GGXRD/Sin Kiske/Strategy

Calorie Gauge

This is the blue gauge just above your tension gauge, dictating how many specials you can use : You begin each round at 10000 calories, and every special, except "Leap(214P/K)" and "Still growing"(214H) costs 1000 calories. Cancelling a special into another will cost 1000 additional calories. The exceptions to this rule are "Leap" (doesn't cost anything), "Still growing" (refills your gauge) and "I'm sure it'll hit something" (it's a special follow-up to Beak driver that costs 1000 calories).

Basically, this means that the more you cancel specials into another, the faster your Calorie gauge will decrease. If Sin runs out of Calories, he'll be stuck in a hunger animation for 95F after the last special used recovers, and the animation itself is not cancellable by anything, except PRCing it early, so this must NEVER happen.

Sin's special "Still growing" allows him to refill his gauge to prevent that from happening. If you're anywhere under 10000 calories, then it will restore your gauge to 10000 calories. If you're at 10 000 up to 12 000 calories, the gauge will go up to 13 000 calories, and if you're at 13 000 up to 15 000 calories, then it'll go up to 16 000 calories. Note that while you'll rarely need more than the usual 10 000 calories, eating when opponents are overly passive to gain some extra calories can be a viable strategy. The animation of this special is very long though, so you must be certain you won't get blown up for doing so.

How you manage the calorie gauge depends on how you play, as well as the matchup, but here are a few tips that are always useful or applicable.

- Always try to eat after a solid knockdown. Elk Hunt(236K) or 2D against grounded opponents, Beak Driver (236H) or 5H against an airborne opponent can all be cancelled into 214H and can allow you to safely refill your Calorie Gauge at the end of a combo.

- If you miscalculate the cost of a combo/string, you can RC/PRC your last special before entering the hunger state. You will be in a tight spot, but at least you won't die. You can also RC a special blocked from a distance and eat right after it to get a safe refill in case of emergency.

- Calories are consumed only when the active frames of a move starts. This means that YRCing a special won't consume any calories.

- If you have to eat at neutral, you can YRC 214H to cut down the recovery a bit. Mind the fact that the refill only happens after a certain point in the animation (Sin is surrounded by a green glow). should you YRC before that, you won't regain any calories.

Neutral and spacing

Spacing is key to Sin's game, and understanding how and when you play spacing is vital in every matchup. You'll have to see how his pokes and moves interact with others.Here is a little guide that you can use to test things by yourselves. You can also refer to Sin's matchup thread for more specifics(here)

Overview

Sin is a character that clearly dominates the ground to ground game. From spacing to gap closing, his ground toolset allows him to efficiently harass opponents with pokes while being able himself to deal with their pokes : Beak Driver(236H) is great to control the ground, as well as f.S/2S if you want something faster, but with less range. Your primary goal is often to be at your poke range while trying to make their pokes whiff. Elk Hunt(236K) goes under many pokes, while Leap (214P/K) can go over many attacks. When it's needed, he can also be played in a keep-away fashion or run in to try and apply pressure thanks to these moves : the best defense is a good offense, and Sin has enough tools to mount a decent offense from neutral situations, even if it's not what he specializes in.

To help him achieving this you'll have to get familiar with how he moves. His ground and air movement options are classic (double jump + airdashes). Sin's run speed is a bit below average, but accelerates after running for a little while, making it on par with most rushdown-oriented chars. As such, running forward to get in is a viable option that shouldn't be overlooked. His backdash is one of the slowest in the game, but also travels a fair distance and is one of the most invincible. As such, it is very easy to bait it, but it also goes trough an incredible amount of moves, making it great to reposition safely. His special "Leap"(21P/K) is a great way of further enabling you to control the neutral game.

Sin's air to air is a mixed bag. It's great for air chasing thanks to his air normal and specials covering a lot of ground in front of and above him. His air throw also knocks back the opponent quite far, so it's more often than not an advantageous position for him. However, he is bad at preventing people from air chasing him, so you always want to be jumping after your opponent

His ground to air game is also decent, but shouldn't be overestimated. Aside from his 6P, which is good at what it does, most of his moveset is made of linear pokes and/or slow moves. If the opponent takes it in the air outside of your anti-air range, you might want to either get away from them by running or backdashing, or chase them with jumping attacks.

Air to ground game is the area in which he is most lacking. His awesome leap is offset by moves with poor vertical hitboxes and/or on the slow side. as such he can be easily anti-aired and cannot really get good jump-ins aside from okizemes and whiff punishing situations. It is not bad per say, though, so learning to utilize your air options in this fashion is key for the moments you'll have to take to the air.

All-in-all, your main strategy in neutral is to pin the opponent down on the ground to apply your own rhythm, while avoiding getting yourself punished. As such, depending on the matchup, you'll have to be able to transition fluidly from "passive space-control" (harassing with pokes, fishing for counter hit, keeping away, calling out aerial approaches) to "active space-control" (chasing and agressing the opponent when the occasion arises, capitalizing on whiff punishes to get some pressure going and prevent them from pushing you away).

