GGML/Axl

Overview

Axl is a British goofball who has easily the worst tools in the game. If you're planning to play GGML for any reason, you should never select Axl. His hitboxes are terrible, his combo options are stiff and clunky, his damage is poor, he has nothing to abuse, and he is remarkably incomplete. Even if you banned CC infinites, super spam and/or Justice, Axl is still a nonfunctional character who should be avoided. If you are looking to play a character with large normals and tools, consider playing Dr Baldhead, Kliff, or Justice instead. If you're simply looking for a zoner, pick Millia. Otherwise, pick anyone else. What you're seeing here may as well be a joke character.

It's rare that the Dustloop Wiki will say this about a character in their overview, but that's just it. Axl is that bad. Don't even bother.

Axl Axl is an incomplete character with "far-range" normals among some gimmicks like Raiei, a parry, and an interesting tick throw setup.

Pros

Cons

Jorts

Can't Charge: Being unable to Charge means that Axl misses out on Charge Cancels, which are what allow most characters in GGML to perform infinite combos.
Broken Supers: Neither of Axl's supers actually combo with themselves; opponents simply fall out of them and can block and punish the rest.
Finnicky Buttons: Axl's normals are somewhat cumbersome and can be difficult to chain into each other for even modest combos. To compound this problem, they aren't particularly great on defense either due to awkward speed and range issues.
Air Buttons: Axl's air buttons are lacking. j.P, j.K, and j.S all cover similar angles, but all have poor range. j.H is almost a great button, but has an enormous dead zone between him and the Kusarigama's head.
Mix-Less: Although not terribly uncommon, Axl's dust is not an overhead. Pair that with his air normals being poor for mixups, and you get a character who has a really hard time enforcing high/low mix.
Honest in a Dishonest Game: Missing Link is a grimy game, and that's no secret. If a character isn't explicitly disgusting in some way they are going to get eaten because most of the cast are monsters.
Sprites Try To Look Tough: but it's still Axl, even in GG1.

Axl

Defense
100%Raw Value: 10
Jump Startup
3f
Backdash
22f
Meter Gain Mod
120%Raw Value: 12
Charge Time
N/A
Forward Walk Speed
100%Raw Value: 768
Backward Walk Speed
96%Raw Value: 563
Dizzy Resistance
83%Raw Value: 25
Fastest Attack

Reversals

Normals

5P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
7	All	5	10	15	-15	-5	none

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5K

The jank finally works in his favor

frame 12
frame 16
frame 20

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	Overhead	12	16	9	-3	+3	none

A gap closing button for a zoning character.

Axl lunges forwards during the kick

c.S

c.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
13	All	8	11	11	-2	-2	none

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f.S

f.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
15	All	12	8	20	-8	-8	none

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5H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
17	All	6	12	10	+8	+12	none

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6P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
11	All	7	17	11	-19	-18	none

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4H or 6H

4H or 6H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9x2	Overhead	7	33	7	-13	-8	none

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2P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
7	Low	5	11	13	-16	-5	none

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2K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	Mid	9	13	14		-13	none

Axl's air unblockable anti-air. Why they chose this to the the one is beyond me.

Air Unblockable

2S

You tell me what this animation is supposed to be

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	Low	4	4(4)4(4)4	13		KD	none

You tell me what this animation is supposed to be

2H

Randomly invuln at 2 points

Arc forgot the hurtbox AND hitbox here

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
12x3	Low	12	8(3)8	31			Strike 19~22, 31~34

Long range ground button.

The most interesting thing about this move is that it's missing hit and hurtboxes at 2 points in the animation, randomly making him unable to hit or be hit for a few frames at a time.

j.P

j.P

Fully invuln for 3 frames before going active

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
5	Overhead	8	8	4			Full 5~7

Laughably tiny button. It's like j.K but slower and with a few invuln frames for memes.

j.K

j.K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
9	Overhead	7	10	8			none

This wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the range. Sadly, the hitbox is almost identical to the size of Axl's body, which makes it easy to anti-air.

j.S

j.S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
15	Overhead	6	3	13			none

Like j.K, the hitbox for this move is almost pixel-perfect to the sprite. This means if you want to use it as a jump-in, you need to be close enough to the opponent to tell what brand of toothpaste they use.

j.H

j.H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
22	Overhead	5	24	1			none

This move is almost good. It has a very tall hitbox, it's fast, and it's really active. The problem is that the entire space between Axl and the head of the kusarigama is a dead zone, effectively making the move into a thin vertical line roughly round-start distance away from him.

Universal Mechanics

Dust Attack

S+H

He does this bit twice in a row

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
18	All	3	8(19)9(12)6	9			none

Whiffs on some crouchers
Also not an overhead

Throw

6H or 4H

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
20	Throw	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	KD	N/A

Standard Guilty Gear throw.

Side Switches on hit

Dash Attack

6[6]

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
13	All	22	until contact	10		KD

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Instant Kill

P+K > 236K

No results

Kills the opponent instantly

Specials

Rensen Geki

[4]6S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	All	16	13	42		KD	Strike 63~70

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Kyokusa Geki

Rensen Geki -> 8H

[4]6S 8

No results

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Benten Gari

623S

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
18	Mid	8	19	18			Upper Body 8~11; Strike 40~45

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Tenhou Seki

214P

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
	All	5	33	16		KD	Anji 6P shaped 5~38

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Raiei Sageki

41236K

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
28	Overhead	63	15	47		KD	Gone 20~62; Strike 103~114

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Dototsu

214K

The move that makes Axl a character

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
14	All	16	8	5			Strike 1~3,6~15,24~28

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Supers

Ninjortsu: Jorts Assassination Technique

632146K

No results

For some reason, this move isn't listed in Axl's move list in game in either the original release or the 2019 re-releases. It also isn't mentioned in supplementary material. The name is only listed in the EX command list in +R. Just Missing Link things I guess.

Much like his 236236H, these compete with Dragon Install 2nd for the worst super in all of Guilty Gear. If you manage to hit someone with this, they can tech out and punish Axl. This will be a grounded hit, so it'll easily confirm into a CC infinite and cost Axl the entire round. You should never use this unless you're trolling or styling on someone because you somehow beat them with Axl.

Byakue Renshou

23632H

Daisuke's vision needs glasses

Ready to watch Axl's hurtbox phase in and out of existence?
There it goes!
Now it's back!
There it goes again!
Now it's back again!
Hitbox lingers until the flame particles are all gone

Damage	Guard	Startup	Active	Recovery	On-Block	On-Hit	Invuln
50,7x2	All	6	20(21)50	3		KD	Strike 1; All-But-Foot 2~9; Strike 10~14; All-But-Foot 15~36; Strike 37~43

Suicide button

Drops on hit just like 632146K, and is very easily punished. It goes without saying this should never be used, but Axl should also never be picked, so more than one mistake was made if this super appears in a match.