GGST/Asuka R/Starter

Introduction

Special Moves

All of Asuka's special moves revolve around his Spell Mechanic. All four of his special moves contribute to his arsenal in a major way.

ChantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 39 (empty Spell Slot)Advantage- fires off a spell in the respective slot. For example, 236P fires off the spell in the leftmost slot, 236K fires off the spell in the slot that's second from the left, etc. Once a spell is used by Chant, it is discarded. Every time Asuka uses Chant, he also draws from his mana bar.
BookmarkGuardStartup7RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- draws a spell from Asuka's current Test Case (aka, his current deck). Similar to chant, 214P draws a card for the leftmost slot, and so on. Bookmark can be used even if a slot is already full, allowing Asuka to redraw cards if he dislikes them.
Recover ManaGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 25 (No Hold)Advantage- does exactly that- it allows Asuka to fill his mana bar by standing still. 22P is slow but spend no resources. 22K is faster and spends Tension, while 22S is even faster but spends health. Asuka recovers mana at a rate depending on proximity to his opponent. If he is closer to them, he recovers it faster.
Switch Test CaseGuardStartup2RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- allows Asuka to swap out his current deck for one of two others. His starter deck is based on zoning, his second deck contains mixup tools, and his third contains unusual effects to either blindside his opponent or checkmate them.

Motion Inputs

Asuka's Ability to cancels Specials into other Specials is essential for properly managing both your bookmarks and your mana. While playing as Asuka it isn't required to do the entire input when performing special to special cancels, but instead it is possible to cancel into the desired special by inputting the corresponding button + directional input. For example:

into (Chant into Chant)
into (Chant into Bookmark)
into (Chant into Recover Mana)

Specials can be freely canceled into and out of both ChantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 39 (empty Spell Slot)Advantage- () or BookmarkGuardStartup7RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- () but using either Change Test CaseGuardStartup2RecoveryTotal 28Advantage-, or Recover ManaGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 25 (No Hold)Advantage- () will end the special-to-special cancels. Bookmark and each spell besides Aquila Metron have a special cancel window shortly after the startup frames end. It is necessary to vary the timing of the input for these different cancel windows for the special cancel to occur. For example, the earliest cancel for Howling Metron occurs on frame 15 and for Metron Arpeggio on frame 35.

The rest of this page will use Numpad Notation. For example

into

will be written as 236P ~ 4P.

Spells and Bookmarks

Asuka can store 4 Spells at a time, which cost Mana to use. A Spell must be stocked manually with BookmarkGuardStartup7RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- or its Overdrive version Bookmark (Full Order)GuardStartup16RecoveryTotal 17Advantage- before it can be used. Alternatively, the same moves can be used to sub out a Spell you don't want; Bookmark removes a Spell, then adds a new one only upon a second use, while Bookmark (Full Order) instantly replaces the removed Spell with a new one.

Asuka has three Spell lists called Test Cases, each with their own specialties:

Test Case 1 contains projectiles and strong pokes.
Test Case 2 contains powerful pressure tools.
Test Case 3 contains gimmicks, mix-up tools, and support spells.

Asuka starts the round in Test Case 1 and can change between Test Cases with .

Mana

Mana is a unique resource that depletes after various actions, such as using Spells, losing health, other actions and doesn't automatically regenerate over time. Mana is necessary for performing certain special moves including all the spells resulting from using . Mana is primarily restored through the use of the three different versions of , but it will begin to regenerate if completely out of mana. The glow around Asuka's health bar indicates that he has Mana, after running out of mana, Asuka's mana shield breaks causing him to receive . Once full again, Spells become available and his defense is restored to normal.

Key Moves

Key Normals

Controlling the Ground:

2D
Unusual projectile based sweep that reaches far.
2S
Long reaching low poke.
f.S
Quick neutral poke.
5H
Far reaching but punishing to whiff.

Controlling the Air:

5P
Fastest anti-air button.
6P
Universal Anti-Air, has upper body invulnerability.
j.S
Faster but less reach air-to-air.
j.H
Slightly slower but further reaching air-to-air.

Other Key Normals:

2PGuardAllStartup5Recovery10Advantage-2 is your fastest button, used for Abare An attack during the opponent's pressure, intended to interrupt it..
c.SGuardAllStartup7Recovery10Advantage+1 is your preferred Pressure To attack the opponent continuously and leave little room for counter attacks. and Combo A sequence offensive executions where if the first attack hits and meets specific conditions (such as range, position, gauges, etc.), the correct executions guarantee you to land all the follow-up on the opponent. starter.
5KGuardAllStartup7Recovery12Advantage-3 acts as a faster and further reaching c.S that is useful for situations where c.S doesn't work.
2HGuardAllStartup14Recovery18Advantage-3 is your primary combo filler button as it's 3 hits and vertical launch makes it easy to combo with.
6HGuardHighStartup25Recovery25Advantage-13 is a slow overhead with high reward on Counterhit Hitting someone while they are in the startup of an attack. In some games counter hits get enhanced by dealing more damage and giving more frame advantage, which can open up new combo possibilities. that provides a hard knockdown when used to end combos. (This can be difficult off some hits due to how slow 6H is.)

Common Spells

Howling Metron
Fast moving single hit projectile.
Fast start-up allows it to combo from many things.
Delayed Howling Metron
Multi-hit projectile with slow startup, but provides additional time to restore resources.
Howling Metron MS Processing
Three single hit projectiles, two of which are angled.
Extremely good at controlling space.
Metron Screamer 808
Large and disjointed hitbox.
Guard Crushes on block.

