GGST/Nagoriyuki/Counterstrategy

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Fighting Nagoriyuki

Nagoriyuki is a character that has long range normals, extremely high damage output, and unique special cancel opportunities. In exchange for these strengths, he has very poor mobility, including a slow super jump and the lack of ability to dash, air dash, or double jump. In addition, the use of his special moves is limited by the Blood Gauge. The higher the Blood Gauge, the more damage he takes when he gets hit. When the Blood Gauge is filled, it causes him to go into the Blood Rage state, where he loses up to 50% of his maximum HP as well as the ability to use his special moves at all. He has a command grab that can reset his Blood Gauge that should be avoided at all costs. His goal is to land high damage combos and enforce his terrifying, heavily advantaged strike/throw pressure, all while managing his Blood Gauge to prevent going into the Blood Rage state.

Unique Attributes/Mechanics


Nagoriyuki can cancel any of his ground normals into a special move as well as cancel his special moves into other special moves. This allows him to perform extended pressure strings that constantly threaten extremely damaging frame traps. His ability to do this is dictated by the Blood Gauge. The number one thing you need to understand and keep an eye on when fighting against Nago is his Blood Gauge. Whenever Nago uses his special moves, it causes the Blood Gauge to fill. As the meter gets higher, the range of Nago’s heavy slash normals and the speed of his S and H normals as well as j.DGGST Nagoriyuki jD.pngGuardHighStartup15Recovery20AdvantageN/A increases. Nago’s defense also gets weaker, and he will take more and more damage the higher the gauge is. Once the meter gets full, he will go into the Blood Rage state, which causes him to lose 50% of his maximum HP as well as the ability to use his special moves. His slash and heavy slash normals gain even more range, but those can easily be blocked. If Nago carelessly reaches this state, he has effectively lost the match as long as you take advantage of this moment and punish him for over-extending. However, higher level Nagos may try to use Blood Rage to their advantage in combos and during their pressure. This is extremely risky for them, as they’re effectively gambling up to 50% of their health for a single RPS situation (more info on that in the Beating Blood Rage section down below). The animation when he goes into Blood Rage will either knock you backwards or cause your guard to break if you are close to him. Up close, it’s -12, and if you’re farther away, the animation has a 70 frame recovery. Either of these instances leave Nago extremely vulnerable. These are your opportunities for a very damaging punish.

The only ways for Nago to get out of the Blood Rage state is to either wait for the meter to drain or use his Overdrive ZansetsuGGST Nagoriyuki Zansetsu2.pngGuardAllStartup11+(58 Flash)+10Recovery80Advantage-66, which is only available in the Blood Rage state. This Overdrive is -66 on block, so like Blood Rage activation, it’s also super punishable. However, this attack also does immense damage (it likely will kill you if you have around 50% HP) and can be comboed into from his normals. Be aware of this, and be careful. Do not take any unnecessary risks.

Round Start


Early in the match, target his Blood Gauge instead of his health, and opportunities will open up. Depending on your character, it's likely best not to contest Nago at round start. He has some of the strongest round start options in the game.