Notable Normals

• 5P is a fast poke that whiffs on crouchers, but has insane range for a P button, and is quite potent as an emergency anti-air. Also good at interrupting some moves

• 6P is a very good anti-air. It has invulnerability above the knee during its active frames and reaches far. It is a bit finnicky to consistently follow-up from this at every distance so work on confirms for all the angles it can hit. Also useful to call out jump outs.

• 5K is your fastest ranged normal after 5P. It has a very small hurtbox, so it can beat a surprising amout of moves with the right spacing (for example it can beat most of the 2S with the right spacing, except the best ones like Elphelt or Venom's)

• 3K has a somewhat slow startup, but a great range and small hurtbox to boot. Aside from being your go-to DP bait, the fact that it chains into 6HS makes it a great way to start your offense from a spacing move.

• f.S is a far reaching poke that can eat jump-outs if timed properly. Its great range is offset by its extended hurtbox (you can be hit out of it by other pokes on), and by the fact it can be low-profiled or 6Ped through.

• 2S is the mirror to f.S : same range and same startup. It can be jumped out pretty easily, but it has a smaller hurtbox, and can't be low-profled or 6Ped. Use this when they begin to disrespect your f.S

• 5H is a slow normal with two hits. First hit has a big vertical hitbox all around Sin's head that can stuff aerial approaches. Second hit is a long-reaching sweep.

This is one of your high risk/high reward moves, as the first hit reaches a bit higher than 6P, but doesn't have any invulnerability and huge whiff recovery. Throw this out if you're 100% sure you'll hit them with it. and when you do, make it count

• 6HS is a decent gap closer. it doesn't hit as far as f.S, but lets you get in, is + on block, and is very rewarding on counter hit or air hit. Be wary of its startup : it can be stuffed pretty easily when expected.

• 2D is a bit slow for a sweep. It still has an okay range (Sin moves forward when he does it), hits low, knockdowns, and low profile some moves. Also one of Sin's best punishers if done from point blank

• j.P is your emergency air-to-air. It is fast and has a good horizontal hitbox for its speed.It is mainly used for starting air combos. can chain into itself indefinitely, so if it's blocked you can rapid fire it until landing and start your offense from there

• j.K is very hard to follow-up, but is fast, hits all around Sin, knocks back fullscreen and knocks down on midscreen air Counter Hit, and gives you a lengthy wall splat that can be followed up in the corner. A great air normal once you're able to capitalize from it properly. don't forget this chains into j.P and j.S which itself chains back to j.K, so if it's blocked, just press do j.K > j.S > j.K or j.K > j.P x N until landing

• j.S is slower than j.K, but is the best compromise between reach and follow-up possibilities. Use this when you need good damage from an air-to-air conversion. As said earlier, chains back into j.K and jP so harass them if they block it !

• j.HS is outshined by all the other air normals when it comes to air-to-air, but is an invaluable tool for air-to-ground game. It hits three times below and behind Sin and is very active, It is his only jump-in that can stuff some anti-airs, or force them to whiff. Be wary of its very low hitsun and blockstun : unless you hit it from very specifing range and height, you won't be able to follow-up/start a safe string from it.

• j.6H has great horizontal range, and is extremely rewarding when you can convert from it. The vacuum effect and big hitstun is offset by the fact it can only be special canceled. Use this near the ground to get enough time to land and link a 5P or c.S from it to get your combo started.

Specials and Supers

• Beak Driver (236H) is an amazing and well-rounded poke. It has two hits, insane range, relatively fast startup and okay recovery, blows through projectiles, is safe on block at most distances, can hit jump outs and sloppy low profiles, and is greatly rewarding on counter hit. You can adjust its timing by partially charging it in some cases. Loses badly to preemptive IAD though so don't be too reckless with it. If you know this will at least be blocked, just go for it : The special cancel options on it can allow you to start pressure or reposition yourself pretty easily.

• Elk Hunt (236K) is your best gap-closer. It has a somewhat long startup, but low profiles a crazy amount of moves, has a great reach, and is +2 on block . You also get great follow-ups from counter-hitting with this. It also recovers relatively fast, so it's hard to punish as long as you don't get predictable with it. That being said, you can YRC it to prevent punishes, or swipe out jumps and backdashes, thus covering the weaknesses of this move. It has god oh-so many uses so you'll find yourself using this a lot !

• Bull Bash (214S) doesn't really shine as an overhead due to its long startup, but has an insane vertical and horizontal hitbox. It can swipe every possible jump-out while being safe on block thanks to the special cancel options. It is also in his top 3 best starters for combos on counter and/or against airborne opponents, so if they begin to get jumpy because of Beak Driver and Elk hunt, use this preemptively to make them regret doing so. Its huge horizontal hitbox can also make it useful as a makeshift anti-zoning move, or simply to control space.

