DBFZ/SSB Goku/Strategy

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 Goku (SSGSS)


General Tactics

SSB Goku is an offensive character with some of the best pressure in the game and great mixup tools, making him exceptionally stressful to block in the right hands. His gameplan is simple but effective: use advancing tools like his lariats, his divekicks and movement paired with his j.S to get in and begin pressure. If opponents are trying to stay away from him, he can harass them with 5S. Once he's in, he has great frame data, 3 lows, a meterless teleport, a built-in overhead in his autocombo and an unreactable command grab with which he can easily capitalize on his opponent's hesitation. Although his overhead is somewhat slow and easy to react to, it is possible to condition your opponent to block low by using 5LL > delayed 2M. Even if the overhead is blocked, he can keep pressuring his opponent with the use of assists. His most potent mixup is j.214H mix, a left/right to 4-way mix which is explained in the move's section on the Overview page.

236/214S

Although this meterless teleport has a fairly slow startup, it enables Goku to (re)start pressure if blocked since it is always +3, no matter where Goku is on the screen. Be aware that it's not as plus if air blocked, however - opponents who are aware of this can escape afterwards.

j.S

Since SSB Goku's j.S doesn't stop his air momentum, an IAD j.S becomes a great way to approach a grounded opponent, since it will stuff their anti-air attempts, allowing you to keep your pressure going.

Video guides

Team positioning

Point

Blueku's best position. He has one of the best roundstarts in the game in 236L + assist, has the aggressive tools to win the Point war and utilizes assists very efficiently.

Mid

Blueku's assists are quite serviceable, with his A assist being objectively the best in a vacuum. While his neutral might be weaker without 2 assists to always back it up, his great pressure doesn't require assists to get good mileage out of it. He also boasts some of the strongest Lv3 oki, which makes him a great character to DHC into.

Anchor

Having great ways to dump meter like a level 5 Super and pretty good pressure even by himself, SSB Goku may seem like a decent choice for an anchor character, but you may find his solo neutral to be very difficult. It is not recommended to place him here. Trust me, there's far better options.

Picking Teammates

With Goku Blue not having a consistent way to control the screen by himself as many other characters do (with beams, armored specials, large projectiles), it's a good idea to look at assists that do that for him so he can make his way in more easily. Good examples would be beam assists or beamlikes (like Z Broly A), and one-off neutral threats like Piccolo's A Assist or Trunks' Change The Future Assist. Blueku also enjoys fast strike assists such as SSJ Goku's B assist since they make it very easy for him to confirm his lariats and divekicks into pressure/combos.

Goku Blue's assists are pretty good. His A assist is his best one overall: great for combos and for neutral control with fullscreen horizontal tracking. The slow startup can be circumvented if the opponent is locked down beforehand with projectiles. Good examples of characters that get enabled by his A assist are Android 21, Z-Broly, S-Broly, Roshi, UI Goku, Base Goku, and Kid Buu. His Divine Void Strike assist is immune to ki blasts and has some fairly good hitstun - functioning like Bardock's A assist - although the ki blast immunity ends up being impractical in most situations. His B assist is more flexible to put on a team given its nature as a strike assist, though if you can help it, finding a character that benefits from his A assist will serve you better in the long run. His C assist does track anywhere on the screen although said tracking is slow enough that the opponent can avoid the assist consistently if they know how to, very much not recommended.

Blockstrings

  • 2L > 5L > 5LL > 2M > 5M > 5H...
  • 2L > 5L > 5LL > 2M > 5M > 5H > 2H... (Airborne after 2H for divekick followups)
  • 2L > 5L > 5LL > 2M > 5M > 5H > 2H > j.214L (-3)

Safe normals: 2L, 5L, 5LLL (Overhead with large gap), 4M (Secret command normal) and 5S.

  • 2M anti-reflects after basically any normal.
  • 2M (reflected) > 5H > 5S (Reflect proof)
  • ...5S , 2M > 4M...

Layering your pressure:

  1. 4M , 2M > 4M... (Reset pressure, beats mashing L against most other characters)
  2. 4M > delayed 5H (Catches jump outs and mashing)
  3. 4M , 5L (Beats mashing M)
  4. 4M , instant dashblock > assist call or reset pressure (instant dashblock will not get hit by mashing)
  5. 4M , dashup 214L

5S auto spaces his blockstrings for 2M > 4M shenanigans. 4M (-2) when spaced out is extremely strong for stagger pressure.