  • His 5KGGST Nagoriyuki 5K.pngGuardAllStartup7Recovery14Advantage-2 and 2KGGST Nagoriyuki 2K.pngGuardLowStartup7Recovery8Advantage-1 both have fast start ups and reach from round start distance. This can stuff a lot of round start buttons and immediately put you in a nightmare situation.
  • He also has 2SGGST Nagoriyuki 2S.pngGuardLowStartup12Recovery21Advantage-11, which makes walking backwards unsafe. 2S has 21 frames of recovery and is -11 on block, forcing Nago to special cancel and build up his blood if he wants to keep himself safe. If he ever whiffs this button, he’ll be wide open for a long range punish.
  • A niche option he has is 6KGGST Nagoriyuki 6K1.pngGuardLowStartup15Recovery13Advantage-2, which can crush lows because he raises his hurtbox upwards when he does the move.
  • If he reads the backdash, he can easily catch it with Kamuriyuki (aka Beyblade)GGST Nagoriyuki Kamuriyuki1.pngGuardLowStartup14Recovery17Advantage-3. If you block this move, it is -3 so it can be punished by mashing throw, however Nago can special cancel this to frame trap you and keep himself safe. This will drive up the Blood Gauge, however. Either way, be prepared to RPS with this move on block (more info in the Defense section).
  • Nago’s most threatening round start, is ShizuriyukiGGST Nagoriyuki Shizuriyuki1.pngGuardAllStartup11Recovery21Advantage-7 (note: this is commonly referred to as a DP by the community, but it’s not actually an invincible reversal.) This is a large and fast (11 frame startup) two hit rekka. Nago can delay the second hit of the rekka to frame trap. If Nago scores a counterhit with this special, it leads into a lot of his most damaging combos that will take massive amounts of your health. Getting counterhit by this round start is a death sentence if you don’t have burst. There’s a round start setup Nago can do where he can chain DP into Beyblade over and over again until you wall splat. He’ll then go into Blood Rage, which will un-stick you from the wall. While in Blood Rage, Nago’s j.HGGST Nagoriyuki jH.pngGuardHighStartup14Recovery23AdvantageN/A becomes large enough that he can use it as an instant overhead. This will put you in a high/low and strike/throw mix where you’ll have to guess if Nago will go for a low, j.H, or regular grab. If he’s right, he can prop you into a combo with Red Roman Cancel to wall splat you again and then finish you off, or combo into Zansetsu if you don't block low.

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to measure your risk/reward when challenging Nago round start, especially if you don’t have Burst. “Nago Rounds” happen because players are contesting him when he holds all the cards with the Blood Gauge not filled up. Rotating between jumping back and backdashing forces him to build up the Blood Gauge in order to take control at round start. Forcing him to pay a Blood tax simply to approach eliminates his options afterwards and keeps you in control. This tactic is how you should approach neutral as well.

Neutral


Playing Around The Blood Gauge and Nago's Immobility

The Blood Gauge determines Nago's capabilities at all times. Nagoriyuki is very strong on the ground and he has a lot of great grounded neutral options. However, his biggest weakness is that he lacks traditional mobility, and cannot dash, air dash, or double jump. He also has a unique super jump that travels at a far arc, but it has a slow 10 frame start up and needs to be used preemptively, as it's really easy to anti-air. He mainly has to approach on the ground while relying on his special moves to traverse the stage, which remember, all gradually fill the Blood Gauge upon use. Once Nago has accumulated high blood, he can’t really use his special moves to advance without risking going into Blood Rage, and if goes into Blood Rage while in a disadvantageous position, it's over for him. If you’re a zoning character that can control grounded space from afar like Axl, Zato, Jack-O', Happy Chaos, or Testament, you can make it extremely difficult for Nago to approach at all.

Nagoriyuki must play around his Blood Gauge, which means players fighting against Nagoriyuki also must pay attention to the Blood Gauge in order to know what options Nagoriyuki has available at that moment. Playing around it, and controlling the rules of engagement means you’ll be able to get him to pop. Also keep in mind that Nago’s defense gets significantly weaker the higher the Blood Gauge is. At level 3, Nago will take damage at a rate comparable to how Chipp takes damage, so despite his large amount of health, he becomes significantly easier to beat the higher the Blood Gauge is. You can check here for detailed information on the moves that increase and decrease Blood Gain.

You're going to want to play defensively initially, and gradually shift your tactics depending on how much Blood Nago has accumulated. In general, Nagoriyuki will have more dangerous frame trap options at low Blood but a better neutral game at high Blood. Play keep away, and force him to approach at Blood Level 1 to about halfway through Blood Level 2. From that point onwards, you can start challenging and stuffing his approaches with less fear of being frametrapped. From Blood Level 3 onwards, you can start approaching Nago, and he'll be a lot more limited in the ways that he can stop you.