• Leap (214P/K) is a key movement option in Sin's arsenal, and probably one of the reasons you play him. It's a special that allows you to jump in an arc. As such you can either use it as a stand-alone move or cancel every special cancelable ground move with this. You can also control the arc of the leap by holding 4 or 6 to basically land wherever you want. While you leap you retain all of your air options (including guard/FD/ BlitzShield) except double-jumping (except if it's jump installed). Safe-jumping, mixing up, whiff punishing (when used with j6HS,which is a killer starter provided you caught them in standing recovery), gap closing, repositioning or whatever, this move allows it, as long as you don't get predictable with it and use properly all the options at your disposal.

• Vulture Seize(j.214S) is slower than most of his air normals and doesn't hit overhead, but covers a lot of ground under and in front of Sin. It is also fully untechable on Counter Hit, making it extremely useful in specific situations. However unless you can RC/PRC it, the huge recovery it has when used high in the air won't allow you to do anything until you land, so keep it in store for the moment you want to blow a particular move with it

• Air Beak Driver (j236H) is as you've already guessed, a Beak driver in the air. It is used quite differently though. Unlike the ground version, You rarely get anything rewarding from it except a knockdown, but it has almost no landing recovery and halts your air momentum, making it a great move to Tiger Knee (2369H). it is also a great annoyance/non-commital poke to kill jumps out and cover air space without taking unecessary risks. It's not as useful as his other pokes but still useful enough to keep at the back of your head.

• Ride the Lightning (632146H) is not very useful for approaching in general, given its cost and the fact it is punishable and not invincible from frame 1 . But Yolo R.T.L, despite being situational as hell, is still very damaging and provides fullscreen corner carry on successful hit, making it great to blow a predictable poke or a projectile when you're not sure Beak Driver or Elk Hunt will do the trick.

• Voltec Dein (236236P) The infamous projectile super. takes some time to come out, but almost recovers immediately and creates a slow-moving fireball that acts as wall on neutral. Its usefulness in neutral depends on the matchup : this will force them to jump, and the air options they have when pitted against yours will decide the outcome of the clash. This is either used to get an approach against bothersome zoning/spacing or to act as a shield to get a free refill. Keep in mind your meter will often find better uses than this, so keep this as a situational/last resort tool.

• Air Voltec Dein(j.236236P) ,The infamous projectile super, but in the air. Like Beak Driver, the air version in functionally quite different from the ground version : it has a very fast startup and the fireball travels at a 45° angle. Sin also happens to float up a bit when doing that, so it's a very good anti-air killer and can stuff approaches from below. If used correctly, the opponent will often have no other choice than block and or back off if it didn't go fast enough to punish them., so on a round-ending situation and/or if you don't have anything better to do with your meter, consider using this super.

Offense

Sin's offense is considered lacking due to his limited gatlings and pressure options, his overall slow overhead options, and inconsistent wake-up game due to the food mechanic. However, he still has more than a few options to mount a decent offense with his toolset, and can turn any mistake the opponent does into a devastating opening !

Pressure

Sin's pressure game is mostly geared towards conditioning. He compensates for his limited strings by his abillity to enforce a strong lockdown game thanks to frame advantageous moves (236K, 6H, 2P, 2K), as well as moves with various ranges (236H, 214S to name a few). His staggers are well complimented by "Leap" to create mixup opportunities, pressure resets, baits, or re-establish neutral. He also has a lot of high level moves which, when combined to his special cancel options, allow him to crank up RISC at hilarious rates with the right reads. This makes his damage output even more scary, and gives him the ability to turn the most basic opening into a life-threatening confirm !

If your goal in neutral is mostly to pin them down, your goal in pressure is force them to stay there and blow them up for attempting to get out. This mostly comes down to how creative you are and how well you can read the flow of the game, but here are a few options that can help you to beat theirs

Against mashing

Beating mashing (typically, using fast/high priority/partially invulnerable/low profiling safe normals to try to interrupt your pressure) is what Sin is best at. generally, mashing in Sin's pressure, except in very specific situations, is a bad idea, so show them why !

• 2P is + 2 on block and chain into itself. you can link it into other moves to blow mashing or simply cancel it for safe strings.

• (5K>)3K>6H is one of the classic gatlings used to beat mashing. there is a small natural gap between 3K and 6HS that will beat most of the moves that don't low profile early. 6H is + 2 on block, meaning that you can use it to reset your pressure after it and score a counter if they still try to mash through after it. Be wary of Instant Block, Faultless Defense and/or 3 frames moves though,as this will beat auto-pilot pressure resets.In those cases, late canceling into specials like 236K or 236H comes in handy ! Your goal is to create a gap tight enough to blow mashing but large enough so they leave blockstun at some point, and get their move to come out.

