GGXRD-R2/Johnny/Strategy

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Learning Johnny

Familiarize yourself with his normals, specials, and basic mechanics (Mist Stance, Levels, Baccus Sigh) at Johnny Overview
Practice mist cancelling until you can do it naturally
Learn his basic combos and basic unblockable game flow
Practice applying pressure using mist cancel and his various tools
Familiarize yourself with his basic meter options
Fight the CPU to confirm you can put the previous steps together and know how to confirm hits
Play real matches, and keep practicing!

On Offense: Identify what your problems are. Are opponents jumping out? Are they hitting you? Are you getting pushed out? Figure out where you need to adjust, and re-apply in matches. Practice utilizing resources to maintain pressure.

On Defense: Understand universal defensive mechanics and utilize them as best you can. Ask yourself whether you are spending too much or too few resources on defense.

At Neutral: Focus on winning the ground game. Avoid relying on air approaches unless you feel there are no other answers. Identify problematic pokes and evaluate. Reflect on your movement: Are you dashing too much/too little? Are you giving ground too easily?

When in doubt, consult Training Mode and Video footage of other Johnny players.

General Tactics

Blockstrings

Okizeme

Bacchus Sigh (Mist) Unblockable Basics

NOTE: Unblockables now behave different. The following section can be used as a guide for how to setup hard knockdowns, but following up off of unblockables is very different as of Rev 1.1

The most common setups leading to a mist unblockable are:

1) off an Air Zweihander One Hit AKA Zweikasu
2) from a j.H performed from a low enough altitude
3) Air LV2 High > land Mist > OTG 2K Coin - see OTG 2K Coin post tech section for details.
4) off of a Treasure Hunt knockdown.

Compared to other versions, Johnny's mist spawns much farther behind him and travels slower. As a result, you generally MUST YRC in order to meaty the opponent In addition, because it travels so slowly, you may need to add additional normals before you release your mist finer in order to buy time for the mist to attach. Also be aware that Mist Finer can be Blitz Shielded by the opponent even when they are misted.

Here are a few basic options after a knockdown to get you started:

Knockdown > Mist YRC > 5K/2S/2H/5H > Mist Finer - Single normal into Mist Finer

Will beat mashing, upback, and attempting to block or wait. Can also beat most reversals and dead angles if spaced far enough away (2S).
Loses to Blitz (still must choose high or low). Loses to some reversal + YRC (allows them to escape, but not punish you).
Depending on distance and character, you can potentially option select against backdashes, but it is not universal, and usually requires you be in range of reversals.

This is your basic unblockable starting point. If the opponents cannot deal with this option, keep doing it. Also a good option when you know the opponent has no options.

Knockdown > Mist YRC > Coin > 2S > Mist Finer - Coin into single normal into Mist Finer

Will beat mashing, upback, blocking, waiting, backdashing, single blitz. Fairly reversal safe.

Loses to Blitz into Blitz. You are not vulnerable for getting your coin Blitzed but your followup normal can be Blitzed.

Use this when you're scared of the opponent's wakeup blitz, or backdash.

Knockdown > Mist YRC > Coin > Coin > 2S > Mist Finer - Double Coin into single normal into Mist Finer. Generally too far away for most normals other than 2S

Same as above, but opponent must blitz three times. Expensive use of coins, but best used when you definitely need the damage.

Zweikasu RC > Mist > Coin > etc

Zweikasu RC has massive untech time, allowing you to fully recover from mist and meaty. Since Mist normally requires a YRC for a guaranteed followup, this is effectively spending an extra 25 meter for added advantages.
Generally gives you enough time to reposition yourself to an optimal range as they get up, so you're very safe against reversals, and also down bursts.

Knockdown > Mist > YRC > Forward Jump > Air Zweihander YRC > falling j.H (or whatever you feel like) > etc

Great against reversals (keeps them blocking even if they YRC), blitz, backdash, basically everything. Saves coins, but uses meter. Use accordingly.

Additionally, here are some strategies that you can also incorporate. These are not guaranteed, but are equally strong options when you have the read on your opponent. Try them out and see which ones work for you.