Nagoriyuki needs to avoid getting into the Blood Rage state at all costs. In order to manage the Blood Gauge, he has to rely on his slash and heavy slash normals, as well as j.D. His slash normals and j.D all decrease the gauge on hit, and his heavy slash normals as well as the third hitGGST Nagoriyuki fS3.pngGuardAllStartup14Recovery35Advantage-22 from the f.SGGST Nagoriyuki fS1.pngGuardAllStartup16Recovery28Advantage-17 rekka decrease the gauge on hit or block, but won’t reduce the gauge nearly as much on block. In addition to that, Nago has a command grab called Bloodsucking Universe (aka Bite)GGST Nagoriyuki Bloodsucking Universe.pngGuardGround ThrowStartup7Recovery48AdvantageNA which resets his turn, heals him, and gives him 3+ seconds without blood penalties. This is effectively Nago’s win condition, and when playing defensively, something you need to avoid getting hit by at all costs. When the Blood gauge is higher Nagoriyuki's command grab becomes more rewarding as it will give him oki as well as the Blood to open up more of his frame trap options once again. As a defender, avoiding the grab with jump or backdash will become the lower risk option as Nagoriyuki will have very few options of extending combos especially without tension. Knowing when Nagoriyuki has overextended on special moves and has made Blood rage imminent will also help with defense as Nagoriyuki's only option to stop the Blood Rage activation from happening is landing his command grab and any combo he starts will be cut short from the activation animation.

Stuffing Nago's Approach

Nago's main method of traversing the stage is with his teleport special move Fukyo. He has a forwardsGGST Nagoriyuki Fukyo.pngGuardN/AStartup-RecoveryTotal 25AdvantageN/A and backwardsGGST Nagoriyuki Fukyo.pngGuardN/AStartup-RecoveryTotal 16AdvantageN/A version of the move. Forward Fukyo can be used to reset pressure or sneak in a command grab. However, Nago can’t act for 25 frames during forward Fukyo, giving you an opportunity to stuff his approach. You can do this with a fast normal such as a 5P/2P, or even throw him out of it if he teleports right up to you. This applies to blockstun as well, as even off of his heavy slash moves, you have 7 frames to punish this. The problem is, Nago can mix you up with a backwards Fukyo to try and punish you. Both directions of Fukyo have identical startup animations, so they can be confusing to react to during blockstrings. Backwards Fukyo has less recovery than the forward version, so you are likely to get whiff punished if you blindly intercept forward Fukyo before determining which version it actually is. On the other hand, if you wait long enough so that Nagoriyuki reappears after his dash you will likely not have enough time to interrupt his next attack. Since backwards Fukyo has less recovery, Nago will stay invisible for a much shorter duration compared to the forward version. You can use that fact to react to the forward Fukyo sooner than normal. Instead of waiting to see where he'll reappear, it can be better to get familiar with the timing of just the backwards one, and react to whether or not he has reappeared on time. If he hasn't reappeared on time further back, you will know it's a forward Fukyo just a little bit earlier than if you were to wait and react to him appearing in front of you.

He can also cancel both versions of Fukyo into his other special moves to frame trap you as well, so you’ll have to be especially cautious challenging Fukyo at low blood. Intercepting Fukyo is a high risk/high reward response, depending on Nago's current Blood Level. A lower risk answer though is to just avoid the possible grab with a jump in response to either Fukyo. It's nearly impossible for the Nagoriyuki player to catch your jump startup. At best you can get a jumping counter hit punish against his command grab and at worst you'll have to air block and let Nagoriyuki reset pressure. Even if you’re not confident in your reactions, BRC helps with back and forwards Fukyo punishes. Try not to let Nago just dash in for free. Whether in neutral or blockstrings, he’s gambling with his life. Limiting Fukyo will force him to use even more blood for clear entry. As mentioned before, pay close attention to Nago’s Blood Gauge. Fukyo doesn’t increase the gauge all that much, but the rest of his special moves do. When he has higher blood, he’s going to be more likely to go for a riskier command grab. He’s also going to be less inclined to use any frame trap that involves the utilization of his special moves.