• 2K>2H is a late cancel gatling : to do it, you need to do 2HS right when after 2K hits/ is blocked. The gap between the two moves depends on how late you did it. It naturally comboes if 2K hits and acts as a tight frame trap if blocked. It is technically possible to IB the first hit and blow this with a 3 frames move on smallest gap but it is incredibly hard to do consistently, not to mention the fact that 2H happens to be one of your best starters on hit .2H also cranks up RISC on block so it is always a good idea to put this move where you can. You also get jump and special cancels options from it for various mixups and frame traps ! 2K is also +1, so you can get creative with what you do after, as long as you mind your opponent's options.

• Elk Hunt(236K) is +2 on block and can be stuck at any point in a string for quick and dirty frame advantage. Loses exactly to the same things as 6H. Quick and dirty is good but you need to keep things fresh at all times !

• 236K > delayed 236H is what special canceling is to 6HS : it blows IB mash, FD and/or 3 frames moves clean, and nets a great reward from counter hit situations. always give them the Beak when they don't expect it !

• 236H > 236K has a gap between the two hits on IB or when done from a distance. It doesn't really matter when it comes to mashing through though, as the gap between the two moves is rarely that big. Even then, Elk hunt has a lot of priority and low profiles well so it will almost always win. If it is blocked, you can either back up and try to get a refill, or try to get more advantage through more special cancels and pressure resets

Against reversals

Blitz shields and reversals possess invulnerability from frame 1, and if used correctly, can beat most of Sin's frame traps and (late) cancels. However, Sin's dp/ Blitz punishes are probably the best in the game, as they hurt so much that most of the players that ate them at least once will think twice before attempting such a risky move. Simply put, bait those moves and make them pay so dearly they'll value their life over getting out that way ! These are the most classic ways of dealing with reversals.

• 3K will poke at their feet right out of most of reversals' range. You can special cancel it for safety, or go for frame traps and resets with 6H after it (see above). Mostly useful on their wake-up but can be used in some instances during pressure

• Switching to gapless strings doesn't beat reversals per say, but has the merit of messing with reversal timings. Just early cancel what you used to late cancel, and replace some of the links and resets with gatlings and special cancels (All of Sin's P>K>S strings are completely gapless). This will push you far from the opponent, but it will make your next attempt to frame trap less visible. It can also incidentally mess with Instant blocking, which is often used to create larger gaps to reversal while gaining tension. It sees some uses against Fuzzy jumping as well.(see below).

• Hard baiting is univsersal to fighting games and works well with Sin's pressure. Pretty much every of his moves preceding a natural gap in pressure is safe/advantageous enough to avoid being punished by most, if not all of the reversals. Just stop your pressure and hold 1 at these points if you KNOW the DP is coming. Aside from making you feel super swag, the opponent will be forced to spend meter to avoid being punished if blocked, and will just die if he whiffed. It loses to mashing though, so make sure you taught them to be good boys with the aforementioned traps

• Backdashing is a great way of forcing a reversal to whiff. You typically use this after a frame advantageous move like 2P or Elk Hunt to reduce the chances of being forced to block and re-establish the neutral game if they didnt take the bait. Don't forget that even if the game returns to neutral, you'll end up at mid range, which is often a good place for Sin to be. Don't forget that you can YRC it for safety if they called it out and tried to blow it. Whenever you feel it's too risky to press your advantage or attempt a hard bait, think about backdashing !

• 214P/K followed by Faultless Defense can be somewhat risky, but works well when used with the other baits. Since you can cancel anything into leap, you can basically turn anything into a bait opportunity with this. If they don't take the bait, you can either air backdash and try to get away, or go all the way and try to reset pressure from it if they respected it or tried a sloppy jump out. Yup, "Leap" is just that good.

• YRCing is harder to implement, but is a great way to bait DPs while keeping the upper hand in pressure. there are a lot of ways of using it, but the main way of doing so with Sin is far/delayed Elk Hunt YRC. The YRC allows you to see if they tried to disrespect in any way (be it backdash, DP or fuzzy jump) and react accordingly. this means that as long as you have meter, you can somewhat keep your hands on the pace of the round. Also Roman cancels and superflashes tend to eat up some inputs, so it might mess with your opponent's reversal and result in unexpected outcomes : be prepared to stuff anything coming in your way.

Against Backdashing

Backdashing in pressure or on wake-up is very efficient in Guilty Gear. Every backdash is invulnerable from frame 1 and they are all either really fast, or have a lot of invulnerability. You'll have to test how to hit the recovery of the different backdashes by yourself, but here are a few general pointers.

• Hard baiting a backdash is a lot less rewarding than baiting a DP for Sin, but hey, if you know that's coming, run after them and smack them with your normal of choice or delay your normal enough to hit them out of their recovery !

