high above you or too low during the combo. It's habit you'll slowly and unconsciously develop on your own.

2. On a similar note, I have a hard time doing the double tap to air dash between j. H'es. Any advice on the timing/spacing for this? Note that I do play stick. I haven't tightened it at all but maybe it's about time I do that.

Practice. I had the same problem as well when I picked her up and sometimes I still do screw up on player 2 side. But if you practice regularly it'll become second habit and you'll notice you don't even need to rush the input too much in order for the airdash cancel to come out at the proper timing/height.

3. I know most of the technical skills in this game such as FD, Slash Back, RC/FRC, and etc. But are there any intricacies not mentioned in the "READ BEFORE YOU POST" thread that I should be aware of? I know on our forums, we miss a lot of details.

Millia is pretty "basic" in terms of technical skills. While she does have a good number of moves that you can FRC, usually the one you'll be using the most out of them is her FRC Iron Savior (214p FRC) since it's a strong mixup tool. There are other things like FRC on both her Tandem Tops but they're more like matchup specific tools than general ones.

4. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen much frame data on this forum. Is there any chance someone has Millia's frame data handy?

Check Wiki above, it has the latest frame data and general mechanic info as well.

5. When are good times to RC/FRC? Particularly, which moves are good to end a string with and RC to optimize my pressure?

Keep in mind that Millia is not a pressure-based character. It's not like she can't put pressure, but it's far from being as threatening as other characters'. Depending on the matchup, if the opponent has blocked your blockstring you may want to consider to temporarily "retreat" and get back playing neutral. If you decide to keep pressuring, keep in mind the distance you've put between you and your opponent. If you're up close you better end your blockstring with a jump cancelable move so that you can keep pressure up with her pin, if you've already put some distance thanks to the pushback than you can try ending it with a FRC'd S Tandem Top. Just be aware that in both cases she's still taking a degree of risk depending on whether your opponent is aware of these options or not. It's a matter of conditioning your opponent to respect you before you start relying on these strategies.

6. Millia seems like one of the harder characters in this game to play and doesn't immediately seem newb-friendly. Is this pretty accurate? If so, can you suggest any characters with distinctly similar rush-down honest playstyle that might be a little easier on me for now? Just until I pick up the execution to play this character.

Her combos in this latest installment are actually pretty easy, IMHO. What makes her "hard" is the fact that she has low health and requires you to have a solid neutral game and know how to move well around. She can't mindlessly rush in even if she has the strongest projectile in the whole game (the pin), if you do that you're bound to get severely punished.

7. I've been watching 2 particular Millia players and they have very different combo preferences. AKA somehow manages to hit with j. D after a launch. How does he do that? And is this better than the j. S to j. H I've been trying to learn? The other player was recommended to me and his name is Woshige. Are these good players to take notes from?

If you see a Millia doing jD combos midscreen it's not from the latest version of the game. With the current version these combos are not possible anymore and the only time you'll see jD used will be at the corner on just a small portion of the cast. As for players to follow, I don't know if AKA is still active, but you'll certainly find videos of Woshige, Nakamura, JUN and other japanese players that still regularly play.

8. Bad Moon. What, exactly, dictates when I should/shouldn't use this move in my combos?

You use it to get a proper knockdown. I'd say midscreen it's almost a given that you end your BnB with Badmoon because it'll keep the opponent within the Tandem Top range as well. Corner, it depends on height and character you're comboing against. If you have the pin with you then you might want to go for the pin ender instead.

9. Secret Garden seems really useful for mix-ups but I have a really hard time getting all 4 inputs in for it before the stand-up animation is done. I can usually only get 3. Any advice on how I should decide which direction to go with this? I've been just going down, then left/right and then back.

Practice. Just input the directions right away after you've completed the 214H, do it as fast as you can.

10. I see a lot of combos start with moves that maybe counterhit or don't hit from the ground that aren't 2H. How will I know when I can initiate my BnB if I don't hit with 2H?

You mean hitconfirming from the air? That's something you'll gradually learn with time. Also, even if you do land a hit on the ground it's not a given that you might be able to go into 2H anyway. Don't get obsessed in finding a way to get into 2H. That's the wrong way to play Millia. Get obsessed to get a knockdown. Let's say you land a far 5S, you can't get the 2H because the opponent is already too far away, but maybe it's not too far away to follow with 5H 2D and score a knockdown so you can start playing your okizeme game. Or let's sat you're up in the air and hitconfirm a jK, maybe you're not close enought to the ground to be able to land and get your 2H relaunch, but you can adjust it so that you can immediately convert that aerieal hitconfirm in her airdash cancel bnbs. Again it's something you'll gradually learn, and I suggest you watch a lot of videos of Woshige/Nakamura so you can see what choices they make when these situations occur.

11. Is 214P FRC good at all?

It is. It's not immediately "essential" for someone who's just started learning both game and character, but it's a tool you'll eventually want to learn to use in order to strenghten your mixup.

12. Should I be using the Slash Back at all? If so, how do I capitalize off a successful confirm?

It's a tool that really depends on matchup and on who you're up against. Learn to defend properly first with regular blocking, FD and instant blocks. Add Slashback only once you've gotten good with the rest first.

[WayTooFoxy]

Thanks for the advice guys. I just got back from AGDQ so I'm ready to grind it out.

My roommate wants to learn this game too since I'm now learning it. He's kinda leaning toward maining Dizzy so advice on her would be godlike as well. I read about the Bubble combos but I'm not entirely sure about how those work or how to explain them to him.

Skype would be dope, bro! I know a ton about Melee and if there's something I don't know, I would be more than happy to find out for you. I'm pretty good buddies with pretty much all the big name Melee players so I can hook you up. Just add me when you see this man. Same name as on here.