Nago can cancel Fukyo into Beyblade, which allows him to travel an immense distance at the cost of nearly a bar and a half of the Blood Gauge. This is something to keep an eye out for if you’re trying to keep him at a distance. Zarameyuki (aka Clone)GGST Nagoriyuki Zarameyuki1.pngGuardAllStartup18~29RecoveryTotal 39Advantage+5 is a special move where Nago fires a body double of himself as a projectile. It clashes with other projectiles and is Nago’s primary anti-zoning tool, allowing him an opportunity to get in. If you see him toss this out from afar, it will likely be followed up with a Fukyo > Bite, so be wary of this move and jump it either backwards or forwards, or backdash. Clone into Fukyo builds up almost 1 and a half bars of the Blood Gauge, so baiting it can ruin him. He can only afford to do this twice before his Blood Gauge gets too high. Try not to block it, or you’ll be put in a deadly RPS situation. From time to time, falling down from the air with a button can be a good idea. Denying a speedy approach will put Nago near two bars by the time you engage or he does, which is a win-win situation.

Approaching Nago

If your character has fast/unique aerial approaches or long reaching/deep hiting aerial normals, utilize them. Nago's air-to-airs are poor, and he primarily has to rely on his 5PGGST Nagoriyuki 5P.pngGuardAllStartup5Recovery9Advantage0 and 6PGGST Nagoriyuki 6P.pngGuardAllStartup12Recovery15Advantage-6 to intercept most aerial approaches. He does have other ways to cover aerial approaches, but they all come with their own caveats. j.D is pretty decent for sniping people out of the air, but it won't lead to anything unless he's close to the corner, where he can convert from this button on the ground. 2HGGST Nagoriyuki 2HComparison.pngGuardAllStartup19Recovery29Advantage-17 is a very long reaching button that's great for covering aerial space, but it has slow start up, especially at lower blood levels. It also has a long, 29 frame recovery on whiff no matter what blood level he's at. He mostly has to use this move pre-emptively in order to anti-air with it, and it's slow startup and recovery makes mistiming or whiffing it a dangerous risk. Finally, DP has a rather tall hit box that can be used against specific aerial approaches, but this costs Blood and shouldn't really be used frequently.

Mix up your approach options between the ground and the air when he’s at high blood levels. 5HGGST Nagoriyuki 5HComparison.pngGuardAllStartup20Recovery27Advantage-14 covers a lot of horizontal space at higher blood levels. 2H covers a lot of vertical space. Like 2H, 5H leaves Nago wide open if he whiffs, as it has 27 frames of recovery. Dash blocking will generally keep you safe from 5H, and if you take to the skies and he whiffs this button, then you’ll have gotten in and you can run your offense. He can't cover both the ground and the air at the same time.

Beating Blood Rage

Blood Rage is a fail state for the Nagoriyuki player, but it's up to you to maximise the punishment it brings. Don't get surprised by the activation. Make sure you're watching the Blood Gauge so you can set yourself up to punish. If possible avoid blocking the activation. It's -12 on block, and while that is rather hefty, it can push you outside of c.S range. As long as your back is not up against a wall you should have time to avoid the activation with a backdash after the screen freeze. For optimizing damage off of a whiffed activation, front-load your damage to avoid guts scaling later on and be sure to use a combo that will last the full duration of the Blood Rage health drain (about 3.5 seconds). If you've missed the punish on the activation and the Nagoriyuki tries to exit Blood Rage early with his Blood Rage Overdrive, block it and you will have a full second to dash up (or Fukyo, or Hammerfall) from fullscreen and punish.

If they know they’re about to pop, some Nagos will do their best to combo INTO the Blood Rage activation as opposed to completing a combo that leads to a knockdown in order to keep the situation neutral. If you've been popped up in the corner during the Blood Rage activation, you need to be careful. Don't forget about the j.H setup mentioned during round start.