• f.S/236K/236H. Due to their range and active frames, these moves will beat most of the backdashes during pressure pretty cleanly. The first one is primarily used on wake-up situations, whereas the two others are staples in Sin's pressure that aren't easily backdashed out of

• Composite inputs/Option selects are the most efficient, but also the hardest way of beating backdashes or at the very least force them to block. To do so you must add inputs in your strings that will create a different result if your normal whiffs. There are many ways to do so, but one example of a simple backdash OS on wake-up for Sin is : Meaty 5K/2K > c.S IMMEDIATELY followed by a 236K > 2S into whatever.You must buffer everything very fast for this kind of OS to work. If blocked you'll get 5K > c.S and the game won't read your 236K since you did it too early for the move to cancel from c.S. As a consequence, it will skip to the next input (here 2S). If the opponent backdashes, your 5K will whiff, the game won't read your c.S as you can't cancel 5K that early on whiff, and will skip to your next input (236K) catching their backdash/forcing them to block in the process. If you're annoyed with backdashes, experiment with this and find ways of denying them this option !

Against jumping/Fuzzy jumping

Sin's poor vertical reach on most of his moves can make it hard to keep them pinned down to the ground. While most of the players will settle with a simple jump, that can be easily smacked if you're expecting it, more experienced players will resort to fuzzy jumping (while blocking, constantly inputting 7 + Faultless defense and immediately reverting to block with 1). Basically, any holes left uncovered during pressure will cause them to jump and FD flicker, and get away most of the time. the FD will also push you away very quickly even if you make them block. While it is costly for the opponent, it is a very efficient way of pushing Sin away, and characters without defensive options or fast normals like Zato will resort to this to get away from you. Your goal when this happens as Sin is not so much to open them up as to keep the pressure going as long as possible and force them to drain a lot of tension before the game goes back to neutral.

• Gapless strings (See above) Will deny them the possibility of jumping out and lets you confirm if they're attempting to fuzzy jump you or not (you'll see them FD flicker). You can react accordingly then.

• Staggering with lows such as 3K, 2D or 236K might catch them pressing 7 at a bad moment and eat their jump startup.

• YRCing (See above)

• Bull Bash (214S) swipes them out like fly during pressure, as it does on neutral. if they jump FD block it, leap on them or use other specials to apply further pressure. can be High-jumped out with the right timing if the previous move didn't have enough blockstun though so use it with caution. You can also use it on wake-up jumps to get beefy punishes. In any case, you'll need a YRC ready to prevent them from Blitzshielding it on reaction.

• Leap 214K[6] j.K >j.P x N OR j.K > j.S > j.K x N also works here. Same old, same old, use Leap cleverly and mind your options, and this move will do you a lot of good and almost no harm. j.P x N reduces pushback on FD whereas j.K > j.S > j.K x N drains more tension. Most of the time, you'll use it after 236H, as you can delay your leap to go after them, or just do something else if they didn't decide to jump. Once they respect this, you can sneak an air throw and pressure again to make them waste more meter on FD. Try to avoid getting predictable, as they can throw you between the j.Ps and after the jKs if they manage to IB one of them.

• Airdash j.K>j.S>j.K works like "Leap", but is incredibly high risk/high reward during pressure . If they don't jump, you're screwed, utterly. In the event they do though, not only the momentum of your airdash will negate the pushback from FD, but you get free pressure if they land before you, and force them to drain even more tension into FD if they land after you thanks to ground normals being unblockable without FD. If they forget to FD or don't have enough meter to do so, congrats, you got yourself some free damage ! Mostly used against wake-up fuzzy jumps situations, as it also acts as a mixup if they ground block it.

Mixups

Mixups are clearly not Sin's forte : All of his overheads are slow and telegraphed and/or have poor range. He can't efficiently set left/right mixups either, and his jump-ins are mediocre at best. However, Sin's huge damage output still makes his mixup somewhat scary, as failing to react properly to even one of them can turn the round over.
Most of his mixup options, most notably on wake-up, are covered in other sections, so this section will cover use of mixups moves with pressure.

• 2K is your main low : It has a bad proration but is fast and has good cancel options.

• 3K is kinda slow for a low attack, and ironically leads to good combos on crouching opponents only. you still get classic 236K combos from it, though so it's not that bad

• 2D is a good low to use after jump cancelable moves when they fear your j.D. Leads to decent damage, especially if you have meter to spare.

• 236K serves mostly the same purpose as 2D when used as a mixup. The frame advantage and YRC options on it make up for its calorie cost.

• 5D is one of the slowest dusts in the game, but is only -1 on block, and always leads to good damage. you can YRC it for situational mindgames

• 214S is a 32f overhead, so you will rarely ever open somebody with this. You have deadly confirms out of it on ground RC so if you miraculously caught them sleeping, don't let your chance pass ! Still useful in neutral situations (see "Neutral" section) and against jumpers (see "against jumping")

• rising j.D is your actual main overhead. It briefly stops your momentum,so you can do it on a rising jump for a 20f-ish overhead, depending on how late you did it. You can do it after a jump-in or a jump cancellable normal (mainly 5K and 2H, but c.S and 6H are options too) or on their wake-up. You get meterless confirms from it with j214S if done close enough, and j236236P(50 meter) confirms from farther away. Always safe on block if you use one of these follow-ups.Note that YRCing it stops your jump momentum and forces you to fall vertically, making it useful for baits of sorts.

