GGACR/Baiken/Starter

Baiken

Overview

Starter Guide

Combos

Key Moves

Normals

2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery6Advantage-1 - Her fastest normal, your go-to when you need something quick, and for starting offense with a low. Gatlings to 6P and 5S.
f.SGuardMidStartup9Recovery8Advantage0 - A quick poke with decent range and a good hitbox. Difficult to combo off but good at controlling space. You'll usually want to cancel this into Tatami or Kabari.
2DGuardLowStartup8Recovery13Advantage-8 - A very strong low, active for a long time, jump cancelable for knockdown setups or comboable into Tatami.
5HGuardMidStartup9Recovery24Advantage-6 - A powerful poke with an amazing hitbox but high recovery if you miss. Can combo into TatamiGuardAllStartup15Recovery9Advantage-6 normally and KabariGuardMidStartup20Recovery15Advantage+2 on Counter-Hit.
6PGuardMidStartup8Recovery9Advantage-3 - A servicable anti-air, though it doesn't reach that high so it can struggle with some stronger jump attacks. Also used in grounded offense for comboing into 623PGuardMidStartup12Recovery25Advantage-17.
6KGuardMidStartup12Recovery6Advantage+2 - Advancing step kick thats Throw Invincible and very active. Great for preventing people defensively throwing you up close, such as when they're getting up from the ground.

j.SGuardHigh/AirStartup8Recovery19Advantage- - Very strong long range air normal for controlling space or approaching with an Air Dash.
j.HGuardHigh/AirStartup15Recovery0Advantage- - Dominant Air-to-Ground normal with an amazing hitbox and stays active all the way until you land. Most characters struggle to anti-air this.

Specials

236KGuardAllStartup15Recovery9Advantage-6 - Ground Tatami - Tatami is arguably Baiken's most important move with a myriad of different uses between the ground and air versions. It walls people out defensively, keeps people caged offensively, its used in combos, setups, for approaching, for retreating, everything! With the ground version you just need to be careful of opponents getting around it from the air and punishing you. Here are some example uses:

Its a fairly safe way to push people away and end blockstrings. From normals like f.S and 2D there is a small gap that Frame Trap's.
Its hitbox is active for a long time, controlling space and preventing people from advancing towards you on the ground.
In the later part of the move the Tatami mat will fall over, extending its range. This part of the move has a lot of frame advantage if blocked. This is particularly strong when you have the opponent cornered as you can keep them caged by spacing the Tatami to hit late then either doing another Tatami or dashing up with a normal.
On Counter-Hit Tatami's wallbounce becomes untechable, letting you get combos off it from almost anywhere on the screen.

j.236KGuardAllStartup18RecoveryUntil landing+16Advantage- - Air Tatami - Even more versatile than the ground version, Air Tatami can be combined with your air movement options to place it where it needs to be, walling off a wider variety of approach angles. When performed low to the ground it has very little recovery, making it more advantageous than the ground version on block or hit. With the air version be careful about doing them too high up as this can allow opponents to run underneath it and punish you. Here are some example uses:

Simply neutral or back jumping and doing an Air Tatami as you fall can wall off more vertical space than the ground version, but does take longer since you need to go through most of your jump arc first.
Air Dash Tatami advances a huge distance very quickly, good for chasing down people running away from you or starting offense against a hesistant opponent. Can usually combo off this on Hit.
Air Backdash Tatami retreats while covering yourself with a Tatami, good for getting out of uncomfortable spacings to a better range while walling off people chasing you down.
Used for most of her best Knockdown setups, dropping a Tatami on them as they wake up. Covered in the Knockdowns section below.

41236HGuardMidStartup20Recovery15Advantage+2 - Kabari - A long range chain claw, good at catching people trying to jump or backdash out of your offense. Also useful in neutral against some characters that want to play outside your normal range. Has a small amount of frame advantage on block and pulls the opponent towards you slightly.
63214KGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 30Advantage- - Suzuran - A command run with mid/high 'Autoguard', meaning that it'll automatically block those attacks, but gets hit by lows. Can be cancelled into your Guard Cancel attacks even without blocking, which gives it a lot of utility by being the gateway to another 5 specials. Can charge through projectiles and some other zoning tools, but don't get too reckless with it.