Depending on the distance between you, Nago, and the corner, you may be put in an RPS situation, or he may use the activation explosion to knock you to the other side of the screen. Also, be aware that Nago can use Faultless Defense to delay Blood Rage activation for as long as he has Tension. He can bait you into approaching and then knock you back with the activation explosion if you're not prepared for it. If you’re too far away for a punish, the next best thing you can do is chill and block low. There is no need to be a hero. When he’s in this state, there’s really nothing he can do, even with the extended reach of his normals. You can block low, anti-air his slow jump if he tries it, and not have to worry about anything. He can’t dash so he’s just stuck like this until it either runs out or he uses the Blood Rage Overdrive, which remember, is -66. However, if you DO get hit by one of his normals, remember that he can combo into the Blood Rage Overdrive with them, and likely kill you. As long as you’re blocking low, you never need to worry about this. When defending against Blood Rage just block and use Faultless Defense. FD will be your best friend during Blood Rage. Nagoriyuki gets huge chip damage in Blood Rage so you want to prevent that whenever possible.

One more thing to be aware of when Nago goes into Blood Rage is the deactivation of it as well. When Blood Rage deactivates, the screen will freeze as Nago does an animation of him putting his mask back on. This returns the situation to neutral. This is an important knowledge check to bear in mind. If Nago is being juggled in a combo, he will remain in the Blood Rage state, even if the Blood Gauge has fully drained (though his health will no longer drain). However, as SOON as he touches the ground again, the screen will freeze as Blood Rage deactivates. Get your combo in if you manage to punish Blood Rage, but if it doesn’t kill, do not attempt to greedily repressure him after the combo is finished and put yourself in a vulnerable position once Blood Rage deactivates. If Nago somehow isn’t dead after a full combo punish from Blood Rage, chances are he’s at least very close to death. Force him to approach you, and then punish his attempt to approach.

An important element to keep track of with the Blood Gauge is how it can limit Nago's offensive capabilities. While Nagoryuki likes to play at midrange when he's at level 2 and 3 Blood Rage, circumstances may make it so that he remains up close with it full, such as after a corner carry combo. In this situation, retaining pressure can be difficult due to the Blood Gauge effectively limiting his best frametrap options in his two H specials. Thus, an observant Nago player will likely either go for a Command Grab to retain pressure via emptying the gauge, pressure with H normals while fishing for a counterhit, Fukyo in for a normal grab if his opponent is at low health, or Fukyo out and try and zone you with his H normals. On defense, try to identify which of these options your opponent likes to go for and punish accordingly.

Offense


Nago's fastest button is his 5 frame 5P. His only reversal is his invincible reversal Overdrive WasureyukiGGST Nagoriyuki Wasureyuki1.pngGuardAllStartup7+(173 Flash)+2Recovery54Advantage-39. His super jump has a long start up time, and he can't use it to escape the corner. All he can really do on defense is backdash and look to punish a button or abare something.

Be careful if Nago uses YRC during close range pressure. If you're close enough, he can immediately input Bite after the YRC and rob the entire round from you if the Bite lands. Be aware of this, and don't get caught by it.

Defense


How the Blood Gauge Dictates Nago's Offense

Nagoriyuki can frametrap almost any blocked normal or special move into another one of his special moves. This makes mashing against him extremely risky, since he can do immense damage off of counter hits. However, the Blood Gauge will always dictate his ability to do this. At higher Blood levels, there's less of a chance that he'll frametrap with his specials, otherwise he risks going into Blood Rage. However, the possibility is still there, so it is still risky to do so.