• rising jH is your fastest overhead by far. it is completely unreactable. However, you need to be very close to hit with it on a rising jump, and you will almost always need meter to confirm from it or make it safe. Also sees good uses against opponent with cranked up RISC gauges (65% or more) as it leads to deadly meterless confirm if both the j.H and the following j.214S hit as counter moves. Mainly used for Voltic Dein mixups (see below)

• Leap left/right mixups is probably one of Sin's worst mixup options, due to how easy it can be to airhtrow/punish him when Leap is used this way. However you still get decent confirms from crossing-up with it, since your air normals auto-correct to face the right direction if done right. You can also try to psych them up with cross-up/non cross-up j.214S shenanigans if they are standing and sleeping. Something you'll use once every blue moon.

Okizeme

Sin's Okizeme game is greatly hindered by the fact that he'll use most of his knockdowns to refill his Calorie gauge (see Calorie Gauge section for more infos). This doesn't mean than okizeme shouldn't be applied when possible, as keeping the momentum whenever possible is a viable way of creating an opening by doing a mixup, or force a wrong move out of them. Sin still gets good mixup opportunities from his knockdowns, and gain access to a very powerful, albeit situational okizeme option when the conditions are met. In order to create good okis, we'll have to see what you can do for knockdowns and what opportunities they grant you.

Knockdowns

Note : frame advantage is calculated with Sol's wake-up speed. if you want to know your frame advantage against each character, you can check the general system data, and do the math.

• Throws give a lengthy knockdown alone, but are slightly negative if you follow them up by a refill (height dependent for air throws).

• R.T.L(632146H) gives different knockdown lengths depending on which direction you input, generally, going upward will increase your recovery, and make the opponent fall, meaning less advantage on their wake-up,Left/right inputs, on the other hand,blows them back and has better recovery when near the ground. Going downward will let you land faster, but has the same knockdown time as upwards, making it your mid-way choice. Knowing this, most of the time, you'll go for lateral > upward > downward or go left/right three times in a row, depending on where the opponent is.

• j236H[2] gives a decent knockdwown if not used too high in the air (in which case opponent can air tech). You can try and get in after this but it doesn't grant great oki opportunities . you're left at a slight frame disadvantage if you follow it up by a refill ( -2 to -3 at low heights)

• jK(CH) is fully untechable and blows the opponent back fullscreen if you're not in the corner. If you get this midscreen and happen to be low on calories, this is a free refill

• 236K grants a decent knockdown, and leaves you at +9 if you cancel it by a refill : it means that you can press your advantage after the refill, but you won't even get a good meaty from it.

• 236H(2) grants good okizeme options when you use it on its own, and nets you decent frame advantage depending on the height at which it hits if you go for a refill after it (from +10 to +20). You'll end up really far from the opponent if you do so, so use the frame advantage to re-establish neutral under your conditions.

• 2D is one of your go-to options for knockdown if you're ready to forsake the damage bigger combos would give you : You're left quite close to the opponent at + 19 after a refill, meaning that you can do meaty attacks on their wake-up.

• 5HS is a great ender for free refills, as it forces a knockdown against air opponents. The higher they are, the lengthier the knockdown. You'll have to account for gravity and pushback at the end of lenghtier combos though. You're left at around + 20 most of the time, meaning that you can go for a meaty in most of the situations. If the gravity and/or pushback doesn't allow you to properly meaty, you can YRC 214H to gain some more frame advantage.

• 214S is typically used as a combo filler, but grants you an incredibly lengthy knockdown at mid or lower heights against an airborne opponent. If you're willing to forsake the damage, you can go for a refill and actually attempt a mixup on them after it, provided you didn't hit them too high or too low.

• 236[H] (wall slump) is also very good : when hitting an opponent with a charged Beak driver in the corner at the lowest height possible, they won't be able to air tech, and go through a lenghty wall slump animation. you're left at a wide frame advantage when it happens, so you can get a refill and still have a shot at getting a mixup on them. Since wall slump wake-up timing is the same for every character, you can easily time your attacks to get a meaty from it too !

Ground meaties

Anything can be used as a meaty attack as long as the knockdown is long enough to allow it, and you are invincible to throws or outside of throw range when you use it. The following moves are the ones that are the most commonly used to meaty.

• 5K has both good low (236K/2D/3K) and overhead options (mainly jD but 214S/5D are still possible) . You have a lot of freedom with 5K's gatlings and jump cancel options, making it a reliable meaty

• 2K is +1 to +2 when used on wake-up. You can late cancel it into 2H which is itself jump cancelable, or go for gapless strings.