Guard Cancels

Baiken's infamous unique mechanic, special moves she can perform from blockstun. She can threaten to turn the tables on the opponent at any time if you learn to use these well, but you can also get yourself killed very quickly if used poorly, specially with her low health. Each of them have very different roles and strengths; you'll need to pick the right one for the situation. Learning about other characters options is an important aspect of this, so you know what and when to counter. Here are what each of them do:

412PGuardAllStartup9Recovery32Advantage- - Zakuro - Baiken's go-to Anti-Air, cannot hit grounded opponents. The big strength of this move is that it doesn't care how good the hitbox of the air attack is, because you've already blocked it before punshing it with Zakuro. It's weaknesses are that it can be stuffed by multi-hit air attacks and can miss if the opponent does very low jump attacks right before they land.
412KGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 34Advantage- - Mawarikomi - An evasive Guard Cancel, Strike Invincible from the start, making it good at escaping smothering offense where other Guard Cancels won't work and for switching sides to get out of the corner. Has some punishable recovery at the end.
412SGuardMidStartup10Recovery34Advantage-16 - Sakura - Arguably her most important Guard Cancel, a very quick stab that can punish a huge amount of moves. It almost makes your opponent's frame data not matter, almost anything you can react to becomes unsafe within its range. It does have a couple weaknesses though, its hitbox is a thin horizontal line, a lot of characters can go under it with low-profile attacks. While fast, it can still be interrupted by quick strings of attacks. Staggers on hit, Unsafe on block. Heavily improved by FRC or RCing it, making it plus on block or giving bigger combos on hit.
412HGuardAllStartup19~Recovery14+16 after landingAdvantage-15 - Ouren - A high risk, high reward GC. Very punishable on block. Launches for a full combo on Counter-Hit. Her slowest GC, prone to getting stuffed on startup, but also the longest range. It can be easy to fall into bad habits with this move fishing for CH's, but its strong points are more specific than the others. Good near the end of opponents strings, specially against slower special cancels, like projectiles.
412DGuardMidStartup11Recovery20Advantage-3 - Baku - The best of all worlds for a measly 25 Tension. An insanely strong move, fast, invincible on startup, safe on block, a large hitbox thats hard to avoid, and you get combos off it on Counter-Hit. Stops the opponent's pressure in its tracks, and punishes a lot of things that would avoid Sakura. If you really need someone to get off you and don't want to have to be too specific about what you blocked, Baku is the best bet.

Gatlings and Offense

Baiken's Gatling Routes are a little unusual compared to other characters. Her longer range normals have very few gatlings, making her lean more on her Special Cancels and Jump Cancels. However, up close she has some very powerful normals that make getting in the opponents face worth it. There are two main gatling paths you'll want to get used to first, both starting from 2K. Lets break them down.

2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery6Advantage-1 > c.SGuardMidStartup8Recovery11Advantage+1 > 2DGuardLowStartup8Recovery13Advantage-8 or 5HGuardMidStartup9Recovery24Advantage-6: The basics of the basics, your ABC's. This is your only gatling into 2D, which is useful for another low to check people are staying crouch blocking, or scores a knockdown on hit. Its also a 'true blockstring', meaning that it has no gaps for the opponent to reversal or backdash. 5H reaches a little further than 2D, but 2D is Jump Cancelable while 5H isn't. Both are special cancelable and combo into Tatami, which pushes people away safely and leads to combos in the corner when it hits.

2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery6Advantage-1 > 6PGuardMidStartup8Recovery9Advantage-3 > 6KGuardMidStartup12Recovery6Advantage+2 > 2HGuardMidStartup15Recovery8Advantage+4: A very strong string for pressuring opponents. Get used to using this a lot. The initial 2K>6P can be hit-confirmed into 623P into further combos, or if they're blocking you can continue on to 6K instead. 6P>6K has a small gap that will Frame Trap the opponent if they try to attack between. 6K is Baiken's only normal that gatlings into 2H, which is a big deal because 2H has +4 frame advantage on block, letting you act before the opponent to restart your offense all over again. Normally 6K>2H is a true blockstring with no gap, but you can choose to to delay the gatling a little bit to create a gap that will again Frame Trap the opponent. If 2H hits the opponent it causes a stagger state, which you can follow up with a combo. 6K itself also has +2 frame advantage and is Special Cancelable, so you have other options to mix things up if the opponent gets used to waiting for 2H.

If you wan't to go more in-depth and add more options to your offense head over to the Strategy Page.

Execution Hurdles

Baiken has some commonly used techniques that will take some training to get down when you start with her. Instant Air Dash (IAD) and Backdash (IABD) Tatami's are a big one that sees a lot of use in her neutral and offense and is worth learning early on, while Suzuran>Zakuro is her bread and butter combo ender for knockdowns.

IAD / IABD Tatami

956 > 236K
754 > 236K

Instant Air Dash into Air Tatami. Frequently used for approach or retreat in neutral and for knockdown offense. The faster you finish the Tatami motion the less distance Baiken travels through her airdash. Since air backdashes are shorter than forward you have less time to complete the Tatami motion.