Faultless Defense is essential for defending against Nagoriyuki. It will protect you from almost everything outside of the strike/throw mix forced by Clone, including the chip damage from his S and H normals. You’re pretty much always going to want to use Faultless Defense during engagements with him, especially when Nago is on higher Blood. It prevents him from running stagger pressure of any kind. Nago can also cancel all of his P and K into 6K to frame trap opponents with a safe on block move. As long as you don’t mash and use FD here, you’ll be fine. Once he's been pushed out of the range of 5H, he'll have to either jump towards you (which he can't really do since it's incredibly easy to anti air him) or spend Blood in order to continue his pressure. Make him overextend during his pressure, and don't give him free opportunities to restore his Blood. This applies to his corner pressure as well. Nagoriyuki’s corner pressure might be long, but again, it’s limited because of the Blood Gauge. Pay attention to the spacing between you and Nago in the corner. You never want Nago to get in your face. If he’s pushed back closer to midscreen, Nago has to spend Blood to keep you in the corner. When he’s at high Blood, he doesn’t have too many ways to keep you in the corner without risking going into Blood Rage, especially if you’re smartly using your Faultless Defense and stuffing Fukyo. You’ll have an opportunity to jump and IAD out of the corner after he uses a very minus move, usually 6H or 2H.

With that being said, something to keep in mind when defending against Nago is that if he cancels into backwards Fukyo during his blockstrings, he will negate the pushback from Faultless Defense. Doing so will make him build up his Blood Gauge, however, so he can't just negate this pushback for free. It's still important to use Faultless Defense to force him to use Fukyo to avoid the pushback, as well as the other previously mentioned reasons.

Use Faultless Defense. Keep him off of you. Make him over extend. The ONLY THING you should mash is forward Fukyo.

Defending Against Nago Without Tension

If you don't have the Tension to push Nago out, you'll have to rotate your options between jumping or back dashing during the various situations he can tick throw you in. Some of these situations include:

  • After a forwards Fukyo
  • After a blocked 6K
  • After the second hit of the f.S rekka
  • After any blocked non-H normal with forward Fukyo momentum
  • On your wake up

Aside from during Fukyo's recovery, it is not advised to mash at these times unless Nago’s at high Blood. It’s also not advised to frequently mash after blocking the first hit of DP. It's an option that can be represented occasionally, but getting frame trapped by the second hit will result in massive amounts of life lost, if not death.

Defending Against Strike/Throw

Whenever you get put into a hard knockdown, do NOT go for a wakeup throw or backdash. After a hard knockdown, Nago will go for one of three options: Bite, a meaty Clone, or a meaty c.S. All three of these options will beat wakeup throws, Clone and c.S will catch backdashes, and Nago can use PRC to cancel Bite if it whiffs, and punish backdashes with either another Bite or a normal. Your safest bet is to rotate your options between jumping or blocking. Jumping will avoid Bite, but will get clipped by c.S and Clone. Blocking will beat c.S and Clone, but loses to Bite. If you choose to block, continue to use Faultless Defense here. Keep in mind though, that since Clone is a projectile, there's no pushback from it. If Nago uses Clone on your wake up, he's putting you in another strike/throw mix where you'll have to guess whether or not he'll use a normal or cancel into Bite. You are just going to have to guess here. Remember, the Blood Gauge dictates Nago's actions. If Nago is close to high Blood, he'll be less likely to go for Clone on your wake up and more likely to go for Bite.

Defending Against RPS Situations

There are two key RPS situations that you need to know how to defend against. The first situation stems from Nagoriyuki's f.S rekka. There are two optional slashes following the first f.S. After the first two slashes, there is a gap where Nagoryuki can cancel into one of his special moves. The other key RPS situation is after a blocked Beyblade. When it comes to defending against Nago’s RPS situations, you can’t do the same response every single time, otherwise you risk getting blown up.