Asuka has a wide variety of spells but these four spells ( ) are the most common and serve as the baseline for Asuka's neutral, pressure and combo structure. Asuka has a total of 26 different spells but they are not all equally important to Asuka's gameplan. Additionally all of Asuka's projectiles are able to be destroyed if an opponent hits them, this is most threatening when the opponent has long-reaching and disjointed attacks that are able to be swung through projectiles.

Uncommon Spells:

Reduce Mana Cost reduces the mana cost of spells by 50% for 10 seconds.
Bookmark (Full Import) instantly fills any empty spell slots with a bookmark from the current Test Case.
Shooting Time Stretch (Accelerate) causes all projectiles to become much faster, more advantageous, and wall bounce similarly to ScreamerGuardAll (Guard Crush)Startup12RecoveryTotal 34Advantage+16 when in the corner.
Shooting Time Stretch (Decelerate) slows down the speed of all projectiles allowing them to control space but also making them easier to hit.

Rare Spells

Terra Metron
Long reaching low projectile.
Accipiter Metron
Limited tracking overhead projectile.
Delayed Tardus Metron
Slow moving multi-hit projectile, useful for Oki.
Bit Shift Metron
1-5 fast moving cubes, either starting at 1 and increasing, or starting at 5 and decreasing.
Metron Arpeggio
Two waves of five cubes.
Long start-up and high mana cost.

Throughout Asuka's 3 Test Cases are a variety of other useful spells ( ) that appear less frequently then the 'common spells', these spells all have distinct differences that often make them more powerful than the more common spells. These spells are primarily found in Test Cases 2 and 3, but a single copy of both the high and low projectiles appears in Test Case 1.

Mythic Spells:

Aquila Metron is Asuka's sole invulnerable reversal, a single copy is located in Test Case 1.
Bookmark (Auto Import) after casting a spell using chant a new spell is automatically bookmarked.
Recover Mana (Continuous) causes you to recover mana continuously over 10 seconds, incredibly useful for helping maintain resources.
Chaotic Option bookmarks one of five powerful spells into the spell slot used. ( )

For indepth information and framedata about Spells and Test Cases, visit the Spells page.

Combos

Spell-less Bread and Butter

Very Easy

(c.S > 2H >) c.S > 2H > 5K > 6H
Basic-spell less combo, Asuka can get better spell-less combos when starting with dashing momentum. 6H ender provides time to restore mana or Bookmark multiple cards, but will send the opponent a good amount of distance away.

Spell Bread and Butter

Easy - Medium

c.S > 2H > Chant ~ Bookmark
Works with almost all of Asuka's projectile based spells. This basic structure is able to be looped multiple times by dashing after the BookmarkGuardStartup7RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- in order to start another loop with c.S. This can be repeated multiple times until gravity has scaled too greatly.
Bookmark can be replaced with Change Test CaseGuardStartup2RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- or Recover ManaGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 25 (No Hold)Advantage- if mana or a change of test case is needed.

This has varying levels of difficulty based on the distance between you and the opponent and the spell used.

Combo Cheat Sheet

All of the above BnB A staple combo that is simple yet effective. combos at a glance:


Combo	Position	Notes
(c.S > 2H >) c.S > 2H > 5K > 6H	Anywhere	Spell-less BnB
c.S > 2H > Chant ~ Bookmark	Anywhere	Spell BnB

Pressure

Block Strings

When Asuka is blocked, he can apply a block string A series of multiple attacks that work well against a blocking opponent. Generally, a block string will be composed of several plus on block or cancelable attacks performed in quick sequence. When blocked, these will slowly push your character out of range and prevent the opponent from counter-attacking, which makes them a very good default, low-risk option when trying to apply offense. by following his gatling table or canceling into a special move. Almost all spells cast should be followed up with an immediate cancel into either BookmarkGuardStartup7RecoveryTotal 28Advantage- or Recover ManaGuardStartup13RecoveryTotal 25 (No Hold)Advantage- in order to maintain resources for further pressure.

2D is a uniquely powerful tool in pressure due to it's projectile properties. Due 2D being a projectile it applies no pushback to Asuka and Asuka himself doesn't experience hitstop When a character is hit, both characters are stopped in place to visualize the hit and give feeling of impact. Hitstop describes this phenomenon. Typically hitstop affects both players equally, but this is not always true. For example an attack may cause the opponent to be in hitstop longer than the player, or in cases of most projectiles, the attacker does not experience hitstop at all. making cancelling into Specials and Overdrive slightly faster and more plus When you are able to freely act, but your opponent cannot (usually because they are still trapped in block stun from your attack). Being plus (or "positive") in a fighting game is quite strong; it means you always have a headstart on your next attack, even if it's only by a very slim margin. than from his other normals. Additionally Asuka is able to Kara Cancel A type of cancel where the beginning of an action is quickly canceled into another before the first action completes its startup. into ChantGuardStartupRecoveryTotal 39 (empty Spell Slot)Advantage- from either c.S or 5K to help further mitigated pushback on block.

Example Block Strings:

c.S > Spell

c.S > 2D > Spell

5K/2K > 2D > Spell

c.S > 2S > 2H > Spell

Exact information regarding frame advantage when cancelling into the various different resource recovering specials can be found on the Frame Data Page.