Mist > No YRC > 5K/2H/etc - Good for when you think the opponent is either going to obediently sit there, letting you save some meter. Also very useful for when you're hard reading a reversal. If you know the opponent is going to jump, aiming for the jump with an airthrow or a 2H can also be very useful against opponents who are extremely afraid, as you save meter, and put them in the same situation again. This is also great when you know they're going to burst your unblockable, as the situation will either lead to an airthrow (unburstable) or potentially a far out 2H which is difficult to burst.
Mist > YRC > Wait - Use to hardbait wakeup Blitz / Reversals. Often following up with 2H will be hard for an opponent unless they were mashing / immediately jump out. Do not use on opponents who dedicate to upback. This option is best used against opponents who commit heavily to hard answers against your mist unblockables.

Tips and Tricks

Mist Cancel

Essential Johnny technique used to drastically reduce the recovery on many of Johnny's pokes.

Observe: 5H on block is -16, punishable by many characters. When Mist Canceled, it becomes +5. Better than safe, it's advantage!

How to Mist Cancel

Do a move that is special cancelable.
Special cancel in to a Mist Finer.
Hold button to stay in Mist Stance.
While holding button, press H to Stance Cancel (Note: Holding the button when mist cancelling is not mandatory. If H is inputted during the window of mist stance startup, it will cancel at the first possible frame. However, if H is not inputted during that window, the actual Mist Finer will come out. While this technique makes it easier to perform the fastest possible mist cancelling, it is much easier to make a mistake. Thus, it is recommended to hold the button unless you have a good grasp of the timing and have good execution.)

   Example: 5H>214[P/K/S]~HS

The button you choose to use for Mist Cancelling can be P, K, or S, but you should ideally choose the version you hold based on hitconfirm situations. For example, at Level 1, mist cancelling ground strings with K is very important, since it is the only mist finer that will combo on hit from many of Johnny's long pokes. However at Level 2, it is often preferred to hold S while midscreen, in order to confirm into Low Mist Finer. Meanwhile in the corner at Level 2, K becomes the dominate button in order to go into Mid. Holding P is very useful at any level when using a poke as an anti-jump or anti-air, such as 5H, 2H, etc. Near the corner, using P in order to go into a delayed Mist Finer High after blocking is also very viable. From 2H, P, K, and S are all viable depending on level, based around which way you think they may be hit or block 2H.

Mist Cancel Frame Advantage Chart

Shows the frame advantage for each attack level assuming fastest possible mist cancel by level.

Ground Mist Cancel total frames: LV1: 13(9F+4F). LV2: 10(6F+4F). LV3: 8(4F+4F)

Attack Level	Normals	MC Level 1	MC Level 2	MC Level 3
Level 0	2P, 2K	-4	-1	+1
Level 1	5P, 5K	-2	+1	+3
Level 2	c.S, 2S, 6P	+0	+3	+5
Level 3	f.S, 2D	+3	+6	+8
Level 4	5H, 6H	+5	+8	+10

Air Mist Cancel total frames: LV1: 12(8F+4F). LV2: 10(6F+4F). LV3: 8(4F+4F)

Attack Level	Normals	MC Level 1	MC Level 2	MC Level 3
Level 0	j.P	-3	-1	+1
Level 1	j.K	-1	+1	+3
Level 2	j.S, j.H, j.D	+1	+3	+5
Level 3	-	+4	+6	+8
Level 4	2H	+6	+8	+10

FD Dash

FD Dash, also called Wave Dashing by some, refers to Johnny's ability to cancel his dash recovery into FD in order to chain successive dashes together faster than normal. On the 13th frame of Johnny's forward dash, he can cancel the recovery of his dash into anything, except additional ground movement / throw. Because this technique uses FD, it temporarily reduces Johnny's tension gain. As a result, using this technique is somewhat of a playstyle preference, and should definitely be avoided in mid-combo if it is not mandatory.

An example of a single dash into a FD-cancel: 66[PK]4

Punch and Kick are not need for the FD. You can use any combination of buttons that will produce a FD.

A FD-dash into a dash (double hop): 66[PK]4646

N FD-dashes: 66[PK]{4646}xN

there's an extra '4', inbetween each additional dash past the first, that you don't need. But for most, it acts like a mental-metronome and helps keep a steady tempo.

Coin into a double hop: Stuff > 236[H~P], 664646

MistCancel into a double hop: Stuff >214[P]~[H], 664646