For the f.S rekka:

  • Nago can simply choose to go into the third and final slash. This is the fallback frame trap option if Nagoriyuki's Blood Gauge is too high to use his better frame traps from his specials. By itself it has very little reward on hit. It also can't be special canceled, and is extremely punishing on block at -25, making it very risky. Because of this, many players will never use this follow up on block without Tension to Roman Cancel it. f.SSS also drains an impressive amount of the Blood Gauge on block, so it won't be too uncommon for Nagoriyuki to commit to this option just for the Blood drain. In short, don't think you're safe from the frame trap when Nagoriyuki is at high Blood especially if he has Tension to RC. If Nagoriyuki is at very high Blood but does not have RC available, the frame trap is riskier for Nago and therefore less likely to be used allowing you to focus on dealing with Bite. Characters with 6F backdashes can successfully reversal backdash this move, but since this is punishable to PRC it is not advisable without Tension for you to RC. f.SSS also has a very small window to delay the gatling which will catch backdashes, but this is rarely done due to execution and niche usefulness.
  • He can late cancel the second slash into Bite to catch you blocking. This is possible because the recovery animation of f.SS moves Nagoriyuki forward. If you're blocking at a farther range, you don't need to worry about this threat. Additionally, you can use Faultless Defense to push Nagoriyuki out of throw range. Lastly, you can go for a fuzzy jump. If you jump precisely after the frame trap would hit, but before your block stun throw invuln wears off, you can effectively beat both options. The timing is strict, but if you get it right, the Nagoriyuki will be forced to delay his frame traps or make a hard read to catch you.

As for Beyblade, it's -3 on block when blocked close, making it punishable by a ground throw, but again, Nago can spend Blood to cancel the recovery into another special move. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to know which options are available to Nagoriyuki based on how high his Blood Gauge currently is.

  • He can cancel into DP or Clone for a total of 1.8 bars of Blood Gauge. While very expensive on Blood, they lead to huge reward on hit even without spending additional Blood if in the corner. This is your main incentive to continue blocking and let Nagoriyuki reset his pressure. Always keep the Blood Gauge in mind though as this will become less threatening at high Blood due to its cost, allowing you to contest the situation at lower risk.
  • He can also cancel into a backwards Fukyo, leaving him +2 on block and in range for his 16/14/12F f.SGGST Nagoriyuki fS1.pngGuardAllStartup14Recovery28Advantage-17, or his 12/11/10F 2SGGST Nagoriyuki 2S.pngGuardLowStartup11Recovery21Advantage-11 in the corner. Less rewarding than the frame trap, but it's cheaper at 1.3 bars of Blood Gauge and safer to reversals, so you will see it a lot against more cautious players. The combos Nagoriyuki can do at this range are all mildly Blood or Tension expensive, however, and he already used 1.3 bars of Blood Gauge for Beyblade and backwards Fukyo, so keep in mind the option will be less threatening when Nagoriyuki has high Blood and low Tension.
  • If you show you're willing to continue blocking, Nagoriyuki will try to open you up with Bite. If Beyblade connects close, it's possible to punish it with a ground throw, though this can be extremely costly if Nagoriyuki uses a special cancel frame trap. A delayed backdash or jump can beat both the DP frametrap and Bite, but both will lose to the Clone frametrap. At very high Blood levels Bites becomes much more rewarding for Nagoriyuki and the frame traps become more of a non-option due to Blood Rage, so jumping, backdashing, or jabbing become better options. If you use Faultless Defense when blocking Beyblade, he will not be in range to use Bite, but he will also be out of range for you to punish it with a throw.

All around it's a lot more of a complicated RPS situation than the -3 on block would imply. Know your options, keep in mind how the Blood Gauge changes the risk/reward, and you should be able to keep up.

Bursting Against Nago

You should always Burst if Nago’s doing a long combo that involves the use of multiple special moves. This will return the situation to neutral and he’ll be forced to play with high Blood. Be smart with the use of your Burst though. Don’t *always* Burst after the first two hits of the f.S rekka. This is an extremely common point where people Burst and most Nagos can bait it here with a backwards Fukyo.

Resources/References

How to Beat Nagoriyuki by baccpack

5 Ways to Defend against Nagoriyuki in Guilty Gear Strive | 5 Must Know Counters by KairosFGC

Guilty Gear Strive's Nagoriyuki defense guide by Lord Knight

Using FD on a Fukyo-Cancelled Normal Demonstration by Yohosie

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