  • Mix-up tools:

Heavy divekick mix-up (Assists with 30f+ blockstun can cover this mix-up):

  1. ...2H > j.214H ▷ land 2L
  2. ...2H > j.214H , delayed airdash j.L (May be difficult to time)
  3. ...2H > j.214H , crossup airdash j.S5M
  4. ...2H > j.214H ▷ land 214L

Examples shown are in the corner and using Goku Base's A assist. May require creativity depending on what assist used and whether you're midscreen or in the corner.

With lower-blockstun assists, your options are to float left or right into a j.L.

Be warned, they can GC the divekick on reaction and be safe. It is best to go for divekick mixes off IAD>j.H instead of 2H for this reason to make it unexpected. You can also TK j.214H during pressure if they respect you.

Tick throw set-ups:

  1. IAD j.S214L
  2. IAD j.X ▷ dash 214L
  3. IAD j.M dl j.2H dl j.S214L
  4. Dash 5L/2L ▷ delayed 214L
  5. 2M ▷ delayed 214L
  6. 5H ▷ delayed 214L
  7. 2M delay 5S ▷ delayed 214L (in the corner)

SSB Goku's command grab is unreactable although most ground buttons don't allow him to tick into it, so he will need to use a jump in or dash momentum normal to set it up. His 214M/214H can be used as tick throws but are considerably slower and reactable in most cases.

Tips and Tricks

  • 2H > j.236L being -3 is very good, don't forget you have it.
  • IAD j.S is a good way to force your way in, but it has counterplay. Don't overuse it.
  • L and M lariats scale like mediums, and can be TOD'ed from on hit with sparking.
  • j.236L is extremely difficult to contest after an air blocked SD situation, as it beats out almost every characters attempt to press buttons, catches airdash back, airdash forward and double jump.
  • j.214L can be used as an unreactable same side mix-up when your opponent thinks you're jumping to IAD crossup j.M, similar to Yamcha's j.2H. However, in order to confirm into full combo, you'll need to use an assist or bar
  • j.214M oki in the corner can be performed by buffering a normal jump straight up (not up-forward) and falling down with j.H or j.S. This catches all techs and makes it impossible to dash/walk out of the corner to avoid the meaty. If j.H is blocked, you can immediately go into j.214H for an instant unreactable mix-up since airdash was not consumed and it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to guard cancel out.
  • j.214H oki can be made to regenerate assists while catching all techs. Whiff a 5H then IAD j.M.
  • j.214H oki can also catch all techs midscreen which is exceedingly rare for this game. The setup is kind of complicated but doable with practice: hold S, microdash, 669, fastfall, delay backdash j.M. Note, however, that it won't hit meaty against uptech, so opponents can escape by backdashing away.

Fighting SSB Goku

Neutral

SSB Goku has a lot of tools to close the gap and bypass neutral. If he has assists to back him, it is very difficult to avoid him. However, said tools are also rather committal - if your character doesn't mind playing from further away, it's often easier to let him come to you and punish accordingly, especially if his assists are on cooldown. Stay vigilant for his 214S teleport, as it's easily countered on reaction by 2H.

Offense

His defensive options are completely standard: he only has Reflect and his Lv3. His 2L is quite stubby, and his 5L is a very standard jab.

Defense

SSB Goku's pressure consists of great staggers and strong command grabs. 4M is safe and large, and can loop into itself from 2M into 4M: easily putting him in a situation where you have to take a risk to challenge him, which loses to a properly timed frametrap. In the corner, a stray 5M or 2M can easily melt over half your health bar, and put you in a guess-for-character situation very quickly. Meanwhile, 214L is unreactable and links from a late 2M cancel, and 214H leads into a combo from anywhere, demanding quick reactions or a preemptive mash on 5L.

214L is a huge threat once he has established his extremely strong stagger pressure. He can confirm with an assist or Vanish, and he has the tools to take you back to the corner to make you guess all over again.

If he has a high blockstun assist, 2H~j.214H is a horrifically strong mixup - it's a true 4-way mixup that can be layered with his grab, along with universal options such as empty 6M or Dragon Rush. (Going high has a strict timing though, so you'll generally want to look for empty low or crossup). It's possible to invalidate the setup if you Guard Cancel the divekick on block - Guard Cancelling the 2H is ill-advised, as j.214H on whiff has very little recovery, so much so that he'll be able to just block your GC and kill you. The resource trade is always in Blueku's favor, but better to give away some meter than your whole character.

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