• 3K (see "Pressure : against reversals" section)

• 2D is + 0 to +5 when used on their wake-up. the lack of options after it makes it less useful than 2K but if you properly meaty with it, you get a 2P/5K link into combo on normal hit from it, along with very damaging counter hit combos. Only used when you're quite positive your meaty will hit.

• 236K is what you go for when you're too far to meaty with something else (mainly after 236H[2] knockdowns). Use it when you have at least 25 tension to YRC it so that you don't get thrown or hit by a reversal.

• jD has the merit of being an overhead, which can shake things up a bit given all the meaty lows Sin has in his arsenal. It can sometimes incidentally beat a bad throw attempt.Don't forget it can be YRCed to call out obvious Blitzshields and reversals as well.Generally, you shouldn't use it too often, as your options after it are very limited if it is blocked.

• Hawk Baker (623S) might sound crazy, but can be situationally used from point blank as a throw bait. Should it be blocked, you can use the special cancel options to make it safe unlike other reversals. Once they are scared to reversal throw you can try and meaty point blank and get better options from your normals.

Safe jump setups

Safe jumps are typically used to scare people away from using their reversals. Be careful, though, as safe jumps are beaten by standing Blitzshield, and can whiff against reversal backdashes and moves low profiling early on. Once they respect or use their limited options against your safe jumps, you can add layers of mixups to open them up. Don't forget to take into account the different wake-up speeds to get a jump-in that is as deep as possible. Here are some basic safe-jump setups

• - 236K/2D/corner throw > wait > 214P > jK/jS/jH

• - 236H(2)/midscreen throw > run > 214K[6]> jK/jS>jH

• - 236H(2) > 214K[6] > delayed airdash > delayed jK/jS/jH

This what you can do once you conditioned them to react properly to your safe-jumps.

• Leap/airdash > Safe-jump jK/jS/jH > falling jD (two overheads) Self-explanatory : a safe jump followed by another overhead

• Leap > low airdash > jK (> jS > jK > jD (or land rising jH) (one to four overheads). You can do something similar with the airdash safe-jump by delaying your leap after 236H[2] . You can land and do a low after any of the jSs and jKs. rising jH is impossible to react to, unlike jD, but you can't convert from it without meter, so choose cleverly your last overhead option depending on the situation.

• Leap /airdash > early jS (whiff) > land 2K/2D/throw Fake safe-jump into low/throw mixup. try to input K in the air from times to time : If they switched their guard to standing early and you didn't delay jS enough, they will guard your jS and you will have a new mixup between jS > jK and jS > land > 2K/2D. The empty low option also kills standing Blitzshield, as a point blank 2D leads to meterles critical 623S combos.

• Leap > early jS > land > rising jD/ rising jH final layer of mixup for the moment they try to throw as you land or expect the low option really badly.

Voltic Dein Okizeme

Voltic Dein super can be used to create a powerful and safe okizeme , while allowing a crazy amount of mixups. However, it is very hard to setup and implement, costs meter and the combos leading to it often deal less damage and give more tension/burst meter to the opponent. making it quite situational. The combos for it will be further detailed in the combo section, this part is meant to explain how the setup works to allow people to understand how to set it, as well as explore the mixup opportunities it creates.

As you've probably guessed by now, you need to force your opponent to block ground Voltic Dein (236236P) on their wake-up for as long as possible. To do so you need to activate it after a 236H(2) or 236[H] combo ender while being at around four to six characters' length from the opponent. At the right distances and with the right delays, you can make the projectile hit meaty while forcing them to block four or five hits on it, during which you are completely free to do whatever you want. This okizeme is mostly used in the corner, but there are some midscreen variants too !

To determine if it's worth going for it or not, you'll have to quicky ask yourselves those questions

- Will the combo give me enough meter to do the okizeme ?

- Can I kill them with an optimized combo instead of setting the oki ?

- Do they have their burst or will they regain it soon ?

- Do they have an available option to escape it and maybe make said option safe (example : Ky's 632146H with an RC available) ?

- How many calories do I have left when setting the oki ?

- Can I stun them and/or kill them with the following mixup and combo if I open them up  ?

Depending on the situation, it might be better to get a refill or use a more classic oki. You can also go for the oki while being ready to call out their burst or defensive option if they do have one.

Voltic Dein mixups

The initial mixup is the one that allows the most damaging and calorie efficient combos so you should aim at opening them up with it. However, should the first mixup be blocked, you have an incredibly wide array of options to open them up and get some damage and a knockdown. All the mixups listed are the ones available from the beginning to the end of Voltic Dein's blockstun

• EITHER Dash rising jH : If blocked > either falling jK/jS/jH, land > 2K/2D or low airdash > jK (> jS > jK >jD)

- If falling jK/jS/jH is blocked > either 2K or rising jD (If done right it will confirm into a combo if the previous mixup opened them up, and act as an additional mixup if they blocked it) > end of Voltic's blockstun.