Troubleshooting:

If you get IAD j.K you pressed K before finishing the 236.
If you get jump forward Tatami you missed the IAD, probably by not returning to neutral.
If you land before Tatami becomes active you finished the motion too late.

Tips:

Get your Instant Air Dashes down consistently first, then start adding Tatami motions.
Take it slow to start, its better to complete the motion slowly than mess up and get an IAD j.K or rising jump Tatami. You'll naturally speed up over time as you get more comfortable.
IABD will probably seem harder at first with the shorter dash. Try rolling a half circle forward from 4 after the backdash, like 7541236K.
Air Dashes have some start-up before you can act, if you can buffer the 236 motion in this window you can get very fast, short IAD Tatami's, comparable to Kire Tatami.

Suzuran>Zakuro

63214K~412P

Baiken's Suzuran command run is cancelable into her Guard Cancel attacks without having blocked anything, so you can use this motion to access them from neutral and in combos. Zakuro (412PGuardAllStartup9Recovery32Advantage-) is her most used combo ender, giving a good knockdown with time for a setup.

Tips:

You can re-use the 4 input by staying there after finishing the Suzuran, then going from Back to Down to finish the Zakuro. This could be notated as 63214K~12P
Most commonly you'll be doing this from 6P's second hit. You can prepare the Suzuran half circle motion during its startup and first hit, then press K as the second hit lands.
Suzuran can only cancel into GC's after its 9th frame, so you don't need to rush too fast to finish the motion while still getting the earliest possible Zakuro.

Kire Tatami, TK Youzansen and More

If you have those mastered and are ready for more, head over to her Strategy Page's execution section for information on harder techniques like Kire Tatami, TK Youzansen and more.

Beginner Combos

Extending combos beyond her gatlings is mostly about getting to two key moves: Youshijin (623PGuardMidStartup12Recovery25Advantage-17) for midscreen and Tatami (236KGuardAllStartup15Recovery9Advantage-6) near the corner.

Youshijin requires you to be very close to the opponent to combo into it, so 6PGuardMidStartup8Recovery9Advantage-3 is the main way. Youshijin is unsafe on block so ideally you want to confirm a hit before doing it; 6P's 2 hits help give you time for that.

Tatami works from further away, is safer to throw out on its own or on block, and combos from more normals. 2DGuardLowStartup8Recovery13Advantage-8 and 5HGuardMidStartup9Recovery24Advantage-6 are common ones.

Here are some examples to learn first that work on most characters. If you want more head over to the Combos Page.

Combo	Position	Tension Cost	Notes	Video
2K > c.S > 2D	Anywhere	-	Basic gatling into a knockdown, can jump cancel 2D into neutral jump Tatami for a knockdown setup.	Video
2K > 6P > 623P > Dash > 6P > 63214K~412P	Anywhere	-	The go-to close midscreen confirm into knockdown. Suzuran-Zakuro is tricky to learn at first, but very core to all of her combos.	Video
Sakura [GC 412S] FRC/RC > Dash > 6P > 623P > Dash > 6P > 63214K~412P	Anywhere	25-50	RC/FRC Sakura and dash up into a combo off the stagger. Same route as above, but off a Guard Cancel. Good for punishing things.	Video
2D/5H > 236K > 2D > jc > j.K > djc > j.H > j.236K > 6P > 63214K~412P	Corner	-	Basic corner combo, switches sides. Delaying the j.H a bit can make hitting the 6P after you land easier. Air dash over them afterwards to take corner positioning back.	Video
2D/5H > 236K > 2D/f.S > jc > j.S > j.D FRC/RC > Air Dash j.H > j.236K > 6P > 63214K~412P	Corner	25-50	Corner combo for when you're too far for j.K to reach. Also more damage for a bit of meter. Good practice for one of her most important FRC's, but also works with RC.	Video
Throw > (Dash) > 6P > 63214K~412P	Corner	-	Baiken can combo off her normal throw in the corner! May need a small dash if you didn't start close enough to the wall.	Video

Knockdowns

Baiken's go-to option after knocking someone down is to drop a Tatami mat on top of them so that you've already recovered by the time they wake up, then the Tatami falls over and hits them, so you're safe from reversals and can start offense afterwards. She can do this off all her knockdowns, but how exactly varies a bit depending on which move you knocked down with and where.

2D: Neutral jump cancel then Tatami right before you land.
412P Zakuro: Hold up while recovering from Zakuro, then Tatami right before you land.

You can switch sides off both of the above by air-dashing over the opponent before the Tatami, though this will reduce your advantage a bit.

Midscreen Throw: IAD or Kire Tatami
Midscreen j.D: IAD or Kire Tatami

If you don't have time to set up a Tatami then a simple 6K as they get up can be a good option. Its Throw Invincibility can prevent the opponent from grabbing you on their wakeup.