- If land > 2K is blocked : blockstun ends (Voltic's last hit grants you frame advantage to go for either rising jD or another 2K if you feel they won't DP)

- Low airdash > jK (> jS > jK >jD) : Voltic's blockstun covers all of your "land > do a low" options until the second jK. Voltic's blockstun ends after the low regardless of where you put it.

• OR Dash 2D : If blocked > Leap into any of the mixups listed in the "Safe jump setups" sub-section.

Voltic's Dein oki allows many other mixup and possibilities, but this is more than enough to fiddle with and get used to the way it works !

Defense

Sin on defense is really a mixed bag : Even though he is one of the few characters to have a meterless reversal, his fastest move is at 5 frames, and many of his other moves suffer from extended hurtboxes and dead zones that can be exploited. His available tools are more than enough to get out of sticky situations, though.

• 2P is your main "mash out" move.It has decent range, comes out in 5 frames, is easy to confirm and +2 on block, but suffers from a terrible proration. Can surprisingly be low profiled by quite a few moves, in which case 2K and 2S are here to help you

• 6P on defense is both a reliable anti-air and a great counter poke thanks to its upper body invulnerability and range. Still something you don't want to whiff due to its lengthy recovery

• 5K having a small hurtbox and being a 7 frames move can help when 2P won't reach. Be careful as it can be low profiled as well. Also has a relatively bad proration

• 2S is a good option for countering poke staggers : it low profiles a few things while killing low profile moves. It has a solid range for a 9f move, so consider using it after Faultless Defense to make them whiff something at your face and take the advantage.

• Hawk Baker (623S) is a finnicky reversal. It can be made safe on block with special cancel options, making it great against safe jumps and specific strings (be careful though, the special cancel follow-ups can be blown through by reversals in most cases). It is unsafe on hit and block if not canceled, so you still want to cancel it by something whenever possible. You'll need at least 4k calories to make it safe whithout entering hunger animation, and 6k calories to confirm from it if it didn't counter hit or hit as a critical. Also the vertical and horizontal range is not as great as it looks, so you'll have to learn how to interact with your opponent hurtboxes to make the most of it. Should you fail to do so, you'll be stuck in a long counter hit recovery on whiff, at the mercy of your opponent. All in all, a useful, but tricky and risky option that can harm you if you don't use it wisely.

• Throws being both instantaneous and untechable in GG makes it a good reversal if you know how to use it. You can OS it with c.S to make it less risky. Do note, that Sin's throw range is average at best, so don't overcommit to it unless you want to eat a counter for your trouble.

• Backdash is a good defensive option for Sin. His backdash is very invincible but suffers from its lengthy animation. Having an available YRC whenever you're attempting it is a good idea.

I won't cover universal options, such as Faultless Defense, IB, and Fuzzy jumps but remember that they are detrimental for Sin since, at the end of the day, he doesn't have much to offer in terms of reliable defensive tools.

Tips, tricks and useful links

Burst baiting

Burst baiting is generally hard (at least in Xrd's current version) and requires a very good read of the game flow to be useful. It's not a detrimental skill to have but burst baiting goes well with Sin's damage output : A good burst bait and punish often means that your opponent will have to pack his bags onto the next round, without having an available burst during most of it or simply end the match. Keep in mind that Sin's reliance on special cancels makes it harder for him to bait bursts, so taking your guaranteed damage when possible is a viable strategy if you're not sure the burst is coming out. Burst baiting mostly comes with experience and experiments, and there are many ways of doing so. This is a quick list showing how Sin's moveset can interact with bursts.

• Holding 4/1/7 will bait bursts (assuming Burst was released as early as possible) for the following moves

2P, 5P, 5K, 2K, 3K, 2D, 5D(normal + Homing Jump), 6H, Elk Hunt(236K), jP, Leap (Only when you recover your guard : from Leap's peak to landing)

• Jump forward > block will bait bursts for the following moves

5P, 6P, 5K, c.S, 5H(the two hits) 2H(all three hits), 6H, j.P/K/S (if you have an available double jump)

The rest of his moveset can only beat burst either if the burst was done a bit late (Notably true for f.S,2S, Leap and Beak Driver's second hit) or through Roman cancels (mostly useful for special juggles combos, as the RC can be stuck at any point while having a shot at continuing the combo)

Useful links

• Want to see the theory in practice ? Dustloop's video thread

• Want a quick rundown on the character's strategy, moveset and combos ? GGXRD: Sin overview by @Zidanel33t

• Need your shot of combos and setups ? (Note : done on 1.1 ver but most of what is presented is still valid) A3Religion's Growing Boy Sin Tutorial GGXRD1.0

• Mix'em up !Sin instant overhead confirms

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